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I feel sorry for Niko

Amidst more rumours of an interest from Fiorentina today, Kranjcar's agent has stated that Niko's future lies rests entirely with the club.

This whole business with using Niko as nothing more than a bench warmer has baffled me since day one. The 2009/2010 season was a great debut at Tottenham for Kranjcar - He arrived still only 24/25 years old, for £2.5million, in a club full of friends and international teammates, and in his first year landed 37 appearances and 8 goals (despite most appearances being as a sub).

A great bit of business by anyone's standard, and someone I was fully expecting to be here for the long haul. Then this season he's been given nothing. Quite literally nothing. Even after the 2 stunning goals he made for himself in the final minutes of a match he was rewarded with..... another spot on the bench.

Understandably he was never going to get as many games this season as his 2 positions were filled with Van der Vaart and Bale, two exceptional players, but even when these two were tired, injured, or simply not playing well, Niko was overlooked.

You learn an awful lot about a player, and his loyalties, when he's sat on the bench. Pavy's threatened to move twice, and Defoe was complaining rather than just accepting his continuous poor performances. Niko however barely said a word, and appeared to just be getting on with the job.

Tottenham and Niko Kranjcar should have been a great match - He knows the manager, his long time friends and international teammates are here, and we play a direct style of football that suits him very well. He doesn't demand to be in the first team every week either, despite being a talented player, and that alone is an incredibly useful commodity in football.

Fans all over the country have a great respect for the professionals who are willing to sit on the bench, without complaint, yet can still deliver the goods when called upon. I thought Niko Kranjcar was going to be our own Ole Gunnar Solskjær.

Written by oi.you.there

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Writer: oi.you.there

Date:Thursday June 30 2011

Time: 9:11AM

Your Comments

If his future lies with the club, then he is going out. If he cant get games when we competed in CL, what is his chances of getting games this season. Unless Bale or Modric leave, there is no chance for him. Kranjcar is going, courtesy Harry.

sydqcb5

Dont agree that he has barely said a word, he, his father and his agent have made it perfectly clear over the last few months that he wants out - and who can blame him? Class player who was grossly under used last season. Won us the game at home to Bolton and away to Sunderland and then put back on the bench - I for one would be gutted if he went.

Milestones

i hope he gives us one more season, i think if harry ships out palacios, jenas, bentley, gio etc. I hope this will mean krank stays and is used properly. would love to see him pplay more often

tomoTHFC91

He scored a couple of blinding late goals for us last season when he did get on too, such a classy footballer. Will be sorry to lose him.

Manx Yid

if he does move on then good luck to him as there is know point him getting splinters trying to figure out harry like the rest of us for not playing him when things were going rubbish on the pitch.

bazdog

Why has he not had games? To be honest apart form a few games, when he has played he has not really shone. This could be due to lack of confidence, played in the wrong position, or just lack of opportunity. He has shown for his country he is capable of great goal scoring performances. Harry said he was unlucky becasue we had the likes of bale playing well,however, when Bale was not playing Nikko was never chosen to start. I wonder why?

Horny Helen

Good article & I think it says a lot about the guy that it took until virtually the end of the season for him & his entourage to start grumbling. He has to stay, but if Harry won't play him, whats he to do? Absolute sin if he's forced out.

Spuds-U-like

not even sherlock holmes will be able to solve the mystery of how kranjar could be overlooked for dros like pienaar, jenas and parker (when he comes)

neymar

Ummm...sorry but didnt Niko say only a few weeks ago that he'll leave Spurs if he doesnt get first team football? Niko is a good player but my god, can we please stop this messiah nonsense? Whether he's here or not next season wont make a blind bit of difference to where we finish...lets support Spurs for a change instead of just Kranjcar or Pavlyuchenko or Giovani Dos Santos or any other "great" player that the manager apparently overlooks.

