Communication is Key

With club captain Michael Dawson making errors and Vlad Chiriches having moved from a potential liability to a liability with his recent performances Tim Sherwood has turned to a left-back to play at the heart of defence.


Communication is Key


Younes Kaboul is endeavouring to get fit and bring himself back up to premier league level and is thus being given a run of games before Spurs decide whether to offer him a new contract. He has one year left and could simply wind it down for a free transfer if he wished.

To be blunt Spurs have seen one good season from Kaboul and that's it, his form at the moment is terrible, he is making error after error and looks all at sea.

With the season over developing the youth has been the theme thus Harry Kane is getting his chance and taking it, Nabil Bentaleb has done the same and now Zeki Fryers is getting first team opportunities.

He has figured at left back in the Europa League and had to step into the centre-back role alongside Sandro for the away tie against Benfica where the pair muddled through quite well.

The recent game against Fulham saw Fryers unfortunately knock the ball to Sidwell who skipped past Kaboul and neatly finished but the real error was Paulinho making a half hearted attempt at a tackle in midfield just after he had scored.

Prior to that he came on at WBA at half-time as a straight replace Chiriches who was having a nightmare game. looking forward to this week he has spoken to the club website which highlighted the importance of communication.

“It was great to play alongside Younes again because he gives me advice and helps me during the game.

“He’s a lot more experienced than me so it’s good for someone of my age to be able to learn from him.”

The value of being able to communicate with your teammates cannot be underestimated and the fact that our three players who spoke little or no English joined us have been poor is no coincidence. Spurs lashed out £73 million and since then we have heard Spaniard Soldado talk of having to work harder to improve his English, Brazilian Paulinho tell us he is too lazy to learn and the disappearance of Argentinian Erik Lamela.

You can all decide for yourselves if that is a coincidence or if more could and should have been done to prevent the situation from happening, I know where I stand on that one.


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“Obviously we conceded in the first half against Fulham in a disappointing manner but overall we were strong and stable as a team,” Fryers continued.

“Now we go to Stoke, who are a good side. They’re a strong team and I know from watching other clubs go there that it’s difficult to win there.

“They make it hard for opposing teams so we’ve got a big challenge at the weekend and we’re looking forward to it.”

Let's hope Sherwood keeps faith with the young man and plays him in the remaining games to give him more experience at this level. With the problems we have had at centre-back for years that experience could prove valuable when we have to call on him as a left-back or centre-back next season.

Tim Sherwood blieves his best position is as a left-sided centre-back.

“I see him as a centre-half, a left-sided centre-back. If you look at where he played at Man United, he played as a left-sided centre-back five or six times. That’s where he will be in the end.

“I think he’s flexible enough to play left-back but if he’s going to be picked at the moment, it’s as a left-sided centre-back.”

If he is to fill that position then the decision has to be made is he the fourth or fifth choice. Centre-back is definitely one of the key areas that needs strengthening.