Spurs yoof 'ave it

I hope Bankrupt over at COYS doesn't mind me posting this rather splendid report on our kids win over Charlton in the FA Youth Cup.

This lot are 'the future'. So expect half of them to turn out for Stevenage in 5 years time. Bostock's superb long range effort is available for Kleenex excitement via the Spurs site.

--

Charlton 0-3 Tottenham

---------------------------Jansson (18)--------------------------

Smith (17)-----Butcher (17)------Caulker (17)-----Cox (18)

Mpuku (16)----Kasim (17)---Parrett (17)--Townsend (17)

-----------------------------Bostock (17)--------------------------

-----------------------------Obika (18)----------------------------

Subs: Butler (16), Oyenuga (15/16*), Ekim (17), Byrne (16), Nicholson (16)

*It’s one or the other, since he’s in the U16 group, i.e. a year below the academy first years, but since his date of birth doesn’t appear to be listed anywhere, I’m not sure whether he’s hit 16 yet.

The Game

Spurs lined up with Jonathan Obika up front on his own, with Bostock playing ahead of a four man midfield to provide support to him. Yaser Kasim anchored midfield along side Dean Parrett, who captained the side. Andros Townsend and Paul-Jose Mpuku took up the wide midfield spots, and both held their starting positions as Spurs looked to expand the area of play to aid a quick tempo, possession game. Most attacks were focused down the left flank, with Townsend seeing a lot of the ball throughout.

In the opening stages, it looked like Charlton may be overwhelmed, much as Sheffield United had been in the previous round, but to their credit, by the midway point of the first half they had steadied themselves, reorganised, and were looking difficult to break down. Despite Spurs dominating possession, it looked like something special would be needed to break their resilience, and Bostock duly provided it with a stunning long range drive that flew into the top right corner of the goal, drawing applause from virtually everyone in attendance.

Bostock’s second was less spectacular, but still of impressive quality. His shot from the edge of the area nestling in the bottom corner pretty much ended the tie as a contest, and the game played out with Spurs looking an increasing threat on the counter when Charlton did manage to construct an attack. Obika sealed the victory with the third goal from Parrett’s through pass and the game played out with Kasim looking to exploit the pace of Townsend and Mpuku (then Kudus Oyengua who replaced him) on the break with, early balls into the channels.

Once again, I have to praise Alex Inglethorpe. For all the talent that this group of players may have individually, it’s no accident for them collectively to play the way they do. They are very well organised, with each player clearly well drilled in what is expected of him both with and without the ball. Inglethorpe’s team play football precisely how, I’m sure, every Spurs fan would hope to see a side play. There are no long, hopeful balls from back to front – this side play with the ball on the ground, alternating between quick, pass and move, football to penetrate, and slower possession play to grind the opposition down – the team is set up to be balanced, to attack and to dominate. Inglethorpe's team arguably play a better brand of football than any first team manager at Spurs has achieved since Glenn Hoddle's stint (and unlike the karmic one, it's proving successful), and you can't help but wonder what he'd achieve in a higher position.

The Players

Bostock, understandably, will grab the headlines. Both goals were well taken, the first a superb strike. Generally though, it was a fairly quiet performance from him. It’s quite hard to judge his potential in this context, because it’s quite clear that he’s beyond this level of football now – the combination of his physical and technical qualities mean it’s virtually impossible for opponents to contain him, and consequently they don’t provide a very useful barometer for his development. I do think he needs to impose himself more on games, but having said that, it’s pretty obvious that this boy is going to make it, somewhere and somehow, barring something extremely unfortunate.

Almost equally impressive was Kasim. Technically, I’d say he’s as good as any other player in the side – first touch passing off either foot, long range passing off either foot, ability on the ball (including one outrageous piece of showboating from a short corner near the end) – and is always calm and aware when he receives the ball. His head is invariably up, assessing what is around him, which always impresses me in a young player, and he tends to see things very early. He also gets stuck in and works hard to win the ball back, which is encouraging as the defensive side of his game is, along with maybe his mobility, one of the few things that would concern me about him.

On the whole though, I continue to be very impressed with him. He improved as the game went on, and really came into his own as Charlton made one final push in the closing period, pinging some exquisite long range angled through balls to the flanks, and one beautifully weighted pass inside the left back to put Oyenuga one on one with the keeper.

Alongside him, in central midfield, Parrett had a strong first half, and looked comfortable throughout in a central role. He was probably the liveliest Spurs player in the first half, breaking forward with the ball at his feet on several occasions. As the game went on, with Kasim collecting the ball in deep areas, and Bostock tending to dominate proceedings the final third, Parrett saw less of the ball, but still, it was a good, disciplined performance from the captain, culminating in a cute pass to set up Obika for the third goal.