KierzoSBC

Why do you feel sorry for him? He is unlucky that the club has found 2 players that are more effective than him. Niko has become obsolete in the Spurs team, and whilst scoring some nice goals, he has looked off the pace, and unable to get involved in the chances that he has had. You cannot hide behind the fact that he does not fit into the Spurs team. When he joined, we had no left effective midfielder, and Niko is not effective there either (he drifts inside), but we managed to play him there as you can accomodate one drifting player and not weaken the midifield too much. Now that we have VDV, who is more effective, we cannot afford to have 2 players drifting around in midfield/forward areas. You lose shape, balance. This is why we never play Vdv in centre midfield - we make sure that there is a full midfield behind him (to maintain soldity). Vdv sometimes plays right midfield - I don't like this because I feel that we have improved beyond this tactic of trying to play an imbalanced team. I like Niko, but his lack of pace and inability to play on the wing excludes him from any chance of getting back into the team. As it has been said, he HAS moaned and repeatedly said that he will leave. And so he should. Because unlike Defoe, Niko really does have a reason. Defoe played a lot of games, and is moaning to try and make up for his lack of goals. There was only one moment where I did feel sorry for Niko - I think that it was before the AC Milan game. Niko had just scored a winner or two in previous games, and was completely omitted in the CL game AND the following league game. That was a bit harsh, but given that he has not been able to fight his way back after that, perhaps it was justified. he'll leave, and do better elsewhere. Good luck Niko.

TonyRich

COYS 4 EVER !! All I can say if.. Play Niko. Maybe not in all games, but don't sell this fine player.. ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Poulpils

ups.. If = is

Poulpils

This was a real puzzle? Either Arry felt Krancs injury took a lot more out of him than Krancs himself realised or there was some sub conscious falling out. Without knowing too much of the ins & outs- there is & always will be some questions over Arry's man management skills. I luv Arry, so I am reticent to start lambasting him after all, his record shows he knows what he's talking about & doing. I think Krancs should move on & develop in a team that fully appreciates his goals & offensive influence! Will miss u though.

T-spur5

id happily let him go in a swap deal of £20m + niko = aguero

spurs-stelios

I feel sorry for Niko? SORRY is not the word, bet he wished, he had never scored two winning goals, he may have got more game time, coming on as Sub and scoring, Niko it just upsets the manager, ask Sandro.....you must not show up the ''Crouch'' love child of our Arry...such a shame, he is the perfect answer to a player in behind the striker, aka VDV...and his not all bad at a dead ball situation, but then VDV takes them, along with every corner, every free kick, no wonder his cream crackered and get's withdrawn....Good Luck Niko, should you be allowed to move on and play football......

spu 4 life

KierzoSBC - absolutely agree. If Spurs were doing badly, I could understand people looking for reasons into why - i.e. why is he not playing, maybe he'll make the difference. But we are doing well, and when a team improves, some players get left behind. You cannot play them all, and even if Niko were played to give Bale/Vdv a rest, do you think that the extra 6 games will make him happy? of course not.

TonyRich

Harry kept saying Niko was so unlucky to not play because of Bale's form - well Bale was out injured for a couple of months and Niko still barely got a look in! Despite winning us two crucial league games. Really don't agree with the Pienaar signing - would much rather have Kranjcar out on the left than him.

spurs_boy

Great article. He won us 6 points on his own last season with 2 fantastic individual goals, then goes and gets dropped the following week. Poor, poor management by Harry yet again. If this loyal man does decide to stay, Harry should give him all the CC and Europa games aswell as some premierleague appearances to keep him happy. We need to keep someone of his quality at the club.

01tottenham

I can't understand what went wrong. Harry likes him enough to sign him twice, to play him a fair bit last season, but then everything went completely cold. He could have been tried in a couple of positions, cover for van der Vaart and on the left, but he wasn't played. I'm not one that thinks he should be used all the time, but I think to only start two games or whatever it was, then have cameos here and there, I don't get it.

bernio3000

I think he's been ignored to the point that even 15 starts and 20 more appearances wouldn't be enough any more. I think he'll go to somewhere that he's playing every week.

bernio3000

don't we all :'(

arraza the yid

Seems like, if 'Arry don't like you, no matter how well you play, how many goals you score, you won't get a look in. Look at Dos Santos, he has sent the media on fire, with his magician's touch. Scores for Mexico and sets up the goals for others too, yet Redknapp sends him out on loan! Criminal! Same goes for Krank. Scored in the dying minutes of both games to save our hides, yet, he is only a spectator for most games.

