Lewis Holtby: Welcome back creativity and guile

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Lewis Holtby, Spurs, Tottenham Hotspur

With his first touch of the ball against Norwich the swoon-ometre had gone into overdrive, hearts fluttered, and 1000s of man-crushes across North London were readily admitted, screamed in excitement even, for this young German international. His introduction immediately changed the game: Tottenham started playing at a higher tempo, harrying the opposition and finding space in amongst Norwich, and finally got the goal they were looking for. He was like an elegant concert pianist playing Chopin on speed such was his panache and energy, which dovetailed beautifully with Gareth Bale’s exquisite violin solo-like performance.

Tottenham earned a draw in the end from Gareth Bale’s wonderful solo effort but it was 22 year old, Lewis Holtby’s introduction – in which for many it was the first time seeing him – that left the fans salivating. As they welcomed the blonde-haired, blue-eyed German with his boyish good looks, Tottenham also welcomed back intelligence, guile, and creativity. Everything that lacked from their game this season – the ability to unlock defences and up the tempo to try change the game.

His cameo drew teary reminders of Rafael Van der Vaart who’s passion and intelligence encapsulated Tottenham’s attacking play these last two years. The hole left by him and Luka Modric was a huge blow to Tottenham and Andre Villas-Boas had to reshape the team’s attacking philosophy – bringing in Mousa Dembélé to partner the seemingly omnipresent Brazilian, Sandro, led to a more physical and stronger midfield. This, however, was at the detriment of someone who could pass the ball in the middle, pull the strings and set the tempo.

A failed attempt to bring in AVB’s main transfer target, Joao Moutinho, in the Summer, led to the January transfer window capture of Holtby. Originally signed as a Summer transfer to come at the end of his season when his contract expired, the injury to Sandro led to Levy parting with £1.5 million to bring him in now from Schalke. And it was a brilliant bit of business: a young German international, captain of the Under 21s who has been playing top flight Bundesliga football and Champions League football for more than two years, a player who is versatile and has the potential to be a top class player, all for a measly £1.5 million. Andre Villas-Boas was equally impressed, telling the Daily Star,

“Is he bargain of the century? I think so because it is difficult to find a young player who is running his contract down and we faced tough competition.”

“He’s recognised as an exceptional young talent and we have high expectations of the player.”

As well as being able to play all across midfield and able to interchange with Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon, it’s tactically that makes this move the most interesting. Tottenham started the season at Newcastle playing last seasons 4-2-3-1 formation with Jermain Defoe playing upfront on his own. When Emmanuel Adebayor regained fitness, he joined Defoe upfront and the formation changed into a conventional 4-4-2: Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon the wingers with a strong center in Mousa Dembélé and Sandro.

The addition of Lewis Holtby meant that against Newcastle at the weekend, with Adebayor on the bench having been at the African Cup of Nations, Holtby was deployed in the ‘Van der Vaart role’ playing in the hole of a 4-2-3-1. With Gareth Bale able to operate on either wing and becoming a bigger force through the middle, Holtby has the ability to pull out wide to keep the balance of the team. An interchanging Bale, Holtby, and Lennon would be a nightmare for any opposition defence.

Next season, with Sandro back from injury, expect to see AVB gradually implementing his favoured 4-3-3 formation – a fluid midfield full of power, strength, work rate and technique. Lewis Holtby will provide the intelligence and craft – the Moutinho that Villas-Boas so desperately wanted; Sandro, the tough-tackling athleticism; and Dembélé, an athletic almost box-to-box player able to open the field up through the elegant way he glides past players as if they weren’t there.

The tough competition for the signing of Holtby was rumoured to be from Arsenal, but in Jack Wilshere and Santi Carzorla, they have their own midfield pass-masters. It’s nice, though, if you ask any Tottenham fan, to get one over Arsenal, obviously: first the signing of Jan Vertonghen and now Lewis Holtby.

Tottenham will hope, with the addition of Holtby, this can transpose into something more than just signings.

Gareth Bale: Tottenham’s Golden Boy

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Gareth Bale, Spurs, Tottenham Hotspur

There are many beautiful sights in football which delight the many fans around the world: a Messi dribble followed by a subtle chip over the incoming goalkeeper; a 30 yard Ibrahimovich overhead kick which results in a mass English media bukkake over the enigmatic Swede; and John Terry being directly involved in a goal Chelsea concede.