On the left flank, Townsend reminds me of Aaron Lennon – you’re not always sure what you’re going to get in terms of the quality of his end product, yet he is a constant threat to the opposition. Townsend is quick, skilful and direct, and if he can refine his game, and avoid overcomplicating, he seems pretty well equipped to progress to the next level.

The youngest player in the starting eleven, Mpuku, had a relatively quiet game on the right of midfield. When he did see the ball though, he did look good – strong, quick and technically good (like a lot of players in this group to be honest, which is one of the things that makes them exciting). Very early days for him, but I would say he has something about him, even if it’s a bit too soon to say precisely what.

Of the rest, it almost goes without saying that Adam Smith was impressive at right back. Going forward, he’s excellent, most notably in the variation he shows in his attacking play. He can run with the ball on the outside or come inside and take it into central areas; will look to get to the byline and cross, but is equally likely to mix it up, pass and move and push up into the box. Defensively, he wasn’t really troubled, and that’s the side of his game I’m eager to see more of, because if it is anything like the attacking side, he’s a real prospect.

Jansson in goal looked good – always tries to catch, and is quick off his line. The problem for him is that playing in a team as good as this one, he doesn’t have a great deal to do. It will be interesting to see where they see him fitting in over the next twelve months, given that he’s already been involved with the first team.

The only real negative from the night was that the centre back pair, Butcher and Caulker, looked a little nervy at times, much more so than in the previous round, and Charlton nearly capitalised on a couple of occasions. Other than that, it was all very encouraging, and I'd say this team have a good chance of going far in this competition.

The Ratings

Jansson – 75% - Assured and proactive when called upon.
Smith – 78% - Always lively going forward, and had few troubles defensively.
Butcher – 63% - Suffered a few lapses, but was generally able to recover the situation.
Caulker – 60% - Struggled with the ball at his feet at times.
Cox – 64% - Hard working, but playing on the left restricts his attacking involvement to some extent.
Mpuku – 73% - A marginal figure, but looked good when he was involved.
Kasim – 81% - Class and composure on the ball and a decent defensive shift.
Parrett – 77% - Very good first half, driving forward from central midfield.
Townsend – 80% Always looked a threat, even if he over complicated things at times.
Bostock – 84% - Two excellent goals and opponents clearly struggle to handle him at this level.
Obika – 68% - Did OK in a role that required him to be quite selfless for the sake of the team.

With thanks to Bankrupt for a great write-up.

V for Victory™ - D is for Demoralising

Disgusting, disgraceful, dismal, dejected.

5 games - 1 game down, 0 points, 1 defeat, 12 points available

What the fuck is actually going on? Won the double in 61 and then nothing since. Fucking cunts the lot of them. Tear it up and start again. Wankers. I might have manflu, but at least Night Nurse will see to my recovery. As for Spurs? They have an incurable disease. No matter the players or managers, it's the same old excuses and problems. It's tiresome. It's pathetic. These are the games we are meant to be showing up for.

You can sit there and question the line-up, that found Ledley King paired up with Zokora in centre-midfield. Bentley and Lennon dropped to the bench, mainly due to when Lennon plays, Bentley has to make do with the left-hand side which results in nothing more than an inept display. King and Zokora gave us nothing in midfield. But then why would anyone expect a centre-back to display the clout to dominate that part of the pitch? Doing it for England an age ago in one game is not a good enough reason to test it out again, especially away from home. And especially with us sitting so low in the table. Bentley on the bench is fine, because on form, he deserves to be there or worse.

You could also question the general negative approach to the game. Or the substitutions that made no sense tactically. Why start with a formation and change it a quarter of an hour later? Because it's so apparent it's not quite working perhaps? What was the point of taking Modric off? Well, I suppose because he was distinctively average today. But the difference made was practically invisible.

You could question the lack of desire and passion and direction. The will to win, the will to want to win. Three times now we've conceded (winners) in the final minutes/seconds (Newcastle, WBA, Wigan) and lost.

That's softer than Winne the Pooh's belly-button.

Yes. Here we are again. We got rid of Ramos and replaced him and the arrival of HR gave us some great results, and that seems to have been it. Maybe we need to sack Harry and bring in a new manager, and do so every 8 games until we are mathematically safe. We don't actually have to sack Harry for real. He can just wear a face-mask every couple of months and talk through a voicebox. The seriousness of our current position in the Prem doesn't appear to be enough in the way of inspiritation for our millionaire players to react too.

I still say stick a couple of fans into the half-time dressing room to give an additional team talk to the one Harry gives.

Injuries, lack of creative juice, bad luck and the textbook disappearance of concentration at the death all mixed in with some poor tactical instructions give us a 91st minute defeat like only Spurs can muster up. And the defeat was justified.

No dream debut for JD, failing to score or do little else. Much like the rest of the team.

