Tottenham Hotspur

The Great Depression. Just Me Then

/ Alan / 9 Comments

I’ve been catching up with Carnivale, the US series about a carnival travelling through the dustbowl during the Great Depression. It’s compelling television but frankly not one to come home to after a bad day, evoking as it does a picture of poverty and suffering that places little value on human life. By heck it’s grim up mid-West.

In a recent episode, the carny folk are caught up in a dust-storm that envelopes them in a dark cloud of dirt and fear.  Now I know a decent metaphor when one comes along and slaps me round the chops like a wet mackerel, but just in case we didn’t get it, one of the characters talked us through the plot even though the person she was speaking to was clearly aware of what was happening. ‘Dark clouds of black topsoil stripped from the surface of a thousand farms…the ruined hopes of families like yours, your mother’s bones uprooted and dumped three hundred miles away…’ Think Mystic Meg crossed over to the dark side. But if you want a metaphor for my feelings about Spurs right now, (and of course you do, don’t you?) watch out for the dust-cloud, dark, foreboding and heading our way.

A month ago I was not only optimistic but above all patient. That’s the way I should be still, because little has changed. And therein lies the problem. Nothing’s happening. As I write, no signings have been confirmed although Adebayor on loan seems highly likely, but more on that when it happens. Harry has been conspicuous in the stands at Loftus Road and in Holland. However, if we are contemplating spending a fortune on players in the next week or so, surely they have been scouted thoroughly and there’s nothing to be learned from the manager watching another 90 minutes, less in Holland yesterday where apparently he left the ground at half-time thus missing Ruiz’s goal.

It seems certain that our top-tier targets either do not want to move or have gone elsewhere. Not even Uncle Harry’s charm can’t outweigh the lack of Champions League football. A nice fat salary could do the trick. Except Levy has a wage structure. Some sources say he’s willing to bend if not entirely break that, and in the past to make up some of  the shortfall we have offered lump sum performance incentives that have not proved exactly tough to achieve, like staying at the club. However, it confirms my view that if the big names won’t come, our scouts had better be at the very top of their game to get the best of the rest.

Being patient involves managing anxiety over time and now that the season has started, time is catching up on us. Tomorrow we play Hearts in a crucial two-legged tie. I can’t claim to know much about the Scots, although my fellow bloggers THFC1882  and What a Fantastic Run  can help you out. All I know is that this is our first game of the season, whereas Hearts are well into their league campaign, and we don’t have any fit midfielders, apparently. We were caught cold this time last year against Young Boys, when the European dreams became a nightmare after 30 disorganised and depressing minutes.

It’s the not knowing that gets me. I have no idea how we are going to line up tomorrow, let alone how well we are going to play. Pre-season should have sorted all this out but our own particular footballing coitus interruptus could leave us frustrated and begging for more. It’s essential we play our strongest possible team in both legs of the Hearts tie to make up for a lack of match fitness if nothing else. If the midfield injuries are as bad as Harry says, and he’s lied before, we might see Kaboul as defensive midfielder in a cautious hit them on the break set up.

So it’s down to the last week with the window. Again. At least we have Levy’s ability to make a deal plus the assets to back it up, in the form of both cash (including income of £31m from the CL run) and players to exchange, should the need arise, which puts us in a stronger position than our rivals. We’re used to the brinkmanship, whether we like it or not. What concerns me is that our team-building is falling even further behind schedule. New arrivals won’t bed in for a while and we need to get going with Hearts and both Manchester teams on the way.

Carnivale is one of those programme where you’re sure something really profound is happening without being entirely sure what exactly that is. Like I said, I know a good metaphor when I see one. The central character appears to have mystical life-giving powers. Maybe that’s Daniel Levy in our little drama, but I fear it’s beyond him.

 

So farewell then, Robbie Keane, gone to develop his semaphore on acid routine in the States. These days it’s unfashionable amongst Spurs fans to like him but he deserves great credit for his prominent role in years that can best be described as a transitional period for the club.

He was never the striker you could bank on to score. Especially in one on ones, my abiding memory is relief rather than joy when the ball went in. However, he’s 9th on our all-time goalscorers list. Off the top of my head, 2 stand-out goals bookend his career. Early on at home to Leeds, outside of the foot from the edge of the box, taken early, then later a dazzling long-range equaliser in the mesmeric home draw against Chelsea. More of a curio, I also recall him sneaking in to surprise the Birmingham keeper as he played the ball out, then nipping in to score.

