Cole conundrum
Monday, July 5, 2010 at 10:00PM Joe Cole. Let's be logical with this. Aside from the fact he's had a knock or too and has not figured too much (for club and country) if signed - where would he play and at the cost of what current Spurs midfielder? If Harry decides to mix it up and say, play one upfront, we'll left with another conundrum - what the heck do we do with the remaining strikers - taking into consideration that we are meant to be looking at another forward?
The obvious answer/solution would be simply this: squad rotation. No matter the formation, we're going to have injuries we're going to have priorities, so having a strong midfield would only benefit us - on all four fronts. But would that keep all our players happy and more importantly, would tinkering mess with form of both individuals and the team? Chop change isn't exactly the building block of consistency.
I'm not a manager, Harry is, and I'm sure we wouldn't want to spend a shed load on wages for a player who will not be key. I'm uncertain. Cole is without doubt quality on his day. But considering the midfield players who have, I'd hate to see the likes of Huddlestone stagnate. So, if signed how does it effect the dynamics of our midfield.
IMO, let it change if it benefits evolution. Otherwise, like for like, tinker with minimal effect depending on opposition/injuries. In other words, if Cole wants to be a team player rather than a constant first teamer - then I'm happy to see him sign. Of course, there might be a clue in what Harry stated about Bale in his interview with TalkSport, regarding Bales best/future position being left-back. That would mean Cole on the left-wing and the rest of the mid remaining as is (Wilson/Hudd, Modric, Lennon) leaving us with the likes of Niko as an alternative option.
Obviously, balance is vital - so there's need for some experimentation if this signing does occur. Although we do know Cole can track back (although I doubt Harry would have him doing so to the degree Jose did at Chelsea).
There's a fair bit of debating on the matter going on at the moment. Even Arsenal fans (who are heavily linked with Cole) are questioning how and where he would fit into their side.
So - if it happens and we do sign him; happy days?
spooky
Sandro. Add him to the pack. Suddenly looks a bit congested in there. Forgot about him. As for JJ, reckon we're about to call time on his WHL career.
Reader Comments (51)
Gomes
Corluka King Dawson Bale
Hudd
Lennon Modric Kranjcar
Cole
Defoe
Hmmm, Skybet have liverpool as favourites to sign him right now - spurs are 3rd behind Arsenal. Strange...
You have forgotten Sandro!
you need to check ssn as cole in talks with liverpool and his odds for going to liverpool were cut from 8/1 to 4/5.
Sandro is not a starter, he'll need time to get up to speed. Use him in the cup against Port Vale et al.
I thought Cole only wanted to go to a club in the CL, surely this would rule Liverpool out?????
Think Harry will pop Modric on the left with Cole central. Cole wants to play centre mid, he feels thats his best position.
I always thought Cole looked best for England when playing left midfield.
He will never be a winger, but generally cut inside, leaving room for our full back to attack.
He and Bale could work well together.
Worth signing him, just to piss our neighbours off!
Oh cripes. Yeah, Sandro. Flipping 'eck.
Can anyone say: Congested!
Funny enough the more I think about ths one the less it makes sense....Kranjcar and co will play where? D Rose Dos Santos, Eide,r Sandro, Hudd .Lennon, Bale ,Bostock ,Modric where the f*** could he fit in. Jenas regretably is still
with us and I would be indifferent to Dluxury Bentlry coupe leaving but what about the other lot ? I wreckon he was
mustard for years and would of bit a hand off to have him , but like my Ex once toldme 'things change' . !
If we send the dead wood out to sea, then why not ?!
Coys
Regardless of whether we sign Joe Cole or not it'd be worth remembering that Redknapp stated last season that he saw a 4-5-1 / 4-3-3 formation as an option that the recognised "Big 4" used quite regularly, something especially evident when playing away from home. We've all seen the way a number of top Continental (Barcelona, Inter, Bayern Munich) and National sides have used it, most recently in the current World Cup with virtually all the major sides (bar one, can't think who?!?) operating a similar system, so if we don't get Cole we'll probably get Gudjohnsen on a permanent deal and if not either of them then the talk about Craig Bellamy won't go away.....
