Good start for Spurs loanees

Steven Caulker and Ryan Mason both made their league debuts for Yeovil yesterday – both played 90 minutes in a 2-0 win, in which Caulker helped them to keep a clean sheet, and Mason won them a penalty. I believe Caulker took the MOTM award – superb achievement for both of them, congratulations to both!

Some nice commentson Mason and Caulker on the Yeovil forum:

“Taff – Agree with everything you say, except Caulker was my MOTM by a country mile, some of his reading of the game yesterday was of the highest class, he also has an excellent turn of pace, which helped out our full backs on numerous occasions, something that we could see more from the terrace (certainly when defending) than maybe the stands.”

“Though must say I have been more impressed with Mason since he has moved into the Centre of the midfield, another who looks real class, and worked well yesterday IMO.”

And a whole thread on Caulker!

If you can sign in, there’s a Caulker interview here.

Andros Townsend was an unused sub for Leyton Orient.

Adam Smith played 90 minutes on his league debut too, as Wycombe lost 3-2 away at Charlton.

Just a couple of mentions on their official site:

“65 mins:
Intelligent play by young full back Adam Smith. The Tottenham youngster, who signed on loan for the Chairboys this week, cannons the ball back off Kelly Youga to relieve the pressure and grant the away side a goal kick.”

“84 mins
Great save by Shearer. McLeod beats Smith for pace on the left hand side, cuts in but sees his rasping effort tipped over brilliantly by the Glaswegian.”

And some comments from the forum:

“Smith 6 Looked a bit lightweight but apart from that good”
“Smith 6 Perhaps thrown in at the deep end…did well to clear off the line.”

Ben Alnwick was an unused sub for Norwich City.

Troy Archibald-Henville was an unused sub for Exeter City.

David Button played 90 minutes as Crewe Alexandra lost 1-2 to Dagenham and Redbridge.

A few comments from their official site:

“There was a defensive mix-up after 41 minutes with O’Donnell heading back past the onrushing Button. Benson got in behind but from an acute angle couldn’t turn the shot home. It was certainly a let-off.”

“The hard working Zola shot wide from 25 yards after pulling possession from the sky but it was Dagenham who would be going into the half-time interval in the lead following a wonderful strike from Nurse. The striker caught his 30-yard shot perfectly to give Button no chance.”

“Grant did have the ball in the net early on in the first half but Elding had only slightly strayed into an offside position in the build-up. Benson, so prolific for Dagenham last season had a sight of Button’s goal on 53 minutes but the on-loan keeper from Spurs got his angles spot on.”

“Crewe should have kicked on from there but almost instantly fell behind again when Benson was granted far too much room and he made Crewe pay. He glided past Jones and O’Donnell before rounding Button and slotting home from within the six-yard box.”

“Benson nearly killed the game off just minutes later though only for Button to tip his effort around the post.”

Tomas Pekhart didn’t even make the bench for Slavia Prague on the 5th.

Adel Taarabt played 90 minutes up front for QPR in a 1-1 draw against Blackpool.

A few comments on Adel here:
“QPR’s on-loan Tottenham forward Adel Taarabt twice combined well with Wayne Routledge early on, only to be denied by keeper Paul Rachubka.”
“And Taarabt missed an opportunity to win the match for Rangers when he headed Routledge’s late cross wide of the target.”

And from the official site:

“Angelo Balanta found Taarabt relatively near the area, and when the Moroccan tricked his way past two men, he played a neat one-two with Helguson.

Seemingly through on goal, Taarabt looked in the clear, only for Rachubka to come racing out of his goal to slide the ball out to safety.”

“In all honesty, Rangers were now firmly in control, not least when Taarabt had the R’s best chance to date. When Routledge beat his man down the left, he played Taarabt through on goal.

And though, in fairness, the angle was acute, nonetheless he forced a fine save from Rachubka, who was anything but untested in the Blackpool goal.”

Kyle Walker played 90 minutes for Sheffield United at right back against Boro on Friday.

A couple of comments from their official site:

“Bunn’s first test was to gather in a cross-cum-shot from Emnes and then he had to rush out to clear a short Walker backpass”

“For the home side, Johnson’s cross was punched away by Bunn and Walker beat Emnes in an aerial battle at the back post.”

“The first serious action of the second period, five minutes in, was an appeal for penalty when Johnson went down under Walker’s challenge following a Huth through ball but referee Mason was not convinced.”

