The story of Darren Bent and a balloon

More off-topic madness.

Well done that balloon. Rumours are, Levy is set to bid £15M for it because it floats around the box better than Robbie Keane. If the above youtube is removed due to copyright, laugh at Phil Thompson here.

I thank you.

I'm here all day.

Don't mess with the Maradona

Off-topic.

Love him or hate him, you never get a boring moment when Diego Maradona flexes his ego. Whether its belly-flopping in the rain in celebration or telling a journalist to keep on sucking, it's been an emotional qualification campaign for the best footballer of all time who was also a pretty decent drugs fiend too. His latest vocal outburst concerns his nations footballing journalists not-so-cute criticism of his tactics, selection and general performance as the Argentine boss.

He's not very good at coaching. Ok, so his record doesn't look too shabby on paper - Played 13 Won 9 Lost 4 - but considering the wealth of talent at his disposal, Argentina have looked disjointed and clumsy. And I can hardly ever say I agree with some of his ethics on and off the pitch, but I found his assault on the question-asking-reporter quite delightful. Diego is a massive melting pot.  I hope we get Argentina in the World Cup.

FIFA are investigating this and he faces a 5-match ban apparently. He wouldn't change a thing. All black and white to Diego.

I'm declaring war on Honduras

I'm shaking my fist oh so vigorously in their direction. Those pesky Central Americans.

Wilson Palacios has been ordered to remain in his home nation 'to party' after Honduras qualification to the World Cup finals for the first time since 1982. The country's ruling militia junta have ordered the players to attend a celebration in the capital. Wilson doesn't even drink. The poor lad. There's nothing worse being stuck at a party with a load of drunks, listening to their fables in the kitchen while you try to keep up with their slurs. But who is he to ignore the Presidents wish and delay his flight back by 24 hours?

So off to Pompey we go without our midfield enforcer. We probably would have had a jet-lagged version had he arrived back when originally expected anyway. Instead we need to look towards a possible Huddlestone/Jenas centre pairing with King back in defence, possibly with Woody back there too.

Not all is lost.

However if Kevin Prince-Boateng does manage to run rings around us, then expect a miltary coup closer to home. There is no excuse losing a midfield tussle to Portsmouth - with all due respect to them. And although I can't really do that much to Honduras themselves (other than possibly sending them a damning e-mail) I will take out my frustrations in other ways.

I know where Chirpy drinks his morning cup of coffee. I will have no qualms in kicking the git in the shins. Hard. What has this got to do with Wilson and his delayed return to Spurs? Nothing. But it will make me feel a whole heap better.

Crouch bested by David Beckhams beard

England win. Crouchie scores two goals. Barry performs well. So obviously, David Beckham is awarded the man of the match by Steve 'Peter Crouch would have got it but he turned me down in the summer so...you know...' Bruce. Excellent. It's been a week of insightful insightfulness, topped by Phil McNulty's blog that included this gem:

"If Rooney is fit and in form England are contenders to win the World Cup. If he is not they are not - it is as stark as that"

On the nail stuff from Phil there. His clarification on the subject of our chances remains essential reading.

"If England turn up in South Africa and don't manage to miss their plane, they might stand a chance of winning it if they peform and win all their games"

That's a preview of his next one.

IMO, the only thing worthy of discussion from last nights 3-0 win against Belarus is Beckham's beard. Absolutely tremendous effort from the great man. Completley untrimmed around the sides making him look like a metrosexual Wolverine, with an additional ginger tinge on his moustache. It's actually more Adam Ant than Adamantium.

He was ok when he came on. Did spark some life into the side, but arguably nothing spectacular. Still, no bitterness. We all love Becks. But anyone would think he re-invents silce bread everytime he pulls on an England shirt.

Elsewhere, apparently Adriano has been offered to us for free. Which is a bit like two Irish blokes in a white van stopping you in the street and asking you to take a look at some laptops - for such a cheap price it's practically free - and you think its too good an offer to turn away and part company with your money to then find that when you open the case two Evian bottles of water are staring back at you.

International break is OVER. Rejoice.

Woodgate is on the mend. Modric is a couple of weeks away from a return. And King might just play against Pompey.

Happy days. Let's get back to business.

Palacios is Plan 'A'....and 'B'

Spurs fans. Hard to please. Apparently one or two of you have been a little critical about Wilson Palacios of late. Ignoring jet-lag and the fact we've also been without Luka Modric, our dip in form has apparently been aided by our midfield enforcers lack of bite and lacklustre passing. So say the fabled football message boards.

