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Match Day Diary - Bolton FA Cup

Flannerz — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 23:32:00 GMT

What seemed like a great idea suddenly didn’t seem so good. A rare opportunity to get to an away game and a £15 ticket, sounded rather splendid during the week. However, when my alarm clock went off at 7am on Sunday morning, the prospect of a four hour journey to Bolton seemed dreadful. I rolled out of bed, quickly got ready while my mate came over to pick me up. We went to Tesco Express to stock up on Lucozade and Jaffa Cakes for the journey (if you’re reading this McVities I fecking LOVE Jaffa Cakes). I stuck in the Spurs CD and the journey began. Luckily my mate had borrowed a sat nat so we wouldn’t get lost like we did on the way to Pompey earlier in the season.

With the Chas n’ Dave blaring out we had a trouble free journey, apart from the rip-off service station breakfast we had to endure as well as fruit machines that weren’t paying out (although there was sound on the Deal Or No Deal machine). There were a few other Spurs fans there even at that early hour. We got to Bolton an hour and a half before kick off and headed to The Beehive, the away pub.

Everything had been going well up to this point, until I got the bar. It took me over twenty minutes to get served, their bar staff were appalling. They need a few Aussies up there, you can say what you like about the convicts but they know how to work behind that bar! It seemed like I was invisible and the barmaid, who looked like a downs syndrome Peter Kay, seemed to be looking straight through me. The bloke next to me also had this problem and when I finally got served I got his beers in for him as well (getting the money off him first of course!). After a few chants of ‘Yid Army’ and ‘We love Tottenham more then you’ it was time to get to the ground.

It was strange inside their ground, a pint was cheaper then it was in the pub. My mate had a cheese burger as he was driving and he was impressed. When we took our seats we were shocked at how few Bolton fans were there. We completely outsung them with chants such as “you’re ground’s too big for you” and “we only speak English” (we couldn’t understand half of what those feckers were saying). The first half was disappointing and had me wishing I’d stayed at home! The second half was much better and even though we missed a penalty and drew, we were still feeling upbeat as we finished the match strongly.

We made good time on the way home only stopping for a KFC and the toilet (after the pre-match beers I only just made it to the service station!) It was well worth going to as we had a good day, no doubt that view would have been different if we’d played in the second half like we had in the first!

REDKNAPP AND SPURS OPERATE IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS

NYSPUR — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 19:52:00 GMT

Hands up all those who were not surprised at the goings on at today’s Leeds game. It really was a microcosm of the weird and wonderful way that Spurs have operated under good old ‘Arry. In no particular order:

· Defoe misses a penalty----it is mystery why, in Keane’s absence, Defoe gets the responsibility of taking penalties. I am yet to see him take an authoritative one and he missed his last one. I see no logic in him taking them, unless everyone else is too inept to do so. I know Modric takes them (I recollect him missing one in the European Championship). What about Kranjcar?

· Keane is brought on so we have three strikers-----I always feel that this move is almost guaranteed to turn the tide against Spurs. Whatever anyone thinks of Keane in his current incarnation, he is not, and never has been, a winger or midfielder. Immediately he arrives to play this role, we are unbalanced and lose our shape. I am yet to see any upside to this tactic, but ‘Arry can’t leave it alone. I can only assume that it is an effort to keep playing Robbie that compels him to do it, but it is all wrong.

· Pavlyuchenko gets a chance and delivers---it must be truly frustrating to be a professional who knows that he can do a job, but never be given a chance.Pavlyuchenko must have felt that he is in the Twilight Zone as he has been watching Robbie get chance after chance, even being played out of position (see above) while he has been watching from the bench. I know that opinion is divided on Pavlyuchenko, but give him some credit, he did well today. The mystery is why, in games like Hull and Liverpool,he never got a chance. Will he get a chance now?

· We can’t finish----today, ESPN has us with 19 shots, 17 on target. That sort of statistic should be consistent with more goals. We need Jimmy Greaves and Gary Lineker to conduct a masterclass on putting these chances away because we seem to be making opposing goalkeepers look like supermen. As I tell the kids that I coach, hit it in the corner.

· We do not know how to kill the game---does the team never watch how other players do it? Taking the ball to the corner anyone?

· I don’t know how Spurs maintains its high level of loyal support----we have to be about the most frustrating team out there. A real tease. An enigma within a puzzle. Are we all masochists? Maybe it should not be a surprise now that we are coached by Harry Houdini!

Our squad myth

Flannerz — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 22:07:00 GMT

Apparently we’ve got one of the best squads in the league. We’ve got a stronger bench than Arsenal’s according to Robbie Keane, although he looked a little foolish a few days after making that statement. To the casual observer, it looks strong as it has expensive internationals sitting on it. However, on closer inspection that is not the case.

David Bentley - He cost us £15m and had made it into the England squad when we signed him, Now though he has trouble making the bench and doesn’t play even when Lennon is out. I think it’s time to cut our losses and let him go. He’s had his off field problems and he hasn’t delivered. I think a fresh start away from the pressure and expectations of White Hart Lane can help kick-start his career.

Jermaine Jenas - Or as I call him, the Invisible Ray Wilkins. Spends a lot of time passing sideways and backwards and also disappears during games. Has got pace and athleticism and is capable of getting goals. He should be the type of midfielder that grabs the game by the scruff of the neck and dictating play. Unfortunately hasn’t become the play he can and in my opinion isn’t good enough for a team challenging for the top four.

Robbie Keane - I believe we sold him to Liverpool at just the right time. He’s lost a yard of pace and is no longer the player he was. Spends more time pointing and moaning then he does being effective. Doesn’t link up well with Defoe and bar one game against Burnley has been poor since he re-joined.

Roman Pavlyuchenko - Redknapp doesn’t seem to rate him and he doesn’t want to stay. Looks like a big target man but isn’t and gets muscled off the ball too easily. Most of his goals have come in the Carling Cup and he had an absolute stinker in last year’s final and I think that sealed his fate.

Giovani Dos Santos - Has only made cameo appearances and hasn’t always turned up for training. Although he is now knuckling down and working hard, he has struggled with injuries and whether he fulfils his potential is anyone’s guess.

If we Defoe, Lennon or Palacios are injured or suspended, we will struggle as we don’t have anyone to fill in for a period of games. We haven’t got another out an out winger unless you count Danny Rose, who has only made a few sub appearances. Modric and Kranjcar ether side means we lack width. We don’t have another ball winner like Palacios and I’ve already touched on our strikers. It’s not all doom and gloom, as we’re half way through the season and don’t have Europa league games. We’re currently fourth and lets hope we stay there!

"Nanny State" beyond a joke?!!

Dazza_London — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 13:33:00 GMT

Much has been said over the past few years about the growing "nanny state" mentality of the government. Stupid rules that 10 or 20 years ago people would have laughed at if you'd told them. Things like kids having to wear "protective clothing" tp play conkers as it's dangerous. A church clock which has been wound manually since 1793 may have to be modified at a cost of £5,500 - because climbing an 8ft ladder is "dangerous". The clock in the tower at St Michael's Church in Helston, Cornwall, is wound...(read more)

Match day Diary v Everton - Carling cup by Wolvo

Dazza_London — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:00:00 GMT

Matchday Diary: Spurs vs Everton, Carling Cup

I only told my lad he was going to White Hart Lane on the Tuesday morning so he wouldn’t get too excited. I’d taken advantage of the £5 for kids offer for that game, and managed to get a pair of tickets in Lower south stand block 25, row 18 I think. This was to be Luke’s third trip to see Spurs live, and he has still yet to see a defeat, so I was feeling confident. I’d taken the day of work, so we were able to set off extra early from West Berkshire, leaving the house at quarter to four… down the M4, onto the M25, then sat in queues for 50 minutes…. ‘Dad, do people do this everyday?’ Yes son, they do. ‘Why?’ Kids can be very perceptive sometimes.

Finally made it down the A10 and parked near the Irish Club for £8… then off to collect the tickets. It was already getting dark, and there were lots of optimistic fans queuing to collect. After the usual hassle picking up the tickets…’what name did you book them under?’ ‘what credit card was that?’ ‘The booking reference is no good apparently’ … tickets were found under the wrong name, but they were in our hands. Bosh… that was another £42 all in. Off to the Spurs shop to buy a beany for Luke’s little brother… and he wanted one too..another £9.98 gone… then food at a Burger bar… another £8. Oops, and I forgot the programme (£3.50 I think)… before I insisted I needed a beer!

So, which pub was going to allow me to take an 8 year old in? Hmmm… not the Corner Pin… but the one next door to that with the beer ‘garden’. Still, it sold cans of beer, and there were a couple of other little ‘uns in there, so I was happy. I had to explain two things here to Luke. Firstly, a beer is all part of going to footie, and secondly, ‘Yids’ is a friendly chant used by Spurs fans and not an aggressive war cry! I’m not really sure he understood what the hell was being chanted in the pub to be honest. At 7pm we left to go to the ground and watch the warm up.

Found our seats, and were able to watch the boys warming up in front of us… all very exciting for Luke. The match started… plenty of singing coming from the South stand… Everton doing OK…. Until Tom buried his chance on the half volley. Cue pandemonium… even standing on his chair Luke couldn’t see the aftermath of the goal. Best comment of the game after that was ‘who’s the new guy playing on the wing Dad… he’s pretty good?’ I couldn’t really argue with this, David Bentley was like a new player that night… he almost looked like a multi-million pound signing for once! For the pen I was able to hoist Luke onto the back of the seat in front so he could see in real time… and one of the strangest goals I’ve seen live. After that, Luke stood the whole game… no shouts of ‘sit down’ when you’re under four foot!

Final whistle, and off to find the car… for a blast home in under an hour and a half, and the lad in bed by 11.30pm, tired, but very happy…. Just like his Dad!

Match Day Diary - Stoke (H)

scaramanga — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:48:00 GMT

Some background information for ease of reading and understanding:

1) I moved from North London/Hertfordshire to the Gold Coast nearly 4 years ago.

2) I had never met a Stoke fan whilst living in London.

3) A good friend of mine over here is a Stoke fan, not your average, thick northern monkey Stoke fan but a proper old school Naughty 40 Stoke fan.

