Tottenham Hotspur Best XI Of The Decade: Left Back

After a brief break in the action we're back with more Best XI fun! It's time to start naming the field players. We've already established who will be managing Tottenham Hotspur's Best XI and who the goalkeeper will be, now it's time for the left back.

The fullback positions have always been tricky ones for Tottenham Hotspur to fill (especially right back), but of late we've been blessed with consistency at left back from Benoit Assou-Ekotto. Gareth Bale was an adept fill-in, but his place is on the left wing and Danny Rose, despite a good run at the end of the season hardly has enough games under his belt to be considered for this group.

For the first time, we don't have an Englishman on the list for a position so Spurs' Best XI will now have a bit of international flair. This group includes one player who was supremely talented, but who's career was killed by injuries and 3 other players who were much more consistent, but hardly on the same level. The list is after the jump.

Christian Ziege: The German international played only 55 times for Spurs (scoring 10 goals) over the course of 4 seasons. His career at Spurs was plagued by injury and he ended up have his contract terminated by mutual consent so that he could return to Germany. Ziege was known as a dead ball specialist (evidence here) and he scored some truly sublime free kicks for Tottenham. He was superbly talented, but as mentioned, injuries prevented him from making as big of an impact as many would have liked.

Mauricio Taricco: The Argentine has more appearances for Spurs than any other LB on our list. Taricco joined Tottenham from Ipswich Town in 1999 and stayed through 2004. Taricco went on to feature158 times for Tottenham, scoring two goals during that stretch. He had become a bit of a legend at Ipswich and while he never quite lived up to that reputation during his stay in North London he did provide Tottenham with consistency at the left back position.

Lee Young-Pyo: When he was bought by Martin Jol from PSV Eindhoven Lee was touted as "the best left back in Holland". He came to Tottenham and went immediately into the first XI. Lee was known more for his lung-bursting forward runs than he was for his defense, but despite that he played for a defense that, in 2005-2006, conceded the fourth least goals in the league. Lee made 70 appearances for Tottenham Hotspur, most of them at left back, but he did also deputize at right back. Lee was eventually displaced by the arrival of the next player on our list.

Benoit Assou-Ekotto: Since joining the club in 2006 Assou-Ekotto has been a consistent presence at the left back position. He is, perhaps, the most interesting person at the club, if for not other reason than that he treats football like a job. Perhaps not what you'd like to hear about a player, but the honesty is refreshing. On the pitch Assou-Ekotto has formed a good partnership with Gareth Bale and while his defending is very suspect (I have a sneaking suspicion he gives away more penalties than anyone at Spurs) he's certainly helped the club reach new heights. Plus, there's this.