By Dave--inlove89
November 22 2005

FOR the fourth match in succession Tottenham Hotspur had possession in abundance yet, one goal apart, hardly created a chance worthy of reporting. Martin Jol has overseen the building of a talented young squad, however his attempts to take the club into the promised land, appear to be stalling over an issue of balance.

The left side of the new Tottenham presents a rather large problem. Spurs bought Andy Reid and he consequently failed to make the cut and is now out in the cold. Jol has failed in his attempts to convert Edgar Davids, a world class central midfielder for years, into a left sided midfielder. In addition to that the club’s medical staff failed to spot that full back Lee Young-Pyo had a wooden left leg, and assistant boss Chris Hughton even had the temerity to claim Spurs had signed a two footed player.

Jol’s team were uninspired as they huffed and puffed at White Hart Lane on Sunday. Carrick continually tried to pass his set plays into the box, or even worse over the cross bar. Spurs lacked the ability to be direct, to mix up the play, ironically their goal coming from an accurate punt from impressive centre back Michael Dawson.

Jol may have the delusion that Spurs fans want pass, pass, pass but they also want goals and his team need to find a second style if they are to shake the so called lesser teams off.

A baffling decision from Jol was to rest Defoe when he clearly would have been chomping at the bit to face his old club.
Defoe has been criticised for not scoring enough goals this season but Jol has escaped attention despite axeing Kanoute, the main goal provider for the club last term. Kanoute was replaced by Rasiak who was bought for the last two games of Mido’s ban and has since been cast aside.

Is Jol brave enough to find a solution? January will tell much. Routledge and the brilliant Lennon should be fit and ready to battle for ownership of the right flank while Damien Comolli should be unveiling a talented and thin left footer.

Jol will then be forced to choose two from Davids, Carrick, Jenas and Tainio for centre midfield. This choice will be tough for him but he cannot continue to waste Jenas on the right, or waste Davids on the left. Mendes, Brown and Davis must surely leave with outstanding talent Tom Huddlestone also likely to emerge on the scene.

Spurs scored plenty of goals last season, with 15 in three home matches against Villa, Everton and Southampton. This term the cutting edge has been blunted and currently it is the outstanding defensive pairing of King and Dawson that are keeping Tottenham afloat.