Chimbonda gone - Was he ever 'here'?

Pascal Chimbonda has joined Blackburn Rovers for around £2M (according to the SSN ticker). Re-signed by us as cover, he hardly got a look in which does make me question the ethics of the transfer in the first place. He's a right-back than can play centre-back and at a push (a big push) can also slot into the left-back position (just not that well). And yet we hardly saw anything of him when he made his return from Sunderland.

I guess he was cover (insurance) that we didn't actually ever have to use. And we have Gareth Bale, Kyle Naughton and if need be O'Hara and Corluka (and even Bassong) to cover if need be in an emergency so he's quite obviously surplus to requirements. Even more so then when he signed for us a second time.

Some of you may even remember the rumour that did the rounds concerning how Sunderland still owed us the transfer money (or part of it) from signing Shimbo and that we then wrote it off by taking the player back for nothing. Regardless, it's proved to be a massive waste of time.

Good luck up there. Do try and turn up for Big Sam's training sessions.

Elsewhere, Osman Chávez is on trial. Honduran centre/fullback that our very own Wilson rates (and suggested we take a look at). He's 25 years old, has played for his country (20 caps) and his nicknamed 'El Tierno' (which translates as 'The Tender'). I'm guessing that's one of those ironic nicknames, much like us christening Palacios as 'The Gentle'. Might turn out to be shrewd signing this (with Kings long standing knee troubles and Woody/Dawson both on the sidelines). Of course, it's dependent on how impressive he is during the trial. Fingers crossed.

Other bit of news concerns an alleged bid for Internacional defensive midfielder Sandro Ranieri. Not heard of him? He's the U-20 Brazil captain and meant to be pretty tasty. Solid with the tackles and strong with great technique - he might be that extra bit of steel required. No idea how good his creative skills are. If true, then it looks like we've given up on Sissoko.

Under a week to go now before the window closes. Looks like we should expect 2 players at the very least to join. Possibly a 3rd if you fancy taking Pav's words concerning his want for a transfer away at face value. I'm taking it with a pinch of salt mainly because we are treated with Roman's moans every other month. Still, will he actually get a sustained run in the team to prove himself a £14M player? You can understand why he would want to leave if he's going to sit on the bench unless a key player picks up an injury. Does mean we need to look at a 'back up player' for that 4th striker place.

Any ideas?

Hold on. Need more salt.

Transfer shenanigans

Sabastien Bassong to Spurs. Medical passed. Only a matter of time. £8M for a relegated defender. Look away now if stats scare you. Newcastle were better off without him in the side as they lost more and conceded more when he played. Add to it his record at Metz before signing for the Toon (22 games, Metz lost 14, drew 7and won 1 – two of those draws were achieve whilst Bassong went off injured due to injury). But we all know stats are misleading. Look at Darren Bent, great scoring ratio, but you won’t find a player more maligned. Bassong stood out in a very poor team, that mostly failed to match his determination. But at the same time, an inanimate carbon rod would have looked good playing for Newcastle last season.

We need a centre-back desperately. Woody is going to be out for a fair bit of time and Daws won’t be available for several weeks. However Bassong will miss the opening game of the season due to a red card offence from last term, so let’s pray King is fit for the big kick-off. Not sure where he fits in once everyone is fit and able to play. He must have been given some assurances over selection, so will be interesting to see what we do with Dawson once he’s available. May well be the case that Woody is out long term and with King’s troubles, there will be plenty of games available for the three of them to get along just fine.

Still, £8M? Wondering how good a prospect Beevers is at Sheffield Wednesday – who wouldn’t cost too much in comparison. Bassong may well prove to be a great signing for us. The stats I quoted above (and the ones SSN are displaying every half and hour) can be ignored. We all know that if you are a decent player surrounded by utter shit, you’re bound to suffer a little, mainly because your team-mates are not on the same level and can't offer support, so you end up having to do more than you should be doing.