4) All immigrants from Europe are known by their football team rather than their name, hence Cockney Paul, Stoke Simon, Cardiff Christian and Gay Ricky (as you can guess he doesn’t like football).

5) We are 9 hours ahead of you here!

As with most match day Saturdays the banter actually starts on a Friday, over a few beers at the local Tavern. This week I was joined by Stoke, Christian and some random Kiwi bloke who didn’t know how to converse in the English language. Now up until last season the conversation revolved around Mickey Mouse Championship games but then suddenly we find Stoke, inexplicably, in the same league as the mighty Tottenham Hotspur. Unfortunately this also coincided with our worst start to a Premiership and Stoke’s best start (and only start but it can be used as a valid argument when beer is involved), culminating in us being beaten by Rory Delap at the Brittania Stadium. Now, in hindsight and possibly without the impact of about 12 Coronas (the draught beer is shit so I have an excuse) I should never have made the assertion that Stoke would never beat us again in a Premiership match in my lifetime.

Saturday 24^th October 2009 began like any other Saturday here on the Gold Coast, I woke to a minor hangover at 8.00am, the sun streaming through the window and a clear blue sky outside. This all bode well for the day as the plans were a) help the missus do some housework, b) go and bottle my own brew beer, c) go to a mate’s house for a poker evening and then culminate in d) watching the game at home basking in the glory of seeing us annihilate these Premier League Interlopers and help send them back down to where they belong (hopefully along with West Ham and Blackburn).

All was going well, I buggered up the washing so was told to piss off and do your beer thing (plan A was therefore a resounding success), Bottled 150 beers ready to bring home, 20 of which were going to the poker night. The night started with pizzas made in my mate’s wood fired pizza oven, some beers and general chit chat about the night’s football with the general consensus that in 7 hours or so Spurs could potentially be on top of the league.

Unfortunately the poker was to become very much like the match later, I made some good moves, threatened a lot but generally had no end product and was caught by a sucker-punch double bluff at the end. It was now 11.50pm and 10 minutes to kick off, no taxis available so had to walk home, missing the first 15 minutes of the game, it was during this walk that I received the first of the texts from Stoke, “you have no fans”, followed by “Woodgate off injured, home fans embarrassing”. Now I took this to be a bit of an exaggeration on his part until I got home and lo and behold he was right. This made me a bit nervous as it suggested it could be one of those days when the crowd aren’t sure we could do it.

The first half was patchy but generally we offered a lot more so I wasn’t too fussed. Then Harry made his masterstroke moves, take off Robbie for Pav and Hudd for Jenas, therefore putting our two target men up front and our best passer of the ball on the bench. The game now became Stoke v Stoke as all finesse drifted out of the game, but unfortunately for us Stoke are actually quite good at being Stoke whereas we are not. The goal was inevitable as was the barrage of texts.

It was now 1.50am, hangover beginning to kick in, being abused by (and I have counted them) 27 texts from one Stoke fan! To top it all I was booked in to take my wife shoe shopping in the morning.

Can life get any worse? Maybe, another mate here is a massive Sunderland fan, please don’t ask me to do the diary for that one, I might be jinxed.

Come back Rob Styles, all is forgiven

scaramanga — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 07:28:00 GMT

There was a time when I regarded Portsmouth to be the luckiest team in English football. Through a tiny piece of geographical chance, the fates had decided that never would they lose a player for daring to jump within a yard of another, or for having the temerity to make a fair and clean tackle on one of the Premiership's known divers.

Those times now seem like a distant and charming memory in the modern world of Howard Webb. Yes, Rob Styles was incompetent, yes, he was a terrible referee but he was a terrible referee to all teams and all teams alike. After Sunday's match, the notion of an unbiased and even-handed referee may seem like a dream, but to those for whom this is their first Premiership season I can assure you they used to exist.

Now for the fourth time in three seasons Howard Webb decides to look the wrong way at the turning point in a match against Sky's beloved "top four". Yet again, he makes the wrong decision, yet again he ruins the previous efforts of a decent Spurs performance, yet again he gifts three points to the wrong team and yet again I find myself having to rant on my blog about the biased and pre-meditated actions of the Premiership's "top" referee.

Earlier yesterday I laughed at Man City fans who were claiming that there's a conspiracy to keep other clubs out of the top four, today it doesn't seem quite so ridiculous.

Robbie Keane: - The Value Of The Prodigal Son That Will Never Be Welcomed Home.

africanspurs — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 19:34:00 GMT

The title is to be taken literally, Robbie Keane was not wanted back and most of those that did want him back have quickly abandoned him. Robbie Keane has become the new Jermaine Jenas, a naming that should bring chills down the spine of ANY footballer. With that chalice will come the most intense scrutiny and vilification a footballer can experience, on the side of the yang it brings together the loyalists that can see no wrong in the player such that the player is in fact highlighted or singled out for the leading topic of discussion on any occasion.

How Robbie has fallen into this dungeon is anyone’s guess, but he is there so we might as well address and examine our prisoner.

Robbie Keane has drawn a line through the grass at white hart lane and depending on which side the sun shines that line could be Lilly white or It could be useless dirt, the verdict is determined by the fans that find themselves on opposite sides where once in Keane’s name there was only one.

On the one hand you have the fans that won’t really forgive him for walking out to his dream club, those that could never see why he was chosen over Defoe, those that see him as un-droppable (the JJ trait) and those that see him as an obstruction in striking partnerships. On the other hand you have those that see Keane as a symbol, that remember the service he gave to us, that have faith in his abilities to score goals, that want his leadership, that appreciated his versatility and more complete game than a 1 track minded Jermaine Defoe (of the past), and as a player that is needed to make a system work

So let’s see the possible benefits and penalties from having a Robbie Keane when you look at his game at Face Value

CONS PROS

Ball Dweller ?	Tireless worker?
Jack of all trades, Master of None?	Versatility?
Little Goal return ratio of late?	Winning mentality and fighting spirit?
Oddity in striker pairing seeing as he is best utilised as the last man recipient with currently no bonafide deliverer in the squad?	Ball retainer (the other way you can look at being a Ball Dweller)?
Can be a bit of a Moaner?	Instinctive Finisher?
The apparent un-droppable captain?	Good return with a good partner?
Erratic mover on the pitch seemingly with little purpose ?	Potential to score out of nothing?
	Vital to current winning tactical formula for spurs?

Now let’s take a closer look at what Keane could very possibly be about.

There is every chance that Keane is easily one of the most important ingredients to the results we have been churning out since the turn of the calendar year. If you were to do a correlation between Robbie Keane’s presence and the turn of results we have had over the past 8 to 9 months you would most likely get a lot closer to that perfect match of 1 than if you correlated with Keane’s absence to the results we got when he wasn’t on the field in our colours. Over 9 months, NINE MONTHS, the likelihood that this cannot possibly be just co-incidence is certainly above average.

Sometimes it isn’t the best player that helps the team get the best results.

Keane: - His Defensive contribution. The Power of 5

· There is a rumour that we go out there and play with a flat 442. Most of us know this not to be true as we can see our resident magician (Modric) is never shackled to one position, no we line up as a 442 and start our defensive positions as a 442 but that’s probably about as far as it goes in this useless author’s opinion

· Defensively we tend to protect our weaker links, namely Tom HUDDLESTONE aka The THUDD, by getting more men to press the opposition than the opposition have bodies in midfield. The reason being is that although THUDD is coming good now, he isn’t coming good in isolation, no he is coming good because of the SYSTEM that we play and this system is only made possible for US at this moment by one player in our squad and that is Robbie Keane. I can see eyes rolling and people pointing at Sergeant Wilson Palacious as the reason THUDD is coming into his own but a quick look at the Birmingham game pre and post Keane playing up front in a central role and the man united game should shed some doubt in the capability of ONE MAN making all the difference. This isn’t Night Rider. Looking after THUDD can be a full time job and Wilson hasn’t got time for this. The duty of this has to be shared…but is it enough to do this with just 2 in the centre? Again, no it isn’t. All it takes is a quick pass then move game around Thudd and Wilson is staring down the barrel of multiple opponents and decisions to make.

· So step up Robbie Keane. In comes the ONLY forward we have with the top class tempered pressing game willing to come from the front lines and get stuck in at the base of the opponent’s midfield. His task is to hustle them into make a quick decision, to track them , to hopefully tackle them but MOST importantly to help the exposed Palacious do his Job more confidently and remove a substantial amount of work or reliance of THUDD to be defensively perfect to make up for his mobility issues and Lack of Lateral movement. By Keane helping defensively one can see Palacious able to make more informed decisions as to where the danger is more than likely going to come from next because either Keane is forcing the ball somewhere or THUDD is preparing to sweep / press any deviation from Wilson’s choice. 5 midfielders against 4 by rule of thumb will make life easier for us defensively, even if we have an immobile tank in the middle. And all this doesn’t even take into account the doubling up he does with Lennon and Modric on a wide player, or when he uses the pressing of both Modric and Lennon to anticipate the next recipient of the ball. What sets Keane apart is that not only does he try to predict the next direction of the ball but he busts lungs to get there and force the opposition into an error or an early ill thought through pass

What’s actually quite remarkable about this player is that to the fans he isn’t seen, much like a ghost, unless he does something that has a direct tangible result from a clearly visible action to the naked eye. Keane has been doing this for years , he did it under Jol (the lob sided 3-5-3 that had Tainio drift in and lee overlap with Keane playing both deep and on the last line of the defence, sound familiar?) and he is doing it under Redknapp today.

