Tottenham Hotspur

Darren Anderton: 'Tottenham Hotspur have a top-four squad'

By Joe Fish, Reporter | 17 December 2013

Former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Darren Anderton insists that the new manager at White Hart Lane will be inheriting a squad capable of qualifying for the Champions League.

Former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Darren Anderton has insisted that the club's new manager will inherit a squad capable of qualifying for the Champions League.

The White Hart Lane outfit sacked Andre Villas-Boas on Monday following the 5-0 home thrashing by Liverpool, and appointed technical director Tim Sherwood as caretaker for the League Cup tie with West Ham United in midweek.

Villas-Boas's permanent successor will be taking over a side that is currently seventh in the Premier League table, and whose £100m's worth of summer signings have come under heavy scrutiny.

However, Anderton has suggested that it is not the quality of the "outstanding" playing ranks at Spurs that has been the cause of their problems, claiming that a new boss could easily oversee a top-four finish.

He told talkSPORT: "It's a good opportunity for someone to come in because, although it's a bit of a disappointing period with the way the team have been playing, they're sat in a position in the Premier League where they can qualify for the Champions League quite easily if they go on a run.

"It's a great squad. There are so many good players. Maybe that was a problem for Andre Villas-Boas. He didn't know his best team.

"The squad has got so much outstanding talent and if you can get the right balance of attacking and defending then there is no reason why they couldn't go on a really good run."

Anderton played 299 times for the Lillywhites over a 12-year spell, scoring 34 goals, while he also found the net seven times in his 31 appearances for the England national team between 1994 and 2001.