Young Boys II: Judgement Day

The sequel to Tottenham’s Champions League trailer has arrived and it is clear that, as predicted, Daniel Levy has kept his wallet closed until he knows if Spurs will be heading to the Hollywood of club football and mixing it with the A-listers or not.

In the Premier League era, the so-called “Big Four” have dominated the major honours and the Champions League places almost exclusively, bar the odd anomalies (Newcastle, Leeds, Everton), but with Liverpool struggling for money and Arsenal, Man Utd, and even Chelsea cutting back on the spending, Tottenham’s clinching of fourth spot last season and Man City’s endless squad strengthening means there is now suddenly a chance for other clubs to break the monopoly and force their way into the elite.

Spurs may only have a small window of opportunity in which to muscle in with the big boys with Man City ’s bottomless pot of cash and Arsenal and Liverpool looking to hit back after disappointing seasons, and this home leg with Young Boys of Berne is snowballing into a seismic game of huge significance for Tottenham’s immediate and ongoing fortunes.

However, Daniel Levy has invested heavily into the team over the last few years with his mission being to get Spurs into the Champions League and eventually challenging for the title. Martin Jol twice went close, finishing fifth two years running, but Levy wasn’t convinced he was the man to edge into the top bracket of the Premier League.

Redknapp has been given decent financial backing, like Jol (and Ramos after him) was, and he is close to delivering the Champions League dream, but Levy will want to see Spurs’ name in the pot for the group stages of Champion’s league before he gives the squad further investment.

If Spurs can get the win that they and us fans desperately want and need, expect to see some weight put behind some offers in the final few days of transfer window.

Away from Astroturf and back at the Lane, Spurs should beat Young Boys tonight, but we lived up to our reputation last week as a team who goes the hard way about getting a result. After conceding three goals in the opening half an hour in Bern last week, the Champions League dream was turning into a nightmare, but they stopped the rot before showing a lot of heart to pull it back to 3-2, after a stunning late strike from Roman Pavlyuchenko, giving them a good chance of progression at the Lane.

In the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup in 2007, Spurs had a similar shocker when conceding two-goals in the first eight minutes at home, and although Spurs pulled two goals back, they went out on aggregate. As long as Redknapp’s men avoid conceding an early goal tonight, Spurs should begin to dominate an average but dangerously pacy Young Boys team and win the game.

King should be back to help out a defence that looked scarily off the pace in Switzerland, and the alarming ease with which the Young Boys attack cut through the Spurs backline fast-tracked the deal to bring in Gallas on free transfer. We were already crying out for cover at the back, especially with centre-backs Woodgate and King suffering from ongoing long-term injury issues, but Redknapp moved quickly to bring in a proven experienced centre-back, despite Gallas’ time spent on the wrong side of North London .

Whatever happens tonight, Spurs are still on a upward curve and the future looks bright for the club, but getting into the Champions League proper means so much for the fans, the status of the club and of course money. This is an extremely nervy time for all Tottenham fans, as above all, playing in the Champions League will signify a return to those Glory Glory days we so often sing about.

Champions League Draw, Levy Leaving it Late and Adel Tarrabt

Spurs got the luck of the draw on Friday – in fact we got the best draw possible in Swiss League runners-up Young Boys. Not only did Redknapp’s men avoid dangerous teams like Sampdoria, Braga (conquerors of Celtic in the last round of qualifying) and Dynamo Kiev, but the second leg is at White Hart Lane, which is a definite advantage.

The team from Bern are not to be underestimated. They beat Fenerbahce in the hotbed of intimation that is Istanbul to get to this stage and that is no mean feat. However, if Spurs can’t beat Young Boys then they don’t really deserve to be mixing it with the big boys of Europe this season.

Many Tottenham fans have been surprised by the very un-Spurs and un-Harry-like patience and inactivity in the summer transfer window to date. Whenever asked about his potential signings and targets, Harry has responded by saying they are “not close” to doing any deals yet. He quite publicly missed out on Joe Cole, but no concrete talks seem to have happened between Levy and Harry’s targets that are supposed to take Spurs to that next level.

Waiting on Champions League Pot of Gold

Tottenham surely have some pulling power with their fourth place finish last term, the lure of European football (hopefully Champions League group stages) and a squad brimming with young talent and depth. But maybe everything hinges on the result of this two-legged date with destiny against Young Boys. Spurs are notorious for deadline day moves, in and out, (Pavlyuchenko, Corluka, Kranjcar and the departure of Berbatov to name a few) and even though the 2010/11 season will have already been several games old before the transfer window shuts, don’t be surprised if additions and sales are made on or just before the final day of dealings.

Daniel Levy, with the financial backing of Joe Lewis, has always been happy to back his managers in the transfer market, but in this pivotal time for Spurs he may be waiting to see what happens in the upcoming Champions League play-off before letting Redknapp loose with the funds. If they make it through, not only will this give Spurs a much bigger carrot to try to entice the likes of Luis Fabiano or Klaas-Jan Huntelaar with, but Levy would be able breath more easily when giving money to Harry to spend knowing the revenue will be coming in for the Champions League group game matches.

