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“Yes, it does seem to be a problem. Rafa can’t run back and chase the full-back. Against the better teams it is a problem.

Rafa’s best position is in the middle, playing just behind the front man. The only problem is that Jermain Defoe plays there too and Jermain is playing very, very well at the moment.

So, I guess I have got a decision to make, haven’t I? I suppose it’s now between Rafa and Jermain over who plays in the team.

Rafa is a terrific footballer. He has great skill. But if you’re in the team and asked to do a job, really, you should just do it.”

There were Harry Redknapp’s comments this week in The Sun, after van der Vaart had questioned the logic of playing him on the right.

Of course football is a squad game, and players rarely play in every match anymore. It is also great to have these sorts of selections dilemmas – a player as good as Sandro would not be on many benches (he’d be in my starting XI nine times out of ten!), and Defoe would be a regular in the majority of Premier League teams.

Assuming that Adebayor is a mainstay in the side (and he certainly should be at the moment), Redknapp has two options when picking his strongest eleven – if he wants to play Defoe, he can play van der Vaart on the right, as against Arsenal. If he decides, as he seems to have in the comments above, that this not appropriate, he needs to choose between the two for the second striker role.

In this article I will compare van der Vaart and Defoe, but first I would like to look at van der Vaart’s performance against Arsenal.

1. Rafael van der Vaart play on the right in a 4-4-2

Against Arsenal we almost played a combination of 4-4-2 and 4-2-3-1, but with Parker and Modric as the two “holding players”. Clearly Modric is not a disciplined holder (and we wouldn’t want him to be), so Parker was left doing a lot of the leg-work in midfield. Van der Vaart drifted from his starting position of right midfield (as we expected that he would), and did it to good effect in the attacking third – scoring once, feeding Parker for a one-on-one chance, and also being heavily involved in Adebayor’s excellent one-on-one chance.

Defensively, though, he has been questioned by many. In my Analysis of the goal conceded against Arsenal (02/10) I point out that he is slow to close Song down. However, this goal essentially stemmed from a corner, and then our failure to re-organise as a team – van der Vaart actually chases Song from the other side of the penalty area, whilst no other players react or try to get close to him. To say, then, that this goal came about due to the nature of the formation is incredibly harsh. What is fair, though, is that Arsenal had a lot of possession, and could have used the ball better down our right, with Walker having little protection ahead of him.

My solution (and I pointed this out pre-match), would have been to play Sandro and Parker holding, as per the Wigan game. With Modric, Bale and van der Vaart inter-changing ahead of them we have plenty of offensive options, whilst with two dedicated holders, we are able to cover the central areas whilst also able to cover the full-back areas where necessary – this is often the case in 4-2-3-1 formations, where full-backs push forward to provide width. However, this would have involved dropping Defoe, which takes me on to my second point.

2. Defoe or van der Vaart?

Redknapp states that Defoe is playing “very, very well” at the moment. This could be a classic case of a manager talking up a player to help build his confidence, but it could be that Redknapp genuinely thinks that Defoe is in red hot form (as many fans also seem to think).

Looking at Defoe’s contribution this season, it’s firstly important to note that he has already scored two league goals – half of his contribution last season. It is good to see him scoring again, and long may it continue.

The minutes per goal or assist for Adebayor, van der Vaart and Defoe, however, is interesting:

Emmanuel Adebayor 355 total mins 3 goals 2 assists – 71.00
Rafael van der Vaart 367 total mins 2 goals 2 assists – 91.75
Jermain Defoe 390 total mins 2 goals 1 assist 130.0

The minutes per goal, where many would suspect that Defoe would have better stats, is also interesting:

Emmanuel Adebayor 355 total mins 3 goals 118.3
Rafael Van Der Vaart 367 total mins 2 goals 183.5
Jermain Defoe 390 total mins 2 goals 195.0

Obviously it is early days, but this follows the pattern from last year, where Defoe’s “productivity” (to put it crudely) was well below that of van der Vaart and Pavlyuchenko.

