In our defence

End of season review. An attempt at one. I have to be honest with you, I’m struggling a touch at the moment. I’m spending most of my available time online (when not working) musing on Twitter, slagging off the In The Know community simply because I default to this obvious caricature of hate because there is very little else to discuss at the moment.

I could perhaps talk about what’s-his-face and the delightful twitch his face displays when someone on Sky Sports mentions the Chelsea job. Then again, no.

A letter is due to the chairman, but I’ll wait another week or so before I drain blood and dip feather.

As for the ITK community, I’ve already spotted one Spurs fan on a forum make up some s*** about a player only for a supposed well known ITK to then post about it on the forum he frequents, giving the impression he heard about it from a club insider.

Even funnier is the fact that ESPN are obviously connected because they published a news article about Cristian Ceballos (even though they jumped the gun suggesting he had signed) without a single citation in the day(s) before from any of the esteemed ITK’ers. A Barca reject kid on trial at Spurs and none of the countless self-proclaimed messengers had anything to share other than providing updates post-ESPN exclusive.

Yes, yes. I hate it all with a passion and here I am talking about it, unable to turn away. But for the moment, I will.

So this is me skipping onwards with the end of season chit chat.

Before I do I just want to say goodbye and good luck to @drwinston001 who is ‘retiring’ from blogging and handing over his site (thfc1882.com) to a couple of other top lads to continue its coverage of all things Spurs. His final article covered off an assessment of our squad, which is well worth a read. If you’re wondering, a baby is on it's way. Good luck Tom, look forward to your guest-blogging over at thfc1882 in the not so distant future.

So, player reviews up first. The defence.

To follow: Prem / The Cups / The Progression of Harry Redknapp’s Tottenham / Summertime High Jinxs.

Gomes

From shot stopping genius to calamity clown. If Gomes was a centre forward he’d be of the ilk not too dissimilar to the ones we have at the moment. Very good when there is no time to think. Remember Robbie Keane during his better spells at the club? Stick Robbie in a one on one situation and his brain farts and the ball either goes wide or straight at the keeper. Gomes, when he has a similar pocket of time for his grey matter to rub up against each other, can only ever result with a haemorrhage of haplessness.  

He completely losses the ability to control his physicality, body going one direction with mind left behind between the woodwork, whilst we all witness the implosion in slow-mo.

What is Gomes? Is he a good keeper prone to mistakes and lapses of concentration? Or is he an average keeper, one that is always prone to errors, but masks the negatives with moments of unparalleled reflexes and super-saves? It’s a fallacy to suggest all keepers are loopy. By virtue of the fact they are the only ones wearing gloves to handle the ball with hands during the game, their mistakes will always stand-out more. Conceding a goal thanks to an avoidable mistake can change the whole course of a game and the psychology of the teams focus. Much like missing a sitter.

No doubting Gomes has given us moments of stupendous plot. Giving away a penalty in the last minute, then saving it (Chelsea at home) and saving a pen only to give one away and concede seconds later (Blackpool at home). We’ve been treated to a master-class of excellence too (AC Milan away) as well as insanity (Inter away). He was incredible at the back of last season. That wasn’t him over performing. That was him at the top of his concentration. Gomes strikes me as someone who is fragile with self belief and confidence and when one mistake or a moment or uncertainty plays out, like domino's, all layers of his mind collapse.

He makes wonderful saves but when he makes mistakes, they are epic (and at key moments). He can flap too and when mistakes don't lead to goals they lead to Keystone antics across the whole of the backline, infecting his team-mates with a dizzy virus and it's side-effect of momentary panic.

Personally, I don’t want to detach my faith from supporting him. People who prefer him to be replaced by someone with a more steady head might be forgetting that a keeper who retains concentration might not necessarily be capable of match winning performances and when they conceded, it might not be thanks to a lapse of concentration but simply lesser skill.

If there’s a keeper out there that’s capable of brilliance but has the cool composed calmness of a Cech, then the vast majority of us would not complain if he was signed and the Brazilian was sold on.

Sort your head out Gomes.

Gallas

He’s ex-Chelsea, he’s ex-Arsenal. He’s a trouble-maker. He’s a melter. He’s too old. He’s too slow.

