Anderton: “Tottenham can succeed without Keane and Berbatov”
Former Spurs winger Darren Anderton has backed his old club to improve on last season’s eleventh place finish, despite some high profile departures this summer.
Robbie Keane was sold to Liverpool for £20.3m last month, while fellow front man Dimitar Berbatov is expected to complete a move to Manchester United before the big Premiership kick-off on Saturday.
Despite the outgoings at White Hart Lane, Anderton is impressed with the signings the north London club have made and feels they have a better squad than they did twelve months ago.
“I think they (Tottenham) will do well,” commented the current Bournemouth captain. “The league is getting better every season, so you have to improve your squad… they’ve done that this summer.”
Anderton was a much-loved figure during his twelve years with Spurs. Despite a terrible run of injuries, he still made 305 appearances and scored 37 goals for the Lilywhites. His cultured brand of midfield play also enabled him to win 30 England caps.
New signing Luka Modric has been identified by Anderton as a player capable of pulling the midfield strings for Spurs this season. Modric impressed throughout Euro 2008 and was also influential in Croatia’s victory over England last November. “I’ve heard a lot of good things about him,” said Anderton. “He’s a very good player and will definitely improve them (Tottenham).”
The one area Anderton feels Tottenham need to address in the next month is their front line. Asked if there were any negatives of this summer for Spurs, he said “I’m not so sure about selling Robbie Keane… it will be interesting to see how they replace him.”
Tottenham face a trip to Middlesbrough on Saturday, as their push for a top six finish begins. Having won just one in ten of their opening Premiership fixtures last season, Juande Ramos’ men are more than aware of the importance of getting off to a good start this time around.
I agree with Anderton fully. As a Spurs fan I am excited, but we need to sign 2 more forwards, a DM, and hopefully we can get the Corluka mess squared away. If we can get Miguel Veloso for DM I think I would lose my mind. He is really class, and we have been linked with Arshavin, and hopefully we can get a good 3rd option at striker. If we can do that we might have a chance to breakthrough for CL football this season. However, we need quality defensive cover, and we have to get our forward situation taken care of. Hopefully this season can be one to remember, COYS!
its good to hear that from one of the all time top spurs player.he had a bit of injury problems but still up their with the best
If we get this Corluka stuff sorted Veloso and Arshavin with either of Pavlychenko (i dont know how its spelt but you know what i mean!!) or Santa Cruz then we would have a squad capable of challenging for both a cup and 3rd place. At the moment with our current squad at a push we could get CL. But those four signings would give us that extra bit of real quality depth to challenge for a lot more. Our starting 11 is as good as anyone elses but we need that depth to really push on for better things.
i don’t think that we need a DM. We already have huddlestone but veloso would be good cover. Corluka would also be a great addition as he’s versatile and can play anywhere along the defence. we still need a left winger though. with malbranque our first choice last season gone, dos santos is not sufficient to cover just yet./
Greekos – how on earth can you predict that 3rd is possible when you have lost or are going to lose 40 goals from your attack from last season and only finished 12th – typical spurs
Ben, Veloso would not be used as cover, he would have a regular spot in our starting XI. He’s much better than Huddlestone. Also Dos Santos is better than Malbranque, and Arshavin could play there as well, if we can complete his deal. Our midfield is going to be versatile and they can play pretty much any role in it. Ramos has made some great buys, and we are going to be very good.
Well said Sick Note you Spurs Legend you. Its good to hear what former Spurs men think about their team now. Although we do need to cover our DM and we need atleast 2 more strikers well that is if Berba the Babe leaves for pastures new and if not which I hope is the case then we will need just one world class striker up front to help Berba and Bent. Boy its getting close now can not wait although until then we will be staying on the edge of our seats watching all of the transfers happening.
Come On The Spurs…..
SLASHER
your post holds no truth. the season we nearly made the CL berba wasen’t even there and robbie wasen’t a regular starter it was mido and defoe who never got as nearly as much goals as keane and berba. its just that we defended better that season.
Im a Manchester Fan, and although we look to be taking Berb from you (finally) I still see the spurs breaking through this year with a top 4 or 3 finish. I think if Spurs sign Arshavin like it looks, you will be a very exciting team, and I think Woodgate will come on strong for you this year. Also, Liverpool has not improved themselves greatly, keane will help…but not over the top and Arsenal looks to be down this year…MU and Chelsea are still the cream of the crop and will battle it out for 1-2 but there is no reason if Ramos can find consistency that you cannot be in the CL mix…one of the most talented and fun to watch teams in England