Ok, he's not at the level he was at the start of the season and when he first signed for us. But let's not get too carried away with the negatives. Without him - we will struggle. A 70% Wilson is better than having no Wilson. Let's not forget how easily we've got bullied by lesser teams in the past. He is imperative and probably the most definitive signing we've made with regards to our intent to progress in the right direction. Unlike Zokora he has actual purpose. Zoko, for all his heart and athleticism, had no clear direction - other than running very fast in a very straight line (which I personally loved to bits). But for all his charm his touch and passing was non-existent and he failed to stamp any type of authority over that space between the back-line and the midfield. Wilson does. He is concrete compared to Zokora's feathers.

Our Prem record with him in the team reads as follows:

P19 W12 L3 D4 PTS39 (this might not be spot on by the way...read comments)

His impact is undeniable, no? Although credit obviously to the gaffer for team selection and motivation.

Expect him to be around the 70% mark again this weekend against Pompey thanks to International duty. After that, with Modric two weeks away from a possible return, and the distinct possibility that we'll be signing another DM in Jan, things will even out to a more comfortable level which will allow us to rest Palacios more often.

We have a Plan B when Modric isn't fit.

We don't quite have one when Wilson is unavailable. For the moment, he's the masterplan. Plan A and Plan B. Thankfully buying Cotton wool between now and January is not restricted by the footballing authorities.

Happy Harry Anniversary

12 months of Harry Redknapp at Tottenham this weekend.

Two points from eight games,
Two points from eight gaaaaaaaames,
When Harry took over,
We had two points from eight games.

Read 'em (stats below) and weep non-believers. Spurs have the R-Factor and 'arry has proven the doubters wrong and even managing to appease the free-flowing purists. We play football. We play with players in their correct positions. Square pegs in square holes. Nothing overly complicated. No need for head-scratching. And the fans actually believe in the team. It's not perfect, not yet. But it's better than what came before it by several country miles. The stats:

League games P38 W19 D8 L11 F59 A45 Pts 65
Others games P14 W8 D 3 L3 F34 A17

Joyful reading.

We've been on the up since he arrived. He turned a squad of misfits into a unit that work hard for each other. Got the simple things right, driving forward consistency and pride. Yeah sure, we all know there are still questions to be answered and the squad still lacks depth in certain areas - but considering what he's done with the current set of players - any additional ones will only make us stronger.

Happy days.

So, what's remaining on the fix-list?

The '4th' striker issue

Pav is sitting in the abyss at the moment. If sold, then its time we either promote one of our young lads from their loan or we buy a new striker (nothing more than £5M-£7M) who has the potential and patience to break into the first team.

Cover for Wilson Palacios

It's still a massive problem for me this. If he gets injured we don't have anyone to slot into his place. Jamie O'Hara will be back with us in January if you believe what you read and there's also the possibility of the Brazilian Sandro signing for us - although I'm uncertain how much of a midfield enforcer he actually is. We need cover here. A young understudy or possibly, if Harry really wants to mix it up, an alternative. Anyone know any players with the qualities of Carrick? Apart from Carrick himself.

Heart of the Defence

Ledders will only ever play one-game-per-week. Woodgate is still lost on the sidelines (does the club have a comeback date for him?) which means Bassong and Dawson are the only two remaining central-defenders with Huddlestone as cover. It's not ideal, and its all a bit fragmented. Is Troy ready (or good enough) for a promotion? Or do we look for another CB in the Championship that might be able to grow in stature at our little Prem club? We need to eliminate the potential for ready-made excuses here. Lose Bassong - without King and Woody - and I wont be getting much sleep.

David Bentley

Will he ever manage to make it beyond 20 Prem league appearances for us? He isn't even making much noise about the fact that any remote chance for an England place has evaporated into non-existence and his lack of league games is almost certainly the final nail in the coffin. Not that he ever really had a chance anyway, but as a player, you always think (and hope) you do. At least you should do. Either he's given up or he knows he is on his way in the new year. I guess he has no control over his destiny at the moment as he can't actually play football to prove to himself and Harry that he can offer us something. Sadly, Bentley can only play on the RW. He's not component enough to play in the middle or anywhere else. Either way, something has to give on this. It's embarrassing and frustrating for all concerned.

