FA Cup 3rd Round

Wigan at home.

I'm happy with that.

Challenge Spurs™ - Redknapp Out

Challenge Spurs™ Series

Game 07 v (H) Everton
1-0 Loss, 0 points
Total points: 15
Position: 16th (level on points with 18th)
Still in the mire

So much for my 2-1 home win prediction. Not a great result and more than a tad frustrating that we failed to get onto the score sheet. 2nd defeat in 10 for Redknapp. We stay stuck to 16th place and still very much in the relegation mix. West Ham up next. Ominous, ominous, ominous. More or less proves that we've improved since his arrival, but not improved sufficiently enough.

Bale made his 18th Prem League appearance this afternoon. Very late on mind, so we can't lay the blame on him. 3rd successive Everton win at Spurs now. Whatever happened to the days it was a given 3 points for the Lilywhites against the Toffeemen? Whatever happened to the days that David Bentley could deliver a set piece to the head or feet of a team-mate? Santa, are you listening? At least Gomes looks like he is on the road to full confidence recovery.

Everton, bless 'em, deserved the points just for getting the ball past our keeper. Otherwise was pretty much an even game. Deflected goal (from Piennar off Corulka, Gomes no chance) won it for them. They did a proper away-day job on us, and for once, lady luck looked the other way. Howard saving from Pav. One or two other half chances aside, can't complain too much. Didn't do enough. Other than hoping for the return of Modric, Harry has to get this team to work at full pelt otherwise the Hammers (in their seasonal Cup Final) will get all plucky and three-pointy against us) and Utd will win comfortably (even with no Ronaldo thanks to his derby day red card). The midfield today just couldn't out-work organised Everton, much like Fulham out-worked us too.

Maybe can bin this defeat as 'one of those days' and just move onto the next game, positvely.

Level on points now with Sunderland who are 18th. Win next time out is imperative if we are going to get these Dirty Dozen games back onto a winning path.

Challenge Spurs™ - It's a Grand Old Game

Everton at home on Sunday. We'll have to improve on the Blackburn performance although not by much judging by their loss at Wigan last time out.

With West Ham away and Man Utd at home to follow, we need to avoid a dip in our fortunes and get at least 6 points (7 would be nice) out of the next 3 games. Yes, I'm thinking Utd (and Berbatov) will do us over like they always do every sodding season.

13 points thus far. Another 15 or so would do me fine. Modric is still out, which is my main concern. Huddlestone needs to step up and continue his good form and Lennon has to keep on tearing the opposition a new one. I know how to talk up a match, don't I?

Traditionally, we've always tonked Everton or done fairly well at the Lane, but not last time out so here's to Bent re-discovering his goal-scoring (he's on a drought at the minute) and Pav continuing his rich form.

We've yet to havea block-buster Prem performance. I'm getting greedy I know, but would like to see us dominate and boss and bully a team, and take them apart. Would I be stretching the electisity of hope if I also asked for Bentley to put in a good performance?

I'm going for a 2-1 win for us. Not total football. Loads of effort and the odd scary moment, but we'll do just about enough to get the points.

Squeaking our way upwards

Not been blogging much this week thanks to mainly travel and smoking crack.

So, this is the week that was (in no particular order):

We won away. 1-0 against NEC. Wasn’t vintage stuff but we played pretty well against a not so strong Dutch team, allowing us to bring on a couple of youngsters (welcome to Obika & Mason) for their debuts late on. O’Hara from a header in the 14th was enough to take us to the brink of qualification. 7 wins in 9 now for Redknapp’s Tottenham.

Are we taking the UEFA Cup seriously? At the moment, we can't. We don't have Pav or Corluka available and the Prem is still the priority. Risking it all for European glory when we are still not really out of the mire would be fools gold. Saftey by Feb, then we can try and win a Cup.

Every player under the sun is being linked to us. Which is no different to most lead-ups to the transfer window. I’m sure the old and trusted formula (Spurs + New Manager x tabloid gossip = Agent Profit) will always win through and having wheeler-dealer ‘arry at the Lane means that there’s deals to be done.

So step forward Adriano, Elano, Cavenaghi, Tymoshchuk, Downing, Podolski, Balotelli……it’s an endless list. And it’s not even December yet.

Tony Parks is our new goalkeeping coach. I think. Actually is this official now? (I’m so on the ball this week).

