SSN breaking news. This is one I hope they have right. Defoe has no intention of signing a new contract so I'd rather cash in on him and he can go off and score 10 goals in 10 games for his new club before losing his touch and composure in-front of goal until he's benched. Get Bent fit, and get him playing. Could still do with another striker though. Maybe one of the 'wonder kids (scoff) can get a promotion.
Gilberto has failed his medical. Makes you wonder how the heck Woodgate did.
UPDATE: Gilberto deal maybe back on. Apparently, the issue concerns 'wages'. For a 30+ player, there should be no issue. Tell him to fuck off, and its done and dusted.
Thursday, 31 January 2008
Challenge Woodgate
Bale, King, Woodgate, Hutton. I wonder how many times this back four will line-up for us? Welcome Woody. The only spark in an otherwise dour game of football at Goodison Park last night. I challenge you to playing 5 consecutive games for Spurs (although I won't penalise if Ramos chooses to 'rest' you). Chimbonda, Huddlestone and Gunter making up the back four along with JW. King once more given the night off. 64 games since our last 0-0. Is that an achievement?
As for Hutton, looks like we bullied him (along with desperately seeking cash Rangers) into joining us. £9M. Once more we spend several million more than we should be doing, and as an additional challenge, I'm hoping to see at least one Comolli signing prove his worth and value for money.
Blog entries will be on the light side for the next four weeks as I am currently 'inbetween' homes.
As for Hutton, looks like we bullied him (along with desperately seeking cash Rangers) into joining us. £9M. Once more we spend several million more than we should be doing, and as an additional challenge, I'm hoping to see at least one Comolli signing prove his worth and value for money.
Blog entries will be on the light side for the next four weeks as I am currently 'inbetween' homes.
Monday, 28 January 2008
One down.....any more to come?
Woodgate signed for around £7M. Though what that means for the club is anyone's guess. Hutton has gone back to Scotland (the boy just can't make up his mind) and no news on Gilberto. And its all gone quiet with any other potential signing(s).
Looking sharp there Woody
As for Woody, well, if we get the player of last season (he was superb for Boro) then we are in for a treat. This years version hasn't been that good -form wise/injuries or for that matter the one who player just 13/14 times for Madrid will make me hurl abuse at Comolli and Levy from a distance (I'll use rotten eggs for when I'm up close).
As long as he behaves himself OFF the pitch then we should do just right. Big if. Considering the stories coming out of Boro at the minute.
Logically, it's a bit insane really. I mean, he does have form for lack of form and he does spend an awful long time out injured. So the medical he passed at Spurs would suggest he is 'ok' at the minute. £7M for a crock would not be a good thing on the back of £8M for Kaboul and the same amount for Zokora. The fact that King has suffered from injuries in recent years makes it even more insane that we would look to bring in Woodgate as cover or a new partner for Ledders.
One extreme to another with us. This signing better pay off on the pitch otherwise Levy and Comolli will have a lot to answer for sanctioning this signing.
Looking sharp there Woody
As for Woody, well, if we get the player of last season (he was superb for Boro) then we are in for a treat. This years version hasn't been that good -form wise/injuries or for that matter the one who player just 13/14 times for Madrid will make me hurl abuse at Comolli and Levy from a distance (I'll use rotten eggs for when I'm up close).
As long as he behaves himself OFF the pitch then we should do just right. Big if. Considering the stories coming out of Boro at the minute.
Logically, it's a bit insane really. I mean, he does have form for lack of form and he does spend an awful long time out injured. So the medical he passed at Spurs would suggest he is 'ok' at the minute. £7M for a crock would not be a good thing on the back of £8M for Kaboul and the same amount for Zokora. The fact that King has suffered from injuries in recent years makes it even more insane that we would look to bring in Woodgate as cover or a new partner for Ledders.
One extreme to another with us. This signing better pay off on the pitch otherwise Levy and Comolli will have a lot to answer for sanctioning this signing.
SSN continues to mug its self off
SSN are now reporting there has been no Arsenal bid and that Keith Lamb has said only 2 clubs have made an offer for the player. Sky now looking to 'sweep this under the carpet' faster than they can say 'egg on face'.
They first take a slice of news from their 'rival' station (Setanta News) that Arsenal have bid for Woodgate. Yellow ticker follows and then we are treated to the usual trash they churn out when they claim to have an exclusive.
All based on unconfirmed reports, we get to listen to emails sent in by fans and bookie odds (making Arsenal the odds on favs to sign the player). Then the yellow ticker disappears and not too soon after we are told there has been no 3rd club and that Boro have confirmed this and that now, Woodgate is odds on to sign for Spurs.
All damning evidence of the previous exclusive gone and not to be mentioned again.
It's cheap tv at its very best. Like an interactive copy of The Sun.
They first take a slice of news from their 'rival' station (Setanta News) that Arsenal have bid for Woodgate. Yellow ticker follows and then we are treated to the usual trash they churn out when they claim to have an exclusive.
All based on unconfirmed reports, we get to listen to emails sent in by fans and bookie odds (making Arsenal the odds on favs to sign the player). Then the yellow ticker disappears and not too soon after we are told there has been no 3rd club and that Boro have confirmed this and that now, Woodgate is odds on to sign for Spurs.
All damning evidence of the previous exclusive gone and not to be mentioned again.
It's cheap tv at its very best. Like an interactive copy of The Sun.
Weekend round-up
The less said about Dawson's handball the better. Had he not 'touched it', then Ronney would have scored anyhow. Cerny also looking to allow Robbo in with a chance to reclaim his place. Embarrassing error on his part for the third. 3-1 wasn't reflective of the performance, but once more we come out short at OT. Both sides playing open football and always looking to attack, and us being wasteful with the odd chance that could have seen us take the game to a reply. It's another run of games (lack of wins) that we need to end. Maybe next season. No? OK. Season after next. It was not too shabby this time round, just that extra bit of concentration on their part (i.e. no errors) saw them through. In fact, minus the 3rd goal and the final quarter of an hour and we pretty much controlled the game, with Jenas pulling the strings in midfield with some comfort. Bit more quality in key positions and maybe it will be 'next season'.
Woodgate has had his medical. But apparently Boro have now accepted a 3rd bid.....from Arsenal. Looks like they have their 5-1 revenge ready to hurt us.
Gilberto is on his way. Another player who has had his medical. And there's still a possibility that Hutton will sign pre-transfer window closure.
If all 3 join, that's the defence sorted. But still no defensive midfielder.
4 days left now. Still waiting on Comolli. Interesting article earlier in the week (in the Indy, I think) that covered a Ramos interview where he basically stated he had rejected 6 potential targets. Good to hear that signings are not being made over and above the manager. So if we do sign someone, we are signing someone the manager accepts as good enough player. So, no more Kabouls. That's a bonus.
Woodgate has had his medical. But apparently Boro have now accepted a 3rd bid.....from Arsenal. Looks like they have their 5-1 revenge ready to hurt us.
Gilberto is on his way. Another player who has had his medical. And there's still a possibility that Hutton will sign pre-transfer window closure.
If all 3 join, that's the defence sorted. But still no defensive midfielder.
4 days left now. Still waiting on Comolli. Interesting article earlier in the week (in the Indy, I think) that covered a Ramos interview where he basically stated he had rejected 6 potential targets. Good to hear that signings are not being made over and above the manager. So if we do sign someone, we are signing someone the manager accepts as good enough player. So, no more Kabouls. That's a bonus.
Friday, 25 January 2008
Are they 'aving a larf?
Earlier this evening we had the yellow ticker telling us that the Tiago deal is off. Then the ticker disappeared, and we were told its back on and should be completed this weekend. But nothing compares to the latest 'Sky Sports Understands'.
Yes. Read it for yourself:
Yes. The Barcelona captain who has been at the club since the age of twelve. Plays Champions League football and is on about £100,000 a month. Someone appears to be sharing their crack pipe in the SSN HQ. Although modern day journalism 'breaking news stories' are dependent on what they can copy and paste from a football message board, this one just about takes the biscuit. Yes, it appeared on the yellow ticker and the auto-cue dolly bird and man-robot informed us of another exclusive. And yes, its now disappeared. Along with the little creditability this 'news' channel appears to have left.
Nothing reported in Sport, Depotivo Mundo or Catalan TV. For the record, the player isn't even in Barcelona as they are away to Bilbao this weekend. And if Spurs wont pay Fred the money he wants then....well, you work it out.
Only other explanation? Smokescreen. Or Levy is attempting to flush out the rats.
Yes. Read it for yourself:
Sky Sports News understands that Tottenham want to sign Barcelona defender Carlos Puyol.
Juande Ramos is thought to be keen to strengthen his defence as he continues to reshape his White Hart Lane squad.
It is claimed that Tottenham representatives are in Spain to discuss a move with the Barcelona captain.
Ramos has also been linked with an approach for Middlesbrough defender Jonathan Woodgate as he attempts to find an experienced centre-back to bring to North London.
Puyol has made 58 appearances for Spain and played in the 2002 and 2006 World Cup finals.
Yes. The Barcelona captain who has been at the club since the age of twelve. Plays Champions League football and is on about £100,000 a month. Someone appears to be sharing their crack pipe in the SSN HQ. Although modern day journalism 'breaking news stories' are dependent on what they can copy and paste from a football message board, this one just about takes the biscuit. Yes, it appeared on the yellow ticker and the auto-cue dolly bird and man-robot informed us of another exclusive. And yes, its now disappeared. Along with the little creditability this 'news' channel appears to have left.
Nothing reported in Sport, Depotivo Mundo or Catalan TV. For the record, the player isn't even in Barcelona as they are away to Bilbao this weekend. And if Spurs wont pay Fred the money he wants then....well, you work it out.
Only other explanation? Smokescreen. Or Levy is attempting to flush out the rats.
Barnard to Southend
Good luck. Was never good enough for the first team. Like most of our promoted youth players, very few make it (Marney, Yeates, Jackson...and so on). Average players who have their moment, but nothing more. Spurs really have to get it together with the academy and start producing players we can call our own that make an impact worthy of saving us £10M in the transfer market. Granted, that doesn't happen for most teams.
The current 'next generation' (apart from Dixon) are mostly youth players brought to the club.
Will any of these see the light of first team action over the next year or three?
Reserves
Danny Rose (winger)
Tomas Pekhart (striker)
Leigh Mills (defence)
Joe Martin (defender/midfielder)
Dorian Dervite (defender)
First Year Academy
Mark Clare (defender)
Second Year Academy
Yurie Berchiche (full back)
Alex Olsen (striker)
Terry Dixon (striker)
Is Dean Parrett the new Stevie G? A pound for every time I've heard that....
The current 'next generation' (apart from Dixon) are mostly youth players brought to the club.
Will any of these see the light of first team action over the next year or three?
Reserves
Danny Rose (winger)
Tomas Pekhart (striker)
Leigh Mills (defence)
Joe Martin (defender/midfielder)
Dorian Dervite (defender)
First Year Academy
Mark Clare (defender)
Second Year Academy
Yurie Berchiche (full back)
Alex Olsen (striker)
Terry Dixon (striker)
Is Dean Parrett the new Stevie G? A pound for every time I've heard that....
BBC 5 Live on the scene.....
BBC Five Live have a reporter up at the Spurs Lodge who apparently has just spoken to Poyet.
This is what Ramos right-hand man had to say:
Woodgate
'I would love to sign Woodgate, hes a magnificent player, I hope we can sort something out'
Chimbonda
'Chimbonda played one of his best ever games for the club on Tuesday......we'll see'
Berbatov
'I guarantee he will be at the club when we go to Wembley...that is unless Abramovich gives us a 100 million for him'
Bit of beeb whorage for you right there.
This is what Ramos right-hand man had to say:
Woodgate
'I would love to sign Woodgate, hes a magnificent player, I hope we can sort something out'
Chimbonda
'Chimbonda played one of his best ever games for the club on Tuesday......we'll see'
Berbatov
'I guarantee he will be at the club when we go to Wembley...that is unless Abramovich gives us a 100 million for him'
Bit of beeb whorage for you right there.
SSN (Spooky Sports News) Morning Report
So, footballer Pascal Chimbonda has declared he is on his way to Newcastle because…well, let him tell you himself:
“Kevin Keegan has approached me and they’ve offered me more money. I am definitely leaving Spurs. It’s all about the money. I don’t care about the final, I don’t care about the cup.”
What a prick. For the record, you’ve had about two decent games this season. Liability better spent lazing around in the Newcastle defence rather than ours. Not exactly surprising he is moving on so quickly. He shafted Wigan. He was always going to shaft us. Although it's far more likely that he is going because we (Ramos) doesn't rate him. Hence the Hutton chasing and the fact that we haven't denied he wont be sold.
Although, as a disclamier, maybe the quotes have been made up. It is, after all, The Sun who run the story.
Robbo has come out all guns blazing:
(From Sky Sports News)
"It's not exactly a fall-out. I was disappointed to be left out - like any professional would be - but I'm certainly not angry at being dropped by the team if you like. Every professional player gets phases like that in their career. If the manager decides I'm not performing and I'm not up the standard he wants at the time then he picks the team and I can't argue with that. I was disappointed with the way the situation was handled let's say. I saw reports yesterday saying I've put in a transfer request, I've never put in a transfer request."
"Definitely not. However, any professional worth their salt wants to play. If I don't play between now and the summer I've got a decision to make. If the club turn around to me and say I've got no future at the club then that's a whole different situation. As of yet that's not the situation.
The press and media seem to be having a lot of fun and games at my expense recently and I seem to be reading stuff day in, day out. The truth of the matter is I'm getting my head down and working as hard as I possibly can to get my place back. I've taken a lot of criticism over the last 12 months. I think it's affected me. I think it's unfair. At times my confidence has dipped, but I'm rebuilding it again."
At least he has admitted he has been affected by it all (self-inflicted though Robbo mate), all though less of the ‘unfair’ and more of the 'rebuilding' should be the way forward for him. Time will tell if Ramos has dropped Robinson so that the player can prove his true worth to the team by fighting back into first team selection and recapturing his past form. Or if he has simply paved the way for a transfer. Spurs will buy a keeper in the summer for sure, with Cerny on his way home when his loan finishes. Whether Robinson will be number one or not down the player. He wont stay at the club if he is number two, and will be flushed faster than your first dump in the morning.
Then we have Woodgate. The Darren Anderton of the defensive world. Hardly ever fit (although unfair to say he hasn't done ok this season). So quality when he is fit, but….but always a risk of a break down. Are we aiming to bid for as many 'not sure I want him' players as possible? First the one dimensional Downing and now a crock. With King back in the team and Dawson finding his form because King is back in the team, the last thing we want (if King gets injured) is a player who probably won’t be fit at any given time. Although I shouldn’t be that scared of this going through, as the likelihood of Wodogate failing his medical is very probable. Surely the world pool of available players is massive. Is Comolli scouting via the BBC’s squad selector? Jesus wept.
Its the 25th January. There's not that long to go before the transfer window shuts.
Still no central defender.
Still no right-back.
Still no defensive midfielder.
Still no creative midfielder.
Although potentially:
Still no central defender. Woodgate.
Still no right-back. Hutton.
Still no defensive midfielder. Tiago.
Still no creative midfielder. Jenas (to blossom under Ramos).
Is this the way forward?
I'll ask again in a month.
“Kevin Keegan has approached me and they’ve offered me more money. I am definitely leaving Spurs. It’s all about the money. I don’t care about the final, I don’t care about the cup.”
What a prick. For the record, you’ve had about two decent games this season. Liability better spent lazing around in the Newcastle defence rather than ours. Not exactly surprising he is moving on so quickly. He shafted Wigan. He was always going to shaft us. Although it's far more likely that he is going because we (Ramos) doesn't rate him. Hence the Hutton chasing and the fact that we haven't denied he wont be sold.
Although, as a disclamier, maybe the quotes have been made up. It is, after all, The Sun who run the story.
Classy
Robbo has come out all guns blazing:
(From Sky Sports News)
"It's not exactly a fall-out. I was disappointed to be left out - like any professional would be - but I'm certainly not angry at being dropped by the team if you like. Every professional player gets phases like that in their career. If the manager decides I'm not performing and I'm not up the standard he wants at the time then he picks the team and I can't argue with that. I was disappointed with the way the situation was handled let's say. I saw reports yesterday saying I've put in a transfer request, I've never put in a transfer request."