Cyprusyid

TonyRich - but were we playing well towards the end of last season? When Bale was out? Could/should he have been used more then? I think thats what people are debating here - which I agree that he should have been used more

Milestones

Harry got it all wrong with Niko. My gripe is he is twice the player Pienaar is and yet we sign Pienaar and play him over Niko. Harry tried him on the right and he disappeared in games but why not play him when Bale was injured or tired. Harry over relys on players as he did Bale and look what happened we lost him for the end of the season. Harry needs a lesson in rotation as Niko deserved more playing time and better treatment from Harry. I will be sad to see him leave but will not be surprised in the slightest and someone will get a quality player.

Bristol_Spur

Milestones - not denying that he could have been TRIED a couple of more times, but goals apart he hasn't looked with it. He is like a stranger to the rest of the team out there. Not seeing what we would be missing apart from the odd goal. The guy is not a left midfielder, so I do not see Niko as cover for Bale. His true position is taken by Vdv, who is better at it, and more versatile. Niko needs to go to a team outside the top 5, where he can hold down a regular place.

TonyRich

Famous words of a hero! ' Dont leave us Niko!' ;)

Mix26

Bristol_Spur - disagree there. Pienaar is a much better left midfielder than Niko. Niko has more flair, but has less industry, strength, pace, fight, discipline than Pienaar. Much prefer to have Pienaar at LM than Niko. Niko plays on left, and then BAE is massively exposed. At least when Bale is on the left midfield, and goes on a run, he has the pace and energy to get back and help win ball back. Niko cannot possibly do that. Niko has lots of ability, but it needs to be further up the pitch - but Spurs do not play in a way that accomodates him.

TonyRich

Harry's taken endless stick for this. IMHO, Levy wants to sell him, and has for months. Same with Bassong. He wants to make as much/lose as little as possible on them, which meant them playing very little last season (appearance fees, transfer clauses etc). That hard-nosed approach doesn't sit too comfortably with me, but there you go...

LizardSpur

Arry's fabled man management at work!!...honestly how does Arry have a reputation for being a good man manager? because I just can't see it....he's perhaps a Red Adair but certainly doesn't know how to handle a squad a different personalities...hence we're losing players like Krank, Gio, Tarrabt, Keane et al...all under a cloud....he actually devalues them before he sells them!

shedboy2

"Whether he's here or not next season wont make a blind bit of difference where we finish". Really Kierzo? History suggests otherwise. Niko comes in, plays, Scores (top scoring midfielder, in half a season), Assists (top assists provider, in half a season), and we finish 4th. The following season, he's ignored completely, wo don't finish 4th. I'm sure that's just a coincidence though ;-).. I can't understand your problem with so many people 'appreciating' Niko as a player, and as a person?. Afterall, how long have you defended Robbie Keane for?. Despite the fact that the whole forum was telling you how $hit he is?.

Tony Rich, I was of the impression that you were one of the members on here that actually understood football?. Your statement "he has looked off the pace, and unable to get involved in the chances that he has had", well what do you expect when a player is used so little?. It's called "lack of match fitness".. The rest of your post is nothing but you blatantly ignoring what he did in his first season. His "inbalancing of the team" bought us rewards, via 4th place. How did VDV's unbalancing of the team go for us?. Did Niko's unbalancing of the team, render our strikers worthless?. Did VDV's?. And going back to the statement I highlighted at the start of my response to you, "he has looked off the pace, and unable to get involved in the chances that he has had". I am simply unable to understand how you can make such a statement, but before it you say "and whilst scoring some nice goals".... Well which is it Tony? Did he score some nice goals, or did he look off the pace and was unable to get involved?. Surely scoring goals, is the epitome of being 'involved' in a football match?.

Sorry for the aggression guys. Let's just call it a bad moment!!

coopsieyid

LizardSpur, something tells me that Levy wouldn't order to sell two first team players in Kranjcar and Bassong, two players who were very much a part of our most successful Premiership season, I very much doubt Levy ordered their sales last summer, especially when we have about 10 players who contributed much, much less to the team.

bernio3000

"Niko has lots of ability, but it needs to be further up the pitch - but Spurs do not play in a way that accommodates him". And we don't play in a way that accommodates VDV either, or our strikers now either lol. I guess we could continue to play VDV out of position and leave the latest scapegoat on the bench. He's called Lennon, by the way. Been with us a while, never really let anybody down, one of the most exciting talents in the country. No need for him though, because Pepperami can't nod the ball down to him, and he doesn't render the rest of our strikers as useless.