Keane: - His Offensive contribution. The Power of 5

Tom Huddlestone :- This isn’t to say that Tom Huddlestone is totally inept, just that you get the best out of him when he’s utilised in a system that gives him more time and space on the ball than the Premiership would allow. How can one accommodate THUDD into the starting line-up and having him be effective enough to dictate a game? Build the team around him! Distract the oppositions’ attention on him by Providing more options for recipients when Tottenham have the ball. As always Keane is that willing volunteer, quite often in a poorer fashion than one would like in this author’s humble opinion. With the space created by having an extra presence in the midfield to receive the ball and keep it (see Keane’s possible pros and cons) Tom HUDDLESTONE now has the time and space to make the most of his rare gifts, VISION AND PASSING. With that our THUDD can get the ball in a “Top 4” manner straight to the attacking players deep within the opposition territory, most notably Aaron Lennon!!! Yes that’s right with the Team formed around THUDD, made possible by Keane’s inclusion; Lennon can look forward to many opportunities to be isolated with his full back. And we all like to see Aaron isolated with his fullback
Possession: - Keane playing deeper when necessary also allows for a good linkup between Modric and Lennon in order to overload the full backs and to retain possession by being an outlet in enemy surrounded areas. In that last category it may appear to be a bit flippant as Defoe has actually very good at this too, but every little does count. It is very noticeable that Keane’s release of the ball, and timing of it, leaves a lot to be something to be desired but the fact of the matter is as far as looking for a silver lining in that irritating habit we STILL have possession of the ball. The reason why this is not so much as horrific I would assume is because when he does hand over the ball he is giving control over to the likes of Modric. Having 5 people operating in and around each other is the way a not so good passing team can match up with the better passers of the premiership while dominating as best as they can the lower level opposition.
Two in One :- With Robbie, though he may not excel in a position of link up forward operating in the hole, he is the only forward we have that can operate there at all in some capacity. Its one thing providing much needed help in the middle but then bodies are needed up font as well up front and somehow Keane is there too. His versatility and willingness to put in a good shift of work is something that shouldn’t be undermined by his lack of goal return on RECENT FORM ALONE. . Mind you if he does stay forward you can expect that the option for BAE to occupy the left mid and make a midfield 5 is still open for service.

There is however another side to the coin; with all the values that can be attributed to having Robbie Keane in the team there is also another way one can view his contribution. Here are some views that come up in some heated discussions on GG (Glory-Glory.co.uk)

· Robbie Keane :- The Headless Chicken . On very many occasions there is no telling where Robbie Keane will end up on the pitch. The assumption being that he is doing everything according to plan what comes across is a headless horseman that has no sense of direction of where the next victim is. Keane will move into positions already occupied by others and DEMAND the ball, taking hold of it, and while arching those elbows, dribble the ball with nothing happening. When finally he decides to release it he gives it to someone that would have gotten the ball an eternity’s length before from the player that surrendered it.

· Robbie Keane :- The Ball Hog Followed on from the headless chicken . Keane will be the one player that wants to live out a fantasy by being the Zidane of Tottenham. Only thing is that Zidane was actually best when he passed the ball. With Robbie, an observation has been made, more than once, that when he gets the ball he tries to do something that isn’t second nature to him but worse, refuses to pass the ball until he has attempted to do the task, and even more horrific , might actually end up doing nothing with the ball. This occurs before, during and after the willing receivers have been making their moves anticipating …..something (I have no idea what)

· Robbie Keane :- The Moaner. Speaks for itself really. He carries a sullen look when substituted, almost like he is above it, some say that this is because he has a desire to play and compete. I call it something else at times. He is normally the first to publicly berate his team mates during a game when something doesn’t come off or you don’t do what he wants. Some people see this as passion, I see this at times as something else…..

· Robbie Keane :- The Un-droppable:- This whole slumber fest that I am putting you through is entirely the opinions of one individual, so please don’t for one moment think that what’s being said here is considered fact. The reason I mention that is because I am of the personal opinion that at this moment Keane IS un-droppable, and so he should be if we want to keep on employing this winning system we have taken a shine to. In case you didn’t pick up what I am trying to say, it’s that Keane HAS become un-droppable. What else do you call a striker that does not score goals, holds up the play and has actually played poorly but still gets picked irrespective of all this? It’s just that is it THAT MUCH of a problem for you that you would want to break a current winning formula?

· Robbie Keane :- A Confused, Disloyal and Unwilling repentant :- We’ll keep this one short, no need going over old wound and past transgressions (I know I don’t want to go over them cause they make me seethe ). Keane got the call from big club and treated us like a stepping stone , then as some excrement from the derriere of a well fed rat with the Ebola virus and then apparently (if you are a fan of the “ITK”) caused a bit of a tiny stir behind the scenes to help the Fat Spanish Waiter get his man. The assumption is that if we were that much in the way, why did you return? Did you want to? Or did you have no choice? World cup year and all that.

· Robbie Keane:- Cannot work with Defoe . This has been a long standing one, brought about some excellent debates too. The main theme, though currently being partially smashed, was that Keane and Defoe could not work in the same team together and you know what, this was true. With no real passers the ball movement of choice was the long ball, NOT deck passing. The thing is though that the direct long ball style STILL is very advantageous and should always be an option for teams, this option though with a Keane and Defoe partnership is blasted to oblivion mainly because they can’t reach the ball (Keane does this thing where he puts in an annoying token gesture of a jump ) and we don’t have players, or rather we didn’t, that go for the second Ariel ball or try to control the ball once it hits the ground. There was also the issue of both players occupying each other’s space, of Defoe being accused of being one track minded and not passing, of Keane’s movement and positioning not suiting Defoe’s etc etc. Was quite lengthy saga.

So what does this all come down to?

We NEED Robbie Keane to be part of the current first team plans because there is no other player currently part of our squad that has the capabilities and willingness / desire to do what Keane does for the team right now. His stats delivery may not be what people want but the results speak for themselves, when he plays we win more than we lose. There is a good rumour that young Ryan Mason is capable and is wiling but let’s groom him in first shall we.

We can all agree that the idea of an un-droppable player is despicable, but do we really want to risk dismantling a winning formation while it’s still WINNING?

Flannerz Match Diary Man Utd (H)

Flannerz — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 19:27:00 GMT

Being a 5.30pm kick off it meant I got more time to sleep of the hangover, meaning when I did actually wake up I wasn’t feeling too bad. The sun was also out and I had a feeling it was going to be a good day. I wasn’t going with the usual crowd as two of them had to work due to the England v Australia odi at Lord’s, so two mates had their tickets. There were four of us in total, me two mates and a mate’s dad.

The journey to the ground was interesting due to a dodgy driver in front of us. He kept going into the middle of the road and nearly clipped three cars and a bus. When we went past him he was a 70 year old who looked like a drunken old tramp! Probably a gooner (his car was red! ) After that we went back to talking about who ‘Arry was going to pick and I bored everyone with how great Palacios is.

We made it to Tottenham in good time and headed straight to the Coach and Horses. There was a massive queue at the bar which included an absolutely stunning lady. Two of us tried our hardest not to stare, but we failed miserably. Luckily she didn’t notice (or pretended not to). While we were having out pre-match beers we kept hearing cheers from inside the pub. We knew they were watching Soccer Saturday, but we didn’t know if it was Arsenal or Chelsea that had conceded! A few kids ran inside to found out but it quickly become obvious what had happened as there were chants of ‘Adebayor…’ from inside!

At 5pm the pub started emptying and we made our way into the ground via the burger fan at the old petrol station. There were some attractive ladies handing out espn hat but they walked straight past me. They probably though ‘he’s a poser and wouldn’t want to mess his hair up’. (and they’d be right!) When I took up my usual seat in the Shelf I realised the hat would have come in handy. Due to the late afternoon kick off the sun was in my eyes for the whole of the first half. I should have taken my sunglasses (would also have helped when I was letching at the girl in the Coach and Horses). Unfortunately the started to mirror the sun. When that started going down the day started getting worse! (I won’t rant on about the match). The acca’ I put on before the game also flopped badly.

Obviously we were all disappointed after the game and the journey back to North West London was moaning and ranting for the first part of the ride, before we changed the subject and got onto drinking and women. Then as we all went our separate ways we were all optimistic that we can go to the Bridge and do Chelsea. COYS

Spurs fans not guilty of racist chants - Don't believe the (media) hype

scaramanga — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:42:00 GMT

What a shame the media frenzy that ensued in the wake of the witch hunt and subsequent convictions of a 42 yr old long-standing Spurs season ticket holder Ian Trow and his 14 yr old son hasn't extended to reflect this conviction being quashed.

We all know by now that the sensationalist media went into virtual meltdown in its haste to brand the 16 Spurs fans identified by the Hampshire police (out of the 2500 present) as "racist and homophobic". The "racist" part of that charge was soon dropped in favour of the latter as soon as they realised they had jumped the gun (as usual). We all know the media (in particular the red tops) are 90% sound bite and 10% substance at best.

This drama all unfolded after the game between Portsmouth and Spurs on the 28th September 2008 where Sol Campbell himself and (supposedly) Portsmouth fans complained about the chanting directed toward the player himself. It even led the now Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp to quote;

"How do you do that in front of your kids? What kind of a nutter must you be? What kind of human being must you be when you take your little kids to football and shout filth? It can't be right".

Nothing like kicking a man when he is down. Not only had he already been deemed a racist and a homophobe in the eyes of the media, he was also accused of being a bad father.

The pictures of the Spurs 16 were shown all over the media and even on the government's own Crimestoppers website where they made the number 1 spot in the list of the nations "most wanted". They even managed to knock armed bank robbers and rapists off the top spot. Glad to see the government didn't get caught up in all the hype.

Eleven of the 16 Spurs fans subsequently made themselves known to the Hampshire police. Later 4 were to plead guilty of indecent chanting and 7 not guilty. The seven that pleaded not guilty were automatically banned by Spurs and had their season tickets revoked despite not having been convicted of any crime. These seven fans were then offered police cautions of which 5 accepted under pressure from the police to halt both threats of court appearances and the media attention. Ian Trow and his son stuck their guns in the belief they were innocent of any wrongdoing after which they were offered a reprimand which they again declined.

In May, Ian and his son, despite there being no evidence to support the charge, were found guilty under the premise that "we can prove these chants were sung, we can prove you attended the match, therefore you must have been singing these songs".
This was to all intents and purposes a show trial, in front of national media (having been invited by the Police). Ian and his son were given 3 year football banning orders and of course, his photograph splashed all over the tabloids.

Last week they had a full re-trial at Portsmouth Crown Court in front of the most senior judge in Hampshire. After the prosecution showed their evidence the judge, after a mere 2 minutes of deliberation and before the defence had even put their case, came to the conclusion they were "Not guilty and had no case to answer". The judge then went on to reprimand the CPS over the fact the case had even been brought into his courtroom. All costs were awarded to Ian Trow.

The Media silence is deafening. The press maxim "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story" appears to hold a true as ever.

