Manchester United and Bolton game thoughts

Posted by Stevio in Tottenham Hotspur on May 1st, 2010

Well last week’s trip to Manchester United was yet another disappointment after two cracking results against Arsenal and Chelsea.

I don’t know what it is, whether it’s a mental problem or not, but we just don’t seem to be able to get good results at places like that.

We have a decent enough team, we’ve been in great form, but whatever it is, it just isn’t enough.

Today though Bolton Wanderers come to the Lane. Last season we beat them 2-0 at home with Roman Pavlyuchenko and Darren Bent scoring. If you remember they had Gavin McCann sent off.

Usually they’re a tough side to play against, but as we showed earlier this season in the FA Cup, we can beat them at home, with or without the help of a few own goals.

Bolton beat Stoke City away 2-1 a few weeks back and only lost by a goal at Chelsea recently, so looks like we might have to be patient to get on the score sheet.

They are safe from relegation, so only pride to play for, whereas we’re still in fourth position and have lots to play for.

I really hope we get a win today, we certainly need it, and with Jermain Defoe playing his 400th career game today, let’s hope he can top it off with a few goals and a win.

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Manchester United v Spurs preview

Posted by Stevio in Tottenham Hotspur on April 23rd, 2010

So later we take on Manchester United at Old Trafford. What’s the first thing to do? Yes, see who the referee is. Thankfully it isn’t Howard Webb, but Andre Marriner instead. Whether the latter will go down in the memories of Spurs fans as being a United fan is yet to be seen.

Team news-wise it’s looking better with Wilson Palacios back after his suspension. Also Ledley King and Jermaine Jenas could be available too.

The biggest news is that Aaron Lennon could be involved. Must say the prospect of having Gareth Bale down the left wing and Lennon down the right is mouth watering.

Even though we’ve won our last two games, I think Palacios will come in and strengthen the midfield, partnering Tom Huddlestone. Luka Modric I’m guessing would then move out to the right, where I don’t think he’s as effective.

I do wonder if there’ll be any changes upfront as Jermain Defoe and Roman Pavlyuchenko haven’t scored in open play for a month. Eidur Gudjohnsen could come in and play deeper.

Of course, it’s always tough at Old Trafford, however, over the years we’ve threatened to get a good result there. Sadly though, there always seems something, or should that be someone, who always tips the balance in United’s favour. I think we’re due a result there, and now is a good time to get it.

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Spurs 2-1 Chelsea

Posted by Stevio in Tottenham Hotspur on April 17th, 2010

In the space of a few days, Spurs have beaten not only beaten third place Arsenal 2-1, they’ve today beaten Chelsea 2-1. Fantastic!

Chelsea’s performance today was quite shocking, they looked like what they are, a team of over-the-hill players. Sure, they threatened, but Spurs were more than a match for them with a work-rate that a Premiership winning side would be proud of.

Michael Dawson was his usual self, dominating whatever or whoever came into his path – how come he isn’t first choice for England at centre-half I’ll never know! But the whole defence and midfield stood firm, making sure Chelsea had no time and space to create chances.

Once again Gareth Bale raided down the left hand side of midfield and got behind their right-back Paulo Ferreira on several occasions, one time it looked like we should have been given a penalty when the Welshman was brought down, however, it wasn’t long until we got a penalty after John Terry handballed a David Bentley cross. Jermain Defoe didn’t miss this time!

Just before half time Bale not only charged by Ferreira, he scored after cutting inside on to his right foot and firing into Petr Cech’s near post. It was such a fantastic goal, and just shows how Bale is getting better and better.

In the second half we had plenty of chances to go even further ahead, for example Defoe through on goal but couldn’t find a way passed Cech. Bale too one-on-one with Cech, but he fired wide. Same too for Roman Pavlyuchenko, but again wide. No joy!

Even after Chelsea were down to ten men following John Terry’s red card, they still looked like they could conjure up a goal, and they did after Frank Lampard tapped home a Michael Ballack cross, thankfully it was late too late and Spurs got back to where they belong, fourth place!