coopsieyid

@ TonyRich - I am with Coopsie, how can he be expected to play to a level when all he does is train and then sit on the bench. I am sure you would look "off the pace" too in that situation. You can see a similar situation for Defoe as he had the injury and never got into the rigours of the remainder of the season because he plays then he doesn't and so on. As for Pienaar he was a signing we did not need and I feel (and I am open to get egg on my face and eat my hat etc etc) he was not needed! I do not think he brings anything spectacular to the team and he certainly is not any better than what we had at the time of his arrival.

Bristol_Spur

Coops - I'll admit, I blindly defend Keane all the time. Although that's because since he broke through the Wolves team he's effectively been my footballing hero. He's Ireland's Bobby Charlton...a man who represents Ireland on the football pitch better than anyone ever has and maybe it's just rose tinted glasses but I still think Keane has a good few seasons left in him (unfotunately not at Spurs though). As for Krancjar...I dont think he was the reason we didnt finish 4th. In my opinion the club as a whole took their eye off the ball and let points slip that should never have been allowed to. Krancjar came in and scored two crackers but in the other 25 or so game she featured in this season he did absolutely nothing. Yes, the season before last he played well and made the £2.5m price tag look like peanuts but unfortunately as has been said about Keane numerous times, we dont need him any longer as the club has moved on and better players now occupy the positions he plays in. If Niko were happy to simply sit on the bench and put a shift in to help the team when called upon as the article suggests (wrongly), that would be grand but the reality is he wants to play every week and we just cant give him that...and as I said, given the players we have and those that we could possibly sign before the end of the window Krancjar will be obselete next season and therefore will make no difference to the position we finish in 2012.

KierzoSBC

Redknapp was a genius for brining him to White Hart Lane but an absolute idiotic douchebag for not using him when his influence on the team is undeniable.

TheFamousNo7

Something smells...

Mix26

GREAT ARTICLE. I think HARRY'S treatment of NIKO has been shocking, baffling & insulting this season. I have lost count of how many times he made him warm up for the whole 2nd half and then would bring him on in the 89th minute (regardless of if we were winning, drawing or losing?!). I am suprised he didnt tell HARRY to go feck himself. When he's been class on & off the pitch. NIKO I WISH U GOOD LUCK FOR THE FUTURE.

JGinola

KierzoSBC, I two am a huge fan of what Keane has done for Ireland and even Spurs (before Harry's reign). As for Kranjcar, I honestly think he is a blinding player with great skill and a fantastic finish but unless we rotate him for VDV or Modders then he doesnt fit in our team and therefore must be sold even if he is a quality player =/

shanepjd

kierzoSBC, you might like this? http://blogofanawkwardteenager.blogspot.com/2011/06/farewell-finally-to-controversial.html

shanepjd

One of the biggest mysteries in recent football history. Redknapp loves him in Portsmouth, praises him every chance he gets. Niko joins THFC, and the moment Modric recovers from injury, Niko gets benched and stays there basically for a year and a half. Weird. I still think the best explanation is that he made the wrong moves - with harry's wife.

cajic

Bernio, don't be offended, but I think that's a tad naive. Take Bassong as an example. He was rubbish at the WC, outplayed by Caulker in the CC against the goons, and I've read that he was an unused sub 37 times for us this season. Put that together with the transfer rumours this summer, and it does indeed look like Levy decided to sell him months ago, but he remained available for emergencies. Keane will never play for us again because his next appearance will cost us about £2 million to Liverpool. These clauses are real and very expensive. I don't know any details, but isn't it possible that similar such clauses are in place for Kranjcar and Bassong?

LizardSpur

Is Sandra really good looking? But seriously, I agree cajic , it is a real mystery this 'Arry/Niko relationship. I too have no idea. If 'Arry had a daugther, I'm telling you I would think along those lines too.

Madaboutspurs

Agree with Bernio, can't be as simple as Harry don't like the guy to sign him up twice, so notplayin him this season is a vry weird decision esp and Bale was injured in the latter stages of last season, and VDV wasn't on the same form as in earlier in the season. It's very unlikely but I'm still hoping he says and Harry plays him more.

