Harry's January panic buys cause problems
The signing of Peter Crouch is an excellent one. He will provide goals, assists and good link-up play. He has the skill and finesse to flourish in Spurs’ passing game and his obvious physical attributes provide the team with something different. He will also form a good strike partnership with Jermain Defoe. And there lies the problem.
It is hard to envisage a regular starting place for Robbie Keane. It is well-known that Keane and Defoe cannot play together and it is obvious from their success at Portsmouth that Crouch and Defoe are natural partners. Keane appears to be little more than back-up to Defoe and that is without putting Roman Pavlyuchenko into the equation.
Crouch, like Defoe, Keane and Pascal Chimbonda is in his second spell at the club and it could well be that we have two ‘misses’ to go with two resigned ‘hits’. The return of Defoe and Crouch feels right; Chimbonda and Keane’s homecoming does not.
The decision to bring back Keane was questionable at the time, largely because of the massive fee. His £20.3m move to Liverpool felt like good business; giving £15m of it back did not. It makes even less sense now.
Harry must have foreseen a major role for such a big signing, but then he must have done in lavishing a similar amount on Defoe. He is the only man at the club who is not aware of the pair’s unsuccessful attempts to forge a partnership in their first spell at the club.
The signing of Keane was in a way understandable. We were in a relegation battle and the manager was concerned by the lack of leadership on the pitch; he cited this as Keane’s main attribute when bringing him back.
Harry might also have panicked slightly when buying Chimbonda. Vedran Corluka was having a decent season at right back and the manager would surely have overlooked the lack of cover if we were not in such a perilous position, especially as Alan Hutton was on the way back from injury.
Chimbonda can provide cover in other positions (he might well start the season as the first choice centre back) in much the same way Keane can. However, the captain is wasted on the left wing or in central midfield and he is unlikely to relish the prospect of filling in in alien positions.
Darren Bent is on his way out of the club to balance the books. Could it be that Keane will follow him in order to balance the squad? Football betting on that one may well be interesting...
It is hard to envisage a regular starting place for Robbie Keane. It is well-known that Keane and Defoe cannot play together and it is obvious from their success at Portsmouth that Crouch and Defoe are natural partners. Keane appears to be little more than back-up to Defoe and that is without putting Roman Pavlyuchenko into the equation.
Crouch, like Defoe, Keane and Pascal Chimbonda is in his second spell at the club and it could well be that we have two ‘misses’ to go with two resigned ‘hits’. The return of Defoe and Crouch feels right; Chimbonda and Keane’s homecoming does not.
The decision to bring back Keane was questionable at the time, largely because of the massive fee. His £20.3m move to Liverpool felt like good business; giving £15m of it back did not. It makes even less sense now.
Harry must have foreseen a major role for such a big signing, but then he must have done in lavishing a similar amount on Defoe. He is the only man at the club who is not aware of the pair’s unsuccessful attempts to forge a partnership in their first spell at the club.
The signing of Keane was in a way understandable. We were in a relegation battle and the manager was concerned by the lack of leadership on the pitch; he cited this as Keane’s main attribute when bringing him back.
Harry might also have panicked slightly when buying Chimbonda. Vedran Corluka was having a decent season at right back and the manager would surely have overlooked the lack of cover if we were not in such a perilous position, especially as Alan Hutton was on the way back from injury.
Chimbonda can provide cover in other positions (he might well start the season as the first choice centre back) in much the same way Keane can. However, the captain is wasted on the left wing or in central midfield and he is unlikely to relish the prospect of filling in in alien positions.
Darren Bent is on his way out of the club to balance the books. Could it be that Keane will follow him in order to balance the squad? Football betting on that one may well be interesting...
17 comments
We should be delighted at the prospect of having the same amount of quality options available to us this year.
as for saying that harry`s knowledge is second to none! lmfao! what has he ever done? except earn a wedge for himself, be a media whore, and shit on teams, leaving them in a financial mess!
keanes goal in asia final?......better than the current slagging which is becoming a joke from so called fans.....
what else would you have done
Maybe we Keane was a bit OTT, perhaps we could have got a loan signing in, but with an injured JD, Pav, Bent and Campbell weren't looking that great, we needed experience performers that could hit the ground running at WHL. Keane fitted the bill perfectly, as did Chimbonda and Cudicini.
A foursome of Keane, Defoe, Pav & Crouch gives us loads of options. Is that a bad thing?
petty comments undermining players and manager,
when they need to behave strong as a group....
dontmake sense just trendy negative crap....
the club is trying to broaden its shoulders and grow as a new serious squad.....including keane!
we may yet thank redknapp for some years
7:54 whats the matter? are we not allowed to have an opinion anymore then? i pay for my season ticket and therefore am allowed to say my bit!
should we all become happy clappers? newcastle fans were and look what happened to them! time will tell who is right about harry! personally i think he is a crook! with no real achievements in his career, but do prove me wrong if you can
9:18 my point exactly! someone on here has`n`t got his head up his arse at least
I forecast that making him captain was a hostage to fortune and an insult to other players that had remained loyal and I still do.
He has played better pre-season especially his goal against Hull which was more like the old Robbie.
Chimbonda might be a very useful backup across the back four though perhaps not at left back. I think that there is a good player threatening to break out in there somewhere.