For Tottenham fans, though, the sight of Gareth Bale hurtling down the left wing is for them the most sumptuous sight in football. Like a freight train, once he starts he’s hard to stop. And it’s utterly terrifying for opposition defenders. He has all the youthful exuberance and purposeful running of a 10 year old taking delight in running away from their mum after they’ve done something wrong – leaving their mum in their wake shouting extremities and holding a rolling pin. He then proceeds to whip in a ball so deliciously appealing for any striker that it wouldn’t look out of place served on a silver platter in any Michelin Starred restaurant.

In world football, there is no other player like him. His pace, power and left foot have become the envy of most teams in Europe and made him into one of Europe’s best. Unfortunately for defenders he’s only going to get better, though. Well, he is only 23 after all. If this was twitter many would be using the hashtag key with ‘pray’ in some sort of comical fashion aimed at the unfortunate defenders. But this isn’t, so I’m not.

This season, Bale has been in scintillating form: scoring in Tottenham’s historic win at Old Trafford; running the show in the first half against Liverpool; and scoring a hat-trick in the Boxing day fixture against Aston Villa. Despite this, there has been one criticism aimed at Bale. One which sticks if you unfortunately get a reputation for it. One which results in howls of derision from opposition fans even if it was perfectly harmless and nothing was ‘intended’ in it. I am of course talking about his now unfair reputation of being a diver. A cheat. A worse-than-Hitler-Tom-Daley-aspiring Welsh cheat. Of course, he’s not. But that’s isn’t stopping the fans or even the referees.

Now, the consensus is: to earn this reputation you have had to dive in the first place? Of course, and there’s no denying that Gareth Bale has unfortunately been influenced by the Dark Side, been the Darth Vadar of Tottenham. One can remember the ridiculous dive against Villa at White Hart Lane, where there was a fair amount of green grass between the Villa goalkeeper and Gareth Bale. Unfortunately for Gareth, everyone else can remember this as well. And now, whenever he goes down the oh so good fans of opposing teams call him for diving, and disappointingly, so does the ref. Now there’s a problem that arises here: not every tumble is a dive. But it seems every Gareth Bale tumble is a dive.

Bale’s game is all about pace and power and thus, his game is played with speed which most others don’t posses. As he hurtles past someone the mere slightest touch is enough to knock him off balance – to disrupt his rhythm that he’s worked himself into. It might not be a foul – even though there was the slightest of touches – but that doesn’t mean that it is then definitely a dive. There is indeed a thin line between a dive and fall but that thin line needs to be made clear so players aren’t needlessly booked. Gareth Bale’s yellow card against Sunderland is a clear example of this. There was a touch on his leg which knocked him off his stride and he went down. It should have been a penalty but instead Bale was booked earning him a one game suspension.

Despite this reputation Bale is one of the most coveted players in Europe since introducing himself with a hat-trick at the San Siro. At present he’s a Tottenham player and considering he signed a new contract in the summer will be a Tottenham player for many a year. But this is football. And this is a contract for a player who will become genuinely world class. Tottenham fans recognise they have a real talent in their team and they also recognise that he will eventually move on. They won’t begrudge him a move with Barcelona and Real Madrid waiting.

Andy Gray once said, “I’ve just never seen a player do what he does”.

Heir to the King?

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Europa League, Heir, Ledley King, North London, Premiership, Steven Caulker, Tottenham Hotspur, White Hart Lane

The tear-stained tissues still serve as a fresh reminder of the early retirement of a Spurs great. After Ledley king’s decision to hang-up his boots Tottenham needed a new defensive lynchpin; a new Tottenham boy to be excited about; and something to shout about in the coming season.

The victory at Old trafford against Man United, the first since 1989 and the first in the Premiership, was notable not just for the historic result but also a defensive display of the highest order from William Gallas and 20 year old Steven Caulker.

Since his debut for Tottenham in the Europa League and his introduction at halftime in the QPR game, the central defender hasn’t looked back. Indeed, it was his introduction in the game against QPR which proved to be the pivotal moment in turning the game back in Tottenham’s favour. His inclusion in the center of defence next to Gallas, and Vertonghen, in the absense of Assou-Ekotto, moving to left back pushed Gareth Bale further up the pitch in his favoured attacking role. They went on to score two second half goals and get the three points. His assured performances, mature displays and calmness under pressure have earned him rave reviews from the Tottenham fans who this season have been quick to get on the back of tepid and uninspiring performances. Not bad for a player so young.

But then Caulker is one of their own…isn’t he? Not strictly true. Caulker signed for the North London club as a talented 15 year old after having impressed in a trial with them. He earned his experience out on loan with successful spells at Yeovil Town, Bristol City and most recently last season; a season-long loan at Swansea where he was to learn under Brendan Rodgers and the famous Swansea City passing game. As far as Tottenham fans are concerned, though, this boy is one of their own. And to whom their hopes are pinned to be their new homegrown defensive star.