Wish someone has pre-warned me he would be an absolute gem, a steal...a stolen gem. With King and Woodgate hardly involved, having someone of Gallas experience in the side has played a major part in retaining strength and organisation at the back. It took a while for him to regain full match fitness and settle in with his new team mates, but his almost nonchalant ‘doesn’t give a **** other than just performing well’ attitude proved that sometimes there is nothing wrong with wheeling and dealing. I can remember feeling mixed emotions and displeasure when he was made captain. Kudos to Harry. Gallas has been imperative in the absence of King, if not a pound for pound replacement. Interestingly, he's yet to score for us.

Dawson

Step up, step up. Everyone knows Daws excels when he has Ledley King by his side. He’s been equally impressive with Gallas playing next to him but Daws is best positioned to the right of King. Regardless, he gets on with it and defends with royal passion. Just that, what with his age and with Ledley missing for large chunks of the season...it’s time this prince became a King.

Mixed season, inconsistent at times and brilliant on occasions. You love Daws because of his relentless desire to do well. He might not be the quickness and he might lack the assured presence a Gallas or King possesses  but you can’t question his work rate (and his distribution ain’t too shabby).

If he can replicate the form he is capable of when he plays alongside King, then he’ll have grown into the player that we all wish him to be. At the minute, we’re just wishing. Dawson needs to believe in himself, just a notch more and take each game by the scruff of the neck. Which he does already, just not in every game.

Corluka

Not one of his better seasons. All over the shop early on, replaced by Alan Hutton whilst we all wondered what had happened to the always reliable Croat. His positioning, key to make up for his lack of pace, had deserted him completely. I like him. I like the way he works the flanks with Lennon. I think, on form he offers more than our other options. He’s intelligent on the ball and can play football rather than perhaps just knock the ball ahead of him and run onto it. Hopefully it was a blip. I doubt Hutton will be with us next season. Kyle Walker will. So you can’t help but feel content that competition at right-back will be tight.

Ekotto

Everyone huddles, except for BAE. I mean, he’s there. You can see him, but his back is straight and his head is facing upwards and looking away whilst all the other soft-hearted lads are bending down to listen to the rallying speech. Simply put, Ekotto is too cool for skool. A modern day footballing anomaly. He doesn’t follow the game as a spectactor. Although it’s slightly stretching the persona of coolness to perhaps suggests he doesn’t care. He’s a model professional without the superstar add-ons.

His consistent, he’s drilled. He plays for the team and he does exactly what he’s expected to do at the back. More kudos to Harry for solving this conundrum as there was a time before his arrival when we were not quite sure he was the answer to our left-back headache.

Excellent player, excellent season...lets Bale rampage whilst he sits back and defends and never appears to lose focus. Hopefully Danny Rose will continue his impressive cameos into next season and give Ekotto a rest now and again (won't be too presumptuous and say 'competition' just yet).

Hutton

Okay, so he’s offensive and he runs forward with intent and can impact the game but he can’t perform at the back as an individual or as part of a unit. He doesn’t fathom the concept of positioning and he has no astuteness in the art of defending. Had a period this season where some of us thought we’re be proven wrong, mainly down to the fact Charlie was so awful. Alas, we were not proved wrong in the end.

Kaboul

When Comolli signed him he stated he was ‘one for the future’. In true Tottenham fashion we threw him into the first team and ruined him. Well, we thought we had. Quite surreal that he was sold and then signed back. He’s grown and matured, he’s still raw in places but I can’t help but believe he has a strong future at our club. Development of his defensive abilities on the back foot need to match his awareness going forward with the ball. He possesses the right attributes to be a beast and hero status for the third goal to complete our famous win over at the swamp.

Bassong

Who? Oh yeah. The forgotten man. Thought he was more than decent for us last season and yet this season he’s hardly figured. If Harry doesn’t fancy you, then you don’t get a look in. Shame because he is more than capable.

King

The discussion about whether it’s worth retaining him if he’s only going to appear in a handful (if not less) games per season will continue throughout the summer. He’s one in a million with the one knee, and yet he can do more than most are capable with two. Galvanises Dawson and improves our defence every time he plays. Statistically, we lose less games and concede fewer goals when he plays. If he had two knees, we’d still be where we are now...as King would probably be playing for Barca or Madrid.

Might as well mention Woodgate. Depending on what you read he's either going to be let go or given a pay-as-play contract.

We certainly need to decide on our back-line in preparation for 2012. Fullback positions are fine, it's the centre pairing and the backup(s) that need attention. Preferably not the type that involves ice packs and cotton wool.