For a time Keane looked to be the perfect modern forward, equally comfortable in the box taking chances and also in deeper positions, making them. His partnership with Dimitar Berbatov made both better players. Derided for having any number of clubs in his boyhood dreams, he was nevertheless fully committed to Spurs when he played and his urgency was welcome on the many days when others seemed dozy and distant.

In the end, Keane was a bit too clever for his own good. Praised by pundits for his running off the ball, too often he took up positions that made it very difficult for team-mates to pass to him. Running between two defenders or into tight angles away from goals is all very well but there’s seldom room for the ball to be played into. Also, his technique was fatally flawed. At the end of last season he missed a crucial chance for West Ham, near post about 3 yards out. The pundits were amazed but Spurs fans weren’t. That ungainly shank or air-shot was all too familiar.

Genuinely overjoyed at our League Cup win, he led the celebrations then left to join Liverpool. Seemingly at the peak of his powers, it signalled the beginning of the end. From then on he became unsettled and despite helping us to safety after Redknapp took over, he was never the same player. It’s a classic case of the psychology of footballers. He was the last one to know it, but something at the Lane suited him. He disrupted the pattern and it was downhill all the way.

Given the gags about boyhood dreams, I was staggered to see him quoted as saying the move to the LA Galaxy was ‘a dream come true’. And they say Americans don’t get irony. It’s a sad recognition that his mind’s gone. At 31, captain of his country, the only option is the soft option. He had a good few premier league years in him, not withe Spurs because we are upgrading and had left him behind, but wherever he ends up, he does so with my thanks and good wishes for the future.

 

 

 

 

Tottenham Hotspur Season Preview 2011-12 Part 2 How Do We Fit Everyone In?

/ Alan / 4 Comments

It’s started. Prematurely ecstatic over Diarra’s arrival, a couple of days ago a messageboard poster was positively drooling over his midfield selection. ‘Diarra and Sandro as DMs, Modric and Hud further forward with Lennon and Bale on the wings. Can’t wait to see that!’ It took a while before a few people gently pointed out that add a back four and keeper, that makes eleven – a team without strikers. Actually, come to think of it, bit like most of last season

With or without Diarra, it’s the tactics and formation that will be crucial in the weeks and months to come. Redknapp doesn’t do tactics, of course. Just extends Uncle Harry’s Long Arm of Comfort round the shoulders of our lads, and that’s inspiration enough. Go out and enjoy yourselves, boys.

Harry’s done a decent job for us, so why does he have to insult us with rubbish like this? Another example of how important it is for him to cultivate his image as football’s good ol’ boy. And while I’m about it, of all the absurd cliches that infect our game, ‘just go out and enjoy it’ is surely one of the most ridiculous. I don’t want you to go out and enjoy yourselves, gents. I want you to play like you have never played before, run yourself into the ground so your legs are mere stumps at the end of the 90 minutes and lay bare your heart and soul for the badge. If you want enjoyment, join me in the park for a kickabout.

Harry will have hard choices to make, whoever we add to the squad in the next two weeks. Having too many fine players is a good problem to have but Redknapp and his coaches could struggle to keep a large squad content, never mind the fans.

This season poses fresh problems. Although our experience as battle-hardened European veterans will stand us in good stead, any degree of success means a long hard road ahead with the prospect of over 60 matches. Not only that, the grind of Thursday/Saturday will be further disrupted by kick-offs moved to suit TV – Spurs do not have a home game with a 3pm Saturday kick-off until December 3rd – plus long trips into Europe. Winning with a weaker team is an art, one we haven’t yet learned.

I don’t buy Redknapp’s statement about ‘playing the kids in Europe’. We have to go all out to win trophies and can’t take too much of a risk. The Europa League has a tiresome format designed to make money for teams whilst simultaneously sucking all pleasure from playing the game. However, it’s still a big tournament, undoubtedly worthy of winning, and we have a decent chance. I wouldn’t fear any team in that competition over two legs and should go all out to win it without sacrificing anything in our efforts to challenge the top four.

It is asking a lot but such is the pressure success brings and I wouldn’t be without it. This is the key message that should reverberate around and through the whole squad. To be fair to HR, he never said we would play all kids. Naming only Livermore and Townsend, both of whom have League experience and are hardly kids, he knows that his squad has enough depth to operate a midweek team capable of muddling through the group stage. After Christmas, we’ll see where we are. The main danger is complacency. It’s partly the fringe men entering those games with purpose and motivation, partly also about the more experienced amongst them imposing themselves to make the most of their talents. Hud in the centre maybe, Kaboul at the back, Krancjar and Pienaar as attacking midfielders and whoever plays upfront.

