Waddle backs Spurs squad to be top four
442 Staff - Friday 28 September 2012, 16:56
Former Tottenham Hotspur and England winger Chris Waddle believes that Spurs have a strong squad that should be capable of reaching the top four, matching their achievements from the previous campaign.
Waddle, who also played for Newcastle United and Olympique Marseille in his 18-year playing career, feels that Spurs' new signings will have a positive impact on the North London side.
"Obviously the new manager's come in and had a few new ideas for the squad. I think it’s a very good squad," Waddle exclusively told FourFourTwo.com
"[Moussa] Dembele is a good signing who's only going to get better, and [Emmanuel] Adebayor coming back was important – he's a top-quality striker.
"If you look at the list of players they've got, they’ve got 22 or 23 players capable of doing a job on any given day."
Waddle also commented on the continuing momentum of Tottenham's established players.
"[Jermain] Defoe is scoring goals, their movements good, their attacking options are good and they are starting to get into gear."
And Waddle feels the importance of Welsh winger Gareth Bale after the departures of Luka Modric and Rafael van der Vaart will put extra pressure on the 23-year-old.
"Obviously it's a lot of responsibility. He had a good year last year, but teams are stopping him from getting on the ball, and he's got to find a way to get into space to receive the ball because he’s a marked man.
"I'm sure he'll come through, at the minute he's doing OK, but I don't think he's had a great start to the season
"[Aaron] Lennon's always busy on the right, Dembele is fitting in and [Clint] Dempsey can play anywhere across the midfield and up front, so Tottenham have got a lot of quality players, I don't think it's all reliant on Bale.
"Their season hasn't really got up and running yet, unlike a lot of teams who have come out the blocks quickly, but come the end of the season there's no reason why they cant be in the top four."
By Elliott Gomm
Chris Waddle was speaking ahead of ESPN’s live and exclusive coverage of Man United v Spurs at 4.30pm on Saturday. Visit espn.co.uk/tv for details