King signs new Spurs deal

Posted by Stevio in Tottenham Hotspur on May 16th, 2010

It’s wonderful news to hear that Ledley King has signed a new two-year deal. Admittedly during the season I was beginning to wonder if he’d ever be able to consistently perform at Premier League level, however, towards the end of the season he showed what a class act he still is.

The 29-year-old told the club’s official website: “I am delighted to have signed a new contract with Spurs. I have been here since I was a schoolboy and I could never see myself going anywhere else. This is where I want to continue playing my football.

“We’ve got the prospect of Champions League football to look forward to next season and with the quality of players we have I believe we are on the brink of something big.

“It is an exciting time for the Club with a new training ground being built and plans for a new stadium.

“I am enjoying my football and I want to be a part of what is happening here.”

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City beaten, Burnley next

Posted by Stevio in Tottenham Hotspur on May 9th, 2010

I’m still pretty speechless following Spurs’ 1-0 win at Manchester City. Such an amazing night. To qualify for the Champions’ League is just fantastic. Sure we still have to come through some tough sounding qualifying matches, but just to get there is brilliant. Of course though, I for one won’t be wanting our Champions’ League campaign to be brief.

Unbelievably, we could still claim third position in the league if Arsenal lose. Admittedly, I doubt they’ll lose, as Fulham as have eyes on the Europa Cup Final. Plus we’ve got to get a win at Burnley, who as we’ve seen before, won’t be a pushover. But nevertheless, after Wednesday, anything can happen!

As for team news, hero Heurelho Gomes is doubful with thigh strain. Ledley King is out, and Vedran Corluka, Niko Kranjcar, Carlo Cudicini and Jonathan Woodgate are all still missing.

We’ve had a great season, I really hope we can finish on a high. COYS!

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Spurs beat Bolton, Manchester City next

Posted by Stevio in Tottenham Hotspur on May 5th, 2010

Following weekend victories for Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City, it is now set us up for an exciting game tonight, where if Spurs win at City’s Eastlands stadium, we’ll wrap up fourth position in the Premiership.

At one point, City were losing to Aston Villa after John Carew scored but unfortunately for Spurs they came back and beat Villa 3-1.

Spurs on the other hand beat Bolton Wanderers 1-0 with a stunning long range effort from Tom Huddlestone. The victory was deserved, even though Bolton didn’t have much to play for, they kept trying and thankfully didn’t come up with anything.

I would dearly love Spurs to get a win at City tonight, although, this being Spurs it is never simple. Anyone remembering what happened at West Ham a few years ago knows full well anything can happen. I just hope Spurs have employed a food taster for pre-match meals.

The referee tonight is Steve Bennett, who interestingly has only referred just two Spurs games all season. Wonder why that is.

From Harry Redknapp’s comments earlier, it sounds like it’s going to be a pretty open game, and they have some fine quality players with Carlos Tevez, Emmanuel Adebayor and Craig Bellamy. The aforementioned are suspect temperament-wise but one cannot doubt their ability, and recently City have scored quite a few goals.

Interesting that ex-Spurs ‘keeper Marton Fulop will be in goal for City, he of course conceded a goal a minute after he came on as substitute for Sunderland when they visited the Lane earlier in the season.

The big question for us is who will be in goal for Spurs? Heurelho Gomes has a groin problem and we really need him, as there’s question marks surrounding Ben Alnwick. Also, as always, we have doubts over Ledley King, who played at the weekend.

I’m guessing if Harry is expecting an open game then he’ll stick with Luka Modric and Huddlestone in the centre of midfield. As we saw against Old Trafford a few weeks back, Wilson Palacios came back from suspension and didn’t play too well. So I’m expecting an unchanged team apart from the possibility of Gomes and King being out.

So what will happen? We do have a good record up at City, but with their influx of cash and better quality players, they’ve certainly improved. I’m sure they remember their defeat at White Hart Lane, which was their former manager Mark Hughes’ last game in charge, so perhaps they’ll be after blood.

I do have a feeling that we can get three points at City, but we’ve got to keep our heads. We’ve also got to start being more clinical, as tonight if we don’t, it could be costly.

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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 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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FA Cup semi loss and Arsenal preview

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

Well it didn’t go too well on Sunday, did it? I’m still pretty ticked off over it. Sure we didn’t perform to our best, but we still should have won. We had so much possession, plenty of shots, as well as some quite good opportunities to score, but like games against Stoke and Wolves, we just can’t get the ball across the opposition’s goal line.

We can blame the pitch, which let’s face it certainly contributed to Portsmouth’s first goal, and we can blame the referee for ruling out clear goals and giving penalties when he shouldn’t, but the fact is we should have enough quality and know how that these decisions shouldn’t count as much.

So now our FA Cup dreams are over, we only have the little matter of hosting Arsenal tonight. It should be a good game, as it’s unlikely Arsenal will play ‘anti-football’ like Portsmouth, although with no Wilson Palacios due to him finally getting his yellow card on Sunday, and no Niko Kranjcar to injury, it’s going to be tough. Some good news though is that Ledley King could return.

Sol Campbell is likely to play against us, which always brings added ‘entertainment’.

We’ve got good form at home, and we really need to bounce back from Sunday’s disappointment, so let’s hope we can get a positive morale boosting victory tonight!

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Middlesbrough 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur

Posted by Stevio in Tottenham Hotspur on August 17th, 2008

Another opening day away, another defeat.

With the new additions to the squad, the same old problems – we can’t defend.

Playing Didier Zokora at right-back was a strange one when he was needed in the centre of midfield, as I don’t see Jermaine Jenas or Luka Modric as ‘defensive’.

Also Dimitar Berbatov on the bench? He’s our best player regardless of whether he’s been tapped up or not, therefore he should have started alongside Darren Bent.

Ledley King and Gareth Bale were on the bench too. The latter did make an appearance, my only guess is that both players are being brought back into the team slowly after injuries.

Both of ‘Boro’s goals came from crosses.

David Wheater was on hand to get on the end of a saved Afonso Alves shot in the 71th minute following a cross from Stewart Downing.

In the 86th minute, ex-Spurs striker Mido managed to deflect a cross from Didier Digard into the back of the net.

Spurs got one back from a Bentley free-kick, that was headed home by Robert Huth.

Next up is Sunderland at home on the 23rd of August, where five ex-Spurs players return to White Hart Lane. It’ll be interesting to see if there’ll be any improvement – and new signings.

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King on Ramos and top four

Posted by Stevio in Tottenham Hotspur on August 16th, 2008

Ledley King has revealed that his knee problems gave manager Juande Ramos a bad first impression of the centre-half.

King said: “It was difficult as he was a new manager coming in and didn’t know me.

“I was injured when he arrived and the first impressions were probably not good as managers like fit players.

“It took a while for him to understand the problems I had and how we had to deal with the situation.

“He probably never had a player the way I played last season, playing a game then missing one as the knee wasn’t right.

“I worked hard when I wasn’t playing. I had to do that as I had a month without playing. Juande’s help was great and we worked together.”

On the club’s hopes of breaking into the top four, he said: “Within the group we believe we’re capable of finishing in the top four. We’ll be disappointed if we don’t.

“We’ve got the talent to do it but it’s a lot more difficult than just talking about it.

“You have to be willing to grind results when you’re not playing so well and get results away from home.

“We’ll have to do that if we want to break in the top four.”

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