People expecting dos Santos to turn up then?
It's possible money talks and he goes elsewhere, but if he did arrive by trimming our squad i.e bentley and jenas, it gives us a more balanced free flowing squad capable of playing a number of formations. This would come in handy against difficult opposition. Although Coles prefers central midfield, he is capable of performing highly left, mid or right and off the striker. More importantly having competition between krankjar, cole, modric, Lennon and even dos santos if he's given a chance can only breed a more goal hungry midfield. We are supposedly also after a quality striker who has the ability to play up top on his own and bag 20+ goals a season, so the adaptability between our usual 442 to 433 or 451 etc can only be of benefit. The bottom line is if we only move on the loanee players and fringe squad members a player like cole isn't really a risk but potentially a reward!?
I'm not that bothered whether we get Cole or not, however getting a better left back than Assou Ekotto and a strong front man with a bit of pace about him would be my priorities. I think Cole is a decent enough player but we need players that are more influential than Cole. I would argue that Modric & Kranjaer put Cole in their back pockets and we also can look at Taraabt and Dos Santos as hungry youngsters waiting for their opportunity.
There's no doubt we need experience and although Joe Cole would give us that, so would someone like Forlan, who's always going to get more goals and possibly create more.
We will be experimenting with using a number of formations next season, look at our current squad of senior players and the choices we already have, I haven't even included our youth players in this list.
GK Gomes/Cuddicini
RB Corluka/Kaboul (also CB)
CB King/Bassong
CB Dawson/Woodgate
LB Bale/Assou Ekotto
DCM Palacios/Sandro
CM Huddelstone/Jenas/O'Hara
RM Lennon/Bentley
AM Modric//Kranjaer
AM Taraabt/Dos Santos
F Defoe/Keane
F Pavlyuchenko/Crouch
So let's look at the players we are expected to listen to offers for and possible replacements according to reports : Jenas, O'Hara, Bentley, Keane, Pavlyuchenko and the injuries to King & Woodgate.
If Cole does come to Spurs, I would imagine him taking Jenas' place, Bellamy for Keane, Richards as a flexible cover in Defence these are all achievable. What I would really like to see is bringing in Forlan and Suarez upfront!
Personally O'Hara has pi$$ed me right off with the crap he was saying last year but I'd keep him at Spurs and use him as a squad player, the boy has several years left on his contract and we don't need to sell him yet and he'll be useful for the Carling Cup! I also wouldn't mind keeping hold of Bentley if he applies himself like he did towards the end of the season.
I also wouldn't mind Dos Santos/Taraabt applying some pressure on Lennon for his spot, just to keep Azza on his toes!
Cracking post Ross.
More chance of Dos Santos staying, not sure on Taraabt. Think he flatters to deceive. Spooky no mention of Jenas either?
Dont forget we have Snador to come in too, squad rotation is the way forward if you want to juggle both champions league with domestic competitions
JJ is on his way out.
I agree with Ross to a degree, a small tinker is needed, but the striking situation I think is our biggest concern. If like we here the following leave:-
Keane £8m, jenas £5m, bentley £8m, o'hara £5m, pavluchenko (who I actually think is worth keeping) £12m, Hutton £4m taraabt £3m =
£45m in SALES.
Money could then be used for players like:-
Hunterlaar £18m, cole (free), lukaku £10m, sandro £6m = £34m
If woody needed replacing again, we would have more than enough to get a quality CB in. The variety of formations is positive:-
Gomes
Corluka. Dawson. King. Bale
Palacios. Hudd
Lennon. Modric. Cole
Hunterlaar
Or
Gomes
Corluka. Dawson. King. Bale
Palacios
Lennon Modric. Krancjar
Cole
Huntelaar
Or
Gomes
Corluka. Dawson. King. Bale
Lennon. Sandro. Palacios. Modric
Defoe. Pav
Or
Gomes
Kaboul Dawson. King. Bale
Palacios. Sandro
Krankjar. Cole. Modric.