Harry has surely now run out of sound-bites and wisecracks to tell the press in the post-match interviews. A slice of shut-the-fuck-up pie followed by a glass of actions-speak-louder-than-words for the man at the helm, please. Serve it up hot.

Bale. Still no Prem league win. But face it, it's not his fault he has no confidence playing in a shit football team. Then again, his all round play is woeful to the extent that if Bentley doesn't deserve to play first team football, then neither does Bale. Jenas returns to the first team and yet it's almost like he's still out injured, such is the impact of the player.

Lennon came on, hardly touched the ball. Bent on for Pav was insignificant. Sums it all up with Zokora had the best chance of the game for us.

Bottom 3 once more. Blackburn have a game in hand on us. The next two home games are do or die for sure. Pompey and Stoke at home. I would now not even bother with the FA Cup of the UEFA Cup. Then again, we won't be beating Utd or Shakhtar Donetsk anyway, so at least the Prem games will take priority. Which is what they should be but don't appear to be.

The Redknapp effect has worn off and he's got the look of relegation written all over his ugly mug. Or maybe that's just the reflection of the players wearing Lilywhite.

Nice of you to turn up 45 minutes late

Carling Cup Semi-Final
Spurs 4 Burnley 1

Only Spurs can infuriate me this much. Woeful first half of football. Bale and Bentley were tragically bad and the team as a whole, shit. I'm not going to take a thing away from Burnley. They played tidy football, broke well and took their goal (gift) with confidence. The first half consisted of us playing what I like to call zombie football. I'm not talking about the fast moving Rage virus zombies from 28 Days Later or the Dawn of the Dead remake. There was nothing agile about our display. I'm talking about the zombies from the George A. Romero original. Slow us fuck. And unlike the zombies in that classic film, we lacked any kind of menace when in possession. It was, yes you've guessed it, inept®.

I can never figure out how the minds of Tottenham players work. If this was Arsenal at home, we'd be 100 miles per hour from the off. Instead, we allowed a Championship side (a good one at that) to dictate. It wasn't anything spectacular mind. They made one or two chances, but you could see they were not a real threat if....if we stepped up a gear. But as the half dragged on, the worse we got.

I don't want to start pointing my finger at Bentley again, but he was having a nightmare of a game. Much like most of his appearances for us. Everyone was lethargic and sleepy, and mis-hit passes and crosses (even Lennon was struggling) but Bentley was particularly bad. And Bale looked utterly lost.

There are two decent, very decent, players in there somewhere but it looks like it's going take a while to get them to smile and play well. If you need an irreverent back-heel flick, Bentleys your man, but anything that requires simplicity, no chance. Bale was a nervous mess.

Its all about confidence. There was a point in the first half that Bale could have taken the ball on and run into the penalty area. He didn't. That split second decision resulted in him playing the ball sideways. No belief there at the minute, because if he took it on and fucked it up, he'll get more moans and groans from the crowd, and too much thinking about the negatives eats away at players. Which is why Bentley is deep into Paul Robinson territory at the minute.

The way Eagles run through the two of them to set up Burnley's opener was embarrassingly easy.

Off went Bentley at half-time and on came Jamie O'Hara. Now Jamie will never be world-class. Or even good enough to play for the England first team. But he has bite and determination, even if he needs a couple of touches to control the ball. He gets stuck in. And thanks to the switch and the half-time bollocking, Spurs stepped it up. Why the overpaid gits couldn't muster this tempo in the first half is anyone's guess.

You're at home. Against opposition from a lower league. In a semi-final. FUCKING WELL SHOW US THE GULF IN CLASS. Ok, so they knocked out second-string Fulham, Arsenal and Chelsea sides. And they play pretty football. But be a sodding professional about it.

Incoming Jamie corner. Dawson meets it with his head. 1-1. Perfect script-writing. Livened up the fans a little. To be fair, we are never any good at home against lower-league opposition when it comes to singing/chanting. First half, our lack of noise shadowed the teams performance. Second half, with the change in effort on the pitch, inspired us to stand up and shake off the icicles to sing a song or two.

Five minutes later, Jamie manages to squirm the ball (well its more a case of the keeper allowing it to squirm) under his legs from a volley. 2-1. In the 65th it was 3-1, this time Pav driving the ball home after breezing way too easily past the Burnley defender. Goal in every round from the Russkie. 4-1, and it's practically done and dusted. Own goal this time.

If Zokora had 1% shooting ability he would have made it 5, but this being Zokora, the ball has yet to be retrieved from Glasgow city centre.

I'd say that's us at Wembley, but if Burnley come out all guns blazing and we play as badly as we did in the first half, they have every chance. But somehow, I can't see that happening. Would be daft to fuck it up that badly now.

