Jol Reckons Benitez Was On To Something

Posted by

At a time when Rafa Benitez is busy building the textbook argument that squad rotation is useless by beating Bordeaux with the same set of players that beat Aston Villa at the weekend, Tottenham’s huggable boss Martin Jol reckons Rafa may have been on to something after all.

If The Sun are right then Jol is planning to bench Dimitar Berbatov when Spurs host Chelsea this weekend, even though the Bulgarian scored twice (video) and set up a third in Spurs 3-1 UEFA Cup win over Club Brugge. With rotation of their four, quality strikers already a subject of significant debate for Tottenham supporters, more fuel to the fire is on its way.

Berbatov has looked excellent in European play this season for Tottenham but Jol cites the players poor Premiership form as the reason he probably won’t start against Chelsea,

“Berbatov has scored only one goal for us in the league and that was against Sheffield United.”

Devastating insults to Sheffield United aside, Jol also argues that “foreign players normally take three, four, even five months to settle here and I’m hoping it won’t be so long for Dimitar.” Of course Didier Drogba’s blistering form for their upcoming opponents is proof that some players do need a little time to get going, but if Berbatov gets benched every time he scores, it could be even longer. Just ask Pavlov.