Ossie

Another good post Coopsie, you getting good at this ;)

Ossie

I agree with most, Pinear??? WTF is what i said when we signed him, Kracky is 3 x the player he is and i'd have him play RW instaed of Lennon too, unfortunately he'll have to be shifted i think to get money (even though didnt we have 40 million in jan, where's that gone? HR legal fee's?)

J spurs4life

I am sad to say that he is one of many who have been treated in less than a professional manner. The last 5 years have been marred by the treatment of Jol, Ramos and now most of the kids and non-starters. And we wonder why people aren't banging down our door to sign with us, CL or not. Pletikosa, KPB, Pav, Taraabt and others - all ringing endorsements. So don't be surprised if players like Pav and Keane and others refuse to leave and then walk for free. Oh we'll blame the players, but they all have the contracts. We're doing neither Spurs nor the players any favors here. If the frozen out players get an offer of more money or the same they'll go, otherwise another year of Robbie. COYS

peterballb

If you took a poll of how many people would prefer Kranjcar to Pienaar it would be an overwhelming majority. Niko is Croatia's best attacking midfielder. Would love to see if transfer just so he can prove Redknapp wrong. I honestly think Spurs would have finished 4th if he started all those games after Bale got injured. Spurs have a very good record when Kranjcar is on the pitch. Would love to see Kranjcar move to a bigger club like Juventus or Liverpool. He might even wind up at Wolfsburg replacing Diego. Wouldn't be surprised if the team he winds up on has a better season than Spurs.

zadar75

Not a harry basher (or lover) and not a Niko hater or massive fan, but I am a fan of his. Should he have started for us in most games last season - No, because VDV & Bale / Luka playing. However, he has been treated poorly and when scoring those two great late goals should have been given a chance. It is allowing hungry players the chance that can make the difference. Harry treated him poorly - fact & just hope he stays 1 more year and is given more opportunities.

Windlespur

To me a great benchmark of a player is a fear that he joins a rival. Should we sell a Jenas or Wilson to Liverpool - yes. Would I want Niko at Arsenal or Liverpool - No. Why - because he has so much potential that Spurs have not allowed to flourish.

Windlespur

I can't believe Niko not getting a game for Spurs warrants such a sympathetic article. He doesn't play because we have better players in his prefered position. Zadar75 you say you hope a bigger club comes in for him like Liverpool or Juventus, but thats the point no bigger clubs are interested. He is never mentioned with bigger clubs and remember was plying his trade at the mighty Pompey before coming to Spurs !!!! So yes I agree that he is a good footballer and also a decent bloke who has carried himself with alot of class, but this is football, it happens all the time and people just need to accept that we have better players in Modders, Bale, and VDV and stop being so wet.

We're The Shelf Side

I rate Niko's talent but when played LMF last season it did highlight his lack of pace and at times he looked out of his depth. Rotation with VDV was probably best option, but how do you leave your top scorer out when fit?

Zummerzet Spur

Liverpool and Arsenal would never be interested. Even King Kenny who is slpashing the cash would rather have Charlie Adam than Niko. Are all the biggers clubs that are never interested in him all wrong ?

We're The Shelf Side

@Kierzo-amazing response! I agree with you whole-heartedly about dropping this whole messiah shtick. Yeah, Niko is unlucky but he is one player. Get over it.

CBusSpur

windlesspur - agreed

HarryisGOD

WTSS - Quality Post mate.

KierzoSBC

Cheers Kierzo, yours too mate.

We're The Shelf Side

@TonyRich
Back to your original reply, I completely disagree that he's become "obsolete" at the club. Simply because there are 2 better players than him in Bale and Van der Vaart doesn't mean he has no use to us whatsover.

Pienaar is used when we need better defensive coverage on the left, but for raw attacking talent we'll never find a better player for the measly £2.5 million we paid for Kranjar.

My main problem with all this is Harry saying Niko was unlucky, then still never played him even when Bale or VdV were injured (as some other people here have stated). Pavy was recently saying that Harry trains one team all week, then picks another on match day. I can;t help but wonder if Niko was another victim of that style of management also.

oi.you.there

100% agree with bernio3000 too. You'd imagine as he signed the man twice he's fully aware of what he can bring to the table. His international form was blinding this season.

oi.you.there

Niko has shown pure class while here--both as a player and as a man. Bring in his dad, Zlatko Kranjcar, as Spurs manager. After, he must be class since he raised Niko, and he's been a decent manager independently of that.

