Avoiding the Drop

C'mon you Spurs!

Last Year’s Record: 14 wins, 15 losses and 9 draws for 51 points, 2 points behind Fulham who nabbed the last Europa Cup spot.  Spurs were even on goal differential for the year, but it’s worth noting that they were +11 at White Hart Lane, but -11 on the road (only gaining four road victories all year long).  After an 0-6-2 start that saw them have 2 out of a possible 24 points, they took 49 out of 90 available points the rest of the way and almost got into Europe.

Transfers (In): Kyle Walker (Sheffield United – undisclosed and lent back to United), Kyle Naughton (Sheffield United – undisclosed), Peter Crouch (Portsmouth – undisclosed), Sebastien Bassong (Newcastle – rumored as of today)

Transfers (Out): David Hutton (Cheltenham – free), Danny Hutchins (Yeovil Town – free), Andy Barcham (Gillingham – free), Didier Zokora (Sevilla – undisclosed), Chris Gunter (Nottingham Forest – £1.75M), David Button (Crewe Alexandria – loan), Troy Archibald-Henville (Exeter City – loan), Adel Taarabt (QPR – loan), Ben Alnwick (Norwich City – loan), Cian Hughton (Lincoln City – loan), Andros Townsend (Leyton Orient – loan)

Season Outlook: Spurs come into another season where everyone is saying “Oh yes, look at the talent they’ve amassed, they are a shoo-in for a European spot”.  The punters are all thinking “Good God, I hope we can get off to a decent start”.  The writers are all writing “No one knows what to make of Spurs transfer policy and we really don’t know what team will show up, the world-beaters or the team that barely has a pulse away from the Lane.”

In other words, a typical offseason for Spurs.

Tottenham Hotspur had such an odd season last year, it’s hard to put it into context into what can be gleaned for this upcoming one.  Before Halloween, awful.  0 wins, 6 losses and 2 draws had them dead last.  Juande Ramos is sacked, Harry Redknapp is poached from Pompey, and suddenly, Spurs are a juggernaut at home.  The record for “least opposition goals allowed at White Hart Lane in a season” is snapped and snapped convincingly.  Spurs are still regularly terrible away from the Lane though, and thus fall two scant points shy of a Europa Cup spot.  Of course, Harry’s wisdom saw them “bow out” of that competition during 08-09 due to Redknapp feeling that staying up in the Premier League was much more important.

So, out goes leading scorer Darren Bent, in comes Peter Crouch.  If nothing else, Crouch could help David Bentley who’s lost season last year was among the bigger disappointments in Spurs record book.  Bentley’s game is predicated on service into the box, and with Crouch’s deft touch and heading abilities, it could really pay off.  Captain Robbie Keane is back, but Harry seems to want to challenge him with Crouch’s arrival, and that’s a good thing.  Jermaine Defoe and Roman Pavlyuchenko round out a fine striking quartet, and Harry has said he’d like to add to it.

The midfield has a lot of players and some talent, but it needs to be sorted out into a solid starting 4 with three solid reserves, and if it were me, it would be Bentley, Jermaine Jenas, Tom Huddlestone and Luka Modric as the starters, with Aaron Lennon, Jamie O’Hara and Gio Dos Santos as the first choice substitutes.  Dos Santos in particular should be given a real look this year as his game seems to be really coming on.  The back line, as usual, is in a shambles heading into the season.  Ledley King is perenially one knock away from a 4 month absence, Jon Woodgate is currently injured, Michael Dawson can’t quite make the leap.  Vedran Corluka was very solid after arriving from Man City last season, and certainly, the surprise of the year was Benoit Assou-Ekotto’s emergence at left back as a solid, go-to option.  Sebastien Bassong (if signed) should help stabilise things until everyone gets healthy.

Spurs open with Liverpool at the Lane (where they defeated Liverpool in last year’s Carling Cup), so it will be an early test.  September sees back to back contests at Manchester United and home to Chelsea.  Arsenal hosts Spurs on Halloween.  The real test for Spurs resolve will come in April 2010, when the month sees them away to Sunderland, home to Arsenal, home to Chelsea and away to Manchester United.  If they are near a European spot, that will be the testing time.

It seems as if this team every season is thought about as a contender.  One of these years, they will live up to that promise.