Hutton is out injured, again, and from the looks of it he'll be out for several months. Thought he looked like a cracking player (going forward at the very least) when he first joined up with us. Looked a mess since returning from his first lay-off, so hoping he returns to a team in winning form next time round and has some of that upbeat confidence about him. His error against Arsenal that resulted in a goal sums up his season. He's been a bit off colour.

In other news a female steward who looks after Block 35 has accused a Spurs fan of making a racist remark. Apparently she lip-read him from distance. 30 yards away. This incident occurred in the midst of the usual ‘Please sit down’ instructions barked by Levy’s foot soldiers. The bloke made no such racist comment, so my message to the steward is best to stop attempting to show off your abilities of reading lips from distance. You’re obviously fucking shit at it. Accusing people of racism is a big deal and just because you are employed by the club doesn’t automatically mean you are right especially when you’ve made a mistake.

I’m sure there’s more for me to talk about.

Simon Clifford (known for his forward-thinking Brazilian Soccer Schools in the UK) wrote possible one of the stupid, bitter and ridiculous articles I’ve read by anyone, for Setanta Sports. But then again, writing a column for Setanta isn’t exactly going to result in masterful and insightful literature. The emphasis on his piece was that even Mickey Mouse could have success at Spurs with the players at his disposal and that Ramos failure was to do with language and the lack of communication meaning that players failed to react positively to training and tactical ideas. He manages to also get a dig in at Kevin Bond, stating he relegated Bournemouth but fails to mention their point’s deduction. And then turns his attention back to Harry saying he wasn’t really that responsible for bringing through the young players at West Ham. Which might be true to an extent (Tony Carr was the Hammers academy director at the time) but the very mention of it is obviously there to serve its purpose at ‘aving a go at ‘arry.

Clifford is a great youth coach. But he is obviously hurting over the clashes he had with Redknapp over training concepts whilst at Southampton. For all of Clifford’s apparent genius – it appears he prefers to write twisted words rather than offer his services to a Premier League team and work side by side with a top class manager. Simon is manager of ‘15th in the UniBond First Division North’ Garforth Town.

And just for the record, we’ve had plenty of Mickey Mouse managers over the years and they all failed miserably.

Challenge Spurs™ preview up next.

Do not deny the facts

He didn't play. We won.

End of.

Challenge Spurs™ - I really really love Sky Sports, I really do

We won. 1-0. Pav with another goal (that's 6 in 9 now). Great first half performance, but couldn't score that second which would have made it just a little bit less of a 'Oh God please no last minute equaliser' type of afternoon.

Second half, with Rovers down to 10 men was still fairly comfortable thanks to their inability to push forward and apply any type of pressure. Lennon, was in cracking form. Hasn't just put in pacey performances here and there this season, he's actually playing decently week in week out. Another reason to pat Harry Redknapp on the back.

Out of the bottom three, for the second time, and up to the giddy heights of 14th. Nosebleeds all round.

Now the match review is out of the way, let's get down to the business of ironic cheering and Sky Sports who pride themselves on hype and bullshit. See, a game of football is never enough for them. They have to take something and turn it into something else and do their best to make sure it builds a nice bit of momentum so that Sky Sports News have something to talk about every 30 minutes. Although (ironically) we have ourselves to blame for cheering in this manner in the first place, thus given them opportunity to run with it.

Spurs fans cheered with smiles on their faces every time Gomes got hold of the ball without a fumble or flap in sight. Now usually, ironic cheers like these are kept for the visit of David James. These type of cheers are blatantly tongue-in-cheek piss-takes. Because for all of James ability to drop a clanger, he can pull a mighty fine world-class save out of the bag. And we know it. Much like he knows it. There's no argument that these type of cheers are of an ironic nature. And YES, its not the cleverest thing for Spurs fans to do the same thing for their own keeper, because of the way it will be misconstrued.

However, to suggest Spurs fans this afternoon were cynical or negative to Gomes is mountain out of a mole hill ridiculous. That includes you Harry (who mentioned it in a post-match interview). Abusive language and booing is far worse than ironic cheering. And I'll prove it to you.

Back to the suggestion that this form of pisstaking is moral draining is it of the same level as the the Sky Sports Soccer Saturday panel do when they laugh and giggle and make jokes at Gomes expense? If Spurs fans 'hated' Gomes or did not want him in the side they would boo and shout abuse whenever he got the ball, not cheer or sing his name or applaud him - all things that Sky prefer not to mention because if they do, there's no story to be told.