"Definitely not. However, any professional worth their salt wants to play. If I don't play between now and the summer I've got a decision to make. If the club turn around to me and say I've got no future at the club then that's a whole different situation. As of yet that's not the situation.
The press and media seem to be having a lot of fun and games at my expense recently and I seem to be reading stuff day in, day out. The truth of the matter is I'm getting my head down and working as hard as I possibly can to get my place back. I've taken a lot of criticism over the last 12 months. I think it's affected me. I think it's unfair. At times my confidence has dipped, but I'm rebuilding it again."
At least he has admitted he has been affected by it all (self-inflicted though Robbo mate), all though less of the ‘unfair’ and more of the 'rebuilding' should be the way forward for him. Time will tell if Ramos has dropped Robinson so that the player can prove his true worth to the team by fighting back into first team selection and recapturing his past form. Or if he has simply paved the way for a transfer. Spurs will buy a keeper in the summer for sure, with Cerny on his way home when his loan finishes. Whether Robinson will be number one or not down the player. He wont stay at the club if he is number two, and will be flushed faster than your first dump in the morning.
Then we have Woodgate. The Darren Anderton of the defensive world. Hardly ever fit (although unfair to say he hasn't done ok this season). So quality when he is fit, but….but always a risk of a break down. Are we aiming to bid for as many 'not sure I want him' players as possible? First the one dimensional Downing and now a crock. With King back in the team and Dawson finding his form because King is back in the team, the last thing we want (if King gets injured) is a player who probably won’t be fit at any given time. Although I shouldn’t be that scared of this going through, as the likelihood of Wodogate failing his medical is very probable. Surely the world pool of available players is massive. Is Comolli scouting via the BBC’s squad selector? Jesus wept.
Its the 25th January. There's not that long to go before the transfer window shuts.
Still no central defender.
Still no right-back.
Still no defensive midfielder.
Still no creative midfielder.
Although potentially:
Still no central defender. Woodgate.
Still no right-back. Hutton.
Still no defensive midfielder. Tiago.
Still no creative midfielder. Jenas (to blossom under Ramos).
Is this the way forward?
I'll ask again in a month.
Thursday, 24 January 2008
Levy, you mug
Are you and the marketing department so desperate for money to make up for the £16M wasted on Darren Bent that are you resorting to small time kick-backs from the Spurs shop by commissioning small time crap like the above?
Yes, we beat the scum 5-1. The only mug I need to tell me the score is the mug of a miserable looking gooner.
Get fucking rid.
Time for a mass boycott of the club IMO.
NOBODY BUY CUP FINAL TICKETS IN PROTEST OF THIS QUITE DISGRACEFUL MONEY-GRABBING EVENT.
YOU'VE MADE A MUG OF YOURSELF LEVY AND YOU'VE MUGGED US OFF.
THE ARSENAL RESULT HAS BEEN OVER-SHADOWED BY YOUR GREED.
Wednesday, 23 January 2008
WIN
So there I was. Five minutes into a relentless chorus of ‘Que Sera Sera’, with practically the whole ground joining in, arms raised, smiles all around. And Spurs go and score a 5th. We’ve beaten the scum. And we get a Cup Final as a bonus prize. Proper Glory night, bragging rights back with us. At least for the whole of Wednesday.
I forgot to buy a programme before the kick-off. Decided this was an omen. Along with the ‘1999 Worthington Cup winners’ key-ring I found when clearing out some old junk the day before the game (that sat in my pocket). In Bootlaces, before the game, I reiterated the need for self-belief, on the pitch and in the terraces. We jokingly laughed when suggesting, ‘we could do with another 5-1 semi-final win’. The footballing Gods were listening for once.
Ooh the highlights…
Jenas performance and his goading of the away support after the opening goal
Dawson regaining the ability to defend (probably because of the next guy…)
King again showing us all just how important and immense he is. Incredible the difference he can make to our defence
Tainio, doing the job Ramos expected from him
Keane's 101
Lennon on form
Berbatov’s flick (to release Lennon) and nutmeg on Gallas
The home support/atmosphere - probably the best it's been any where in the country this season
Berbatov looking genuinely happy
Arsenal fans leaving on the 60th minute mark
Adebayor/Bendtner handbags
The irony of Bendtner scoring with his head
Theo ‘Only had five touches’ Walcott
Only negative was Paul Robinson's absence at the end of the game. He ventured into the dressing room at the final whistle, thinking more about himself, as Graham Roberts put it 'first, second and third' rather than 'the club, his team-mates and the fans'. Unless of course, Robinson is on his out of the club, and 'celebrating' would be a tad too uncomfortable if he is departing. I'll leave this conspiracy for another time.
Back to the game and the Arsenal team which included (at various points in the game) Gallas (17 Prem apperances), Eduardo (13), Hleb (19), Denilson (7), Fabregas (19), Walcott (13), Gilberto (12) Adebayor (21), Bendtner (14), Sagna(21), Diaby (9).
Kids? Reserves? Excuses?
Six of these players started their last league game and nine of them played in the league game prior to their last. Yes, arguably it was a fragmented side and their defence at times was calamitous compared to their seasoned 'proper line-up'. But all we can do is attempt to defeat the opposition no matter who they are.
Arsenal had Fabianski. We had Cerny.
Hoyte? Lee.
Diaby? Tainio.
Walcott? Defoe.
Our team was made up of fringe players too. Add Huddlestone and Boateng to the list. That's a fair few. And Spurs had no World Cup winners either. See how perception works to your advantage when you want it to?
They want your autograph Cesc
Ramos and Poyet’s message to the players pre-match was simple. WIN. In fact, kudos to finally having people at Spurs who understand the art of war. None of the usual tripe our players shout before big games that result with egg-on-face. We used what Arsenal said as a motivating tool to get the players up for it. Rather than tell the world we will win, we tell the world how great they are. Thus making us the underdog and allowing the 'words' and soundbites coming out of the Emirates to motivate us for the 90 minutes.
“There were a few interviews this week and they helped us a lot. They don't realise how much they help us when they say these things. They said we were scared of them, so many things. The players proved today they have no fear of anyone.” - Poyet
All the things I (we) have asked for happened. Even when Berbatov hit the post, and I thought ‘shit, here we go again, we just can’t kill them off’ – we do just that moments into the second half. Turns out we are not a bunch of bottlers after all. A bit of confidence, tuned into the right mentality frequency with the reassurance that we are tactically spot-on under Ramos and it can come together. Spurs can defeat their demons.
It's good to see a complete unit for once, in such an important game. All players following their instructions. Tainio, bless his little cotton socks, always injured but proved his worth giving us far more experience than O’Hara and biting at the ankles of the Arsenal midfield.
This is just the one game and the one performance, but under Ramos (and in fact, this season in generally) we have not been overhauled or thrashed. We've played awful at times, but this game shows we can deliver when it matters. Granted, this was a North London Cup game and the hard graft is in the Prem, but with continued improving fitness and commitment levels and the return of key players along with new ones and the balance and growth of the team can only go one way. Above West Ham. And then a bit more further up the table.
The sudden realisation that hard work equals success has dawned on a side that has at times waited for the result to happen rather than create it themselves.
We didn’t choke. We didn’t falter. We cut them to shreds at times. We even had the luxury of taking off Berbatov and Keane with 30 minutes to go. And little surprise that Wenger once more fails to lose gracefully.
Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a loser….or something along those lines, is the excuse drummed out every time people point and wag their finger at the direction of Wenger. He apparently didn’t believe the score line represented what he saw on the pitch and that we were not the better side over two legs. Thankfully, some Arsenal fans are gracious to admit they lost to the better side – even avoiding the tiresome excuse of ‘our reserves’. It was criminal we didn’t win at the Emirates (wasteful chances) but in hindsight, it set up the game for last nights demolition.
The fact that he isn’t magnanimous about it and a couple of their players decided to have a tiff out on the pitch speaks volumes. Talking of volumes, cracking atmosphere. When we turn it on, we turn it on.
The Gooners managed a chorus of “2-0 and you fucked it up”, at half-time, but even they didn't appear too confident of the gloat. A kind reminder that was rammed down their throats in the second half. But can’t say I really spent that much time looking their way during the course of the game. The noise emanating from each side (shock horror, even the West Stand) was [cliché]electric[/cliché]. One positive about having a compact ground is the fact you can drum up that 12th man. Although the continued rise in noise levels had a lot to do with the players lifting us up for once. This wasn't just about us the fans embracing it. The players finally tasted victory over the auld enemy. Robbie Keane, 101 goals into his Spurs career, finally being able to jig his way to the win.
You have to go back to the early 80’s for the last time we smacked them this hard. And in a season where we have been involved in several end to end classics, this pulsating masterpiece (calm down) makes it all the sweeter. If you’re gonna end a record/curse/jinx, then 5-1 is pretty much fucking a.
In previous encounters Spurs have dominated large parts of the game. But that's been a trademark death-march precession, as we always end up with nothing out of the game. So near yet so far. This time round, we sat back, and killed them with the counter-attack. Very Arsenalesque.
Strength, commitment, composure, confidence all evident. With the addition of sharp quick passing. Didn't matter how long they kept the ball for, when we won it back we made it count. It was effective and it was stunning.
The difference between last years disaster (being 2-0 up) was we didn't sit back and play long balls. We hassled and passed and kept the ball when we had to (one of KPB's strengths when coming on as a sub). We carved out chances, all mostly on target, 5 hitting the back of the net.
It was beautiful. It was wonderful. It was a fucking long time coming.
Thanks for finally bucking a trend. I've missed this feeling.
I forgot to buy a programme before the kick-off. Decided this was an omen. Along with the ‘1999 Worthington Cup winners’ key-ring I found when clearing out some old junk the day before the game (that sat in my pocket). In Bootlaces, before the game, I reiterated the need for self-belief, on the pitch and in the terraces. We jokingly laughed when suggesting, ‘we could do with another 5-1 semi-final win’. The footballing Gods were listening for once.
Ooh the highlights…
Jenas performance and his goading of the away support after the opening goal
Dawson regaining the ability to defend (probably because of the next guy…)
King again showing us all just how important and immense he is. Incredible the difference he can make to our defence
Tainio, doing the job Ramos expected from him
Keane's 101
Lennon on form
Berbatov’s flick (to release Lennon) and nutmeg on Gallas
The home support/atmosphere - probably the best it's been any where in the country this season
Berbatov looking genuinely happy
Arsenal fans leaving on the 60th minute mark
Adebayor/Bendtner handbags
The irony of Bendtner scoring with his head
Theo ‘Only had five touches’ Walcott
Only negative was Paul Robinson's absence at the end of the game. He ventured into the dressing room at the final whistle, thinking more about himself, as Graham Roberts put it 'first, second and third' rather than 'the club, his team-mates and the fans'. Unless of course, Robinson is on his out of the club, and 'celebrating' would be a tad too uncomfortable if he is departing. I'll leave this conspiracy for another time.
Back to the game and the Arsenal team which included (at various points in the game) Gallas (17 Prem apperances), Eduardo (13), Hleb (19), Denilson (7), Fabregas (19), Walcott (13), Gilberto (12) Adebayor (21), Bendtner (14), Sagna(21), Diaby (9).
Kids? Reserves? Excuses?
Six of these players started their last league game and nine of them played in the league game prior to their last. Yes, arguably it was a fragmented side and their defence at times was calamitous compared to their seasoned 'proper line-up'. But all we can do is attempt to defeat the opposition no matter who they are.
Arsenal had Fabianski. We had Cerny.
Hoyte? Lee.
Diaby? Tainio.
Walcott? Defoe.
Our team was made up of fringe players too. Add Huddlestone and Boateng to the list. That's a fair few. And Spurs had no World Cup winners either. See how perception works to your advantage when you want it to?
They want your autograph CescRamos and Poyet’s message to the players pre-match was simple. WIN. In fact, kudos to finally having people at Spurs who understand the art of war. None of the usual tripe our players shout before big games that result with egg-on-face. We used what Arsenal said as a motivating tool to get the players up for it. Rather than tell the world we will win, we tell the world how great they are. Thus making us the underdog and allowing the 'words' and soundbites coming out of the Emirates to motivate us for the 90 minutes.
“There were a few interviews this week and they helped us a lot. They don't realise how much they help us when they say these things. They said we were scared of them, so many things. The players proved today they have no fear of anyone.” - Poyet
All the things I (we) have asked for happened. Even when Berbatov hit the post, and I thought ‘shit, here we go again, we just can’t kill them off’ – we do just that moments into the second half. Turns out we are not a bunch of bottlers after all. A bit of confidence, tuned into the right mentality frequency with the reassurance that we are tactically spot-on under Ramos and it can come together. Spurs can defeat their demons.
It's good to see a complete unit for once, in such an important game. All players following their instructions. Tainio, bless his little cotton socks, always injured but proved his worth giving us far more experience than O’Hara and biting at the ankles of the Arsenal midfield.
This is just the one game and the one performance, but under Ramos (and in fact, this season in generally) we have not been overhauled or thrashed. We've played awful at times, but this game shows we can deliver when it matters. Granted, this was a North London Cup game and the hard graft is in the Prem, but with continued improving fitness and commitment levels and the return of key players along with new ones and the balance and growth of the team can only go one way. Above West Ham. And then a bit more further up the table.
The sudden realisation that hard work equals success has dawned on a side that has at times waited for the result to happen rather than create it themselves.
We didn’t choke. We didn’t falter. We cut them to shreds at times. We even had the luxury of taking off Berbatov and Keane with 30 minutes to go. And little surprise that Wenger once more fails to lose gracefully.
Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a loser….or something along those lines, is the excuse drummed out every time people point and wag their finger at the direction of Wenger. He apparently didn’t believe the score line represented what he saw on the pitch and that we were not the better side over two legs. Thankfully, some Arsenal fans are gracious to admit they lost to the better side – even avoiding the tiresome excuse of ‘our reserves’. It was criminal we didn’t win at the Emirates (wasteful chances) but in hindsight, it set up the game for last nights demolition.
The fact that he isn’t magnanimous about it and a couple of their players decided to have a tiff out on the pitch speaks volumes. Talking of volumes, cracking atmosphere. When we turn it on, we turn it on.
The Gooners managed a chorus of “2-0 and you fucked it up”, at half-time, but even they didn't appear too confident of the gloat. A kind reminder that was rammed down their throats in the second half. But can’t say I really spent that much time looking their way during the course of the game. The noise emanating from each side (shock horror, even the West Stand) was [cliché]electric[/cliché]. One positive about having a compact ground is the fact you can drum up that 12th man. Although the continued rise in noise levels had a lot to do with the players lifting us up for once. This wasn't just about us the fans embracing it. The players finally tasted victory over the auld enemy. Robbie Keane, 101 goals into his Spurs career, finally being able to jig his way to the win.
You have to go back to the early 80’s for the last time we smacked them this hard. And in a season where we have been involved in several end to end classics, this pulsating masterpiece (calm down) makes it all the sweeter. If you’re gonna end a record/curse/jinx, then 5-1 is pretty much fucking a.
In previous encounters Spurs have dominated large parts of the game. But that's been a trademark death-march precession, as we always end up with nothing out of the game. So near yet so far. This time round, we sat back, and killed them with the counter-attack. Very Arsenalesque.
Strength, commitment, composure, confidence all evident. With the addition of sharp quick passing. Didn't matter how long they kept the ball for, when we won it back we made it count. It was effective and it was stunning.
The difference between last years disaster (being 2-0 up) was we didn't sit back and play long balls. We hassled and passed and kept the ball when we had to (one of KPB's strengths when coming on as a sub). We carved out chances, all mostly on target, 5 hitting the back of the net.
It was beautiful. It was wonderful. It was a fucking long time coming.
Thanks for finally bucking a trend. I've missed this feeling.
Tuesday, 22 January 2008
NLD Part II
Rather than go over the same old 'we must do this, we must do that' war-cry blog entry, just re-read this:
http://www.dearmrlevy.com/2008/01/nld-semi-final-preview.html
And follow this thread:
http://www.rumourwhores.com/board/viewtopic.php?id=9597&p=1
Blood and thunder, again please. This time with an end result.
Roll on, number 23.
UPDATE: 22, not 23.
http://www.dearmrlevy.com/2008/01/nld-semi-final-preview.html
And follow this thread:
http://www.rumourwhores.com/board/viewtopic.php?id=9597&p=1
Blood and thunder, again please. This time with an end result.
