Harry's "Special One"

So then, we've all heard Harry come out and say that there won't be too many changes and that there may be "one special signing that will take the club to the next level".

So you can imagine my confusion when we've got the likes of Real Madrid's Raul and City's Craig Bellamy linked with us.

Let's get something straight, I personally wouldn't mind either player joining up with the squad as both have something to offer, especially with Raul's Champion's League experience. And contrary to popular belief, Raul does speak perfect English, as those who have heard The Guardian's Spain-based journalist and Spurs fan, Sid Lowe, interview Raul, can attest to.

Craig Bellamy offers something different. Unfortunately, his unpredictability comes as part of the package. I would say that a majority of sides would want a happy Bellamy in their dressing room. When the coin is turned, no side want an unhappy Craig, for he has the uncanny ability of being able to turn all and sundry 360.

So far, the above mentioned players aren't in the "special signings" category, are they?

If we are to review our current squad, I personally can't see any position, other than in central midfield, being filled.

Talking of central midfield; Sandro will join us in August, but he'll need time to settle and I can't see him being an asset next season. Therefore, I do feel that a commanding central midfielder is needed, preferably with Champion's League experience.

If you read this blog regularly, you'll know my thoughts on bringing in Joe Cole. I just can't see him fitting in anywhere without disrupting the apple cart.

I must have said it a thousand times, but Moussa Sissoko is a fantastic player. If we're to get him, Harry and Daniel are going to have to move fast, for if the rumours doing the rounds in the New Library are anything to go by, Wenger is sniffing around the Toulouse box-to-box midfielder.

Whatever happens, I am sure the close season will see us linked to basically everyone. But as is the case with our manager, he already knows who he wants to bring in.

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Hung on Joe Cole

So it begins....It looks as though we've officially entered the "This Player is Linked with Spurs" window of the year.

If you think us being linked with an average of 30 players per window was bad, you ain't seen nothing yet! Now that we're partially through to the Champion's League, you can expect us to be linked with absolutely everyone.

Towards the end of July 2009, we published an article saying the Joe Cole could be a target. Football agent and friend of Cole, Barry Silkman, said that Harry was interested in the little fella and that Cole too, was interested in maybe linking back up with his former boss.

Since then, Cole has yet to sign an extension to this contract and will be a free man as off July. The papers say that Cole's demanding around £100,000, although Chelsea don't see him as as £100K per week man.

Thing is, does Harry and more importantly, Daniel Levy, see Cole earning £100,000 per week at Spurs?

First off, where would we play him? Bale, who just signed a contract extension (taking him to 2014) plays out on the left. We have the Modfather in the centre and Aaron Lennon on the right.

I know it's a squad game now, but you can't have Cole sitting on the bench and earning £100K surely?

We've been linked with Michael Carrick and frankly, I'd take him over Joe Cole. If we're honest, we don't need to make wholesale changes to our squad. I believe we need a commanding central midfield general, someone in the ilk of Toulouse's, Moussa Sissoko, or Real Madrid's, Mahamadou Diarra. Both these players are looking to leave their respective clubs and both can do a decent job for us.

So Joe Cole doesn't get my vote, well, not if he's going to be on £100,000 per week and bench warming.

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We want his kind at The Lane

The Sun reported that Harry's interested in signing Club Brugge defender Vadis Odjidja. The red-top's article wasn't too enlightening either. Apparently, we're lining up a £5 million bid for him.

The Sun got it wrong in saying that he's a defender. Odjidja is a defensive midfielder. Whenever I've seen him play, he's deployed just in front of the back four and he's fairly adequate at getting stuck into the oppositions face and break up play.

He's strong for his age (20), although his passing could improve and he's quick. From what I've seen of him, he needs to mentally toughen up a bit, but that'll come with time. The lad's built like the proverbial brick-house; the trick is to get him to act like one.

If there's any truth in this story and we do end up bringing Odjidja in, he could become a success. I say 'could', because he's not a great traveller. He moved to Hamburg last year and had a bit of a bad time adjusting to life in Germany. Martin Jol didn't play him either, which, didn't really help the lads confidence.

He's by no means the finished article, but I would value him at £5 million on the few occasions I've seen him play.

If we had the cash, I would go all out for Moussa Sissoko. I've had the pleasure of seeing him in action a lot this season and although his team, Toulouse, aren't playing that well, he's been in great form. If France beat Ireland in the World-Cup play-off, expect this lad to shine at the World Cup.

Last I read, Toulouse wanted £18 million for him. If he does as expected at the World Cup, his fee could rise considerably.

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Mental Toughness

In our game against Liverpool, we showed a mental toughness with Sgt. Wilson and Huddlestone bossing the middle of the park.

When Harry first joined, I remember him talking about our "mental toughness" and how important it was to winning matches.

Harry brought Joe Jordan and that proved to be a masterstroke. A lot of the praise headed up Redknapp Drive at the time, but I'm pretty sure that Jordan must have had a piece to play in the way our fortunes turned around.

I remember watching Joe Jordan in action when he was playing for Milan in the early eighties. They were playing Lazio away in the league and were 2-1 down. He came on for the second half. Milan won the game 2-4. After that game, everyone sat up and took notice of Joe and not because he had his teeth missing. If I've ever seen a player take his team by the scruff of the neck, it was in this game.

I remember the Milan captain, Maldera, asking Jordan to calm down after he screamed his team mates to get on with taking a free-kick. Joe was so annoyed with the pace of the Italian game and it made him mad when his team mates took their time. In the Lazio game, Milan midfielder, Ruben Buriani took his time trying to place the ball the way he wanted it, so Jordan rushed up to him, pulled him away from the ball by the scruff of his neck and took it himself. The fiery Scotsman still burns inside the hearts of the Rossoneri.

If we are to win tonight against Hull, we need to be mentally strong. If we can muster up even an ounce of Joe Jordan's spirit, we'll be okay, not only in this match, but for the remaining fixtures.

Harry is still on the look out for some more players, but they've got to be mentally strong. He spoke well of Pompey's Niko Kranjčar. It's been well reported that Portsmouth need to sell a couple more players, so maybe Harry will take the plunge on Niko, after all, he loves Croatians.

If it was up to me, I'd go all out for Sissoko. He's strong both physically and mentally, but unfortunately costs more than Jordan's two front teeth.

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