Overall, we've done well in defence. Just not scored enough goals down the other end to relieve them from pressure which has resulted in loss of shape and conceded goals. Confidence with the keeper/defender relationship another required fix. It's not just four at the back, it's five.

Across the season, as a unit (ignoring moments of madness in the CL and in the cups) I can't complain more than I have above, which isn't a lot.

Midfielders and attackers to follow...

Clattenburg 2 Tottenham 0

Let's get the Nani goal out of the way first.

I'm doing this from memory as I watched it on a stream and if there is anything that's not quite on the money with regards to the time-line of the incident and it's events, then talk up. That's the whole point of a discussion thread.

Okay, so here we go...


1) Nani in the box, Kaboul is pulling the red shirt down, and the United player decides he may as well give into gravity and tumble over. He handballs the ball after falling (diving). The ref doesn't award a penalty - which is contentious because they've been given for that sort of thing in the past - but equally so, you could argue he went to ground with relative ease. Would have been soft if it was awarded. Probably because Nani tried far too hard to con the ref when it wasn't necessary.

2) No matter if you think it was a pen, a dive or just a nothing incident - there was no indication from the ref or the lino at this juncture that the hand ball had been acknowledged by either of them. Was not a penalty for certain as far as the ref was concerned. And I don't remember that much of a protest from the United players who got on with the game.

3) Now this is where it gets a bit messy. The only certainty at this point is that Nani had blatantly and unequivocally handled the ball. So much so that the Spurs players - and especially Gomes - do not, for a single second, think that it is anything other than a stone cold free-kick. So much so, they take it for granted.

In fact, note the assistant referee at this stage of the incident. He doesn't raise his flag because he assumes Clattenburg - who witnessed the fall (dive) in the box and the handball - is taking control because of the obviousness. What I mean by control is - unquestionably making it clear it was a free kick. Except the ref doesn't make anything clear.

4) So, this far, we have a blatant handball, Clattenburg (as far as I could tell) was in clear sight. But either he didn't see it or did see, but either way - as the official - doesn't make it clear to anyone other than the voice in his head. The assistant ref (the lino), sees it but makes a mistake. He doesn't raise his flag and wave it about. Had he done so, Clattenburg would have been forced into using his arm and hands and voice to clearly state free-kick/play on/whatever - although a free kick would probably have been given due to the raising of the lino's flag. And everyone's mistake it to accept the obvious, i.e. a free-kick from a dead ball.

4) Gomes, dear innocent Gomes, places the ball down (having looked at Nani and shook his head at the player and then looked at the lino for confirmation which might have been given with a stare or again a telepathic assumption, which is hardly the basis you should accept). Again, another massive assumption in the belief that everybody on the pitch understand that Nani handled the ball.

And I'm certain everyone on the pitch did. Including Fletcher (I think it was) who shouted at Nani to drop back to defend. Everyone apart from Nani, who knew he had handled the ball and also knew the ref had not blown his whistle or made it abundantly clear what was meant to be going on. I think Clattenburg was running back to the half-way line at this point. Which begs the question, did he think Gomes was taking the free-kick or that the keeper was going to play advantage?

5) So Gomes places the ball down (twice) ten yards from the actual incident, then remonstrates with his players to get out of he box, and Nani looks around (did he ask permission from the ref or someone if it was okay to kick the ball?) and then kicks the ball under Gomes and in. Apologetic celebration, looking around at first, making sure it counted. Which it did. Which he accepted.

6) Everyone (in Lilywhite) goes a bit mental, Gomes running to the lino smacking his arm/hand, and the lino decides now is the best moment to be lifting his flag up and waves it for the attention of Mark. Clattenburg has already given a goal, but runs down to his assistant, listens to his assistant (who has already mouthed to Gomes 'I know' in response to 'handball') but alas...it's not disallowed.

Too much has happened. Clattenburg signals again, it's a goal. Two things here - the lino flagging when prompted by Gomes (why did he not do it when the hand ball happened so he can make sure the ref saw it so they could both be on the same page in terms of the flow of the game? Or do such incidents, where hand ball occur, always result with a free-kick, therefore, no need for communication? Well? Second thing worth mentioning; Pav flapping his arms like a chicken at the lino.

7) Also - you've got to laugh at our players being told to walk away from the lino whilst Rio is allowed to stand next to both Clattenburg and the lino and stick his oar in. Although if he talks like he tweets, there's a likelihood neither understood his complaining.

8) It's 2-0 and that's that.