Roll on, number 23.
UPDATE: 22, not 23.
Monday, 21 January 2008
List
Hot
Not
Really?
Whatever
- Robbie Keane notching up his 100th goal for Spurs
- Our first half performance against Sunderland
- Huddlestone's passing and first half performance in same game
- The alleged rumours that the 'big signings' were Boswinga and Gonzalez
Not
- The second half performance against Sunderland
- The apparent signing of a 32 year old Brazilian left-back from Hertha on a pre-contract
- Another bout of 'Robbo hands in transfer request'....'Oh no he doesnt'....
- 'Tiago to sign'. Hasn't settled at previous 3 clubs. What the fuck makes us think he can settle in our mess of a midfield?
Really?
- Spurs sign Jason Banton from Arsenal, for £100,000
Who?
Whatever
- King and Berbatov are Newcastle targets. One more, proof that the Sunday papers are written by fucking idiots and bought by fucking morons.
Friday, 18 January 2008
Comolli Statement
Once again, we have reached that time of year where there is a great deal of press speculation linking us with players from all around the world.
Sporting Director Damien Comolli noted: “The majority of the reports that I have read are completely wide of the mark. I feel it is important to clarify a couple of things that are unhelpful - namely that reports that Darren Bent is for sale are totally inaccurate and, furthermore, we are not in the market for any strikers.”
As always, we should like to remind our supporters that our official channels – website tottenhamhotspur.com and mobile service spurs(((mobile))) - will carry informed, accurate and timely information as and when it is appropriate to do so.
The above is from the official site.
Ok. So basically everything relating to Fred is pure fabrication. Thought I'd clarify that for everyone. No bids from Spurs. Lyon and his agent are liars. Fred is a liar. Spurs have made no attempt to sign him. Not easy is it, following transfer dealings. Bit like an episode of Lost.
The deal didn't complete, dead in the water, so suddenly it never happened. Why even bother making this statement. Who cares if the player decided against a move? Why focus attention back on us? Typical Spurs, eh?
Thursday, 17 January 2008
"Right", said Fred, "I'm staying at Lyon"
So Fred rejects a move, probably due to the fact we won't pay 70k per week. Who are we kidding? Why would anyone want to join a club with no Champions League and a wage cap? Harsh reality. But then we don't want to go down the route of some clubs who pay ridiculous amounts in wages. Thinking about, we pay ridiculous amounts in transfer fees. Not quite on the ball are you Daniel me old son? Talking of which (quote from the start of the month):
Yes, thats why we bid £8M for Hutton (he didn't want to leave his beloved Rangers)
We agreed a fee with Lyon for Fred (he wanted silly money to join)
We want Downing, Downing knows we want him, but Spurs are not willing to pay Boro the fee they think the player commands. Quite shocked here considering how much was forked out for Darren Bent. Maybe Daniel's ball control has improved a tad.
Almost (potentially) £25M for three players had the transfers occured. Read the Levy quote again. Now stitch up your sides up.
Maybe Spurs will focus on signing players who can play in the positions we need to improve on.
Stitch 'em up again.
"Juande, Damien and I have reviewed the squad and Juande feels that we are not looking at any major changes. We are all clear that the January window is the worst time to buy quality players so we shall not be doing any business that is not essential.
"Once again for the record, we are not a selling club, rather we are building for the future. When we have players on long contracts we have no need to entertain offers."
Yes, thats why we bid £8M for Hutton (he didn't want to leave his beloved Rangers)
We agreed a fee with Lyon for Fred (he wanted silly money to join)
We want Downing, Downing knows we want him, but Spurs are not willing to pay Boro the fee they think the player commands. Quite shocked here considering how much was forked out for Darren Bent. Maybe Daniel's ball control has improved a tad.
Almost (potentially) £25M for three players had the transfers occured. Read the Levy quote again. Now stitch up your sides up.
Maybe Spurs will focus on signing players who can play in the positions we need to improve on.
Stitch 'em up again.
Riiiiiiight
The rumour is simply this. By Friday, Spurs will sign two 'world class' players (scoff) which will cause a stir as wonderful as the one caused when Ossie and Ricky signed, or Klinsmann.
The two players have not been mentioned in the press. The 'ITK' providing the info apparently was the same one who told everyone that Bent was signing, including the date and price long before it was announced (at the time everyone was saying he would go to West Ham).
So, get ready to embrace the disappointment when nothing happens.
The two players have not been mentioned in the press. The 'ITK' providing the info apparently was the same one who told everyone that Bent was signing, including the date and price long before it was announced (at the time everyone was saying he would go to West Ham).
So, get ready to embrace the disappointment when nothing happens.
Wednesday, 16 January 2008
Element of surprise
Boro want £12M for Downing. Petrov, proven international and La Liga veteran cost £4.7M. It's not difficult to see what's wrong with this country. How Southgate can keep a straight face asking for that amount and how we persist in mugging ourselves off with paying it is beyond me.
So far, we've been linked to several players, with ITK's and the press alike, sharing the whorage. I'm gonna place the little faith I have left on Tottenham signing one or two players 'OUT OF THE BLUE'. In other words, players nobody who claims to be an insider has knowledge about.
I'm pretty sure, Berbatov came out of nowhere. Never remember reading anyone claiming to know we were after him - although the Bulgarian media picked up on the story, us lot over here didn't get a sniff of it. Obviously, the position this time will be a midfielder or defender rather than another striker (if you believe the press and forums, 'Fred' is on his way).
Gunter was 'out of the blue'. You'd just expect the quality would be as near to world-class as possible, because once we lost Berbatov we won't have a player of that type of quality in the squad.
Replace 'hope' with 'expect'.
So far, we've been linked to several players, with ITK's and the press alike, sharing the whorage. I'm gonna place the little faith I have left on Tottenham signing one or two players 'OUT OF THE BLUE'. In other words, players nobody who claims to be an insider has knowledge about.
I'm pretty sure, Berbatov came out of nowhere. Never remember reading anyone claiming to know we were after him - although the Bulgarian media picked up on the story, us lot over here didn't get a sniff of it. Obviously, the position this time will be a midfielder or defender rather than another striker (if you believe the press and forums, 'Fred' is on his way).
Gunter was 'out of the blue'. You'd just expect the quality would be as near to world-class as possible, because once we lost Berbatov we won't have a player of that type of quality in the squad.
Replace 'hope' with 'expect'.
Diarra agrees Pompey deal
3.5 Year deal. I suppose on the plus side, you could argue the players attitude sucks if he's not gonna stay and fight for a place (twice now, leaving London clubs). No other 'big' club came in for him. Or you could say he is ambitious and as a full French international, good enough for any team. Nah, I'd go with 'no desire to fight for a place'. Exactly what we DON'T want at the club. And whether it was a case that:
a) We wouldn't pay him enough
b) Offer him guaranteed first team football
c) Wenger wouldn't sell him to us
....he hasn't actually committed himself to Pompey for long (shop window anyone?) which suggests he will look to move again. You'd think playing for us is a far more productive shop window to be in. Would be interesting to know who Spurs will line-up as a proper defensive mid. I'd much prefer we go for a 25/27 year old rather than another youngster who might be decent in time.
Diarra hasn't been able to show the world what he can do (for club). He has his chance now, just not in a Lilywhite shirt.
a) We wouldn't pay him enough
b) Offer him guaranteed first team football
c) Wenger wouldn't sell him to us
....he hasn't actually committed himself to Pompey for long (shop window anyone?) which suggests he will look to move again. You'd think playing for us is a far more productive shop window to be in. Would be interesting to know who Spurs will line-up as a proper defensive mid. I'd much prefer we go for a 25/27 year old rather than another youngster who might be decent in time.
Diarra hasn't been able to show the world what he can do (for club). He has his chance now, just not in a Lilywhite shirt.
The most important run of games in our history
Sunderland @ Home
Arsenal @ Home
Man Utd away
Everton away
Man Utd @ Home
Derby away
Slavia Prague away
Chelsea @ Home
Slavia Prague @ Home
West Ham @ Home
Every game a cup final. A relegation dogfight is still a possibility, making the home game against Sunderland IMPERATIVE. We owe them for the opening day and the players owe us for the pigs ear they made of the early stage of the season. We have to get points from all of the above Prem games.
Six games at home. Four away. You would think its in our favour.
Arsenal @ Home
Man Utd away
Everton away
Man Utd @ Home
Derby away
Slavia Prague away
Chelsea @ Home
Slavia Prague @ Home
West Ham @ Home
Every game a cup final. A relegation dogfight is still a possibility, making the home game against Sunderland IMPERATIVE. We owe them for the opening day and the players owe us for the pigs ear they made of the early stage of the season. We have to get points from all of the above Prem games.
Six games at home. Four away. You would think its in our favour.
If we lose to Arsenal at home
I will officially quit being a full time Spurs fan. I will then do a 'Bill Simmons' and select a new club to support. I think you should all do the same. Its time we all reclaimed some self-respect. I'm sick of us choking on the big occasions. I'm sick of waiting for a transitional period to result in actual full-on progression to the next level. I demand more and I aint getting it. If you paid a hooker for sex and hoped for some extras (bj and anal for example) with some additional bareback thrown in for good measure, but instead got a bland tugjob and then beaten up by her pimp when you complained - would you keep going back to her? Of course not. Yet I keep finding myself knocking at her door, believing her when she lets me in, that I will get what I want - what I long for, but always end up with no penetration, an empty wallet and all beaten up. I want the moneyshot God damn it! I want the glory.
To dare is to do? Well get on with it and fucking do it.
To dare is to do? Well get on with it and fucking do it.
Tuesday, 15 January 2008
Reading 0 Spurs 1 (Keane)
"Bit like having a wank. Got a result but utterly unsatisfying" - Forza Huddlestone.
The above is a text message I got at the final whistle of yesterdays away win in the FA Cup that sees us going out of the next round away to Manchester United.
No Robinson at all last night (his wife gave birth). Berbatov is ill. King was rested. Team had Cerny in goal again with a back four of Chimbonda, Dawson, Kaboul and debut boy Gunter. TT, Jenas, Prince and Steed in midfield and Keane and Defoe upfront. Keane notched up his 99th goal in Spurs colours in a game where we were pretty much comfortable for all of it (par a few decent patches of pressing from the home side). Should have come away with another goal or two. But who cares. Clean sheet, away win. At least we get to play Utd.
The above is a text message I got at the final whistle of yesterdays away win in the FA Cup that sees us going out of the next round away to Manchester United.
No Robinson at all last night (his wife gave birth). Berbatov is ill. King was rested. Team had Cerny in goal again with a back four of Chimbonda, Dawson, Kaboul and debut boy Gunter. TT, Jenas, Prince and Steed in midfield and Keane and Defoe upfront. Keane notched up his 99th goal in Spurs colours in a game where we were pretty much comfortable for all of it (par a few decent patches of pressing from the home side). Should have come away with another goal or two. But who cares. Clean sheet, away win. At least we get to play Utd.
Waterlogged?
There's a possibility that the Reading pitch will be waterlogged meaning the FA Cup reply gets postponed. w00t for match congestion!
Monday, 14 January 2008
ITK latest
The Spurs ITK’s have been busy over the weekend.
Jarque
Will our centre-back issues be resolved? Apparently he is in London to speak to Spurs. The forums say ‘deal to be done today’.
Downing
Various ‘covering our backs’ statements from the people who claim to have inside info. Some are suggesting Spurs won’t pay the release fee in Downings contract and that personal terms are not complete. Others are saying the opposite. It’s done and dusted. Sky Sports News claim to have broken the story last night. In other words they read it online.
Diarra
‘Up in the air’. Wenger wont let him go.
So in other words, more carefully scripted rumours that don’t tell us anything because in reality there is nothing to know.
Jarque
Will our centre-back issues be resolved? Apparently he is in London to speak to Spurs. The forums say ‘deal to be done today’.
Downing
Various ‘covering our backs’ statements from the people who claim to have inside info. Some are suggesting Spurs won’t pay the release fee in Downings contract and that personal terms are not complete. Others are saying the opposite. It’s done and dusted. Sky Sports News claim to have broken the story last night. In other words they read it online.
Diarra
‘Up in the air’. Wenger wont let him go.
So in other words, more carefully scripted rumours that don’t tell us anything because in reality there is nothing to know.
In Defence of Robbo
On Sunday, The Observer run a story that would not have gone amiss on the back pages of The Sun or Daily Mirror. Not a single quote or any type of evidence other than the assumptions and opinions of the journalists (it took two people to write it). They told us that Paul Robinson's was told by Spurs in a meeting with the chairman that he could leave the club. Then we are told that Defoe will sign a contract but leave in the summer.
The article then bounces back to Robinson and how Levy wants him gone due to Robbo publicly backing Martin Jol back in October prior to the arrival of Ramos. What we are meant to believe is that Levy was furious with Robbo to the point of wanting him kicked out of the club. But this isn’t the most ridiculous part of the article. That’s saved for the part that explains Damien Comolli (also anti-Robinson) went to the ‘extraordinary’ length of advising the then England manager (Mr McClaren) to drop Robinson some months BEFORE the Euro 2008 qualifier against Croatia.
Just try to picture that. Comolli telling McClaren to drop Robinson when at the time. Are the Writers Guild of America moonlighting fro the British media? There’s also nothing surprising about Robinson reacting badly to being dropped. Badly can be interrupted into ‘angrily’. Unless the journalists were present and witnessed Robinson being dropped how the fuck do they know anything about how he reacted? Oh yeah, ‘our sources’ tell us. I keep forgetting the press have insiders all over the shop.
I can handle the press printing bullshit. It’s a commodity they rely on. Robinson, bless him, hasn’t gone beyond losing form. He has lost the part of him that made him the best English keeper. He’s gone from very good to very average. But that doesn’t mean he won’t make a recovery. That recovery will happen if he admits to himself he has a problem, something he doesn’t appear to have done at any stage this season and since the air-kick in Croatia.
The recovery is also dependent on how the Spurs fans take to him when he returns to starting line-up. You can’t deny him the fact that at the end of his first year at Spurs he was probably the most popular player at the Lane. 7 year contract, superb all round form. England’s number 1.
Since then, things have progressively got worse for him. From Mr Dependable to Mr Calamity. Signs first appeared in the 07 season. This season has been an unmitigated disaster, with over 10 goals or so being down to his bad decision making and judgement. But any suggestions of him being hounded out of the club, by the board or the players is disgraceful.
Let’s kick him out. Yeah. Great idea. Much like when we thought Pat Jennings wasn’t good enough anymore and sold him to Arsenal. What a brilliant piece of business that turned out to be. Robinson’s form should have been dealt with a long time ago. It wasn’t. We still have no keeping coach since Segers left. He’s confidence will never improve if he is playing with the back four he’s had in front of him most of the season. Maybe with King back, things will begin to take shape.
Sometimes the lack of loyalty and the way we turn on our own is shocking. So, I will hope the media are making up stories and the fickle Spurs fans are just a minority. Otherwise, its shameful.
The article then bounces back to Robinson and how Levy wants him gone due to Robbo publicly backing Martin Jol back in October prior to the arrival of Ramos. What we are meant to believe is that Levy was furious with Robbo to the point of wanting him kicked out of the club. But this isn’t the most ridiculous part of the article. That’s saved for the part that explains Damien Comolli (also anti-Robinson) went to the ‘extraordinary’ length of advising the then England manager (Mr McClaren) to drop Robinson some months BEFORE the Euro 2008 qualifier against Croatia.
Just try to picture that. Comolli telling McClaren to drop Robinson when at the time. Are the Writers Guild of America moonlighting fro the British media? There’s also nothing surprising about Robinson reacting badly to being dropped. Badly can be interrupted into ‘angrily’. Unless the journalists were present and witnessed Robinson being dropped how the fuck do they know anything about how he reacted? Oh yeah, ‘our sources’ tell us. I keep forgetting the press have insiders all over the shop.
I can handle the press printing bullshit. It’s a commodity they rely on. Robinson, bless him, hasn’t gone beyond losing form. He has lost the part of him that made him the best English keeper. He’s gone from very good to very average. But that doesn’t mean he won’t make a recovery. That recovery will happen if he admits to himself he has a problem, something he doesn’t appear to have done at any stage this season and since the air-kick in Croatia.