Gio back on the bench today. Along with Adel and KPB - but none of them had a cameo. Which was a shame. No Ghaly. But expected this. Best to have him on the bench for Sunday and maybe bring him on then. Less of the boo-boys around at away games.

Special mentions: Defoe. Bit surreal to see him back. He has a right good chance to shine now that there is no longer a Berbatov or Keane at the club. Nigh impossible to break that partnership (which was arguably one of the best in the country). I think he'll work well upfront with Pav.

The Burnley fans right next to me in Block 42. Some decent banter going on, although one or two got a tad too serious with the abuse when the score was reversed in our favour. Unlike last year which was against Arsenal and it meant a lot for obvious reasons (failure to get there the season before), tonight I really felt it meant a lot more for the Burnley fans than it did for us. I guess it would considering their stature and lack of recent semi-finals. Our fans were a little casual tonight, along with the players. Thankfully just for the opening 45. I guess the Premiership is priority for all at the minute. January rescue package should see to that.

Anyways, slightly stronger team and more focused performance, and we could have overwhelmed them tonight. Instead, the team did its usual best to worry us silly.

Not good enough at the minute to even consider beating Utd in the final.

Let’s sum up the weekend

3-1 Wigan win. Not vintage, but then again, we haven’t been outstanding at any point this season. Side was balanced if not perfect (by not perfect I'm referring to most of our players having an abundance of space with regards to climbing the personal improvement chart). One or two (or more) still need to get on top of their game. Patience? I’m sure they will buck up their ideas once the transfer window signings arrive at the Lodge.

Wigan, toothless, so home win was never in doubt. Bale on a winning side, so crack open that bottle of Bucks Fizz and get on with snorting those lines off that hookers cleavage. Might not happen again, our Gareth, celebrating a win. Man Utd next. Away. Have to adore those warm balls in the Cup draw.

Ghaly. If you search the labels (bottom of the blog) for Ghaly posts, you’ll see I’ve been critical of the lad in the past. What’s done is done. He fucked up. Sure that night against Blackburn, he was all over the place. More Ollie Reed than Christopher Columbus. But you couldn’t fault his effort. His reaction was an emotional knee-jerk. Other players out on the field were just as bad as Ghaly performance wise, but not as forward as him with the ball, so obviously if you’re going to fail you’re going to look twice as bad if you are attempting something twice as bold.

His Birmingham transfer collapse and the consequent complaints about training sessions again didn’t help the Ghaly PR machine.

Now he’s back, and it’s obvious Harry wants to try him out in the first team. Would have played on Friday but the crowd’s reaction – the idiotic minority – were at it again. Difficult to pin-point what type of fan this is. The one who prefers the negative to the positive. There’s plenty of them in the South Stand, and in every other stand. Not a majority, but enough to make an impact strong enough to make Harry change his mind on the substitution. The club have since had to release a statement on the official site to help mitigate the situation.

Boo the team – as a whole, at half-time – if you’re getting stuffed 3-0 and the performance has been shambolic. It gets a reaction, at least it should. But pin-pointing individuals, and then harassing them? Well, we know all fans love a bit of this. And we are no exception. And much like all sets of fans, when things aren’t that great, we tend to find it easier to have a go, with zero tolerance.

When things are great, loudest noise in the world, White Hart Lane shakes the foundations of the planet. Space time continuum gets ripped a new one. But groans and moans, we do that just as good.

I might not rate Zokora. Or Jenas. I’ve never boo’ed them. Never. Why should I? And why would I think that boo’ing them would actually gauge a positive reaction from them? A monstrous call to get it together would be about a million times better for the individual who’s struggling.

We are meant to be the 12th player. So giving it in the way of support is the logical thing, no? Well no. It seems some of our fans have found it far easier to give up on a player and make sure they get the message.

Nothing new in this. And Bentley/Ghaly aside, Jenas tends to get it along with a few other players who have lost form or struggling since return from injury.

Eboue, who was having a mare for the Arse, got applause on his return. Ok, sure. He didn’t take his shirt off and throw it aside. And much like Ghaly, he’s an average player. And you might argue that he shouldn’t be anywhere near our first team. But if you or I were the manager we’d have Sergio Agüero upfront with Kaka playing just behind him. So let Harry pick the team. Let Ghaly - whether you rate him or not – play. And then we can pass final judgement.

Modric doing 'the worm' old skool style

Elsewhere this weekend. Defoe has been receiving death threats to his home phone. Looks like his Pompey days are over and out. Whether Spurs is his destination, we’ll have to wait and see. Again, why he was sold in the first place considering the Berbatov situation at the time. But hey, old ground. Been there, done that about 1000 times already. Ironically, £20M for a player we sold for £9M? That’s some accountancy if we make the deal happen.

Downing has – or will be – handing in a transfer request. Uncertain about this one because I haven’t really taken much notice his weekly performances. Would mean having a left-winger for the first time in an age, so if you have another bottle of Bucks Fizz, keep it chilled.