£15M Rod bid rejected

We’ve had some defenders here at Spurs go through the same type of thing. King survived it. Gardner didn’t. Still, as discussed several times on this blog and currently cited in one or two message board threads – why does our scouting system not pick up players that would cost a fraction of the £8M? There must be plenty of undiscovered talents out there. We seem to do well picking up academy players and youth players – but when we want to fill a gap in the first team squad, we always go for the obvious.

Still, welcome to the Lane Sabastien. Good luck lad.

-

Darren’s a Sunderland player now and he looks rather happy, and as expect he fired a very subtle dig at Spurs (I’ve seen his interview and he isn’t resentful in an obvious way and good luck to him). His dig concerned what goes on behind closed doors:

'There is a lot of politics at Tottenham, but that's Tottenham as a club’

Basically, Bent never believed he would start the next game even if he scored in the previous one. My guess? Probably has to do with Robbie ‘undroppable’ Keane. Rumours of the Irish windmill having a little clause in his contract. I'm sure this myth will be dis-spelled cometh the new season. Unless that's the reason Robbie isn't too happy at the moment. I'll stop now before I drown myself in ITK whispers.

-

Talkng of which, a lovely piece of ITK information for you, this concerning Pascal Chimbonda (from rocknroll11 over at GG.co.uk):

Just wanted to put to bed all the random theories that are going round as to why we resigned Chimbo and what a pointless signing it is...

Sunderland never ever paid a penny for Chimbo, they were scheduled to pay after the first season. 6 months in he's obviously unhappy, missing the team bus, pissing off Keane etc... and 6 months in Harry's here thinking we lack a bit of steel and have a very small squad. Levy suggested we could get back Chimbo for nothing... so we went to Sunderland and said if you give him back we'll cancel the outstanding payment you own...

and that's what happened.

Lack of a bit of steel? Really? Still, it’s almost believable, although if true – I’m not sure anyone would have made any money out of the ‘transfer’ back to Spurs which is hard to believe considering the people involved.

-

And finally, the dream is over. Klass-Jan Huntelaar is off to AC Milan. Negredo is being linked with a move to Roma. Then again, so is Pav. And it’s all gone quiet on Sissoko. Perhaps having aided Madrid in creating interest for Huntelaar, they’re let us talk to a couple of their players.

Madhamadou Diarra anyone? Gosh, I’m dreaming again.

For the record, he’s not on Madrid’s transfer list. Neither is Gago (who some of you don't rate) but he's a far more likely target if we do plan to look that way.

We could still do with a midfielder. Don't think we're quite finished yet.

Chimbo, Pav and Bent: Love them. Hate them.

Morning. More DML awards celebrating the end of the 2009 season. Enjoy.

Most Confusing Transfer

Imagine buying something from a shop. Second hand, but it's in decent nick. You try to get the best out of the item but it leaves you feeling a little empty. And as time goes by you actually get a little annoyed with having it laying around the house, unused. So, you stick it on eBay and not long after you've sold it for a tidy sum. You replace the item with one or two new ones which you are more than happy with and you get on with your life. Then, not long after, you get back on eBay and buy the original item back. No real reason. It was just there. Available. It's back in your ownership. Only to then leave it laying around the house once more unused.

Welcome to the Pascal Chimbonda Show. A transfer shenanigan too far. I'm not going to mention Willie McKay and his ties to Harry and the fact he is Pascal's agent. Apart from just then. Let's move on.

In pure footballing terms I attempted to justify the return of Chimbo by telling myself that we have got him back to do a specific job. Utility Man. He's a right-back but he can play on the left (not that well) and as a centre-back (not too shabby) so we have plenty of cover if need be and considering our plight at the time, we needed some cover and strength. I'm probably wrong, but I can only remember one appearance made since he re-signed. He might have made more. But I'm struggling to even remember the appearance that I do remember, well sort of remember. Corluka has slotted into the centre-back position when required. Before his injury, Dawson helped out if King was unavailable. Hutton - who has been lost to injury for an absolute age and prior to it was having a nightmare season on the pitch, has found himself back in the first team ahead of Pascal. Although there might be an element of 'shop window' with that - who knows. As for the left-side, that belongs to BAE.

