Can the last fan leaving The Lane please turn the light off.
I have been frowned at by some for ‘Arry Bashing.’ So it will be interesting to see how many still in the happy clapper club want to renounce their inexplicable blind faith and join the free thinking majority.
Joe Downsy Cole. Having taken some time to reflect upon Arry’s CV I’ve reached the inevitable conclusion he is a magnificent firefighter. He knows where you can buy buckets, he’s always got a mate that’ll sell you some top top water.
But when it comes to managing a side that isn’t at death’s door he is actually revealed as being incapable of seeing beyond his innate shorttermism.
The happy clappers need to take a breath and realise that I am not ignoring his good work. I’m simply refusing to ignore increasing evidence that his judgement is not sound when out of a crisis.
His spending at Tottenham has been, within the wages constraints quite free. Certainly, outside of those Clubs with billionaire backers and money launderers behind them he has been assisted with good financial support.
He brought in Crouch and Defoe, both of who effectively flat-lined. You cannot bas an argument in support of a football based upon anything other than goals. If you do, you are a Bendtner fan.
It is easy with the luxury of hindsight to say that Suarez would have been a better bet than Defoe, but is it really hindsight given he was superb at Ajax and Liverpool and Tottingham weren’t the only ones to think so? Arry likes familiar faces and boys that speak the Queen’s.
I have suspected for some time now that Modric’s success has largely been down to the player’s naturally abiility rather than any ‘mentoring’ from Arry. This explains why Kranjcar who is a very good player has not been mentored, not been improved. As with Pav who anecdotally we are told was asked to, ‘run about a bit.’
The willingness to accept the sale of Modric reveals him as fool who would throw antiques onto a fire to keep warm, rather than sell one or two and buy some bloody coal.
Pointy was damaged goods after Liverpool, but this didn’t stop Arry shipping him in without pausing for breath. Why we bought Pienaar I honestly still cannot fathom. Then there was the public courting of Scott Parker. Here is a guy that Chelsea once bought, much in the manner they bought SWP in order to prevent to anyone else doing so.
By the time Parker caught anyone’s eye again he was an aging, bustler with at best 70 minutes in the tank. And thanks to the Porn Barons an expensive player.
And so to Joe Cole. A man that got an even bigger squeeze than Pointy did from LFC as when they took him in, he wasn’t even able to make his then current sides first team.
And now we, the mighty Tottingham are officially in for him.
I could weep.
Sorry, but i’d be happy with this. Ok – so its a short term option, say 3 seasons? That aside, we need some creative experience in there to help the youngsters out when required. I’m sure Livermore, Townsend and co would benefit from his arrival.
Where does he play? Who’s place is he taking? Modric? Bale?
????
In an age of squad rotation, he is a flexible option. Better cover on the right or left than Pienaar, Bentley and Jenas…..can play in “the hole” if VDV out/tired. He has a point to prove, the talent to do it, and it looks like he WANTS to play for Spurs, which is more than can be said for some others……
We do not need ‘squad’ players, we need players that will improve or upgrade what we have. Our squad is already too big, and arguing the toss over whether or not Cole is more or less of a waste of space than Jenas or Pienaar is not really the debate we need to be having.
Like almost everybody else, we can see that we need probably 2 strikers, a central defender and perhaps a central midfielder now that most of ours are injured / shit / have their heads in the wrong place.
So, if Cole is the answer, what was the question?
Palacios!
Eh, how did that reply end up there?
Diarra for Palacios
J.Cole for Bentley?
Blimey, don’t tell me there’s two of us think he’d be a good acquisition? Any more out there?
If Joe Cole is ‘arry’s big idea to replace modric
Then we are in trouble…
Where Modric plays is/was/would be Cole’s best position. It’s like for like in that regard.
I can understand the talk of needing a striker (Ade?) and a solid midfielder (Diarra?) but do we need more width?? Bale, Lennon, Krankie, VdV (at a pinch) BAE, Rose as stand in, perm any one from Jock/Charlie/Walker pushing up. what I haven’t seen noises about is a central defender. Gallas and Ledders fit the bill skill/class wise but have limited full season capacity. No one doubts Daws/Kaboul determination but their minds wander now and again without a bit of hand holding from the older hands! You are spot on with the Arry synopsis – I think he’s playing a ‘take it a season at a time’ game which when he goes he can say ‘look where I left it – “top 5 finishes”. The only thing I’d say is that Arry is a victim of where Spurs are vs. the ‘cash is no object’ elite. The best players will always follow the money – until we get 50,000 + in WHL every week we’re always gonna be shopping at Asda or Ebay rather than Fortnum & Mason or Sotheby’s.
lets be clear on this i dont want mr potato head at the lane,but hasnt hr done what most managers do when they go to new clubs and that is bring in players they know and ultimately trust.
I know Joe Cole – not personally of course but I know him as a footballer. He is spoiled goods, over the hill, injury prone and cannot get into a team that we are looking to finish above. Not only that, but that team would bite our hands off to pass him over to us and get him off their wage bill and team sheet.
There’s one thing looking for players you know and trust. There’s quite another being a complete fucking idiot and trying to sign players on high wages, diminished capability, and certainly no resale value whatsoever.
Not to mention that his position itself is well covered in the squad – i.e. even if he wasn’t any of the above, we STILL wouldn’t need him.
Is this what Harry means by replacing a ‘coupla characters’? Cole has always struck me as being an out and out knucklehead, thick as fifteen short planks and the archetypal modern English footballer in that sense.
you’re missing my point.as i said i dont want joe cole at the lane and i find it hard to disagree with what you say about him. but hr has already proved that getting players in he knows and trusts has worked.the cl qualifying season for example the goals defoe and crouch got for us,also bringing in nico,and if the reports come to fruition diarra will be next.
fair play defoe and crouch didnt perform to their best last season but name me an english player that set the prem alight,until rooney late on,after the world cup.
We have IMO lacked leadership on the park when the going gets rough and although I find myself nodding occasionally in agreement with you, HH, I don’t on this occasion. “Arry’s man management is the one thing he’s got going for him and … if … Filthy Lucre is to depart, because his head aint right a la Berbatov … then we need to find someone at this late stage to plug the gap, until more extensive searches can be made to find another jewel. Jo Cole might be that man but only if he is fully fit. Providing we are nearly playing the end game with either (or possibly both) Diarra & or Barton … then Cole makes sense to me – providing Liverpool aint going to be greedy over price!