However, there are more fundamental issues to be faced. Last season we gave away too many goals because at the back we were too open too often. Some of our covering was naive in the extreme. If I’ve faced facts then so must Redknapp – we cannot play so much attacking football. In the Premier League our priority is to attack only when we have a solid base and if that means sacrificing one of two players to each attack, then so be it. There’s no alternative.

When the team was set up to press in midfield and lie deeper, as against Milan or Chelsea away for example, we performed those roles well. Problems came when we were stretched out of shape when we took the game to other teams, who could then hit us on the break, Blackpool away being the classic instance. If Bale and Lennon both play, they have to not only work back but shift their starting positions to somewhere deeper. Or, only go forward if others are back covering. The fullbacks have to tuck in tighter to their back four when we don’t have the ball. All of which provides a shield for the back four and the centre halves who were so frequently left exposed and vulnerable.

Defending better doesn’t mean being defensive. We have the men to turn defence into attack with the speed that’s required in the modern game. This is what Manchester United do so well. Sitting low on the Shelf, it is phenomenal to watch them and we need to match their pace and purpose – we have the men to emulate them. They don’t run with the ball like Bale and Lennon do so much as run to get onto the ball, moved swiftly into space. 

We have to buy a striker who can give us the option of playing on their own up front. It’s essential. Banging the ball up  to Crouch must stop. The other requisite for Spurs is width. It plays to the strengths of the team both in terms of men like Lennon and Bale but also the passing ability and vision of Huddlestone and Modric.

The other vital element is possession. We can’t be like Barca but we can follow their example in one sense: keep the ball, because if we’ve got it, the other lot can’t score. It’s not only about skill on the ball, it’s also about movement, ensuring one or two men can always be available to receive a pass. We have the players who are perfect for this. So why didn’t we do that more last year? We could do, for spells only, now let’s be geared to keeping hold of the ball.

So here are a couple of options, assuming that Modric isn’t sold. One is the classic 4-4-2, with Hud or Sandro alongside Modric in the middle, Lennon and Bale wide and VDV off the main striker. Whilst this appeals to me, it’s basically the same line-up that failed to defend well last year, so everyone has to play slightly differently and be more circumspect.

The other option is to get the width from the full-backs. Much as I love Lennon, Walker could offer both the attacking options (coming from deep again) and allow an extra central midfielder who tucks in to allow the full back to come past. Put Bale at full back on the other side and you have more height at the back plus another midfield option, say 2 DMs and still there’s width, and I say this in the full knowledge that if I love Lennon then I adore Benny.

These two aren’t mutually exclusive and we have plenty of options to vary tactics according to our opponents. In some games it may be better to play a defensive-minded fullback, Corluka, behind Lennon, for example.

Three final thoughts. One, in whatever formation Van der Vaart will be crucial. Shrewd and dangerous at the edge of the box, He also offers even more options (stay with me on this one). Whilst he shouldn’t come too deep as he sometimes did last season, that actually is a problem only if there’s no one forward. However, if he chooses to drop back and Bale, Walker or Lennon are hammering forward, that’s fine. We can attack and have men covering.

Which leads on to a second point. Football isn’t played in straight lines. It’s about movement and flow. If our men are clever enough to work on a principle based on knowing where team-mates are, they can vary the options. Men must get forward, men must stay back, but they don’t have to be the same men doing the same thing every time. Flexible intelligence to get the job done, the job (covering, attacking, width etc) being identified with different players doing it at different times, whoever is best placed on the the field at that point.

Finally, and crashing down to earth, set pieces .All this flow and movement doesn’t mean diddly if we can’t do anything from free-kicks and comers. I don’t recall a single goal direct for a free kick last year and we had some pathetic routines that went out with steel toecaps and Brylcreem – tapping the ball cunningly two feet sideways, who would have picked that one up…

 

Tottenham Hotspur Season Preview 2011/12. Now Is The Time

/ Alan / 14 Comments

Football hardly seems important in N17 today. Regards to the families and good people of Tottenham.

