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Clearing but not replacing deadwood

6 min read
by Editor
Will Colwell takes a look at the reshaping that has taken place at Spurs this summer and asks the question: "Are we stronger for it?"

It speaks volumes of Paulinho’s attitude and aptitude that the first images of him grimacing with a red scarf ahead of his move to Guangzhou Evergrande were met with near celebration from Tottenham fans.

The Brazilian’s two year spell at Spurs could best be summarised with a resigned sigh, a cry of frustration, or the sound of ironic, delirious laughter. The ‘give him time’ defence subsided as his terrible performances wore on and it soon became patently clear his Spurs career would never come near the heights the giddy summer of 2013 had promised.

The same, however, can’t be said of another figure whose inevitable Spurs departure will be met with similar celebration. Emmanuel Adebayor regularly gave Tottenham fans glimpses of the player he could be. A combination of a heart-wrenchingly tough personal life and a subsequent lack of real interest in his football mean that we’ll remember Ade as ‘frustrating’ rather than ‘incredibly gifted’. Memories of games where he earned Tottenham points almost single handedly will live far less long in the memory than games where he simply seemed uninterested.

[linequote]The problems start to arise, though, when you sell and don’t bring in replacements[/linequote]

These are both players who Spurs are right to look to move on. Players whose usefulness is gone and on whom we should look to upgrade. If Pochettino doesn’t think Capoue fits into his side then it’s fine to try and sell him. The same goes for Paulinho, Adebayor, Stambouli, Chiriches, Kaboul, Holtby, Lennon and Soldado. Move them on if they serve no purpose. The problems start to arise, though, when you sell all of them and don’t bring in replacements.

Daniel Levy has received praise for the fees he’s been able to negotiate for some of these flops – again, it says so much about Paulinho that making an £8m loss on him in two years is seen as a good piece of business – and the relief at seeing the back of certain players has generated something of a positive feeling about this window.

While the inward business that has been done has been very good – Alderweireld, Trippier, Alli and Wimmer are all sensible signings that will respectively improve our defence, provide competition for a complacent Kyle Walker, and grow into the team as youth players – it just isn’t enough for all the outgoings.

You’ve probably heard of this squad-cleansing referred to as “clearing out the deadwood,” so let me take that analogy a step further. If you pull up a load of rotten planks from a wooden bridge then walk away you haven’t improved the bridge, you’ve made it worse. Where once was damp wood you’d have to tread on carefully, now is a gap. And to make matters worse the year long bridge crossing season starts in just a couple of days. Or something.

In making these player sales Daniel Levy has done half a job, and has now left it too late to do the second half. He’s jumped at a great offer to sell his car then realised he has no way of getting home. See, Soldado might struggle to locate a barn door with a map, Stambouli might be slower than Neville Southall on curry night and Paulinho might have a shooting technique that makes you wince, but at least they are capable bodies.

[fullquote]I am more in favour of giving the youth a chance than anyone but we should certainly not be reliant on teenagers playing 30 games a season[/fullquote]

To compete on four fronts in the coming season Spurs require a capable squad to rotate with the first eleven. Christian Eriksen’s exhausted performances from March onwards stand as a testament to the toll that playing a full season with no rest takes on a player. That squad that wasn’t really enough to support certain key players is now even thinner. Harry Kane played 51 games last year and being called on to play even more puts him in danger of burning out. The difficulty comes in finding a player prepared to play back up knowing – given Kane’s age – they’re not being primed into the first team.

The departing Paulinho, Stambouli and Capoue notched 73 appearances between them and have so far been replaced by Dele Alli and the returning Tom Carroll. I am more in favour of giving the youth a chance than anyone but we should certainly not be reliant on teenagers playing 30 games a season – particularly ones with minimal first team experience.

It’s all well and good applauding Levy for commanding respectable fees for these players, but that only means something if the money is then spent on finding their replacements. Give me the choice between having £9m in a bank account or the option of playing Paulinho in Europa League games and I’ll pick the latter every time.