The recovery is also dependent on how the Spurs fans take to him when he returns to starting line-up. You can’t deny him the fact that at the end of his first year at Spurs he was probably the most popular player at the Lane. 7 year contract, superb all round form. England’s number 1.
Since then, things have progressively got worse for him. From Mr Dependable to Mr Calamity. Signs first appeared in the 07 season. This season has been an unmitigated disaster, with over 10 goals or so being down to his bad decision making and judgement. But any suggestions of him being hounded out of the club, by the board or the players is disgraceful.
Let’s kick him out. Yeah. Great idea. Much like when we thought Pat Jennings wasn’t good enough anymore and sold him to Arsenal. What a brilliant piece of business that turned out to be. Robinson’s form should have been dealt with a long time ago. It wasn’t. We still have no keeping coach since Segers left. He’s confidence will never improve if he is playing with the back four he’s had in front of him most of the season. Maybe with King back, things will begin to take shape.
Sometimes the lack of loyalty and the way we turn on our own is shocking. So, I will hope the media are making up stories and the fickle Spurs fans are just a minority. Otherwise, its shameful.
Saturday, 12 January 2008
Downing
My question is, does Ramos know who Stewart Downing is? Does he know what type of player he is? Is he a Levy/Comolli signing or has our new manager had some input on this? I wonder how the conversation went....
Comolli: Hi. I got a player for you.
Ramos: A central defender?
Comolli: No.
Ramos: Another right-back? A central defender?
Comolli: No. No.
Ramos: Defensive midfielder?
Comolli: Nope.
Ramos: Keeper!!! Keeper!!!
Comolli: No.
Ramos: Please, not another...how do you say....sarding...
Comolli: ...sodding...
Ramos:.....sodding striker.
Comolli: No.
Ramos: What? What do you have?
Comolli: A left winger.
Ramos: Riiiiiight. That is exactly what we need this moment. Good thinking. Who?
Comolli: Downing.
Ramos: dos Downing? Mexican?
Comolli: Nope. From Middlesbrough.
Ramos: (laughs) Oh, you are serious. What are his abilities?
Comolli: He cant beat a man, will never be world-class, sometimes inconsistent but can cross the ball. Will frustrate fans.
Ramos: Ok. A squad player. For backup?
Comolli: No. First teamer. Big signing.
Ramos: How much for this Drowning?
Comolli: £12M. More if we can get Boro to take the money.
Ramos: You are fucking shit at your job, do you know that?
Comolli: Your English has improved.
Ramos: Call me a taxi.
Comolli: Hi. I got a player for you.
Ramos: A central defender?
Comolli: No.
Ramos: Another right-back? A central defender?
Comolli: No. No.
Ramos: Defensive midfielder?
Comolli: Nope.
Ramos: Keeper!!! Keeper!!!
Comolli: No.
Ramos: Please, not another...how do you say....sarding...
Comolli: ...sodding...
Ramos:.....sodding striker.
Comolli: No.
Ramos: What? What do you have?
Comolli: A left winger.
Ramos: Riiiiiight. That is exactly what we need this moment. Good thinking. Who?
Comolli: Downing.
Ramos: dos Downing? Mexican?
Comolli: Nope. From Middlesbrough.
Ramos: (laughs) Oh, you are serious. What are his abilities?
Comolli: He cant beat a man, will never be world-class, sometimes inconsistent but can cross the ball. Will frustrate fans.
Ramos: Ok. A squad player. For backup?
Comolli: No. First teamer. Big signing.
Ramos: How much for this Drowning?
Comolli: £12M. More if we can get Boro to take the money.
Ramos: You are fucking shit at your job, do you know that?
Comolli: Your English has improved.
Ramos: Call me a taxi.
Back to the whorage
I love the rags. Back pages telling us Defoe was set to be Harry Redknapp's first signing for Newcastle. Yes. The same Harry who this morning told everyone he isn't leaving Pompey. Still, he may yet sign JD. Although gossip suggests Villa will be in for him (matches up with the news item about him looking to buy a house in the Midlands for himself and his bit of skirt).
Another player who's future is in doubt is Robbo. Again the press suggesting he handed in a transfer request. If this was true, then see you later Mr Robinson. Bit fucking immature. However, Jeff Stelling on Soccer Saturday stated he knew (ooh ITK) that this was untrue. Still, Poyet didn't offer anything either way today stating:
"I would say no comment because I don't know. There is nothing wrong with Paul. He was part of the team and squad today".
Cerny did OK in goal. He got beaten from distance. Which I'm sure is something I've seen before, somewhere.
Late last night I got a text telling me deals for the following were on the cards, with some of them practically done (yeah right):
Diarra
Jarque
Fred
Downing
Diarra and Jarque are not new 'interests' in the transfer market. Fred is. I pray that the only reason we are looking at yet another striker is because Defoe is on his way. So, get rid of inconsistent JD and bring in the inconsistent Fred. A player rumoured to want a return to Brazil where his goal-scoring ratio was fantastic. Hasn't set France alight. Perfect for Spurs then.
Downing. Christ. £12M? We do like to burn our money don't we? Though in actuality (I hope) Spurs would fork out something like £2M-£2.5M a year for 3 years and then pay out more depending on appearances/goals/CL (lol).
Downing is not £12M player. He isn't a bad player. Harsh to call him average, but he isn't world class and he isn't all that better than what we have at the minute. Yeah, lovely left peg as they say. One of the best crossers of the ball in the Prem, but can he beat a player? Can he devastate like a Petrov? Nope. Is he a Ramos player? Does Ramos know who he even is?
I wouldn't be aggrieved with him joining, just not for a ton of cash. The fact is, the player is the crown jewel of Boro, so they will not want to let him go for cheap. It's more to do with him being their prized asset rather than a player worth every penny of a multi-million pound transfer fee.
And if we layed 12 big ones, do the math with the money spent on Bent. That's our sodding case overspent on players who are not in the 'fucking ace' category. But then, the team isn't in the category either. But then we did pluck Berbatov out of the continent. So, how about doing the same again.
Ramos is improving the team, from top to bottom. And he knows that his ideal tactics and style of play won't happen with the current bunch. Some need to be culled. The remaining need to be complimented. If Ramos believes Downing can restore balance on the left, so be it. I'm guessing Steed will move into central midfield. When Bale returns, that left side (along with Gunter) won't be too shabby.
But a Ramos 'team' needs one box-2-box midfielder and one defensive midfielder. Those are truly the key positions. Defenders are always wanted at the Lane. But at least things will be easier now the King is back.
UPDATE:
£10M for Downing, with Tainio thrown in as part of the deal. Not sure who's getting the worse of it.
Another player who's future is in doubt is Robbo. Again the press suggesting he handed in a transfer request. If this was true, then see you later Mr Robinson. Bit fucking immature. However, Jeff Stelling on Soccer Saturday stated he knew (ooh ITK) that this was untrue. Still, Poyet didn't offer anything either way today stating:
"I would say no comment because I don't know. There is nothing wrong with Paul. He was part of the team and squad today".
Cerny did OK in goal. He got beaten from distance. Which I'm sure is something I've seen before, somewhere.
Late last night I got a text telling me deals for the following were on the cards, with some of them practically done (yeah right):
Diarra
Jarque
Fred
Downing
Diarra and Jarque are not new 'interests' in the transfer market. Fred is. I pray that the only reason we are looking at yet another striker is because Defoe is on his way. So, get rid of inconsistent JD and bring in the inconsistent Fred. A player rumoured to want a return to Brazil where his goal-scoring ratio was fantastic. Hasn't set France alight. Perfect for Spurs then.
Downing. Christ. £12M? We do like to burn our money don't we? Though in actuality (I hope) Spurs would fork out something like £2M-£2.5M a year for 3 years and then pay out more depending on appearances/goals/CL (lol).
Downing is not £12M player. He isn't a bad player. Harsh to call him average, but he isn't world class and he isn't all that better than what we have at the minute. Yeah, lovely left peg as they say. One of the best crossers of the ball in the Prem, but can he beat a player? Can he devastate like a Petrov? Nope. Is he a Ramos player? Does Ramos know who he even is?
I wouldn't be aggrieved with him joining, just not for a ton of cash. The fact is, the player is the crown jewel of Boro, so they will not want to let him go for cheap. It's more to do with him being their prized asset rather than a player worth every penny of a multi-million pound transfer fee.
And if we layed 12 big ones, do the math with the money spent on Bent. That's our sodding case overspent on players who are not in the 'fucking ace' category. But then, the team isn't in the category either. But then we did pluck Berbatov out of the continent. So, how about doing the same again.
Ramos is improving the team, from top to bottom. And he knows that his ideal tactics and style of play won't happen with the current bunch. Some need to be culled. The remaining need to be complimented. If Ramos believes Downing can restore balance on the left, so be it. I'm guessing Steed will move into central midfield. When Bale returns, that left side (along with Gunter) won't be too shabby.
But a Ramos 'team' needs one box-2-box midfielder and one defensive midfielder. Those are truly the key positions. Defenders are always wanted at the Lane. But at least things will be easier now the King is back.
UPDATE:
£10M for Downing, with Tainio thrown in as part of the deal. Not sure who's getting the worse of it.
2-0 to them lot
Wasn't at the game, didn't stream it. From what I've been told we were pretty much shit, especially in central midfield where O'Hara and KPB struggled. The latter resorting to rugby at one desperate point in the match. Disappointing we couldn't show up for this. By all accounts, poor match lightened up by a sparkling 35 yarder. Though who wouldn't have a crack when nobody attempts to close the player down. 10 seconds is plenty of time to take aim.
King completed his third 90 minutes of football in 7 days. That's one thing to be happy about. Uncertain of young Taarabt's performance. Apparently hugged the ball a little too much. Great in possession but with no end product. Again, development for him and Jamie and Kevin being the key to avoiding transfers to the Championship.
Not going to dwell any more on this game. Bit silly if I haven't seen any footage.
King completed his third 90 minutes of football in 7 days. That's one thing to be happy about. Uncertain of young Taarabt's performance. Apparently hugged the ball a little too much. Great in possession but with no end product. Again, development for him and Jamie and Kevin being the key to avoiding transfers to the Championship.
Not going to dwell any more on this game. Bit silly if I haven't seen any footage.
Friday, 11 January 2008
Cynicism
Young-Pyo Lee had a stonking game against the Arse. Yeah, he can't cross for shit, but few would argue against the fact he has been our most disciplined player for a fair while now. Does what needs to be done without being outstanding to the point of fantastic. Never going to be world-class, but is now worthy of remaining in the squad going forward. But you could argue he cost us a goal. I'm not talking about the deflection off his tackle and onto Walcott’s hand. More the case of the play leading up to that incident.
O'Hara was slow to see Bendtner make a run and with Lee already committed to tracking Walcott, King was left holding the area in front of Eduardo but also looking at the run Bendtner was making at which point Bendtner is on his own and in a superb position to receive the ball in a dangerous position. With O'Hara tracking and Lee having committed himself to Walcott, King was caught for a split second in no-mans land - which way to go? What to commit too?
It's here that Lee could have saved the day. Had he focused he could have played Walcott offside as everyone was a step up as Eduardo threaded the pass. Lee plays Walcott on. The rest is history.
But if you take a few paces back, all this could have been avoided.
Gilberto, middle of the park skips round Jenas. What does Jenas do? Nothing. What he should have done is what any Arsenal player would have done in the same situation. Hacked him down, taken the yellow card with pride. Play dirty WHEN you need to. I'd stop short of the play acting theatrics, mind. Cynicism could have given us a 1-0 lead going into the second leg.
Ramos, considering he came from La Liga, will surely with time drill this home to the players.
O'Hara was slow to see Bendtner make a run and with Lee already committed to tracking Walcott, King was left holding the area in front of Eduardo but also looking at the run Bendtner was making at which point Bendtner is on his own and in a superb position to receive the ball in a dangerous position. With O'Hara tracking and Lee having committed himself to Walcott, King was caught for a split second in no-mans land - which way to go? What to commit too?
It's here that Lee could have saved the day. Had he focused he could have played Walcott offside as everyone was a step up as Eduardo threaded the pass. Lee plays Walcott on. The rest is history.
But if you take a few paces back, all this could have been avoided.
Gilberto, middle of the park skips round Jenas. What does Jenas do? Nothing. What he should have done is what any Arsenal player would have done in the same situation. Hacked him down, taken the yellow card with pride. Play dirty WHEN you need to. I'd stop short of the play acting theatrics, mind. Cynicism could have given us a 1-0 lead going into the second leg.
Ramos, considering he came from La Liga, will surely with time drill this home to the players.
Staggering
Spurs have won only two of 63 away league games against the "Big Four" during the Premier League era. In the past two seasons we've taken one point from a possible twenty-one available away to Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea.
Obviously all other clubs in the Prem probably have records as bad as ours at the grounds of the big four, considering Arsenal and Chelsea rarely lose at home. But other fans don't pretend they are level-pegging with the big four. Though to be fair, we only believed the gap was closing last season and the season before. Reality has a nasty sting to it.
An improvement on this 'record' is the way to gauge true progression.
Chelsea away up next. Am I asking too much?
Obviously all other clubs in the Prem probably have records as bad as ours at the grounds of the big four, considering Arsenal and Chelsea rarely lose at home. But other fans don't pretend they are level-pegging with the big four. Though to be fair, we only believed the gap was closing last season and the season before. Reality has a nasty sting to it.
An improvement on this 'record' is the way to gauge true progression.
Chelsea away up next. Am I asking too much?
Thursday, 10 January 2008
Transfer News
Right. Let’s do a roundup of the past weeks tabloid whorage.
Woodgate and Taylor
Apparently, rejected on both counts. If this is true, then it makes you wonder who else Comolli has written down in his hit list of prospective signings. Woodgate? Has he managed to play more than 3 successive games in his whole career? Taylor is decent enough but considering Newcastle’s problems it’s nigh impossible for them to consider selling him unless he wants to leave. Which is unlikely.
Prefer to file these under ‘disinformation’.
Hutton
So, we bid for him. It got accepted. He declined the chance to come down South. His agent then stated the player wants 2/3 days to think about it. He then apparently rejects us again. We wait a few days and then offer him a better wage packet. He turns it down again. How all this managed to be leaked to the press astounds me. Behind closed doors is a concept football agents are incapable of grasping. £8M for a player from Scotland is about £5M too much.
Berbatov
Oozing class on the pitch at the moment. His agent is insisting that Dimitar’s future lies elsewhere. And that it’s all down to Spurs to take responsibility and settle the matter, suggesting that Spurs may have had bids for the player or attempting to suggest that Spurs want to sell the player against his will. A bit of arsehole is this Dantchev.
Ronaldinho
LOL’ing yet? Back in November an article from Spanish ‘tabloid’ stated a rumour that Ron was on his way to White Hart Lane. This was then dismissed by the journalist who made it up, claiming that his intent was to show how easy it is to start an Internet rumour – and have the newspapers latch onto it. Obviously, nobody credible printed the ridiculous story other than the equivalent to the Daily Star. He should have aimed a bit lower if he wanted to go nationwide with the ruse.
Then, some idiot decided to revise this with an alleged ITK piece which would have us believe that a boardroom conversation was subject to a wire tap (I mean, ffs). Levy allegedly stating that he would pay £30M for the Brazilian. The ITK piece originated from the COYS forum.
Here’s the wire tap:
"Hard to believe Danny’s prepared to shell out that kind of money."
"Saw it with my own eyes; offer on the table for 30 very big ones!"
"Will they take it?"
"Hard to say?"
"He beat both Lumps and Henry didn't he?"
"Yup."
"Would he come here?"
"Even harder to say."
"Tottenham might be a bit of a shock to him."
"It'd be a long way from Port Happy all right" "We can dream. "
Pathetic. The author has since admitted it was a joke. In this day and age, it’s likely to get picked up by a lazy hack and printed (not the wire tap, the ‘Spurs want Ron’ angle). Some minor minor Internet sites have already run the story. LOL’ing now?
Ustari
Apparently Ramos is keeping tabs on 21 year old Oscar Ustari. He’s an Argie and plays for Gatafe. Meant to be pretty decent. Not sure if this one has made it into the Spurs forums yet. Guessing probably has, considering that the press will link anyone considered decent to Ramos due to his Spanish connection.
Shimbonba
Just fuck off.
