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The best Spurs team of all time - central midfield
- Thread starter milo
- Start date
Hoddle wouldn't be in the '2' of a 4-2-3-1, he'd play at number 10, surely (or maybe on the right as another poster has suggested)? Ghod did wear number 10 and number 7 shirts didn't he?
The two has to be, imo, Blanchflower and MacKay, the heartbeat of the double winning side.
The two has to be, imo, Blanchflower and MacKay, the heartbeat of the double winning side.
Gutter Boy
Tim Sherwood
Not sure you could leave Hoddle out. The most talented English footballer of all time and 450 games (3 major trophies) for us over 12 years.
Baleforce
Arthur Rowe
he's playing in the 3 behind Greaves
you can't leave out Blanchflower or Mackay either
Gutter Boy
Tim Sherwood
It's just before my time, but didn't the mid-80s team line-up:
----Hoddle------Ardiles
Waddle----P Allen-------Hodge
--------------C Allen
I.e not Hoddle in the #10?
Shame that we can only select a limited amount of midfielders, we had so many great ones over the years. If it was up to me I would forget about the LB and go with a 343 formation, but that is another debate. Gazza has to be in the team for me. Mackay as well. Hoddle can be played as the 10. But where to put Blanchflower?
Gutter Boy
Tim Sherwood
I'd actually say it's traditionally one of our weakest positions. We managed to get a long list of 13 CBs, but there's only 5 or 6 CMs coming up.
From 92 to 04 in particular we had absolute brick.
Spur of the moment
Frederic Kanoute
jts1882
Dean Richards
The reason Hoddle often played on the right is because he wasn't the best fit for a 4-4-2. We wanted him to have more freedom, but didn't want three in central midfield. We've seen the same with players on the left of a wonky more recently (Makbranque, Modric). With two half backs he can play the middle position in our best XI, but could play right if we want to accommodate another play-maker in the centre.
If we were trying to pick 4-3-3, imagine a midfield trio of Mackay, Hoddle and Gazza.
mudshark
Chris Armstrong
Yes, but the problem is that of those 5 or 6, it's extremely difficult to dismiss any of them.
Hoddle, Ardiles
or
Blanchflower, Mackay
or
Carrick, Modrić
...
Hoddle could go further forward, obviously, and so could Ardiles, Modrić, Gascoigne and others, but you're eventually going to run out of slots, even for the must-includes.
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Gutter Boy
Tim Sherwood
Bit of a random one, but if we're trying to get a list of 10 (for two positions), I'd probably suggest Gheorghe Popescu as our shining light from the 90s/00s.
Davids and Nicola Berti to make up the numbers too.
Davids and Nicola Berti to make up the numbers too.
jts1882
Dean Richards
Agreed, the twelve RBs was because more because none stood out as a pure RB. In midfield we have some outstanding players, ones who would be considered for more than just a Spurs XI.
One we haven't had mentioned was Ron Burgess. I don't know that much about him, but he was an essential component of the 51 title winning side. He was a left half, but I'm not sure if the more defensive or more attacking of the pair.
Edit. @Gutter Boy. Davids in that first half season was fantastic with Carrick (either in centre or left). Without his injury we would probably have made the breakthrough that year. He was never quite the same after the injury, though. I don't think he played for us enough for this team selection, but worthy of an honourable mention.
One we haven't had mentioned was Ron Burgess. I don't know that much about him, but he was an essential component of the 51 title winning side. He was a left half, but I'm not sure if the more defensive or more attacking of the pair.
Edit. @Gutter Boy. Davids in that first half season was fantastic with Carrick (either in centre or left). Without his injury we would probably have made the breakthrough that year. He was never quite the same after the injury, though. I don't think he played for us enough for this team selection, but worthy of an honourable mention.
Gutter Boy
Tim Sherwood
I don't think Modric, and certainly Carrick, were at the same level as the others.
Personally I'd order them
Hoddle
Mackay
(gap)
Blanchflower
Gascoigne
Ardiles
(gap)
Modric
(gap)
bar
jts1882
Dean Richards
I think it fair enough that people vote for the players they have seen, with some allowance for history. My policy is that I will vote for older players I haven't seen but the standard is higher. They have to be exceptional for the historical accounts to win me over. In this thread, I've picked two players I didn't see with Spurs, but Mackay and Blanchflower were by all accounts special and I don't have to exclude Hoddle.
Oddly, I've seen very little of Gascoigne with Spurs, apart from highlights, as I was in the US and pre-web it was very hard to follow football in the US.
Oddly, I've seen very little of Gascoigne with Spurs, apart from highlights, as I was in the US and pre-web it was very hard to follow football in the US.
Blanchflower and Mackay are the two standout players (from everything I've ever heard) from our double winning team, our best ever side. Where they would play in a modern formation would be in the '2' of the 4231. Surely we have to give the double winning team a nod somewhere when we are picking our greatest ever XI?
Popescu, a fine player, never really worked out for us did he? Howells would be on the list ahead of him imo.
Popescu, a fine player, never really worked out for us did he? Howells would be on the list ahead of him imo.
The middle and late 90's and early 2000's were pretty dark years indeed for central midfielders. I would even go as far as to say that Sherwood was one of the best we had during that period, lol. That said, those 5/6 cm's being listed so far were absolutely outstanding.
That's fair enough, but in 79-80 he scored 19 league goals and 22 in all competitions, so he must have played further forward at some stage? We need some older posters to chime in again, I'm gonna have to call my dad haha.