Ins & Outs for 2008/9

Outs: Robinson, Lee, Stalteri, Shimbomba, Gardener, Rocha, KPB

Ins: goalkeeper, centre-half, left-back, left-winger, centre-forward

- Have to see whether Berba goes.

- If we could get 10 to 12m for Bent I'd take it, but I don't think we will and therefore we shdn't cut our losses yet.

- No point cutting losses on Kaboul, he has the potential to be a good player.

- No point selling BAE as no-one will give us money for him after so long out injured.

Thoughts?

Pretty much agreed with Janek.

Cerny looks to be on his way out after the loan expired. With Ben Alnwick no where near 1s team, we may need 3 new keepers unless Forecast can push his way up.

Don't know what Ramos was thinking in starting Lee last night after leaving him out of the squad for so many matches since January 08. Has he realised that neither O'Hara and Tainio is a full back? Or was Lee being used as a 'secret weapon'? I will keep Lee - model pro and good for the squad. Sell BAE.

Surprised to see Taarabt didn't make the bench last night. I hope he still figures in Ramos' plan.

KPB is a disappointment. Sell.

Agreed that Kaboul has the potential. Keep.

Last summer i said the season will depend on whether Jenas and Zokora can step up a gear. Until recently both disappointed, though under Ramos, Jenas is beginning to show more consistency and I'm beginning to understand what Zokora can bring to the side.

However, I've said it once and I'll say it again, the central midfield positions are the most critical and compared to the top four, Jenas and Zokora aren't good enough. If our target is to break into the top four and mount a serious challenge then it's time to address the problem.

A new keeper ( or two ) is a must. I'd hang on to Bent. Experienced cover for King/Woodgate. New left midfield. Full backs are okay.

A new striker if Berbatov departs.

I'd keep Robbo, Chimbo and KPB out of that lot. I still rate Robbo and find it sad that even when we have clean sheets people still have to toothpick through his performance, I see his confidence returning and still being young for a keeper, hopefully he can learn to command the box better - on his day he is justifiably England's No 1. Nothing wrong with Chimbo as a player, while Hutton appears to be taking first choice right back slot - Chimbo is a good back up and versatile (LB and CB) - only person with good distribution into the box last night (assist for Berba). KPB - at 20 (or 21 now?) - young and if we sold him on current season form would take a 3-4m hit - give him one more season. I think Jimmy Tarbuck has to step up in the next year - while he has bags of skill, he needs to develop into a team player - another one who has 1-2 years to show himself.

Think Lee must be on the way out - he is good running forward, but no end product. The loanees will not be returning. Rocha must be shipped out. Hopefully Bale will remain fit next season - if so, with Gilberto and Gunter as cover for LB or if Bale plays at left midfield - no point in paying BAE's wages. You're right though Janek, that we'd probably be best getting him fit and then putting him in the January window next season.

I'd take a haircut on Bent - maybe a direct swap for Defoe (I want the little Yiddo back with a new long term contract so fans, press and the board can concentrate on his abilities rather than talking about the length of his..... contract).

Purchases - one more centre back, one out and out left winger, central midfielder and striker - think the Robbo/Cerny goalkeeper combo works as long as we have at least one of King or Woodgate at the back for every game.

there s a factor that we don't always have to sell players. we can loan the young & good player out, like KPB & KABOUL etc. now we can't sell them for much anyway. i think letting them play outside for a yr is better than sitting in the banch all the time. when they come back, they should be better & worth more(if we want to sell them at that time, branch player never sell for high price)

but i really don't want to keep chimbo in the team anymore. skillwise he is good, i don't even blame him for missing the goal last nite. it is the shit fxxking attitude that make me angry. with this attitude, it will do no good to the team no matter how skillful he is.

I'd ship out half the squad. They are either not good enough for consistent, top quality premiership performances; their attitude stinks or they do not fit into Ramos' style.

For the record then the following should be sold. One or two with a humane bullet thro the head to put them, us and any other teams' fans out of their misery:

Out: Robinson, Cerny, Lee, Kaboul, Rocha, Stalteri, Chimbo, Zokora, Tarabt, Bent, Tainio, Gardner.

Remaining: King, Woody, George Daws, Bale, Gunter, Hutton, Gilberto, BAE (to be given another chance at least), Lennon, JJ, Steeeeeeeeed, THudd, Berba (please, please stay), Keano

In: 2 Goalie, 1 RB, 1 LB, 1 CB, 1 LM, 1 RM, 2CM, 2 strikers. That makes 11 players. Basically half a new squad.

