Lucky escape

There was an article the other day about Harry's opinions on young footballers which wasn't too dissimilar to one published several months back (probably was a repeat). The jist of it being how easy young footballers have it, and how egotistic some of them become in terms of making assumptions they've 'arrived'.

Was Harry talking about John Bostock? Perhaps. Perhaps not. Might have just been a generalisation  but it's interesting that he cited agents calling up Levy demanding to know why their clients were not playing first team football.

You know the drill. If you're half decent, you can bag yourself a contract for 3k - 10k per week as a mere teen or twenty-year old and five years of that might possibly turn you into self-absorbed git who can't be arsed to train properly or show determination to succeed and basically think easy street equates to automatic selection. Not that I'm suggesting Bostock is the person Harry referred to in the interview.

And this article is nothing to do with John - who I'm really hoping comes good for us.

This article is about a certain Adel Taarabt. You remember him right? He's the one with fancy tricks and step-overs and dribbles that had the giddy part of your soul fooled. Yes, there are plenty of us that made the embarrassing error of thinking this kid had the right qualities to make it. Until slowly slowly we worked out he might have had the mad skillz but not the temperament or patience or the humility to be respectful.

"He's raw, he needs to play more, he's got the talent, yadda yadda yadda"

Sadly he's turned out to be nothing more than superfluous. As someone (Enter the Pitbull)
over at Glory Glory put it, Adel is the African Lee Trundle. His level, it seems, the Championship.

He's in the news for quitting International football (Morocco - he didn't consider himself good enough or want to prove himself good enough for France) because they disrespected him. Now I know that quotes can be lost in translation and taken out of context but it's highly laughable regardless. He now gets to concentrate on QPR, because he spent 22 hours on planes travelling and wasn't selected to play. Because you know, he's got to continue to raise that profile for his move to Madrid in the summer.

What an absolute melter.

Quality.

I'd watch a sitcom with Adel in it. He'd turn up at Zidanes home and give him his marching orders declaring squatters rights.

Ricketts Update

Right mindset.

Raw tools.

Hungry.

Wants to play football.

The words of Rohan Ricketts.

The quest for a club big enough for his talents continues. Followers of this here blog will know I've been keeping an eye on the lad since his depature from Toronto. He's currently on trial at Leyton Orient. I'm assuming a move to the continent didn't quite pan out for him. Which is a shame because he is far more suited to the La Liga than he is to the frantic English game where muscle is more important than brains. His opinion, not mine. Seems he's opted for at least one of the advancements of the League One sides that were apparently keen on him, as stated in a Sky Sports interview a while back.

I'm hoping the Black Iniesta (as he's commonly refered to in this blog article), formerly of the MLS, will hope the O's see the untapped potential that others have dismissed. Think Freddy Adu with intent.

I'll leave you with a couple of his recent Tweets off his Twitter account that appear to be fairly relevant to his current predicament:

The last 2 months have been a real experince for myself as a pro footballer. The football industry is not in the best state it once was.

-

Adversity builds character and character can take you to places that money can't.. Believe that

Yep. East London.

Rohan Ricketts is back

The Iniesta of the MLS returns home

If you read this blog regularly, you’ll know that I’ve been following the adventures of Rohan Ricketts over the pond. The lad has returned back to England having left Toronto FC (apparently because their head coach quit the club). Maybe I mis-understood but I was certain a month or so back he was released by the club. At least that’s the impression I got from one or two sources. Obviously mis-informed. I guess if he’s left the club on a free no contract was on offer anyhow, although from what he's saying, he wanted a change. But regardless of how or why, he’s back and he's looking for a brand new home and a new adventure.

Cheeky Spurs trial? Nah, just jesting.

Skysports have done him a favour with an interview and they’ve even written up a brief CV for any prospective club interested in the midfielder. Although how exactly a 26 year old has ‘plenty of potential’ is a mystery to me. But before the likes of Hull or Stoke take a look, be warned...he’d prefer a move to the continent instead.

Apparently touch players (that’s what he is) don’t go down too well in England unless they play for Arsenal. The fast paced kick and rush football of the Prem means Ricketts (according to Rohan) wouldn’t be able to play at his best. He needs a proper stage for his talents. Like Iniesta has in La Liga. Because Iniesta in the Prem just wouldn’t work. See players of this ilk get overlooked over here. According to Rohan.

He does talk the talk.

Right mindset.

Raw tools.

Hungry.