Honestly, why did we re-sign this bloke if he never plays? Answers, postcard…etc.


The Honorary Rebrov Award for Patience

He's tired. Unfit. Russian. Can't speak the language. New to the country. New to English culture. Living in a hotel (until recently). Spotted in Waltham Abbey Tesco with a man-bag. Played a full Russian season and the European Championships. Did I mention he's tired?

Roman Pavlyuchenko was signed for £14M as a Robbie Keane replacement. Or was he meant to be a Berbatov replacement? Or was he meant to be a brand new type of forward altogether? His own man.

He turned up all smiles (a vast improvement on the sulky Bulgarian) but failed to make the same type of impact, leaving us with frowns. Once more, much like Bentley, several sound-bites started to do the rounds about how (as mentioned already) Roman was tired and unfit and possibly injured. Rushed into playing for Spurs and thus making things more difficult for him to adapt. Not his fault we were desperate to have someone who could help get us out of the bottom of the table, but typical Spurs that we would force the issue with a brand new signing in this manner. Even more typical Spurs that we would sign Roman in the first place. For the money we did. All things considered, when you've just lost two big players in Keane and Berbatov you need to make sure that the money spent is for a can-hit-the-ground-running type of forward. Berba took his time to adapt and get into the swing of things, but you could tell he oozed class and was doing everything else fine. Then the goals flowed.

With Roman, you want to believe he will have something to offer when he is completely refreshed and content with life in England. But at the moment, all we see is a player with that apologetic Bambi look about him, failing to control the ball with his first touch and always ballooning it over the bar when he has time to look up and shoot. He can stick them away ok when in front of goal. Poaching isn't a problem for him. And he can hold the ball up fairly well. But there is no obvious stand-out vision or that little spark of world-class about him. For an extra £6M or so we could have signed Arshavin (or possibly not considering that Zenit were/are a pain the backside to deal with). But you get my point. £14M for someone who isn't 100% is a massive massive gamble especially when it all feels like the second prize in a raffle.

Shades of when we signed Armstrong and Arsenal signed Bergkamp.

I've been a stern defender of Roman from the start. Ask "the bloke who stands next to me with all the sound-bites" at the Lane. He thinks the player is f**king shit. And many others think we've spunked a ton of money (again) on the wrong type of striker.

Interpreter running up and down the training field translating instructions, whispers of a transfer away and and struggle to learn English - one or two are expecting him to move on (escape) shortly. Others would prefer to see how he performs after a summers rest and decent pre-season. He could still turn out to be great. But that would mean that what we've seen so far (all the negative stuff) is down to circumstances fitness and that he can actually shoot on target from distance and does have a silky first touch.

One positive, and it's a big one I guess, is that regardless of the criticism, he's still notched up several goals. So he can't be that bad, can he?

Which brings me onto...


Much Maligned Player of the Season

He's our top goal scorer. And yet he is perceived as the most likely to be sold in the summer months. Here's a player that at one point wasn't considered as good as Harry Redknapps wife. A player that many Spurs fans believe is not right for our side. Too one-dimensional. Can only really play to full effect if we take up a Charltonesque style of counter-attacking football. Type of tactic that works away from home, where Bent has has plenty of success. In any other type of formation he struggles. He struggles because he doesn't offer that much in the way of team play. It's a running joke, counting the amount of times he touches the ball in a game. He can disappear for long periods and appear isolated. He doesn't come deep or bring others into the game. He just floats around. Goal-hangs if you will.

So what does Darren Bent to exactly?

He scores. Whether it flies off his ankle or hits his bum, Darren Bent sticks the ball into the onion bag.

So, why do we not rate him again?

The argument in support of Bent usually sounds like this: ''Well he scores goals, so what else do you want? Isn't the point of a forward to score goals? Does it matter how he scores them as long as he does?"