9) If you look back (on my stream of the game) the goal was missed because they were showing a replay - so that makes it the linesman, the fans (me and everyone else watching it would seem), the players on both sides and the frigging television producers - all making the assumption it was a dead ball kick. Playing advantage only works when the keeper with the ball in his hands actually knows it's advantage - which the ref failed to do.

10) Therefore: No communication from Clattenburg. Nothing definitive. Other than the ref running up the pitch away from the box where the ball was. Would you run up the pitch if you (the ref) had decided that the ball was still in play? Why not remain close(r) to the action until you can work out what the keeper is going to do?

11) Can I mention the handball again? If the ref saw it, which he must of if he was playing 'advantage' - then why exactly? It's slack. Also, where was the yellow card for Nani? Or is it okay to dismiss it and just forgive and let us have advantage so no time is lost in our favour? And loop yourself back to 10 again.

12) Do you see how the ref is responsible for birthing this bastard United debauchery of balls? No matter laying blame on Gomes for not playing to the whistle, it's still comes down to a creation of a goal out of subtle yet chaotic mismanagement of an incident. I'll say it again: If you're going to not do the obvious ( award a free-kick, yellow card the player) at least signal it's advantage. If by not doing anything, its therefore advantage, then it allows for too much ambiguity.

Also - Did the ref whistle at any stage? If he did initally, then surely its a free-kick. If he didn't - then why the f*ck not?

Conclusions

Fact is Clattenburg should have either made it abundantly clear it was an advantage - regardless of 'play to the whistle'. Everyone (apart from Nani who was sulking on the ground because he didn't get a pen) run off down the pitch - it tells you they all thought it was a free-kick. Had Clattenburg awarded the free-kick. No controversy. Had Clattenburg signalled advantage, no controversy. There is remonstrating of Gomes to his players around the box that might hint at some type of confusion, I did notice that. But I think that had more to do with Gomes wanting to pass it out to one of them rather than booting it down the pitch.

I wish we lost 1-0, instead of having that second go in. Because people will talk about yet another injustice when the reality is, we didn't quite have it going on in the final third. It's almost like we can't just lose at Old Trafford, we have to lose and there has to be something ridiculous in there to mess with our minds.

Lesson for us is simply: Do not entrust in the officials, do not leave doubt and ambiguity in what plays out simply by playing to the whistle. Talk to the ref if you have to. Just don't make assumptions even though it was more than obvious it was hand ball and should have been a  free-kick.

Should, should, should.

Ref f*cked up. No question about it. It's now two for Clattenburg (you haven't forgotten about the Mendes goal have you - the one that would have blipped this woeful 68 game run of no wins away to the monopoly). Oh Howard, at least your calamities were more straightforward.

Next season, let's save ourselves a journey up there and just default the game.

Next blog article - I will not refer to any of this and just talk about the actual performance and players. Don't want all this dizziness to get in the way of what really matters. The football. And our season.


Have we come out of January stronger or weaker?

The incomings and outgoings:

IN

Gudjohnsen (on loan)

Kaboul

Walker (recalled from loan)

Out

Gio (on loan)

O'Hara (on loan)

Hutton (on loan)

Naughton (on loan)

Keane (on loan)

For all the players linked to our club over this transfer window and the summer one, we've seemed to done pretty much nothing in the way of filling the (alleged) gaps that need filling. From my perspective, and possibly from yours too. It's been a dull non-event of a window and granted, you don't always do the best deals in the month of January and it's best not to panic buy. Although arguably, if we've had targets since the start of the season, all the ground work should have been done in the months between the first window and this one. Seems for all the talk about lacking depth in the CM positions and allowing for the possibility of certain players being sold (Bentley, Pav) - nothing has actually happened of much significance. Well, nothing other than quite possibly failing to consolidate 4th spot.

Best chance of finishing 4th, theoretically that is if we injected something extra into the squad to aid us chasing City who will probably win their games in hand.

So what have we done exactly? Are we stronger or weaker for it? Depends on your perspective.

Good Stuff

One for one

Keane is gone. He's been a shadow of the player he once was and there's no doubt that regardless of the obvious personality he brings to the dressing room, he seems devoid of it out on the pitch. Rumours (as ever) suggest that he wasn't displaying the right attitude having been handed back the captains armband on his return from boyhood club number I. He's never been the same player after that particular shambolic adventure. And him on his way (to boyhood club number II) is in no way detrimental to the side because we've signed Gudjohnsen, who might not be as prolific as Keane once was - but he'll link the midfield with attack as good as anyone meaning he can play alongside Defoe or Pav. With Crouch back to being Plan B.

