tainio injured again

[nuttyhotspurs]

i think hes a good player but jol seems to rate him higher than most. i dont think he can be relied on to be a permanent fixture in the team he plays a game gets injured, comes back plays 1 or 2 gets injured again. in the meantime players like jenas are put where they want to be , then as soon as tainio is fit again they are put back on the bench or played out of position

i dont really know where im going with this. im just having a rant i suppose. does jol rate teemu higher than players like jenas? hudds? murphy?

it seems as soon as hes fit hes in the first 11 no questions

what do you all think about teemus place in the team?

[Chinaman]

He does seem injury-prone. Maybe it's because of his all-action style. Good man to have in the squad and can be relied on his giving his all in any position he's asked to play.

[nuttyhotspurs]

i agree with that however if we solve our left sided problem before the season starts who would you go with centrally. jenas or tainio?

[TomMcLaren]

Tough question! Assuming they are both on form, I would go with Jenas. Have a feeling that he'll be a bit disappointing though, so in reality probably Tanio.

[Danishspurs]

He does seem injury-prone. Maybe it's because of his all-action style. Good man to have in the squad and can be relied on his giving his all in any position he's asked to play.
I think his injuries is because of his all-action style. he never seems to get muscular problems or so. He just seems to knocks very often...

[TomMcLaren]

Hang-on, you just copied what Chinaman said.

[Chinaman]

I welcome anyone who wants to copy. :)

[highlander]

i rate Tainio very highly, he's definately one of our best midfielders in my opinion. the knocks he picks up are just knocks that only take about a week to get over and back to match fitness maybe longer depending how hard the knock happened to be. i like him a lot

[spurs61]

Teemu is always injured because he never trains. I don't know why he hardly ever trains but I do know that the his team mates get a bit pissed off at times.

[Chinaman]

If he never trains, he must be Superman to be able to cover as much ground as he does every game he plays, and many a time stright back from missing a few after injury.

[Keanoldinho]

i rate Tainio very highly, he's definately one of our best midfielders in my opinion. the knocks he picks up are just knocks that only take about a week to get over and back to match fitness maybe longer depending how hard the knock happened to be. i like him a lot

I agree with you there, but if he has another season like last year then we should sell him and make afew bob.

[highlander]

i forgot about his lack of general action on the training ground, which begs the obvious question, what does he do to get into the team automatically if he rarely trains and when he does he does as little as possible

[Keanoldinho]

i forgot about his lack of general action on the training ground, which begs the obvious question, what does he do to get into the team automatically if he rarely trains and when he does he does as little as possible

I think he brings Jol beautiful blond Finland women

[shoot_ffs]

bit odd davids picks a match day to have an eye test don't you think?? he has nearly two weeks either side he could have picked. maybe he wasn't going to get any minutes because the others like jenas and zokora need it, but then maybe he won't make the first 11 and could be looking for pastures new. I think he's one of our weakest players.

[Keanoldinho]

Davids is a class act and definately NOT our weakest link. He's played in most of our preseason games and like u said Jenas and Zokora need it more.

[Welsh Spur]

Ok Ok Ok.
Hold the phone.

How and why is it assumed Tainio doesn't train (what kind of prem footballer doesnt train?) and can I have a source for this information?

And when did Davids pick a match day to have an eye test? (again, sources?)

[JJ]

bit odd davids picks a match day to have an eye test don't you think?? he has nearly two weeks either side he could have picked. maybe he wasn't going to get any minutes because the others like jenas and zokora need it, but then maybe he won't make the first 11 and could be looking for pastures new. I think he's one of our weakest players.

I'm hoping Davids has stayed to prove that he isn't over the hill. He seemed to come back too early from injury last year, and didn't look the same since. I'm sure he's a very proud player and would feel that he has a point to prove as he disappointed last season overall.

[Chinaman]

bit odd davids picks a match day to have an eye test don't you think?? he has nearly two weeks either side he could have picked. maybe he wasn't going to get any minutes because the others like jenas and zokora need it, but then maybe he won't make the first 11 and could be looking for pastures new. I think he's one of our weakest players.