Defoe
Or
Gomes
Corluka. Dawson. King.
Sandro. Palacios
Lennon. Bale.
Krancjar Modric
Huntelaar
Or
Gomes
Corluka. Dawson. King. Bale
Palacios
Cole. Modric
Lennon. Defoe. Dos santos
Options????
snador?oh yes...ofcourse...
Lennon7, Palacios is undroppable?
Huntelaar? He is not better than any of our strikers, has no pace, no physical strength, not a suitable player for a hard league..If Huntelaar is worth £13 mil then Pav is worth £20 mil. If i was Harry i woukd do anything to go amd get Gerrard, Cole on a free is a great signature, but we need to sign one world class centre half definitely.
It's not that palacios is undroppable, I suppose I was considering the defensive cover aspect to the midfield, but to be fair hudd and modric perform well at the tail end of last season. It was the flexibility really I was trying to get across.
As for huntelaar, I think he's the goal poacher with height that were missing, our creativity in midfield is there but were missing the out and out striker, bar Defoe ( but he lacks presence). I'd hope for Dzeko but city seem to be gunning for him, who else is there?? Suarez? Not sure he's strong enough either.
Suarez has strength, power, guile and more speed than pav, crouch, huntelaar etc
Unfortunately there are alot of these type of strikers who are waiting for glamour clubs to bid on them.
I've read numerous articles about the likes of Fabiano, Suarez, Forlan who all seem to be suggesting Spurs isnt an option for them. How much of this is true, lord knows, but it does suggest their looking for the Barca's of this world to come bidding.
Whoever we get, I trust Harry to pull off some wonders this summer! Especially if he get's us Gerard!!!!!
Coles' wages put me off.
1. He's not proved that he's recovered his form, so there's always the doubt that he won't be the same again
2. He wants 100k a week - if he's not a 1st choice player then he shouldn't be the highest paid player at the club.
3. He's also been injury prone, and he's 29 - a four/five year contract would take him through to 33/34. He will spend more time injured the older he gets. 100k might be ok if it was a 40k basic and the rest made up with appearance,and win bonuses related to the games he plays in and the clubs final standing in the different competitions.
I think the neighbours and ManYoo have been put off by the wage demands, just like Chelsea were. Liverpool are desperate.
oh i'd swap Crouch for a bag of oranges, he is the only player ever to have had me turning off a spurs game when watching on the box....utter utter piss poor excuse for a pro baller imo.
As far as Palacios is concerned, for me he has to start against any team outside the big 4 and city. Modric and Huddleston did great together, but only against man utd arsenal etc, teams that play in the middle, in the games where teams fight there (and i include villa and everton) we just didnt get the ball enough for them to actually do anything.
As for formation Harry pointed out 451 as one the cl clubs play in europe and away from home, someone has also touted 433 which i hadnt heard, but thats one that Dos Santos is used to effect in, so perhaps that could explain his prominance in Harry's recent talks. However my suspicion is 451 but we have no one according to Rednapp to be that 1 which may also be where 433 got mentioned unless a new signing comes in (that Gyan lad from ghana could be a smart move)
Also, why is everyone so down on Bentley, he doesnt create a fuss about not playing, when asked to he performed well, and plays differently to lennon, cutting in rather than rushing past. With him not causing rumblings behind the scenes, giving an alternative play style and quality back up i cant see why everyone is so keen to get rid of him. From my point of view we beat the others to 4th not because we had a lot of world class players but because we had two good players in every position, we had as many injuries to key players as anyone else, we were the only team not to suffer unduly because of it.
I'd stay well clear of Cole.
Injury prone, lightweight and no longer has the hunger.
Just because Redknapp loves him, doesn't make him a great player.