Wants to play football.

He's even got an active Twitter account.

I almost want him to return, not to us of course, but to the Prem. Thus far only League One teams have apparently shown an interest in the young lad. Come one people, wake up. He's a free agent and he needs his football.

We need to find him a team. Spread the word.

The Ricketts is back and he's ready to sparkle.

The dream is over for Ricketts...again

50 Cent’s favourite MLS player has been released by Toronto FC having played only three games this season compared to the twenty-seven he appeared in last term. Once again, Ricketts is on his bike. Was meant to be one of the more skillful players across the pond but obviously doesn't do enough to warrant a first team place - so I’m waiting for him to update either his Twitter account or his blog (or his other blog) for a possible explanation as to why he’s failed to make the grade. Again. Apart from being an average team player with an attitude problem/off the field issues/lack of application. I don’t know. Choose one.

Talking of Twitter, this gem is from his Wikipedia entry:

Rohan is also a known user of social networking site Twitter, under the username rohanricketts. He was involved in a controversy, dubbed "Twitter-gate" by Toronto FC fans when statements of displeasure with the amount of playing time he was receiving were posted on his twitter account, he alleges that it was someone else who posted the messages.

He just can't help himself can he?

Last time I mentioned Ro-Ric one or two of you from across the pond had a bit of info to share about his general performance in the MLS, so please feel free to share any opinions or rumours about the termination of his contract.

As for 50 Cent. There's no accounting for taste.

Berbatov: Worth a cheeky bid?

Something tells me Utd fans aren’t happy (praise from Reds fans over at Redcafe.net):

"Veron mark II. That is all"

"Lazy, unprofessional, infuriating"

"Didnt think he would bottle it to be honest. Too cool for his own good"

 "Hey, Howard! Don't cheat! You're not meant to move for the ball"

"Frustrating, I saw alot of determination from Rafael, Fabio, Gibson, Welbeck and Macheda and then Berbatov shows nothing"

"Can someone print his pass completion rate and his ground covered compared to other players. I'm sure another lesson in how great berbatov appears to be for us on paper would go a long distance to making us feel better about his pathetic contribution when we needed him today"

"Summed up everything about him in two seconds"

"Possibly the worst penalty I've ever seen"

"How can you take such a lazy, nonchalant penalty at a time of such importance"

"If Howard went the wrong way then he could have probably got up gone and collected the ball considering how crap the shot was"

"Wish we had never bought him"

£15M should do the trick then.

You can't blame a player for wanting to better himself by moving from a team stuck in the stasis of transition to one that wins silverware season in, season out. And more importantly, one that plays Champions League football - as a player with ambition would inherently lust for the centre stage of European football. But the fact is that not all players make that cross-over from being a key player at a smaller club and just another superstar at a bigger one.

We all know Dimitar well. We all know he has great vision and effortless ability. His swagger is sometimes deceptive and often mistaken for being lazy. At Spurs he was mostly sublime and it was almost forgivable when he was a little slow to get stuck in. At United he hasn't quite made the grade because the expectation from fans and manager alike is that every player - no matter their squad status - pulls the same amount of weight. I guess it's the reason why they are successful and we still struggle to be.

This isn't just about the penalty miss. It's his overall (lack of) effort that has made him the £30M bane of Old Trafford.

So was it worth it Dimi in the end? Your dream move? Maybe he's better suited for Serie A. Or maybe he'll suddenly come to life and lead Utd to a domestic league and Champions League double, and all the abuse will be replaced by 'Cantona Mk II' plaudits.

Guess there's nothing more to say here. Happy to have Modric in our side as the new creative spark of WHL, and as far as I know he doesn't have a squirrel fetish - so we can rest easy for now.

It’s squeaky bum time

During the summer everyone – the tabloids, the broadsheets, the Gillette Soccer Saturday crew, football magazines and various wannabe pundits had Spurs down as their firm favs for 5th spot. The reason all of them are laughing at us now is because Only Spurs™ could fail so spectacularly.
Not only have we started badly, but we’ve timed it so well that the press can now make Titanic sinking jokes based on this being our worst start in 96 years. Is this the most diabolical team we’ve had? Or the worst management team? No. And it’s only 7 games in. Yes, Derby were in a better position this time last season, but nobody, not even those zany journalists are mentioning the ‘R’ word with true self-belief. Even rival fans are telling me that Spurs will drag their way out of the bottom three. This is simply only a little bit worse than last season start to the season.