**This blog post has been edited for publication by admin**

Manchester United Versus Tottenham Hotspur Postview:- Chapter 1: Hearts and Minds

africanspurs — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 12:43:00 GMT

Redknapp’s Loyalty vs. The Fans

From the stands you can say what you want about a team; only you know what kind of fan you are. Just be willing to give a shade of support if someone has shown qualities that deserve your following….and make no mistake, Redknapp HAS earned this. From a stand point that had most fans calling for the sale of over half the players currently being lauded as CL calibre, to now having a an almost total turnaround from that perspective Redknapp has shown a trust in his own squad through necessity and man- management experience that has produced some remarkable results

Whatever he is doing behind the scenes is WORKING.

With this in mind, does one have to wonder why Redknapp made the choices he made for the Manchester game? A game where a statement needed to be made probably might have called for more ruthlessness as opposed to the sentimentality reflected through his player selection

Those at the centre of this controversy as to first 11 team selection for the match gone were Robbie Keane (our Captain), Crouch (a Redknapp Loyalist), Tom Huddlestone (The Private that answered the Corporal call for Harry) and Niko Krancjar (The New Guy)

There is a timeless saying that goes something like this

“If it ain’t broke, DON’T fix it”

Somewhere between waking up to the memory of a lovely wife that gives fabulous headers that puts to shame a Bent man and handing the team sheet to another potential Man United Employee, Redknapp decided to demolish and then set fire to this idea. Needless to say the changes raised quite a few questions

One would hope that by incorporating these players together Redknapp is showing loyalty to the players that have gotten him his good results over the past 8 months and in Crouch’s case repaying the loyalty and service that has been provided to our resident wheeler dealer in the past years. If this is the case then it isn’t really surprising as to the new lease of Life experienced by our players, they obviously want to play for him and quite possibly because of the faith, trust and loyalty he has shown them through briefly troubled and good times.

In most of these incidences, pertaining to the ruling body’s decisions that are outside the general consensus of the people, the fan that “wants” will find themselves at odds with the “will” of the manager. The question is though

What does HARRY want? and does THIS come head to head against the will of the fans?

Well, there are two main things I feel a manager should strive for….

A Successful Football Club
Creating Proud and Happy Fans

Unfortunately these two don’t always go hand in hand, in-fact they rarely do. The reason being is that the average fan, most of us, is never satisfied and is lacking in perspective and appreciation. Whether this has to do with culture or just a baseline human instinct is a discussion for someone else but one thing that can be guaranteed is that there is nothing a manager can do to escape harsh criticism the second something goes wrong irrespective of all the good done in the past.

“Two points from eight games” “worst start in spurs history”

“4 straight wins to start the season” “best start in 49 year”

Does it matter that the most humiliating first half to a Spurs season was rectified, the good form carried into the next calendar season and the club given the best start to a league season in half a century by the same person?

Does it matter that his team selection brought about this change?

Does it matter that the players selected delivered the desired results that brought some pride back to our club?

The answers to these questions vary depending on what type of fan YOU are , I,e What kind of fan did you become when we went on the miserable run?, when we started to see the daylight?, when we had a brilliant start to the season?, but more important to this article………

What kind of fan did you become when you saw Robbie Keane in the Left Mid position and Crouch starting up front?

The way it works in general is that you have a baseline expectation, with Tottenham fans it’s to reclaim the glory days, and then you build on that through criticism and demands. You don’t actually have to know exactly how things will turn out just as long as you exercise your right to those two things is enough. We criticised to the point of lynching when we were losing and once we started winning we made demands to keep is winning, one of those demands was to drop our Captain and promote our new purchase to starter alongside the inform striker of the nation for the Man United game, we should probably look into that quickly before you fall into a coma

Chapter Two and Robbie Keane………………………..

The Friday Preview - Mancs versus Cockneys

HertYid — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 08:42:00 GMT

God I'm hungover. So hungover. Thursday nights out are a killer. But it was worth it. Why? Because I went to Faces. I'd never been before, but I'd seen Ledley on the front page of the Metro falling out the front door so many times, I felt like a regular. Needless to say it was a good night, and thankfully I didn't bump into Aaron and T Hudd breakdancing with a hareem of women. But the vodka flowed and I can't really think at the moment so this will be short and sweet.

Lennon's ego must be bigger than Alan Sugar's right now. The praise he's been getting the past 24 hours is akin to Obama-mania so hopefully he'll keep his feet on the ground, his head down and keep running fast. Very fast. Hopefully straight past Patrice Evra. Here's what Lamps had to say about our very own Billy Whizz:

"I think Aaron is a fantastic player. He can be as good as he wants to be. He can be an absolute world beater."

Tomorrow's game gives Azza a good chance to prove Fat Frank right. Evra is widely regarded to be one of the best left-backs in the world and he got given a right royal shafting by Lennon at Wembley back in the spring, so it'd be jolly nice if the same happens again tomorrow.

Team news is a bit thin on the ground, mainly because Arry only got his rascals back today. Rumour has it King and Bassong are both fit to play so I'm guessing it'll be the usual in defence. Gomes might be back, which would be nice. Cudicini hasn't filled me with confidence this season and no clean sheets in 4 games is bad for my fantasy football team so I'd welcome a return for the octopus. The left berth is open after Luka's gammy fibula left him resting till November. My heart says Giovanni but my head says new signing Nico Kranjcar, who I thought looked pretty handy for Croatia on Wednedsay. And then there's the strikers where it'll be 2 from 4 and probably a change. Arry's been bigging up Crouchy recently and I reckon he'll be starting which means Keano on the bench. Not sure how the paddy primadonna will take that, but the beanpole breakdancer will cause Utd problems so I think it's the right call.

Nowt much else to say. It's North London against Manchester this weekend so let's hope the Etihad boys give the Gooner Emirati a good thrashing. Wins for us and City would really rile the Sky 4....

Audere est Facere

Lennon comes of age as England run riot

HertYid — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 06:58:00 GMT

There are nights in a team's evolution when all come together as one to play with a purpose and drive that signals their intent to the world. This was one of those nights. England were rampant - tearing the Croatian defence apart with ease, sniffing out every Croatian attack before it had even got started, chasing the ball across every blade of grass and attacking with guile and speed. Croatia didn't stand a chance.

At the heart of everything good in England's devestating first half was our very own Aaron Lennon, finally fulfilling his undoubted potential and cementing his place in the team. "That was my first eleven" said Capello after the game. Lennon's development from promising teenager to international winger is complete.

The comments from the press were a joy to read this morning:

"the outstanding Aaron Lennon led Croatia’s defenders a merry dance"

"terrorised the Croatia defence"

"[his] performance on the right wing caused Croatia untold problems before he departed to a standing ovation"

It was truly a great performance, so great that he didn't make a mistake until the 65th minute when he lost the ball trying to run in between the two Croatians who had double-marked him to no avail for the whole match. In fact his opening salvo - the jink and jive past the desperate Simunic to win the penalty, and the beautifully weighted cross for the second - was so devestating that Bilic swapped his defence around and put the pacey Srna at LB to try and provide come resistance. He fared little better. Flicking the ball over his own and his marker's heads, Lennon flew past his defender and controlled the ball on his chest before laying off the ball to Rooney who beautifully slid the ball through the gap in the Croatian defence. Lennon dinked the ball over the oncoming keeper, but not putting quite enough on the chip allowed Runje to get a finger to it and deflect it off course. The goal would have been the icing on the cake. That can wait until another day.

England continued to probe and Bilic's men crumbled. Another two goals came, in spite of Heskey's determination to play himself out of the England squad, before the cheating gooner Eduardo nabbed a consolation. Rooney made it five after more hapless defending from the Croats, and it was job done. Two games against Croatia. Nine goals scored. How on earth did McLaren screw it up so badly?

It would be rude of me to ignore the contributions of fellow Spurs Defoe and Kranjcar. Jermaine made some good runs and showed some nice touches. Kranjcar was arguably Croatia's best player with most if not all of their attacking play going through him. His range of passing and his calmness on the ball was nice to see and it'll be interesting to see how he slots into the Spurs team this weekend. He looks a similar player to Modric - a little bigger, a little stronger, a little slower maybe - so I'm sure he'll do just fine. There was a nice moment in the game when, after Lennon had been mauled down yet again by some filthy excuse for an international footballer, Nico bent over and offered Aaron his hand - already a Spurs boy.

Man Utd visit the Lane on Saturday and Fergie will be fearful of the damage Lennon could do. Evra was on the receiving end of a pasting in the Carling Cup Final back in March and will be hoping to put up more of a fight this time round. But the form of Lennon, mirrored by the form of our entire squad, gives me hope, nay confidence, that we can make it 5 from 5 on Saturday evening.

But more on that tomorrow....

Spurs v Spurs at Wembley + Bilic loves Charlie

HertYid — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 09:37:00 GMT

So according to the media, tonight's international between England and Croatia is pretty much Spurs v Spurs. Defoe and Lennon are the darlings of the media (and Beckham now finished.... again) while Bilic has been crying into his bean stew over the loss of Modric and Corluka. And then there's Kranjcar and his new role as the creator of Croatia in Luka's absence. This being the case, it's probably worth me previewing the game that could seal England's qualifcation for WC2010.

Lennon and Defoe both deserve to start. Whether they do is another matter. If I was a betting man I'd be backing Lennon to start and Defoe to come on in the 2nd half. Capello likes Heskey, and the way the rest of the team work around him, so he's likely to be given another chance. But futher failure from Emile may well leave him struggling for a ticket on the plane to South Africa, especially with Crouch and Cole both pushing for inclusion. Lennon though outshone SWP by quite some margin on Saturday and is almost nailed on for a starting berth. Let's hope he comes close to replicating Walcott's performance against the Crotians last time round.

Oliver Holt had some nice words to say about Azza:

"After a brilliant start to the season for Spurs, he carried his club form into Saturday’s international with Slovenia. He rejuvenated a sluggish England side when he was brought on at half-time to replace Shaun Wright-Phillips.

"Lennon brightened things up when he came on at Wembley on Saturday. He brought a sense of purpose and dangerous intent. His performance and Defoe’s were the two brightest aspects of a match where England struggled to excel."

Despite my dislike of Oliver Holt and pretty much anything he says on the Sunday Supplement, I can't disagree with anything he's written there. Let's hope Aaron proves him right tonight.