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Spurs 2-1 Arsenal

Posted by Stevio in Tottenham Hotspur on April 14th, 2010

So happy that Spurs managed to pull off an outstanding 2-1 win over Arsenal. Sure, it was a tough game with Arsenal having lots of possession, but for most part of the game, they failed to break Spurs down.

The opening goal was just fantastic, Danny Rose got on the end of an Almunia clearance and volleyed home from 30-yards out. Admittedly, I was shocked to see it go in, but a good kind of shocked!

Rose was a surprise starter in place of David Bentley, but with goals like that, hopefully he’ll have more chances in the Spurs first team.

The second half started and soon after Gareth Bale had put us two-nil up. Jermain Defoe with a beauty of though ball found Bale in the penalty area, who just tucked the ball home. How Bale ended up in a striking position I’ll never know, but the Welshman is so full of running, you can expect him to appear anywhere on the pitch at any time!

Of course, even being 2-0 up the game was never over, especially against a side like Arsenal. They pressed and pressed and eventually got their goal through Bendtner, this despite some wonderful goalkeeping from Gomes.

Thankfully they failed to get the equaliser with Gomes and our defenders standing firm. Michael Dawson was his usual solid self after the disappointment of the weekend, also Ledley King was outstanding considering how long he’d been out injured.

All in all, a wonderful victory that puts the horrors of Sunday to the back of one’s memory.

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Crazy, crazy, Tottenham Hotspur

Posted by Stevio in Tottenham Hotspur on January 22nd, 2009

I’m just about recovered from Wednesday night. What a crazy night.

Spurs were 3-0 down and headed out of the League Cup until two minutes from the end of the extra time when Pavlyuchenko and Defoe popped up to secure a 6-4 aggregate win.

Now we have a final at Wembley to look forward to, with Manchester United our opponents. No doubt we’ll be the underdogs.

Before that we got a decent 1-1 result at home against Portsmouth, which puts us in 16th position in the Premiership. Problem is there’s another four teams on the same 21 points as us, one of them being bottom placed West Brom. We’re still very clearly in a precarious position.

Some positive news this week was Wilson Palacios making the move from Wigan Athletic to White Hart Lane. Admittedly I haven’t seen much of 24 year-old Honduran and so can’t say if he’s worth the reported £12m fee. He’s seems very highly-rated and did look decent when he played against us a few weeks ago, I just wonder about his disciplinary record, as he seems to get booked every game.

With just over a week to go of the transfer window left, it’ll be interesting to see if there’ll be any further signings. Two leaving appear to be veteran Cesar Sanchez and Hossam Ghaly, who look set to join Valencia and Al-Nasr respectively.

This weekend Spurs travel to Old Trafford to take on Manchester United in the FA Cup. It appears that we’ll be fielding a below strength side. Admittedly I find this disappointing, however, with a game at home against Stoke three days later, I can understand it. I just hope whatever team is put out that they put in a good performance.

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The good, the bad and the ugly

Posted by Stevio in Tottenham Hotspur on January 17th, 2009

It has been quite a while since my last post, since then things have improved, sadly even with a new manager installed, the results and the performances have not been good enough.

With 21 league games played this season, we’ve won 5, drawn 5, and lost 11, scoring 20 and conceding 26. We’re currently third from bottom in the relegation zone.

Something positive is that we’re still in all the cups, and all being well, we can at least look forward to a League Cup final.

The performance in our latest game – the defeat at Wigan Athletic – wasn’t our worst this season, however, it was far from our best.

Even though manager Harry Redknapp had made changes to compete with a physical Wigan side, many of our players failed to perform, most notably Gareth Bale.

In recent months there have been some positives, defender Michael Dawson has once again found his form and has been a rock at centre half, also Heurelho Gomes has overcome a spell of uncertainly to show that he’s more than a capable ‘keeper.

