The Jol Verdict

From the official site:

There was no hiding Martin Jol's disappointment after our openng day defeat at Sunderland.

Michael Chopra pounced to score the only goal of the game in injury time at the Stadium of Light.

Chances were few and far between - Paul Robinson made the only two saves of note before Chopra won it for the home side.

Apart from an impressive debut from Younes Kaboul in central defence, Martin had little to smile about.

"We didn't play well and didn't create as many chaces as I would have liked," reflected a downcast Martin at the Stadium of Light. "Even a 0-0 draw would have been disappointing.

"When you don't play well a 0-0 draw is still a 0-0 draw and we have to learn how to protect that. We didn't and I could come up with excuses, but I won't.

"We had players out but we were still strong enough. It was the first match and we were determined to do well but it didn't happen."

Martin revealed that Michael Dawson sprained his ankle in training on Friday, forcing him out of the squad and a late reshuffle with Anthony Gardner coming in to partner Kaboul.

"I thought Anthony did a good job as did Kaboul, who had a very good debut for us, but that's not enough," added Martin.

"We needed more urgency because if you score in the first half you create pressure, but we didn't do that and made it difficult for ourselves. If we don't score, it's always a possibility that the other team will score and that's what happened."

I wonder how good we would be if Jose was the manager. As for the above, it's more of the 'feeling sorry for ourselves' BS, that littered last season. Still no belief I'm afraid.

How does one be 'determined to do well' yet fail miserably? Obviously not determined enough.

And as for this gem:

"We needed more urgency because if you score in the first half you create pressure, but we didn't do that and made it difficult for ourselves. If we don't score, it's always a possibility that the other team will score and that's what happened."

...it doesn't need a footnote really, does it?

My season ticket has arrived, so I'll be present at the home game. I can only hope its not a re-run of last seasons home defeat against Everton. If so, I'll offer Martin a seat in the taxi home.

NEWSFLASH! Nothing has changed

Missing in Action: Creativity, Drive and Fluidness
Sunderland 1 Spurs 0

Hardly any shots on goal. No creativity. No dominating possession play. Two shots on goal. Gutless last 5 minutes. 93rd minute home goal.

The whole summer spent waiting for this day, and it feels like having your head pushed down the toilet and flushed.

Elsewhere, Newcastle destroyed Bolton in the first half. City started life under Sven with a bang, and that Petrov bloke doesn't look half bad. Its a depressing way to start the season. Take note of the fact that Newcastle were 3-0 up inside 29 minutes. Where was the urgency from the us today? Stuck on the fucking motorway, obviously.

5th spot is not guaranteed. Other clubs have done enough to warrant competition and have displayed that hope in the form of an opening day win. Unlike us. These are the games and points that are the final difference at the end of the season. Eight points adrift of Arsenal last term because of displays like this.

Right, and onwards to today's performance review.

This game had 0-0 written all over it, and yet we some how dug deep enough to allow Sunderland to nick it at its very death. To be quite frank, we deserved nothing more. Would Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal or Liverpool leave the Stadium of Light with zero points? I doubt it very fucking much.

Sunderland were ineffective, yet that's obviously not enough for us to take some kind of advantage. How many times are we going to persist in giving away points in the final seconds?

I don't accept any excuse for this performance, and how tragic for our fans to travel all the way up there to witness a bland average display of football. But then that's what happens when you spend £40M on reserve players.

Midfield was pedestrian. Zokora running into people with the ball. Jenas, utterly embarrassing. No defence splitting passes no slick counter-attacks.

The midfield starved the forward line-up. The defence only had Kaboul as the positive, and in fact, was our best player. Even looked superb going forward. Gardner has me sitting with my heart in my mouth, chewing it like a fruit pastel.

Jenas. Got to come back to him again. What was any different to his performance today as the one given by Ghaly in the infamous 'subbed sub shirt throwing' game of last season? JJ was wasteful, sideways and played akin to a porn star in a gang-bang flick who's lost his penis to leprosy and instead had a feather strapped to his groin. Jermaine Feathercock: Impossible to penetrate, tickling tackle and a touch that makes everyone laugh.

Zokora was even worse than Jenas.

Four central midfielders lining up in midfield. I'm gonna state this a few times in this blog entry, but how many times are we going to question Jol's selection....again?And if someone cries out 'injuries' - then why not bring in (buy) players that give us depth in positions rather than depth in one position.

