You have to fill a 25 man squad with somebody and given the three major loan departures and one permanent sale earlier this week, perhaps it's no surprise at some of the names being included by Spurs this week.

In addition to those departures, Tom Carroll and John Bostock also went out to Derby and Sheffield Wednesday respectively so are David Bentley, Bongani Khumalo and Simon Dawkins literally there to ‘make up the numbers?

The club has announced that Tom Carroll has joined Derby County on loan and will stay there until the end of the season. Tom has featured heavily in our Europa League campaign and this looks to be an ideal move for the player as Derby look to push into the play off places.

"We are delighted to welcome Tom on board.

Assistant Kevin Bond was giving little away in terms of team news yesterday while he did confirm that there were injury doubts over Scott Parker, Younes Kaboul and Gareth Bale,

"Younes missed training on Wednesday, while both Gareth and Scotty had to come out of training early with slight muscle problems," he said.

The club website sprang into action again yesterday afternoon and highlighted a double strike for our forgotten man John Bostock as a strong Spurs XI demolished a weaker Celtic side by four goals to one at the Lodge.

Perhaps it was more telling that John had started the game on the subs' bench and only came into action after an injury to Cameron Lancaster, who had opened the scoring in the 18th minute.

Denied the opportunity to gain revenge on West Ham for a couple of poor results last season, a Spurs XI hosted a side from our championship near-neighbours at Chadwell Heath yesterday and ran out comfortable winners by five goals to two.

With the need for a Europa League understudy squad, there are fewer loan deals at the Lane for some of our younger players, so it was a chance for many to get some much needed action.

Several of Spurs' fringe players got a useful run out at the Lodge yesterday as a club XI beat Leyton Orient 3-1.

Aaron Lennon played for 45 minutes as he continues his comeback from injury while there was a much needed run out for John Bostock and for the likes of Tom Carroll and Yago Falque who will be kicking their heals as the Europa League takes a break.

As Spurs prepare for their Europa League match with Shamrock Rovers this week, the big question once again will be over team selection. Harry Redknapp has taken the opportunity to blood some of the youngsters in the squad and the likes of Harry Kane, Andros Townsend and Tom Carroll have all been given the chance to show their long term value to the club.

With the lack of transfer activity at Spurs so far, and so much speculation regarding Luka Modric and our pursuit of strikers, it's been difficult to focus on the approaching season and assess how we can improve.

Following our first taste of Champions League football last season, Spurs fans know that this side can compete at a higher level, and obviously everyone's desperate to bring those special nights back to the Lane.

A couple of weeks ago we looked at some of the younger players in the Spurs set up and argued as to whether they should be sent out for further loan spells or whether the time had come to give them a chance in the first team squad.

While we considered Harry Kane, Andros Townsend and John Bostock, Jake Livermore was overlooked – largely because it seemed he was on the verge of joining Rangers on a season long loan.

Unlike John Bostock who we discussed yesterday, Andros Townsend doesn't seem to have too many issues with loan deals and that looks to be another likely scenario for next season.

Since 2009, Andros has played for 6 different loan clubs and made a decent impression wherever he has been.

Like we saw with Danny Rose yesterday, there are several young players in the Tottenham ranks who are facing the decision as to whether another loan spell is needed or whether the time has come to make them regular members of the first team squad.

John Bostock is similar in that sense but the problem seems to be that loan spells and John don't go that well together.

As last season drew to a close it appeared that Spurs only hope for European football was the Europa League that came with 5th place. Arguments raged as to whether or not this was a good thing and it appeared Harry Redknapp and a number of his players didn't seem keen on the idea.

It seems odd that a player of 19 may have reached the ‘crossroads' of a career, but John Bostock seems to fit that scenario at the moment. John has been discussed before, but his situation has moved on slightly with a return to Tottenham and a couple of goals at Spurs Lodge that have capped some reports of good overall form.

There was good news for Spurs fans as Tom Huddlestone came through eighty minutes of action at the Lodge yesterday as a Tottenham XI beat Barnet by two goals to one.

The game was also notable for the return of mystery man John Bostock and it was Spurs who opened the scoring on five minutes with a penalty from Kudus Oyenuga.

Recently on this site, somebody begged the question ‘Where is John Bostock?' It seemed a good question at the time and one which deserved an answer.

Bostock arrived at Spurs amidst much publicity from Crystal Palace in March 2008. His arrival was met with disgust at Selhurst Park, where Simon Jordan launched into a full blown hissy fit at the fee decided by tribunal.