What a Caulker! – Silver Spurs

When you watch a youngster playing, you never really know whether they will ever make it big in the game. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve told mates about a player I’ve seen and told them he’ll go all the way to the top … only to watch from a distance as he fades away and ends up playing away his days in the Ryman League or equivalent.

Equally, I’ve written off some lads who have gone on to make it at a much higher level.

Sometimes a performance can be deceptive as they are playing for a manager who wants specific things from them for the good of the team and so you don’t spot their full potential. Playing to their strengths for another manager and suddenly they are world beaters.

On Saturday though I saw a lad called Steven Caulker playing on the right side of the central defence for Bristol City and he put in a solid performance against Leicester’s skipper Steve Howard - one of the Championship’s better strikers and someone who has a wealth of experience.

Caulker is on loan from Spurs along with Danny Rose, 20, and when Harry Redknapp sees a DVD of his performance it should give him some food for thought. I’m not suggesting he should be recalled to White Hart Lane immediately and thrown in alongside William Gallas, but if he maintains this standard, he’ll figure on the Spurs first team bench next season at some stage.

To say Caulker had Howard in his pocket would be exaggerating a little, but the eighteen year old was impressive.

I noticed at one point in the first half that Caulker had come off worse in a tussle with Howard and was left kneeling dazed on the turf. Rather than withdrawing into his shell, he shook away the stars he was seeing and got on with the job.

Last season Caulker played 44 times for Yeovil on loan and I would be very interested to hear what their fans thought of him. Redknapp must have been impressed though to farm him out to a club another level up.