Berbatov. Keane. Bent. Defoe. All on the pitch at one time. All doing nothing to appease me or the travelling fans. But maybe that's more to do with the lack of spark from the middle four. Berbatov looked furious when he was replaced. And so he should be. With himself and his team mates. But he should have been left on regardless. Jol, obviously not knowing what to do with four big-name strikers, wanting to try all of them out. Bit naive that. As shit as Berbs was, he can still muster something up. More so than the four stuck in the middle of the park.

Am I knee-jerking? Of course I fucking am. There's nothing else to do.

Spurs hardly ever win their opening game of the season, but as I stated in my preview, its no time to spend dwelling on the past under-achievements as the standard benchmark of excuses. It should be about living up to the hype. And yet we give the world, live on TV, a quintessential flop of a display.

Jol called the performance 'disappointing' and 'boring'. No shit sherlock. What are you gonna do about it for next time? I await to see how the players and manager react at home against Everton on Tuesday. And I have suddenly got déjà vu. Last season started in similar fashion, utterly underwhelming.

And what would I have done? Played Taarabt. Maybe he wasn't fit, but the game was crying out for a player with his type of quality. Unlike the quality of Huddlestone, who should not have been subbed on by Jol. He can't settle into a game with 4 minutes left, and that was proved in those four minutes with some poor touches and giving away freekicks. And this shows how bad things are in practice. Wishing we had an 18 year old available to select. Where is the imagination? Why have we failed to purchase width and a true world class central midfielder?

Tuesday, against Everton. Second game in. Must win.

I could rant about this forever. Where's my medication?

Kick up the backside we deserved, I'm sure is what people will comfort themselves with. I'm going to comfort myself with some Absinthe and a £200-per-hour hooker. I'll fucking show those over-paid gits how to stick it in.

Dawson Injured

Apparently he picked up an ankle knock in training. Gardner will play.

Dear God no.......

The Starting Eleven:

Robinson
Chimbonda
Stalteri
Gardner
Kaboul
Tainio
Jenas
Zokora
Malbranque
Berbatov
Keane

subs: Cerny, Rocha, Huddlestone, Defoe, Bent.

Season 2008 Preview

So here we are again. The summer almost over, the football season once more providing us the only sunshine we can enjoy. Last season was one that wilted at the wrong times, on three occasions. It brought just four points from a possible twenty-four against the ‘big four’.

It brought disappointing away form that killed any chance of another prolonged stay in 4th spot. But whereas the season before last we could blame a hotel and its under-cooked meal, last year we could only look as far as ourselves. The manager and the players got us into 5th spot, almost apologetically on the final game of the season. The cup games ended in not so much in brave glory but more self-inflicted agony.

And now its 2008. Bent, Kaboul, Bale, Taraabt, Boateng, Rose, Berchiche all signed. No left-winger. King and Lennon both out injured and missing pre-season. Players already there, such as Dawson and Zokora will (hopefully) continue to improve.

The much maligned Jeans (Mr 16km per game) blocks, chases and harrys like no other – but with one weakness. He’s Steven Gerrard with a fear of round leather balls. Seems controlling the football is a task too difficult for him to handle.

Lennon, when he does return will need to place aside his bling to allow for better balance when crossing the ball. King, god bless him, we can only hope that when he returns he remains injury free. Without King, we are sometimes just about average. Though Kaboul may allow the next few months to be less painful as many would imagine.

Bent, even for the money spent, is looking like money well spent. Keane will always be in the thick of things, and Berbatov is the talisman that will hold the key to a sustained challenge.
As for the young lads.

Bale will be special, and finally we have someone who knows how to get a free-kick on target.

Taraabt – according to Jol – is potentially the most talented player we have at the club. Somehow I don’t think this is another Blondel waiting to happen. But his progression and development will be imperative to his success, and looking across to Defoe you wonder how the young lad will blossom. Defoe has done nothing more than stagnate. But maybe that’s not a coaching problem. Maybe that’s down to the player and his own mentality. I say keep him raw. Don’t try to Sven him by asking him to think. Just let him do what he does best. Instinctive, brutal finishing.

Kevin-Prince Boateng is like a suped-up version of Ghaly, with the addition of actually being a decent footballer. Half of Germany will tell you he’s brilliant, the other half will tell you he’s hot headed and not half as good as he can be. Not productive enough apparently, and fancy footwork wont hide that fact in the Prem. I’m looking forward to seeing the progress of this player more than anyone.

