There is no doubt that the battle for a place in the top four will be as fierce as ever this season. With Manchester City and Liverpool spending big to ensure they’re firmly in the mix and Arsenal doing some decent business on a frantic deadline day, where does it leave Tottenham Hotspur?
With so much money being spent by their rivals it seems that Spurs have been left behind in the race to grab that elusive place in the Premier League's elite mini-league. Boss Harry Redknapp has been used to having a substantial bank balance to go out and buy players who command a hefty transfer fee but will also improve the squad. It wasn’t so long ago he was shelling out £20 million to bring Jermain Defoe and Peter Crouch to White Hart Lane but the 2011/12 summer window saw chairman Daniel Levy put a stranglehold on big spending. The ethos was to sell before you buy and by the 1st September the squad had been dramatically trimmed with 10 players either being sold or loaned out and four players being brought in. Around £30 million was brought in by the end of the transfer window along with getting some high earners off the wage bill which seemed like good business.
However with only Brad Friedel and Scott Parker signing on permanently and Emmanuel Adebayor and Yago Falque signing on loan till the end of the season the squad looks like it’s lacking at the moment. Whilst quality still remains in the ranks there is a worry that Spurs don’t have the strength in depth to mount a serious challenge for a top-four place. I personally think they should have looked to bring at least a few more players in to replace the ones that have departed. Looking at the squad they do have some very good players in all positions but as far as backup goes there isn’t much to shout home about. Throw Luka Modric’s yearning for a move to Chelsea into the mix and it could be recipe for disaster. Missing out on the Champions League last year hit Spurs hard in the arm financially. The extra money garnered from TV, sponsorship and actually finishing fourth severely hampered the budget Redknapp was hoping to get his hands on.
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The squad they are left with now, in my opinion, will struggle to break back into the top four simply because the players warming the bench aren’t good enough to compete at the level required. The likes of Rafael Van der Vaart, Gareth Bale, Tom Huddlestone, Adebayor, Michael Dawson, Modric and Niko Kranjcar are of Champions League quality. They’ve shown that they can perform on the biggest stage and will be vital to Spurs’ chances of actually achieving the goal of returning to footballs biggest club competition. In fact on paper they have a starting XI containing players that would walk into any team in the top six.
The main concern I have is that the backup players aren’t of a sufficient standard. Hypothetically speaking, what happens if Dawson or Bale picks up a long-term injury? Would, for example, Sebastien Bassong or Steven Pienaar (who has been dreadful since moving from Everton) be able to match up to them? Are they of an adequate calibre to come into the team and offer the same level of performance and quality? Not that I’m signalling those two players out but it is an example that Redknapp has limited options and weak strength in depth which is a vital component of any side challenging at the Premier League summit. Even Defoe and Roman Pavlyuchenko have seen their standards fall dramatically in the last 12 months with the pair mustering less than 10 league goals between them last season. Adebayor has been brought in to remedy that and he is undoubtedly a top player when his head is focused on the game. But the majority of the time he is anonymous on the field and Spurs need a forward who is going to perform week in week out along with scoring goals. Redknapp also seems to be relying on youth players to provide backup, which could further hamper his chances of regaining Champions League football should they be pressed into action.
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The 5-1 mauling at home to Man City certainly highlighted the division in class between a team who spends and one who doesn’t. I really can’t see Spurs making a major play for the top four especially if they pick up injuries to key players. Behind a very good starting eleven there are very few players who can step in and play to the same level. Unfortunaetly for Spurs fans the best you can hope for this season is anywhere between fifth and eighth spot!