Here’s part 1 of the season preview – an overview. More on Tuesday, earlier if I pull my finger out – the best of the rest, tactics and off the field

Season 2011-12 represents a watershed in the modern history of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. Add two or three players to a squad bursting with talent and ambition, Spurs have a side that could compete with the League’s elite this season and found a modern dynasty as success breeds success. Get it wrong even by the smallest margin and the consequences will reverberate for years to come. We won’t notice anything to begin with – we’ll do all right as we are. Then, gradually, the momentum of a season in the Champions League will dissipate and some of of the brightest emerging talents in Europe will leave, disillusioned. Fade to grey.

I prefer evidence to rumour, reality to fantasy. Although there’s little transfer gossip in these pages, even I have reached the point where the next striker who arrives will receive a personal welcome upon a carpet of rose petals and garlanded with handpicked flowers. The season begins not against Everton on Saturday but when the transfer window closes. It’s not right.

Last summer’s failure to strengthen our ability to score goals was a significant moment. However, this time it’s now or never. Key players are a year older and four or five years wiser, battle hardened veterans of Europe where they earned as much in defeat as in victory. Not only that, they hunger for glory, having whetted their appetite. The difference is, now they know what to do and that they can do it. Also, all summer I have said that never mind who comes in, the absolute imperative is who stays. if we don’t make it this time, There’s no way we can resist the instable demands and unrestricted resources of top teams in this country and abroad. By the end of August, our plans could be in tatters. Now is the time.

The Core

Spurs can build the team around the sumptuous Luka Modric, a supremely skilled footballer and precious playmaker. At his feet, football becomes a thing of wonder and beauty, yet his real value to the team is as the fulcrum around which everything flows and revolves. Criticism of his lack of stature by the unseeing and unknowing is laughable. He’s fearless in the tackle, his work rate not in question.

He’s brave in another sense too. He rarely takes the easy option, making himself readily available to colleagues in all areas of the pitch and when in possession seeking the ball that means something rather than handing over responsibility to someone else to make things happen. If that should be in two or three passes time, he anticipates and moves to be in the right place at the right time. Would that his team-mates were so acute.

Alongside him we have two of the best young prospects in Europe, Gareth Bale and Sandro. The threat posed by Bale’s power and direct running first took our breath away at the Lane then was reflected in the glazed empty eyes of a succession of terrorised Premier League right-backs. Europe sat bolt upright when he destroyed the European Champions  over two games. In 40 years I’ve never seen so much skill on the ball coupled with such rampant athleticism.

Yet even he could be eclipsed by Sandro. After a hesitant start under the unaccustomed pressure of English football, he not merely found his feet, he made an exponential leap. Again Europe was his platform with performances of remarkable maturity. He’s a real defensive midfielder, mobile, physically very strong and comfortable on the ball and utterly  fearless in his challenges in his own box. The possibilities are limitless.

Step forward big Tom Huddlestone. Say that every year. His progress has been held back by injury but perhaps it’s given him time to reflect on how he can add anticipation and positional sense to his superb passing and control.

Further forward we have Rafa Van der Vaart. His late arrival surprised Redknapp to the point where he wasn’t quite sure where to play him. A central free role in front of midfield  makes the best use of his eye for an opening, speed of thought and execution plus his accurate shooting. The opposition simply cannot contain him for the whole 90 minutes.

Recently I was asked to name my best ever Spurs team from players I’ve actually seen, which in my case is 1967 onwards. Without hesitation Ledley King took precedence even over over greats like Mike England. His strength, pace and anticipation coupled with precise timing in the challenge make him the perfect centre back. His injury is tragic for a man loyal to the club and who deserves worldwide recognition. We can’t rely on him being available regularly, if at all, but I refuse to right him off until I see him trundling down the High Road in a wheelchair, and even then I’d be inclined to give him a go. He may have 15 or 20 games a season in him, but think what he could give us if Redknapp chooses the right 15 or 20.

Michael Dawson has overcome his lack of pace to become a giant of the penalty box, a true leader. he wants to win so much, his passion is infectious. He’s also a fine example to younger players hoping to break into the team. When many said he was not good enough, he was determined to prove otherwise. Out of the picture for a time, he took his opportunity a couple of years ago as if it were his last, and has never looked back even after a serious knee injury on international duty. Like he’s never been away, back he came, unflinching in the tackle and a steely glint in his eye. Our captain, our inspiration.

Alongside him he has the canny Gallas, another man who could have allowed his career to slip away in comfortable well-paid security but who took on the challenge of not only the Premier League but also of playing for the bitter rivals of his previous teams. His commitment and experience won over even the greatest cynic, culminating in a defensive masterclass at the Emirates.