Harry has also told us that we have ‘fantastic options’ in the transfer window, whether the Defoe deal happens or not. Fantastic is obviously debatable as a description if he means Bellamy. It’s not just his age (29) that bothers me, but personally, never liked his complaining/bitching attitude and his injury problems. He’s like a more gobby Robbie Keane, but far less likeable. Can he do a job for us? I’ll have to support Harry and the side he selects if Craig finds himself in it. If avoiding relegation means spending £8M on a West Ham player, then you know we’re in trouble. So let it happen if he can score the goals to lift us out of the bottom bit of the table.

At least Pav is finding his way a little more now. Learning the lingo and settling into English Prem life isn’t an over-night occurrence. As many seem to forget.

Utd in the 4th round. Again, yet another hiding to nothing up at OT. Makes you want to cry that.

Burnley at home on Tuesday night. Need a good tidy professional performance there. 4-0 will do me.

And no 'Stand up if you hate Arsenal' chants. Even if you want to annoy the stewards who ask you to sit down. There's eleven Spurs players out on the pitch. I know it's a bit drastic, but how about pushing aside all references to them lot, Judas and Defoe and concentrate on a bit of pro-Spurs support? I'm stuck up in the South upper stand on Tuesday as I forgot to reserve and purchase my seat in the lower tier. Bless me. No standing up all game for me then.

Another look back

You know me and match reports. Hate to go over what everyone knows already, so if you want to make your own unbiased judgement best to brave it and watch MoTD (not that it's ever unbiased) or read several tabloid and broadsheet reviews and just find the middle ground in the way of analysis and settle for that.

Spurs forums at the moment are probably best avoided. I know the ref is getting some flak, but it's weak to have to deflect towards the man in black, when the men in light blue failed to impress. Although Harry is getting it in the neck from some. We'll come back to that in a moment.

Player review:

Gomes - On form with some great saves, but still a moment of comedy or two mixed in for larfs.

Corluka - Average compared to recent performances.

Dawson - Average, defended well in places, but is it really necessary to resort to Championship hoofing of the ball? Or is Daws getting in some practise for next season?

Woodgate - Our best player. Doesn't have an off day too often, but one man won't win you a game.

BAE - Played reasonably well, then got sent off. 10 out of 10 for the hairstyle.

Bentley - Fucking shit. Like any of his previous performances. He might have mad skillz when star-jumping for the camera or adding highlights to his hair, but he is incapable of taking a set piece of doing anything else of note. Once again, rather than attempt to play the basics first, he attempts to be the superstar. Brings nothing to the team. Can never beat the first player.

Modric - Struggled. Outfought in midfield battles and his performance suffered for it. None of his quality passing evident today.

Jenas - Textbook invisible man. Now you see him, now you don't. Not as bad as Bentley, but surely after several years of waiting, JJ will never achieve this alleged potential he has.

Zokora - Another MIA. Some would say he's been on form in recent weeks, but today, disappeared without trace.

Lennon - Best offensive player, and not too shabby with defensive duties. The only bright spark.

Bent - On his own upfront. You can't blame him for being isolated.

Special mention: Bale. It must be haunting him now.

I'm sure everyone is asking the same question, but exactly what's wrong with O'Hara, Boateng, Campbell etc who find themselves sitting on the bench or worse, whilst the likes of Bentley, Jenas and the rest get selected every week?

Some would say Bentley is struggling due to Lennon's form on the right hand side. Lennons form, by the way, isn't down to Harry as he was our best player under Ramos. And Harry took his time in selecting him as a first choice.

Other's would point out that the likes of Bentley, along with Modric, Bent and Pav do not become shit over night and that these players will deliver consistently. Yes, we as ever, over spent on all of them, but they are players who can peform to high standards. Getting them to do so is proving tricky. If any one knows when exactly the fateful day might occur, let me know so I don't miss out.

There's no doubt we would be dead and buried had Ramos not gone allowing for the arrival of Harry. But playing Bentley every week is down to the manager and playing one up front is also down to the manager.

I'm repeating myself again. But that happenes with the obvious. It's so obvious, you wonder how it gets repeated over and over and over again. And you keep having to refer back to it.

Until next time.....

Challenge Spurs™ - The Conclusion

Challenge Spurs™

Games 11 and 12
(H) Fulham 0-0 draw
(A) W.B.A. 2-0 loss

The Dirty Dozen final points tally: 18
Total Prem points: 20
Position: 16th

Having got ourselves out of the bottom 3 we appear to be reluctant to escape further away from the mire. No gap is forthcoming between us and 18th place. Where as others have managed to leapfrog mid-table and sit in a far more comfortable position nearer the UEFA Cup spots. There's still not too much in the way of pts difference from bottom to topish (8th place), but if form continues this way then the gap that will appear, will be the one we don't want.