Total knobhead

zadar 75, obviously NOT a SPURS supporter.

Madaboutspurs

Sorry shanepjd - The link is block in my office...what's it about?

KierzoSBC

If Kranjcar goes to Dynamo Kiev, I'll still support Spurs and we can all watch him flourish in Champions League and wonder what could have been.

zadar75

I think he is overrated. He has a good shooting foot, good technical skills and a good football understanding. However, he seems lazy. People always claim Giovani doesn't track back, well he tracks back a lot more than Niko. And like Gio, Niko sometimes disappears totally in matches. Don't know why, but sometimes it seems we have 10 players on the pitch when he's there. I like the comparison to Solskjær, but Niko won't sit on the bench and be a supersub - but that's what I think we could/should offer him! Good luck to him though - seems like a good lad.

NorwaySpurs

Zadar what are you going on about ??? Get over it, if you support Spurs, (which I'm doubting judgeing from your anti spurs negative posts) then move on. Niko is good yes, a class man yes blah blah blah. We have better in his position end of. Watch Dynamo Kiev flourish in the CL ???? Do me a favour son, will they do betther than the quarter finals ? dont be ridiculous. Well we got to the quarter final without Niko im afraid to let you know. Don't you think we flourished in the CL cos i bloody do. And stop this boll*ks about " hope he goes to a bigger team like liverpool or Juventus" and "lets all watch him flourish at Dynamo Kiev" Our team is bigger than any one player, we have lost far better players than Niko in the past and we are still here. Fans like you do my head in !!!

We're The Shelf Side

@ Zadar75 " If he goes to Dynamo Kiev I'll still support Spurs" Well thank you so much, for a minute then I thought we had lost your overwhelmingly positive commitment to our great club. Your a joke mate

We're The Shelf Side

When the Croats leave your team you can change your nickname to We're the S.h.i.t side. The joke is on you.

zadar75

How many matches are we expected to play in Europe League if we really want to win it ?? 15 ?? 20 ?? I don´t remember exactly but it certainly is a way bigger figure than CL matches. Niko could play all of these matches, be the "Modric-VdV" crossover for this caimpagn (yes, I´m probably over-rating him now) and get some PL subs-in as well. And there´s also FA Cup and CC Cu, just to name everything we´ll be involved in. So, if he´s not to be used as a weight-maker for other transactions, why should we sell him ?? Maybe because Harry sucks when it comes to squad rotation....we all know that. Anyhow, if we are going to off-load him, then make his path Spain or Italy just to eliminate any risk of him playing for a strengthing Liverpool side. Coys!!

AlexSpur

Spurs qualified for Champions League once in 50 years and I guess Niko & Pav had nothing to do with it.

zadar75

yip zadar u right and neither did the whole phucking TEAM! Phuck mate if u so google eyed then perhaps propose to the guy!

Mix26

In a nut shell, top teams are not great because they have 11 great players, but because they have 18 to 20 or indeed more. You need at least 1 replacement of real quality for each position in order to achieve consistent results. Fact.

At times last season Bale looked shattered, and you can totally understand why. The man ran miles, and miles down the left at the beginning of the season, and before he got injured wasn't always playing at match fitness. Would you rather have Bale playing every single game regardless of fatigue? Or 2/3 games when each time he's all peak fitness? An easy decision surely?

This is, at least what I believe, to be the real problem - Good teams take care of their players, and try and keep them as well rested as possible. I only wish we could attempt to adopt a similar strategy.

oi.you.there

Niko isn't the best player in the world of course not, but he's a much more useful addition to our squad than other players out there. David Bentley for example is a complete joke.

oi.you.there

I tend to agree with a lot of what TonyRich says, yes Nico is a quality footballer, obviously a better player than Pienarr and Jenas, but unfortunately building a team doesn't simply mean to pick the best 11 players, they have to fit together, and knit. I agree that it is difficult, albeit impossible to regularly include both Nico and VDV in the same team. It is a matter for debate whether this should mean that VDV plays every game when fit, irrerspective of form, or the opposition, but the fact remains they cannot really play together. It would suit Nico's future to move on, and we should show a considerable profit, he is too good a footballer to sit on the bench for months on end, and to make cameo appearances. It could be argued that VDV's arrival, although a coup at the time, has maybe caused so much disruption to our team shape, and affected the performances of others (Nico, and our 3 regular strikers as examples), due to inbalance and changed shape, that he is maybe a luxury too far.