It's a good point isn't it? But would you say he is as consistent as a Gary Lineker? Or offers more to us than Jermain Defoe? People who do not rate him will be quite vocal in the fact that - for example - a partnership of Keane and Berbatov will offer an abundance more than a partnership of Keane and Bent. So for £16M you'd expect to have a player who can create and craft and generally offer a lot more than just, well, scoring.

I know, I know. It's sort of a paradox. But the point is - we could have someone in there who is overall a more all-round type of forward.

The irony is, we are linked with the likes of Jones (Heskey clone) and already have Pavlyuchenko.

Better the devil you know? I'm wondering, if he does end up going, whether we end up regretting it.

I'm going to gamble and say: No. No we won't.

More awards on their way.

For the full list, including the previous DML Award articles, just click here. Or use the tag below this post.

It's a grand olde team to play for....that's us, and them too

Lack of blogging in the past couple of days thanks to a twenty-three year old bottle of rum.

So, onto Saturday afternoon. It’s Everton away and historically, we tend to collect points there. Might be a far trickier proposition for us due to various injury issues that will see us take the field without BAE (gutted as we all lose out on what would have been the the Battle of the Fro with Evertons Fellaini) and Lennon. Bent, Dawson, Zokora, O’Hara and Bentley are also sidelined (although Bentley isn’t exactly someone who has figured for us recently). Hutton might play, Gareth ‘never been on the winning side for Tottenham in a league match’ Bale is almost certain to slot into the left-back post for the first time in a while. Oh Noes! Bale! LOLZ!

Jinx? End it and reap the glory. We’d be entering open bus parade territory if we win with Gareth in the side.

Bostock, Parrett, Gilberto and Chimbonda are all present in the squad. Love to see Bostock on the bench. And would love to see Robbie Keane dropped. Ok, maybe not love, but like. Pav and Defoe up front please. JD is looking sharp, scored a perfectly legit goal last weekend against WBA so hoping he can link up with Pav who still has to prove the doubters wrong. Lay the ball off Roman, don't shoot!

As for Aaron, not having him in the side will allow us to see where the offensive outlet will come without his meancing runs. Over to Luka to conduct the creativity, as per usual....but with extra added responsibility.

Pascal’s inclusion leaves me numb. I’m still completely mystified by his lack of games. I thought as a signing he would cover various positions as a defensive utility player. Right-back, we know he can play, and centre-half and even left-back (although he’s not great there). Off the top of my head, I have no idea how many times he has played since his return. Has he been injured? Or sitting in Starbucks? Would prefer to see Hutton. He’s got some fire in his belly, that lad.

I hope we compete. I expect us to compete. Everton are no easy task, with their work rate ethics and Piccadilly Circus midfield. Wilson and Jenas will have to be on top of their game with the tackles and box to box running. This game will be won and lost in central midfield. And JJ will need to turn it on a little if we want to turn Wilsons hard graft into offensive pleasure.

Ooh I’m so insightful. If Shearer stays on at Newcastle, then I’m sticking my name in the hat for Match of the Day.

Spurs heading to Europe...

Obviously, I'm assuming JJ will start. We might see Huddlestone given an opp to ping balls around, although that would leave Wilson needing to do double the work to protect him. Might get a bit messy in centre-mid, and thinking about it, it's not the right type of game for Hudd. But then I'm not the guv. Talking of which...

Harry is talking us up pre-match, bless him. We need a win to remain realistic about Europe and if we do manage to steal all three points, then a victory at home to City might be enough to see us consolidate it. Probably not actually. Having had a quick gander at the other fixtures I don’t think we are in the driving seat, and winning the games we have left isn’t enough if the teams above match us. We need to hope they drop points and lose.

It’s nice to be using the calculator for some top half mathematics rather than spelling out RELEGATION in a game of hang-man down at the bottom. Thoughts and prayers with Boro and Newcastle.

And as for West Ham United not having a license to play in Europe, I’m sure come the hearing all be in order for Zola’s side. As funny as it would be to see them claim 7^th and fail to travel due to legal/financial reasons relating to paperwork I’m not sure this backdoor route would warrant a special DVD release of our ‘Great Escape’.