If Spurs fail to make it past Young Boys, Levy may be more inclined to hold back on the spending, knowing his squad’s rising stars are in with a shout of repeating their fourth place finish – despite the spending seen by Manchester City – and attempting to qualify for the group stages again next year.

Surely this huge qualifier is the reason for the tentative approach by Spurs in the transfer window, although Redknapp admitted that the inevitable James Milner move to Man City could spark off a domino effect in the market. Maybe Spurs are just playing the waiting game.

QPR Take Taraabt

On another note, it was sad to see another Spurs player who had been tipped for greatness, fail to make to grade. Adel Taarabt has been offloaded to QPR, where he was on loan at last season, for just £1m three years after signing as an 18-year-old starlet from Lens. He was talked up as the new Zidane, but despite his clear raw talent, cocksure dribbling ability and fleet of foot, has flattered to deceive as a reliable team player.

He joins a long line of players in the last few years that Spurs’ so-called scouting experts have brought in as the next-big-thing from Europe. Unlike many of the young foreigners our North London neighbours have snapped up and nurtured in recent years, who have ended up turning into superstars, ours have been frequently been loaned out before being moved on. It brings up slight concerns about the coaches at Spurs, if they can’t develop these talented youths into Premier League successes. Taraabt has the skill, but not the application, but he is clearly a rough diamond and it is a great shame that he has not sparkled for Spurs.

Who Will Redknapp Entice to Join the Champions League Push?

By “wheeler dealer” Harry’s standards, this transfer window has been extremely quiet. Quieter than a Vuvuzela enthusiast at White Hart Lane will be this season. But although us Spurs fans have been blowing our trumpets (albeit nervously) about our first potential season in the Champions League, no big names have arrived - as of yet...

Redknapp has urged Chairman Daniel Levy not to “miss this opportunity” to establish the club amongst the big teams in Europe and even went as far as saying Tottenham could yet challenge for the title. Strange then that with just a couple of weeks before this big season begins we have only added the largely unknown and unproven Brazilian, Sandro – a deal which was sorted, in principal, before last season finished.

Own Cole

Redknapp tried and failed to lure Joe Cole to the club and has seen other potential signings escalate out of price range. Big name strikers like Luis Suarez, Diego Forlan, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Luis Fabiano have been named in connection with Spurs, but nothing of substance has been evident.

Instead, Harry has been linked with several curious player choices. When it is clear that the two major areas for improvement or back-up are in the centre of defence and up front, why have Spurs been linked with keepers and centre midfielders?

Woody or Wont he?

Jonathan Woodgate is clearly struggling with an ongoing injury that not only threatens his involvement in this coming season, but his career full stop. Ledley King is in his usual chronic knee injury predicament and beyond Michael Dawson and Sebastian Bassong, we haven’t got established cover at centre-back.

These two are both growing in statue under the wing of King, but an experienced or proven defender in the ilk of Brede Hangeland or Thomas Vermaelen would be ideal to bolster the squad and push for a first team place. We know Spurs have been after Micah Richards for a long time, but it looks likely Man City will keep him.

Strike While the Spurs are Hot

Despite our array of forwards (Defoe, Crouch, Pavlyuchenko, Gudjohnsen, Keane) our 67 goals in the Premier League were dwarfed by the teams above us and nine of them came in the famous game against Wigan. All five forwards had a dry spell – Keane so much so that he was shipped out on loan to Celtic for the second half of the season – and only two are guaranteed to be at the Lane by the time the first whistle of the season is blown.

All the great teams in the Premiership and in Europe have at least one world class striker in their team, and although we have some good strikers, none are world beaters. If we are going to make a big investment, then someone of the calibre of Luis Fabiano is needed.

Harry Transfer Targets Get Fans Twitchy

But some of the players the tabloids claim we are moving in on are baffling. Why are we looking at goalkeepers when Heurelho Gomes had a fantastic season and Carlo Cudicini has just come back from long-term injury and signed a contract extension. Why are we trying to buy Scott Parker when we have Wilson Palacios, Luka Modric and Tom Huddlestone, plus Niko Krancjer and Jermain Jenas on the fringes?

Going for Joe Cole was ambitious, but with Aaron Lennon, David Bentley and Gareth Bale thrown into that midfield mix, where would he have played? It makes more sense than Parker, in that there is a certain lack of goals from the Spurs midfield compared with teams like Chelsea, Arsenal, Man Utd and Liverpool who all have at least one prolific goal-scoring midfielder.

However, I think we already have a quality squad with lots of options in all positions, but with this rule of naming a 25-man squad before the season starts, if Spurs do trim the likes of a Bentley, a Pav, a Keane or an O’Hara I would like to think that in this season of high-hopes that the Levy-Redknapp sales and marketing team bring in a couple of class acts in the crucial areas to keep us up with the big boys.

By Rowland Marsh