Apps: 9
Goals: 0
Highlight: Erm... he did alright against Fulham I suppose.
Lowlight: Losing his place to the previously unfancied Hutton after a poor start to the season.
Average We Are Tottenham Match Rating: 5.33/10
How do you go from being the undisputed first choice right-back at Tottenham, to being usurped by someone who had to go out on loan to Sunderland last season just to get a game? That’s the question Vedran Ćorluka has had to ask himself this season. He started all but one of our first thirty league games last season, before sustaining a season ending injury. So what has happened this term?
The right-back position at Spurs has seen more ups and downs, and twists and turns than any other position in the last five years or so. Following a disappointing season for Paul Stalteri in the right-fullback berth, Pascal Chimbonda was brought in and seemed to have it nailed down. But then Alan Hutton arrived from Rangers for around £9 million and played well for half a season, before an inexplicable loss of form. Ćorluka arrived the following summer for around the same price and then to top that off, Harry signed two young right-backs from Sheffield United in Naughton and Walker (and was reputed to have been interested in England right-back Glen Johnson). Furthermore, Younès Kaboul stepped into the role at the end of last season and looked pretty convincing, which complicated things even more. Now, in a bizarre turnaround in fortunes, Hutton has come in from the cold and snatched it back from under the nose of Ćorluka who, let’s be honest, was pretty abysmal at the start of the season. Although an injury to Hutton against Fulham on New Year’s Day saw him come back in and put in a decent substitute performance.
A cliché has developed among Tottenham fans in the two years since ‘Charlie’ arrived, and it goes something like this... ‘Ćorluka is good at defending, but not good going forward... whereas Hutton is not good at defending, but is good going forward’... we’ve all said it or thought it at some point, but I’m not sure it’s that simple. When Ćorluka is playing badly, he looks and moves like a wardrobe with legs and it makes you wonder which genius looked at him when he was a kid and said ‘Hey boy! You’ll never make it as centre-half, but I think you’ll make a great full-back’. He is labelled as a full-back who can play in the middle, but his performances at centre-back in a Spurs shirt do not attest to that. He’s neither a full-back nor a centre-back really; he’s like a pre-op transsexual caught between two sexes and seemingly just as confused.
However, when he’s playing well (as he did consistently last season), he is an accomplished defender who is more dangerous going forward than people give him credit for. Even though he’s still relatively young, he already knows all the tricks. He knows how to push and shove and tug shirts in a subtle way so as to put an opponent off without conceding free-kicks, although he does occasionally get caught out of position. And whilst he can look quite cumbersome when he makes his attacking forays down the right-flank, he has been involved in a lot of important forward play for Spurs, particularly when he’s linked up with Aaron Lennon. We probably take it for granted, but within minutes of coming on against Fulham, he had played two perfect slide-rule passes in behind the opposition back four for the onrushing Lennon, something he does quite a lot and which allows Lennon to hit the by-line and cut back across goal. As good as Hutton is going forward, he doesn’t have anywhere near that kind of understanding with Lennon. Ćorluka also made a decent run into the penalty area in the second-half which could easily have led to a goal. Food for thought for Harry and the management at least.
In summary, we all know he’s good enough, but he deserved to lose his place earlier in the season and Alan Hutton has grabbed his chance with both hands. Kaboul has rarely put a foot wrong at right-back whenever he’s been deployed there, and the highly promising Kyle Walker has just been recalled from his loan at QPR. So if Ćorluka wants to reclaim his place as first choice right-back, then he’s going to have to fight for it, because it’s going to take more than one good performance at home to Fulham to erase the memories of some awful displays earlier in the season.
Grade: C-
Goals: 0
Highlight: Erm... he did alright against Fulham I suppose.
Lowlight: Losing his place to the previously unfancied Hutton after a poor start to the season.
Average We Are Tottenham Match Rating: 5.33/10
How do you go from being the undisputed first choice right-back at Tottenham, to being usurped by someone who had to go out on loan to Sunderland last season just to get a game? That’s the question Vedran Ćorluka has had to ask himself this season. He started all but one of our first thirty league games last season, before sustaining a season ending injury. So what has happened this term?
The right-back position at Spurs has seen more ups and downs, and twists and turns than any other position in the last five years or so. Following a disappointing season for Paul Stalteri in the right-fullback berth, Pascal Chimbonda was brought in and seemed to have it nailed down. But then Alan Hutton arrived from Rangers for around £9 million and played well for half a season, before an inexplicable loss of form. Ćorluka arrived the following summer for around the same price and then to top that off, Harry signed two young right-backs from Sheffield United in Naughton and Walker (and was reputed to have been interested in England right-back Glen Johnson). Furthermore, Younès Kaboul stepped into the role at the end of last season and looked pretty convincing, which complicated things even more. Now, in a bizarre turnaround in fortunes, Hutton has come in from the cold and snatched it back from under the nose of Ćorluka who, let’s be honest, was pretty abysmal at the start of the season. Although an injury to Hutton against Fulham on New Year’s Day saw him come back in and put in a decent substitute performance.
A cliché has developed among Tottenham fans in the two years since ‘Charlie’ arrived, and it goes something like this... ‘Ćorluka is good at defending, but not good going forward... whereas Hutton is not good at defending, but is good going forward’... we’ve all said it or thought it at some point, but I’m not sure it’s that simple. When Ćorluka is playing badly, he looks and moves like a wardrobe with legs and it makes you wonder which genius looked at him when he was a kid and said ‘Hey boy! You’ll never make it as centre-half, but I think you’ll make a great full-back’. He is labelled as a full-back who can play in the middle, but his performances at centre-back in a Spurs shirt do not attest to that. He’s neither a full-back nor a centre-back really; he’s like a pre-op transsexual caught between two sexes and seemingly just as confused.
However, when he’s playing well (as he did consistently last season), he is an accomplished defender who is more dangerous going forward than people give him credit for. Even though he’s still relatively young, he already knows all the tricks. He knows how to push and shove and tug shirts in a subtle way so as to put an opponent off without conceding free-kicks, although he does occasionally get caught out of position. And whilst he can look quite cumbersome when he makes his attacking forays down the right-flank, he has been involved in a lot of important forward play for Spurs, particularly when he’s linked up with Aaron Lennon. We probably take it for granted, but within minutes of coming on against Fulham, he had played two perfect slide-rule passes in behind the opposition back four for the onrushing Lennon, something he does quite a lot and which allows Lennon to hit the by-line and cut back across goal. As good as Hutton is going forward, he doesn’t have anywhere near that kind of understanding with Lennon. Ćorluka also made a decent run into the penalty area in the second-half which could easily have led to a goal. Food for thought for Harry and the management at least.
In summary, we all know he’s good enough, but he deserved to lose his place earlier in the season and Alan Hutton has grabbed his chance with both hands. Kaboul has rarely put a foot wrong at right-back whenever he’s been deployed there, and the highly promising Kyle Walker has just been recalled from his loan at QPR. So if Ćorluka wants to reclaim his place as first choice right-back, then he’s going to have to fight for it, because it’s going to take more than one good performance at home to Fulham to erase the memories of some awful displays earlier in the season.
Grade: C-