Back to the Everton game, I don’t think we should hold back. Harry has done an outstanding job since his arrival, and we’d have probably cemented 7^th a long time ago had we not experienced that lull of 4 successive away defeats. But what ifs aside, his points tally ratio does look promising for next season, as long as we buck the trend and begin the 2010 season well. Home form is looking good, but offensively needs to improve. Away form has improved, but needs further adjustments if we really do plan to launch some form of attack on the Top 5.

Everton, might not be pretty to look at, but they are effective and efficient and most importantly - consistent. One thing we need to avoid in the summer is over-bloating the team with superflous© signings. Just reel in the players that will improve us. Nothing more, nothing less.

Do it the Everton way. Just with a little more sexy flair.

So, with West Ham entertaining Liverpool, Fulham at home to Villa and City at Old Trafford on Sunday – if we win tomorrow, then it’s game on for Europe. But only if the three above us come unstuck. Lose and one of them win, the dream is over and next season we’ll have to turn no European competition into an advantage with consistent league form.

Whether you are pro-Europe or not, at least it’s giving some meaning to the final three games in a season that was practically meaningless after 5 games and then doomed after 8. Proper rollercoaster stuff. We live a charmed life us Spurs fans.

Never a dull moment.

COYS.

Caption Competition: Robbie and Pascal

Pascal reacts a little bit too excitedly to Robbie's David Bentley impersonation

General Observations from the Spurs game

Mike Riley. Is atrocious too harsh of a description for this alleged Premier League referee? Personally, I think I'm being a little too kind. His pièce de résistance was a delightful moment of decision making that saw him hold his hands out to signal play to continue when a foul was committed against us in a rather tasty area of the field to allow for advantage. When advantage was more than evident, he blow his whistle. Staggering. Since when was stopping play, taking play back to where the foul was originally committed and taking a free kick from there more viable an option than allowing for advantage to proceed?

Riley is obsessed with his whistle. Minimal contact? Blow that whistle. Not a foul? Blow that whistle. Anything that is borderline controversial or requires a professional unbiased viewpoint and decision, the whistle stays firmly away from his mouth.

Zokora committed one or two fouls last night and yet inexplicably got away with it.

If you want a ref who does his best to stop the game from flowing and gives about 80 decisions out of 100 the wrong way and enjoys blowing his whistle for no apparent reason, then Mike is your man.

He belongs in a rave.

--

David Bentley. Not too shabby again yesterday. Not brilliant by any stretch of the imagination. If there is one thing that will improve his performance by about 60% its the removal of the flicks and showboat attempts. David mate, stop trying to get onto Soccer AM. When a simple control of the ball and pass is the best option, use it.

--

Dawson. Yes he made a boo-boo that led to Stoke's goal, but how great has he been in recent weeks? Once upon a time it always seemed like he could only play if he had Ledley King by his side. Even looked like he would be shifted out of the club at one particular point. Great to see him grow in stature and confidence. Still needs Woody and King to lend a helping hand with his concentration and composure. Apparently, Daws is inseparable from Ledley (they sit together on the team coach, share rooms, probably even swap mp3's). Bless. If Ledley doesn't ever make it back full time, then I hope he can continue to inspire Michael.

--

Chimbonda and Palacios watched the game from a box. Rumours Fred was also hiding somewhere within the ground, looking on. However, according to Harry, the player failed to turn up yesterday. Not sure if this one has any legs in it. Wondering if we should have made a cheeky bid for that young lad Heskey who joined Villa and scored on his debut.

Monday Transfer Round-Up

Carlo Cudicini.

Free transfer. Unlikely he's moved from Chelseas's sub bench to sit on ours. Which means expect to see him play as our number one, whilst Gomes recovers from his slight injury concern, which means it will be up to the Brazilian to reclaim his place in the team. Competition for the keepers jersey. When was the last time that happened?