People who publish photos on the back pages of the papers with clever and witty headlines, ridiculing a man for millions of people to read about is something I'd wager more likely to hit his confidence than a few hundred people cheering at a game.

Touched upon it a moment ago, but no mention of the same Spurs fans singing 'We love you Gomes, we do'. Why? Was this an editorial decision to make Spurs fans look bad? How about a news item on the constant booing the Arsenal home fans dish out to their own players. Or are they being ironic?

[ repeating myself ] Ironically cheering an opposition keeper for simple ball handling is what it is - a piss take. [ / repeating myself ]. When you do it to your own, its not the brightest of ideas even when meant in good-humour. But its far from being devastating. Much like Spurs fans singing 'England's Number One' to Robbo last year when he was complete shit. Surely that could be deemed ironic too? No? Robinson appreciated it, much like the positive applause he got from us today (he throw his gloves into the Spurs crowd......on purpose, they didn't slip off his hands).

For every Gomes fuck-up, he's made 3 or 4 great great saves. Doesn't excuse his fuck-ups, but one or two media hacks should concentrate on the facts rather than soap opera sub-plots. That includes Match of the Day 2 this evening.

Facts?

We sang his name.
He acknowledged us at the start of both the first and second halves of the game, during the game and after it when he APPLAUDED THE FANS.
The fans behind both goals stood up and applauded him.
He even managed a 'thank you' in our direction and was the last Spurs player off the field at the end of the game, having celebrated the three points with the home faithful.

This is Spurs AND Gomes sticking a middle finger up to the armchair pretty-boys and shaved-gorilla(s). I'd say its best next time to leave out the irony, but it was clear to anyone with their eyes and ears open that Gomes was just fine, got over his early mishap missing the ball completely and grow stronger in confidence as the game progressed.

So, fuck you Sky Sports.

And now back to Challenge Spurs™.

13 points in the bag now, halfway through the Dirty Dozen. Still part of the yo-yo that is 20th - 11th, and currently sitting in at 15th spot. Home win next weekend is once again imperative. But can't argue with our current form, even if we are still way way off playing at full capacity. And talk of Europe is still not acceptable.

Everton at the Lane next.

Question of the Day

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Challenge Spurs™ - The Kings of Calamity

Welcome back Paul Robinson. Cult figure at the Lane? First few season he was undeniably a crowd favourite. Long term contract, England's number one. Helping to gloss over his weakness were those shot-stopping television saves and a confident Spurs defence. Take away decent form from the team, and the cracks were suddenly more transparent. Do you drop a keeper who drops clangers every week to try and help him rebuild confidence with a gentle kick up the bum in the reserves or do you perceive until his form changes for the better? Robbo, from that air-kick in Croatia to countless conceded goals from distance, saw him go from a big smiling personality to a broken desperate caricature of what once was a certainty that he would be Spurs for a decade.

We never dropped him. His form got worse. And much like the loyalty players 'in-form' don't show to clubs like Spurs when they manoeuvre themselves to Old Trafford, we shifted him out of the club. The irony of replacing him with Gomes and then not dropping Gomes for his current form, is once more wonderfully ironic.

So, expect hilarity of world class proposition on Sunday afternoon, unless 'arry surprises us all with a selection that includes Alnwick or Cesar. King, Woodgate, Jenas and Bale should all be fit and ready for this. Did you shudder when I mentioned Bale?

After the poor showing at Craven Cottage, tomorrow has to be a carnival or electric football, one touch push and run. I'll take a 1-0 scrappy win at this point. Need maximium points from the next three games before we entertain Man Utd and welcome back Berbatov to the Lane.

It's one of those season where I don't think a team in our position (20th - 7th) will be free of the teams around us. Same for all of us in this grouping. You need to win maybe 5-6 games on the trot to start feeling confident of dropping points in successive games. Drop points in successive games at the minute, and you might just find yourselves rock bottom again.

Prediction: 3-1 Spurs.

Loan moan

Fergie is apparently discussing the option of bringing back Campbell from his loan spell at Spurs, once the transfer window re-opens, thanks to a clause in his contract that means he can be recalled in January. That's right. No only did we sell them Berbatov at the last minute, they gave us a player on loan and we agreed to include the option for them to take him back. Genius.