With his problem, he doesn't see an optometrist, but an opthalmologist. In Toronto, these are rare specis and there's a 6-month booking for an appointment.

Could be the same problem in the Netherlands.

[highlander]

i doubt he had much of a say in when his appointment was, as after all rarely can you decide exactly when you want an appointment with a specialist, still at least it is in pre-season rather than the actual season. i dont think it will make that much of a difference to his preperation for the season as he if very fit, has played a bit in the last couple of weeks and no doubt he has trained all summer

[choda]

With his problem, he doesn't see an optometrist, but an opthalmologist. In Toronto, these are rare specis and there's a 6-month booking for an appointment.

Could be the same problem in the Netherlands.

Yes, I can see that being the case. He has a very rare disorder in western society.

Shoot_ffs: As for him being one of our weakest players... are you for real? He was sensational in the big games last year, and he was instrumental in the raising of the club to its current status.

Did you see him at old trafford last year? He was out of this world. This is Edgar Davids we are talking about.

He had injury and fitness problems towards the end but he was very important last year. He is getting on and he'll be in and out of the team this year but he is a GREAT player for us to have. He's a winner, characters like him don't grow on trees.

[shoot_ffs]

i thought davids was great i the first half a dozen games. i don't remember him doing anything in the big games except costing us the game at newcastle where he was both sloppy and lazy, and stupidly getting sent off at highbury. I think he's a weak link in that respect. As for his character he still seems to be an argumentative son of a bitch, which is ok if he's right but not if he's wrong. We'll see, the good news is i think our midfield is strong enough to leave him out. Hope ghaly and hudds get a game.

[onthejazzin77]

Ok Ok Ok.
Hold the phone.

How and why is it assumed Tainio doesn't train (what kind of prem footballer doesnt train?) and can I have a source for this information?

And when did Davids pick a match day to have an eye test? (again, sources?)
robbie keane was on soccer am months ago and stated the worst trainer at the club was Tainio because he does "nothing".

Can we get off the Davids bashing? This is a Tainio bashing thread. I do not rate Tainio. Mainly because of his poor finishing in front og goal last season but it is fair to say he is becoming a bit of a sicknote.

[Spur]

IMO, Teemu is well on his way to beomcing a legend, he is one of my favourites at the club thanks to his sheer toughness and work-rate. If we can get 20 games out of him a season i'm happy. Money well spent.

Teemu is an upgrade to Michael Brown, the next step up, in the same way the T- 1000 was an upgrade on the T-800. To this day I would gladly walk up and shake Michael Brown's hand, mainly due to him being such a legend for being a rock hard ****, and giving his all whenever he was on the pitch wearing a lilywhite shirt.

[Chinaman]

Just can't imagine why some fans would engage in Taino bashing.

[choda]

i thought davids was great i the first half a dozen games. i don't remember him doing anything in the big games except costing us the game at newcastle where he was both sloppy and lazy, and stupidly getting sent off at highbury. I think he's a weak link in that respect. As for his character he still seems to be an argumentative son of a bitch, which is ok if he's right but not if he's wrong. We'll see, the good news is i think our midfield is strong enough to leave him out. Hope ghaly and hudds get a game.

I'm always amazed at how people are so quick to slate great players just because show any kind of humanity or that age might be telling a little.

I actually thought it took him six games or so to settle to the pace of the prem, I didn't think he was great at the start, but I knew he'd come good.

Personally, I think you need to add context to your thinking or you'll be coming to some wrong conclusions. He had a few games where he clearly wasn't fit, he had trouble with injuries in the second half of the season. This is what I'm saying about him not being able for 38 games anymore. That's what is so great about having Zokora now, he's also a pitbull. We won't feel the need to rush to play Davids anymore, as we did at times last season.

Edgar Davids is never lazy, and if I remember correctly he didn't deserve to go against Arsenal.

In my opinion, he's second only to Roy Keane in the all time list of defensive midfielders. These guys are firey and argumentitive, that's part of what makes them great players.