In contrast to Redknapp’s “very, very good” I have regularly been tweeting that Defoe has been on the periphery of games, albeit working hard to pressurise defenders (which should be a bear minimum). I thought it would be interesting to look at his involvement in our play in our league games so far – thanks to WhoScored.com there are stats available on the number of touches each player has in games.

• Against Manchester United, Defoe had the least number of touches of any player (from either team). NB: Walker and Corluka played 45 minutes each, so I combined their touches.
• Against Wolverhampton Wanderers, Defoe also had the least number of touches of any player (35 – the next least for Spurs was Friedel with 58).
• Against Liverpool, only Kranjcar (28) had less touches than Defoe (34), and he had 40 fewer minutes on the pitch.
• And finally, against Arsenal, Defoe had the least touches of the ball (36) of all of our outfield players (including van der Vaart (39), who played 26 minutes less).

I will not try to suggest that touches of the ball show the impact that a player has in a match, but it is certainly a valid criteria on which one can judge a player’s involvement. A striker cannot always be expected to have constant involvement, but van der Vaart managed 81 touches in his 81 minutes against Wigan, playing just a little deeper than Defoe did against Arsenal (see image below). Clearly Arsenal and Wigan are very different teams, but 81 touches is more than twice Defoe’s maximum number of touches in a game so far – van der Vaart gets far more involved when he plays the second striker role.

Taking into account all of the stats – goals, assists and involvement in play – Redknapp’s summation makes me wonder – if Defoe is playing “very, very well”, how does he think van der Vaart is doing?

Many will argue that it is too early in the season to start judging any of our players. I would therefore add that last year, when partnered with far inferior strikers to Adebayor, van der Vaart managed 13 goals and 8 assists in 28 starts in his first season in the Premier League.

Defoe has only bettered that Premier League goal tally once in his entire career, when he scored 18 goals two years ago (of course eight of those goals were scored in two games – against Wigan and Hull). He got 8 assists in 2002/3 his most in the last five years is 4.

Defoe certainly has a place in some games, but in games where we need to select our best eleven players it’s a no-brainer for me – van der Vaart scores as many (or at least nearly as many), gets more assists, and has more influence on our play. He doesn’t always have the stamina to last 90 minutes, and he isn’t the most mobile but in my opinion he should be one of the first names on the team sheet.

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Aaron Ramsey’s goal – a Song run down the right causes havoc in the Spurs defence, and his cross finds Ramsey in space to finish.

Arsenal sustain some pressure after a corner, and Kaboul heads away after a cross is put deep into our penalty area.

The ball lands at Song’s feet, and with van der Vaart slow to close him down, and no other players having pushed out following the clearance, he takes the opportunity to run down the right hand side.

Van der Vaart is very slow to get across and put pressure on Song, and Walker is holding his position to try to protect the near post. Note the four Arsenal players against three in the middle of our penalty area, where we have failed to re-organise effectively.


Song gets to the byline, having totally evaded van der Vaart and, although Walker is fairly well-positioned, he has plenty of players to aim at. Kaboul has got his positioning wrong, and now has three Arsenal players between him and the ball.

Song’s pass is a good one, and Ramsey’s run to the near post makes it easy for him to finish over Friedel.

Redknapp played a risky game, changing formation from the previous Premier League win at Wigan, where we effectively played a 4-2-3-1, with Parker in deep midfield alongside Sandro, and opting to go with Defoe and Adebayor up front. This left us with a problem of three Arsenal central midfield players against two of ours and, as a result, they dominated possession throughout (62% according to Opta).

Arsenal play with a very high defensive line and, whilst we exploited this on a number of occasions, we could have done so more often had our strikers been able to stay onside. Also, had Sandro started, he would have given us the energy and extra body to allow us to win the ball higher up the pitch, and spring that high line on the counter attack. As it was, Parker and Modric generally had to get back behind the ball as quickly as possible and maintain shape whilst waiting for Arsenal to give the ball away.