Footballing wise, Caulker appears to be quite similar to King. Both physically imposing – able to dominate aerially with his huge 6″3 frame and mix it with the most physical of strikers, both reassuringly calm on the ball, and favouring to pass the ball out from the back rather than an aimless hoof. The latter being a testament to how Swansea played last season.

Caulkers inclusion and performances will come as no surprise to many who have been keeping track of him in his loan spells. His potential was there for all to see. At Yeovil, he won four out of the six of their end of season awards. And then at Bristol City where he was awarded their Young Player of the Season and nominated for Player of the Season.

David James, goalkeeper for Bristol City at the time, said this in his Observer article “…Steven Caulker is on loan at our place from Tottenham and he is having a terrific season. Only 19 years old, without a doubt he’s one of our best players…Caulker is quality.”

Despite this, Caulker has only got this chance due to injuries to first team players. Younis Kaboul and Benoit Assou-Ekotto have been out for a considerable amount of time and it remains to be seen when they will be back, let alone match fit. Caulker has grasped his chance and is performing admirably, but he is still raw. He’s still young and with many years to go before he hits his peak. That undoubtedly will bring a smile to the faces of Spurs fans. Still young. Time on his side. How good can he be?

Henry Winter tweeted not so long ago, “If English center-halves were a stock market, it would be worth buying shares in Steven Caulker”.

The heir apparent?

Watch this space

“All Rise” for the annual Tottenham Transfer Deadline Day

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Clint Dempsey, Hugo Lloris

A Tottenham transfer deadline day is very much like making love to a beautiful woman. Ok, it’s not. It’s a damn lot more exciting, though. And Tottenham are the Sky cameras’ favourite deadline day club knowing full well the amount of deals Daniel Levy likes to try and conclude. This time is was Gary Cotteril in all his goofy-‘toothedness’ standing outside giving up to the date reports of the comings and goings from the Spurs Lodge.

It lived up to it’s billing. I don’t know any other ground where in a cheeky dig at Man City’s new signing, a dial-a-cab taxi would nonchalantly drive past with a ‘Maicon’ sign on the window – a comical nod to the two nights where Maicon was outplayed by a wonderful Gareth Bale. And that’s being nice to him! Anthony Costa of boy band Blue was even there. I’m sure he probably gave a great rendition of “All Rise” to the natives, perhaps prophesying how we’d all feel after a truly brilliant window.

In the end, however, Tottenham’s last signing of the day, wrapped up within the final hour, was American, Clint Dempsey to join the already signed French goalkeeper, Hugo Lloris. Tottenham missed out on the main transfer of the day, Porto’s centre midfielder, Joao Moutinho, and also saw Rafael Van der Vaart move back to his old club Hamburg.

It was disappointing but this shouldn’t detract from what has been a great window for Tottenham. The signing of Hugo Lloris is in itself a real coup for Tottenham. It’s not often a goalkeeper of his standing is available and actually wants to sign for the club.

Lloris would expect to walk straight into the Tottenham team and being one of the world’s top goalkeepers you wouldn’t really blame him. As with all players, though, Villas-Boas expects him to fight for his place reaffirming his belief in Friedel as the number one for the time being. Hugo Lloris is, however, a better goalkeeper and more suited to the role Spurs need the goalkeeper to perform – a ‘sweeper keeper’. No offence to Brad but he loves his white line as much as sweaty, toilet-cubicle hanging rockstars. He remains, however, a brilliant goalkeeper, saving Tottenham against Norwich on Saturday. But his reluctance to leave the line and not dominate the box really cost Spurs three points against West Brom.

The France captain and goalkeeper doesn’t do this. He’s agile with great reflexes and isn’t afraid to take control of a situation within his own box. At just 25 years old he has the potential to be number one for the next 10 years.

The signing of Clint Dempsey was a bit out of the blue. He looked certain to go to Liverpool but as they didn’t stump up the money Fulham wanted he became a Tottenham player. Tottenham seem to be making a habit out of taking Liverpool targets being the second one this summer!

Dempsey has the ability to play in midfield or upfront and was bought for his versatility more than anything. Fulham played him in four different positions – all across midfield and up top – in which he scored in every position and assisted in all but one. Playing on the right of a front three, he would offer goals and immense work rate. His 17 Premier League goals last season was only bettered by three people: Robin van Persie, Wayne Rooney and Sergio Aguero. He ended up with 23 goals in all.

He’s willingness to graft and his never say die attitude is a great asset to have and one which Tottenham will need after only two points from their opening three games. Once the players have settled in and got used to the new system, Tottenham should start picking up points. Besides, I expect things to be quite a bit different from the “Fackin’ run araaand a bit!” days of old.