Chimbonda.

Ideal signing for the predicament we find ourselves in. Can hit the ground running, cover 3 different positions (yes, I know he ain't too hot at left-back) and ease defensive selection problems.

Personally, hate the fact that we've had to go back for him as I dislike the man and his lack of principles. But beggars can't be choosers. We are in a mess, so much so, that we've had to re-sign a player we sold 6 months ago, proving the point that he shouldn't have been sold in the first place. Even if he was a bit of a mercenary, we got rid of far too many players (in fact, three of them all to the North East). Hail the DoF system and our pre-season planning.

Jones.

If you listen to the Sunderland boss you'll notice he isn't dismissing Tottenham's approach for Jones. Well, he is, but not in the direct fashion we've heard in recent weeks. In a SSN interview he acknowledges a bid has been made, mentions how the club and the player are under pressure, and how Jones is just getting on with it. He mentions that Jones wants to stay. Sunderland have said the player isn't going nowhere, but it still appears ominous. Redknapp has also commented on this by saying that there has been dialogue between both chairmen, so it's more than obvious that if the price is right, Sunderland will be happy to accept. Probably.

Still don't believe he is worth a penny more than £8M (and even that's too much but it's the average in today's modern day market).

Robbie Keane.

I kid you not. Harry is telling everyone how much he rates the player. It's common knowledge that Liverpool have only paid as around £6M or so thus far for his summer transfer to Anfield. Someone should point out that Keane and Defoe never made a decent partnership.

Berbatov.

Worth a cheeky bid?

Chimbonda, just the man for a relegation scrap

Sky Sports News understands that Pascal Chimbonda is having a medical at Spurs on Monday.

That's right, Chimbonda is on his way back to the Lane.

Pascal 'Kevin Keegan has approached me and they’ve offered me more money. I am definitely leaving Spurs. It’s all about the money. I don’t care about the final, I don’t care about the cup ' Chimbonda.

Pascal 'storms down the tunnel at Wembley' Chimbonda.

Pascal 'I would love to play for Arsenal' Chimbonda.

Pascal 'hands in transfer request to Wigan after the final whistle' Chimbonda.

£20M worth of right-backs at the Lane if this happens.

Gunter. Young and needs development. Talented, but we can't expect him to make the position his own just yet.
Hutton. Still injured. If you believe the whispers, he'll be off in the summer.
Corluka. A right-back, but required more as a centre-back thanks to King's constant trouble with fitness. Bringing in an experienced RB will allow him to play as a CB.

So what of Pascal? Ignoring his indiscretions as a person, can the logic of having him in a Spurs side out-weigh the mockery of a transfer this is, based on the fact he was sold not that long ago?

He can play left-back and he can play at centre-back too. Arguably better at CB (defensively) where he appears to be far more disciplined than at RB. He does possess decent attributes. Determination is there when he's on-form and as an attacking forward he is more than adequate, but he does suffer from lapses of laziness and concentration and has (in the past) undermined the likes of Lennon when playing behind him thanks to his own agenda when pushing forward (i.e. failing to cover and support the right-winger).

Zokora is the one tagged with having no footballing brain. Pascal's lack of positional sense is a deterrent to him being a reliable full-back 100% of the time (not that anyone is) as he sometimes plays for himself more than he plays for the team. Which is what I meant by undermining Lennon and having his own agenda. He has more freedom at RB, therefore, he goes on far too many walkabouts. Stick him at LB or CB, and he concentrates more because naturally, he is out of his comfort zone - but the fact he plays well when called upon proves he DOES have something of a footballing brain and the concentration and discipline to go with it.

However, part of me would consider that the reason for the Lennon/Chimbonda partnership not working was more to do with Lennon than it was Pascal. It's something up for debate.

As for the transfer itself, it's yet another laughable example of how desperate we are. No news on the improved offer for Jones at Sunderland. I'm scared to even listen out for information on that one. Perfect foil or not, if he is signed we'll be guilty of over-spending again. Desperate desperate times.