Had Arsenal been confident and on top form they may have punished us but, in truth, despite their possession, they barely created any clear cut chances; their only real chance coming when van Persie beat Kaboul on the touchline before finding Gervinho, who steered the ball wide.

At the other end, Arsenal’s sloppy passing and collectively poor defending meant that we had three one-on-ones (Adebayor, Parker, Bale) amongst other good chances (the ball falling to Modric in the box from a corner for example).

I have seen lots of criticism for Rafael van der Vaart, suggesting that his continual drifting from his starting position on the right caused us problems; I must disagree. He scored a goal (having drifted in-field) and was involved in several other key moments and, whilst he didn’t have his best game, his “drifting” for me is a positive. The key issue, though, is that we need to have two defensive midfield players capable of covering in the full-back areas, as is often the case in a 4-2-3-1. In summary – van der Vaart from the right is good, but only with two holding players.

A word on Scott Parker, who I was not overly keen on signing (as I thought he was on the decline) – how wrong I was. I’m still not quite sure how he managed to keep going for the full 90 – he was clearly cramping up, he looked totally dead on his feet (having competed in a 3 vs 2 situation for such a long period), and yet he still made bursts forward. His stats were incredibly impressive – he made the most attempted passes in our team (40), had the highest success rate (88%), made the most tackles (7) and the joint highest interceptions (3). Fantastic performance from him!

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Stephen Rice’s goal – Cudicini parries a firmly struck free kick from McCabe, a first time effort is slammed in low, and Rice deftly lifts it over the goalkeeper.

A McCabe free kick is curled to the far post – Cudicini gets two hands to it but, instead of putting it round the post, he parries it back out into the area.


Twigg is running on to the ball at the edge of the box. Note Bassong’s position – he has neither pushed out to play off-side, nor tried to cover part of the goal line. Instead, he is playing the eventual goal-scorer onside and stood in Cudicini’s line of sight.

Twigg strikes the ball well, and the onside Rice gets a foot to his effort.

It’s quick thinking from Rice, who dinks the ball over Cudicini, who is left helpless.

Overall it was a good performance from a Spurs team which included ten changes from the line-up against Wigan (only Walker survived). We held the midfield well, with Livermore and Carroll constantly picking up loose balls and feeding our attacking players. Giovani was bright and creative, although did not always pick the right option, and Danny Rose was typically industrious from left back, making surge after surge forward.

The big disappointment in the first half was the performance of our strikers; Defoe, who barely got involved, and Pavlyuchenko, who wasted some good opportunities. In the second half, our forwards looked hungrier (although not always wiser), and we had a lot more cutting edge to our play, particularly after going one down. Townsend came on for Lennon and provided direct running and good deliveries, one of which created our opener.

I would expect nine or ten changes for Arsenal game, with Walker and possibly Defoe retaining places (although personally I’d stick with the team that beat Wigan last weekend).

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Currently we have the following players out on loan:

Premier League
Steven Caulker – Swansea City (season)
Kyle Naughton – Norwich City (season)
Jermaine Jenas – Aston Villa (season)

Championship
Bongani Khumalo – Reading (season)
Ryan Mason – Doncaster (season)
David Bentley – West Ham (season)

League One
Nathan Byrne – Bournemouth (season)
Jon Obika – Yeovil Town (January)
Adam Smith – MK Dons (season)
David Button – Leyton Orient (January)
Ben Alnwick – Leyton Orient (one month)

Other
Simon Dawkins – San Jose Earthquakes (December)
Mirko Ranieri – FC Esperia Viareggio (season)

Now returned:

Oscar Jansson – Bradford City
Kudus Oyenuga – Bury

Steven Caulker had made an excellent start to the season with Swansea City, playing against Man City, Wigan, Sunderland and Arsenal, Swansea’s defence keeping two clean sheets in those games.

Unfortunately, during the Arsenal game he made a goal line clearance and clashed with the woodwork, damaging his knee cartilage in the process. He is expected to miss 6-8 weeks in total, and 2 of those have already passed.

