England manager Steve McClaren has selected Spurs quartet Paul Robinson, Ledley King, Jermaine Jenas and Jermain Defoe for the squad to face Macedonia and Croatia in Euro 2008 qualifiers.

The main talking point is the continued exclusion of David Beckham. I’d include him, but only as a reserve. As I think the team is more settled without him.

Good to see Scott Parker included. He’s having a fine season with Newcastle. He’s actually in my fantasy team and has been earning me quite a few points and in turn increasing in value!

Goalkeepers: Robinson (Tottenham), Foster (Man Utd), Kirkland (Liverpool);

Defenders: G Neville (Man Utd), P Neville (Everton), Brown (Man Utd), Terry (Chelsea), Ferdinand (Man Utd), Carragher (Liverpool), King (Tottenham), A Cole (Chelsea), Bridge (Chelsea);

Midfielders: Lampard (Chelsea), Gerrard (Liverpool), Jenas (Tottenham), Carrick (Man Utd), Richardson (Man Utd), Downing (Middlesbrough), Wright-Phillips (Chelsea), Parker (Newcastle);

Strikers: Rooney (Man Utd), Crouch (Liverpool), Johnson (Everton), Defoe (Tottenham)

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Robbie Keane scored the goal to send Spurs into the group stages of the UEFA Cup after a tough game against the Czechs.

Overall the team played well, but still it looks like it will take some time for the players to get used to each others games.

Spurs manager Martin Jol told the club’s site: “It was important to get through to the next round. We started off well and had a couple of chances.

“But then you felt it might be one of those games again only we were leading from the first leg.

“They played better in the second half than they did in Prague but we had five or six good opportunities before Robbie did what we know he can.”

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Striker Robbie Keane has revealed that when he was young he used to have nightmares about not scoring goals!

Keane told The Independent: “We know we have players in the team who will always score goals. It’s just a matter of getting that first one and then to kick on from there.

“I’ve gone past the stage of worrying about not scoring. When I was a kid I used to worry about it too much and end up having nightmares about it. We know we are not performing as well as we would like to. But we also know we are doing the right things.

“In football you need a bit of luck and at the moment we haven’t had that.

“I feel very good and quite sharp and it is just a case of getting a tap-in or something like that to set me off. As strikers we take the responsibility for scoring because that’s our job. But the players we have in the squad, the talented midfield players, they know they need to score goals as well.”

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Just typical, we’re struggling in the league and now we have players injured.

For tonight’s game against Slavia Prague in the UEFA Cup, Jermain Defoe, Edgar Davids, Paul Stalteri and Anthony Gardner are all out. Perhaps more worrying is that Ledley King could miss out with a knee problem.

Jol told the club’s official website: “Ledley has a bit of inflammation on his knee but it’s getting better every day, so he could still be a possibility.

“Defoe will be out with his ankle, Davids will be out with his ankle. Davids could take another week and Defoe is a quick healer, so he could be available against Portsmouth on Sunday.

“Anthony Gardner isn’t fit and Paul Stalteri is out. He has a little tightness in his hamstring but could still be available for Sunday.”

On others injured, Jol added: “Berbatov is getting better and could be available for Sunday, Malbranque is going well after his operation and has started running again.

“Lennon is ahead of schedule and perhaps needs another three and a half weeks.”

Despite the injuries, I’m still confident that we can get a positive result against the Czechs.

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It’s good to see Danny Murphy trying to get himself into the first-team at Spurs. He signed and seemed to disappear off the face of the planet.

Anyone involved with fantasy football will know how good this guy was at creating goals at Charlton, so I really hope he can do the same consistently for Spurs.

The 29-year-old told The Sun newspaper: “It’s always nice to play reasonably well because I am trying to establish myself in the team.

“But I’d rather have an average performance and get a result because at the moment we need one.”

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Newcastle United are being linked with a £10m move for Jermain Defoe. It looks like the speculation appears in The Mirror newspaper.

The north east club’s manager Glenn Roeder has confirmed that he’s looking to sign a striker in January, whether or not he is targetting Defoe he fails to confirm. If it’s just 2 + 2 = 5 jounalism, who knows.

The fact that Defoe is our best player when it comes to shots on goal / shots on target in the Premiership is amazing considering he’s only started twice. Oddly enough, defender Michael Dawson is next with 9 shots and 5 on target!

According to the stats, looks like Dimitar Berbatov and Defoe would be our best partnership. Whether we’ll ever see that, we’ll have to wait and see.

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Highly-rated youngster Terry Dixon has under-gone surgery after suffering a dislocated knee in a match against Norwich City.

Spurs academy manager John McDermott told the official site: “Terry had his operation last week and the surgeons were very happy.

“I spoke to him before the operation and we know this will be a tough time for him. He’ll be in the gym, away from the training pitch where he excels and it’s a mental challenge for him now to rebuild the strength in the knee.

“He’ll do it though – he’s determined and although he’ll have his ups and downs, he’ll get through it.”

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The Daily Mail are reporting that Spurs will watch central defender Per ‘Pelle’ Nilsson when his side Odd Grenland take on Rosenborg.

A Norwegian Spurs fan said of the 24-year-old: “He’s a quality player, no doubt!”

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A nice story in The Mirror newspaper where Jermaine Jenas – as well as Zat Knight, Kieron Dyer and Theo Walcott – had tests to see if they were compatible blood marrow donors for leukaemia sufferer Keiton Knight.

Jenas to the paper: “I’m pleased to be able to do my bit to try and help Keiton and thousands of people like him. Registering your bone marrow only takes a few minutes, and I encourage everyone who can to get involved.”

Sadly it seems Keiton will die unless he finds a donor. More info at keitonknight.com.

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The talk of a possible return to White Hart Lane for Teddy Sheringham reminded me of one of the finest Spurs goals I’ve ever seen. Appropriately it was in a quarter-final match against Liverpool.

I wonder if Jurgen’s available too…

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