Though Tottenham’s squad is at the strongest it has been for many a year, it’s not without its flaws and there are certain areas that could do with a touch-up. With the right tweaks and changes, Tottenham’s title charge could take on increased emphasis in the second-half of the season.
For one thing, they could do with a long-term solution to their striking problem. Emmanuel Adebayor may be pulling the right strings at the moment, but what happens when his loan deal comes to an end? Will Harry have to jump into the transfer market once more and make a top-class signing?
More pressing still, is Tottenham’s need for a younger, world-class goalkeeper. The signing of Brad Friedel was clearly meant as a stop-gap. He’s a short-term solution to a long-term problem and the sooner a lasting resolution is sought out the better.
I personally would have preferred it if Tottenham had signed Given last summer when they had the opportunity, but that’s now a somewhat meaningless consideration.
Brad Friedel may be an improvement on Heurelho Gomes but he does have a couple of flaws to his game. The most noticeable of these weaknesses is that he’s all too static on his line, which leaves Spurs exposed to crosses. Where a normal keeper would come out and scoop the ball from the air, Tottenham’s defenders are often left to slug it out alone with opposition strikers.
This has cost Spurs before, at Stoke and will surely come back to haunt them again if things do not change.
Cudicini is inconsistent and doesn’t get enough games, Gomes is an error-magnet and Friedel’s agility is dwindling in the autumn of his career. I think it’s fair to say that Harry Redknapp will be scouring the transfer market for a new keeper in the none-too-distant future.
Two candidates that I hope Harry Redknapp will consider are Swansea City keeper Michel Vorm and Newcastle stopper Tim Krul. Both players have proved themselves to be absolutely essential to their respective clubs and may well be up for joining a top club like Tottenham at the end of the season.
Whilst Newcastle won’t let Krul go on the cheap, The Swans status as a relatively new Premier League side may make it easier for Spurs to pry Vorm from their grip. He wouldn’t be too expensive and he’d come with Premier League experience. Wouldn’t he be the ideal transfer target and a man capable of being Tottenham’s number one for years to come?
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