Keep 'em or get rid of 'em?
Hola. Easy reading and thinking to accompany your lunch break browsing. Blatantly stolen from a thread over at GG this. I like the simplicity, mainly because of the difference in opinions it ends up invoking. Us Spurs fans are fragmented when it comes to favouritism and view points over who is worthy of retaining a Lilywhite shirt.
So, the question of the day is - Keep 'em or get rid of 'em?
List the squad players. Then tag them. Like so. Add additional comments if you feel like it:
1. Gomes - Keep
2. Hutton - Get rid (Not sure why he was signed in the first place, but he's not quite fitted in since arriving from Scotland. Good on the offensive, not so good defending)
3. Bale - Keep (Much like Hutton better going forward than staying back, but he's 20 years old and this investment should be the one that goes some way in proving whether our coaches know how to develop a young player. We've made a mess of it thus far thanks to initially throwing him into the first team way too quickly)
5. Bentley - Get rid (It's just not working out and even if it was we'd have to sell Lennon to Chelsea before he gets a look in)
6. Hudd - Keep (He's 23 years old. Let's not give up on him just yet)
7. Lennon - Keep (VITAL)
8. Jenas - Get rid (Can we afford to keep him as a back up? Would he want to sit around on the bench? He rates himself, managers rate him, everyone apart from the vast majority of fans. Not sure keeping a 5 games per season footballer is worth the hassle of sitting around waiting for those rare performances to unfold in front of us)
9. Pav - Get rid (Infamy infamy they’ve all got it in for me)
10. Keane - Get rid (Hands up if you think Robbie has lost his mojo?)
12. Palacios - Keep (VITAL)
13. Walker (the old man goal keeper) - Get rid (replace with a young keeper, one that is of genuine promise as oppose to another Alnwick type of signing. The other Walker should remain out on loan)
14. Modric - Keep (VITAL)
15. Crouch - Keep
16. Naughton - Keep (send out on loan)
17. GDS - Get rid (sorry, but unless I'm underestimating the injury issues at hand, I don’t see the hype with this one)
18. Defoe - Keep
19. Bassong - Keep
20. Dawson - Keep
21. Kranjcar - Keep
22. Corluka - Keep
23. Cudicini - Keep (It's the right thing to do)
24. O'Hara - Get rid (not good enough, bless his heart and effort, but he is no different to Zokora in this way)
25. Rose - Keep
26. King - Keep (After his knee finally defeats him he should be offered a coaching role at the club)
27. Alnwick - Get rid (Doesn't appear to be any good)
29. Livermore - Keep
30. Dervitte - Get rid (Was he U-18's captain? Not sure if our scouting sucks or we simply are not the right club for certain types of yoof players. Mainly because we don’t appear to give them a chance to break into the first team. Either our priorities are with establish bought older players or these 'kids' are not half as good as we thought they'd be)
32. BAE - Keep
39. Woodgate - Keep
Actually, giving that list a second glance leaves me wondering if us (Spurs fans) are going to be fragmented at all with this. I think it's more than obvious who the deadwood is. Although one or two on the GG thread are making suggesting like 'Sell Crouch' and there is also a minority who still think players like Roman and David (Bentley) have a future in N17.
Obviously, getting rid of certain players is dependant on whether new ones come in as replacements/better revisions. For example, selling Jenas would mean we would need to make sure depth is kept in the central mid positions by plugging the gap with a brand new quality player. One with end product.
The young lads (Livermore, Rose and also Bostock who wasn't mentioned above) have to be developed with us much care as I hope Bale gets from the coaching staff. At some point, they either need to play a part in the first team or be sold on. The lack of promotions from the academy side means either the players stagnate or they're over-hyped (Johnnie Jackson anyone?). If they have the talent, use them. Otherwise, loan them to sides where we can truly tell how good they are in preparation for Prem football. I guess its an internal policy too. If we are always willing to splash out £15M on big name signings, then the yoof will not get a chance.
Keane. Controversial. Again, can't see us selling him unless we line someone up to replace him. And to be fair I don't think this is likely to happen this season. What we can't do is remove too many players and lose consistency re: squad selection. The summer is probably going to be more key to departures and arrivals than this window. Which Harry is suggesting will be a quiet one.
The truth will out.
So. Knock yourselves out. Discuss away.