Tottenham Continue to Shock and Amuse
On Saturday night it was announced by Tottenham Hotspur that after just under a year, Juande Ramos was no longer in charge of their team. This came alongside the dismissal of the much maligned Damian Comolli as well as Ramos' assistant Gus Poyet and first-team coach Marcos Alvarez. All in all it was an unusually busy Saturday evening when you considered that Spurs were due to play Bolton yesterday, not the most ideal preparation but ultimately the team performed better than at any other point this season.
I have to admit that as an Arsenal fan, any defensive lapses that may of affected the Gunners in recent weeks have been joyously put to one side when witnessing the mother of all car crashes that is Spurs season thus far. I have so far avoided writing pieces on the plight of my North London rivals, mostly because they are such an easy target, but now seems like a good time to review their chaos.
The reasons behind Tottenhams spectacular slump since they won the Carling Cup last March have been reported on extensively and it must be clear to even the most naive football fan or analyst that primarily they have failed to replace their once potent strike force. Indeed it could be said that Comolli has deserved to be sacked ever since he replaced Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov with Frasier Cambell and Pavlyuchenko.
These transfer sagas are the real cause of confusion to me, Tottenham have made it clear in the past that they intend to be the club that breaks into the so called big four, this aim was the motivation behind them sacking Martin Jol to replace him with Ramos in the first place. Now the recriminations around Jol's departure and his apparent inability to make Tottenham a top-four team are made to look ever more mis-guided as he is currently managing Hamburg at the Bundesliga summit, whilst Tottenham have made their worst start to a league season in their history.
Whilst it would be true to say that Tottenham did spend a substantial amount on transfers during last summer and pre-season, the players that they have signed have not necessarily been in problem areas for the team. The acquisition of David Bentley could be questioned, he is an accomplished player but paying £15 million for a right winger when they already possess Aaron Lennon does appear to be slightly wasteful business, particularly when a left winger has long been a requirement for successive Tottenham managers.
Tottenham's chairman Daniel Levy has tried for several seasons to successfully implement a European structure into the club, with transfer policy handled by a Director of football, leaving the coaching and tactics to the manager. This appeared to work for a short while when Martin Jol was in charge and Frank Arnesan was the Director, but apart from this short period the attempt has clearly failed. The gamble on running their club this way has now been consigned to failure with Tottenham installing Harry Redknapp as their new knight in shining armour, and he will most likely help the team stave off any relegation fears. Why though did Levy not put faith into the tried and trusted results garnered at Arsenal and Manchester Utd? These clubs have always left their long-serving managers to have full control over their own destinies, and their successes over the last ten- twenty years must provide a clue to what works in the Premier League.
As mentioned, the selling of Keane and Berbatov without proper replacements have crippled Spurs this season more than any other factor of their plight, but it is where they have been sold to that deserves the biggest condemnation. With Robbie Keane being cashed in to Liverpool and likewise with Dimitar Berbatov to Manchester Utd, it is hard to see how Tottenham are not undermining their grand claims to be one of the biggest clubs in England when they are in fact selling out to the biggest clubs in England. If this attitude continues with future assets they will never shake off the tag of being also-rans and will instead re-inforce the feeling that for all the clamour they are a team that lacks any real ambition.
I have to admit that as an Arsenal fan, any defensive lapses that may of affected the Gunners in recent weeks have been joyously put to one side when witnessing the mother of all car crashes that is Spurs season thus far. I have so far avoided writing pieces on the plight of my North London rivals, mostly because they are such an easy target, but now seems like a good time to review their chaos.
The reasons behind Tottenhams spectacular slump since they won the Carling Cup last March have been reported on extensively and it must be clear to even the most naive football fan or analyst that primarily they have failed to replace their once potent strike force. Indeed it could be said that Comolli has deserved to be sacked ever since he replaced Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov with Frasier Cambell and Pavlyuchenko.
These transfer sagas are the real cause of confusion to me, Tottenham have made it clear in the past that they intend to be the club that breaks into the so called big four, this aim was the motivation behind them sacking Martin Jol to replace him with Ramos in the first place. Now the recriminations around Jol's departure and his apparent inability to make Tottenham a top-four team are made to look ever more mis-guided as he is currently managing Hamburg at the Bundesliga summit, whilst Tottenham have made their worst start to a league season in their history.
Whilst it would be true to say that Tottenham did spend a substantial amount on transfers during last summer and pre-season, the players that they have signed have not necessarily been in problem areas for the team. The acquisition of David Bentley could be questioned, he is an accomplished player but paying £15 million for a right winger when they already possess Aaron Lennon does appear to be slightly wasteful business, particularly when a left winger has long been a requirement for successive Tottenham managers.
Tottenham's chairman Daniel Levy has tried for several seasons to successfully implement a European structure into the club, with transfer policy handled by a Director of football, leaving the coaching and tactics to the manager. This appeared to work for a short while when Martin Jol was in charge and Frank Arnesan was the Director, but apart from this short period the attempt has clearly failed. The gamble on running their club this way has now been consigned to failure with Tottenham installing Harry Redknapp as their new knight in shining armour, and he will most likely help the team stave off any relegation fears. Why though did Levy not put faith into the tried and trusted results garnered at Arsenal and Manchester Utd? These clubs have always left their long-serving managers to have full control over their own destinies, and their successes over the last ten- twenty years must provide a clue to what works in the Premier League.
As mentioned, the selling of Keane and Berbatov without proper replacements have crippled Spurs this season more than any other factor of their plight, but it is where they have been sold to that deserves the biggest condemnation. With Robbie Keane being cashed in to Liverpool and likewise with Dimitar Berbatov to Manchester Utd, it is hard to see how Tottenham are not undermining their grand claims to be one of the biggest clubs in England when they are in fact selling out to the biggest clubs in England. If this attitude continues with future assets they will never shake off the tag of being also-rans and will instead re-inforce the feeling that for all the clamour they are a team that lacks any real ambition.
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