Yet another Christmas where Santa fails to empty his sack for us. Instead, we get a limp excuse of a performance and zero satisfaction. Scandalous. 1 goal in four games, and it seems that Harry has forgotten the magic of man-management and is failing to get this misfit of a team scoring again. Wasn't a problem in his first few games, but appears to be one now. The solution?

£16M Bent + £14M Pav = £8M Bellamy. The mathematics of Tottenham.

Man City will outbid us there (thankfully) and Defoe is possibly on his way to Chelsea (or City, depending on what rumour you wish to believe). I've got to be careful not to go off on a tangent here but seriously..........Craig Bellamy? Yes, I get it. He's scoring, which is more than we can say for our lot, but the player is injury prone and an utter misery of a human being. Harry apparently succeeded with getting Levy to make the bid. What happened to the ambitions Daniel? Bring back Comolli. There's 1000 players better suited than having Bellamy spearhead our attack. Remind Harry that he can aim just a little bit higher.

The Fulham game was boring and lacklustre. What a surprise there. Dominated the first half but failed to do much in the second. Today's game against WBA was sluggish, and if there's a team that will ever so subtly lay down and die for shit opposition its Spurs.

I don't believe in Father Christmas

Off went Ekotto (red-carded, possibly undeserved, but still.....) and then on comes Gareth Bale, a 74th minute substitution. WBA duly go on to score twice in the final 10 minutes. Curse continues, and we do nothing to wash away this groundhog day feeling.

We lacked any inspiration or direction or tactical initiative. Does Harry actually do the latter? Or is it always a case of asking the players to run around a bit and hopefully get lucky? Yes, if we didn't have BAE sent off, it probably would have finished all square, but what is it with these type of games that the players always fail to fancy? We never appear capable of mustering up the urgency to get something out of it. Arsenal or Chelsea away? Sure, no problem. No matter how shit we are. WBA away? Nah, maybe....maybe next time.

Harry failed to do any after game TV interviews (at the time of writing) and he didn't look best pleased after the Fulham game, so hopefully he'll get the message across (again) to the players in time for the next Prem game. And hopefully he'll do some soul searching with regards to his tactics and formation/selection. Because it's no working.

FA Cup next up followed by the Carling Cup semi-final. I almost don't want these games because they feel like they're in the way of the bread and butter league matches.

The Dirty Dozen - Challenge Spurs™ series ends in..........failure. Only 18 points from a possible 36, well short of the 22 point forecast, and we find ourselves above the bottom 3 by the skin of our teeth.

Where has the good fortune and good form gone? Has Harry been found out? Have the players believed too much of the hype from earlier performances, all exaggerated in comparison to the shambolic form under Ramos?

Suddenly, that olde relegation dogfight, the genuine one - not the flirting of recent weeks, is a possibility once again. Three points off 20th place. Seven points off 8th. Our current run of results reads as: L W L W D L D L

That's far from being sexy. Our up and coming games:

(A) Wigan
(H) Pompey
(H) Stoke City
(A) Bolton
(H) Arsenal

Dare I say it. 15 points up for grabs. 12 is the basic minimum required. IMO.

There. I said it.

I'm not going to knee-jerk. If you go back to when Ramos was still in charge, many overly dramatic Spurs fans (is there any other kind?) had already adjusted to future life in the Championship. It does look likely now that we will finish around the 16th - 14th positions. Which means its going to be a case of always looking over our shoulders, one week to the next.

There are still teams around us who are in worse shape. Granted, they all appear to have fucking won this weekend, but it will swing back the other way next week. But, and this is a knee-jerk of sorts, I'm not discounting the fact that teams who believe they won't go down because they think the teams around them will, are the very teams that get tagged with the 'too good to go down' tag, and end up getting sucked in, and then don't quite know how to get out. So for me to say it does 'look likely now that we will finish around the 16th - 14th positions' is the exact type of attitude that will drag us back into the bottom three.

Redknapp might have saved a team or two in the past, but he's also managed to take a couple down.

If we lose at Wigan and fail to win at Pompey, then we'll be bottom 3, possibly even bottom. And with 18 games left, there's not that much time left to start getting it right.

It's now all down to Redknapp and Levy to make the most of the Jan Sales and for the players we have to start earning their wage.

It's down to Redknapp to let our millionaire players know they are well and truly in a relegation fight, and losing 2-0 to WBA does utterly nothing for confidence for fans.

Is scoring a goal such a scary thing to do? Stand up and be fucking counted you daft cowards.

Challenge Spurs™ - Whees i' the netty?

