Tottenham Hotspur Message Board

Sfer, I realise you were quoting Taraabt as an example and also that vdV is cut from the s...

Sfer, I realise you were quoting Taraabt as an example and also that vdV is cut from the same cloth.

Walker did go on loan to a Championship side - Sheff Utd when we first bought him, then to QPR during this season. The club then decided he needed Premiership experience so they loaned him out to Villa until the end of this season.

http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/players/first_team/kylewalker.html

The other Kyle, Naughton, is currently with Leicester and has been for most of the season - maybe the pair of them will be back to challenge for the RB spot or perhaps one of them might be earmarked for covering at LB.

Even Whinger sends his youngsters out on loan for experience eg Wilshere to Bolton last season, and a couple of them are with Championship clubs - so it's obviously an accepted way to blood them unless they're so good they can slot straight into the first team.

Who knows why 'Arry does these things Sfer. Maybe he felt that although Walker was mu...

Who knows why 'Arry does these things Sfer. Maybe he felt that although Walker was much improved after his spell in the Championship he needed PL experience away from the frenzy of our 1st team. You've got to admit that it's been a crazy time at the Lane with the successes of the Champions League and striving to get 4th place again.

Main thing is he'll be available for next season after a year playing regular 1st team football under his belt and raring to go. Doubtful he'll have got that otherwise.

Sfer, while I agree with you mostly (though I'm with you 100% on the spat between Joh...

Sfer, while I agree with you mostly (though I'm with you 100% on the spat between John and SB!) I'm not sure that selling Taraabt was necessarily a mistake just because of his performances for QPR this season - we could say that about any player who does better having left us (Zamora at Fulham, Bent at Sunderland/Villa to name but two).

As I recall Taraabt, like Dos Santos, was a squad member rather than a first team regular and had an attitude problem even then, much in evidence this season for QPR too. I don't believe that his temperament would have fitted with our squad.

There's no doubting that he's got the potential to be a great player but rough edges often need honing outside of the maelstrom that is the PL. And while it's all well and good to score shedloads of goals each season, getting yellows and/or reds too regularly because of his temperament (as would likely have been given the fickleness of the PL refs) would have been detrimental to the club and self-defeating. I may be completely wrong on this but that's my take on him - he's young and needs to curb his temper and that will hopefully come with increasing maturity and the continued careful handling by Warnock.

Again with Walker, the lad needed the experience of playing regular first team football to up his game and I don't think 'Arry was going to throw him in to the squad as first choice RB without that. If you recall, when we bought both Kyles from Sheff Utd they went straight back on loan to them. Although one/both of them came back for a spell, off they went again (as with Caulker, Obika, Rose, Townsend and other younger players). I'm pretty sure we'll see Walker in more games for us next season which is probably the reason he's at Villa now to get the PL playing experience - and he's useful at scoring goals too :-)

Sfer, No, I know you didn't say he hadn't done well - I was just arguing that he d...

Sfer,
No, I know you didn't say he hadn't done well - I was just arguing that he doesn't seem to have changed (replying to your '...BUT....whilst I still like him, I do think something has changed and I base this on several things. First, him saying that we could win the PL was IMO a stupid thing to say.....'). He says what he said last season. If he thinks the squad is good enough for the CL he'll say it - if he thinks the league is open and a few teams could win it - us being one of them, then he says it. 'arry appears to be quite forthright in what he says. Seems he always has been like that. I'm not sure that applies pressure - it just shows the players that 'arry has faith in their ability.

And I'm not saying you (or anyone) can't have a go at his judgement - just that there are two things to bear in mind:
1) We don't have a clue why certain decisions are made unless 'arry says something like '....I rested him as he had a bit of a niggle...', '...we could have bought Kaka, but he wanted or similar
2) Every one of us would like to see things done differently. That's a given. I'd like to drop Gomes (but I'm basing that on him not giving me confidence - if I could speak to Daws and Gallas and they're comfortable in front of him, then my argument dies a bit), you'd drop T'Hudd, SB would drop Corluka, Hutton, Gallas, Daws,Jenas, Palacios,Pav,T'Hudd, Lennon (;-))- and just pay a 1-1-1-1 formation , loads would have dropped BAE.....blah, blah... If all opinions were taken, then we'd have a team of Modric and maybe Bale (and although I like Bale, the hype has gone mad) - and nine gaps and a squad that was all sold off as they're not good enough.

Having said all that, the teams 'arry has picked has got us to 5th now, 4th last season - despite Citeh's spending - and with style.

A couple of seasons back, if someone had said we'd be doing 5th-6th-5th-6th .....type finishing pattern, I'd have said '...great, a good stable solid base to move on...' and if the manager had been saying '...yep, we can get 4th with the right wind...' - brilliant. The problem is, I think, in that we have done it - we have been a CL team, and it's the disappointment now, as the Grail seems to be fading slightly.

We have a young team - we have suffered badly from injuries - and that isn't an excuse, just saying how well they've done to still be there at 5th. Good base set up for the future (if we don't lose too many in the summer).

Are you moaning b,,,,,,,,s never satisfied or are you just a bunch of absolute morons. O...

Are you moaning b,,,,,,,,s never satisfied or are you just a bunch of absolute morons. Our problem is the same as some of the others in the Premiership, we've got a great bunch of supporters who dont always accept defeat gracefully, but at least they put their brain into gear before operating their mouths. Ques. Could you do better? Ans. No you couldn't so get behind the Lilywhites instead of moaning all the time. Signed by Rocket Ron.