If we continue to carry the likes of Kaboul, Bent, Robbo and Lee, we'll make zero progress in the league.

Add KBP to the OUT list too.

I find myself asking the question 'Whether we should sell Lennon at a right price' recently.

To me, Lennon hasn't improved on his performance 2 seasons ago when he came out of nowhere to being a World Cup star. I will happily take the money in the range of $10M to $12M for him. He is an useful squad player but should not be guaranteed a starting place based on his performance this term.

Agree with Jezza about the central midfield issue. I also hold the opinion that CM is the key to success to every team. While Jenas has improved under Ramos by showing consistency, he is still not a CM we crave for if we want to get a top 4 place. We need a really creative player and a midfield general. We have neither.

Compare Zokora / Jenas against the midfield duo in the Top 4 teams, it is apparent why they can control games and dictate plays while we couldn't. It may be harsh to get rid of Jenas after his recent improved performance, but if we set out sights high next season, this has to be done.

Out: Robinson, Cerny, Lee, Rocha, Stalteri, Chimbo, Tainio, Gardner , KPB , BAE , Ghaly.......etc.

IN . I prefer to keep the starting squad , fill in with some Berbatov's class players in those position we hv to strengthen.
Like LM , FW (If Berba left).
2-3 like Berba players + a bunch of fairly gd players would be okay
Certainly two keepers and a veteran centre back as well.

Agree with James's view on Lennon. Sorry and also Dawson
I respect those England centre backs but simply most of them 're gd in physcial but lack of intelligence and techinque

Janek wrote:

Outs: Robinson, Lee, Stalteri, Shimbomba, Gardener, Rocha, KPB

Ins: goalkeeper, centre-half, left-back, left-winger, centre-forward

- Have to see whether Berba goes.

- If we could get 10 to 12m for Bent I'd take it, but I don't think we will and therefore we shdn't cut our losses yet.

- No point cutting losses on Kaboul, he has the potential to be a good player.

- No point selling BAE as no-one will give us money for him after so long out injured.

Thoughts?

SELL 'EM:

Robbo. He's fucking useless and has cost us umpteen points over the past 2 seasons, just like Defoe and Jol before him. HE MUST GO.

Chimbonda: I don't trust the cunt. Not directly related but, where the fuck were Lennon and Malbranque for the pens ? eh ? eh ?

Lee, Stalteri, Gardner, Rocha : simply not good enough.

LOAN 'EM:
KPB, Kaboul.


Keep the rest for another season and improve the squad further. I'm very much looking forward to seeing Gareth Bale make his return.

Hi Fellow Yids

Have read with great interest the proposed sale of players , agree with most except the sale of KPB , the guy needs a chance when he was signed he said himself that he did not expect to play more then 10 first team games , but with injuries we have had has been thrust into first team football earlier then expected give him time to adapt to Uk football , the same can be said for Kboul , Tabaret . They are all you players who in time i think will come good , the last thing we want is for Wegner to get them to the scum and they become successful . Your thoughts please .

Outs and Keepsies

Sell: Dawson, Staltieri, Robbo, Gardner, Boateng
Keep with caution: The Shimbomba, Gilberto
Keep and cherish: Berba, Keano, Ledley, Woody, JJ, Steed, THudd, Bale, Lennon, Bent, O'Hara, Hutton
Keep as squad players: Tainio, Cerny, Gunter, Taraabt, Zokora, Rocha, Kaboul.

Shopping List

Top target is a world-class keeper.

I agree that CM is key, but still feel that JJ can do a job there. Let's not forget that our midfield has outplayed Chelski's, Ar5ena1's and ManU's this season. Ideally, we would get someone like Pirlo (or Carrick?) to play with JJ.

A top-class LB (releasing Bale to play LM, or vice versa) would be next priority.

Number 10 wrote:

I agree that CM is key, but still feel that JJ can do a job there. Let's not forget that our midfield has outplayed Chelski's, Ar5ena1's and ManU's this season.

Fair point. But let's also remember our midfield was outplayed by Birmingham ( twice ), Arsenal ( league - twice ), Newcastle and Everton.

JJ is improving, however I'm still not convinced he can do it week in, week out like Carrick did in 05'06.

Agreed our midfield has been a cause for concern for years and I think we need to buy replacements for TT, Zokora. However, it's our defence that seriously lacks consisten, in depth quality. Salty, Gardner, Lee and Kaboul are simply useless and for me not even squad players. And don't even get me started on the keepers.

Wholesale changes are needed throughout the squad because Ramos has very clearly shown that the squad assembled under Jol and Comolli are simply not good enough to compete consistently in the League.