He's a luxury player we can do without.
hi guys heres to another great season for the mighty spurs,i did have my fingers grossed for us to sign joe cole but now i think he will join liverpool even jamie redknapp said hed be a great signing for liverpool why say that lol so who should we sign now i know we should get rid of keane,ohara,hutton,woodgate to retire,jenas,and sign huntlaar,van der vaart,vidic hed be great along side dawson or king the team this seaon line up gk-gomes,def-corluka,dawson,king,ekotto,mid-lennon,sandro,modric,bale,for- defoe,huntlaar. coys
Cole said he wants to play centrally so it is more likely Modders will play on the left.
I think Cole's bests day are past him and he's no better than what we've got. To spend £100k a week on that type of player is simply not worth it, and within a year or so the rest of our top players would all start to want parity with his massive wages.
The priority should be a top drawer striker who can play up front on his own if necessary - if we are honest with ourselves we know that none of our current four strikers are world class, or would get us 20 goals a season at the head of a 4-3-3 or 4-5-1. Crouch, Defoe, Pav all need to have a strike partner and that limits us to 4-4-2.
well said mate but we do need some changes if we gonna do better like get 3rd or stay forth as city burning more money than the bank of england does lmao defoe done well last season he scored alot of goals but then he went on a errrr queit period so maybe add a srriker huntlaar or drezko,midfield maybe gerrard hhhhaaaa jokes lol hoe bout van der vaart as spurs have been in talks with his agent and turan but he wants crapy pool lol also in defence sign vidic or kjaer yid army
modric14 - i can definitely see Vidic leaving Man Utd to join the power houses called Spurs - LOL
i know lol heres another funny one liverpool want to sign crouch back for 8 million plus keano on the verge of joing villa this one is true hhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaa also spurs have lost the race to sign huntlaar as a french team signing him for 18mil ??????
Lennon7 said a small tinker is needed - what on Earth would we do with a gypsy midget?
I wouldn't cry if we signed him like the day we announced Andy Sinton (which puts our current status in perspective), but I there are better options for the money, 50k-100k a week over two seasons is allot irrespective of whether he is free or not (not inlcuding signing on fee, insurance and the building work at WHL that would allow the freak's head to walk through door frames). He will do alright somewhere but signing him causes more problems than it solves, we suddenly will have a player rivolt if we go out of the cup competiions early and half the squad doesn't get games.
He won't sign for us.
Joe Cole would add a lot to the side and I would love to see him in a Spurs shirt next year. Unfortunately I expect we will find some way to bugger it up and end up with some untested kid instead bought on deadline day.
I prefer Bale as a left-wing than a left back personally. However I shan't complain if the results work in our favor, as I'm all for progression.
not sure how anyone can complain if we signed Joe Cole. He is a superb player in my opinion and would only strengthen the squad. If we do get rid of jenas, o'hara and bentley then suddenly there is not a lot of cover in midfield for injuries and suspensions. I'm not saying I'm desperate for it to happen but I certainly wouldn't be upset if we did.
On the subject of o'hara, I had almost forgotten about him and after a very impressive stint at portsmouth I think we should definitely keep him in the squad.
People also seem resigned to offloading robbie keane. I actually think he'd operate pretty well in a 4-5-1 or 4-3-3 and if we don't sign cole he can certainly match his attacking abilities. Just not so much in midfield.
Slightly controversially, I think palacios got shown up quite a bit last season. His tackling seemed a little bit less aggressive, he often got caught high up the pitch when defending and gave the ball away a lot. Don't get me wrong, I think he;s a great player, but maybe not as incredible as I and many others first thought. Perhaps we just got a bit caught up in the fact that we'd finally got a midfielder who likes to tackle. I think he might get a bit caught out at Champions League level and the central two should defo be hudd and modders. Hopefully the down points I mentioned were just side effects of the whole thing with his brother and a gruelling world cup qualifying campaign with honduras and we'll see more of the old, pitbull palacios in 2010/11. If not, then maybe Sandro is better?