The good news as far as rebuilding the squad goes is that there’s still nearly a month left in the window to get it into the state it needs to be in. The same can’t be said for improving the first team.

Tottenham open the season with one of the year’s toughest fixtures at Old Trafford and have failed to improve on the defensively lacklustre midfield combination of Nabil Bentaleb and Ryan Mason – a partnership so badly overrun in the 3-0 defeat in this fixture last year that Mousa Dembele had to come on for Andros Townsend after half an hour. Pochettino doesn’t even have the option of trying a more defensive minded midfield featuring Capoue or Stambouli.

My problem is not that either of Mason or Bentaleb aren’t good enough but that put together they lack the defensive nous and steel that are critical in the toughest fixtures. This is a problem that has been very obvious for a long time; this midfield partnership was used for the majority of the latter half of last season and regularly left the defence exposed. It played a huge part in Tottenham’s abysmal defensive record, yet Spurs have not acted in the months they’ve had to find a suitable new signing.

[linequote] When Tottenham finished a single point behind Arsenal in that infamous 2012 campaign I thought back to our opening two fixtures – in which we were soundly beaten by both of the Manchester clubs[/linequote]

Look at Arsenal pre and post the frankly unremarkable Francis Coquelin. Look at how untested the 34 year old John Terry was last season playing behind Nemanja Matic. Look at how exemplary Southampton have been defensively with Morgan Schneiderlin and Victor Wanyama guarding the back four. The first step to improving a defensive record worse than Hull’s is to sign a player capable of breaking up opposing attacks yet Spurs enter this new season without a single recognised defensive midfielder.

And while there is still time in the window, it’s disappointing to see the club playing catch-up again. When Tottenham finished a single point behind Arsenal in that infamous 2012 campaign I thought back to our opening two fixtures – in which we were soundly beaten by both of the Manchester clubs. That Tottenham squad was crying out for a holding midfielder and a new striker ahead of the season opener at Old Trafford. Who knows how those games might’ve gone if Scott Parker and Emmanuel Adebayor had been signed before the final week of August.

All views and opinions expressed in this article are the views and opinions of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of The Fighting Cock. We offer a platform for fans to commit their views to text and voice their thoughts. Football is a passionate game and as long as the views stay within the parameters of what is acceptable, we encourage people to write, get involved and share their thoughts on the mighty Tottenham Hotspur.

Editor

21 year old Tottenham fan studying who recently graduated from the University of Reading

7 Comments

  1. Brian
    04/08/2015 @ 10:50 am

    ‘If you pull up a load of rotten planks from a wooden bridge then walk away you haven’t improved the bridge, you’ve made it worse. Where once was damp wood you’d have to tread on carefully, now is a gap.’

    I could not disagree more.

    If you see the gaps you are clear they are there. The deadwood sometimes gives a false impression that the gaps are not as bad as yo may think. Tread carefully on the damp rotten wood of a bridge? You must be kidding. Much better to have it removed and be clear where you really are.

    ‘Look at how exemplary Southampton have been defensively with Morgan Schneiderlin and Victor Wanyama guarding the back four. The first step to improving a defensive record worse than Hull’s is to sign a player capable of breaking up opposing attacks yet Spurs enter this new season without a single recognised defensive midfielder.’

    Very good point. Schneiderlin at £27 million. Have a look at Leroy Fer’s stats. Better than Schneiderlin’s in many regards and would be a bargain price.

    ‘Give me the choice between having £9m in a bank account or the option of playing Paulinho in Europa League games and I’ll pick the latter every time.’

    You know, I would rather have all that deadwood shifted and play the younger people if we have not got the right ones in. What is the point of playing a Paulinho or Soldado to get a goal in every 20 games or so? Might as well not play them at all.