There's more (feel free to suggest) but I think many of the other fixes come with natural progression (like bossing teams when we go 1-0). The goalkeeper conundrum needs sorting, which can be resolved by playing Gomes, IMO. Set-pieces have been forever in a state of flux and hopefully these will improve. And of course, every season is the season we await for Jermaine Jenas to finally come of age and discover self-belief and confidence. Sigh.

Anyways, thanks Harry for a more than decent 12 months at the helm.

COYS.

'Get him to wear one of those George Best tight-fitted pink jumpers'

It's Monday and I'm already bored of this week. Once more, the break for Internationals manages to completely kill my buzz. I streamed the England game and managed to miss the penalty (Shev too) and the moment of genius defending from Rio followed by the Green red card. I did see their goal and hardly much of anything else. Juices not flowing much for this one.

The time I have spent on-line has varied from catching up with latest Studs-Up comics (blatant plug) and refreshing News Now every 10 seconds (even though it auto-refreshes all by itself) to see if there was anything worthy to write about. Guess what? Nothing. Not a thing. However today there seems to be one or two new items out there that are being discussed on various websites. I'll save you the bother of having to churn your way through them with this lazy lazy round-up. Hopefully by Wednesday we'll have another bookie hysteria episode with Harry 'set to be sacked' to break up the week and help gently guide us through to Friday where we can then start looking forward to the Pompey game.

Here's the round-up.


Redknapp to have ex-SAS as private guards for the Pompey game

Yeah, because he's going to really really need a crack unit of hardened experienced ex-squaddies to make sure all those rude words don't hurt his delicate little ears. I'm hoping this is simply a cover-story to distract us from the real reason they will be accompanying our coach. Operation: Destroy that annoying melter with the cow-bell.

Swap Deal Exclusive - Pav for Huntelaar

We all know our Roman (via his agent, Hiddink and the press) is once more looking to make a move out of N17 and out of England completely. And with Huntelaar failing to score in around 8 or so games for AC Milan and the fact that the tabloids had as linked with him through-out the summer, the blatantly obvious conclusion would be to add one and one. In this case, it equals a swap deal that both clubs would be happy to agree. Pav, who has shown no reason to be a player worthy of a AC Milan shirt will be happy to risk yet another bedding in period on the bench with KJH leaving Serie A to basically stand (sit) behind Crouch, Defoe and Keane at the mighty Tottenham Hotspur. Nailed on this one. Absolutely nailed on. Honestly, do the math. As a sweetener we should throw in Gareth Bale. Because we don't need any left-sided cover. Cue Downing bid. So what if he just joined Villa. So what if he's still injured. £15M will make it happen.

David James

International break over and a few days off before all the pre-match talk erupts for the weekend games, it's a perfect opportunity for more transfer musical chairs. Let's be logical about this. It's October. Two months and a couple of weeks and the transfer window re-opens, so its only right that David James is linked to us every 2-3 weeks. He got to play on Saturday and obviously every player in contention lusts for a place on the World Cup plane to South Africa which means a cameo here or there isn't enough and playing for Pompey is not exactly the best way to grab Fabio's attention. CC is currently doing a below average job between the sticks for us and Gomes, well, he's not quite 100%. I think. So that means we need a brand new goalkeeper. And not just any old cheap cover. And the fact James plays for one of our feeder clubs, its another unquestionable formula for success. Right? Of course it is. Sign James and when Gomes is fit then we have two players who will want to be number one, which will no doubt result in the Brazilian wanting to move on to pastures new.

Now I know some might argue that James could actually be nothing more than a replacement for CC and that Gomes is likely to be a longer-term number one. But why even bother with it? CC isn't great, but he's 'ok' until The Octopus is fit and ready for a full return to action. Invest in a young goalkeeper who could actually break into the side in the future.

Now if you find yourself bored of reading the James linkage as much as I do, then get ready for the twist. Apparently we have been 'thwarted' after a shock £3M bid for Paul Robinson.

Riiiiiiight.

We failed to attract Robbo back to the lane? Obviously the trial of sweets, chocs and other assortments of cup-cakes and ice-cream failed to lure the former 'England's Number One' back to his destiny as the Park Lanes favourite son.