We all know that combatitive midfielders retire early and Davids will have to be used when he's fit and ready, but the manager knows that. He won't be a weak link in that respect, as a result. As for his temperament, he doesn't get loads of sendings off for crazy things so lighten up. He's a ball winner, he gives you infinitely more than an odd sending off (which all great combatitive midfielders get sometimes).

I think you need to recognise that his signing was one of the major catalysts to this club emerging from its slumber, as it was too at Barcalona three years ago. He's the kind of character all clubs crave for: Winners.

[onthejazzin77]

Look at it this way - Robinson, dawson, king, lennon, zokora, keane, defoe and berbatov would walk into any team anywhere in my opinion. then you have lee, jenas and davids for example who would walk into over half the other premiership sides. then you have stalteri, gardner, reid, murphy, ziegler and tainio. Stalteri individually cost us 13 league points last season, gardner is pants everone thinks so, reid is fat, hopw many games did murphy play? ziegler couldn't even get in the wigan side and Tainio scored 1 goal - just 1. So Tainio is yet to rise above a bashing.

[choda]

I can only ever remember one bad game Tainio ever had for us. He's extremely versatile, always puts himself about and is better technically then people give him credit for. He could have a great season this year, at times he looks like a fabulous player. Imagine if he just needed to settle into the prem, and started producing that every week!

[Keanoldinho]

Tainio could be a very good player if he trains better and gets stronger. Keano wouldn't just make that sort of stuff up and on top of that during this preseason he said(Tainio) that he hates all this training and just wants to play matches. I like him as a player when he's fit but all the little injuries could be cut out if he bulked up a bit and got stronger in training.

In reference to Davids he's a legend and a player I've followed for many years before he came to Tottenham. Last season he broke a bone in his leg and was back playing for us in 10-14 days if that doesn't make him a legend then I don't know what will. He covers every blade of grass and always shows up for the big games and calling him lazy just makes you sound stupid.

[shoot_ffs]

I'm always amazed at how people are so quick to slate great players just because show any kind of humanity or that age might be telling a little.


Personally, I think you need to add context to your thinking or you'll be coming to some wrong conclusions. He had a few games where he clearly wasn't fit, he had trouble with injuries in the second half of the season. This is what I'm saying about him not being able for 38 games anymore. That's what is so great about having Zokora now, he's also a pitbull. We won't feel the need to rush to play Davids anymore, as we did at times last season.

Edgar Davids is never lazy, and if I remember correctly he didn't deserve to go against Arsenal.

I think you need to recognise that his signing was one of the major catalysts to this club emerging from its slumber, as it was too at Barcalona three years ago. He's the kind of character all clubs crave for: Winners.

i don't care whether someone has been called great, i'm judging davids purely on performances. That's what the team need from him, not some legendary status. He was lazy against newcastle, he twice gave up bowyer's runs into the box and it cost us both times. It wasn't even late in the match. He certainly deserved to go against arsenal, the tackle on pires was pathetic as the ball was about 5 feet away. He knew he'd been booked, and i think that i, and a lot of other spurs fans knew he would get sent off after the first half booking. He knows what could have happened with 11 men, although that's partly jol's fault for not acting. My conclusions are based on what i saw, he didn't contribute enough, his distribution and shooting was poor even compared to our goal shy midfield, and when the game was passing him by, his attitude turned and it can cost us the chance to win games. Jol would have decided whether a semi-fit davids was better than our other options, and that's fair enough. Last week against inter, he was one of our poorest players. keeping the ball isn't about fitness, matches maybe, but if the other players can do it, then he's not hitting the mark. He was also arguing with defoe because he had come deep looking for the ball, probably because defoe hadn't had a pass off our midfield in the first half. I just hope he's not gonna be one of these that slates others but won't look at his own performances. I think the fact that Jol was happy for him to go to Ajax says it all. I know you'll probably argue he's a ball winner, but that's not good enough in today's game. We'll be calling gary speed and didi hamann legends next.

As for tainio, i think he's done really well to play in so many positions last year,while adjusting to the english game, he was certainly better on the left than davids. He played most of last year with tonsulitis so we can expect much more this year. His finishing may need some work, but it's better than carricks or davids, and did anyone see the inter game last week? Hellooo??
I think he'll be a real asset and has a good all round game. Also i'm not sure the interview with robbie keane was misinterpreted, i heard he was one of the best trainers, and keano was taking the piss. It would certainly fit more with his playing style.

