Spurs rampant victory over Liverpool was certainly a wake-up call for the Merseyside outfit as much as it was a kick start to the North London club’s season. The pace, power and panache of Spurs’s performance was a joy to behold. They played at a high-tempo that their fellow rivals for that highly-coveted fourth place simply could not cope with.
They accomplished all of this without mercurial talent Rafael Van Der Vaartin the starting line-up – with the Dutchman returning from a spell on the sidelines, in his absence, have Spurs moved on without him?
Last season Spurs were dynamic in spurts but lacked a striker of sufficient class to put away the consistent stream of chances that they created. A shift in formation from the 4-4-2 of 2009/10 that saw them finish 4th was changed to a 4-5-1 to accommodate Van Der Vaart – Spurs missed out on Champions League football for a second consecutive season finishing 5th.
I’ve long subscribed to the view that 4-5-1 and Spurs simply don’t fit. They’re a side steeped in the tradition of open and attacking football. While last term they were entertaining, particularly on their European escapades, they lacked consistency in the league, dropping points to team’s that they should be beating on an all too regular basis.
While Van Der Vaart’s own personal form was good, with the midfielder contributing 13 league goals, a handsome return on a £8m investment, those around him suffered for form when compared to the previous campaign. There has rarely been a better example of a player being exceptionally talented, but at the same time simply not a good for the rest of the side as Van Der Vaart so obviously is with Spurs.
His presence and the side’s subsequent dipping league form are little more than a consequence of a lack of long-term planning on manager Harry Redknapp’s part, with Van Der Vaart arriving on transfer deadline day with minutes to spare. A bargain, most certainly yes, but to what cost on a wider scale has his arrival changed the club ‘s previously successful style of play?
Luka Modric is one the finest players in the league and the man that makes Spurs tick. To put it simply, if you don’t rate him higher than Van Der Vaart and more key to Spurs’ future ambitions, then you should revoke your status as a football fan through sheer lack of knowledge.
Modric looked far more comfortable alongside Scott Parker against Liverpool than he ever has done when playing beside Van Der Vaart. There’s a school of thought that Modric’s creativity is stifled by Van Der Vaart’s presence and that it stops Modric getting the best out of his magnificent ability – I‘d certainly subscribe to that view. Spurs also have Sandro and Tom Huddlestone among their ranks – an enviable strength in depth in a crucial area and Van Der Vaart’s prospects of an automatic return grow smaller by the match.
..crock of shite article. Spurs need goal scorers, and to date VDV has been our most consistent. Also goals win games so you can’t have too many quality marksman. Look at Man City. The only noteworthy point you make is that 4-4-2 is probably our preferred formation but that is due to a lack of coaching & tactics.
What a poorly written article.
For staters, Van der vaart has NEVER played alongside Modric – he plays off the main striker, i.e. in FRONT of Modric or occasionally, on the right wing.
Others around him did not “suffer” because of his presence, either.
The reason why we dropped so many points towards the second half of last season, was because of the poor form of our strikers – not because of the system that we played.
If we had signed Adebayor (or a similar type of striker) last January, I am sure we would have been travelling to the likes of AC and Inter again, rather than PAOK and Shamrock Rovers, if you get my drift.
The beauty of having Adebayor in our team is that it appears he has already built up a good understanding with both Defoe in a 442 formation and also Van der vaart in a 451 formation – illustrated by his goal and both players’ performance in the first half of the Wigan game today.
This can only be a good thing for Tottenham, and I just hope Adebayor can stay fit and in-form until (hopefully) we can sign a third much-needed striker to compete with Adebayor in January.
This article completely encompasses how fickle the average ‘futbol’ fan is. One excellent display against fellow champions league hopefuls and suddenly ‘Spurs don’t need Van Der Vaart any more.’ What may have been more pertinent would may be to have suggested how embarrassingly average Spurs made Liverpool look, despite all of the money spent on Henderson and co. Van Der Vaart had a good game today against Wigan and scored, so there are no doubts in my mind that ‘this is futbol’ may change their line on the Dutchman.
Think there should always be room for VDV in the team, he will do something out of nothing in the blink of an eye, lacks pace but makes up for it in other ways, you can never have too much class in the team and VDV is class.
plonker…
to accommodate Van Der Vaart – Spurs missed out on Champions League football for a second consecutive season finishing 5th.
well, we we finished 4th the season before, so… it was 1 season. And 2 years ago VDV was not at the club. Then Defoe/Pav/Crouch who are supposed to be our main strikers did a Torres for 1 season and that is why we missed out.
the modric chelski-scum thing affected our start to the season and with a few injuries and madness of playing kranjcar as a CM, with a few injuries made us vulnerable to 2 manq clubs.
We look in good shape, have a brilliant squad and looking forward to the scum coming to the lane. the shamrock game is a joke but whoever we play, we must win.
VDV is class and he gives us the flexibility to change formations. Simple. He scored today… so what is your point
It is a team game and everyone must do their part. BAE had a bit of a mare, but we did the job in the 1st half and he is forgiven as usally very consistent and then others had chances to clean up the mess. Besides, it was an excellent finnish and we won. Shame we did not score some more, but we have a 100% record after the transfer window closed… in the prem where it counts.
get behind your team. COYS
PS
Pav i like you, but you are not a 1st team player for us, so go to russia
We must sign another striker or 2 in jan as who knows what will happen to Adebayor. But we were so desperate for a striker that he is loved by all