£3M? Honestly? Thwarted? Really? Did Blackburn get Gandalf in to stamp his staff and shout 'You shall not pass' at us?

van Nistelrooy

Linked to us again. If anyone out there is handy at coding, please get in touch if you can think of a way to develop some type of attachment that would allow me to slap football journos in the face via email. I'm not talking about one of those girlie glove style gauntlet slaps. More two steps back and gritted teeth types of slap - right across the face.

dos Santos

Back from injury and wanting to once more prove himself. I say it's time for a fail-safe. Mini-bar at every corner of the ground and free-drinks if he manages to get a shot on target. Or get him to wear one of those George Best tight-fitted pink jumpers so he stands out more and people actually notice him. Because falling out of nightclubs is blatantly not working. Or perhaps send him back to Ipswich. He was good there. In the Championship. We hear about his attempted comebacks every few months, as often in fact as another International wonder-goal from Adel 'we should build our team around him' Taarabt. He's at Q.P.R. currently. In the Championship.


And that's the news that was. Some if it still is. And most of it will be back next month for the sixth time. Possibly seventh. Who's counting?

Time to cash in on Pav?

Been off-line for a few days, and come back to find a lovely gem of a news item concerning our forgotten Russian striker, Roman Pavlyuchenko. Apparently Zenit are interested.

"He does not intend to sit on the bench. We are aware of Zenit's interest. They wanted to sign Roman in the summer and I think we'll start negotiations again." - so says his esteemed agent Oleg Artemov.

If it's not meant to be it's not meant to be. He's struggled with an injury or two this season and has generally been a non-entity in our progress, other than a cameo in the Carling Cup. He looked bright and alive in pre-season and I for one was more than curious to see if this much maligned non-English speaking international was not yet another over-rated big money signing.

We remember last year well. He looked out of sorts. Whether it was the general struggle of learning the language (can anyone confirm if he can?) or looking confused when confronted by a Spurs fan in the Waltham Abbey Tescos partnered by his interpretor - Pav looked equally lost on the field too.

A bit clumsy, poor first touch, slow and very Zamoraish with his shooting. Other occasions he displayed a touch of class.

"He's just a bit tired, innit. Long Russian season, European Championships, then a move to Blightly"...was a common excuse by those who awaited the real deal to show us £14M worth of class.

We are still no closer to knowing.

And with JD, Crouchie and the undroppable Keano he stands little chance at the minute of making some kind of breakthrough into the first team.

Nailed on departure, no?

And having Zenit sniffing around is tinged with some of that ever so lickable irony dust. Oh yes. The same Zenit who moved the goal-posts around a dozen times during the Arshavin negotiations. How much did they want from us at the time? £18M? £20M? It was something ridiculous. Every time we seemed to agree a fee, they wanted a bit more. At the time our chairman got some stick from some quarters (cough) for not meeting their estmiation.

"Pay it. He's proper class"

Yes, he is a class player. Someone that would have fit in perfectly at Spurs. Imagine him linking up with Modric and...oh, whatever. It never happened, and to be fair AA is a bit of a git, as you might recall, he's 'dream move' seemed to change every other week. And he's already complaining about the 50% tax deductions that are not too far off for our footballing millionaires. But considering we paid £14M for Pav and £16M for Bentley...it makes you wonder. However, principles are principles, which is why Levy didn't buckle. Sickening he was sold for a measly £12M in the end.

So, back to that irony dust.

Zenit, if they do knock on our door, should be taken to the cleaners. IMO.

They want Pav?

Ok.

£18M. Not a penny less. Ta.

Darren Bartholomew Bent

Loved it when he scored the opener against Man Utd and wheeled away in celebration tapping his badge, which was blatantly wired up to an iPhone allowing him to Morse code a Tweet about his sassy clinical finish. The man is on fire.

No first touch. Can't drop deep. Has to have a big lump foil as a partner up front. Always scores against the 'big teams'. And if he's the main striker - he won't stop scoring full stop. Textbook confidence player? One-dimensional? Yes. But the stats do not lie. Play him and play him to his strengths.

Average footballer, great goal scorer. All he needs is a team that breaks at speed, counters and plays the ball in front of him into space to run into. Substance over style. Be done with all this Harry Redknapp possession football!

We should have built our team around him.

Discuss.

David Bentley

Since the 31st January, David Bentley has made the following Premier League appearances:

29 mins as a sub vs Sunderland

51 mins as a sub vs Liverpool (last game of the season)

6 mins as a sub vs Hull

+

18 as an unused substitute.