Keane might come back refreshed in the summer, or score enough up in Scotland to aid a permanent move. Either way, problem solved.

Cover for two positions

Kaboul. The utility player. He'll cover CM, DM and RB if required. One player, three positions and no prolonged Brazilian style negotiations (Sandro) or ridiculous transfer fee demands (Sissoko). He's improved, matured and will quite possibly blossom in our decent side (rather than struggle like he did first time round). And Kyle Walker is back to cover the fullback position. Must have impressed at Sheff Utd.

Squad consistency retained

Could have done with a goal keeper just in case Gomes does get crocked. But we tried, it seems, on three different fronts to sign one. But otherwise, we've got rid of the deadwood and players who simply wont be getting near the first team and therefore are better spent playing elsewhere.

WTF?

Upfront

We've got 4 forwards. One blows hot and cold. The other hardly scores consistently. The other one hardly ever plays. The new one isn't match fit yet. Letting Keane go, regardless of his lack of oomph, is hardly the best thing doing when you consider we are about to enter a proper ding dong battle to keep our noses that point or two ahead of the teams chasing the same thing we are. He's worth a bundle regardless of his tainted mojo, so sending him out on loan to a Scottish team seems to imply trouble at the mill. Plenty of pressure on EG then.

No DM

Go back to the summer window and remind yourself of when it closed and Harry admitting that letting O'Hara go to Pompey had left us without any true cover in the middle. And yet, here we are, after the closure of the winter window and once more - no cover. If Sandro is genuinely the target and we have to wait until June/July that doesn't change the fact that if Wilson gets injured we're in a spot of bother. We've been crying out for an understudy for an age. Massive risk by Harry and Levy IMO.  Looks like Kaboul is our DM cover for the time being. I'm scared.

CB looking good

With Woody MIA and attempting to find some way back from injury and King playing part-time, signing Kaboul has fixed our CB cover out for now. Dawson, Bassong, Kaboul, Corluka. It's all good. Except that Kaboul once upon a time made an awful Daws look good as he's the type of player that manages to make massive mistakes in games that are costly. Corluka never really does it for me at CB and if either Daws or Bass get a knock, we're once more biting nails.

No RB cover

We've gone from having 37 right-backs to one. Kaboul looks like he's in for a busy return shift. Hutton and his cameos are no more with his loan out to Sunderland. If Charlie gets injured...well, you know the drill. It's Kaboul Time. Again. Unless the young lad Walker is going to play a proper part in the squad rather than watch from the sidelines much like Naughton has done.

So, good stuff of wtf?

Is there a lack of quality out there at the moment that has left us having to look for a bargain rather than a newly discovered gem? The Keane situation is a mess. I did laugh reading Harry's comments about Robbie being a Celtic man and how this is a dream move for him. Plenty of blag in his words, it's obvious he's building him up and hopefully Keane can have a positive spell up in the SPL - but no matter the great times he's had for us down South, he's tainted his legacy with the whole Liverpool episode. But I guess given a once in a life time opportunity - which is how Keane perceived it - he took it. Shame he didn't stop to think what he had and the rather obvious fact that Rafa wasn't really interested in him to start with.

One of my favourite Spurs players of recent years. When he was on form he was excellent. His partnership with Berbatov in that first season was ridiculous. Scored a bundle for us.

I guess these things happen. The fact he was only ever re-signed because Defoe got injured sums it all up. One booze trip too many in the end.

Conclusion

Simply this.

We have the players to finish 4th. If people think Liverpool do then there's no reason we can't. The problem is, so do Man City and Villa. All our hopes are on the players - the ones we're left with - pulling together and believing. Enough with these points being dropped. If they don't step up together, then the dream is over and we should all agree that we don't have the right balance of players who can give the right level of application when it matters.

You'd think considering City will spend around £200M next summer we could have done with some of that consolidation right now.

But it's not all grim, is it? We're enjoying one of our best (if not the best) points accumulation in a Prem season we've ever had and the problems we are having are ones that are fixable. If Harry has the right amount of cello-tape to go around.  Game for game, pound for pound, we're not doing too badly at all. It's just frustrating that we could have been 5-8 pts better off. I guess one or two other clubs would say the same thing about their predicament.

Onwards, upwards.

