Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Spurs Team News ahead of Boro

We all knew the Ledley King would not be fit for tomorrow night's match against Boro, and Les Ferdinand confirmed that last night on Football Matters, when he said that Ledley's knee "swelled up" after the match, ruling him out for Boro and I would bet Sunderland as well. But the real news is that Jonathan Woodgate won't be fit for tomorrow night's home date either. The achilles injury that ruled him out for the Carling Cup Final hasn't healed yet, so he will be out. That leaves the center back pairing to be Michael Dawson and Vedran Corluka against Boro, with Pascal Chimbonda playing in the right-back slot in place of Corluka.

Also in several of the papers today is another round of stories about who Harry will clear out from the club this summer, with the names of Giovanni Dos Santos, Jermaine Jenas, Tom Huddlestone, Darren Bent, also David Bentley and surprisingly Alan Hutton set to be offloaded by Harry.

I have to say that this is a bad idea with the huge number of players leaving, if it actually comes to pass. We all know that only about 20% of what's in the papers ever comes to pass, but even though this squad has underachieved this season, having more wholesale changes to the club will only make it harder for the team to develop a chemistry for next year. A couple of these players will leave, and that is fine, Bent is halfway out the door with some of his comments, and Giovanni was gone until he failed his physical, but I would keep Jenas, Hutton, and Bentley for next year. I think Bentley could rebound and become a real player for us, like he was at Blackburn, but I think this season is shot for him. I have admitted to being a fan of JJ and think he should stay, his effort against Man United was excellent, he made a lot of timely tackles and worked hard, and I would rather see Chimbonda cleared out again rather than Hutton who hasn't had a chance to really prove himself here at Spurs.

Here's my updated thoughts on tomorrow's lineup against Boro, a must-win for us.

Cudicini

Chimbonda, Corluka, Dawson, BAE

Lennon, Palacios, Modric, O'Hara

Pavlyuchenko, Keane

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