The Swansea fans seem very happy with him so far – some comments from the Swansea forums after the Wigan game:

“An absolute beast today.

Won everything in the air.”

“Can’t believe he’s only 19.

He’s fantastic in the air and very comfortable on the ball”
“He really does impress me, for somebody so young he shows maturity beyond his years football wise”

And after the Sunderland game:

“Is it me or does Caulker look an absolute rolls royce of a centre half”

“Caulker is strong, quick and has good instincts. He’ll be hell of a player in a couple of years.”

Hopefully Steven’s injury will heal quickly and he will be able to get straight back into the swing of things.

Kyle Naughton has forced himself into the Norwich City starting eleven with some impressive showings. Paul Lambert initially seemed keen to stick with Russell Martin at right back, who did so well for them last year, but Naughton has now started four out of five Premier League matches, and has not really put a foot wrong.

He was recently interviewed for a local paper, and said all the right things:

“I haven’t really spoken to Spurs much. When I go out on loan I like to just try to get my head down and concentrate on the club that I’m playing for.”

Jermaine Jenas joined Aston Villa on a season-long loan at the end of the transfer window, but has yet to play a part for them due to niggling injuries. He will be looking to cement himself in the Villa midfield, although has competition from Bannan and Delph.

Bongani Khumalo is currently out of the reckoning at Reading having played the opening five games of the season for them.

There were some relatively good fan comments after his first few games – these after his debut:

“Khumalo – 6.5 not as good as I was expecting but didn’t do a lot wrong.”

“Khumalo – 6 composed and decent in the air but made mistakes”

“Federici then compounds their errors (as he did with the first) and then both Griffin and Khumalo fail to cut out Marquis’ header as you’d hope they might.”

And these after their 2-0 win against Leicester:

“Khumalo – Better than I predicted. Good block.”

“Kumalo – 8 – really good today, won a lot of good headers, took no chances”

“Khumalo also made a superb diving tackle block (think of Sonko’s Superman incident but with legs rather than face) with the Leicester forward having a free shot on goal begging from 10 yards.”

“Khumalo had a stormer today, I like the look of him already.”

“Looked very assured today in the little he had to do. Looked a good relationship between him and Pearce.”

However, things started to turn after the 2-1 home defeat to Barnsley:

“What the hell was Federici doing not coming for that first one!? There was no one in his way. His all the way. Fricking useless. Poor from Khumalo too.”

And after the League Cup defeat against League One Charlton, the comments were even worse:

“our 3 first teamers (Harte, Khumalo and Captain MArvel) were our worst players. Khumalo no control whatsoever (was this one of Redknapp’s dodgy buys???)”

“Too early to write him off, but it is a horrendous start. Positioning woeful, does not look confident, passing slapdash, looks out of his depth, will cost us goals galore.”

“In central defence, Khumalo looks too raw and unpredictable. I have just read a McDermott quote saying we need a central defender to calm us down and that has to refer in part to Khumalo. To be honest I don’t know who was supposed to be marking Euell for his goal but in general I thought Morrison looks slightly the better of the two central defenders”

“Khumalo – 4 Doesn’t seem to be able to judge a header at all, and balls went over him a number of times.”

“Khumalo – 2 no awareness, no positioning, can’t head, can’t mark, can’t pass, can’t control it. Got a bit of pace though.”

He missed last week’s match because he was having his wisdom teeth removed, but played for Reading’s reserves in midweek, so there was talk of him being involved this weekend. He was not named on the bench, however, and so I am starting to wonder why we have not recalled him and sent him elsewhere.

Ryan Mason had a decent start for Doncaster before injury yet again got the better of him. He started in their 2-1 defeat to Brighton, and had a decent game.

A comment on a Doncaster forum:

“Also thought Mason did very well – tried to get on the ball and make things happen. If he can play like that he’ll be an asset this season.”

He then scored in their 3-0 League Cup win against Tranmere, playing off the striker, with a free role in a 4-2-3-1. Unfortunately he was also stretchered off after a bad tackle, later tweeting “Not too happy about the tackle that’s put me on crutches! What can ya do it’s football.. Will let u know how bad it is as soon as I find out”.