COYS

You wait ages for one and then three…

You have to feel for Pompey. Savaged financially, Judas suing them, reliant on Jamie O'Hara's hand-outs and now us, plucking more of their players as they stand there, disillusioned and depressed.

Kaboul it appears is the next one. The Beast with no Brain is set for a return. Portsmouth still owe as a couple of million quid on the deal apparently, so yet another 'bargain' in the making, hey? He hardly got a chance first time round at the Lane and I'm certain I remember Comolli banging on about him being 'one for the future'. So much wrong with that.

A) You don’t spend £8M odd quid on a player for the future when at the time we needed players for the present
B)  You don't then throw him into the team in desperation and decimate his confidence (this happens a lot at Spurs)
C) And player 'for the future' usually show signs of the player they will one day turn into. Which J-K failed to do

Actually, what am I saying? He did get a chance. It was because of his chances that we sold him. Strong, determined but prone to massive mistakes. I know what you're thinking. Dawson. We kept with the latter and he's not doing too badly. Good enough in fact for a 5 year contract.

If you're wondering, Begovic is the other target (although he has played for two clubs already in a footballing year).

I liked Kaboul initially. He looked like the type of 110% player we lacked at the time. However not so refined in other areas. We sign the wrong player for an over-inflated price, say we're not going to use him, use him, he has a major high (4-4 v Villa) and then is tagged as a minor scapegoat following mediocre performances and several shag-ups. Then he's gone. And now he's on the verge of returning. For  less than we signed him for.

It's all just a bundle of barmy.

Is this the midfield cover then? Or do we dare to play him at centre-back? Shudder. Spurs, signing back players who were not that good in the first place.

Is Chimbonda available? Cheeky £2M bid?

Kabooom!

Regarding the £23M Sunderland raid on 4 of our players.....I just find this whole episode strange. I don't mind seeing any of them leave the club, apart from Steed who I believe still has something to offer. But Ramos obviously knows what he is doing squad/selection wise so if he is letting him go, so be it.

The Kaboul transfer is for me the golden moment of the summer. His agent has told us that Kaboul going to Sunderland is simply not going to happen because it will damage the boys international career. Ok, fact time. To have an international career you need to have a first team domestic career first and all Kaboul has a virtual shit covering his boots. This is the man who creates pockets of miniature earthquakes every time he attempts to defend, resulting in conceded goals. Sunderland, IMO, is where he should go - whether it be transfer or loan because he simply doesn't have the composure or timing to be a first team player for any side with aspirations that amount more to avoiding relegation.

The club are solely responsible for this. I might be wrong but I'm sure when we signed him he wasn't meant to be thrown into the deep end and play for the first eleven. And if so, this begs another question. How can we keep allowing Comolli to spend money like £8M on a player who 'has potential' when in fact all he has is half a footballing brain? For someone who came from Arsenal, Comolli has no ability to scout cheap quality players with potential. For £8M we should be buying superb capable confident players.

Pompey will probably not pay anything more than £4M for him.

Kaboul Signs

"From day one he said 'I want to play for Spurs' and his personality made a big impression on Martin and myself. He has been a regular in the Auxerre first team for the past two seasons and is an excellent signing."

Manager Martin Jol added: "If you ask people in France who is seen as the hottest prospect in defence they will say Younes Kaboul. We are very happy to have him on board. It's important to have quality players in defence and with Younes, we have that."

tottenhamhotspur.com/news/articles/kaboulsigns.html

Hottest French prospect in defence apparently. Adding to the fact that we also signed Adel Taarabt early this summer on a full contract (after his loan period ended) we appear to be continuing with our collection of young 'potentials'.

Kaboul is the new Gallas. Taarabt is the new Zidane. And I'm Lord Lucan.

Will Spurs finally sign a left-winger? Will I write a love-letter proclaiming my love for Levy? Stay tuned for more.

Now now, Spooky. I did say I would be positive. So, here goes.

We've signed two defenders (one of which can play in midfield). We've also signed a midfielder and a forward. Squad depth has got stronger. Two of the signings are highly rated British players and the other two highly rated French players.

Yes, we've over-spent on one of them, but then over-spending will be the norm this summer due to the wonderful hordes of TV money available to one and all.

Let's hope that Kaboul doesn't follow the paths of the previous two highly-rated Auxerre defenders, Boumsong and Mexes.

So far, effigy burning avoided.