Seems that pre-season, more than ever, the media continue to praise us and politely inform their readers and listeners that we are a team with a bright future and one that is no longer categorised as laughable when suggestions are made on our credentials.

Although part of me firmly believes it’s a way for them to hack us down if things don’t go well, I’ve made the executive decision to remain positive in time for the kick-off to the 2008 season.

Even Jose and Fergie are talking about us. Times have changed.

Yes, yes. Hypocrite this hypocrite that. He’s up and down like a yo-yo that Spooky. Yes, well, I did say a month or two back that I would be more open-minded and less critical unless there is substantial reason to be so.

Today is day zero. I will not sit in the past, but instead look to the present. The canvas is untouched, and Martin Jol, with brush in hand is free to paint our future. If he cuts his ear off then we’re in the shit but at least he wont be able to hear half of the abuse.

It’s well known that I have hang-ups about the simple things we can’t get right (set pieces, defending corners etc) and the horrid choking we suffer each time we think we might win when it matters, but don’t.

I’ll assume that this won’t be a problem this season. We have Sunderland away. Opening day. Live on Sky Sports. Traditionally, this would mean we lose. Its against a promoted side, so that choking we do so well would be the main talking point at the final whistle. Well, I say. It’s simply not acceptable. And I don’t mean this in a disrespectful way to Sunderland and their fans.

Most people – not just Spurs fans – except Spurs to finish in the top 5. I demand that we are not out of the top 6 from the first game of the season. None of this shit we had to endure last year. For the money spent over the past 2/3 years it’s now time to step up. Already, people are saying such things like ‘Oh, if we lose, it wont matter. Pressure will be off’. Yes, fantastic insight there.

How is losing against a promoted side when you are expected to finish in the high end of the table, progress?

Spurs have the players. Many, for the future, but enough for the present to be capable of dismantling the likes of Sunderland.

If we lose by getting beat in a great game of football, then that’s fine. If we lose for being shambolic or gutless – then shame. We need to be professional. Ruthless. And who spirit and belief. It’s that fucking simple. That’s it. I cant be arsed to write anything more now. This Diazepam stuff the doctor gave me is making me dizzy.

We continue to sell-out

I can taste vomit in my mouth.

ultimategoalmouth

A seasonal membership of The Goalmouth gives supporters the chance to combine a season ticket in the North Stand with the pleasure of enjoying a pre-match three course meal in our football-themed, fun, family restaurant before each game.

We have a limited number of seasonal membership packages still available that include:

• A match seat in the North West corner accessed directly from the restaurant
• A three course ‘American Diner’ style pre-match meal and half-time refreshments
• Entertainment for young fans including table football, video games, visits from Chirpy and our resident football freestyler, quizzes and competitions

Seasonal Membership Prices

Adult & Child Package - £4,000 plus VAT
Family Package (2 Adults & 2 Children) - £7,000 plus VAT
Price per extra Child - £1,500 plus VAT
Price per extra Adult - £2,000 plus VAT

New For 2007/2008

We now also have an allocation of Goalmouth seasonal memberships for supporters unaccompanied by children priced at £2500 plus VAT per person.

Corporate hell. Levy has found that sonofabitch Chirpy something to appease his ego with. And exactly what is the reasoning behind the 'American Diner' pre-match meal? What's the link? Why not traditional kebabs or pies or bagels? Or is that too common? Of course it is. Note also the amount of money you will need to part with to be part of this 'experience'.

Yes. That's right people. The West Stand invasion of the North Stand has begun. Levy, just you dare try and come near the South Stand. That includes you too Chirpy, you smug yogo-loving motherf*cker with your stupid grin and handshaking skills.

Ticket Fiasco continued...

The League of Lilywhites continues to make the voices of the little people heard. No, not midgets, not that I have anything against them. You just don't seem to see many of them at White Hart Lane. In fact, I don't think I've seen midgets at any Premiership game. They must dislike football. Which is a bit off IMO. I mean, fair enough, they are too small to play the game at a professional level but that doesn't mean they have to turn up their noses at the game altogether. Supporting a club, no matter how big or small, still reaps rewards. Unless you support Leeds. Anyway, I'm not talking about midgets I'm talking about Spurs fans. All little in the shadow of the dark Emperor, Levy.

Here's some damning evidence picked up from GG.net that disgusts me so much, I puked with anger, then licked it up unapologetically only to re-puke it:

You will recall that, when THFC switched their ticketing operations from Seatbooker to eticketing.co.uk, the primary reason given for this change, was the fact that 'they were finding it difficult to sell single seats'. They [THFC] stated that people tended to select single seats, leaving odd empty ones here and there - which, they claim, they could then not sell. Therefore, they chose to do away with seat level selection and, instead, went for an option where you can only select the block...then hope for the best. Great.