Before this period of time he started 20 games in the Premier League in the Lilywhite of Spurs.

Now stuck between the 20th game and a 21st appearance. Same might say Blackburn are due a hefty wad of money if he starts more than twenty games for us.

With thanks to Unknown (GG.net) for the stats. Not sure if she pinched them from somewhere herself, but regardless, looks like David is stuck on the bench until some minor miracle allows him a way back into the starting line-up. Wonder if Blackburn have a buy-back clause they can take advantage of? Guessing we'd struggle to reclaim anything over £8M for him.

Catch 22 for us. Who wants to buy a player who doesn't actually play?

Another perfect illustration of the DoF system and Levy's lack of football understanding. Why sign a player for £15M who can only play right-wing when we've already got a right-winger who we all know is capable of so much? Hopefully David will be the very last big-money superfluous signing we make. Wanted him to succeed with us even though the vast majority would agree that he was an unnecessary addition. Sadly it's been nothing short of a disaster.

Lack of confidence due to personal issues (so they all say). Various off the field distractions (skip, bar, crash) and very few on the pitch joyful moments (just that goal). Played out of position and practically self-ruined himself by not showing heart or determination to fight his way back to something resembling form, preferring instead to show-boat and flick rather than play a simple ball. Was given plenty of opportunities to no avail. And is now super-glued to the bench for EPL games.

Gone in Jan?

Unless lickle Aaron disappears through a surprising and tragic worm-hole, then I'd wager Bentley will be off. Those star-jumps seem like they happened a million years ago now...

Challenge Spurs™ - Bolton 2 Spurs 2

Worst ever start to a home campaign by Bolton. We’ve never won at the Reebok. Granted most of those miserable days were thanks to Big Sam’s anti-football. However, three minutes into this game I felt that unnerving sense of déjà vu that has left me empty at the final whistle so many times in the past. How bad was that first half? Very bad. There was nothing in the way of anything from us which resulted with Bolton playing delightful pressing football, knocking it around with confidence and style. You’d think it was Spurs playing in white. Neat build up play with one-touch football. Welcome to Bizarro World.

So, 1-0 after three minutes. Gardner unmarked in the box. Easy peasy. Wilson Palacios (the apparent iron fist in Tottenham’s velvet glove) was more like a motionless King Kong at the foot of the Empire State Building. Balls hoofed up field by Huddlestone in desperation, very little creativity and practically no chemistry in defence, with the back four a light year away from being cohesive.

Opening twenty minutes, we were non-existent. One passage of play (Palacios to Keane, Keane’s first touch disappointing) the only moment of offensive fortitude. Five minutes later, Niko turns and shoots, deflected for a corner. First effort on goal. Down at the other end Gardner decides to place a shot which hits JJ. He could have done better had he hit it with power. Thankfully he didn’t, but Bolton pressed. Helped on by us, giving away free-kicks in dangerous positions (dangerous being any position tbh).

Face in palm when we countered, Keane losing a tussle in the middle of the field to Gardner (him again) who had initially lost the ball but showed commitment in running back to make up for his mistake. It's depressing when we know we (in the present day) have players who can match their level of grit/spirit and tempo. But yet somehow manage not to. Wakey wakey.

Still no inventiveness in midfield. It was all very reactive play from JJ and Wilson who seemed comfortable with sitting back and dealing with Bolton pushing forward. No pro-active play, like running forwards into space. Keane struggled with his first touch and the defence remained shaky.

Can’t say I expected the equaliser, but hardly complained about it. Niko with his first from a Crouch nod down to the Croat who smacked his shot into the ground. Back of the net. Obviously my outlook on the reminder of the match changed dramatically at this point. We’ve done nothing for 34 mins and with only our second effort we score. So, going on simple mathematics, endeavour to do more and we might just score again. Aided by the basics, like some Boltonesque pressing on Bolton's midfield with the added bonus of some silky skillz from our vastly superior footballers.

What we got was more home pressure. And very little pressing or skills from our lot. The git Davies chesting down the ball and losing balance at the key moment. Phew. Cohen with a half chance. Phew.

Cometh half time and it’s all a bit of a mess of a performance. Slow reactions at the back. Constant invitations for them to bomb us with aerial attacks and getting out played with the stuff on the ground too.