Upfront we’ve seen Darren Bent struggle despite scoring 12 goals this season, while fellow striker Roman Pavlyuchenko has improved of late with goals in the FA Cup and League Cup against Wigan and Burnley respectively.

Since the transfer window opened Jermain Defoe has returned to White Hart Lane in a big money move from Portsmouth. He scored 15 goals in 31 appearances for Pompey, fingers crossed he can keep the same 1 goal in 2 games ratio up at Spurs.

I have faith in Harry Redknapp to turn it around, however, the problems at Spurs are chronic, and I’m unsure whether the team’s problems can be solved in time to prevent relegation.

Harry needs to build a new team. The current one is so fragmented, sometimes it’s like watching a team of eleven strangers. You’d think after training and playing together the players would be able work together and know each other’s game – sadly not.

If it’s true that the club are splashing out tens of millions on players in a desperate bid to avoid relegation then I fear we may find out it’s a big mistake, as sadly I doubt a big turnover of players during this transfer window will save us from heading down into the Championship.

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Kaboul departs to Portsmouth

Posted by Stevio in Transfers on August 12th, 2008

Central defender Younes Kaboul has completed his move from Spurs to Portsmouth.

The Frenchman explained his move to his new club’s website, he said: “It wasn’t a difficult choice to make coming here. Everyone in the papers was saying I was going to Sunderland or Aston Villa but I wanted to come here straight away.

“As soon as I knew they were interested I said: ‘I want to come to Pompey’.

“I came here because the manager has wanted me for two years. I met him two years ago when I was at Auxerre and I like the man because he gives you confidence.

“It’s a good opportunity for me because the club has a lot of ambition.

“I think Pompey are a top-five Premier League side and I believe I can achieve what I want to achieve at this club. Hopefully we can get off to a good start.”

He added: “I enjoyed my year at Tottenham and it taught me many things. I’m still young and I made progress but now I hope to make more progress here.

“The players at the club have everything needed to do well this year. Players like Defoe, Distin and Campbell make up a really good side.

“I played with Defoe at Spurs and it’s good to meet up with him again. He always talked to me at Tottenham and helped me to adapt. He told me Portsmouth is a good club to play for.

“There are experienced players like Sol and Sylvain who I can watch and learn from. It can only help me to play alongside them.

“It does mean that there is a lot of competition for places but that’s good – it keeps everyone focused.

“Also, I can play in midfield or at the back – I don’t mind really. The important thing is that I’m here and ready to play.

“I really want to do a good job here.”

Including Kaboul, Portsmouth now have seven former Spurs players in their squad with Noe Pamarot, Sol Campbell, Sean Davis, Pedro Mendes, Peter Crouch and of course, Jermain Defoe.

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Defoe: Tough times ahead for Spurs

Posted by Stevio in Miscellaneous on July 29th, 2008

Former Tottenham Hotspur striker Jermain Defoe – now at Portsmouth – thinks Spurs are in for ‘tough times’ this coming season.

Defoe said: “It’s strange because obviously I have left the club and if they want to get rid of Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane, then it’s going to be difficult for the club.

“I feel sorry for the fans because I can’t understand why a club will get rid of their best players. That’s football and I suppose there are times when players have got the opportunity to move to a bigger club.

“It’s obviously a tough time for Spurs. It’s a good club and I still speak to a lot of the players there. They are all my friends.

“I enjoyed my time there but you know for each player there is a time when you need to move on. I was there for 3½ years.

“I enjoyed my time, I scored a lot of goals and the fans were good to me.

“No matter what, I will still have a piece of that club inside me.”

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Spurs strike to leave?

Posted by Stevio in Transfers on August 25th, 2007

Spurs manager Martin Jol has revealed that Jermain Defoe could be sold. The England striker has just under two years remaining on his contract at White Hart Lane.

Jol told The Sun: “I had an argument with him because everyone else is committed and he does not want to extend his contract.

“I want to keep him but the chairman does not want another Sol Campbell on his hands.

“Jermain tells everybody he loves the club and we love him.

“We’ve made him a good offer but he won’t even discuss it.”

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