Woodgate and Taylor
Apparently, rejected on both counts. If this is true, then it makes you wonder who else Comolli has written down in his hit list of prospective signings. Woodgate? Has he managed to play more than 3 successive games in his whole career? Taylor is decent enough but considering Newcastle’s problems it’s nigh impossible for them to consider selling him unless he wants to leave. Which is unlikely.
Prefer to file these under ‘disinformation’.
Hutton
So, we bid for him. It got accepted. He declined the chance to come down South. His agent then stated the player wants 2/3 days to think about it. He then apparently rejects us again. We wait a few days and then offer him a better wage packet. He turns it down again. How all this managed to be leaked to the press astounds me. Behind closed doors is a concept football agents are incapable of grasping. £8M for a player from Scotland is about £5M too much.
Berbatov
Oozing class on the pitch at the moment. His agent is insisting that Dimitar’s future lies elsewhere. And that it’s all down to Spurs to take responsibility and settle the matter, suggesting that Spurs may have had bids for the player or attempting to suggest that Spurs want to sell the player against his will. A bit of arsehole is this Dantchev.
Ronaldinho
LOL’ing yet? Back in November an article from Spanish ‘tabloid’ stated a rumour that Ron was on his way to White Hart Lane. This was then dismissed by the journalist who made it up, claiming that his intent was to show how easy it is to start an Internet rumour – and have the newspapers latch onto it. Obviously, nobody credible printed the ridiculous story other than the equivalent to the Daily Star. He should have aimed a bit lower if he wanted to go nationwide with the ruse.
Then, some idiot decided to revise this with an alleged ITK piece which would have us believe that a boardroom conversation was subject to a wire tap (I mean, ffs). Levy allegedly stating that he would pay £30M for the Brazilian. The ITK piece originated from the COYS forum.
Here’s the wire tap:
"Hard to believe Danny’s prepared to shell out that kind of money."
"Saw it with my own eyes; offer on the table for 30 very big ones!"
"Will they take it?"
"Hard to say?"
"He beat both Lumps and Henry didn't he?"
"Yup."
"Would he come here?"
"Even harder to say."
"Tottenham might be a bit of a shock to him."
"It'd be a long way from Port Happy all right" "We can dream. "
Pathetic. The author has since admitted it was a joke. In this day and age, it’s likely to get picked up by a lazy hack and printed (not the wire tap, the ‘Spurs want Ron’ angle). Some minor minor Internet sites have already run the story. LOL’ing now?
Ustari
Apparently Ramos is keeping tabs on 21 year old Oscar Ustari. He’s an Argie and plays for Gatafe. Meant to be pretty decent. Not sure if this one has made it into the Spurs forums yet. Guessing probably has, considering that the press will link anyone considered decent to Ramos due to his Spanish connection.
Shimbonba
Just fuck off.
The Final Third
Arsenal 1 Spurs 1
What a complete and utter crock of shit. I fucking hate London Transport. I set off from Leyton tube station in the badlands of East London, along with Spurs tourist Forza Huddlestone (a GG regular and resident of Florida) at about 6pm. If you’re familiar with that part of London you’d probably wonder why we didn’t get a bus to Walthamstow Central and hop onto the Victoria Line. Well, simple really. At that time of day, its carnage on the roads. More traffic lights than dollar notes in Bill Gates wallet. Would have taken an age to get to Walthamstow.
So with the Central Line being the best alternative, we set out for Holborn, with the intention of changing over to the Piccadilly Line and make our way to Gillespie Road. And it’s here the Fellowship of the Cup began. The train didn’t stop at Holborn, thanks to over-crowding. So, we decided to go to Oxford Circus, hop onto the Victoria Line and get to Finsbury Park. Round the houses trip. 5 minutes waiting for a train, when it finally arrived and everyone crowded on, we were told that due to something or rather (signal failure?) the train wouldn’t be moving for a bit and chances of getting to Finsbury Park were zero.
Oh, and how can I forget? Back on the Central Line I adopted a Gooner. He doesn’t live in London and wasn’t sure of an alternative route to get to the game when the train failed to stop at Holborn.
“Did I hear you’re going to the Emirates?” He asked. Smart looking bloke, but I could tell he wasn’t one of us. Evil lurked within.
“Yes mate. You’re fucking Arsenal aren’t you?” I said. He laughed.
I told him to just follow us. Turns out he had a ticket for an executive box. Staggering. Apparently the rack of ribs is the highlight of the available food for a midweek game. Posh grub only available on weekend games when the chef has more time to prepare. Better than a bagel I suppose.
One of the reasons he wasn’t pushed in front of a train (apart from the fact there were no fucking trains) was that he was happy to slag off the Emirates and the corporate fans. Probably did so to keep us onside so he wouldn't get lost in the scary underground land of the giant robotic tunnel snakes.
A bit ironic considering he was going to tuck into some ribs later on in the evening. Most Arsenal fans hate that element of their club, so they say. I’m sure if we are ever graced with a stadium of that magnitude, the same thing would befall us. Though we don’t have a Nick Hornby to help recruit cunts by the thousands.
“We get far too many people who aren’t football fans let alone Arsenal fans that come to the games”. No shit sherlock. His excuse was he doesn’t live in London.
Anyways, we decided to scrap the Victoria Line (which was later partially suspended) and make our way to Kings Cross. Bakerloo to Baker Street, only to find Kings Cross closed. Quintessential evening travel experience right there. And we were obviously not alone, with countless red and white and white and blue colours littered frantically all of the place as people tried to work out alternate escapes from the underworld.
We settled for Bakerloo to Piccadilly Circus to Gillespie Rd. No surprise the kick-off was delayed. Amazing how many barriers (figuratively speaking) supporters had to dodge in attempting to get to the game. Sods law in full effect.
Finally got to the ground, one hour and forty minutes after setting off. We said our goodbyes to Billy (the gooner). No tongues. In all seriousness, he was a good lad. He even wished us luck. Bless.
The game wasn't too shabby. Especially from our perspective. Sure, we didn’t beat them (again). If anything, the 90 minutes gave us a near perfect example of the kind of breaks the teams at the very peak of the table get. That old saying about making your own luck rings true and Arsenal proved it. Their goal was textbook. Slice of luck, deflected, off Walcott’s hand and in. He didn’t know too much about it, but that didn’t stop him goading us with the cupped ear routine. How very scum that was. Seems young Theo is fitting in perfectly well at Arsenal. Already a cunt at such an early age, skinned by O’Hara then going down Platoon style feigning a head injury but then being treated for a foot injury. Laughable and unsurprising.
The game had an element of (the required) blood and thunder, but decent flowing football seems to be the best way to hurt opposition in a NLD. Something them lot know all too well, especially against us. This time out, Wenger's superfluous kids looked shit. Especially at the back. But they still had their moments and forced a few saves and especially early on in the game, managed a few heart-in-mouth moments. We hurt them in much the same way. Good crisp attacking football.
We looked solid too. Ledley King, for the first time since his return from injury, actually looked to be back to business with some wonderful trademark tackles. Hasn't lost any of his pace either. Overall not too bad in possession and as the game progressed some of our purple patches produced some excellent play, eventually leading to the Jenas goal for 1-0.
Could have, should have (there’s those words again) scored more in that first half. Second half too. The play in the final third lacked that final killer ball or shot. Pulling the trigger a bit earlier on occasion would have helped. 1-0, 1-1….all the same really. If Wenger plays the same team they will be slightly more improved performance wise I’m sure. But Spurs have to be favourites now to get to the final. On the 23rd time of asking, Spurs will have to produce the same type of performance with a more telling score-line in our favour. Steed and JD take note.
Arsenal lacked the cohesiveness of their previous games. Good to see a second successive decent enough performance in their cesspit. Would be foolish to think the tie is done and dusted though.
Wasn't too happy with the constant ball back to the keeper routine. But at 1-0, you couldn't really complain about it. Making use of the ball and helping so by moving into positions is something that will come with time and new players with the appropriate vision. That's one thing the scum do well. When they are in possession they always get forward. Although I'm highlighting their good moments. Some of their passing in front of their own area was almost, dare I say, Tottenhamesque from weeks gone by. Senderos. Diamond geezer innit.
No Robinson for us. Good decision and about time. Cerny (minus his kicking) played well. Some useful saves and tidy keeping. We need to bring in someone now or the summer as his loan spell is up and I don't think it will be renewed. Robinson has to avoid sulking and should prove Ramos wrong if he wants to see out his long term contract. Personally hope he does just that.
Berbatov looked sublime again. His control of the ball and run at Arsenals defence in the first half was superb. Steed, King and Jenas all impressed. Not too many negatives. Defoe’s sitter aside. We created loads of chances, and for a team that’s been very average this season, it was a fine result to take back to the Lane. You could tell that alone on the faces of the home support after the final whistle and on the way home. The miserable gits.
Not a single booking last night either. Well done ref.
Truly shocking home support. But nothing new there from the Borg collective. Apart from that small section in the corner (Hugh, is that you?) that bring their scarf's to the game. But maybe their insistent jumping up and down has more to do with bladder control. The Emirates has the smallest most compact toilets I’ve ever had the displeasure of using. Thank God for the sinks.
You have to love these games for what they are. Boiling pots.
But enough unoriginal cheap shots aimed at the Enemy, at the end of the day, we aren’t without our own problems. Let’s not pretend for a second that our West Stand doesn’t exist. One thing is for sure. Come the 22nd, the whole of the Lane will be fucking near apocalyptic.
Getting back after the game proved to be a pain too. Victoria Line was still screwed. Overground only at Finsbury Park. First train was far too packed. Second train was cancelled. 30 minute wait. No thank you. We walked to Angel, and didn’t get back to East London till well gone 11pm. Proper work-out that was ruined by a midnight KFC.
And onwards we go. Roll on, second leg.
What a complete and utter crock of shit. I fucking hate London Transport. I set off from Leyton tube station in the badlands of East London, along with Spurs tourist Forza Huddlestone (a GG regular and resident of Florida) at about 6pm. If you’re familiar with that part of London you’d probably wonder why we didn’t get a bus to Walthamstow Central and hop onto the Victoria Line. Well, simple really. At that time of day, its carnage on the roads. More traffic lights than dollar notes in Bill Gates wallet. Would have taken an age to get to Walthamstow.
So with the Central Line being the best alternative, we set out for Holborn, with the intention of changing over to the Piccadilly Line and make our way to Gillespie Road. And it’s here the Fellowship of the Cup began. The train didn’t stop at Holborn, thanks to over-crowding. So, we decided to go to Oxford Circus, hop onto the Victoria Line and get to Finsbury Park. Round the houses trip. 5 minutes waiting for a train, when it finally arrived and everyone crowded on, we were told that due to something or rather (signal failure?) the train wouldn’t be moving for a bit and chances of getting to Finsbury Park were zero.
Oh, and how can I forget? Back on the Central Line I adopted a Gooner. He doesn’t live in London and wasn’t sure of an alternative route to get to the game when the train failed to stop at Holborn.
“Did I hear you’re going to the Emirates?” He asked. Smart looking bloke, but I could tell he wasn’t one of us. Evil lurked within.
“Yes mate. You’re fucking Arsenal aren’t you?” I said. He laughed.
I told him to just follow us. Turns out he had a ticket for an executive box. Staggering. Apparently the rack of ribs is the highlight of the available food for a midweek game. Posh grub only available on weekend games when the chef has more time to prepare. Better than a bagel I suppose.
One of the reasons he wasn’t pushed in front of a train (apart from the fact there were no fucking trains) was that he was happy to slag off the Emirates and the corporate fans. Probably did so to keep us onside so he wouldn't get lost in the scary underground land of the giant robotic tunnel snakes.
A bit ironic considering he was going to tuck into some ribs later on in the evening. Most Arsenal fans hate that element of their club, so they say. I’m sure if we are ever graced with a stadium of that magnitude, the same thing would befall us. Though we don’t have a Nick Hornby to help recruit cunts by the thousands.
“We get far too many people who aren’t football fans let alone Arsenal fans that come to the games”. No shit sherlock. His excuse was he doesn’t live in London.
Anyways, we decided to scrap the Victoria Line (which was later partially suspended) and make our way to Kings Cross. Bakerloo to Baker Street, only to find Kings Cross closed. Quintessential evening travel experience right there. And we were obviously not alone, with countless red and white and white and blue colours littered frantically all of the place as people tried to work out alternate escapes from the underworld.
We settled for Bakerloo to Piccadilly Circus to Gillespie Rd. No surprise the kick-off was delayed. Amazing how many barriers (figuratively speaking) supporters had to dodge in attempting to get to the game. Sods law in full effect.
Finally got to the ground, one hour and forty minutes after setting off. We said our goodbyes to Billy (the gooner). No tongues. In all seriousness, he was a good lad. He even wished us luck. Bless.
The game wasn't too shabby. Especially from our perspective. Sure, we didn’t beat them (again). If anything, the 90 minutes gave us a near perfect example of the kind of breaks the teams at the very peak of the table get. That old saying about making your own luck rings true and Arsenal proved it. Their goal was textbook. Slice of luck, deflected, off Walcott’s hand and in. He didn’t know too much about it, but that didn’t stop him goading us with the cupped ear routine. How very scum that was. Seems young Theo is fitting in perfectly well at Arsenal. Already a cunt at such an early age, skinned by O’Hara then going down Platoon style feigning a head injury but then being treated for a foot injury. Laughable and unsurprising.
The game had an element of (the required) blood and thunder, but decent flowing football seems to be the best way to hurt opposition in a NLD. Something them lot know all too well, especially against us. This time out, Wenger's superfluous kids looked shit. Especially at the back. But they still had their moments and forced a few saves and especially early on in the game, managed a few heart-in-mouth moments. We hurt them in much the same way. Good crisp attacking football.
We looked solid too. Ledley King, for the first time since his return from injury, actually looked to be back to business with some wonderful trademark tackles. Hasn't lost any of his pace either. Overall not too bad in possession and as the game progressed some of our purple patches produced some excellent play, eventually leading to the Jenas goal for 1-0.
Could have, should have (there’s those words again) scored more in that first half. Second half too. The play in the final third lacked that final killer ball or shot. Pulling the trigger a bit earlier on occasion would have helped. 1-0, 1-1….all the same really. If Wenger plays the same team they will be slightly more improved performance wise I’m sure. But Spurs have to be favourites now to get to the final. On the 23rd time of asking, Spurs will have to produce the same type of performance with a more telling score-line in our favour. Steed and JD take note.
Arsenal lacked the cohesiveness of their previous games. Good to see a second successive decent enough performance in their cesspit. Would be foolish to think the tie is done and dusted though.
Wasn't too happy with the constant ball back to the keeper routine. But at 1-0, you couldn't really complain about it. Making use of the ball and helping so by moving into positions is something that will come with time and new players with the appropriate vision. That's one thing the scum do well. When they are in possession they always get forward. Although I'm highlighting their good moments. Some of their passing in front of their own area was almost, dare I say, Tottenhamesque from weeks gone by. Senderos. Diamond geezer innit.
No Robinson for us. Good decision and about time. Cerny (minus his kicking) played well. Some useful saves and tidy keeping. We need to bring in someone now or the summer as his loan spell is up and I don't think it will be renewed. Robinson has to avoid sulking and should prove Ramos wrong if he wants to see out his long term contract. Personally hope he does just that.
Berbatov looked sublime again. His control of the ball and run at Arsenals defence in the first half was superb. Steed, King and Jenas all impressed. Not too many negatives. Defoe’s sitter aside. We created loads of chances, and for a team that’s been very average this season, it was a fine result to take back to the Lane. You could tell that alone on the faces of the home support after the final whistle and on the way home. The miserable gits.
Not a single booking last night either. Well done ref.
Truly shocking home support. But nothing new there from the Borg collective. Apart from that small section in the corner (Hugh, is that you?) that bring their scarf's to the game. But maybe their insistent jumping up and down has more to do with bladder control. The Emirates has the smallest most compact toilets I’ve ever had the displeasure of using. Thank God for the sinks.
As for the empty seats, was there a rowing regatta everyone had to get to? Still 53,000 to watch an Arsenal reserve team ain’t too shabby, no?
After the game, apart from the usual head-slapping from the Arsenal fans from behind the line of Police officers, some of them were making throat slitting gestures. I’m now pretty certain they were referring to losing their voice along with every other red in the ground.You have to love these games for what they are. Boiling pots.