Second half started better. But still the same errors reoccurred. Fouls outside the box, Wilson guilty of some clumsy tackles. We survived. Lennon cut had a decent shot and Hudd managed to hit a free kick at the goal without hitting the wall in front of him. Sadly went over the bar. Crouch also got in on the act. Shot rising over the bar. Better from us. In fact the opening 15 mins of the second half was infinitely better than the whole of the first 45.

Game was now more balanced, more end to end. So cue a second Bolton goal. Davies sneaking in at the far post to head the ball in. CC well beaten and BAE asleep. It was a decent goal which included some showboating from Chung-Yong Lee who back heeled the ball to Cohen who chipped the ball to the far post. Seriously, are Spurs the team in the white or the navy blue?

Defoe (on for Keane) has a shot which Jasskelainen didn't hold and Crouch shot through this legs. It bounced up and onto the underside of the bar and out. Out. Out! I contemplated another facepalm moment but found myself punching the air instead. Charlie with a headed goal. 2-2. All from a set-piece. Role reversal. It will have to do.

That goal meant that every outfield player for Spurs has now scored this season. Total football innit.

Next goal wins it. Except there was no next goal. Taylor effort for the home side (CC pushing it around the post). Crouch who took one touch too many. First touch then shot could have won it for us.

Not a great day. Awful first 45. Better second 45. One point is better than no points and one point at the Reebok almost feels like a victory, which sums up our recent history and the general frustration I feel about this fixture.

No King, Woodgate or Modric. Makes a massive difference to our balance. We are struggling a little bit at the moment because if things aren’t quite right at the back it makes no difference how we line-up elsewhere. Although it would help the side if Palacios reclaimed some of his Panther Powers as he appears to have dropped a level in recent weeks. Also would like to see Gomes return to the number 1 spot.

International break time. So we might be welcoming back Modric in two weeks time. Dawson should also slot in at the back for the Pompey game (I hope he does and allows Hudd to go back to central mid). We might start to look more structured again from back to front.

3^rd in table (at time of writing). 16 fat points. Not a single complaint. We know our weakness. We know we have key players out. If it means playing shit and still earning an away point, I’ll take that for now. But the quality was still there for us to assert ourselves more on the game and take it to a side that lacked any sort of form at home so far this season. All in all, disappointing but not disastrous. We are not the first to struggle up there and we've always struggled up there. Harry's new look Spurs had shades of old look Spurs, but only shades. Old look Spurs would have comfortably lost this game. I guess the disappointment is, this Bolton team had more qualities associated with us than they do with Big Sam's anti-footballing side of recent years. Still, like I said. We played shit and we still got a point.

Oh. And...

16 points. 8 games.

This time last year you'd have been blocking messages from West Ham fans on Facebook. Talking of which...

Bolton v Spurs: Never say never

Stat attack.

Tottenham have NEVER won at the Reebok Stadium in nine visits, losing six, and Bolton have taken more points (29) and scored more goals (27) against them than any other side.

Further, Bolton have won eight of the last 13 PL meetings and always seem to score against Spurs at home in the League - they have scored in the last 32 games and last failed to do so 86 years ago.

Biggest game in our history this. Defoe may or may not be available after his finger dislocation. Keane won't be dropped, so Crouch will probably start. Which isn't too shabby. Hudd possibly still slotting in at the back although Awesome Daws is due for a return to the side. Gareth 'the destroyer of hoodoos' Bale will also be hungry for more first team action. I basically haven't got a clue what Harry will do. Then again, it depends if he's still our manager by the time the game kicks-off, you know, cause he's gonna leave/be cautioned/sacked/arrested any time soon. Any minute now. Keep your eye on the Interweb. In 3..2..1..

We've got a woeful woeful record against this mob. A win here with a two week international break ahead of us would be rather welcoming as it will keep us up at the 'top' with Luka now only weeks away from a return. A defeat, well, it all depends on how we lose if that's to be our destiny. Lose it in a gutless way and those age old questions about frailty will return. Then again there's nothing strange about having a bogey team. But its more than tiresome losing to the anti-football that is the Bolton.

A win won't mean we are about to crack the Top 4. But bucking the trend and winning when we're expected to lose is a lovely way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Bolton are not exactly the Big Sam version these days. But they will still get in and push us about at the back, so we need to be as big and bad as them with the rough stuff and then just look to brush them aside with a bit of that swanky Total football stuff we can play every now and again.

1 win so far in the Challenge Spurs™ series. Two out of two thank you please.