Unless this is a Utd ploy to force Spurs into bidding for Frazier, which is also unhanded genius as they would want around £7M for him meaning that Fergie and co get back the money that Levy drained out of Utd by prolonging the Dimi transfer saga.

Looks like either way, Spurs will be spending a little money on a forward soon.

Northumberland dev

If you email the club about the development of the new ground, and ask them to consider atmosphere as a priority you'll likely to get this response back:

Dear Mr XXXXXX,

Thank you for your recent comments on the Northumberland Development Project. We have had a tremendous response to the initial consultation and we really appreciate you taking the time to let us have your views.

You asked a specific question about the atmosphere in the new Stadium. I wanted to re-assure you that the number one brief to our stadium architects is exactly this – to retain the fantastic atmosphere at Spurs. This means ensuring seats are close to the pitch, with quite high banking and un-restricted views for every spectator.

We have looked at and learned lessons from stadia around the world and will provide more details specifically about the stadium design at our next exhibition early next year.

With regards,

The Northumberland Development Project team

So, the official line from the club is:

This means ensuring seats are close to the pitch, with quite high banking and un-restricted views for every spectator.

That's a quote. Let's wait to see if the promise is fulfilled. Having a ground akin to some of the intense high capacity German stadiums is the only option. As majestic as some people would like to tell you the Emirates is or Eastlands, they are not a patch re: noise on White Hart Lane, even with our smaller capacity.

Next question that needs an answer: "Will you keep the Park Lane season ticket holders together, behind one of the goals?"

Darn it

An MRI scan has revealed that our lickle creative spark, Luka Modric, has suffered a partially torn groin muscle which means he will be sidelined for around two weeks. That's two weeks too long. Just as he's starting to settle in the Prem and linking up with the Bent, our luck takes a turn for the worse. Hate to think who will be the playmaker in our side now.

Jenas?
Taarabt?
ZOKORA?

Blackburn and Everton at home are two must-wins. Both at home, both imperative to once more climbing out of the bottom three (which is more or a psychological bottom three rather than an impossible to get out of mathematical one). But in 4-5 weeks time, any team sitting there will have to press the panic button and start praying for a change of form.

We beat the Liverpool reserves with some ease and looked great in possession and going forward, so maybe the doom and gloom of losing Modric isn't that dramatic after all.

Play with confidence, drive and urgency and it should.....should be three points.

Should.

Shaggy

Darren Anderton, old shaggy, remember him? Decent bloke, decent player, plagued with one or two injuries. He said some rather interesting things in the papers recently about his career, including one or two digs aimed at our emperor, Daniel Levy.

Dazza, back in 2004, had a verbal offer for a new contract at Spurs. He was out in the US seeing a specialist about an injury that had seen him sidelined for 2 months. He received a fax from the UK, from a secretary, that simply said:

“We won’t be renewing your contract”

Classy. No phone call. No waiting for a UK return. Just one line of text faxed across the Atlantic. Dazza made sure Levy knew what he thought of the fax. Levy, in response, told Dazza that the club had to make a decision between offering him a contract or Jamie Redknapp. What makes this another perfect illustration of the detachment from footballing reality and Levy’s brain is that the excuse given to Anderton was that Redknapp and his wife were settled in the area, compared to Dazza who was obviously still waiting to settle having lived ‘in the area’ for 12 years.

Yeah sure. Santini (remember him? Christ, why do I still remember him?) didn't want him, so out went Shaggy. But regardless of whether it's up to the clubs discretion on what injury plagued player to retain, it's no way to treat someone who had spent over a decade at the club.

To make matters worse, Levy (at a later date) said that Anderton could have a testimonial only to then find out that the team would be on an end-of-season tour to Malaysia. A testimonial without the actual squad of players representing the club is not a testimonial. Its one man on his own in an empty ground.

It’s a bit of a shame really. He was a loyal and much liked player. Dazzled us a few times too, regardless of the injuries he was one bright spark during a period of time where we didn’t too often shift forwards in the right direction as a club, so had to make do with the odd stand out game(s) here or there as a way to cope with the overall barren, desolate plains of nothingness that us Spurs fans had become accustomed too. He did leave us with a few decent memories. The Famous Five, the Klinsmann season, Euro 96, early 2002 form.

Anderton is still kicking a ball about for Bournemouth. So all the best Dazza/Shaggy/Sicknote, and maybe, like you want, you get to visit the Lane with your current club in the FA Cup. Not quite a testimonial, but close enough.