Tottenham's Number One?

Am I the only person who is disappointed with yesterdays transfer activity?

At the end of a quiet day 'Arry emerged to talk to reporters looking as worn out as King's knee and the only announcement to be made was the signing of Niko Kranjcar. Well I don't know about you lot, but I smell a rat. Kranjcar is talented, professional and hardworking. He will fit in easily into the squad aided by Charlie and Modders and fills a position which has long been a problem. To top it all off we grabbed this Croatian international, premier league proven 'fantastic player and great lad' for £2.5 million. What the hell has happened to our club? Over the past summer we seem to have only made sensible, coherent signings that address real problems and give our squad good all round cover. Whatever happened to those assertions that Ronaldo (at the height of his powers and before becoming clinically obese) would soon be plying his trade at the Lane? The best the press could come up with were some very tenuous links to the Real Madrid subs bench. After a few excited days of frantic keyboard tapping, it was all quiet on the forum front. Not even an enquiry about Messi or the offer of a youth coaching contract to Wenger paid for in weekly instalments of Worthers Originals? Indeed it is quite a strange feeling being a Tottenham fan sitting second in the table and with a hungry, talented, ambitious squad ready for whatever comes.

Instead of grumpily mumbling about the incompetence of a director of football, being overcharged for average players and lacking cover in key positions, the perennial sceptics known as Tottenham fans suddenly find themselves without a purpose in life. I wander the streets unshaven, reeking of special brew stumbling from person to person asking them if we maybe spent too much on Bassong, is Alex Inglethorpe the right man to lead the Academy, was your tea cold at the Birmingham game as well? We find ourselves screaming at the elderly post office clerk about a 1p rise in second class stamps, petitioning the government repeatedly to stop medical testing on guinea pigs and talking about the 'good old days' under Christian Gross with a bleary eyed nostalgia. I awake every morning with a new feeling I have never felt before. A feeling of warmth that I have since had explained to me is called contentedness. Yet just when I thought I would end up a bitter, miserable old man after Tottenham completed their 14th consecutive title, good old 'Arry has thrown us a bone.

Some blogs have misquoted or misunderstood 'Arry but I listened to his interview yesterday with great interest and in no uncertain terms it seems he is interested in bringing James to the Lane. Of course there was the usual statement about how Tottenham already had “two perfectly good goalkeepers” but rather than denying any enquiry had been made with a guttural cry of “utter tosh”, 'Arry instead responded that a deal “was never going to be a possibility”. If the spurs ITK's (and following suit the mainstream press) are to be believed then 'Arry did try to re-sign James and the proposal was quashed by Daniel Levy on the grounds of James's negligible re-sale value. At the Pompey end there was the statement that 'no official bids were made' but questions about the widely reported swap deal involving Cudicini were met with a wall of silence. So it appears that by means of cash or swap, 'Arry did attempt to bring his old charge James to North London. I was relieved to feel the delightful fuzzy feeling of the last few weeks receding.

First of all I should state that I think Cudicini is a very good keeper, and a worthy backup for any team in the Premiership. He was at fault for Birmingham's goal but he cannot just be expected to walk into a team after a lengthy absence and enjoy a Uri Geller-esque telepathic understanding with his back line; plus something tells me you wouldn't want to see what was going on in Hutton's head. I feel he has fitted well into the team and has demonstrated some fantastic reflex saves as well as a decent command of his area. It always surprises me that no-one else has come in for him but their loss is our gain. I personally would not want to swap Cudicini for James and not just because Carlo is 4 years younger. Yet James surely wouldn't be content warming those rather comfy looking benches during a World Cup year, suggesting he would, at the very least, have been rotated with Gomes.

Gomes had his moments last season and I was unfortunate enough to have been at White Hart Lane to witness some of them first hand. There has been the flapping at crosses, his uppercut on Corluka and who remembers this one...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEz9lgPfSSE

There were those who had written him off by January as talk of various replacements intensified. I myself wondered what had happened to the man who had single handedly knocked us out of the UEFA cup and was hero worshipped by the PSV fans. The press ridiculed him, the so called experts slated him, and the fans cheered sarcastically every time he made a save. Yet somehow, when no-one believed in him and when he was held up as a clown and a joke, he turned himself around and set a club record for clean sheets. James is undoubtedly a good goalkeeper, even at his age and most of the forum debates have verged on whether he is 'better' than Gomes. The truth is, that fans can argue for the rest of the season over who is a better shot stopper/best at coming for crosses etc but that is as pointless as trying to understand Joe Jordan's interviews. The fact of the matter is that Gomes has looked the lowest part of his career in the face and has risen above it. With his cheeky grin and the kind of nose that can smell the future he has become a firm fans favourite, putting in some top quality performances between the sticks. On top of this he has proven he's got guts, something 'Arry promised he would give to the team. If our loveable Brazilian Pinnochio is sold off to make way for James it will be a betrayal of all the hard work and character both he and Tony Parks have shown both on and off the pitch over the past six months. Let's hope January never comes...

In 'Arry We Trust