Spurs recall Jake Livermore amid a central midfield injury crisis… but who is he?

Jake Livermore became well-known amongst Spurs fans when he scored against Barcelona in the Wembley Cup (more highlights here), having been involved with the first-team for much of pre-season.

He has spent the majority of this season on-loan in the Championship. He started off at Derby County, where he made 11 starts, and 5 sub appearances. Towards the end of his spell there, he was finding it difficult to get into their side, so he was brought back and sent to Peterborough United. He impressed their fans in his 9 starts there – some of my previous articles cover updates on his progress (Spurs loanee update 11/02/10, Spurs loanee update 17/01/10).

The last time I personally saw him play (aside from his 10 minute goal-scoring cameo against Barcelona!) was in another pre-season friendly, against Aldershot – here’s what I wrote about his performance:


Livermore – whilst he provided a solid base and tried to get the ball down quickly and keep things simple, he didn’t really excel. He showed some solid defensive positioning, and some responsible tracking back, but he’s playing in the area of the pitch where you’d hope for possession to be kept, and we surrendered the ball far too easily at times. 7/10
This season – he has been heavily involved with the first team during pre-season which could show that he’s highly thought of, or could show that he’s this year’s Pekhart (involved early on, and then swiftly sent to the Czech Republic on loan!). I would imagine that he’ll go out on loan for the first few months of the season. He’s a strong lad, so could cope with the rigours of the Championship if a side wants to take a gamble.

And here was what I wrote about his performance against Arsenal reserves last April:

Livermore © – He shields the ball in a way that reminds me of Jenas. He was not afraid to play simple passes (unlike his midfield partner, who seemed to want to try too much). He positions himself pretty well, and also has a decent engine. Seems to be a solid player, but perhaps lacks the vision or ability in the final third. Having said that, he took his goal very well indeed, pouncing on a defensive error and slotting home. 6/10

Chances of him being at Spurs next season? I think it’s important to remember that injury has totally ruined Jake’s season. He was all set to be at Crewe for the entire season, but broke his leg during pre-season and has only just come back in the last month. I’m left wondering whether he’ll ever recover from that set back. 7/10


As I mentioned above, he had a long spell out of football with a broken leg, which unfortunately cut short his loan spell at Crewe in 2008/9. Prior to that he spent time at MK Dons, where he mde 5 sub appearances.

So will we see him?

With Huddlestone and Jenas out in the medium-term, Palacios is our only fit central midfielder. However, Palacios is currently on nine bookings, and will receive a two-match ban when he receives his tenth yellow card.

If we want to stick with 4-4-2, we have the option of moving Modric into the centre, but on previous showings he tends to get outmuscled and overrun in there, and has certainly shown his best form when playing from the left.

Alternatively, Kaboul could continue where he left off on Sunday; I felt that he did a reasonable job, but he is not ideally-suited to this role. Finally, we still have O’Hara at Portsmouth, but it’s unlcear whether we have a recall option. Regardless of that, given his recent comments about wanting to leave in the summer, it’s unlikely that we’ll see the best of him were he to come back temporarily, and we may be better off leaving him there.

So Livermore is a genuine contender to get some game-time, particularly if Palacios were to pick up his tenth booking on Saturday.

Join the conversation

  1. If we can get Ohara back...WE MUST?! he should never have been loaned out a second time!
  2. what about Bostock....?
  3. Great post

    I wish Harry hadn't kept Jamie loaned out. What the hell was he thinking? No team can chase success on two fronts with only three CM's. Utterly bizarre
  4. We can't recall Jamie O'Hara... against Premier League rules I'm afraid.

    I think Jake is a decent player and is probably better suited to the premiership than the lower leagues as he does have a bit of class about him and is not really a bruiser. Could work well.
  5. does anyone know for sure if can he be recalled a second time?
  6. Bostock is a much more attacking player, and if it came to that, we may as well just play Modric or Kranjcar centrally.

    I'd imagine that on Saturday we'll line up:

    Gomes
    Corluka Dawson Bassong Assou-Ekotto
    Kranjcar Modric Palacios Bale
    Pavlyuchenko Defoe

    Alnwick
    Crouch
    Gudjohnsen
    Kaboul
    Walker
    Rose
    Livermore
  7. Aren't Kaboul and Walker cup-tied?
  8. Good stuff Windy. I liked what I saw of Livermore in pre-season (Barca, Celtic & B'mouth) but I worry that someone who has never represented England at any level, and not really shone out on loan must be pretty limited.
  9. robdacat - you're quite right, they are. So that will mean Dervite and an U18 player on the bench too.
  10. It'll probably be the young lad Kane as he's already been on the bench a few times this season.

    Foggy.
  11. According to FA website Palacios is on 8 yellows.
    Not good news but slightly better.
  12. No recall option for O'Hara, I'm afraid.
    Think the idea of letting hmi go out on loan was that 'Arry and Levy basically believed the Sandro deal to be done and dusted (suppoesdly had a medical at the Lane). Sadly, then, the bottom somehow fell out of that deal.
    Besides, I have suspected all along that the O'Hara business has largely been down to a desire to sweeten Pompey up in order to take all of their players of them (including Kaboul, in Jan.).
  13. Up until now, I truly believed we would be able to recall O'Hara. Feeling uneasy knowing it may not be possible after all.
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  15. Our loan policy is bizarre. It may make some sense on an individual by individual basis but its fucked the team.

    We have three players on our books who could massively have eased our injury crisis

    Gio could slot into RW

    O'hara could slot into CM nicely

    Naughton would be good cover for Charlie - better than kaboul and he isn't cup tied so could have played last week. Would let Charlie cover CM

    This 'crisis' is largely self-inflicted I'm afraid, and it will cost us dear
  16. will livermore play against portsmouth?
  17. It's possible, especially if Palacios, Bassong and Walker are all out, as that would mean Kaboul would need to play at the back.

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