A real shame, as the fans were impressed:

Fan comments:

“Gutted, and it took the gloss of a good team performance. Mason was MOM for me, followed by Oster and Bennett.”

“Oster, Gilly and Mason where unplayable in the first half and Browny put himself about.”

“Mason my Motm by a country mile!”

Ryan is now nearing full fitness again, although a lot has changed at Doncaster since he last played, with Sean O’Driscoll sacked and Dean Saunders brought in as manager. Ryan gave this interview to the Doncaster website yesterday:

After six week out of action attacking midfielder Ryan Mason is now ready to get back to playing.

“It’s just good to be back out there on the training pitch”, said Mason.

After a promising start to the season for Ryan, frustration was the emotion going through his head after being stretchered off in only the second game.

“I was gutted.”

“I started the first two games of season, to get injured was probably the worst feeling I’ve had in football – hopefully I’m past that now and I can get some more games under my belt.”

“It frustrating not being able to get involved, I just wanted to get back playing as soon as possible – no footballer likes to be out injured.”

The hard work put in by the back room staff has payed off, with Mason training with the rest of the squad this week.

“If I’m honest its probably tougher being injured, you’re in the earliest and you leave the latest, you’re constantly doing stuff whether it be in the pool or the gym – It’s been a long process but I’m raring to go.”

“I trained Monday and Tuesday, it’s good to be back out there after sitting on the sidelines for six weeks.”

“I want to play; I feel if I’m fit enough to train then I’m fit enough to play.”

“Six weeks out is a long time out to be chucked straight back in – but I think I’m ready if I get called upon.”

Nathan Byrne has had a rocky start to his loan at Bournemouth, and now finds himself on the treatment table as well.

A few fan comments after his debut – very mixed reaction:

“Byrne – Poor debut, hesitant and awful distribution. Hope this was just a bad day for him.”

“Second came from a needlessly conceded corner by Byrne and third Wright-Phillips made a meal of a challenge and turned it into a penalty.”

“Byrne I thought he did ok but where was Feeney in front of him.”

“Lyle Taylor having quite an effect on the game by the sounds of it and was unlucky not to win us a pen. Nathan Byrne impressed as well.”

Fan comments after their 5-0 win against Dagenham & Redbridge:

“After a poorish first half, I thought Byrne had a great second half and linked up well with Feeney.

These two could cause a lot of problems to the opposition as the season progresses and they get to understand each other’s play.”

“byrne had a great second half”

He scored an own goal in a 2-1 defeat to Carlisle:

“Byrne – Doesn’t have the same physical presence as Smith and although he linked up well with Feeney, particularly in the first half, he had a torrid time in the second half when he was often left to defend against two attackers, with very little support from Feeney, or any of the others. I felt a little sorry for him actually. The own goal was not his fault at all (5)”

Having started the season at right back, Nathan found himself pushed into midfield in his last few appearances. He has stated twelve games for Bournemouth, which will stand him in good stead for the rest of the season, but he unfortunately sustained an ankle ligament injury in the win against Exeter.

Jon Obika is another who has had an injury lay-off, which has stopped him playing regularly for Yeovil Town, where he is on loan until January. He played their first three league games, and was a substitute in their League Cup defeat to Exeter, but picked up a knee injury, and may require surgery. He was told to rest for four weeks, at which point he will be sent back to the surgeon, and I read this week that he has returned to Spurs for treatment.

Adam Smith has had a very good start to his season-long loan at MK Dons, playing eight times before picking up a knock.

After his debut, their manager Karl Robinson was full of praise:

Adam Smith was handed his debut for the Dons less than 12 hours after completing his loan move from Tottenham Hotspur, but the right-back looked natural on the ball and more than comfortable in the Dons’ team.

“Adam is a great footballer, he’s classy, elegant, not the biggest but he can play. He can pass, take people on, I really him, he looked like he had been here all pre-season, you wouldn’t think he had trained in a five-a-side yesterday and just turned up to play today.”

