Newcastle-Online comment: 11th August 2004
That's
the word I would use to sum up the signing of Stephen Carr from Spurs.
We needed a right-back and we eventually chose the Republic of Ireland
man to conclude what can only be described as a lengthy search where
the rumoured first-choice names of Giourkas Seitaridis, Hatem Trabelsi,
Miguel Monteiro, as well as names such as Danny Mills and Mario Melchiot
had all been pursued for the right-back berth that Aaron Hughes, prior
to Carr's signing, was the sole occupier of. Of course the majority
of us would have preferred the likes of Trabelsi, Miguel or Seitaridis
over Carr, but for reasons we can only speculate on we chose Carr
instead.
And in doing so we have further successfully carried out a close Season
objective which was to strengthen the right-back department thus our
first-team and indeed our squad and that's what Carr's signing has
done.
Was he first-choice - no! Could Freddy and Co. have done more to secure
those first-choice targets - probably! But I'm writing this fairly
happy that the elusive chase has ended and although Carr is far from
the best right-back in the world nor that much better than Aaron Hughes
he, at that price, is a very good acquisition. Not an exciting one
nor one many of us would have chosen but a solid no nonsense signing
nonetheless. An international with bags of Premiership experience,
a player with something to prove, a hungry player. A player we know
where we stand with. We know what he can do and what he can't do.
Two Season's back he was regarded as the best right-back in the League
and had the likes of Arsenal and Man Utd sniffing before injury halted
his burgeoning reputation. Since returning from injury he seems to
have lost half a yard of pace and his overall performances for lets
be honest, a poor Spurs side, haven't exactly been anything to write
home about. But if he can return to the form of two Season's back
where he bombed up and down the right-flank showing great pace, crossing
ability and defensive acumen, we will benefit greatly.
And that is something we should all hope for. Welcome to the Toon
Stephen Carr.
What Do You Think? Is Carr
A Good Or Bad Signing? Write In & We'll Publish Your Thoughts!
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