But enough unoriginal cheap shots aimed at the Enemy, at the end of the day, we aren’t without our own problems. Let’s not pretend for a second that our West Stand doesn’t exist. One thing is for sure. Come the 22nd, the whole of the Lane will be fucking near apocalyptic.
Getting back after the game proved to be a pain too. Victoria Line was still screwed. Overground only at Finsbury Park. First train was far too packed. Second train was cancelled. 30 minute wait. No thank you. We walked to Angel, and didn’t get back to East London till well gone 11pm. Proper work-out that was ruined by a midnight KFC.
And onwards we go. Roll on, second leg.
Tuesday, 8 January 2008
NLD semi-final preview
So, here we are again. Another North London Derby. Another semi-final in the Carling Cup. Another mis-match against the might of the Arsenal kids and reserves. Simply put, we don’t stand a sodding chance. Let’s ignore the fact that we have a midfield without grit and grace and also the near epic annoyance of having to play a defence which has lacked organisation and responsibility all season and instead look at the waif between the sticks, the new slim-line still-crap Paul Robinson who has turned David Blaine with a quite uncanny ability to concede goals out of thin air. His two-step back-step egg-on-face trick against Reading clearly displays the fact that Arsenal won’t even need to send out any players on Wednesday night. We are quite capable of losing the game all on our own.
Even with a full strength team, Spurs are stuck in traffic in a clapped out Robin Reliant while Arsenal are hitting speeds of 195mph in their Ferrari Enzo. Jeremy Clarkson would happily defecate his disapproval on our bonnet and nobody would notice the steaming addition.
Last season we believed we would beat them, and at 2-0 up and Berbatov on fire we probably would have had he not gone off injured. He did, and we followed it up with our customary collapse in the second half.
Plucky. Almost. Could have. Should have. Nearly. All synonymous with our big game outings.
Almost, could have, should have won at the Emirates a few weeks back. But once more we choked harder than a filthy skank fellating a donkey on the set of Animal Farm Redux. Like clockwork, it’s nailed on to happen. Tears streaming down our sorry face. Bitter taste in mouth.
While we hope and pray and attempt to build up some much needed hype, they just get on with it. Why do we even bother building ourselves up for the fall?
Let’s not forget they have 10 years of consistency while we sit at ground zero (again). Which is why their 17 and 18 year olds fit in into a polished system so perfectly well. Ours just look lost in amongst the more experienced but less talented first teamers. We don’t stand a chance. We shouldn’t stand a chance simply on the merit of pass achievements. It’s not the 70’s or 80’s. We haven’t been equally matched for an age. And much like the mental and psychological brain-rape that stopped us beating Chelsea in the League for a decade, the same problem exists with Arsenal.
Even at 2-0 up or 1-1 with a penalty, we lack self-belief. Almost like its accidental and not deserved, rather than taking a leaf out of their book and just being cunts about it, finishing it off with a swagger of arrogance. Yes, it’s catch-22. You have to taste success to be able to build on it. But take a look at West Ham and their record against the likes of Utd and Arsenal. We should, by right, have an even bigger reason to want to beat them. It should be a natural feeling and we should revel in the opportunities created. Ram it down their throats. Where is the spirit of '91? Stuck in the last century, sadly.
So how will this game pan out? Will it be a whitewash, completely outclassed? Or another plucky 2-1 loss? Or will Spurs boss it and choke? Am I being defeatist or realistic? I will gladly go ape-shit in the away end on Wednesday night if we beat them, but wouldn’t dare to celebrate advancement till the final whistle of the second leg.
Hopefully O’Hara will start. Steed will be at his energetic best and Berbatov oozes enough class to see us claim some kind of result. That's all more likely than expecting us to defend against set-pieces and remain solid in defence. Creating chances isn't our problem.
Lack of blood and thunder is. Two ingredients that have been missing for far too long and the only two ingredients that are capable of stirring up an upset. If we include them in our performances over the two games, then I promise to crack a smile.
So, let's be 'aving you...part 22, roll on.
Even with a full strength team, Spurs are stuck in traffic in a clapped out Robin Reliant while Arsenal are hitting speeds of 195mph in their Ferrari Enzo. Jeremy Clarkson would happily defecate his disapproval on our bonnet and nobody would notice the steaming addition.
Last season we believed we would beat them, and at 2-0 up and Berbatov on fire we probably would have had he not gone off injured. He did, and we followed it up with our customary collapse in the second half.
Plucky. Almost. Could have. Should have. Nearly. All synonymous with our big game outings.
Almost, could have, should have won at the Emirates a few weeks back. But once more we choked harder than a filthy skank fellating a donkey on the set of Animal Farm Redux. Like clockwork, it’s nailed on to happen. Tears streaming down our sorry face. Bitter taste in mouth.
While we hope and pray and attempt to build up some much needed hype, they just get on with it. Why do we even bother building ourselves up for the fall?
Let’s not forget they have 10 years of consistency while we sit at ground zero (again). Which is why their 17 and 18 year olds fit in into a polished system so perfectly well. Ours just look lost in amongst the more experienced but less talented first teamers. We don’t stand a chance. We shouldn’t stand a chance simply on the merit of pass achievements. It’s not the 70’s or 80’s. We haven’t been equally matched for an age. And much like the mental and psychological brain-rape that stopped us beating Chelsea in the League for a decade, the same problem exists with Arsenal.
Even at 2-0 up or 1-1 with a penalty, we lack self-belief. Almost like its accidental and not deserved, rather than taking a leaf out of their book and just being cunts about it, finishing it off with a swagger of arrogance. Yes, it’s catch-22. You have to taste success to be able to build on it. But take a look at West Ham and their record against the likes of Utd and Arsenal. We should, by right, have an even bigger reason to want to beat them. It should be a natural feeling and we should revel in the opportunities created. Ram it down their throats. Where is the spirit of '91? Stuck in the last century, sadly.
So how will this game pan out? Will it be a whitewash, completely outclassed? Or another plucky 2-1 loss? Or will Spurs boss it and choke? Am I being defeatist or realistic? I will gladly go ape-shit in the away end on Wednesday night if we beat them, but wouldn’t dare to celebrate advancement till the final whistle of the second leg.
Hopefully O’Hara will start. Steed will be at his energetic best and Berbatov oozes enough class to see us claim some kind of result. That's all more likely than expecting us to defend against set-pieces and remain solid in defence. Creating chances isn't our problem.
Lack of blood and thunder is. Two ingredients that have been missing for far too long and the only two ingredients that are capable of stirring up an upset. If we include them in our performances over the two games, then I promise to crack a smile.
So, let's be 'aving you...part 22, roll on.
Defoe
From The Sun:
I can't help but laugh. If it's true, then Ramos and the club are actually doing the right thing here. Defoe is looking for the Bosman, plain and simple. And the club don't want to lose out on several million quid. Why should they? It happened with that Judas c*nt, and having to listen to more 'I love it here' soundbites grates me.
The reason he doesn't start more games is because he's not in the same class as Robbie Keane, let alone Berbatov. He has no footballing brain and blows hot and cold far too often to be anywhere near consistent. Fact is, he is dispensable. The club won't be fooled again. He's claiming that this is Ramos telling him he can leave, rather than DL or DC. Believing word for word anything that the papers print is always foolish, so at the moment I don't see this as anything else but a rehash.
If you wanted to look beyond the sensationalism, the story may be as simplistic as Ramos telling the player if he wants to leave he can leave and Defoe stating he wants to be top of the pecking order at the club. Defoe will take the option to leave for the reason given earlier.
“The manager has said I can leave if I want — but I want to prove him wrong. I want to stay here.
“He called me into his office and told me.
At first, I thought it was a joke. I thought he was going to say I would be starting against Arsenal in the Carling Cup, which was why he didn’t give me a game against Reading at the weekend.
“But he just said ‘You can leave if you want to’. Yet I have no intentions of leaving this club because I love it here.
“I would love to sign a new contract — and I know people at the top of the club want me to stay.
“But no one can expect me to sign a new deal if I can’t get a game.”
I can't help but laugh. If it's true, then Ramos and the club are actually doing the right thing here. Defoe is looking for the Bosman, plain and simple. And the club don't want to lose out on several million quid. Why should they? It happened with that Judas c*nt, and having to listen to more 'I love it here' soundbites grates me.
The reason he doesn't start more games is because he's not in the same class as Robbie Keane, let alone Berbatov. He has no footballing brain and blows hot and cold far too often to be anywhere near consistent. Fact is, he is dispensable. The club won't be fooled again. He's claiming that this is Ramos telling him he can leave, rather than DL or DC. Believing word for word anything that the papers print is always foolish, so at the moment I don't see this as anything else but a rehash.
If you wanted to look beyond the sensationalism, the story may be as simplistic as Ramos telling the player if he wants to leave he can leave and Defoe stating he wants to be top of the pecking order at the club. Defoe will take the option to leave for the reason given earlier.
Monday, 7 January 2008
FA Cup draw
Manchester United away at Old Trafford if we get through the reply. The conspiracy and anti-Spurs FA agenda continues.
Mind the gap
How things stand:
50 Goons
49
48 M Utd
47
46
45
44 Russians
43
42
41
40
39 City
38 Scousers
37
36 Toffees / Villa
35
34 Pompey
33 Rovers
32
31
30
29 Spammers
28
27
26 Barcodes
25
24 Spurs
23
22 Royals
21
20 Trotters / Boro
19 Brum
18
17 Latics / Black Cats
16
15 Cottagers
14
13
12
11
10
9
8
15 points adrift of respectability. It's one thing hoping that our form will balance out resulting in less goals conceded and more points collected, but another thing altogether waiting for the clubs above us to hit 'bad patches'. Its all a bit desperate. West Ham and Newcastle are catchable, especially the Toon who are free-falling. Rovers and Pompey will probably drop a few points. So 8th will be good enough without actually being good enough. 5th, 5th, 8th doesn't look sexy but considering how shit we are I'll take that and a Cup final. Don't ask for much, do I?
Looking at the teams below us, they are probably thinking the same thing. That 15 points adrift of respectability probably has more to do with being safe than it does chasing a UEFA Cup spot.
50 Goons
49
48 M Utd
47
46
45
44 Russians
43
42
41
40
39 City
38 Scousers
37
36 Toffees / Villa
35
34 Pompey
33 Rovers
32
31
30
29 Spammers
28
27
26 Barcodes
25
24 Spurs
23
22 Royals
21
20 Trotters / Boro
19 Brum
18
17 Latics / Black Cats
16
15 Cottagers
14
13
12
11
10
9
8
7 Rams
15 points adrift of respectability. It's one thing hoping that our form will balance out resulting in less goals conceded and more points collected, but another thing altogether waiting for the clubs above us to hit 'bad patches'. Its all a bit desperate. West Ham and Newcastle are catchable, especially the Toon who are free-falling. Rovers and Pompey will probably drop a few points. So 8th will be good enough without actually being good enough. 5th, 5th, 8th doesn't look sexy but considering how shit we are I'll take that and a Cup final. Don't ask for much, do I?
Looking at the teams below us, they are probably thinking the same thing. That 15 points adrift of respectability probably has more to do with being safe than it does chasing a UEFA Cup spot.
Sunday, 6 January 2008
Berbatov Update
Oh, we do like these, don't we? We get them every day. If it isn't Ramos or Levy or a football agent or another player, its Berbs himself this time. Interviewed on the radio.
According to Blighty (who lives in Bulgaria) who post's at the COYS forum, Berbatov was interviewed by Nova TV via telephone. Summary:
Again, the fact that he doesn't directly state 'I am not leaving, I want to stay' means that it's pinch of salt time. With rumours of Chelsea tapping up the player, this interview makes him appear to be innocent of any transfer goings-on, which will then make Spurs appear to be the ones selling him on their own accord when it happens. But that then contradicts everything Levy is saying about the matter. See how easy it is to read anything into a string of words?
We've known for an age something isn't quite right. Nothing has changed. I'm counting the days till February.
UPDATE:
British press now reporting on the interview.
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_3028551,00.html
According to Blighty (who lives in Bulgaria) who post's at the COYS forum, Berbatov was interviewed by Nova TV via telephone. Summary:
- Berbs was angry stating that all the 'quotes' attributed to him in the press about wanting to leave or wanting to play for Manchester United are not his own.
- Other people, including Danchev - his agent - are speaking for themselves and not the player.
- He was asked about leaving and he said he had everything he wanted at Spurs including the money he wanted.
- He didn't directly say he wasn't leaving but gave the impression he wasn't personally pushing for a move in the Jan window.
Again, the fact that he doesn't directly state 'I am not leaving, I want to stay' means that it's pinch of salt time. With rumours of Chelsea tapping up the player, this interview makes him appear to be innocent of any transfer goings-on, which will then make Spurs appear to be the ones selling him on their own accord when it happens. But that then contradicts everything Levy is saying about the matter. See how easy it is to read anything into a string of words?
We've known for an age something isn't quite right. Nothing has changed. I'm counting the days till February.
UPDATE:
British press now reporting on the interview.
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_3028551,00.html
Spurs 2 Reading 2 (FA Cup 3rd Round)
I’m now officially bored of Paul Robinson and the managements persistence in starting him, waiting for him to somehow iron out all his goalkeeping quirks (which are working out to about 3.9 mistakes per game). He’s shit. He knows he’s shit and yet everyone inside the club appear to ignore the simple fact of the matter that he has no self-belief and he’s shit. One or two show stopping television saves doesn’t redeem him from his weekly David James impersonations. Calamitous is too gentle a description.
Take Reading’s first goal. Softest ever? Robinson got his positioning all wrong. It was hilarious. The second Reading goal was also partly his responsibility with another lame effort of a save, pushing the ball out to Hunt for the equaliser. Not that Robinson can be blamed for the draw. Keane and Berbatov both missed guilt-ridden opps in front of goal. On another day, we would have notched up 3 or 4 more goals. But it’s a bit frustrating when we’ve rested 3 players and they’ve changed 8, and we don’t win. But what you gonna do?
One thing we can do, other than work miracles in the transfer window is to resolve the goalkeeping problem once and for all. Playing him week in and week out waiting for him to change form to positive from shambolic is a fruitless exercise.
Drop Paul Robinson.
Take Reading’s first goal. Softest ever? Robinson got his positioning all wrong. It was hilarious. The second Reading goal was also partly his responsibility with another lame effort of a save, pushing the ball out to Hunt for the equaliser. Not that Robinson can be blamed for the draw. Keane and Berbatov both missed guilt-ridden opps in front of goal. On another day, we would have notched up 3 or 4 more goals. But it’s a bit frustrating when we’ve rested 3 players and they’ve changed 8, and we don’t win. But what you gonna do?
One thing we can do, other than work miracles in the transfer window is to resolve the goalkeeping problem once and for all. Playing him week in and week out waiting for him to change form to positive from shambolic is a fruitless exercise.
Drop Paul Robinson.
Friday, 4 January 2008
Fools Gold
From the Daily Mail:
Ramos at it again, this time (it would appear) delivering an indirect threat towards the chairman. Of course, its more likely that the Mail have taken comments from a Ramos interview and simply focused their attention on the above words and nothing else, making it a little out of context. He hasn't actually called the board 'fools' or issued a threat to the club. He's just stating the obvious outcome of selling our prized asset.
Or course, even more likely is the fact that Ramos IS indirectly telling the Spurs board to be careful. I wouldn't worry. £31M can buy us a couple of Darren Bents.
Ramos warns: If we sell Berbatov, this will prove Tottenham is not a big or a great club
Juande Ramos has delivered a stark warning - great clubs do not sell their best players.
With speculation rife that Tottenham are ready to offload Dimitar Berbatov for as much as £31m, Spurs boss Ramos has told the White Hart Lane board: You'd be fools to let him go.
The Spaniard insisted: "It's a logical deduction that if Tottenham sell Berbatov they are not a big club.
"I don't want to sell him. This is my message. There are very few strikers a Berba's quality. Those who do exist play for great teams in the Champions League.
"Great teams do not sell their best players and he's the only great player not in the Champions League this season."
Ramos at it again, this time (it would appear) delivering an indirect threat towards the chairman. Of course, its more likely that the Mail have taken comments from a Ramos interview and simply focused their attention on the above words and nothing else, making it a little out of context. He hasn't actually called the board 'fools' or issued a threat to the club. He's just stating the obvious outcome of selling our prized asset.