Smith’s strong displays have earned him an England U21 call-up, but he recently picked up an ankle injury in a tackle in the game against Huddersfield and has missed a couple of games so far.

David Button is yet another injured loanee. He joined Leyton Orient until January towards the end of August, and played just two games before sustaining a shoulder injury which could keep him out for two months.

There was a nice interview with David on the Leyton Orient website after his debut, where he talks about his friendship with ex-Spur Lee Butcher.

With Button injured, Orient signed Ben Alnwick for a month to cover for him, but now he has got injured too! He played three league games in a week, only to suffer a groin injury and miss the next couple.

The comments about his performances were generally quite positive:

“Had me worried a few times in the first half and his kicking don’t seem all that.

However made a couple of cracking saves in the second.”

“Exactly, one or two stray kicks, his throwing is excellent and his eye for a quick release is great.

Very good keeper who played at championship clubs and done well.”

“Did well but I thought he could have done better for the Col U goal….”

David Bentley has made three substitute appearances for West Ham so far, implying perhaps that he is not up to speed fitness-wise. Allardyce’s comments after his first appearance were quite telling:

“David Bentley came on and his quality of passing opened the opposition up more. The additions before the window shut look exciting, I’ve got to say.”

“Whereas David Bentley, Joey O’Brien and George McCartney had basically been discarded by the clubs they were at and had not got the right amount of training, so it’ll take some time for them to catch up.”

This week he was relatively complimentary again:

“The substitutes made us even better and John Carew looked more like his old self; David Bentley came on as well and gave us a bit more down the right, not that I was disappointed in Carlton Cole or Julien Faubert. But it’s nice to know your subs can come up and take things a little higher again.”

Simon Dawkins is a regular starter for San Jose Earthquakes, where he is on loan until December. He has now made 15 starts and 7 substitute appearances for them since March, including five starts in a row since the end of August.

Dawkins was recently included in an article called “24 under 24” on the MLS website:

One of the most exciting new arrivals of 2011 in MLS. The Englishman — on loan from the EPL’s Tottenham Hotspur — has shown he is capable of providing a jolt to the Earthquakes attack with his ability to keep opposing defenses on their heels. His speed, quickness and aggressive dribbling have made him an ideal support forward or playmaker, helping to fill the void left by the departure of Geovanni. However, injury setbacks have limited Dawkins’ contributions after he got off to an explosive start to the campaign.

What the TDs and coaches say: “Excellent dribbler who can break guys down on the dribble … He’s not a guy you want running at you … Scores and he’s hungry for it … When he’s on, he’s a difference-maker on the field and it’s all based on the dribble. He’s a decent passer, but it’s all about the ball being at his feet … He looks to pull the trigger and if you give him time and space he can hurt you … If he’s not facing the goal, he’s less of a threat. His weakness is playing with his back to goal.”

Oscar Jansson has returned to us from Bradford City having made just three appearances. In his debut he was thrown into a local derby with Leeds in the League Cup, where he had a decent game and wasn’t at fault for any of the three goals conceded. He was released by Bradford after they signed the experienced Matt Duke at the end of the transfer window, with manager Phil Parkinson making positive noises:

“I’d like to thank Oscar for all his efforts during his time here.

In the short period that I’ve been at the club, he has been no problems at all and always trained in a professional manner.

I am sure that fans will remember Oscar fondly, especially thanks to his penalty saves in the Sheffield Wednesday match

Unfortunately for Oscar though, we cannot sustain three goalkeepers on books at the moment with Dukey and Jon [McLaughlin] here as well.”

Kudus Oyenuga returned to us at the end of his one month loan with Bury having made three appearances – substitute appearances in League One and the League Cup, and a start in the Johnstones Paint Trophy. He will be looking for another loan move as soon as possible, and has been linked with Exeter.

Young goalkeeper Mirko Ranieri is on loan at FC Esperia Viareggio in the third tier of Italian football. Funnily enough I have not been able to find any information on his progress there!