[SCIFIN17YID]

Going abit off topic davids heh ? well Tanio all the way for me, Jeenas is ok but he needs to play a little more, then maybe he can show us what he has got, tanio is good, think about it, he made us beat intermilan right, so why flame on the guy ? i beat when you was watching the game you was praising his goal, most players do not take it to the extreme he went to with this goal. RB area threw defenders then straight in the back of the net, that takes a lot of guts, and was a good decission for him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlgcUKB9pUE

[Keanoldinho]

friendlies mean nothing so forget about the inter game

[choda]

i don't care whether someone has been called great, i'm judging davids purely on performances. That's what the team need from him, not some legendary status. He was lazy against newcastle, he twice gave up bowyer's runs into the box and it cost us both times. It wasn't even late in the match. He certainly deserved to go against arsenal, the tackle on pires was pathetic as the ball was about 5 feet away. He knew he'd been booked, and i think that i, and a lot of other spurs fans knew he would get sent off after the first half booking. He knows what could have happened with 11 men, although that's partly jol's fault for not acting. My conclusions are based on what i saw, he didn't contribute enough, his distribution and shooting was poor even compared to our goal shy midfield, and when the game was passing him by, his attitude turned and it can cost us the chance to win games. Jol would have decided whether a semi-fit davids was better than our other options, and that's fair enough. Last week against inter, he was one of our poorest players. keeping the ball isn't about fitness, matches maybe, but if the other players can do it, then he's not hitting the mark. He was also arguing with defoe because he had come deep looking for the ball, probably because defoe hadn't had a pass off our midfield in the first half. I just hope he's not gonna be one of these that slates others but won't look at his own performances. I think the fact that Jol was happy for him to go to Ajax says it all. I know you'll probably argue he's a ball winner, but that's not good enough in today's game. We'll be calling gary speed and didi hamann legends next.



Look, you're being extremley harsh. Jol viewed him and rightly so as very important to the team continuing its form last year, and with no other pitbull he played him sometimes when in all truth he shouldn't have. But I don't blame Jol for that, he was a huge influence on the team and the confidence of the younger players.

Players when they're not fit let players go, because they haven't got the legs to always go with them.

Guys like Roy Keane and Edgar Davids are famous for never letting the runners go, unless they are really struggling. There were games last year where Davids was clearly unfit and probably shouldn't have even started.

Davids is never lazy.

He's not essential this year and it's another extra year on his fitness, but he's still a good player to have. Jol wouldn't have stood in his way going back to Holland, but I don't think he'd have been that happy to let him go.

I don't remember the sending off that well in truth, maybe I'm thinking of the time he was booked when Alan Smith had done exactly the same thing three times to him and got off with nothing.

If you don't think he was massive last year to the club, to the dressing room, the esteem of the players on the pitch, and that he didn't put in a lot of great performances then you are blind.

[Welsh Spur]

good comeback choda....and i agree.

[shoot_ffs]

choda you're talking about things i didn't say. I do think he's helped take the club forward and been a big influence on the younger players. I am not blind.
I thought he was immence at the start of the season, both at keeping the ball and beating his marker in the middle. I'm just saying that many of his performances were below par for the reasons i stated, and that the team and result has suffered for it. We'll see soon enough. I hope you're right for the teams sake. If i'm right he'll start making mistakes and loose his rag with everyone. With the rumours of murphy going (hooray) i really hope davids doesn't get played left wing.

[dommo]

Look at it this way - Robinson, dawson, king, lennon, zokora, keane, defoe and berbatov would walk into any team anywhere in my opinion. then you have lee, jenas and davids for example who would walk into over half the other premiership sides. then you have stalteri, gardner, reid, murphy, ziegler and tainio. Stalteri individually cost us 13 league points last season, gardner is pants everone thinks so, reid is fat, hopw many games did murphy play? ziegler couldn't even get in the wigan side and Tainio scored 1 goal - just 1. So Tainio is yet to rise above a bashing.

