Strangled Red Cockerel

By Boris Mellor
October 30 2009

The man who was so impressed by his own club that he left it for Liverpool, only to discover he wasn't a top four player and had to crawl back home, now believes that his club's squad is stronger than Arsenal's. If he had top four qualities he wouldn't be back at Tottenham mouthing off in the wake of his team's 1-0 defeat by Stoke.

  How come their wonderfully strong bench didn't rescue the day? Dawson, Pavlyuchenko and Jenas failed to prevent Stoke from claiming victory.

Spurs squad cost £162.4 million and Arsenal's £86.5m, and as some fans will tell you, even some Arsenal ones, the more you spend the better you are. Wenger's squad must be weaker because it costs less, however this is a case where less is definitely more. If you judge by price tags alone Spurs must have the stronger squad.

Full backs

Clichy might not be having his best season to date, but Sagna is solid as ever, and Eboue is proving to be good back up. Who do Tottenham have at right back? The answer is Assou-Ekotto who cost half the fee of Sagna.

However this might be a case where the price tag is correct, according to the Guardian he had a stinker against Stoke. The other backs are Corluka, Hutton and Naughton, Arsenal have Gibbs, Gilbert and Traore in reserve. Plus Silvestre and Gallas can also cover at full back. I see no Tottenham advantage there.

Perhaps they are stronger in central defence?

True there is a discernable lack of depth in our centre back department, but when it comes to quality Gallas and Vermaelen are clearly the quality centre pairing. King and Woodgate are as injury prone as Silvestre.

However Tottenham's defence let in more goals than Arsenal last season, and are just as bad this. Is Almunia really worse than Gomes? Sure Almunia has made mistakes, but he would have to work overtime to make as many as Gomes who cost £7.8 million, meanwhile Manuel cost a big fat zero.

 I must admit I don't understand why Cudicini isn't a first team regular, he used to be an excellent keeper. Maybe trousering all that money for watching Cech play every week killed off his confidence. In the past I would have said he was better than any of our keepers.

Central Midfield

Fabregas cost Wenger absolutely nothing but would anyone who is sane, and that obviously does not include Robbie Keane, claim that Palacios, Jenas or Huddlestone are better than him? Are they any better than Song? Possibly, but Song cost £1 million and Palacios £12 million. But what about depth?

Well on Wednesday against Liverpool Eastmond, Ramsey and Merida proved they would add strength to any bench. Arsenal also have Diaby and Denilson to call on, thus the Gunners have greater numbers available in this area. Wenger is also considering putting Nasri into this area.

Wide Midfield

The second most expensive player here for Spurs is Bentley at £15 million. Would you swap Arshavin or Rosicky for him? Is Lennon better than Walcott? I find them very similar lots of pace and no end product. Modric might get in our squad, but would Kranjcar or Bale? Arsenal also has Wilshere, Nasri and Eboue, not a bad collection to have on any bench.

Strikers

Who is the more skillful striker Van Persie or Keane? RvP cost £2.75 million and Keane £12 million - laughable. Is Defoe at £15 million better than Eduardo at 7.5 million? You think Bendtner is clumsier than Crouch? I believe that once Nik loses his fear of shooting he will become one of the league's great strikers. He certainly does damage when he comes off the bench and once he got over his nerves scored a great goal against Liverpool. Vela at £2 million is also looking to be a great possibility. True Pavlyuchenko could prove to be quality but at 13.5 million hardly a bargain compared to the cost of our strike force.

Twice as good at half the price

Proof of the pudding is in the eating, true Arsenal and Spurs are on the same number of points (Arsenal have a game in hand) but that is only half the story. The rest of the story is demonstrated by the goal difference - Arsenal +16; Spurs + 7.  As the season develops we should expect that gap to widen even further.

With no Lennon, and no Defoe this is Spur's chance to prove how deep their squad really is, and there is no better place than at the Grove where Arsenal have scored 17 and conceded 4, W4 D0 L0.

Spurs -Twice as Expensive and Half as Good - Ignore Price Tags

Discussion started by Arsenal Times , 30/10/2009 09:37

Arsenal Times
30/10/2009 09:37

What do you think? You can have your say by posting below.
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2009:11:01:21:42:36 by Padre Pio.

Reply Quote Report

irishfan
30/10/2009 13:37

keane would have been a success at liverpool given if he was played in his correct position and given 90mins on the field, the odd occassion he did play up top he did well, a cracking goal against the gunners if i remember correctly

Reply Quote Report

AJ The Gunner
30/10/2009 13:57

A man who cost liverpool more than 20 mil only to be flogged back to his cradle for as less as 12 mil should really take it easy.

its up to our players to rise to the occasion and reply such blasphemous raps by turning up and playing the games of their lives. but since the hoodoo of az alkmaar and the result splilling unto the westham game, who knows which team will turn up for the first half and which will turn up for the 2nd half.

with these gunners you just never know. and its such that has caused teams like spurs to believe they are far more superior.

Can We Now Trust The Process 🤔🤷🏿‍♀️ or Should We Still Remain Cautious 🙇🏿‍♀️

Reply Quote Report

Padre Pio
30/10/2009 14:57

I remember Bentley's wonder goal against gunners - what did he do afterwards?

"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.

Reply Quote Report

Gööfle11
30/10/2009 15:27

Its not a debate.

Official 1000th poster in the classic transfer rumors thread of 2014.

Reply Quote Report

Goto: Forum List•Message List•Search• Log In

Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.

We record all IP addresses on the Sportnetwork message boards which may be required by the authorities in case of defamatory or abusive comment. We seek to monitor the Message Boards at regular intervals. We do not associate Sportnetwork with any of the comments and do not take responsibility for any statements or opinions expressed on the Message Boards. If you have any cause for concern over any material posted here please let us know as soon as possible by e-mailing abuse@sportnetwork.net