Spurs : Lucio and Van Bommel or a ‘posse of hope’?

By Gary Beaumont on behalf of Sunshine
February 26 2004

Our resident Italian expert and fellow yid (Sunshine)gives another well executed lowdown on what Spurs need to do in order to make that "step up".

It is no secret that Spurs are 5 or 6 players short of having a very strong squad. We need a playmaker who actually plays (as opposed to Redknapp who may be excellent, but can not be relied upon to be fit), a defensive midfielder with a never-say-die attitude, a left sided midfielder who can parole his flank, a specialist left back (and a reserve one), a commanding centre back and a quality keeper.

Sometimes, though, less is more.

The players that would improve the squad substantially in those positions would, combined, cost far more than the summer war chest contains. This means that either we compromise on the quality and, perhaps, age of some of these signings, or we bring in a couple of ‘minor’ players who have the potential to blossom and two, world class, major signings.

A sensible, steady-eddie approach could see us aiming for, say, Izzet (Leicester – heaven help us!), Davis (Fulham), Reid (Notts F), Barry (Villa) or Konchesky (Charlton), Upson (Birmingham) and Robinson (Leeds). This would ensure competent players (and reserves) in every role on the pitch.

Alternatively, we could finally bring over Bobby Convey (at half the cost of Reid, I’d guess), finish the ‘Robinson’ transaction by making him a Spurs player and splash the lion’s share of the cash available on the likes of Lucìo (Leverkusen) and Van Bommel (PSV).

Sure we’d have to ‘make do’ with a combination of Taricco, Jackson and Convey over on the left, with Marney as back up on occasion (assuming Ziege quits The Lane in the summer) and we’d have to employ Brown in the defensive role in midfield or persist with King in that position. Not the best arrangement, admittedly.

Most sides, even AFC, hardly have complete squads, though. In AFC’s case, they can afford mediocre players in certain roles (Lauren at right back, for example) simply because they have a world class (as much as I hate to admit it) core. Even at the back, Campbell aside, they have Touré (who isn’t a central defender) filling in, with the ageing Keown and the inept Cygan as back ups: Not the most comforting of situations (for them) should they pick up a long-term injury or two, not if you want to compete at the highest level. Ditto their striking department: If Henry pulls up lame, they don’t have a recognised centre forward of any experience at the club, since Reyes is an attacking midfielder, Aliadiere is a kid, Wiltord is sub-standard, Kanu a joke and Bergkamp isn’t exactly in his prime.

At Spurs we have a wealth of young talent, but in order to transform that potential into something more concrete, these players need to be playing with and training next to genuine world class players day in, day out.

Currently, Spurs do not have the sort of players that would waltz into almost any team on the planet, no Lineker, no Gascoigne, no Hoddle, no Ginola.

I don’t want Spurs to be challenging for a place in the top six (though I’d take that above what has been served up over the last decade and more), I want the club to be challenging the top three and the only way to do this is to bring in a couple of the very finest performers and cross our fingers that the other players at the club are ambitious and talented enough to raise their game accordingly.

Why Lucìo and Van Bommel?

Well, Lucìo is tall, strong, quick and knows how to organise a defence. He also has the right sort of temperament to handle pressure and his club are not on a wonderful financial footing (thanks for the lowdown, Matt). Add to this the fact that our ‘twins’ (Gardner and King) need a puppet master to tell them what to do (King admitted as much after the England game against Portugal) and Lucìo seems tailor made for the job.

As far as Van Bommel is concerned, he is a modern playmaker: Vision, passing, decent tackling and can easily keep up with the run of play. How long has it been since we could say that of one of our central midfielders? Not since before December 2002, when Redknapp keeled over and, before the advent of Harry’s boy, not since….well, not since Gascoigne, perhaps.

Spurs have been ‘soft’ down the middle for far too long and since the early ‘90s our game, though slick at times, has lacked the vision which enabled us to dominate even the fiercest rivals.

The only way to climb back to the exalted position we once held as the entertainers of the English game (and not just because there are always at least 6 or 7, if not 8 goals scored in each of our matches) is to use our financial muscle (which no one should doubt, given the recent £15m injection and our history of expensive purchases) to bring a couple of players of the highest order to the club in the two most critical roles on the pitch and, after that, continue to add players of the same calibre, next year and the years after next.

Sunshine


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