SPURS: IT'S EARLY DOORS

I know it's preseason and the players aren't a) fit and b) bothered about winning - but early indications from the 180 minutes of football I've sat through recently are that Spurs are set to carry on from where they left off. Periods of attractive interplay and hardon enducing runs by Gareth Bale are swiftly followed by extended spells of me shouting abuse at my TV.

Observations currently include:

• Players with the ball continue to look up and not see anyone in a white shirt within 30 feet of them with alarming frequency. When we are playing well we get this right.
  
• We look decidedly average without Bale, Modric and VDV - *gasps*!
• Kyle Walker must surely be our first choice right back by Christmas, probably sooner
• Brad Friedel can only have been signed for his coaching skills
  
• VDV can indeed take a free kick that doesn't hit the wall

Quite a few players are getting a run out, which is good for taking a look at the squad as a whole. Let's face it, we don't have the pulling power of Real Madrid, nor the money of Man City, so for me Bentley, Kranners and even Jenas still make decent enough squad players. Rose looks a capable understudy at left-back and Lennon is his usual overrated self. But you can't deny that it's our strikers that continue to worry - everybody except the opposition goalkeeper that is.

Now I used to despise Adebayor, but I'll tell you what, if we get the chance to ship Crouch out and him in I'd be biting someones arm off for it. Defoe, for all his busy breaks down the channels, still seems incapable of getting on to the end of one of those glorious low Bale crosses and Pav... Oh dear God he is so frustrating! Four out of every five shots are miles off target, he lacks pace, he lacks the vision to put other people in and he loses possession - a LOT. I want to believe in him so much it hurts, but the truth is, no matter how hard you try, you just can't polish a turd.

That said I expect us to keep the Russian, and as outlined in this post his ratio is ok (if you class 1 in 3 as ok) - even if acheiving it is going to drive me round the bend, but if he still constitutes the best of a bad bunch by the end of next month then hopes may start fading a little.

One thing that is worth talking about though is old Bobby Keane. I have to say it, I think the man looks sharp. Not stick-it-in-the-onion-bag sharp, but his build-up play in and around the box is looking good. He's keeping possession when under pressure and looks the most inventive of all but VDV. Unlike the other 3 plonkers, he actually looks dangerous (well, sort of).

Is there a way back for the Irishman? You know what, don't rule it out. Keane and Adebayor up front could well be a very good partnership for occasions when we revert to 4-4-2. If he can get back to his best and produce one more season I'd be delighted. We have plenty of European games for him to prove himself in.

There's me already talking like we've signed "Big Ade" though, and we're clearly a long long way from that. I can't see us doing much at all in terms of bringing people in. Average players are going for silly money, we can't offer CL footy and too many rich clubs are scrambling for too few top quality strikers. Anyway, if you assume that Harry will be off to the vacant England job next summer, maybe Levy is right to hold back this year so he can offer our new man a massive "war chest".

Remember, these are (mostly) the players who got us into the Champions League, and these are the players who would have done it last year too if it wasn't for throwing away silly points against poxy teams. I think I'm prepared to downgrade my transfer hopes, I just don't feel like this is a good window for us to do business.

If we can swap the Beanpole for Adebayor I'll be happy. Well, happier than if I'm forced to watch Pav blast them into row Z for 9 months at any rate.