Well, sorry THFC, but it looks like Seatbooker would've been able to negate this problem. Take a look at this webpage - one which highlights the problem, and then advertises the fact that they have a solution;

http://home.seatbooker.net/doc_98.html

Again, yet more proof (as if it were ever needed) that THFC took this regressive decision based on one reason only - cost. eticketting.co.uk are able to spread the cost of such operations across their client base, thus making it cheaper to administer, on THFC's behalf. The service now provided is no more reliable, and the experience no more pleasant than that which we received via Seatbooker (bless their cotton socks).

Look at the shambles at receiving ST's this year? Utter joke. Penny pinching THFC at it again - insulting the intelligence of those who pay handsomely through the turnstiles. Not only do they see no harm in providing us with an even worse service than last season, but they now take our money a full SIX weeks in advance - a completely unjustifiable step. Pure and utter greed Shame on you.

No wonder we make so much f*cking profit - the club/company is cutting admin costs all over the place, yet - at the same time, using OUR money to make interest for the company. Maybe we do need to be taken private - remove this ridiculous desire to squeeze every single penny out of the 'loyal support' which they claim to never take for granted. I wouldn't mind if I thought my money - and their profit - was going towards a lovely environment to watch football in. But it isn't - it's still the same decrepit White Hart Lane which has remained virtually unchanged for over 10 years. 'A decision will be made in [insert random mm/yyyy]' they say - yet more prevarication.

~ SM

Money is being drained out of us like a blood thirsty vampire suckling on a pretty girls neck. We (we Spurs fans) are the pretty girl. Yes, we maybe dressed up in a short little number with black heels, but we are in no way asking for it, just because we're walking down a dark alley. See, for all the 'We have money' hype the club spins, what they fail to reference is the fact that its actually our money and it's being spent in the interest of the club and not for our interest. We are the club and the club should be doing us a service, not a dis-service.

The vampire needs to be staked. And I'm happy to step forward as Buffy. In fact, I see myself having more in common with Faith. Rougher round the edges and more unpredictable. Levy continues to open hellmouths, without any suggestion of remorse. It's time to bring a stop to the impending apocalypse.

Spurs Ticket Fiasco

Saturdays home game friendly against Torino will be infamous for what happened off the pitch rather than on it (a 2-0 win to follow on from a 4-2 win against Orient). Seems our ticket office are struggling. First the Seatbooker fiasco and now its all gone Monty Python down at the Lane.

Below is one poor souls account of what happened:

How come in a week when they knew they had this problem they did not let people pick them up instead of giving out bullshit info on the phone and not answering?

On game day they why did they not use all their facilities to hand for the tickets? instead of using 5 windows for what looked like about 5-10,000 people trying to collect?

Will i get a refund for missing a 3rd of the game, the goal from keano and wasting my time on phonecalls, texts and queing in the backing sun? Will I F**K!!!

And what will I do about this? will i abandon going to the Spurs and make a protest? will i form a group to moan at the tickets office and demand some kind of payback for what happened? of course i wont, ill just take it on the chin like i have to and get F**K all for all that waste of my time missing a large portion of the game.

What made matters worse is both my best mates had their eldest Son at their first Spurs games and this was their experience! they go to que in the Sun and miss 30 mins of the match. If this is the shape of ticketing to come at Spurs then we are in for a messed up season. How can it be that hard to organise sending out some tickets for gods sake.

What really miffed me on top of all this was that they que for buying tickets on the day was about a 10% of the que to get pre-paid tickets so i would have been better off just turning up and buying them. And also the woman in the membership office said this to me when i moaned about having pre-paid and not receiving them "have you got proof you have not received them?" in a stern billigerent way. How the F**K do you get proof that you never received them? errr they never came through my door like those other poor sods stood out there missing the game.

Sorry to rant on like this, but today was just total bollocks from a ticketing point of view and i hope its not like this for the rest of the season. Let us pray not anyway.

Phew!

Some fans have received tickets for the Arsenal game and have yet to get their Sunderland away through the post. No defined order or clear process seems to be present. Its as shambolic as a defence with Gary Doherty at the back.

Also, I have yet to receive my season ticket. That's correct. Nothing in the post with a week to go before the season kicks off.

