Squeaking our way upwards

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Challenge Spurs™ preview up next.

Top 4 Bias

"Hope for a Liverpool goal for the sake of a good finish"

Yes, over at Setanta Sports the usual pro-Top 4 biased commentary kicked into over-drive. As per usual. Obviously they agreed with the Liverpool fans that the Bale tackle should have led to a penalty and thus moaned about "The overall poor reffing (sic) of the entire game" adding that "Rafa has every right to be disappointed" (That's Rafa, first name terms there - our man was always referred to as Redknapp).

On came the usual soundbites defending the defeat. Rafas shadow side/second string/youngsters apparently 'outplaying us' on occasions against an 'experienced Tottenham side'.

Sky's commentary from their SKY Live Score Centre bore more of the same:

"Boateng runs into the track of Babel but somehow earns himself a free-kick"

"I hardly dare say it, but it looks like Spurs are there now - the quarter finals await"

Hardly dare say what? The result was never in doubt and was fully deserved. I'm sure if Liverpool had won we would have heard about Rafa's brilliant selection of randoms out-smarted Tottenham's first eleven. As for Boateng, he was fouled. Or is it not permitted to be a victim?

I can forgive the Daily Mail for telling everyone that we were lucky against City and even going back to the Arsenal game (they cant kill a team off) and the Liverpool result (they don't know how to score) and can doubly forgive them for having four photographs from the 4-4 derby, three of which were Arsenal players celebrating their goals. I can forgive them because the Daily Mail is a rancid mess of a cuntness.

Setanta and Sky should try to break their mould once in a while. Match of the Day too. But then the whole point is that the 'elite' deserve the coverage they get because they are the best in the land. But the bias which is blatantly apparent within the coverage is now beginning to bore me.

It's ok for Liverpool to lose games, it really is.