On the Croatian front, Bilic goes into tonight's game without his two best players. Corluka, who he described earlier this year as "the best right-back in the world", is suspended while Modric is injured, obviously. He had this to say:

"It's a big blow, of course," he admitted last night. "It's not the same to play any game without such world-class players as Luka or Corluka, though there's no point crying now."

I like Slavan Bilic a lot more than Oliver Holt, so I find it easier to agree with him. In fact I'd quite like to go for a pint with Slavan, I reckon he's a good lad. The injury to Modric does however give our new signing Nico Kranjcar a chance to shine. He didn't play too well at the weekend when pushed from the left into a more central role and if I'm honest I hope he has an average game tonight. Yes I'm a Spurs fan, but I want England in the next World Cup so if Nico has a stinker tonight I won't be too fussed. Hopefully there won't be too much of this....

There's not much else to say, other than well done to the 5000 fans who turned up for the friendly last night. That should put another £50k into the SoS fund which I'm sure will be much appreciated by the Stanley fans.

Till tomorrow...

Burnley show the way in bid to save Stanley

HertYid — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 08:38:00 GMT

Football's a funny old game, torn between the riches and fame of the modern era and the values and traditions of its long history. "Don't dive" they tell us, "it's bad sportsmanship". Fair enough. "No manager will admit it" they say, "but you do everything you can to win". Say what? As football has evolved into a multi-billion pound industry, with it have come pressures and financial incentives that too often blind the fundamental truth that at the end of the day it's just a game, and a beautiful one at that. So when the poorest club in the Premier League decide to host a friendly and donate all gate receipts to a club far less fortunate than themselves, it warms the cockles and reminds you that there are a few good people still left in football.

Accrington Stanley is one of the oldest names in football, a club with a rich history and one of the 12 founding members of the football league. Decimated by debts in the 1960s and forced into liquidation, it seemed the Accrington name was to disappear after 80 years in existence. But the fans wouldn't have it and, at a meeting in the local town hall in 1968, the club was reborn and in 1970 re-entered football at the bottom of the non-league pyramid. Since then it has risen slowly but surely through the entirety of non-league football and in May 2006 they finally made it back to top level football with promotion to the football league. Just three months later they beat Nottingham Forest in the League Cup. The resurgence was complete. Stanley were back.

Or so they thought. Burdened by debts, they now need to raise £308,000 in 8 weeks or they face a second liquidation. Local campaigns have raised considerable sums, with one American fan donating £5000 to the cause. But £300k is a hell of a lot for a League Two side to find, and everyone in the area knows it. That's why Burnley have decided to lend a hand. And what a hand it is. Tonight at Turf Moor they host Accrington in a friendly fundraiser with all gate receipts going to SoS (Save our Stanley), with the club saying they will do “anything we can” to help Stanley survive. A club like Accrington is vitally important not just to the local community but to football as a whole. Burnley, unlike Liverpool, recognise this and are willing to contribute in order to ensure the survival of the smaller clubs that make football in England what it is. Liverpool would do well in the future to show slightly more empathy, given their own financial problems just a few months ago.

I'd ask all of you who live in the area to go and show your support. Lower league football is vitally important to our national sport and to the local communities it acts as a focal point for. And you'll have the chance to see the magical feet of new signing David 'Ted' Nugent. Owen Coyle had this to say:

"I will be putting out a strong team," Coyle told the club's website. "It will be a chance for the fans to see 90 minutes for Fernando Guerrero and also first-team players like Chris Eagles and David Nugent.

"The more Burnley fans who come the better because it's a fantastic cause, and that's why we have priced it reasonably."

Admission will be £10 for adults (£5 concessions). Car parking will be available in the North Stand car park for a £2 donation. Kick-off is 7.45pm.

In 1991, Spurs were on the brink of bankruptcy. Only Alan Sugar, and his Amstrad money, saved us from the infamy of going into administration and I know we'd all appreciate the support of other clubs if it was Spurs who were suffering this time.

E-I-E-I-E-I-O
Up the football league
we go
when we win promotion this
is what we'll sing
we are Stanley

Defoe + Keane + Gio + Taarabt + Man Utd

HertYid — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 07:06:00 GMT

I'm not sure quite what Defoe has to do to start for England. 8 goals in 12 appearances under Capello, and 7 in 6 starts this season for club and country, are apparently not enough to force the prolific Emile Heskey out of the starting XI. If Capello picks Heskey to start against Croatia on Wednesday, I'll rip out my fingernails with a pair of tweezers.

It beggars belief that he continues to get in the England team, especially after he offered nothing in the first half on Saturday. Unfortunately it seems I'm destined to wake up on Thursday in with sore fingers. Capello had this to say about JD:

"If he plays the second half, he has scored goals. That’s good. Perhaps he would be tired if he played from the first minute. He’s a really important player. But Heskey, for me, played a good first half. The players do a lot of movement around Heskey.”

Lennon was similarly overlooked, but joined Defoe in entering the fray at half-time and changing the game for the better, making the winning goal. In my eyes both the Spurs boys should start, no question. SWP, good as he might be, isn't in the rich vein of form that Lennon has experienced in 2009. I won't hold my breath though.

It was a successful international weekend for Spurs players. Keane scored, Taarabt scored after a mazy solo run, Gio was star of the show again for Mexico. Which makes me think that finally Arry might have to give him a chance to make a name for himself at Spurs. It's been a tumultuous first year in English football for Gio, coming from Barcelona to play for a manager he knew from La Liga, drawn to the bright lights of London's nightclubs, seemingly lacking in the work ethic or drive to make the most of his undoubted talents. But it appears that his time at Ipswich last year was the launch pad for a change in attitude and a resurgence in his career. The summer saw him made MVP for his outstanding all-round performances at the CONCAF Gold Cup, where he led Mexico to a stunning 5-0 victory over the USA (the first win in 10 years). Then last week Arry mentioned that he looked more focused and had shown good form for Mexico, which was pretty much the first positive thing Redknapp has said about the kid since he took the reins last October. And now this weekend Gio was star of the show again for Mexico, something the Official Site commented on:

"Giovani dos Santos was the star on a great night for Mexico... The winger helped turn the North, Central America and Caribbean section on its head as Mexico travelled to leaders Costa Rica and won 3-0 in San Jose. Gio opened the scoring seconds before half-time and then set-up the second and third goals for Guillermo Franco and Andres Guardado respectively before being substituted 10 minutes from time."

With Modric injured, and Kranjcar new to the team, there's a good chance that in the coming weeks Gio will get his chance. I just hope he grabs it with both hands. Undisputably talented, skilful and quick, with great feet and an ability to glide past opposition defenders, he could provide great balance to our team, offering a mirror image of Lennon and adding to our ability to counter teams. The next month or two will be crucial to Gio's career. Time for him to step up.

Back to club football and it's the league champions who next visit White Hart Lane. Few teams have won at the Lane in the past 12 months and I'm very confident going into the weekend. 530pm games have been good to us recently, most notably in our famous victory over Liverpool last October, and the atmosphere on Saturday will be electric. The squad is united, the team settled, the players on form. Our only worry is defence although the rumour is that Ledley will be fit, and Gomes may well return, both of which I would welcome with open arms. It will be interesting to see if Corluka or Hutton get the nod on the right. Hutton was oustanding for Scotland on Saturday and is a quicker player than the laboured Corluka who may struggle against Nani. There's still another round of internationals to cripple our squad first, so I guess team predictions can wait till the Friday Preview.

Have a good week.

Time for Lennon to shine + Horseface + Angry Russians

HertYid — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 10:43:00 GMT

International break is always pretty dull. Normally a few Spurs players get called up and play a bit part in a boring England friendly. One of them usually comes back with an injury. The squad gets together a day before our next league game. We usually lose. It's a total waste of time really. And it's not like we didn't have one a month ago, just three days before the start of the league season. Which muggins came up with that idea?

But this time it could be different - Lennon and Defoe are both on fire, making PL defences look like the San Marino youth team and scoring goals for fun. International duty couldn't have come at a better time for them. Both are set to start on Saturday and it's their chance to cement their place in the England squad for 2010, and potentially even the starting eleven. Capello likes playing with a pacy winger. In his 4-2-3-1 formation with Rooney sitting in the hole behind the leading striker, he needs pace and creativity on the flanks. Gerrard, while a gifted player, isn't a touchline hugging LW and Capello recognises this. Hence his desire to play Lennon/Walcott/SWP on the right. Well Walcott hasn't looked the same since last Xmas and SWP is more inconsistent than Jenas, so Lennon has a real opportunity here.

His performances towards the end of last season for England weren't great. He has his moments, but too often he looked like he lacked belief in his own ability. Instead of playing with the verve and swagger we see at WHL every week, we saw a hesitant player who preferred to lay the ball off to Lampard or Johnson rather than really attack the opposition LB. Capello himself has commented on this recently:

"When a player is fit and in good form I put him in the squad. Always the quick players are really important. But not only speed, because you have to be good technically.

"Lennon can play one-to-one and is very dangerous because he's quick. He can shoot left, he can shoot right -- he scored a goal against West Ham."

"He needs to understand his potential and have confidence in it. He has to improve the confidence."

So let's hope that Aaron can take his confidence from his club form this season and convert it into international stardom. Would be great for Spurs if he could really establish himself at international level as this would no doubt filter down into his club performances. As for JD, he looks set to start as well, playing up top alongside Shrek. His supersub role in the Holland friendly set the stage for his goalscoring riot so far this season and while a selfish, head-down, hit-it-as-hard-as-you-can striker on the worst of days, he has bags of potential that he is finally fulfilling. His bad days are now becoming infrequent and unusual. Long may it continue.

In other news, Ruuuuuud van Horseface said he didn't want to leave Madrid this summer to move to a "lesser team", something the Mirror and other rags have decided meant he turned down Spurs but didn't even bother to write us a letter. Maybe we were interested, maybe we weren't, I don't really give a f@ck. We have a talented, varied, dynamic, versatile group of forwards now so Ruud can bugger off back to the Madrid reserves and rot there for all I care.

Meanwhile Spartak have been moaning that we wouldn't give them back Pavlyuchenko for a bag of peanuts and a mail-order bride. How selfish of us!?

“We offered £9m for his immediate transfer," Spartak manager Valery Karpin said.

“But Tottenham rejected our proposals.