He may look at times like a labrador puppy, long-limbed and unco-ordinated, but Younis Kaboul is proving to be one of Harry’s shrewdest signings. Another man anxious to take his chance, he has the pace, power and touch to become a top quality centre half. i expect much from him in the months and years to come.

The Problems

So that’s what we’ve got, and it’s a lot. The main problem is, there’s no mention of a striker so far. Pointless if we don’t have anyone to make and score goals on a regular basis. Last season we were embarrassingly lacking in this respect and all this prodigious talent will be criminally wasted if we don’t right that wrong.

Best of the bunch was Pavlyuchenko. Scorned by a manager supposedly famous for his man-management skills, Pav was toddling along, not doing much and apparently not too bothered, oblivious of what was going around him and of haircuts post 1971. Through  clenched teeth Redknapp was forced to name him because the others were so bad. Pav blew hot and cold. I’m sure his YouTube showreel makes him look like a world-beater as the shots thumped in from range towards the close of least season, yet on other occasions his amateurish control and poor link-up play made one despair. Give him a yard to move onto the ball – look at those goals again, see what I mean – he’s a world beater but that’s the yard you don’t get that often in the Premier League.

Defoe’s work rate improved in inverse proportion to his ability to create danger in the box. A couple of piledrivers show his talent but we need him in the box. Too often he hung back in the comfort zone rather than hammer to the edge of the 6 yard box. In so doing he often bumped into Crouch, ambling towards the back post. It’s a refrain familiar to readers of this blog over the last 12 months. Play Crouch and sure, you will always get something. The point is, we could get something more from the players at our disposal. His presence encourages the long ball, as did sadly the coaches’ tactical talks towards the end of last season. At a stroke the advantages of our passing game are largely nullified. Opponents know where the ball is going to go and anticipation is two thirds of the battle. A nudge in the back and he’s out of the game.

Redknapp’s quintessentially British big man/little man up front is outmoded in the modern game. We need two pacy, mobile strikers able to bring others into the game. If they do so, we can improve on the goals from midfield total, an area where we’ve been lacking of late. If the man can poach 20 goals a season, so much the better, but he doesn’t have to be a high scorer provided he makes the team play. VDV and Luka are desperate to slide balls into  the space or to pick up a late runner from midfield. 

At the other end, Gomes proved the doubters wrong once before, now he has to do so all over again. The occasional ricket from this likeable, agile keeper was outweighed tenfold by fabulous full-stretch saves but just as his confidence off his line increased, the mistakes became a habit. Friedel is a sound signing, both as back-up and to give the Brazilian a nudge without undermining him. His opening month will be crucial for him and the team.

High Stakes

Without raising ridiculous expectations, there’s potential busting out of N17 0AP. I’m convinced Levy has money available for transfers and does not have to rely on sales to fund incoming players. The men we want are much in demand and his legendary bargaining qualities will be fully stretched over the next two weeks.

Keep what we have. Adding a couple of strikers plus a centre half will work wonders to a quality squad all set to achieve. Players are maturing. They’ve learned to be resilient in Europe, a quality they must take to every single league game. Redknapp has to stir it all together, it’s a tasty future. Fail this time around and it will all fall apart.

More next week – the squad, the tactics, off the field

Spurs. The Seinfeld Of Football

/ Alan / 9 Comments

If Seinfeld was famously the show about nothing, then Spurs are the Seinfeld of football, at least for now.

In the past I’ve been relieved and grateful when things have gone quiet. I cherish rare moments of peace and quiet to punctuate the bedlam of the season. No scandals or internecine arguments, the media looking elsewhere, not to mention winning football matches. It’s the welcome tedium of progress. Heads down and just getting on with business.

But now, nothing. Zilch. Zero. Nada. I’m bored now. There’s been some football. We appear to have won a trophy. I can tell you as much as anyone about what it means for our prospects in the season to come, and I haven’t watched a single second. The Unfit Getting Fitter Challenge.

Transfers? All gone quiet. The media have exhausted themselves with the Modric story: even their creativity can’t do any more with ‘Chelsea might buy Luka’. Uncle Harry’s Long Arm of Comfort has reached out and come to rest gently but firmly around Luka’s shoulders. Meet our new captain (Southern hemisphere only).