Hairy wrote:

Chimbonda: I don't trust the cunt.

This made me laugh out loud.

Hairy - did you have a few steinlagers in NZ before posting?

Forward-thinking Ramos ready to get ruthless after penalty heartbreak

Source: Guardian.co.uk

Juande Ramos was the same in heartbreaking defeat as he was in euphoric victory. The Tottenham manager sliced through the emotion after his team had departed from the Uefa Cup on penalties to PSV Eindhoven to outline a simple message. There remained "two months of Premier League football to play" and his squad needed "to get themselves together, charge themselves up" for the battles ahead. They begin at Manchester City on Sunday.

But with the team assured of a Uefa Cup return, courtesy of their Carling Cup final triumph over Chelsea, and comfortable in the middle reaches of the Premier League, Ramos has started to look towards next season. It has been almost five months since he succeeded Martin Jol and he has clinically assessed the strengths and weaknesses of his personnel.

The Spaniard might have spent £23m on four defenders in January but further change is afoot.

While his principal summer goal will be to keep the talismanic striker Dimitar Berbatov from the clutches of Manchester United and other predators, he has identified areas where upgrades are necessary. They begin in goal, where Paul Robinson has endured a difficult season. Ramos is tracking several goalkeepers, including Carlos Kameni of Espanyol, and Robinson faces another transfer window of speculation over his future.

Ramos wants a central defender - a second Espanyol player, Dani Jarque, is on his radar - a left winger and another striker, having sold Jermain Defoe to Portsmouth in January. He also continues to track David Albelda, the Valencia midfielder.

Several players in his squad are looking nervously over their shoulders, not least Younes Kaboul, the central defender, and Darren Bent. Both were big money signings last summer but they have failed to justify their billings.

Ramos, who will been given money to mould the team more closely in his image, will seek to raise further funds by offloading a clutch of fringe players. Paul Stalteri and Anthony Gardner, currently on loan at Fulham and Everton respectively, will be offered to rival clubs, while Ricardo Rocha, Lee Young-pyo and Benoît Assou-Ekotto are surplus to requirements.

Radek Cerny, the reserve goalkeeper, is out of contract in June and has yet to be offered a new deal while Pascal Chimbonda, who missed the decisive penalty against PSV, sees his future away from White Hart Lane. He demanded a transfer in January, after the signing of the right-backs Alan Hutton and Chris Gunter, but his wage demands proved problematic.

Ramos has repeatedly shown his ruthless streak and nobody can be assured of a starting place. The latest player to feel shaken up is Aaron Lennon. The winger was left out at PSV - the first time he has been dropped rather than rested by Ramos - and he is aware of the need to improve his form.

There have been positives for Ramos to build upon. Jermaine Jenas is playing the best football of his career; Tom Huddlestone has enjoyed a renaissance; Jonathan Woodgate has been an astute signing and Ledley King, back after injury, has shown that he remains a player for the big occasion. The Carling Cup, the club's first silverware since 1999, represented a breakthrough on many levels and lessons have also been learned from set-backs.

"For us to win something means that the season will still go down as a positive one," said King, the captain. "Now that we have that taste of winning, we believe we can go on and do more.

"We still realise that we have a lot of work to do to maintain our standards of trying to win trophies and that's what we'll do. We have learnt from our defeat against PSV and we will come back next year a stronger and better team."

KPB and Boateng are both typical of modern day football - terrific athletes who are being put in place of better technicians.

However I would reason that they are not going to be sold yet.

KPB has been talked up on numerous occasions as Ramos' pet project. Indeed Ramos said he has tracked him since he was 17 and tried to sign him twice for Sevilla. God knows what he sees in him but I think they will persist with him.

Zokora is Comolli's boy from St. Etienne. He will not let Zok go without a fight because it is a damning verdict on his regime - he told Levy he wanted Zok at any cost at the last WC, and rumour has it that Com has always seen Zok as his closest ally in the playing staff. He is probably better than most people give him credit for, but again he is wasting valuable space when we could fill the position with a much better technician.

Good points ETP, this is what Mido referred to when he left Spurs and said that was tired of the politics that surrounded picking the team.

I think Zokora is worth keeping cos of his versatility and energy. However, he is certainly not worth the money we paid for him (never sure if it was 8m euros or pounds) and if, as rumoured, he was bought to replace Carrick then Comolli wants shooting.

KPB must have promise in him that Ramos sees. Again, we paid way over the ods for him, 6m quid I think. As fans, we haven't really seen his promise yet, although he has been good at times, like Portsmouth away and Everton away. Happy to trust in Juande on this one.