“We were told that the price for Pavlyuchenko was £17.6m.

“For us it would be absurd to pay that.”

Yeah how fucking absurd! Much more sensible for them to buy him back for £4m less than they sold him for just 12 months earlier. Who do they think we are? Liverpool? Daniel Levy bends over and spreads his cheeks for no man, especially a Russian with a tache and more than a hint of alcohol on his breath. So Pav stays at the Lane and hopefully gets his chance to prove himself in the coming weeks. I think we all understand his frustration at not playing just 9 months before a World Cup. He wants game time, Arry said he'll get it, so let's wait and see if he takes his chance. I for one am glad he's still here.

Right that's your lot.

Three Lions and all that.....

GDS + Premier League Piracy + that Wenger chant

HertYid — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 08:51:00 GMT

Morning Yiddos

It always feels a bit strange at this time of year. The transfer window shuts, the ITK rumours cease, PL football is off the calendar for two weeks... it's almost as if I've been on a 48 hour bender and now I'm suffering from a massive Monday morning comedown. There's an emptiness inside which no amount of friendlies against Slovenia or gooners being banned for diving can fill. I guess I'll have to make do with the fact this is a four day week and it's almost Friday, and I'm going to some funky Japanese restaurant tonight with touchscreen menus.

Giovanni on the other hand will hopefully be tucked up at home with his playstation and a protein shake. We all know the rumours - that Gio loves a drink and a party, and that the reason behind his almost certain upcoming departure from the club was primarily down to his inability to turn up to training sober and on time. Photos like this didn't help.

Well contrary to popular belief, it appears the boy from Mexico may have a future at Spurs after all. Following a string of outstanding performances for the Mexico national team, and an MVP award in the CONCAF Gold Cup where he led Mexico to their first win over the USA for 10 years, Arry has had some positive things to say about Gio. First time for everything I suppose.

"He played the other night and did very well," said Redknapp. "He looked lively at Doncaster, so hopefully he can continue in that form.

"He's had a good spell with the Mexican national team, he was the player of the tournament recently [in the CONCACAF Gold Cup] so he looks like he's certainly got something to offer and he's got a part to play here.

"If he continues in that form, if he dedicates himself to being a top player, then there's no reason why he can't do that. He's got all the ability, but it's up to him now."#

I'm assuming that he's come back from international duty a better player and a more focused professional, and that he's impressed sufficiently in training to warrant the positive feedback. Let's hope Gio takes heed of Arry's wise words. Less champagne and slappers, more protein and press-ups. There's a good lad.

Some interesting news out of Israel today. An Israeli judge, Michal Agmon-Gonen, has ruled that the football streaming website livefooty.org has no case to answer. Premier League heavies stormed into this case, demanding the website be prosecuted, fined and shutdown for deliberately breaching copyright law. But good old Micky down at the Tel Aviv District Court disagreed. He had this to say:

"watching sports events is socially important and should remain in the realm of mass entertainment, and not just be for those who can afford it" – "those [who view online streams] are of small means or.... are not sufficiently interested in sport to pay".

The Premier League obviously isn't best pleased with the ruling and says it will appeal, and I wouldn't put my mortgage on the UK High Court making a similar ruling, but for now it makes the whole online streaming debate a little more interesting. If this sets a precedent for legal defence of online streaming, it would certainly push the issue to the top of the Premier League memo at their meeting later this month, and might eventually lead to legal, high-quality streams of all PL games. In my eyes that can only be a good thing.

Not such a good thing however is abuse in football. Not your standard chants about masturbating referees and Frank Lampard being on weight watchers but the disgusting, small-minded vile that gets banded about by too many, too often. None of us are too impressed with hissing when we go to Upton Park, the Mancs are always pretty upset when they get Munich songs at Anfield, the Scouse come away from Old Trafford angry at the Hillsborough rhymes. The songs are wrong, the people who sing them are wrong, I have no time for them. Well the Wenger song has hit the headlines after his "in the stocks" embarrassment at Old Trafford on Saturday, and people aren't best pleased. I can't say I disagree too much.

Yes he's a wanker. Yes he's a lying, two-faced, cheating, accusative, wannabe philosopher who spends most of his life riding atop his high horse preaching to the rest of football. But does that make it right to sing about him abusing children? Is there anything worse than that? And why does the Premier League, so keen to clamp down on Spurs fans for singing a homophobic song about Judas Campbell, think so little of this issue that they won't even return a journalist's calls? You can call me fat, you can call me ugly, you can shout wanker at me - but accuse me of abusing children and we're taking this outside mate.

This is football, not baseball, I accept that. And I'd never want WHL to turn into some anaemic, soulless excuse for middle-class divorcees to spend time with their kids. But there's a line out there somewhere and it's about time we found it.

I'll probably get slated for this, but f@ck it. It's my blog and I'll moan if I want to.

COYS

Kranjcar + Squad Depth + Honest Arry + International Break

HertYid — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 06:33:00 GMT

I feel tired this morning. I was out at Gaucho last night and I drank too much red wine. I didn't sleep well. And the transfer window knocked the fucking stuffing out of me. I don't know why I bother getting so worked up over what inevitably ends as a damp squib. I suppose it's some sort of self-masichism, another form of pain that comes with supporting Spurs, but I know I'd be disappointed if our transfer window looked anything like the Redscum from across North London so ever year I just ride the wave of bullshit and try and enjoy what I can of it.

Nico Kranjcar was the sole signing of the day, and a bloody good one he is too. £2.5m for a proven international midfielder with PL experience, a good relationship with our manager and two Croat teammates to banter with over a sausage casserole - we picked up the bargain of the transfer window and I've already seen fans from other clubs spouting anti-spurs drivel regarding our constant ability to get top players to come to WHL. The poor blue kippers from merseyside must be devestated to have been turned down again. I almost feel sorry for Moyes, it's no easy task persuading continental footballers to swap the mediterranean for the bright lights of Liverpool and living in the shadow of the bindippers, but he performs the task admirably and Heitinga and Distin are fine signings for him.

There was a point yesterday when I thought we were in the market to sell half our squad. Bentley, Pav, Hutton and Bale were all rumoured to be on their way out without ample replacements. It felt like August 2008 all over again. Fortunately we didn't ship out anyone, by choice or otherwise, and we've been left with arguably our strongest squad of the modern era. We genuinely have two players for every position and our 2nd XI would walk to a midtable finish in the PL, something our 1st XI has struggled to do in recent years. A lot of you moan about the lack of cover for Palacios, and that's true to an extent, but how many clubs can lose their most important player and not suffer? Liverpool Gerrard, Arsenal Fabregas, Utd Rooney - they'd all be significantly worse teams for the absence of their stars, and we're no different. Arry was clearly in the market for a CM but couldn't get anyone of the required quality, and I'd much rather have Jenas than some last minute Gregorz Raziak.

Arry was refreshingly honest - it's becoming something of a habit - when talking to SSN yesterday. Yes we'd been offered Anton Ferdinand in a swap for Alan Hutton. No we weren't interested. No we hadn't made an offer for James. No we hadn't tried to sell Bentley. Yes he loved Kranjcar. Yes he'd had people calling him all day offering their player's services. Yes he was glad the window was shut. Yes he'd love to give Georgie Thompson a good hard...

But now, just as we'd hyped ourselves into a frenzy over the potential comings and goings, Premier League football goes on holiday for a couple of weeks. Instead we've got Capello's philosophical musings to look forward to. And Lennon starting for England before being subbed off at half-time. Again. There aren't many benefits to the international break but I thought of a couple. King will hopefully recover from his groin strain (maybe JoH will lend Danielle for a day of sensual message) and the whole Man Utd squad will return from their various corners of the globe in an even worse state than ours the day before our biggest game of the season. Other than that, it's a load of shit, a waste of time, and I can't wait for the bloody thing to be over.

Bring on 12th September.

Modric Injury "English conspiracy" + Silly Season sees Kranjcar + Petrov + Moses

HertYid — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 09:12:00 GMT

Deadline day fellow yiddos and it looks like it's going to be another busy day for Levy - It never rains but it pours. As the BBC blog says, "Thank heavens for Tottenham...", I honestly don't know what Andy Burton (CAD) would do without us.

There's been plenty of bullshit flying the cyberweb the past 24 hours, but it seems one of the rumours has legs. Nico Kranjcar is set to sign today for £2.5m which, for an international mid-20s creative midfielder with Premier League experience, is an absolute fucking bargain. We all have our own gripes with the way Levy manages our club, but it's times like these when you realise what a genius the man is. Yes Kranjcar was in the last year of his contract, but £2.5m? We've essentially sold the Ghetto Prince for Nico Kranjcar + £1.5m which is frankly obscene. And Arry seems delighted. He told his favourite rag The Sun:

""I'm really delighted. I signed him for Portsmouth and he's a fantastic player and a great lad.

"I've already got two fantastic Croatian players - Luka Modric and Vedran Corluka - who can help him settle in."

So that's one in the bank. Another fish floating close to our line but yet to bite is Martin Petrov, although I think the correct analogy would be he's desperately trying to chomp our entire fishing rod but we're currently holding it just out of reach. Petrov wants to join. It's just whether Arry feels we need another left-sided player or if Nico is enough for now. Curiously David Bentley seems to have entered the fray on this one, with Shitty prepared to throw £10m bags of oil greenback + the Bulgarian whizz as a swap for the posh car and his drink-driving conviction. Why Etihad FC want another winger is beyond me, and SWP must be fuming, but if Levy can negotiate this one for anything like the figures reported, I'll be taking my hat off to him for a second time today. The other Bulgarian - you know, that moody cad from the Manchester suburbs - had this to say on the whole situation:

"I hope Martin goes to Spurs,"

"He does not deserve such a relationship with Manchester City and Spurs are a bigger club than City."

Which I suppose is better than a kick in teeth. This one is going to go to the wire I suspect. No fucking change there then.

Finally there's a strange rumour going round that we'll be offloading Pavlyuchenko to Zenit for £10.5m and bringing in Victor Moses from Palace. I would dismiss this out of hand but Arry's rag The Sun was the tabloid to print it, and in the same article as the Kranjcar story, so I'm inclined to give it a bit more weight. Interesting developments afoot.

