Charlton, a new star (again) and a 25 man what?

Will he play or will he go?

First things first, I haven’t “blogged” in a while for various reasons and had instead treated myself to watching as much Spurs as I could get my hands on during December, leaving it, rather lazily, to the other excellent Spurs bloggers to sum things up (triffictottenham.co.uk, youllwinnothingwithyids.com and tottenbloghotspur.blogspot.com) – thanks guys for keep my Spurs fluids drip topped up!

I was at the Charlton game on Sunday and it was a game of two typical facets of Spurs’ method of football. The first half was a subdued midday home match atmosphere, very little Spurs chanting (I, too, was part of that problem for once) and little cutting edge or invention in the Spurs attack save for the excellent Andros Townsend. The first half ticked by without much excitement but Townsend looked incredibly pacey, full of attacking intent and played without fear or abandon. Particularly impressive I thought was his likeness to Gareth Bale in that he is more than happy to knock the ball past a player (left or right as he kicks with both) and run after it and deliver a killer ball. He also displayed a strong physical presence, only losing out a couple of times in 50/50 challenges. Young Andros could offer an alternative to Lennon in that whereas we are used to Lennon running into the box, hugging the touchline all the way and then gaining a yard from standing still to knock balls along the ground, Townsend can have the defender playing catching up, Maicon-style, from further down the pitch and can deliver arcing balls – many of which could have done with Peter Crouch on the field – not the lacklustre Pav.

I told my old man at the interval that Spurs needed a goal – Charlton or otherwise to give ourselves a kick up the arse. I suggested the hauling off of Wilson Palacios whose first touch had totally deserted him, as had his passing radar (giving it to Charlton players on several occasions) for Luka Modric. Harry Redknapp made the change at the interval and immediately White Hart Lane was treated to a master class in how to run a football game. Modric popped up all over the pitch, dictating the speed (often set to ‘Bale’) of our attack. His link up play was very good with Niko Kranjar (a man who looked poor in the first half and for this season in fact but had a better second period with his fellow Croat in tow. It didn’t take long for the deadlock to be broken. Townsend, who continued to be excellent throughout the second half and who seemed to relish playing with Modric took the ball, ghosted past a challenge and drilled the ball low into the net from 20-odd years – just desserts for an excellent debut performance. The lively Jermain Defoe, livelier since the introduction of Luka and his penetrating balls (come on now!) through the back four, scored two goals in quick succession, the first an excellently timed run and the second a reward for doggedly chasing about three rebounds in the Charlton box! An excellent second half was just the right performance ahead of a huge game against Manchester United when Bale, Van Der Vaart, Gallas and others should return to give the Red Devils a run for their money.

Although talk before and after the match has been dominated by the arrival (for training or otherwise) of David Beckham, it is heartening to learn that the players coming through out youth system are starting to deliver at the highest level – I just wonder when they will ever get a start. Another thing that I was made aware of today (something I had forgotten) was that David Beckham would have to fit into our 25 man Premier League squad, as would, say, Andros Townsend. Whereas he would be an excellent addition to our team against AC Milan, Beckham would play a limited number of matches in the league but take up a place for the rest of the season. It got me thinking about who would be in my 25 man premier league squad – here’s my run-down:

Goalkeepers

Gomes

Cudicini (who was excellent against Charlton)

Pletikosa

Defenders

Dawson

Gallas

Kaboul

Hutton

BAE

Corluka

Bassong

Woodgate

Bongani

Midfielders

Bale

Lennon

Jenas

Huddlestone

Sandro

Modric

Van der Vaart

Kranjar

BECKHAM???

Strikers

Defoe

Pav

Crouch

Suarez/Tevez/Kaka/ etc etc (a new striker please)

That’s my attempt at incorporating Becks and I’ve also made room for Woodgate assuming he can get fit but with so many centre-backs now available, he might make way for another midfielder like Townsend or even Palacios.

I am firmly in the “Beckham could be good for Spurs” camp. Our team has excellent team spirit about it – even BAE seems to enjoy playing with his “workmates”  - and I can only see Becks adding to that atmosphere. His experience against AC Milan would be very important and he is surely born to cross onto Crouch’s head to nod now to VDV or Defoe.

On the back of a good win against Charlton, some tough games await – whether Beckham plays or not.

COYS!