Things Could Be Worse. You Could Be Me

Nobody out as yet. That queue around the ground is for City tickets, rather than the expected rush of bidders for our available squad players. Until the prognosis on Sandro’s injury is clearer or another midfielder has put pen to paper, it’s unlikely that Jenas or Palacios will go. Dos Santos is in demand, so probably only a matter of time, while the only decision Levy has to make on Hutton and Keane is how big a loss he’s prepared to accept. No one in either, certainly not the long awaited and much needed striker or three.

Harry, now surely there’s something on Harry. But no, the tax case has been postponed and the wheeler-dealing that he doesn’t do oh no not him never not me has ground to a halt. Excuse me: twiddling thumbs whilst brushing away the tumbleweed blowing across the blog is tricky stuff, you know.

It’s hard to tell if no news is good news. Certainly it is as far as the Modric saga is concerned, with Levy remaining true to his word and rumours that Chelsea are signing an alternative target. I fear however that SSN will on deadline day have a helicopter poised over the Lodge until it’s over, which is variously 5pm, midnight or three weeks the following Tuesday if the League’s fax machine runs out of paper.

I’m also pleased that there has not been a mass exodus. I’m in the minority as many Spurs fans would personally transport Jenas and Bentley to the destination of their choice, or failing that a destination not of their choice. Anywhere but N17, in fact, but taking the first offer is reckless. I have a suspicion JJ will still be with us come September but if there’s late activity for the others, it’s good business by Levy to hang on. The traditional end of window panic could push the price up and I don’t believe we have to sell before we can buy. Granted we have to keep the squad size within the requisite 25 and sales will generate some cash but the big money is already in place. Also, highly significantly, there’s been little or no discussion about Sandro, Bale or VDV leaving. If keeping this squad together for another season is the overriding priority, then silence is a beautiful sound.

The biggest worry is no striker. This isn’t unexpected. As I have said many times now, the men we want are in demand and our offer, in terms of both fee and salary, will not be the only one on the table. Frustrating for us, look at it from their perspective: they will hang on for the best offer, given that we can’t give them CL football. Aguero to City is the classic example. By all accounts we made a generous albeit late bid in January and were still interested this summer, but as soon as he has a sniff of City’s wealth plus the Champions League, it’s natural he’ll go there. In cases like this, it’s not a question of our lack of ambition, simply that a few teams can offer a better package to in-demand players.

I’m still reassured that we are working hard on this. Frankly, I have no hard evidence but Levy has learned from previous windows and the potential vistas opened up by the CL run, while Redknapp cannot be blind to the deficiencies of our frontmen or overestimate the value of big man/little man up front as he did this time last year. Complacency is no longer an option.

Late deals could come in the form of loans. Adebayor for instance: we can’t (and shouldn’t) match his salary but City will be forced to reassess the options if they don’t get a better offer. Us paying half is better than they having to pay the lot. Also, the transfer market as a whole hasn’t opened up yet, with comparatively little activity, Sunderland and Liverpool apart. The time to worry is when players we want who are not courted by the top four go elsewhere. The suggestion that we didn’t go hard for Suarez because the scouts thought he wasn’t right for us is an error that must not be repeated.

One positive is the continued investment in players for the future. Another often repeated refrain in these pages is the need to ensure a steady flow of young players able to challenge for the first team in the years to come and that this development should not be ignored in favour of the big signings. Souleymane Coulibaly looks like a cracking young striker, whilst Caulker’s season long loan at Swansea could be the shrewdest piece of business we do all season. He looks a fine prospect and a year in the Prem could be the making of him. Witness Walker’s development, from loanee to international. Similarly, Mason, Naughton, Khumalo (not so young) and others have a better chance of making it if loaned out than if they were stuck at the Lodge.

Or how about this as the most curious signing of the season. I’m happy to be corrected as I haven’t checked this, but I understand Perry Alnwick has been given another contract. Forgive me, but what exactly does he do? Even on loan in the lower leagues, he’s been there as cover and hasn’t played. Surely we can do better for the coveted 4th choice keeper spot.

Overall it’s not such a bad picture. However, time is moving on. Every day is one less day new arrivals will have to settle into a team that must get off to a solid start and one more day of growing anxiety that the strikers don’t in fact exist. The next piece might have a bit more edge to it. However, this is still the silly season. As I write, there’s a rumour on twitter from a Chelsea fan that Modric is at the Spurs training ground, dressed rather than in training gear, and shaking hands. And they say Tottenham On My Mind doesn’t carry the latest gossip.