Hugo Lloris is a brilliant acquisition for the club and Clint Dempsey is an intelligent signing so here’s a thought: get behind the manager and support the team.

Another piece of the Tottenham puzzle

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Mousa Dembele

As there are just two days left of the transfer window, Daniel Levy is finally making his moves. Tottenham fans are used to this. The Media are used to this. Other chairmen are becoming used to it. It’s as if he sets himself a challenge of trying to do as many deals as possible in the shortest possible time. There is a logic to his mad genius, however, and this time he has managed to sign Fulham’s Moussa Dembele for half the price that Real Madrid paid for Luka Modric. And more surprisingly was it only seemingly took little under 24 hours.

Of course, there are differences between the two but signing a Modric replacement, a quality Modric replacement at that, for half the price is great business by the Spurs chairman. With money left over to strengthen in other areas expect, as usual, Tottenham’s transfer dealings to come down to the last 10 minutes of the window. Maybe even beyond that if the fax machine is playing up again!

So, what exactly will Moussa Dembele bring to Tottenham?

It was quite apparent in Tottenham’s opening two games that they missed Luka Modric’s craft and intelligence. Modric’s ability to bring the ball out from deep and open up the field was integral to the way Tottenham played. Dembele is similar. He lacks the passing ability and vision of Modric but excels in retaining possession, dribbling out from deep and using the ball intelligently.

Dembele has been Fulham’s creative heartbeat this season. Running the show in their 5-0 demolition of Norwich and earning rave reviews for his display against Man United. Alan Hansen on Match of the Day described him as being, “head and shoulders above everyone else on the pitch.” He was quite frankly, brilliant. His awareness and positioning against them make it hard to believe that he is, infact, a striker converted to the midfield role. His ball retention was excellent, misplacing few passes, and he had more successful dribbles than the United team put together.

His stats last season showed him as one of the most accurate passers in the Premier League with an accuracy rating of over 88%. More than the Croatian maestro, Luka Modric. One thing he does give Tottenham which Luka Modric didn’t, however, is a lot more defensively. He was the best midfield tackler last season, in both success rate and tackles attempted which highlights his defensive qualities, and his sheer strength is a massive bonus. A Midfield of Dembele next to Sandro will be quite a formidable pairing.

The departure of Luka Modric left a gaping hole in the creative force of Tottenham which Moussa Dembele will be hoping to fill. He doesn’t bring the vision or passing ability of the Croatian but is blessed with outstandingly quick feet, positional awareness and a far greater ability to defend. He will be able to intelligently dictate play and keep it ticking over in much the same way the Croatian did.

With a must win home game against Norwich on Saturday, Tottenham fans will hope that Dembele will be able to have some sort of impact and help guide them to three points. They’ll also hope that the window finishes with a bang and the squad is adequately strengthened. Though, if this is anything to go by, it’s looking extremely likely to be an exciting end of window.

Selling Modric for £32 million and signing a quality replacement for £15 million?

Great piece of business.

We finally get our Striker

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Emmanuel Adebayor

It’s taken all summer but Tottenham finally have their striker. Well, one of them if reports are to be believed. The transfer of Emmanuel Adebayor has been one the most drawn out and longest of the summer so far. But one week before the end of the transfer window, he looks likely to be in the squad for Tottenham’s home game against West Brom tomorrow.

And, boy, do Spurs need him. The striker’s ability to play upfront on his own, his ability – and willingness – to pull out wide and run the channels was integral to Tottenham last season. It caused problems for defenders, pulling them out of position, and creating space for Gareth Bale and Rafael Van der Vaart.

With Villas-Boas looking to deploy a similar system in a 4-2-3-1 or his favoured 4-3-3, Adebayor will once again be the man for the job. And Tottenham fans will hope he can continue on from his productive season at the club. His 17 goals and 12 assists catapulted Tottenham up to the higher echelons of the table and nearly cemented Champions League football. His brilliant form kept Jermain Defoe out the team who takes to a lone striker role as David Cameron does to travelling on the tube – among the ‘commoners’.

One caveat – mostly shot at Tottenham fans from their North London neighbours – is that Adebayor is ok for a loan but once it’s a permanent transfer the Adebayor of old starts to rear it’s ugly, disruptive head. I’d like to try and contradict this ‘myth’ as it were, as it’s not indicative of every club he has played at. He left on bad terms at Arsenal and the fans are still angry, and at Man City, Mancini just didn’t like him.