We might sell Jenas but I don't think there's any way we will sell Bentley now, he made too much of a contribution in Lennon's absence and there are way too many games looming.
Anyone else think Cavani was shit against the Dutch yesterday? Not sure why we'd want to pay 14 mil for guy that looks no better than anyone we already have. He's too slow for the EPL.
I think it's a mistake to tinker too much with a team that finished 4th. We got Sandro and maybe let's get Joe Cole, but some of these other guys that have been mentioned....Bellamy, Bapitsta.....we don't need em. OK Huntelaar would be great but I don't think he would join Spurs.
Chimbonda will be back at the lane within the month
A very strange affair, If Chelsea wanted him they would have offered a new contract whatever the cost, Man United aren’t interested (very strange, if that’s true) so I guess there must be something we don’t know, he is a great player without a doubt, I can’t see Cole wanting to go to Liverpool (what can they offer him?) I think he will go to Spurs, it will be very interesting to see how this develops.
Would be interesting if Harry played Sandro in the first game against City so we could all finally see him kick a ball after waiting for over a year.
I did read though that Sandro is not getting any pre season with Spurs as he still has not completed his signing or is still playing for his current club or something like that.
Well the club have answered the Kit questions then............
Never miss a trick do they?
Whoever is coming in, we need to complete the transfer fast.
CL Play-offs are in about a month's time, so with tactics, formation, pre-season training and familiarisation, we need time to gel.
The last thing we need is a last minute addition or two, who whilst may be (a) good acquisition(s), may nonetheless disrupt the rhythm or at least take time to adjust to playing in the team.
Similar for those being jettisoned, please do it fast. No point including them in tactics and formation if they are going to leave.
I also worry that the first leg of the play-offs is immediately after the Man City game at home (first game of the season). Focus and concentration will be key. I hope the players and HR will (literally) take one game at a time.
Even if we dont manage to kill off City, we should at least take a healthy first leg result for the play-offs.
Anyone know who we are likely to play? I think it should be a non-seeded non-champion or a non-seeded champion or whatver.
.............missed opportunity Spooky, you could have had DML plastered all over the shirts for next season...........Autonomy????????????
Could still get on the Cup shirt..............
CEJ - scroll to the bottom:
http://www.dearmrlevy.com/the-gallery/randoms/
tremendous!!! Is that the FA Cup shirt or Champ League I wonder??
We don't need Cole. An expensive luxury player.
He offers little different from Modric IMO. The only option he gives is playing off the striker. With 4 or 5 strikers on our books, none of which are built for the 1-up-top role, I am not sure how and when he'd get a game, other than in place of Modders.
I think we have the numbers, we just need to ship some out and replace them.
Keane - replace wiith Gudjohnson
Pavlyuchenko - Need big striker with physical presence & eye for goal
Bentley - Some back up for Lennon, maybe offers something different, a harder working less attacking RW (like Milner, but obviously not Milner)
Jenas - Need a genuine option to come on in a game and pose a threat. Get in the box, get a few goals when we need to be more attacking. But box to box, unlike Cole - A Tim Cahill sort.
Hutton - an alternative to Corluka's solid, Rolls Royce, style. Micha Richards - fast, skillful, powerful. Would be a decent option if he returned to form.
O'hara - Although it did not cost us last season, our midfield depth was exposed with 1 suspension & 1 injury. Sandro now offers more, but perhaps one of the younglings can step up and provide genuine cover....Livermore? If it is too early for some of the youth then maybe some experience on loan, like Vieira. Who knows how well Sandro will settle in.
Of all of those players, I think the striker is the most important....Pav is decent but if he isn't scoring he contributes little else. His scoring record is a bit hit and miss, we were lucky he had a purple patch last season, but I don;t think he can be relied on.
Ideally I'd say we also need a top class CB....We have plently of CBs, (5) but with doubts over King & Woody can the likes of Bassong & Kaboul be relied upon in the crunch matches, or are they consistent enough to play well all season?