Has Levy finally taken assertive action?

Ghaly move collapses

From the official site:

We can confirm that Hossam Ghaly has decided not to proceed with his transfer to Birmingham City.

The Brummies will be relegated without him. Seems that Ghaly is holding out for when AC Milan come calling.

Jol'll Fix It

Going back to the end of last season, in the following blog entry I noted the following:

These defects are still present in the team that Martin Jol built and financed by Daniel Levy. Its like having a house with several holes in the roof that water drips down from. Instead of fixing the holes, you leave several buckets to capture the falling water.

* We can not defend crosses or set pieces
* We give away painfully simplistic goals, usually created out of individual errors
* We cannot take set pieces (corners or free kicks)
* We cannot cross the ball (still no true left winger three years later)
* We cannot keep clean sheets
* We still don't have the right balance in midfield
* We sit back instead of dominating possession

All of these are fixable at a management level, so this is Jol's main priorties. Taking set pieces should not be a problem at all this season with Bale in the squad and Kaboul having quite a hit on him. The lack of a true winger who can swing the balls in from both angles (Lennon isnt quite there yet and Routledge never will be) is vital unless the style of play Jol has in mind doesn't involve out-and-out wing play. Anyone can see that if you add a MGP style player into the team then we would score 15/20 more goals per season. Thats a massive difference to the goal difference.

At the other end, the conceding of the simplistic goals was down to the back four changing all the time. No King means more concerns, but again - with the whole of the summer at his peril, if Kaboul is the only player we need at the back, then fair enough. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and see how it all pans out.

Replace 'Jim' with 'Jol' for visual gag to work

The defence needs to be organised to form a unit that knows each of their individual responsibilities and their collective responsibilities. That's what training should help formulate. Again, regardless of the players (does help to have quality) having the right instructions during pre-season and week to week training is where the foundations are built.

Clean sheets is up to the defence and up to Paul Robinson to trim down and stop getting beat from 30-40 yards out. But there's more to it. If we get over-run in midfield then its likely to cause more stress and pressure for the back four.

Will Boateng (offensive, yet apparently decent defensively too) play a part as the Man of Steel that we are crying out for?

All the top clubs have their bullish strong central midfielder that does the dirty work. We had Carrick, who was more Hoddle than he was Keane. Zokora is still a grey area. What kind of player will he be for us this season? He was bought in as the Carrick replacement of sorts - so no point in writing him off until the end of season 2008.

One thing is for sure. If Spurs can dominate teams for prolonged periods (at home) why do we struggle to get hold of the ball just after we take the lead? Its the main fix IMO.

Be ruthless, swagger with effect and bully the opposition. At 0-0, at 1-0, and at 2-0 and so on.

Its the mental block that also costs us when we lead against the top 4. Its lack of self belief.

Again, no new players will sort this out. The manager must.

Over to you big bear....

Injury List

Current Injury list:

King
Lennon
Bale
Young-Pyo
Assou-Ekotto

From the official Spurs site:

Ledley had his knee operation after playing for England at the end of the season and is doing well with his rehabilitation and the specialists are very happy with him," reported Martin. "He will still be out for probably another two months but, as with all injuries, it does not serve any real purpose to put a strict timeframe and he has not suffered a setback. We always anticipated Ledley being out for this period of time. We added to the squad with Younes Kaboul and he will provide even greater competition to our defensive ranks.

Seems the lad is always 'out' with knocks and surgery. Not good. Not good at all. Without him there's far too much for Dawson's young shoulders to handle, and can we honestly expect Kaboul to settle in quickly and without concern? Jol has to decide on his best back four and stick with them, even if it takes a few games to get the balance right.

Bale should be back soon. With Pyo and BAE out, seems that our defence doesnt have the depth of cover that our midfield and attack does.

As for Lennon, would be good if whoever takes his place in the first team has a rampant opening 4/5 games making it difficult for him to just walk back in. Time the little squirt fought and fought hard for his position in the starting eleven.

I'm still holding out for another one or two players before the transfer window closes. One of which has to be a defensive player of the Graham Roberts mould.

'We cherish our loyal support'

The League of Lilywhites is in full swing. Yes, currently, there is only me, but that's fine. Once the football seasons erupts into action there will be plenty of opportunity to recruit. In the mean time, its a case of scouring the Spurs forums for like-minded fans who are not easily blinded by merchandise and the like.

