Michael Carrick

Didier Zokora isn’t creative enough to start the kind of games when the primary aim is to take proceedings to the opposition right from the outset.

That’s not to say the Ivory Coast player won’t have an important role to play at the club this season, but it seems unlikely at the moment he will secure any position in the Tottenham midfield the same way Michael Carrick did as soon as he broke into the first team under Martin Jol.

Teemu Tainio is a wasted talent as a straightforward holding player and therefore less an alternative to Zokora. When Jol included the Finn at the expense of the former St Etienne man against Sheffield United on Tuesday night, it was done in order to start with a flat four-man midfield with Tainio on the left.

Only after it was felt the result was comfortably within sight was Zokora brought on to make his home debut, stationed in front of the defence, as the midfield reverted to its diamond shape.

Tainio is of course no winger either, but importantly when alongside the combination of Jermaine Jenas and the experience of Edgar Davids, the defence never went without decent protection up until the 69th minute substitution.

It had been assumed in the build up to the season’s big kick off last weekend that the strongest possible midfield line-up would simply involve summer signing Zokora replacing Carrick, going solely on team selection in the later pre-season friendlies. However, by the time Tottenham’s World Cup players including Zokora had returned from holidays, Tainio was sidelined with injury, again.

“Teemu was injured for the last three weeks so he couldn’t play,” said Jol.

“I felt he came in and gave us everything. I was happy that Teemu was there,” he added.

If Tainio can stay as injury free as possible this season, he could be a key player for Spurs. It will certainly be interesting to see how Zokora reacts to being dropped after one game - or maybe Tainio will remain on the left side of midfield for a little longer - which would also turn reported moves to sign a more orthodox left winger into a slightly futile exercise.

Yet there’s no point either in allowing cash to burn a hole in the manager’s pocket, with the window set to slam shut next week.

Manchester United’s new £18.6m signing Michael Carrick is set to miss the start of the Premiership season after injuring his left foot against Ajax. The midfielder lasted just 14 minutes on his second appearance before getting injured in a tackle from behind.
“It looks like he could be out for three weeks, there’s a lot of swelling,” said boss Sir Alex Ferguson.

Ferguson added: “Michael has ligament damage to his ankle and it is difficult to say how long he will be out because we don’t know his record with injuries. “But it looks like he could be out for three weeks and it is a real blow for the young lad. He wanted to do really well for us and this has knocked him back a bit.

“But we have to handle it. Injuries are part of the game and we have plenty of good players in the squad who can take his place.