  2. Matt
    04/08/2015 @ 11:37 am

    There is space that needs filling at DM – whether Alli, Carrol, Toby A or Dier can fill it remains to be seen.
    In terms of appearances from the deadwood Capoue hardly played post December, Paulinho and Stambouli made very few starts.
    Ade played 11 scored 2 – a dismal show.
    Soldado oddly is probably the hardest to do without. Playing a number of games and often giving Kane a breather for the last ten minutes of games – personally I’d keep him.

    It will be interesting to see whether the Europa is taken slightly less seriously – if it is used as a way to give the youth team players a chance to show what they can do, to improve and to use it as a gateway into the PL side.

  3. rogspur
    04/08/2015 @ 11:38 am

    Looking forward to seeing our young guns get solid minutes this season.
    Pritchard, Alli and Carroll should all get good playing time.

    There were matches last season when I thought anyone but paulinho, give the kids a chance and Poch is doing just that.

    We do need a backup striker, not sure about coulthirst(but he did have a similar loan experience to Kane so who knows?).
    The rest I will leave to the Manager.

    Tonights match in the Audi cup should show us our starting 11.

  4. Stuart
    04/08/2015 @ 11:43 am

    Whilst I agree with a lot that’s been said, if you sell players that barely featured for you the season before (and they performed badly when they did) then replacing them with talented youngsters that may have a higher potential ceiling could very well be the way to go.

    As it is we’re lacking an experienced player in midfield to not only guide the youngsters in the same way that Davids did but also to bring a bit of know-how to the team in the centre of the park. Cambiasso would be great but he doesn’t seem to be the high energy type of player that Poch wants.

    Pace on the wings would be nice but considering the way teams play deep against us I’m not sure pace would be that much of a help. Tricky, intelligent players could be more useful as we will need to find a way through packed defences.

    A backup striker would be great and perhaps we need to look again at younger players for this position. I don’t see an experienced player coming in that would be both willing to play second fiddle and good enough for the side.

    We should take a chance on players like Breel Embolo who ha been ripping it up in his own league. I think we missed a trick by not getting Mitrovic who seems to share some of the capabilities demonstrated by Kane.

  5. Charles Richards
    04/08/2015 @ 12:19 pm

    Good piece — you hit the nail on the head with the wooden bridge analogy. A month ago, I thought we were absolutely on course for a great summer, but it has drifted horribly since then, and it feels like we begin the season unprepared.

    The Soldado situation stinks to me — he should be part of the squad until he is sold, because Kane can’t play 180 minutes this week in the Audi Cup, then 90 minutes against Man United on Saturday.

    It doesn’t just feel disorganised, it feels bordering on negligence.

    My question is, what has Daniel Levy been doing the past month?

  6. Woodsy
    04/08/2015 @ 1:15 pm

    I don’t think you’ll find any Spurs fans who think the squad as it stands is complete but we’ve known that this was the plan for a couple of months now. Levy said himself that he’d be busiest at the end of the transfer window and whether or not the calibre of player is right, I’m sure he’ll bring in one or two (the striker and defensive midfielder that we all know is needed).

    If we don’t buy anyone I think we’re pretty much in the same position as last year. You might rather see Paulinho given games but I’d rather see Pritchard, Carrol and Alli.

    Even the 80-odd appearances you mention for Stambo, Paulinho and Capoue will likely total about 20 full games as they were mostly late substitutions. Can Eric Dier do a better job than them to cover that time? Considering how pointless those three were in a Spurs shirt, I think he probably can.

    • Brian
      04/08/2015 @ 1:47 pm

      ‘I’d rather see Pritchard, Carrol and Alli.’
      Exactly!

      To continue the bridge analogy, you then have young wood rather than dead wood. The young wood is easy to see and you can see what needs to be done to maintain and develop the bridge further. The deadwood simply hides the faults at best. While it remains you cannot replace it yet in situ it is of no use at all. Better without it with no replacements and the gaps are clear. The replacements that come in may not be seasoned. Well, still better than the old stuff.

      I simply do not get the argument that you are better keeping something that does not work than removing it without replacement.

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