£3M is the reported price for Pascal. As much as I dislike the principle of this transfer (it's a massive risk) and dislike the man himself, it might just work as long as Harry knows what to do with him and re-ignites that fiery passion we did happen to witness on a number of occasions. We need that in every game, and none of the blasé drifting.

His attitude will remain questionable because of his history, but he isn't guilty of anything just yet.

We are in a relegation scrap, we need the cover. He can hit the ground running. If he shows no immediate impact and fails to do a job for us, then don't fret. He'll pull out that transfer request away to Liverpool on the final day of the season and begone.....

.....let's pray we are not gone.

SSN (Spooky Sports News) Morning Report

So, footballer Pascal Chimbonda has declared he is on his way to Newcastle because…well, let him tell you himself:

“Kevin Keegan has approached me and they’ve offered me more money. I am definitely leaving Spurs. It’s all about the money. I don’t care about the final, I don’t care about the cup.”

What a prick. For the record, you’ve had about two decent games this season. Liability better spent lazing around in the Newcastle defence rather than ours. Not exactly surprising he is moving on so quickly. He shafted Wigan. He was always going to shaft us. Although it's far more likely that he is going because we (Ramos) doesn't rate him. Hence the Hutton chasing and the fact that we haven't denied he wont be sold.

Although, as a disclamier, maybe the quotes have been made up. It is, after all, The Sun who run the story.

Classy

Robbo has come out all guns blazing:

(From Sky Sports News)

"It's not exactly a fall-out. I was disappointed to be left out - like any professional would be - but I'm certainly not angry at being dropped by the team if you like. Every professional player gets phases like that in their career. If the manager decides I'm not performing and I'm not up the standard he wants at the time then he picks the team and I can't argue with that. I was disappointed with the way the situation was handled let's say. I saw reports yesterday saying I've put in a transfer request, I've never put in a transfer request."

"Definitely not. However, any professional worth their salt wants to play. If I don't play between now and the summer I've got a decision to make. If the club turn around to me and say I've got no future at the club then that's a whole different situation. As of yet that's not the situation.

The press and media seem to be having a lot of fun and games at my expense recently and I seem to be reading stuff day in, day out. The truth of the matter is I'm getting my head down and working as hard as I possibly can to get my place back. I've taken a lot of criticism over the last 12 months. I think it's affected me. I think it's unfair. At times my confidence has dipped, but I'm rebuilding it again."

At least he has admitted he has been affected by it all (self-inflicted though Robbo mate), all though less of the ‘unfair’ and more of the 'rebuilding' should be the way forward for him. Time will tell if Ramos has dropped Robinson so that the player can prove his true worth to the team by fighting back into first team selection and recapturing his past form. Or if he has simply paved the way for a transfer. Spurs will buy a keeper in the summer for sure, with Cerny on his way home when his loan finishes. Whether Robinson will be number one or not down the player. He wont stay at the club if he is number two, and will be flushed faster than your first dump in the morning.

Then we have Woodgate. The Darren Anderton of the defensive world. Hardly ever fit (although unfair to say he hasn't done ok this season). So quality when he is fit, but….but always a risk of a break down. Are we aiming to bid for as many 'not sure I want him' players as possible? First the one dimensional Downing and now a crock. With King back in the team and Dawson finding his form because King is back in the team, the last thing we want (if King gets injured) is a player who probably won’t be fit at any given time. Although I shouldn’t be that scared of this going through, as the likelihood of Wodogate failing his medical is very probable. Surely the world pool of available players is massive. Is Comolli scouting via the BBC’s squad selector? Jesus wept.

Its the 25th January. There's not that long to go before the transfer window shuts.

Still no central defender.
Still no right-back.
Still no defensive midfielder.
Still no creative midfielder.

Although potentially:

Still no central defender. Woodgate.
Still no right-back. Hutton.
Still no defensive midfielder. Tiago.
Still no creative midfielder. Jenas (to blossom under Ramos).

Is this the way forward?

I'll ask again in a month.