Or course, even more likely is the fact that Ramos IS indirectly telling the Spurs board to be careful. I wouldn't worry. £31M can buy us a couple of Darren Bents.
FA Cup odds
4/1 Chelsea
9/2 Arsenal, Man Utd, Liverpool
12/1 Spurs
20/1 Blackburn, Everton, Newcastle, Portsmouth
28/1 Man C, Villa
33/1 West Ham
50/1 Bolton, Middlesbro, Reading, Sunderland
66/1 Birmingham, Fulham
100/1 Wigan
I think William Hill have taken the 6-4 win over Reading in the Prem as the template for Tottenham's 'we will score one more than you' tactical assault on this years FA Cup. I think they are being overly generous. I actually have a bad gut feeling about tomorrow. Another goalfest is highly unlikely, and Reading won't want to see a repeat performance (four goals away from home and nothing to show for it). Kitson will fancy his chances again, so it's probably down to Spurs and how they defend corners. Not sure how much improvement can be achieved in training since the Villa defeat, considering the general lack of improvement we've shown in defending set-pieces in the past two years.
9/2 Arsenal, Man Utd, Liverpool
12/1 Spurs
20/1 Blackburn, Everton, Newcastle, Portsmouth
28/1 Man C, Villa
33/1 West Ham
50/1 Bolton, Middlesbro, Reading, Sunderland
66/1 Birmingham, Fulham
100/1 Wigan
I think William Hill have taken the 6-4 win over Reading in the Prem as the template for Tottenham's 'we will score one more than you' tactical assault on this years FA Cup. I think they are being overly generous. I actually have a bad gut feeling about tomorrow. Another goalfest is highly unlikely, and Reading won't want to see a repeat performance (four goals away from home and nothing to show for it). Kitson will fancy his chances again, so it's probably down to Spurs and how they defend corners. Not sure how much improvement can be achieved in training since the Villa defeat, considering the general lack of improvement we've shown in defending set-pieces in the past two years.
Got any spare change, guv?
The Opus. This titanic half metre of memorabilia ranges between £4000, £6000 and £10000, depending on whether you purchase the club, captains or legends edition (price relates to the varying degrees of signatures from current and retired players and edition number) – making up 1000 limited editions of Tottenham’s 125 year history. This isn’t your bog-standard coffee table book. Probably because if your table isn’t made of reinforced steel, it will collapse under the weight. Not exactly an item the average Spurs fan can afford either. So why Spurs continue to ram the hype down our throats at every given opportunity is anyone’s guess. Not shifting many Daniel?
The Opus. For the rich.
We had a couple of ex-players looking at the book at half-time in a recent game. Blatant publicity stunt, as the bloke with the mic salivated his way through a sales pitch informing the crowd countless times how magical and amazing and brilliant the book was. The ex-players were kitted out in special gloves to not dirty up the glossy pages as they commentated on the pics and churned out antidotes about Bill Nick. The fact I can’t remember which of our beloved legends were involved in this PR stunt tells you how little attention I was wasting on the scripted dramatics. £600 or so on a season ticket is my limit, with the special added-value extra of being able to burn it any given time without remorse.
£10,000 is a deposit on a flat or house. £6,000 is a very decent car and £4000 is a couple of nights with an escort girl and a few grams. Spending any of those totals on a book is sheer vanity. Where’s the re-sell value? How many times can you stare at black and white pictures of men in shorts and various arty shots of White Hart Lane and its Cockerel?
If you’re the type of fan who must have everything, because you can’t deal with living without, Spurs have a couple of payment plans available just for you. A ‘buy now and pay later’ option along with personal loan instalments. A sly way for you to get into debt with the club. Default on the payments and Levy will have you selling bagels for the next 10 years.
Glory only comes in black and white
Yes, there are some unique photographs and newspaper articles and pre-historic match-day programmes that you probably won’t find anywhere else in any other publication. And with all proceeds from sales going to the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation, the club probably forked out a lot of money for the privilege (and apparent honour) to have this book commissioned and produced.
The irony that the only people who can afford this without denting their wallet are the players themselves is lost on the club. Get rid of the boring half-time QVC segment and drop leaflets over the West Stand upper if you want to clear stock quickly.
This is almost as bad the Chirpy revamp.
The Opus. For the rich.We had a couple of ex-players looking at the book at half-time in a recent game. Blatant publicity stunt, as the bloke with the mic salivated his way through a sales pitch informing the crowd countless times how magical and amazing and brilliant the book was. The ex-players were kitted out in special gloves to not dirty up the glossy pages as they commentated on the pics and churned out antidotes about Bill Nick. The fact I can’t remember which of our beloved legends were involved in this PR stunt tells you how little attention I was wasting on the scripted dramatics. £600 or so on a season ticket is my limit, with the special added-value extra of being able to burn it any given time without remorse.
£10,000 is a deposit on a flat or house. £6,000 is a very decent car and £4000 is a couple of nights with an escort girl and a few grams. Spending any of those totals on a book is sheer vanity. Where’s the re-sell value? How many times can you stare at black and white pictures of men in shorts and various arty shots of White Hart Lane and its Cockerel?
If you’re the type of fan who must have everything, because you can’t deal with living without, Spurs have a couple of payment plans available just for you. A ‘buy now and pay later’ option along with personal loan instalments. A sly way for you to get into debt with the club. Default on the payments and Levy will have you selling bagels for the next 10 years.
Glory only comes in black and whiteYes, there are some unique photographs and newspaper articles and pre-historic match-day programmes that you probably won’t find anywhere else in any other publication. And with all proceeds from sales going to the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation, the club probably forked out a lot of money for the privilege (and apparent honour) to have this book commissioned and produced.
The irony that the only people who can afford this without denting their wallet are the players themselves is lost on the club. Get rid of the boring half-time QVC segment and drop leaflets over the West Stand upper if you want to clear stock quickly.
This is almost as bad the Chirpy revamp.
Thursday, 3 January 2008
Levy mythology?
Original post by Solaar from GG.net:
Thread has (at the time of writing) hit 4 pages. I'm going to keep it simple as I think you and the other GG'ers have covered just about every angle imaginable on this subject.
Regardless of whether the policy exists or not, Spurs/Levy do not spend money on 'ready made super-stars'. The closest we have come to doing so is signing Berbatov, who was far from being world-famous when he signed for us. Its more than obvious he aims for players that potentially can turn into great players, therefore giving us a win-win situation. We keep them, the team improves. We sell them, we're in the money. The crux is, we don't sell players unless they want to leave (or at least that's the illusion). So far, it rings true. Carrick wanted out, we sold him. Berbs will probably follow because of the same reasons.
The thing is, this system isn't working as effectively as Levy would have himself believe it is. Sometimes, you have to bite the bullet. You have to invest in a ready-made finished article player, even if it means paying a little more into his wage packet. Surely if you are willing to spend £16.5M on a striker, you can allow for the wage structure to cater for world-class signings. Petrov, apparently, was too much of a risk. Not risky enough for City to gamble on. And on current form, I would have loved to see him in a Spurs shirt. How is he any less of a risk than someone like Bent or Zokora? Or even Jenas?
The young players we do bring in, who could potentially be sold for more money doesn't actually improve the team in the present, does it? You can't have a team of potentially good players and no backbone of experience. Seems the mixture isn't quite right. Yes, it takes time to mould and once more we are at the start of a new regime. But if you look back over the last few years, you can't say any one of our young players has turned into a potential superstar. Some of them have flirted with the possibility, but delusions turned back into reality from where I stand in the Park Lane.
We've bought the likes of Kaboul and KPB - and their current lack of quality is telling. Lennon has turned to shit. Huddlestone still has plenty of work to do in order to improve his game....and so on. Could we get £8M for Jenas? Actually, we probably could considering the way money is thrown about nowadays. But when you turn around and pay £8M for Zokora, or possibly £8M for Hutton - the whole ethos of buying players that adhere to a certain set of criteria loses its reasoning.
Its typical Tottenham. Over complicating matters, trying to be far too clever.
It's simple. Buy the players that will improve the team and create stability and balance and help progress us forwards, fixing the issues that currently blight us. Maybe that's what Levy is aiming to do, and this 'myth' is simple creating arguments over what his masterplan is all about.
If Hutton is the answer to the RB position, then fair enough. £8M or £9M, probably isn't relevant to whether we could sell him for more 3 years from now. The more pressing matter would be to hold onto him long enough for the team to achieve success - because at this rate we appear to be buying players that Man Utd will pluck from us in the coming seasons.
So Levy does have sell-on value in mind - but not as the priority. And he is picky with the 'older' more expensive and experienced players. We obviously have money, so if they rate a player and believe the player will become 'great' then whether they steal him for 500K or buy him for £8M probably isn't too relevant in their eyes. Obviously, in 5 years time, if we haven't moved forward then Levy and his DoF system isn't working because the players they are purchasing are simply not fulfilling the potential they were initially bought for. And like I said, if the mixture isn't right, then he isn't bringing in the right players at the right time.
I don't think the masterplan is to simply buy for the sake of being able to sell the players on for profit. But he has shown weaknesses for improving the squad when it was necessary to do so (i.e. the season we sat in 4th for 4 months comes to mind.....where were the Jan Window transfers to consolidate 4th place beyond any doubt?) We could have done with some real world-beaters at that point in time.
As noted in the Solaar post, "...making us a consistent top-6 team would bring a hell of a lot more money into the club than buying and reselling youth players".
And yet we buy Gunter and (looking like) Hutton. An 18 year old and 23 year old. Sure, both are meant to be top drawer. But if he doesn't follow up with an experienced 'class' centre-back, then you have to start questioning the logic.
I'm beginning to repeat myself now.
In the past, Spurs have gone out and bought what they believed to be top players, for key positions. And they turned out to be miserable signings. I think trusting Ramos will help us in abundance.
It just seems that all we buy are 'kids' and sometimes we strike lucky (Berbatov). It's not enough.
EDIT:
Hutton has apparently rejected a move to Spurs. So, was this Tottenham's 'number one target' for the right-back position (considering we have already bought Gunter)? Who will they now move for? Another younger, less promising target? Rather than a quality experienced 26 year old?
And if we go on to sign a few players in this window, and not bring in another RB, way make out we needed one in the first place?
It just doesn't seem to make sense.
Levy and the myth of the signing youth for resale-value
I see that a lot of people have agreed upon Levy being a man who likes to buy young because of resale-value. I don't understand this and would like to say that it is probably just a myth, please prove me wrong. Show me a direct quote of him saying this, or else I just refuse to believe it.
If not, show me evidence of the case being him buying a youth player and then selling them for a lot more than what we bought them for. Oh, and please have in mind these conditions:
1. The player must not have expressed an obvious desire to leave.
2. The player must have been an integral part of our first-team (i.e played more than 15-20 games a season), otherwise you can't exactly say that selling the player is a big problem for us.
I actually believe that Levy does not do this. We have made progress on all levels since he came into the club. We have also had set-backs, but are they in the end his faults? The biggest set-backs imo have been Arnesen and Carrick leaving, together with signing Bent for £16 M. Bent probably is a good buy, but that amount was bad business - but whose fault is that? Levy or Comolli? The rest has brought us forward (maybe with the exception of signing Comolli, that is yet to be proved).
I believe Levy prefers buying youth because he wants to build a team for the future, not because he wants to increase our financial earnings. It is just a myth because making us a consistent top-6 team would bring a hell of a lot more money into the club than buying and reselling youth players, at least when we're talking about 18-21 year old players.
Spooky, I await your response.
Thread has (at the time of writing) hit 4 pages. I'm going to keep it simple as I think you and the other GG'ers have covered just about every angle imaginable on this subject.
Regardless of whether the policy exists or not, Spurs/Levy do not spend money on 'ready made super-stars'. The closest we have come to doing so is signing Berbatov, who was far from being world-famous when he signed for us. Its more than obvious he aims for players that potentially can turn into great players, therefore giving us a win-win situation. We keep them, the team improves. We sell them, we're in the money. The crux is, we don't sell players unless they want to leave (or at least that's the illusion). So far, it rings true. Carrick wanted out, we sold him. Berbs will probably follow because of the same reasons.
The thing is, this system isn't working as effectively as Levy would have himself believe it is. Sometimes, you have to bite the bullet. You have to invest in a ready-made finished article player, even if it means paying a little more into his wage packet. Surely if you are willing to spend £16.5M on a striker, you can allow for the wage structure to cater for world-class signings. Petrov, apparently, was too much of a risk. Not risky enough for City to gamble on. And on current form, I would have loved to see him in a Spurs shirt. How is he any less of a risk than someone like Bent or Zokora? Or even Jenas?
The young players we do bring in, who could potentially be sold for more money doesn't actually improve the team in the present, does it? You can't have a team of potentially good players and no backbone of experience. Seems the mixture isn't quite right. Yes, it takes time to mould and once more we are at the start of a new regime. But if you look back over the last few years, you can't say any one of our young players has turned into a potential superstar. Some of them have flirted with the possibility, but delusions turned back into reality from where I stand in the Park Lane.
We've bought the likes of Kaboul and KPB - and their current lack of quality is telling. Lennon has turned to shit. Huddlestone still has plenty of work to do in order to improve his game....and so on. Could we get £8M for Jenas? Actually, we probably could considering the way money is thrown about nowadays. But when you turn around and pay £8M for Zokora, or possibly £8M for Hutton - the whole ethos of buying players that adhere to a certain set of criteria loses its reasoning.
Its typical Tottenham. Over complicating matters, trying to be far too clever.
It's simple. Buy the players that will improve the team and create stability and balance and help progress us forwards, fixing the issues that currently blight us. Maybe that's what Levy is aiming to do, and this 'myth' is simple creating arguments over what his masterplan is all about.
If Hutton is the answer to the RB position, then fair enough. £8M or £9M, probably isn't relevant to whether we could sell him for more 3 years from now. The more pressing matter would be to hold onto him long enough for the team to achieve success - because at this rate we appear to be buying players that Man Utd will pluck from us in the coming seasons.
So Levy does have sell-on value in mind - but not as the priority. And he is picky with the 'older' more expensive and experienced players. We obviously have money, so if they rate a player and believe the player will become 'great' then whether they steal him for 500K or buy him for £8M probably isn't too relevant in their eyes. Obviously, in 5 years time, if we haven't moved forward then Levy and his DoF system isn't working because the players they are purchasing are simply not fulfilling the potential they were initially bought for. And like I said, if the mixture isn't right, then he isn't bringing in the right players at the right time.
I don't think the masterplan is to simply buy for the sake of being able to sell the players on for profit. But he has shown weaknesses for improving the squad when it was necessary to do so (i.e. the season we sat in 4th for 4 months comes to mind.....where were the Jan Window transfers to consolidate 4th place beyond any doubt?) We could have done with some real world-beaters at that point in time.
As noted in the Solaar post, "...making us a consistent top-6 team would bring a hell of a lot more money into the club than buying and reselling youth players".
And yet we buy Gunter and (looking like) Hutton. An 18 year old and 23 year old. Sure, both are meant to be top drawer. But if he doesn't follow up with an experienced 'class' centre-back, then you have to start questioning the logic.
I'm beginning to repeat myself now.
In the past, Spurs have gone out and bought what they believed to be top players, for key positions. And they turned out to be miserable signings. I think trusting Ramos will help us in abundance.
It just seems that all we buy are 'kids' and sometimes we strike lucky (Berbatov). It's not enough.
EDIT:
Hutton has apparently rejected a move to Spurs. So, was this Tottenham's 'number one target' for the right-back position (considering we have already bought Gunter)? Who will they now move for? Another younger, less promising target? Rather than a quality experienced 26 year old?
And if we go on to sign a few players in this window, and not bring in another RB, way make out we needed one in the first place?
It just doesn't seem to make sense.
Alan Hutton
Massive rumours going around that we've paid somewhere in the region of £8M-£9M for Rangers attacking (right) full back, Alan Hutton.
You just can't make stuff like this up, can you?
You just can't make stuff like this up, can you?
Singing from the same hymn sheet...
...isn't something we do at Spurs.
Dec 30th 2007
"Once again for the record, we are not a selling club, rather we are building for the future. When we have players on long contracts we have no need to entertain offers" - Daniel Levy
Jan 3rd 2008
"He is here now and unless somebody comes along with an offer that is too good to refuse, he will stay here and we are happy to have him" - Juande Ramos
'Bored with the Berbatov' t-shirts, anyone?