One such fan is Sheikh Ma Nuggets. Honorary member of the League of Lilywhites. The following is from a post at Glory-Glory.co.uk:

Attendance figures to dip below "99%"

Right, first off - the "99%" is a figure gleamed from the various chest-puffing exercises that the club prides itself in carrying out - 'we have sooo much support'. Essentially, 99% (or 98.x%) is a fantastic, highly respectable and not easily rivalled figure.

But I have my doubts about whether this shall remain, for this season anyway.

As we all know, the club introduced a new ticketing system for this season. It's rubbish. The club tried to brush aside various criticisms, stating how the change would carry with it 'a better experience' (load of tosh) and that 'the system would be far more robust and reliable' (more tosh)

The system - as has been demonstrated - is no more reliable, and the experience is no more enjoyable than which was provided by Seatbooker. In fact, it's worse; you can't even see how many tickets are available, and you don't even know if your payment has been processed (after clicking it for the fifthteenth time) How the hell is that an improved service?

We all know why Seatbooker was dropped - it was a case of cost. eTicketing.co.uk are able to deliver the same (well, minus choice) service, as they are able to spread their costs across their client base - unlike Seatbooker. Think 'Tesco' and you're not far off the scent. So don't be fooled that THFC plc gave two hoots about the "customer experience" at all - that's just bullshit put out to drive through the changeover. Were we ever consulted about "customer experience"? No - there you go.

And so we see how well the games are selling - or not, which would be more accurate.

Take for example Everton at home, now I know this will just be anecdotal - but that game has now gone on General Sale. 'So what' I hear you say? Well, last season, I distinctly remember that this game did not reach General Sale - and, in fact, was sold out within a matter of days. Now, of course, there has been the undeniable farce of people not getting their membership (CRN's) packs in time - and it would be wrong to discount that as a contributing factor - but I think the problem will perpetuate right through the course of the season. THFC plc don't think fans care about choice - well they will soon learn that we do. Very much so.

Sure the "big games" like Arsenal will sell out - but that's simply because people don't necessarily care where they sit - just as long as they are there. But as for the smaller, less attractive games? I fear it will be a case of 32-33,000 – which, across the course of a season, would drop our much heralded attendance figure down to around 90%.

This will turn out to be a rather expensive lesson to THFC plc – that is, unless they take some drastic action mid-season. But I can’t see that being so, as you’d have to imagine we are locked-in to at least a 12mth contract with eticketting.co.uk. The club took a regressive step in ‘falling into line with it’s contemporaries’ – hardly worth forking out all the extra cash we have done for the ‘Gold/Silver/Pleb’ memberships?

But then, will this be as expensive a lesson as I first thought? Remember, THFC plc love you so much that – from this season (and probably every one following) they will make claim to your monies a full SIX weeks prior to the event actually talking place. That’s an increase of two weeks – nice. So, while the club come out with their ‘we cherish our loyal support and don’t ever take them for granted’ bullshit – they see no harm in making extra interest in YOUR money, for no valid reason but pure greed.

I'm sure the interest made will cover dinner dates at the Ivy for Levy and family.

His Name is Prince

Ghaly goes for £3M and the self-proclaimed Ghetto Kid, Kevin Prince Boateng, is in for around £5M.

I called him a quintessential Levy signing in a previous blog.

‘Young, athletic and decent re-sale value’. If his knees hold up of course. And I’m quite happy to be surprised that unlike the Giles Barnes rumours, this one has been followed through and completed. In fact, I’m certain that because of Barnes refusal to leave Derby, Boateng has signed as the continental equivalent.

Boateng, Taarabt, Kaboul, Rose and Bale. Not a bad collection of talented youngsters. But still no left-winger.

So Boateng. What do we get for our money?

Strength on the ball, pace and vision are arguably his strong points. Playing in an advanced role at Hertha, he is an offensive central midfielder. Unlike Jenas, he actually has confidence that sometimes borders on arrogance. Not quite sure of him playing a deeper ‘Carrick’ style role that some are suggesting he might, but apparently has the ability to do just that. Does so for the national side, patrolling just in front of the back four, dictating the pace of the game.

Hmmm…this player sounds a little too complete, doesn’t he? Although I’d stop short for now that he is Germanys natural heir to Michael Ballack.

Depth with (potential) quality is something we now have in abundance. Although whether all these young players bought will be first teamers or backups remains to be seem though I’m looking forward to most of them turning out for the Carling Cup.

I’m quite content with this signing. Shocked that we recovered it after it looked dead.

Well done Damien Comolli.