Frank

I wish I could understand what goes on in Harry's brain. You would think he would show loyalty to Krank as he bought him and knew him before (like Crouch). But then he doesn't play him for months, then he scores the winner against Bolton and gets a full game for the first time for months, scoring the winner at Sunderland. He then doesnt get a look in for the rest of the season despite Harry admitting both Bale and VdV are tired and with Pienaar out injured, and more importantly he doesnt bring him back despite us going on a 12 game winless streak. I think the most consistent flowing football we have played in the last two seasons was the first half of the season we finished 4th where Niko was a regular and Modric was out injured. I think we have never played consistently to that same standard since - that was when we were able to beat bottom of the table teams like Burnley and Wigan 5-0 and 9-1 at home.

Spurnik

...I would suggest niko kranjcar likely to have been spurs best striker in a 2-4-4 formation and a price tag to match funny old game ((raspberry!))...love and hate ..."dumper truck" for niko...

outlaws

...I digress mr levy wants oral appeal hearing on olympic stadium the rewards so great not to be under-estimated ...expect no transparancy or cooporation for leyton orient fc / crystal palace when the "judge is prevaricating" ?

outlaws

Echo, echo, echo - that's what's going on in his head. COYS

peterballb

The bit that is hard to understand is how he doesnt get played when Bale and/or VDV were injured. Is Pienaar a better choice than Niko - I've yet to see it. Or maybe it comes back to a regular topic on here of lack of rotation to keep players fit and rested through out the season - seems Niko should have had close to 20 EPL starts along this season, just covering injuiries and rests for players after CL games.

THFCHHI

When Modric played on the left he was our 'luxury', with a free role, almost. Krancs was a natural replacement for that system and it showed. With Modric now a rather unorthodox cm, it'd hard to get Krancs in. Modric in the middle works largely due to Bale and Lennon working fast and hard down the wings. Hence Pienaar as cover. It's hard to get him in with Modric and Vdv. It could even be true that tactically, H wouldn't have played him THAT much (he's not necessarily the type you want/need to bring on in the closing stages anyway) but for that he likes him and felt for him. Despite being a good player, nice to watch, and actually playing most of his career in the hole, AND possessing a great shot, his scoring record pales to that of Lampard or Gerrard, and he won't attract the standard £15/£20m that those in demand will.

jerkinmahjurgen

niko should have some opportunities at LM and CAM especially because he can provide more goals at CAM. i'm totally disgusted by the treatment of niko by our manager, he clearly dumps and ignores him after scoring two winners and keep on playing all those incompetent players (oh ya in his mind his favourites): the bamboo stick, the shoot at sight guy, invisible man, can tackle cannot pass and peanuts.

what_sux

Play Niko as a striker, problem solved.

gRAMMSTEIN

gRAMMSTEIN, spot on about playing Niko as a goal scorer in a Barca style! But he has fallen out with Harry on a personal level, and if you fall out with Harry your out no matter how good you are for the team, the fans and the club. End of! I mean what coach in the entire world would have dropped Niko again after those 2 wonder strikes in 2 games? Of course Levy is ultimatly responsible because he has signed Harry twice and has done nothing to bring in a higher level coach even after last season many joke performance by his Harry! Yes Levy has finally found himself his perfect double act! DOF Danny and his clueless coach. What a pair! What a joke!!!

geoff stern

Niko should have played more games for us than he has. Times when we were not performing against the teams we should have been beating his guile and willingness to get forward could have made all the difference. We won us games last season with only 10 minutes playing time in the game. He deserved much better treatment from Harry than what he got. He was one of Harrys boys, and should have been treated much better than he was. Perhaps it was a case on £2m bargain - dont care if he gets a game we can sell him at profit later ..... and now we are asking £12m for a player whos hardly kicked a ball in anger. Sorry Niko - we loved you.

GoldenCockrel

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zadar75

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