Teemu Tainio. Was he top, flop or something in between?

[TheTouni]

Now that I´ve just joined this great community, I´d be curious to hear what you guys think about Teemu Tainio who played here couple seasons ago. How do you rate him as a player and what you think about his years at Spurs?

Don´t be shy with your comments even though he is from Finland as well as I am. Feel free to critisize

[contrast]

I like him, but he was never good enough to take us to the next level.

[Figgy]

Amazing.

[contrast]

PMSL! I love that! "Look at the score . . Look!"

[Rev John Ripsher]

Not a bad player by any means , but just not good enough in today's team .

[Heroes]

@ Figgy's link - I was crapping myself at that segment of the game hoping for the ref to blow the whistle. But that clip just shows Teemu's experience in running down the clock. Well worth the yellow card.

[Ekad]

I always liked him, he'd get stuck in and had a touch of quality in his passing. He was never the fastest or strongest but he did a decent job for us wherever we asked him to play.

[DeftonesFan]

He has played only a couple minutes at Ajax but I liked how he played against Real while our whole team was acting like some teenyboppers in a meeting. I am a litle bit worried about his physical state though. He seems so pick up a lot of injuries.

[TheTouni]

Reading your opinnions I´m glad to hear that the Tottenham family values Teemu´s services. He is a fan of Spurs. Teemu is one of us for sure. I remember him saying at the interview for the finnish media when he made his debut in finnish premier division at the age of 17, that his dream is to play for Spurs one day. He made his dream come true and got to play for the club he allways supported as a boy. For that I´m really happy for him.

Sadly as DeftonesFan mentioned injuries have been Teemu´s biggest worry in recent years. He has been injured more than he has been available. That has allso hurted our (finns) NT. At Auxerre Tainio hardly missed a game, but when he moved in England one injury followed another. Even though Teemu allways gave his all and did a decent job when he got to play for Spurs I dot´t think mr Tainio never was the same player he was in France (or to our NT when was playing healthy).

That youtube link brings memories to me as well. Tainio is definitely one of those players that you hate to play against. I remember when Auxerre played against Arsenal in CL group stages. That Auxerre - Arsenal game was a true joy to see full 90 minutes, because Teemu drove Patrick Vieira absolutely insane . And Teemu allways does that to opponents with a big smile on his face. If I remember right he was allso named MOM that game.

Summa summarum I think Teemu did ok job here, but never got to show what a player he could have been. I only hope that he can get away from his recent years injury madness and play the high level game for Ajax once more that he is capable of.

Thank you for the comments everybody!

[stroud_jm]

What I liked about him was his versatility. He's a true professional. The game needs more of them.

[Scarlotti]

I liked him - a good solid squad player who always gave a 100% and could play in a few roles.

He was short of being top class but did a decent job fur us in his spell at the Lane.

[thfcire]

Amazing.

i was sitting right beside that,i thought my swearing was bad ,some old fella in his 70s was giving drogba dogs abuse ,my old man and me were crying laughing