Squad comparison with the sides around us

(Click on the image to enlarge.)

Looking at the teams likely to finish around us (notice I’m leaving out West Ham), our squad looks pretty strong.
Left back, left midfield and central midfield are the weakest areas, but we’re not the only ones with weakneses – Villa badly need centre backs, Fulham lack quality back-up options right across their midfield, Sunderland look short defensively, and Arsenal have the same old problem – a lack of muscle and grit throughout their squad.

For what it’s worth, my prediction would be:

4. Arsenal
5. Everton
6. Man City
7. Spurs
8. Sunderland
9. Aston Villa
10. Fulham

That would be some achievement for Sunderland, but I rate Bruce highly as a manager, and I think he may have a couple of transfer aces up his sleeve.

Assessing our squad

Personally I’m quite pleased with the relatively modest amount of transfer activity so far at White Hart Lane.

So far, our dealings stand as follows:

In: Peter Crouch, Kyle Naughton, Kyle Walker.

Out: Darren Bent, Didier Zokora, Chris Gunter, Ricardo Rocha, Gilberto, Simon Dawkins, Kyle Fraser-Allen, Cian Hughton, Danny Hutchins, David Hutton, Jacques Maghoma and Takura Mtandari, plus Academy players Yaser Kasim, Saulo Asajile, Mark Clare, James Dalton and Ajet Shehu.

Out on loan: Ryan Mason, Steven Caulker (both Yeovil Town), David Button (Crewe Alexandra), Adel Taarabt (QPR), Troy Archibald-Henville (Exeter City), Ben Alnwick (Norwich City), Kyle Walker (Sheffield United).

With Pascal Chimbonda also expected to leave before the deadline, we’re left with a fairly healthy squad:

Goalkeeper: Heurelho Gomes, Carlo Cudicini, Oscar Jansson

Right back: Vedran Corluka, Alan Hutton, Kyle Naughton

Left back: Benoit AssouEkotto, Gareth Bale

Centre back: Ledley King, Jonathan Woodgate, Michael Dawson, Dorian Dervite

Right midfield: Aaron Lennon, David Bentley, Giovani Dos Santos

Left midfield: Luka Modric

Central midfield: Wilson Palacios, Jermaine Jenas, Tom Huddlestone, Jamie O’Hara, Kevin-Prince Boateng

Forwards: Peter Crouch, Robbie Keane, Jermain Defoe, Roman Pavlyuchenko


That’s a 25-man squad, ignoring Danny Rose, Jake Livermore, John Bostock, and Jon Obika, all of whom have played a part in pre-season, and Andros Townsend, Calum Butcher and Dean Parrett, who have previously been involved in first team squads.

The weakest area of the squad in my opinion is the left – we’re short of options at left midfield and, were Modric to get injured, Bale is the only other natural left-sided cover. Despite Gareth looking quite useful as a wing-back away at Everton last year, I wouldn’t be entirely comfortable with him being pushed into the first team for any length of time at this point. Left-back cover is also lacking – after AssouEkotto, again we’ve got Bale, who is defensively naive (at best), and Naughton, who is right-footed.

Higher quality competition in the middle of midfield would be nice, although I personally still see O’Hara as a useful option (so long as he’s happy to be a bit-part player) and, against the less athletic teams, Huddlestone has proven in the past that he can do a job too.

The other area that looks weak is central defence. With King only playing 20 games a season or so, and Woodgate needing a hernia op, we’re thin on the ground. Dawson is an able deputy and was, in my opinion, more impressive than Woodgate last year when called upon, but Corluka certainly looks less comfortable at centre back, and Dervite is still very, very raw. It seems that there’s a genuine interest in Bassong, which would make sense, as a pacy defender would be good cover for Ledley King. Personally I’d rather take Distin as a cheaper and more experienced option.

Up front, I still feel that we’re lacking a strong, aggressive striker. All of our strikers are, in one way or another, quite limited, and the combinations that we can field are similarly limited – it’s basically Crouch and one other! But the strikers we have are all good players, and most teams in the PL would be happy to have our selection. They aren’t perfect, but they’re good enough for the time being.

And that is why, with another 26 days until the transfer window closes, I hope that Harry largely decides to stick with what he’s got. It’s a good enough squad to compete for Europe, and we can build from there next summer.