Yet to rise above a bashing !!!! Have you actually been to any games in which Tainio played ???? He did more work in most games than Jenas/Carrick and Davids put together.... hence most of the regular fans have good time for Teemu and admire the fact he gives 110% to the cause every game.. wears the jersey with pride... always get a cheer for me

[SurreySpur]

Yet to rise above a bashing !!!! Have you actually been to any games in which Tainio played ???? He did more work in most games than Jenas/Carrick and Davids put together.... hence most of the regular fans have good time for Teemu and admire the fact he gives 110% to the cause every game.. wears the jersey with pride... always get a cheer for me

Completely agree, Tainio gave everything he had in each of the games he played last season. In my opinion he'll go on to play a massive part in the coming seasons, he gets in good positions and im sure he'll hit the back of the net consistantly next season.

[onthejazzin77]

Yet to rise above a bashing !!!! Have you actually been to any games in which Tainio played ???? He did more work in most games than Jenas/Carrick and Davids put together.... hence most of the regular fans have good time for Teemu and admire the fact he gives 110% to the cause every game.. wears the jersey with pride... always get a cheer for meRunning around not really finding an end product. hes our peter crouch. we admire he is trying his best but it isnt good enough for tottenham. take him out of last season and we still would have finished with the same points. that says it all for me.

[sundancer]

No doubt about Tanio is a good player and gives everything for the team, however I would rather we played Jenas for his goals.

[dommo]

Running around not really finding an end product. hes our peter crouch. we admire he is trying his best but it isnt good enough for tottenham. take him out of last season and we still would have finished with the same points. that says it all for me.


Comparing Tainio + Peter Crouch tell me a lot about how your football mind works.... who's good enough for tottenham ???

[JJ]

Tainio is a very hard working player, guaranteed 110% every single game. He seemed to be a bit nervous last season, so didn't look like much more than a ball chaser, but i think he's more confident now and hopefully he'll start knocking a few goals in.

[Spur]

Teemu is quality. Enough said.

Those who want to give him a bashing are foolish.

[spurs61]

Teemu was the heart beat of the great Guy Roux Auxerre team of the late 90's and early milenium. He's a terrific little player, who can play a variety of roles very comfortably, as essential squad member IMHO.

[choda]

Tainio's a great lad and a very good player. He's a massive boost to our squad, why people want to criticise him is beyond me. He was some find as a freebie.

If he really settles this year and gets some luck with injuries he could even bolster the team, he looks phenomonal at times. But otherwise he'll be very useful at times this season.

I think if he'd have had a proper run of games last year, we'd have seen him start to really got hit form (score some goals, more assists etc.).

[onthejazzin77]

Comparing Tainio + Peter Crouch tell me a lot about how your football mind works.... who's good enough for tottenham ???
Certainly not anyone from the mighty powerhouse football nations of Finland and Iceland for example. People will be telling me Gudni Bergsson was a legend next ...

[Welsh Spur]

Yeah, I'm all for Tainio. Super super player. He's a managers dream....versatile, high workrate, and a quality player.

[dommo]

Yeah, I'm all for Tainio. Super super player. He's a managers dream....versatile, high workrate, and a quality player.

I'll second that regardless of his nationality( like that matters )

[Chinaman]

Small countries sometimes produce wonders not even the biggies can match. Look at Nokia.

[choda]

There are about 6 million people in Ireland, and we've produced George Best, Roy Keane, Pat Jennings, John Giles, Liam Brady, Duff, Robbie etc.

What does it matter to a players standard what size country he is from? Sort your logic out buddy.

[The Pheonix]

Did none of you see his two goals in pre season??

[Chinaman]

The first one was certainly a fluke as it was diverted.
The second was great, after a long run having intercepted a pass.

[highlander]

Certainly not anyone from the mighty powerhouse football nations of Finland and Iceland for example.

like nationality matters look at Schevchenko, one of the best and most consistant strikers in europe for about the last 5 years and he plays for Ukraine.

[Welsh Spur]

Giggs be another....