I will be a very happy fan if our full-backs next year are Corluka and Assou-Ekotto, with Rose (who has really, really surprised me) and Walker as back-ups/Carling Cup/Europa League/competition.
Would like to see him back at Spurs next season, covering for both Corluka and Lennon.
But then again I also wouldn't mind seeing O'Hara back at Spurs and that is unlikely, he was very good against Sunderland and like my old man, I rate him higher than Pienaar.
I know someone who's close to Ifil and coached him at a young level. Ifil, when presented with a new deal by us or the opportunity to move, chose to move to get first team football instead. My mate discouraged this, apparently he had a good chance of succeeding with us if he'd been patient. Shame. Waste of a talent. Makes you wonder how often it happens.
I think this is one of the main problems in our two, some would say conflicting, transfer strategies. On one hand we're commmitted to having a large squad of senior players with, in most cases two or three senior and/or international players competing for every position, and on the other we've followed a policy of snapping up the best young talent. Clearly, though, with three senior players in most positions those young players will rarely get a chance through necessity, and it's through necessity that many young players have been thrown in by Premier League teams, gained experience and progressed into regular first-team players. Potential is only that, and it must be realised, but in order to realise it, it must tested. Liverpool's small squad is at the moment leading to a few of their youngsters getting a go, and obviously that's what happened at West Ham when their famed crop of young talent - Lampard, Cole, Ferdinand, Defoe came through. It's hard to see that happening at Spurs because we're rarely short enough of cover for a young player to be thrown in. It's difficult to know what the best approach is, but I sometimes think our youth recruitment and development leads to a dead end for these young players.He did seem one of our most promising players coming through the youth and IIRC he performed very well against Liverpool for us so for his career to more or less nose dive was unfortunate.
In any case, i'm surprised he didn't at least flourish in the lower leagues so perhaps his attitude was questionable and thought he was better than he actually was.
But unlike Pienaar, as has been said umpteen times on this forum (and elsewhere), Jamie O'Hara has made it 100% clear that he is not prepared to sit on the bench and fight for a place in the side.
Yep, that's part of the reason why I said unlikely :wink:
It's a pity, but at the same time it's good to see a player not being happy just to collect wages, so I can't really be too critical of him, even if I think he should have shown some more patience.
Then again Niko has been patient enough this season, even took his rare chance and scored a couple late goals. Didn't help him though, thought that would have turned his season around and he would be back in favour again, I don't blame O'Hara for wanting none of that.
From what I have seen of Walker this year, he looks a genuine talent.
If we went into next season with Corluka/Walker and BAE/Rose - would suit me fine. I think the emergence of Walker and Rose mean that two positions which needed strengthening over the summer, LB and RB, are settled for next year.