But if they fail to win at Stoke, expect this to change. Because if confidence is bad now, it will be non-existent if we still have two points after our visit to the Victoria Ground (edit: By Victoria Ground, I obviously mean Britannia Stadium).

What makes things even more depressing is that this current group of players are the ones that have until January to turn things around, and if they don’t then that’s that. Nobody is going to want to come here in the new year if we are still languishing in the bottom three. The profile of the club will change completely with regards to transfers. We’ll have West Ham pinching our players. New ground? Why would we need 50,000 in the Championship? Hutton and Bale will be looking for a tap on their shoulders from Fergie and Jenas will still be telling everyone that we can make the Champions League.

Digging deep is what we’ve been expecting (based on what the coach and the players have been spouting) after every defeat, only to be presented with yet another defeat.

But sacking Ramos is not an option just yet. Not because it would cost the club a reported £15M, but because Levy cannot, in pure footballing terms, afford it. Martin Jol’s tenure was undermined and destroyed. We never did find out if he could take us to the next level or not (i.e. beating Arsenal). Ramos was the man that Comolli felt he could work with. Yet the shambolic transfer window activities have done nothing to improve the squad. Jol recently spoke about how there was a clear vision during his time there with regards to English players, and that team has been gutted and replaced with a mish-mash that has no true balance.

Pav is looking more and more like a panic buy, and you almost feel as sorry for him as you do for Modric who is clearly far too good a player for this current Spurs team as he spends most of his time laying off passes that his team-mates simply don’t have the virtue of accepting.

No leadership. Another painfully obvious problem.

So Levy, having gone out of his way, to get Ramos – has to allow Ramos that extra bit of time that is usually not given in such circumstances. If nothing happens in the next 3-4 games, then sadly the team is in such a state that the players are simply not responding to the manager and Ramos time may well be up. Though the blame will fall back into the lap of L&C.

Elsewhere, Defoe scored again. Robbie Keane played a part in a 3-2 comeback win for Liverpool. Dean Marney looked busy and purposeful (even hit the post) for Hull who, well, you know what they did. And Martin Jol's Hamburg won away, and remain top in Germany. And every player we deemed not good enough for us (Steed, Chimbonda) and the targets we scoffed at (Heskey, Crouch, Anton Ferdinand and a shedload of others) all continue to assist their teams while our ‘superstars’ struggle to raise their game to a respectful level.

Are we cursed? Has this been on the cards for years? With our generally poor away record over the past decade or so, when you suddenly stop winning home games, that ‘R’ word becomes a true threat.

Three points. At Stoke. It’s that simple, yet why does it look like it’s going to be so hard?

Pompey v Spurs

I've pulled the following stats from the Beebs preview of today's away game at Pompey:

Negatives:

• This is Juande Ramos' 50th game in charge of Tottenham
• Spurs have made their worst start to a league season in 53 years; since gaining just one point from the first six outings of the 1955-56 top-flight season.
• Tottenham are the only club without a Premier League victory this season.
• Gained just two points out of 18 this season.
• On the longest current run in the Premier League of 12 matches without scoring more than a single goal in a game, since the 2-0 home win over Portsmouth on 22 March.
• Yet to take the lead in a Premier League game this season.
• Won 10 of 32 Premier League games under Juande Ramos.
• Won one of the last seven away league matches (at Reading).

Positives:

• Tottenham hold a seven-match unbeaten Premier League record against Portsmouth of six wins and one draw, including the double over them last season.

Grim. Defoe apparently wants a hattrick. The greedy git. With Pompey having been whipped in recent weeks, including that 6-0 lose at Eastlands, I'm sure 'all guns blazing' will be their mentality while we stand there with empty water pistols with no triggers.

Prediction? If Pompey play poorly then we might just snatch a point. Otherwise, home win. The odds on us actually putting in a solid performance? Don't bet on it. What's scary is Hull winning at Arsenal, and us facing them soon. Whatever happened to dead certs and no easy games?

We've become the dead cert.

Of course, Pompey do have about 6 ex-Spurs player in their squad, so they could well shut-down again. Which would be welcomed.

Liverpool @ home

Another exhibition match on the cards for the Wenger Babes, thanks to the traditional warm ball, with Wigan next in line to experience stage fright in this season Carling Cup. Whilst over at WHL, Spurs get knocked out by a Robbie Keane brace.

Hail the Carling Cup.