Challenge Spurs™

Game 10 v (A) Newcastle Utd
2-1 loss, 0 points
Total points: 19
Position: 16th

Bollocks. Last minute goal. Oh how I've missed you. The touch of depression. But hey, look at the bright side. We did just lose to the biggest best supported club on the planet, and our fans are having to nurse ear-bleeds due to the deafening noise, so if you streamed the game via the internet or listened to it on the radio, at least you don't have to spend several hours travelling back home. Stick on a bit of tv, download some porn, just move on. I'm sure the lads on Toontastic are having a right old 3rd Reich knees-up at the minute, bless 'em.

2 games left - 6 points needed

Note how I'm not actually commenting on performance or match incidents, as I've had the (mis)fortune of missing the game. So haven't got a clue, other than the fact that Modric scored, but disappeared in and out of the game too much. Pav was poor. Bentley was poor, pretty much his standard performance for us week in, week out. Average and ordinary across the whole team. Campbell should have had a brace, so arguably, you might say we should never have lost.

That January injection of new blood can't come along soon enough.

17 points. 6 more available now. Giving us a potential 23 points. Ah, the number twenty-three. My dear old friend. I see this number everywhere. If we end up on 23, it means we beat my original forecast by one point. The irony being that my original forecast was one of negativity.

Fulham at home on boxing day. Must win.

Challenge Spurs™ - Nuts to you Berbatov

Challenge Spurs™

Game 09 v (H) Manchester United
0-0, draw
Total points: 19
Position: 15th

As far as 0-0 draws go, this wasn't too shabby a game.

Atmosphere was better than recent home games too (even if Utd were fairly quiet possibly due to their reduced allocation for their insistent standing at away games - which is ridiculous - let away fans stand, leave us with an ounce of joy at the very least as you seem hell bent to take everything else from us), thanks largely to the return of Dimitar Berbatov, who looked out of sorts.

Though arguably that best describes Man Utd's away form this season. Loads of classy touches and movement, but no cutting edge when it matters. We lost Woodgate to injury early on, which meant Corluka slotted into centre-back next to awesome Dawson (King failed a fitness test, which was no great surprise). Our midfield general under-achiever (see what I did there?), Zokora, went to right-back to handle Ronaldo.

Huddlestone, came on for Woody, and into centre midfield. This type of re-shuffle usually has me crying hysterically. But things turned out fine, even with the wishfully avoidable depletion. Utd had plenty of possession but efforts on goal were shared between both teams. Look, I suck at writing up match reviews and there's no point in going into any great analytical detail because you were either at the game, watched it on Match of the Day or read it about it in the papers (not that the latter is any good for unbiased reporting).

So here's some thoughts in no particular order:

Zokora was a revelation. He looks so much better at right-back than he does in midfield, probably because the responsibility of looking after that flank is a far easier concept to handle than attempting to boss the middle of the park. I'd say he kept Ronaldo pretty quiet, but it's a far easier job when the Portuguese winger only half turns up for games nowadays. Blatantly trying to make it easy for Fergie to sell him off come the summer. Petulant little c*nt kicked out (ala Beckham, World Cup) but as our refs don't follow anything to the letter, preferring to translate the rules as they see fit depending on how bad of a day they are having, didn't give so much as a yellow card for it. Not that Dawson complained or dropped like a sack of potatoes. Maybe he should of. Earlier today the FA said they would take no action as the ref said had he seen the incident he would not have sent off Ronaldo. How fucking gracious of him.

As for Daws, he played a blinder. And Corluka continues to impress with each passing game. The same can't be said about our Russian centre-forward, Pav. Struggled in a big way to find space, hold onto the ball, do anything. 4-5-1 does seem to work for us, but Pav isn't the type of player who's made for being up front on his own. When Bent came on, nothing much changed. Modric playing just behind the forward also needs some form of tweaking, or just patience till Luka starts scoring goals. If you have a midfielder playing as the more forward player other than the lone centre-forward, then you need him scoring goals too.

He had an ok day on Saturday, nothing special. One or two mis-placed balls, which was more down to a lack of understanding than anything else . If we still had Berbatov or a player of his ilk, we would be LOL'ing at the havoc we would create upfront. Modric wouldn't have to concern himself, he'd just play the ball into the space and the Berba-ilk player would instinctively run onto the ball to receive it, unlike his second level team-mates. Oh yes I know, if if if if. Whether 'arry brings in another forward is anyone's guess.

Whispers suggest Heskey or Crouch. No, that's Heskey or Crouch, where did I say Arshavin exactly? Heskey/Crouch would hold the ball up, which would mean the midfield (Luka included) could push forward further. Modric did have a couple of worthy efforts - flying through the air like a salmon (thanks to Michael McIntyre for the half-time comedy randomness) - but his header not finding the target. And all from a wonderful Zokora cross (it's the right-back position, its magic).