A crackpot story to end today with - the Croatian Football President Vlatko Markovic has decided the Modric injury is part of an Anglo-Saxan conspiracy to damage Croatia's chances of qualifying for WC2010. I would summarise but I think he says it best:

“It is terrible what has happened to us. Maybe someone has something against us and our national team.

“In the past year, they have injured Eduardo and now the same has happened to Luka Modric.

“I can only ask whether it’s a coincidence or whether someone did it deliberately on the eve of a game with England.”

And 9/11 never happened. Sure.

Laters yiddos.

Shans' Brum Diary from Toon to WHL = Dedication

Dazza_London — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:00:00 GMT

My day began at 750 with the sound of my alarm. I awoke rather bleary eyed and ears still ringing from the night before. My favourite DJ - Markus Schulz had made a last minute appearance in Newcastle so I couldn't resist the temptation of heading out to see him which meant I didn't get in until after 3. After staggering into the shower I quickly made my way up from the Quayside to the station to catch the train.

The train was packed - probably due to the bank holiday. Normally its fairly quiet with usually just a couple of Scottish lads supping on their pre-9am Tennants. My mate John got on at Durham and we began to chew the fat over our start to the season which lasted the entire journey - no doubt boring the pants off the couple sat opposite in our table seats.

We arrived at Kings Cross by midday. The place is looking pretty sparse these days with all the work being done to it. All that is left open is half of WHSmith, a Burger King and an Upper Crust. Why does it take this long and why couldn't they just do it in one go instead of making it a slow painful death? I suggest to John that all the station really needed was a clean of the old pub's carpets and maybe a new toilet in the gents

We hop on the tube to Seven Sisters. We're another pair who are all about routines and for us it all happens on the way to the ground. A recent addition has been to walk down the High Road and stop off at the Bee Hive pub - just next to Bruce Grove. As the weather's good we head out to the back and into the beer garden, enjoying a few pints of London Pride. There are wasps everywhere - a bit of a phobia of mine so I encourage John to fight em off while I'm twitching worse than Rain Man!

We finish up our 3rd pint and head off down the High Road. Our tickets are for the Park Lane end, but as with tradition, we must go down to the Paxton to see Colonel Burgers. Always entertaining, he's the finest burger vendor in the land and worth the trip alone! Armed with burgers and jumbo sausage and at now nearly 250 we make our way past the East Stand into the Park Lane. A quick trip to the loo and we just miss kick-off by seconds. But all is well as we settle into our seats upper tier, centre of the goal.

As we all know Spurs came good in the end and overcame real adversity given the injuries to some key players.

We head back via the train from White Hart Lane to Seven Sisters, and the tube to Kings Cross. A quick to St Pancras for some food for the journey and we're on our way. I wave goodbye to John at Durham and get back into Newcastle before 10 - in plenty of time for Match of the Day which I settle down to with a couple of pints, safe in the knowledge we've had our best start since 1960

Modric Sad + Kranjcar/James + Bentley + Jenas/Muntari + Sandro + Van Der Vaart

HertYid — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 21:15:00 GMT

Bank Holiday Monday brings a welcome respite from work and one final fling on the transfer merry-go-round before we shut up shop, batten down the hatches and realise we've just sold half our squad to Man Utd without any replacements. At all. Apart from that 18-year old they gave us on loan. How kind of them. So it's with sodden brow, clammy hands and a yet-to-be-named-and-numbered away shirt that I sit down this morning with a cup of coffee and SSN. I've no idea why I watch channel 405 - I fucking hate that cad Andy Burton and his "mobile phone link to the stars" - but I've got bugger all else to do and Georgie Thompson deserves better than that midget off Byker. So no messing about, let's get to sifting the gold from the mud. And hope that this cad is kept off air for the rest of today...

The Modric aftermath has brought its fair share of conjecture. Petrov has been in the mix for a while, but Krancjar seems to be the most recent solution to the left-sided problem we apparently have. Is this all part of some Redknapp-esque plot to turn Spurs into Portsmouth, and if so will be bringing Pamarot and Kaboul back to the Lane? I fucking hope not. But Krancjar I wouldn't be so opposed to - a capable and skilful attacking midfielder, similar to Modric in many respects although not as gifted, and a goalscorer as well as a creator. Oh and his contract's up next summer which means Arry should be able to pick him up on the cheap. The word is that a £6m bid has been made, and I would have thought that would be enough to secure his services, but there's a good chance he comes in a package with Calamity James. Redknapp Jr had this to say earlier:

"David James could possibly be leaving, Niko Kranjcar another one. I think a lot of clubs are interested, It depends on how long Gomes will be out for, we all know my dad is an admirer of him."

It'd be a strange move for both Spurs and Calamity if he were to come to WHL. First off he needs first team football if he's going to be England's number 1 in South Africa next summer. And he'd be joining a club that already has two very competent keepers. Second, as far as I'm aware Gomes has a thigh strain and should be back in a few weeks. So either the injury is worse than we think, Gomes is on his way out, or the whole story is a load of crap. I'm inclined to go with the latter, but am ready to be proved wrong.

Someone I was hoping would prove me wrong was Bentley. A supremely talented footballer or a slow Beckham wannabe, I still don't know. Modric's injury does, in theory, provide the perfect two month window for him to demonstrate his gifts and win over the Tottenham faithful. But the Villa link has been hanging around all summer like a bad case of swine flu, and he's hardly been playing regular football, so I wouldn't begrudge him the move. It would however be another strange one. Villa play with two attacking pacy wingers, and with Young, Abonglahor, Milner and Downing, I don't see any reason for them to buy Bentley who, let's be honest, hardly boasts pace. It's not like Levy willl be giving him away for peanuts either, and will Lerner be signing a cheque for £15m? Not likely.

Another example of wishful thinking that's resurfaced again this weekend is the Jenas/Muntari swap. Why the Special One would want to give us Muntari and take Mr Incosistency to the San Siro is beyond me, but some wise souls seem convinced on this one. To paraphrase Ole King Kev, I would love it, love it, if this one came to life today. Joining Muntari in our fantasy midfield come September is Arry's wife Sandro, currently plying her trade down in Brazil at Inter. For those of you who missed it, we formed a partnership with Inter. Spurs had this to say:

"The Club is delighted to announce that it has concluded a strategic partnership with Brazilian club Sport Club Internacional for the purposes of working together to develop players for both the Club and other European Leagues."

Whether this makes the transfer more or less likely, I've no idea. Were we ever really interested in the boy, or was this the real story? A Brazilian U21 international is not to be sniffed at but from what little I've seen of him he looks a lot like the Hudd. And I'm not sure we need another Huddlestone.

Someone I am sure we need is Rafael Van Der Vaart. Completely out of favour at Madrid after just 12 months there, and without even a shirt number to his name, his talent deserves an outlet, and with Modric out injured for 2-3 months I see no reason not to bring the genius to WHL. Daily Mail rumours, garnered from various message boards, link him to the Woolwich and the Toffees. Is there ever a player now that's not linked to both us and the goons? It's becoming infuriating. Either way I can't see Wenger spending big money to sign another attacking midfielder to join Nasri, Rosicky, Walcott, Fabregas et al on the physio table. If we've got any competition it'll come from Germany, most likely a return to Hamburg or a move across to Munich where Bayern seem resigned to losing Ribery (Robben or no Robben, they'll have cash to burn).

Whatever today brings, I slept soundly last night knowing that at least we didn't have the Carrick/Berbatov saga hanging over us. There's a real sense of togetherness about the squad this year, something I think has been key to our early-season form. It's been refreshing to have an August free from the clutches of Old Whisky Face.

It's not often I say this but I'd actually be happy with nothing today. No ins, no outs, no strikers, no defenders, no nothing. Our squad is strong, we have strength in depth, we have quality in every position. That said, I'm almost certain we'll get a midfielder in some shape or size but I've no idea who. And I don't really care. It's almost more exciting that way. Life and let live, that's what I say.

I'll leave the parting words to Luka, who told a Croatian daily today just how sad he was to be injured:

"It's like my whole world has crumbled because I will be out for at least six weeks.

"I am terribly sad.

"It wasn't a ferocious tackle, but it hurt awfully and I knew something was wrong the moment it happened.

"The worst feeling is knowing that I will be watching both my club and country from the sidelines for a while."

I fucking love this guy, and I know we all wish him well in his recovery.

COYS

Paxton Wolf's Match Diary Birmingham (H)

Dazza_London — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 13:44:00 GMT

I dont really know what it is about a 3pm kick-off on a Saturday afternoon, maybe it's the traditionalist in me, but it always feels that bit more special than the Sky-governed Sunday games. Todays trip down the M6 and M1 was going to be a touch more enjoyable. Of course we were top of the League at the time, that helps, but this afternoon our hometown rugby team,Warrington Wolves,were playing at Wembley in the Carnegie Challenge Cup Final, so half the town would also be making the trip southwards. Friends and relatives could not understand why we choose to watch Birmingham City at home, rather than Warrington in their first final for 19 years, for us it wasn't even a contest. WHL wins every time.

After a quick cuppa and a few biscuits for breakfast the usual pre-match rituals begin. My wife Jane and I are quite superstitious, as with many of you I suppose. We try and stick to the same routine for each trip. So in the back goes the Spurs flag, but this time with the added addition of a Warrington top as a one-off, and the scarves are hung out of the rear window, making sure each one is hung form the correct window, it's the routine. A quick call to the local BP for the obligatory £40 worth of diesel for the trip and we're on the M6 for 9.30am. Threats of a queue at Junctions 15-16 don't appear so apart from the usual roadworks at Birmingham we reach the M1 in good time. A 4-car pile-up on the Northbound side at Northampton slows us down a bit, but 18 miles of queueing traffic on the opposite side will make a few United fans late for Old Trafford.

We arrive at Milton Keynes services in good time. It has to be MK, not Northampton or Watford Gap,it's the routine. Which also means it has to be a Sweet Chilli Chicken Royale Value Meal for both of us, with fries and Diet Cokes. There's a few Spurs fans there who say hello and a coachful of Notts County fans arrive, some already donning the Black and White shirts with 'Campbell' on the back. A quick visit to the shop for extra provisions, Jane plumps for a bag of Aero bubbles and i'm on the Maynards Wine Pastilles.