Summer Transfer Targets

Younes Kaboul signed, allegedly. Sources suggest this is potentially a disaster move for the club:

Kaboul is not very good at all, definitely not 7.5 million worth......sure these may have been two off days, but from i saw, he is not quick, he has a kind of lazy, heavy way of getting around the pitch, a bit like Carrick.....not brave, he makes 80% efforts to win the ball, not like john terry who smashes into opponents and still cleanly wins the ball.......very easily tricked and put to the floor by quick forwards on at least 5 occasions.....and he seems to switch off and lose his opponent, like Bramble seems to do

he looks no better than Tony Gardner..............i really cannot see why Commoli and Jol rate him enough to buy him unless they see him as a defensive midfielder....like i said, he moves around like carrick, is a neat passer, and maybe Jol wants him to get the ball and pass it on simply, which Carrick did but of course Carrick had much more ability

but i would worry if he is for the defence, even as cover for Ledley............the kid will need lots of time and patience, but i fear with this huge price tag, his confidence will be rocked if he doesnt perform well immediately..........and 7.5 million is a waste of the clubs money, he is 2.5/3miilion max, even in todays crazy fees.....it smacks of the 8 million we spent on Dean Richards, and Kaboul is no better than Richards

Fantastic scouting then. £7.5M well spent.

Gareth Bale is apparently 'back on' because Utd have cooled their interest. So, thats potentially £10M for a teenager that can't defend but scores free-kicks so he must be good then. As for Darren Bent, he scored goals - a lot of goals - playing for a poor team that got relegated so although he isn't world class he is still a good player. But how does a good player fit into a squad that already has Berbatov, Keane and Defoe? Which means, Defoe may finally be on the way out.

As for the left-wing problem, Morten Gamst Pedersen is once more linked. A player who can cross and score from the wing. Thankfully the one dimensional Downing isn't being linked at this present moment in time. But there's months to go before the window closes, so lets not get too excited yet.

So, the current tabloid and message board list consists of:

• Younes Kaboul
• Gareth Bale
• Morten Gamst Pedersen
• Darren Bent

I have not seen any activity at the Lodge or the Lane, though I cannot be at two places at once, I'm keeping an eye on what Ben (FTL) has to say from his tree. It's probably a little early in the post-season for any deals to go through. Too many players booking flights to the sun.

Soton youngster Bale: Spurs bound?

It's imperative that we buy completed article players. Which counts out Bale, but then if you believe Levy we buy young British players with sell-on potential, meaning if you do the math, Bale (if bought for £10M) would have to be sold for £15M-£20M in the future. Does he strike you as a potential £20M player? If he is one for the future, what about the present? We still need to cover ourselves with a top draw player in the left back position. Have to.

Which brings me to my point. Would the above mentioned players make us better than Arsenal or Liverpool, when both clubs are likely to buy Ribery and Tevez respectively. All four respective transfer targets are just bland. And signing them all would cost, how much? £40M? That's fourty-million quid on players who might not even make it into the first team. How is that progression? We make far too many signings of players that are ok rather than superb. For every Berbatov there's a Lee, Tainio, Assou-Ekotto, Stalteri etc. And 'ok' is pushing it a little for some of them.

With Berbs and Zokora being the 'big signings' of last season with regards to the structure of the team, we don't need to worry about these positions. We just need to sort out the weak spots. So, please no more central midfielders. We have Huddlestone and we have Taarabt. They need to play a part. Seems that Jenas has pictures of Jol in a gimp suit, so he will play a part in next seasons campaign. Steed will play more of a role from the start of the season rather than appearing in spurts due to his initial injury.

So, at this point in time, I am uncertain about who we should be looking at. Possibly Baines (who does have Premiership experience) to play in the left-back role. There must be a left-winger of world class status out there that wouldn't mind joining a London club. Or maybe there isnt, which would explain the fact that we end up with the Lees, Tainios, Assou-Ekottos and Stalteris of this world.

One thing I will say, please for fucks sake, stop with these inane links to players that we could never sign (Robben) who, for the record is always injured and we could never sign. And the likes of Harry Kewell. Yes, Kewell. Who some Spurs fans seem to be blind to the fact that he isn't the Leeds Utd youngster of 6 years ago. He's, well basically, shit. One game this season and some of our fans are suggesting he should be a target. This is the type of Spurs fan that Levy's reign is breeding. Accepting third-rate as an option. This summer, Big Brother is likely to give me more pleasure than Comolli's European travels.