He also had a dipping shot that took an ever so slight deflection. For now, Bent and Pav is all we have (Campbell is injured and isn't - for obvious reasons - a long term answer) so if they don't play together, and we stick with the 4-5-1, then Harry has to work on how we can make it work. Pav, to be fair, looks knackered having played in the summer for Russia and also 5 months of a league season before joining us. His biggest contribution was for Utd, when he got in the way of a Huddlestone pile-driver.

One rumour from Russia was that Ramos had inquired about him for Madrid, on a loan deal. Doubtful. Lennon had a great run and shot at goal. Was pretty lively, but at times came up second best to Rafael (who looks like that kid from Heroes). Bentley again failed to impress, apart from a volley from nothing moment (easily dealt with, but hey, it looked greeeeeeeeat on tv) and a free-kick which could have sneaked in, but van der Sar was equal to it. Other than that, still playing from memory.

Ekotto? Impressive. Not perfect by a long shot, but does the job well enough. Quietly consistent at the moment.

Gomes was superb. When called upon, he saved well. Very well. No signs of the dodgy keeper from recent weeks. Great save from a free-kick late on. As for the returning Berbatov, I almost fainted when I saw him chasing down a ball and tracking back to defend corners. Amazing stuff. He had one great chance, but Dawson foiled him at the last second before he had the chance to pull the trigger.

Other than that, and the usual slick touches, he wasn't at his best. Only one downer was Woodgate's injury (original rumour was he had to see a specialist (having been rushed to hospital), but according to the latest reports he is fine but will miss a game or two at the most) and Jenas has torn his calf muscle and will be out for 'months'. I know, that's two. But I did say 'only one'.

Still unbeaten against Top 4 opposition this season. Shame we lost to Sunderland, Stoke and Hull. Newcastle up next. In-form Newcastle. Another away day trip to a place where we historically get nothing.

Expect plenty of goals.

And that was the week that was.....

Anderton retires today, bless him. Hope he gets that testimonial he deserves from us.

Freddy Adu (formally a Man Utd and then Chelsea fan) who was fourteen years old for about 5 years is now proclaiming he supported Spurs when he was a kid. Even though, he still is a kid. He's at Benefica, although out on loan in France, so basically, he's shit and over-rated and simply a over-hyped product of the Nike school of bullshit. Thanks but no thanks. I'll stick to the Football Manager version of you.

Robbie Keane is being rested for Liverpool today, away to Blackburn. Rumours (and that's all they are) suggest he will be sold. Where does one go when he is pushed out of his boyhood club? I guess his other boyhood club (Celtic) will be happy to take him. Keane will score 30 goals up there, no problem. I guess if he is sold we'll be disappointed (Levy that is) financially, as we probably only got £12M upfront for him, with the rest based on appearances and goals.

I'm uncertain if Tony Parks has joined the club as a coach. Can anyone confirm?

Watford away was just about okay. One down, two won up. Sure you've gathered that by now. Not a convincing performance, but then wasn't a fully strength team. Sure 'arry will play a strong team in the semi-final. Interestingly, every time we've got rid of a manager early on in the season, the new boss has gone onto win the Cup. More of the same please.

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™ - 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.

Challenge Spurs™ - The Bale jinx must Go-mes

Challenge Spurs™ Series

Game 05 v (A) Fulham
2-1 Loss, 0 points
Total points: 12
Position: 19th
1 point from safety

I'm glad Harry Redknapp is still talking publicly about a 'relegation battle' as a reminder is needed for the players who decided to believe their own hype and take their eyes off the ball momentarily (figure of speech) to see us lose at Fulham. Yes, it was sort of expected that we would drop all 3 points there because traditionally that's exactly what happens, but I'm still disappointed that we didn't buck the trend a little. A draw and a few wins doesn't mean we are suddenly up and running because its fine giving it some against the likes of Arsenal and Liverpool, but its the bread and butter of the teams around us that need to be polished off with more intent and effort than Saturdays mediocre outing.

Bale played, we lost. Again. Poor lad needs to make an appearance when we are 3-0 up with 1 minute to go. Gomes, with yet another match-losing howler. Words escape me for the hilarity of the situation. A £9M legacy from the exceptional Comolli that will continue to haunt. Is Cesar not an option? This same scenario is reminiscent of the Paul Robinson saga which saw us keep the faith with him until no confidence or ability was left in him to do the basics right.

Drop him. Let him retain some kind of integrity as he re-builds his composure. Unless of course, what we see is what he does week in week out. Which in that case, let's just hope he doesn't cost us too many points before the Jan window re-opens. Arguably, on the flip side, he produced some amazing saves. Conundrum is our Gomes. As for Bale. Shocking again.

And the rest? Apart from maybe Modric (who left the field of play with an injury) the rest were average, making Fulham look far better than they actually are.

Onwards and upwards please.