Dec 30th 2007
"Once again for the record, we are not a selling club, rather we are building for the future. When we have players on long contracts we have no need to entertain offers" - Daniel Levy
Jan 3rd 2008
"He is here now and unless somebody comes along with an offer that is too good to refuse, he will stay here and we are happy to have him" - Juande Ramos
'Bored with the Berbatov' t-shirts, anyone?
Wednesday, 2 January 2008
Big bloated blog entry
2008 is upon us. Another twelve months of having to taste my own vomit watching Spurs kamikaze their way through countless matches and another self-induced transitional period. Did we really finish fifth two years running? Whether it was over achievement or circumstance, we had a swagger and self-belief along with a pretty decent home record, which all appears to have disintegrated into nothingness over the summer. We’ve been here before, and I’m not about to revisit the same tiresome theories and excuses. What’s happened has happened, more than anything because it always happens to Spurs. Due to the fact that we have this uncanny ability to create problems internally that hinder the team.
We choke. On and off the pitch.
Along with the over-excitement and therefore exaggerated hope the fans are guilty of, it’s all elevated to a misleading level of expectation. Simply put, we were never as good as we thought we were. We got lucky once or twice. We rode the crest of a rather good wave.
Without ever having that ‘midfield general’ or ‘leadership’ or the ability to finish off one of the ‘Big Four’ clubs in crunch matches, we continued onwards without looking to resolve these issues. Along with other popular and well documented frustrations (i.e. Poor set-pieces, defending set-pieces).
Whatever genuinely happened over the summer that resulted with Jol going and Ramos joining, is down to the chairman. He’s accountable for everything that happens at the club. That includes the rumour concerning Berbatov almost signing for Utd, but deciding to stay and then regretting his decision. And from whispers to reality, he is also accountable for spending £16.5M on a striker when defenders and midfielder's were needed. Though, it’s obvious Bent was bought as a direct replacement for the outgoing Bulgarian. But having a decent consistent experienced Premiership player (that cost more) as future cover for a world-class player is still ludicrous business. But that’s Spurs isn’t it. We’ll get to that later.
At the moment, it’s difficult to assess fairly Ramos and Poyet’s influence and impact, though several positives are evident. There appears to be problems with ridding the club of the rot, though now the Transfer Window is open, we may see the necessary changes that are required. The current issues with the team are not new.
We cannot defend set-pieces.
Actually, we can’t defend full stop. No organisation. Complete lack of responsibility and accountability. No one takes the game by the scruff of the neck.
How many times are we going to watch Robinson fail to command and organise his area? And then clumsily punch the ball to an opposing players feet, to then watch it hit the back of the net followed by Robinson berating the defenders and everyone else within a ten-mile radius? Only to have idiots singing ‘England’s Number One’ at the next game.
Robinson isn’t always guilty. Look towards the likes of Huddlestone and Chimbonda for consistently losing their man. Wouldn’t complain if it happened in forward positions, but tragically it’s a common occurrence in our own penalty area. If Robinson doesn’t fuck up, then be sure that someone else will wonder off leaving opposition players to score directly from a corner. Happened twice at Villa Park, where Dawson decided to mark zonal rather than player, let everyone know about it by pointing his finger, and we all know what happened next.
On top of the individual walkabouts, we also have professional players who haven’t got a sodding clue about being professional. Surely one of our donkeys can see the mis-match of having O’Hara man-mark Laursen? You’d think it right? If I can see it, then someone on £30K per week should be able to clock on that it’s only going to end in tears. 6 minutes to go, that’s surely ripe for yet another conceded goal. Yep. Sure was.
What’s the stat now? 20 or so lost points from fuck-ups late on? It’s obviously not as simple as ‘change the defence and we’ll be ok’ but having a decent defence and a confident keeper is the difference between us sitting in 12th and aspiring to another 5th spot finish.
Most telling moment for me, was actually Dawson’s yellow card at Villa Park. He made a clumsy stupid tackle when it wasn’t necessary, right on the touchline. You could see Ramos going mental over at the technical area.
Poyet’s Sky Sports Interview post-match was fantastic. Something Jol would never have done.
“We have to change”, he said (rather obviously, but at least you believed he was angry about it). Along with a comment that may suggest one or two players are set to either go out on loan or be sold. But what was certain was the fact that we have individuals that appear to be incapable of following instructions and reacting to circumstance and situations in-game.
Was Dawson ever any good? Is this one of those other Tottenham mirages? Average players, high on confidence and playing alongside true class (King), allowing their determination to shine through as ‘quality’. Dawson appears to have had a lobotomy, on what was a rather small brain in the first place. He's Keystone cop dressed up as Bambi, with accompanying ice.
Poyet’s comments are about 1000 times more effective than past excuses dished out by previous likeable (Jol) and legendary (Hoddle) chiefs. Having a defence that is incapable of defending doesn’t help out the rest of the team. Even the sulky Berbatov. You can understand his frustration if all his work (nearly) goes to waste because of goal-leakage (i.e. Spurs 6 Reading 4).
'Essential purchases' apparently is all we will get from the chairman. So that’s about 4 new players. Gunter is on his way. Another kid. Another ‘Gareth Bale’. That’s fine, but we need finished article players. So I don’t count this as one of Levy’s essential signings. King is back, but we need someone of equal pegging to partner him. Or even replace him, as another long term injury will surely be the end to his career.
Please no more Kabouls. I might be wrong on this, but I’m certain I read a quote stating that Kaboul was one for the future and was not going to partake in first team duties this season. Injury problems meant he was thrown knee deep in the shit from the start. And his complete lack of inexperience and confidence has more or less shattered the illusion of him having any kind of potential. I feel sorry for him. It’s not his fault that we have skipped development and given him a responsibility that’s far too big for him to handle. The failure here is with Comolli.
Whilst others spend about £500,000 on ‘young players’, who all look fantastic when they do play, us spunking around £8M on Kaboul is laughable. Much like spending the same amount on Zokora is. You spend £8M on a player that is either already experienced or superb not on someone who is far from it and might be good 'in the future'. What’s scary is if Comolli actually believed he was decent enough for first team football from the off.
Kaboul’s heart is in the right place. He wants to do well. I can’t help but cringe when he runs over to the crowd and throws his shirt into the stand (copying that dancing idiot Zokora). It’s all a little bit mis-placed and more or less sums up Spurs. Celebrating bog-standard victories with shirt-throwing masks the fact that he should concentrate more on his inability to clear the ball. Or at times pass it. Then again, we haven’t had that much to get happy about this year, so having these open-bus parade moments helps us sleep better at night.
Zokora was decent at the heart of the defence, but that’s not a position he will remain in and he’s not very good in the position he normally twats about in. Chimbonda is a liability. Classic example of a player who is pretty decent, but thinks he’s world class, so doesn’t bother playing, and thus just looks plain shit. His dribbling runs in front of our own penalty area are testament to this man’s idiocy.
Jamie O’Hara on the other hand, is looking quite neat and tidy. Hopefully won’t go the way of Marney and Jackson. Bit too earlier to compare him to the likes of Paul Scholes, but it would be nice for Spurs to have a player come from the youth team that can save us £10M - £15M in the transfer market and be as effective as Scholes was at United. Oh hold up, O'Hara is a former Arsenal youth reject. Damn it. Rohan Ricketts all over again. To be fair, I think he’ll be better than the failures that have come before him, but his progression may be hindered by future signings. Because when have Spurs not splashed out £10M - £15M? O'Hara has to be part of the first team squad and has to play games, otherwise, how do we know he'll ever be good enough? If the likes of Jenas get prolonged runs in the team, then this kid should do to.
Back to King. What a pleasure to see him return. In an age where rumours and bullshit take precedence over the truth, they (the press) would have you believe he was on the verge of quitting the game. Spurs, for once, are doing the right thing and look to be easing him back into the team. Resting him for the Villa game (though it proved to be the difference between points and nothing) was proof that Spurs have King’s fitness as the number one priority. But having him back in the team won’t be enough. He needs quality playing alongside him.
Something tells me that quality will still be missing come February, with regards to the goalkeeping position. Yes, Robbo has shed a load of weight. One of the positives of the Ramos/Poyet partnership is the fitness and diet regime appears to be working. Take Huddlestone. He looks leaner, and has improved his form. And Robinson has pulled off some world-class saves.
The thing is, Huddlestone still lacks mobility, so he isn’t the answer to our midfield problems. Robinsons ‘world class saves’ were his normal weekend peformances 2 seasons ago. At the present time, he still fails to command his area and the defenders around him. He still can’t punch and still looks clumsy. Waiting for him to reclaim his past form is a huge risk and it won’t happen when he has the current shambolic unit defending his goal. If the right players are brought in, and Robinson still doesn’t improve, then his dream will be over at the Lane.
Talking of which. Defoe and Bent.
Bent has been missing for a couple of games, apparently injured. West Ham are linked to him, in a cut-price deal. Levy claims we are not a selling club, and that there will be no major changes this January and that we will not be off-loading players on long-term contracts.
Bent was bought as Berbatov’s replacement. I see no other logical reason to splash out so much money on a striker when we have three already. If this is true, then that means anything Levy says can be ignored. And the case to sack the incompetent Comolli strengthens further.
If you believe the press speculation - Defoe, Bent and Berbatov are all off. That’s obviously not going to happen. Levy’s clue about long-term contracts would suggest that Defoe’s days are potentially numbered. He is currently changing agents (goodbye Sky Andrews) and is using this as an excuse for not speaking to the club about extending his contract. Thing is, should we even entertain keeping him? He obviously won’t develop further as a player due to his lack of Sheringhameque brain skills. Which means, a life on the Spurs bench awaits. Take the Man City away game as an example. He was sacrificed when we had Zokora sent off. Could he have done the quite brilliant job Berbatov produced, holding the ball up and generally playing his guts out supporting the midfield? Of course not. There’s not much more than instinctive finishing to his game, but he blows hot and cold so much that maybe we should bite Pompey’s hands off (I’m ignoring the silly rumours of Utd being interested in him).
Bent won’t be sold. If he is, then I want Comolli to resign.
As for Berbatov. Who knows? His agent is saying he may leave. Ramos said he may leave. Then the chairman says nobody is leaving. Poyet slags off Berbatov’s agent, suggesting he is bullshitting and looking out for his own wallet, while the papers inform us that a £26M deal is on the cards that will make him a Chelsea player.
Sell Berbatov, and we will be ordinary. On par with the teams below us, and chances of us being pulled back into the relegation dogfight go up. Obviously, if he is sold for over £20M, then I’d expect a similar ‘world class’ player to replace him. Though said player will probably wake up a year from now, and demand to be sold onto a bigger club. And the cycle continues.
It’s a tricky one to work out. Ian Wrights ‘feeder club’ comments seem to be a tad sensationalised. Carrick WANTED to leave. In fact, Spurs don’t sell players for the sake of it. It’s more a case of players wanting to leave when they realise nobody can break the current Top 4 stronghold so why bother staying?
Someone remarked to me that Berbatov can not play Champions League football this season because he has played in the UEFA Cup. If he plays in Saturdays Cup game, then he’ll be cup-tied too. So, considering the loyalty/faith the club have shown in him, he may as well wait until the summer.
From an unbias point of view, a modern day player simply wants success. So if you are world class playing for an average team, why carry them on your shoulder when you could be playing at the top level? Berbatov is always cited as not being this type of player. We will know for certain come the 1st February.
One player not leaving will be Zokora, who apparently wants to stay at Spurs forever. The only way I’ll be able to get through this one is if I start cutting my arms Richey James stylie.
No matter what happens this January, it’s what happens over the next 5 months and the summer – because once more we have to look towards next season as being the fresh start that’s required to kick-start our ambitions. Ramos and Poyet have done fine thus far. Difficult to really impose anything drastic over the current set of players, especially as Ramos has to assess what he has and what needs replacing. The new fitness regime and extra training sessions was obvious and simple to implement, and shame on Jol really. The diet too. Most ‘top clubs’ have all this in place as standard. In fact, most clubs do as default. Shame on Spurs.
Our defeats under Ramos have not been disastrous. They’ve just helped highlight the consistent issues that can only be fixed with (more) new players. If we want to climb the table as quickly as possible. The guilty can be developed properly and can redeem themselves at a later date.
The 3-2 home defeat against Birmingham was a quintessential collapse we have come to know too well. 2-1 up, player sent off and then at 2-2 we see another long-range effort beat Robinson. In the last seconds. We can’t defend a lead and we appear to be easy pickings for anyone who wants to have a go in the dying moments of a game. It happens so often that teams know they are in with a chance. Still, this was our first defeat under the new management.
Anderlecht away was boring. Remembered more for the lead pipe thrown onto the pitch and the pathetic fine for the Belgium club and their misbehaving fans. Gatafe won the group, which means we play Slavia Prague (who dropped out of the Champs League) in our next UEFA Cup game. Not that bad of a draw. PSV await (probably) if we get through.
2-1 at home to City. They are very ordinary away from home, but it was good to see us re-take the lead after City equalised and take all three points.
Pompey away was surprising. Yes, they’ve endured five 0-0 draws on the trot since the 7-4 Reading game, but for us to keep a clean sheet and take all three points was bloody great. Especially bossing the second half. Signs of something far better than Jol’s final days.
This was followed by another routine win at Man City, this time in the League Cup. First team to win there this season. And with just 10 men for about 70 minutes. Berbatov was excellent after Defoe was subbed to bring on another midfielder, following Zokora’s sending off. Was never a red. Steeds tackle was, so thanks to the ref and his inconsistency we were allowed to play our way through to the semi-final. Robinson made one of his ‘world class’ saves in this game. Pretty much well deserved again. Two clean sheets on the trot, away from home.
Then the NLD followed. Nice to see Sky Sports continue their ridiculous pro-top 4 commentary bias with Tyler's over-excited commentary for everything Arsenal related. See, Arsenal were not very good on the day because the magician Cesc was having a good day. Nothing to do with Spurs pushing up and pressuring their players and generally making it all a bit difficult for the bestest team ever to settle into any kind of rhythm. Fabregas and his hug for O’Hara at the end of the game summed it up.
Spurs did everything right, except when it mattered. No one expected us to win, so when gifted with a penalty to make it 2-1, Robbie Keane misses (it was actually a good save). This was then followed by another gift (not missed) when Bendtner eased away from Huddlestone to score with his first touch. From a set-piece. It’s that old choke thing rearing its ugly head. Again. Spurs beat themselves in this one.
Another semi-final with them lot is on its way. Even if they play a weakened side (their reserves/kids tend to be almost as difficult to play against then their first team proper) I still don’t see a passage through to the final. At least not without blood, thunder and following up on opportunities with merciless cutthroat decisiveness. In other words, if we are 2-0 up this time, we make it 3-0. And don’t let them back into it. Choking again isn’t really acceptable. But then, with the current set of players, I don’t think we can compete if they play to their very best. Cup final would be nice though. I’m sure they think the same, considering Wenger’s uber-team haven’t won much in the past three seasons, by their very high standards.
The 5-1 drubbing of Fulham at home wasn’t unexpected. Comfortable without ever dominating or bossing the game. Helps the woeful goal difference.
The next game was one of those rather silly moments in football when you can’t make up your mind whether you should laugh out loud or scream abuse. Berbatov scored 4 and was sublime. Our defence gave Reading 4, mostly from set-pieces and Robinson's lack of keeping ability. Every time we went behind we equalised. It was a classic football match, without having classic examples of how to play the game. We scored some great goals, but let in some terrible ones. Never thought we would lose though because we always got ourselves back into it. The six goals made us the Prem’s top goal scorers. Sure, a big chunk of them have come against Reading, Fulham, Wigan and Derby. But it helps to prove the point that if the defence was decent and we had a strong creative midfielder....well, you know. 5th spot.
Nice to be first in Match of the Day’s running order for once. Talking of which, Hansen still thinks we are the only team with the right amount of whatever it is that’s needed to break into the Top 4. City, Everton and Villa are doing well, but if there’s one thing that remains constant it’s the fact that the top 4 never change but the chasing pack always do.
Villa away wasn’t very good in the first half. Second half, we deserved the point, but again, as spoken about already, individual errors cost us dearly.
And here we are. January. Reading at home in the FA Cup on Saturday (cue 1-0). And Arsenal away in the Carling Cup next week. Got to be in it, to win it.
Happy New Year. Enjoy it.
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