Finally, a position where we have some very good candidates for Tottenham Hotspur's Wort XI of the Decade. Actually, we could probably make a full XI out of just fullbacks, I know Kevin McCauley has quite a few right backs he'd like to put on that list, but for now we'll be focusing on the opposite side of the pitch.
This is the first time that I won't be including any players that were on the Best XI list, mostly because there are a wealth of players to mock at the left back position and some, unlike our worst XI goalkeeper, have made double digit appearances for the club.
The nominees are after the jump.
Goran Bunjevčević: Bunjevčević joined Tottenham Hotspur in 2001 from Red Star Belgrade and went on to make 57 appearances for Spurs. At the time he joined the club, Bunjevčević was regarded as the "Serbian Beckenbauer", he was also a sweeper, a position Spurs didn't use. As a result Bunjevčević often played out of position at left back and was thought by many to be out of his depth. His tackling was awful and he ran at a similar speed to a legless Vedran Corluka. The fact that Glen Hoddle still managed to play Bunjevčević nearly 60 times blows my mind.Ben Thatcher: Bought by George Graham for £5 million from Wimbeldon in the summer of 2000 the Welshman, Thatcher, went on to a rather undistinguished career with Tottenham Hotspur. Thatcher played 46 times in three seasons for Spurs, but never featured regularly. Thatcher is probably best known for his elbow (and resultant eight game suspension) to Pedro Mendes during Thatcher's stint with Manchester City. But, coming from the "Crazy Gang" at Wimbeldon what else could you expect? Remember Vinnie Jones? Thatcher was more thug than footballer and he was pretty much shit at both.
Timothée Atouba: Bought by the amazing Frank Arnesen at the start of the 2004 campaign the Cameroonian left back played only one season at Spurs, appearing in 18 games. He did score a wonderful goal against Newcastle, but that's really about it. Not a horrible defender, but for some reason he fancied himself as the next Johan Cruyff. To many turns, step-overs, and dribbling in general often lead to turnovers in bad positions. He went on to play fairly well at Hamburg and Ajax, but the man was an absolute clown for Spurs.
Gilberto: I'm sure many of you will be surprised by Gilberto's inclusion on this list, mostly because Brazilians tend to play so well for Spurs. Gilberto played only seven times for Spurs, scoring one goal, but what a magical seven games they were. Gilberto was signed on deadline day in 2008 and when he finally made his debut (in March) became the first Brazilian to play for Spurs at the senior level. Did you know Gilberto was capped 35 times for Brazil? Crazy, right? As for his play, very rarely did Gilberto play a full game. Actually, quite often he was hauled off after only a half of play. He couldn't defend at all and he wasn't much use going forward, though that's where he always seemed to be.