Adebayor has already alluded to finding a new lease of life and love for football at Tottenham and they found their way into his heart. The tragic Togo bus shooting is probably the main reason to shoot down this myth, however. After witnessing several team mates shot dead, he has said to have a whole new perspective on life and football.

The fact that Adebayor is not a new signing but knows the players, knows the training ground and knows the club is a massive plus point. It will enable him – again – to hit the ground running and after an unlucky defeat to Newcastle on the opening day of the season it will be a much needed boost. As I have already mentioned his ability to play upfront was what was missing last week. An outlet upfront; someone who could hold the ball up and wait for the midfield runners to join the action.

If fit, hopefully Villas-Boas decides to start him tomorrow. Harsh on Defoe, yes. But Defoe just isn’t suited to the lone role and another season playing second-fiddle to Adebayor looks on the cards.

This won’t be the end of the summer signings as Villas-Boas, Daniel Levy and Tottenham fans alike know where they need strengthening, but this was a very important signing. And a very good signing. How Levy managed to get him for a reported £5 million, get Adebayor to take a wage cut and get Man City to give him a large leaving fee is anyone’s guess. But he did.

He certainly looked happy as he was unveiled on the official site, joking around with Villas-Boas who ran to get a stool in order to be taller than the striker for the obligatory ‘holding the shirt’ photo. His interview outlined his intention to do well for Spurs and he also took to twitter saying he’s, “hungry to score…Get ready.”

Villas-Boas is happy, Tottenham fans are happy and Adebayor is happy. Let’s hope Tottenham stay happy.

All Quiet on the Transfer Front

As the window of opportunity for signings gets increasingly smaller, so too does the first Premier League game get increasingly closer. Two days, infact. Two days. It’s so close you can smell the sweaty excitement emanating from every football fan. Beads of sweat rolling down the crevice of the back to form a layer of frost-like anticipation, only to thaw come Saturday.

For Tottenham fans, though, this frost-like anticipation is more like dread. Early season excitement and eagerness have evaporated as we have once again failed to bring in the players required before the start of the season. We look extremely likely to be heading into a tough away game at Newcastle with just two strikers; and the more experienced of the two – Jermain Defoe – is so ill-equipped to play up top on his own he resembles something akin to a malnourished 12 year old playing rugby against the Kiwis.

Jermain Defoe up-front on his own, getting bullied by Fabricio Coloccini and Mike Williamson. Close your eyes and think about that for a minute. Jermain. Up top, on his own. Being bullied. Now, I’m no Stephen King but I think that is pretty scary.

Message boards and twitter have been awash recently with pessimism, depression, abuse, anger, finger pointing and, oddly enough, threats of suicide. So much so, I half expect to see White Hart Lane empty against West Brom bar the away fans, a man and his dog and a couple of pigeons. Ridiculous is a word that springs to mind here.

Tottenham is a business – an incredibly well-run business, and all well-run businesses operate within their means to ‘try’ and run a profit. Because of Daniel Levy this is what we do. We haven’t the luxury of an oil rich Middle-Eastern royal family, nor a Russian Oligarch at the helm. We haven’t even the luxury of turning in the profits of Arsenal who do so due to their stadium.

We turn profits due to canny brinkmanship, buying low, and getting the most for our sales as possible. Many will think this is penny-pinching and we should just do the deals regardless (what’s a few million in football, right?!), but this is not how Levy works and not how successful businesses work, where every little makes a difference.

It is somewhat exasperating that we haven’t the required players at the start of the season, not even Adebayor. One would have thought that would have been tied up by now, but for whatever reason it’s taking longer than expected. Contrary to popular opinion this can’t all be down to Levy and how he handles himself during negotiating so a bit of common sense is required.

History shows that we haven’t a great record at Newcastle so if we lose (notice the if, it’s not a foregone conclusion) it’s not the end of the world – we lost against Man City and United at the start of last season – as we have two home games against West Brom and Norwich after. The time to start judging and moaning and finger-pointing is after the window closes and Villas-Boas has all the players he wants to complete his squad – which I have no doubt he will get.

To unashamedly use a footballing cliché: football is a funny old game, and Tottenham fans are notoriously fickle. The same fans who praised Levy for Crouch/Palacios and the Carrick/Berbatov sales are now giving him flak. They forget where we were before he came in and where we are now – a state-of-the-art training facility, a new ground in the pipeline and one of the best teams in England.

With the imminent departure of Modric to Real Madrid, transfers will begin to happen. Everyone know’s we need strikers, from Villas-Boas to Daniel Levy, from Les Dennis to Himalayan sheep herders. The ball is beginning to be set in motion.

To quote some well known twitter faces, “#chillwegotthis #inLevywetrust”.