Once again, luck is on our side, a free run, so we are ahead of time as we exit the M25 at Enfield, a quick drink and a bag of Quavers at the Inn on the Park to kill some time and then down the Meridian Way to get to the Car Park at West Street nicely in time. There's plenty outside the Bill Nick as we walk to the ground, all in good spirits. I have a good feeling about this game today.

By 3.20pm that feeling has changed, after numerous last ditch blocks and missed chances I begin to resign myself to the fact we are not going to score this afternoon. An hour later Mr Crouch ensured my mood has changed, ableit for just 3 minutes, as some Jol-era defending brings the scores level. As the game enters the 4 minutes of added time and Birmingham are looking dangerous, I begin to fear a repeat of 2 seasons ago and we break a Golden Rule. "Don't leave early to beat the traffic". Literally seconds after we exit the ground and we make our way along Worcester Avenue, the roar goes up, 30000plus cheers inside the ground are joined by joyous scenes in the streets outside as people scramble for their phones to ring a mate and found out who scored' "It's Lennon"

That changes the mood of the drive home, much better. Two stops on the way back, it's the routine. First stop is Northampton services and we arrive in record time. No Duck Wrap for me this time, all sold out, so it's a non-so-tasty BLT sandwich while Jane choose the Chicken Wrap and we're sat tucking into our food at a time when previously we have still been stuck in traffic. A few Warrington fans start to turn up on their journey back. If I had not known the result beforehand, I would have thought they had lost such was there mood, not much celebrating and hardly a bounce in their strides.

Back onto the Motorways,once more no real delays and we arrive at our final stop at Stafford services in good time. We cant resist a quick chocolate bar while Jane buys some bread rolls to feed to the ducks at the picturesque lake behind the cafe. More Warrington fans arrive, but you still wouldn't guess they had won the Cup. We return to the car contemplating if that were Spurs winning a trophy that day, and that were Spurs fans arriving we would be hearing several chants of 'Yid Army'.

The last leg of our journey is the shortest and 46-miles is covered in no time, and for the first time we're back in the house before 9pm. Plenty of time to get ready for Match of the Day to see if that header of Crouchie really did cross the line.

12 from 12 but Modric broken

HertYid — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 10:08:00 GMT

It all seemed to be going so well. 12pts from 4 games, 100% record in all competitions, Lennon in the form of his life and Arsene Wenger throwing a tantrum. But then Lee fucking Bowyer, who else, had to come along and deck our Croatian maestro. And while it wasn't intentional, or even that bad a tackle, it still makes me stand up and shout "Bowyer you're a cad". But more on Modric later. First to the game.

We didn't play well. But we won. And they who know, or at least they who get paid to talk about this stuff, always say that to do anything in this league, you have to win when you play badly. And I suppose we've now ticked that box, so I can't moan too much. But what of the game. Well we started pretty well, Modric in particular. He was the key in the 1st half as he twisted and turned his men like a ballet dancer, drifting inside effortlessly like Bobby Pires in his pomp. But Birmingham came with a game plan and stuck to their guns. In the words of Mourinho, they parked the bus. They made us work very hard for our win and it wasn't until the introduction of Crouchy for the injured Modric that we managed to break the deadlock. Birmingham simply couldn't cope with Crouch's aerial ability and he had countless chances before he eventually nodded in for his first league goal of the season. I wouldn't be surprised to see Crouch start against Man Utd when we return after the international break.

Another negative was King's withdrawal at half-time with a tweak to his groin. The defence second-half wasn't as solid, especially from aerial balls, and Birmingham duly equalised when a mixup between Hutton and Cudicini left Bowyer to tap into an open net. Bowyer rubbing in the injustice, breaking the leg of our playmaker and then scoring as if to say "look at me, i'm a cad". Yes Lee you are, with bells on. Back to Spurs, and this season's Spurs team does seem mentally stronger and more determined. Plenty of times in the past few years, we'd have sat back and accepted the draw, but this year we huffed and puffed and eventually Stevie Carr (m'lord) fell over, handing the ball to Pavlyuchenko who duly set up Lennon for the winner with 94:23 on the clock. You could say it was harsh on the plucky underdogs from Birmingham, and I'd be inclined to agree, but Man Utd seem to love scoring last-minute winners and if we're developing the habits of the champions, so be it.

3 points, 12 from 12, top of the league, job done. And an international break to let Modric and King recover. Or so I thought. I awoke this morning to see news of Modric's injury was far worse than we thought, a fractured fibula and an extended period out of the game. Just what we fucking need. It's a devestating blow for Luka, for the team and for the club. Modric was electrifying in the 1st half, showing just how much he brings to the team, and not only that, he also inspires those around him. So it's a massive loss. Some quick googling has led me to a report published by some medic geeks that says the average fibula fracture means a total maximum rehab period of 18 weeks. So in theory the worst case scenario is a return against Man City at WHL on 15th December. But a similar inury befell Samir Nasri on 21st July and after initially stating a 2-3 months layoff, Wenger came out and said:

“Unfortunately he fractured his fibula and he will be out for six weeks,” the manager said. “It was the bad news of the day.

“He accidentally nicked the ball away from somebody having a shot on goal. Unfortunately he got kicked and broke his fibula. It's not a complicated one, it's a simple one but it will take six weeks to heal."

Now this makes me feels a lot better. It seems Modric's injury was very similar to Nasri, an kick on the back of the calf, a simple broken fibula, and so hopefully 6-8 weeks out. Nasri, by the way, is due to return in October, which would make it 10 weeks from injury to return, giving us Modric back in the 1st team squad for Sunderland on November 7th. I'd love to think Luka could heal in time for our trip to Cashburden Grove on the last day of October, but that's unlikely and I think we have to accept that he won't be starting a game for us until mid-November.

The question now is who replaces him? Do we use the talents already at our disposal, read Bentley and Giovanni, or do we send Arry shopping for a LW? Many will be clamouring for Ashley Young I'm sure, but I've no desire to pay £25m to bring a guy to the club who will long-term pose more questions than answers. If we pay that and bring him to the Lane, what happens in December? Does Modric lose his place, or does Young? Either way it leaves another multi-million pound signing on the bench alongside Crouch, Bentley and Pavlyuchenko, which in my mind is lunacy. So I'm hoping that Arry uses this opportunity to bring Bentley and/or Giovani back from the brink, while also signing Petrov for a few quid as reinforcements. I'd expect to see Bentley coming back in on the right, with Lennon moving to the left, and with Lennon's last two goals showing his much improved left-foot and his ability to cut in and smash it on his right, I wouldn't be opposed to the change. It would be madness to sign Crouch and leave Bentley on the bench in my mind, but Arry might think differently and in Arry we trust. Either way our next game is Man Utd at WHL, the biggest game of the season so far, so let's hope Ledley gets his fitness back and everyone else returns from the international break in one piece.

I'll end today's post with a mention of Arsene Wenger and his comedy performance in the dying minutes at Old Trafford yesterday. I almost felt sorry for him when I saw he was being sent to the stands in the last minute of injury time for kicking a water bottle. But then I remember he's a lying, cheating, self-righteous gooner. So here's to the Manc fan who offered him his glasses, a first Arsenal loss of the season, Luka mending as quickly as possible, a clean bill of health over the international break, and 5 from 5 in two weeks time.

COYS

The Friday Preview

HertYid — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:50:00 GMT

Tomorrow brings a challenge of a different type. Up until now, each game has represented a challenge. Liverpool at home, Lawro the cad predicted a draw. Hull away, most of us expected a tough game. West Ham away, well it’s their cup final isn’t it? But Birmingham at home is supposed to be one of the easy ones, a 3 pointer, one of those enjoyable Saturday afternoon run-outs in the early autumn sunshine when the crowd gets over-excited after 3 goals in 20 minutes and then silent and frustrated with a goalless second half. Isn’t it?

As is usually the case with Spurs, we’ll most likely f8ck it up. Some dodgy defending from a set-piece will no doubt let in Kevin Phillips, and we’ll lose the game 1-0 after a wonder block on his own line from Stephen Carr (m’lord). It’s a strange and unexpected return for Carr, equally famous for his last-minute own goal against Kaiserslauten as he is for his wonder strike against Utd on that wet October night. Carr retired from football in late 2008 after being released by Newcastle, but has since joined Birmingham and for the last couple of matches has been playing LB. Let’s hope Lennon tears him a new one and teaches him a lesson for getting the GNER up to Geordie-land all those years ago.

Team news sees Liam Ridgewell and Marcus Bent injured (Danielle Lloyd must be devestated), while Keith Fahey returns to the Brummie squad after the death of his father. For Spurs, it’s as we were. JJ continues his rehab with Dawson and Woodgate, while Ledley will most likely slot back into CB with Bassong. Cudicini looked in fine fettle mid-week against Doncaster, and will continue in goal with Gomes still nursing his thigh. Oh and there's a worry over BAE but Arry is sure he'll be ok. If not we'll no doubt see one of our many RBs given a run-out on the left side. That's what they're there for after all....

As for who plays up front, well I’d quite like to see Crouchy or Pav given a run-out. We all know what Keane brings to the team, good and bad, but we haven’t really seen the famous Crouch/Defoe partnership, and Pav linked up well with JD in pre-season. So here’s to hoping Arry mixes it up a bit. If you can’t try things at home against the newly promoted whipping boys, when can you?

On the rumour mill, the news of Arry’s wife Sandra’s imminent signing from Brazil continues to fly around, which ties in with today’s news (tbc) that Jamie O’Hara is off to Pompey on loan till January. It’s a bit of a shame that we’re losing Jamie. As Arry said just this week:

“He’s a great professional and a terrific young player.

“He was very important when I first came to the club last year and we were struggling.

“He’s down to earth, gets on with it, loves to play and has a great attitude.

“Players like Jamie are very important to the club and he came into the side again and showed what a good player he is.”

But if he wants first-team football it doesn’t look like he’ll be getting it at WHL for now. Rumours also abound that he’s just signed a new 4-year contract, so the loan makes sense rather than the transfer. Good luck to him, I hope he proves his worth down at Fratton and comes back a better player. Finally the Petrov story refuses the go away. I’m not really fussed on this one. A good player on his day, and some pace for our left-side, but his persitent knee injuries haven’t gone away over night, and his wages will no doubt be high. We shall see.

Right what odds on a 1-0 loss? I’m off down the bookies.