Enter The Pitbull wrote:

KPB and Boateng are both typical of modern day football

James wrote:

Enter The Pitbull wrote:

KPB and Boateng are both typical of modern day football

sorry
I meant the genius that is Zok of course.

Out for sure must be Robinson, Kaboul, Rocha, Stalteri, Shitbonda, Gardner, Tarabt

In without a doubt I reckon Woodgate, Bale, Zokora (I think he is showing signs of improvement), Hutton, JJ, Keane


Possibly retained as squad players: Cerny, Lee and Tainio (all model pros)

In but not sure why - Gilberto, BAE (just to see what he can do) and Boetang

Possibly sold - you never know what Ramos will do - Steeeed, Dawson, Lennon, Hudd and Bent if we can get anything for him.

Likely to retire - Leds :-(

Likely to leave but we should do everything possible to keep him - Berbs


I think the Spurs team that takes the field next August will be very different to the one we have today. I just have this feeling that Ramos doesn't rate the likes of Lennon and Malbranque. Lennon really has come on much in the past two years and Steeeed simply bottled it in final plus never really scores as many as I think he should.

There's really only two players I really want shot of - Robbo (have just lost all confidence in him) and Chimbonda who Hairy summed up nicely.

Do you think we cd get Chimbonda t-shirts made up?

Number 2 on the back

On the front a picture of him with the shirt over his head after he missed the penalty with the legend:

"Chimbonda: I don't trust the cunt"

written over the top of the picture?

Yes, lets do it

Ramos ready to dismantle Tottenham?

Source: Telegraph

There were few smiles on the faces of the Tottenham players as they trooped through Eindhoven airport yesterday morning before catching their chartered flight back to Stansted. An early exit from the Uefa Cup was one thing, the fact that it may have been the last time many of them fly together quite another.

Juande Ramos will have spent the flight contemplating the fact that the Uefa Cup will not sit on his mantelpiece for a third year; he will also have studied the grim faces around him and considered who will be with him next season.

Only last week Ramos was saying that the present squad had three months to show their strengths if they hoped to stay. Since then they have been characteristically erratic: losing at home to PSV Eindhoven, thrashing West Ham, and showing considerable fortitude in fighting back against the Dutch champions. Ramos, though, demands greater consistency,

The comings and goings at Tottenham in the summer could be unprecedented: Ramos is likely to dismantle the side who won the Carling Cup, but for whom the season effectively ended with Wednesday's departure from Europe, albeit after a penalty shoot-out.

Chief among those going out of the door could be Dimitar Berbatov. Another season in the Uefa Cup is unlikely to appeal to a player who, at 27, will want the opportunity to play in the Champions League.

Another overture from long-time admirer Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United might break his resistance. Besides, he has outgrown some distinctly ordinary team-mates at Spurs, and needs to perform with players more attuned to his quick thought processes.

Paul Robinson will almost certainly leave, given Tottenham's reported links with other goalkeepers, most notably Carlos Kameni at Espanyol, and the fact that Ramos was prepared to drop Robinson for 10 games after Christmas in favour of Radek Cerny. Robinson will not want to languish on the bench at a time when he is attempting to reclaim his England place.

Spurs will also try and recoup as much as possible of the £16?million overspend on Darren Bent, who has not only failed to recapture his Ipswich and Charlton form, but has looked nowhere near capable of disrupting the Keane-Berbatov partnership up front. Pascal Chimbonda will already have seen the writing on the wall with the arrival of Alan Hutton in his favoured right-back position.

Hutton, along with Robbie Keane, Jonathan Woodgate, Jermaine Jenas and Ledley King, will form the basis of Ramos' squad for next season.

The pressure, though, is on Damien Comolli, Tottenham's director of football, to identify potential transfer targets who will meet Ramos' approval. Most of players mentioned on the rumour grapevine are based in his home country of Spain, and include defenders Daniel Jarque (Espanyol) and Cata Diaz (Getafe), midfielder Esteban Granero (Real Madrid) and striker Diego Milito (Real Zaragoza).

There is still a degree of confidence within the dressing room, according to Ledley King yesterday. "For us to win something [the Carling Cup] means the season will still go down as a positive year for us," he said. "Now we have the taste of winning, we believe we can go on and do more. We've learnt and we'll come back next year a stronger and better team."

Although any recruitment cannot begin until the summer transfer window opens, the ground work for the 2008-09 campaign is already taking shape. "The target for us now is that we keep improving," Gus Poyet, Ramos' assistant, said, "and that means we have to win as many games as possible between now and the end of the season. We're going to start building for next season starting at Manchester City on Sunday."