THE REDKNAPP RENAISSANCE DIARIES

These are the diarised comments and match notes of the pre and post Harry Redknapp era, as seen and recorded by an ageing Lillywhite..

As a lifelong Spurs fan for over six decades, I thought I would like to share my most recent memories covering the period 2008-2012. Like thousands, I have enjoyed quite a few high points over the last sixty years, but suffered too many low points following Tottenham Hotspur during their quest for glory. I have to say, it has been an absolute delight and joy to have witnessed an unparalleled successive four year feast of entertainment under ’Arry. Admittedly, we have no trophy or silverware to show for these endeavours, but we have now firmly broken into the top echelon of Premier League clubs by finishing, fourth, fifth and fourth in our last three seasons.

From as early as 1950, when Spurs won promotion from Division 2 and then went on to win the Division 1 title a year later, I was a smitten Spurs fan. Living in Birmingham allowed me the opportunity to follow them when they visited the Midlands local grounds. My visits to White Hart Lane, however, have been fewer than I would have liked over the years, but nevertheless, very memorable and always exciting. Grounded with the success of the early 50’s, we sunk into a period of mediocrity in the middle of the decade, before eventually emerging with Bill Nicholson and his Double Winning side of 1960/61. This incredible feat shook the footballing world as they were the first team to achieve cup and league success for the first time that century. The team majestically and rightly paraded themselves to the nation and many various cup successes have followed over the years. The rebirth and rejuvenation of Tottenham under ‘Arry, for which I have been secretly yearning for decades, has produced quality football of the highest level and success within grasping distance. I firmly believe that major success at the next level is achievable within two to three years, providing we move on from our current building blocks that ‘Arry has put in place.

SPURS 2008-2009

Our early pre-season training in Spain went well. We drew 1-1 with a second division side to round up the fortnight.

Lots of changes to the squad so far!

OUT- Robinson £3.5m to Blackburn, Chimbonda £4.9m, Tainio £3.5m and Malbranque £4.0m to Sunderland, Keane £20.3m to Liverpool , Kaboul £4.9m to Portsmouth and Gardner £2.5m to Hull City, so far! TOTAL RECOUPED £43.6m.

IN- Gomes £7.8m from PSV Eindhoven, Giovani Dos Santos, a 19 year old Mexican, £8.6m from Barcelona, Bentley £17.0m from Blackburn, Luka Modric £16.8m from Dynamo Zagreb. Cesar Sanchez is the 36 year old goalkeeper from Real Zaragoza, who will be deputy to Gomes. He had previously spent five years with Real Madrid winning a Champions League medal in 2002. No fee disclosed. A young prospect for the future, however, is John Bostock, aged sixteen, signed from Crystal Palace for only £2.15m. TOTAL OUTLAID £52.53m.

Out on Season-Loan - Troy Archibald-Henville, aged 19, who captained our reserves last year and made the first team bench twice, has gone to Norwich City.

Watch out for the progress of John Bostock, a midfielder in the First Year Academy, Ryan Mason also a midfielder and Adam Smith a 17 year old defender, who recently played the last 19 minutes

of the Borussia Dortmund game with great credit. They are both in the Second Year Academy squads. Keep an eye too on Danny Rose, a midfielder from the Reserves, who appeared on the first team bench last season a couple of times and was loaned out to Millwall.

Paper talk still surrounds Berbatov, Arshavin, Kanoute and Corluka, who had agreed terms and passed a medical, only to find Man. City had done a U-turn on the deal. Expect a High Court action or out of court compensation.

Pre-season friendly matches:-

28 July Norwich City 1 Spurs 530 July Leyton Orient 1 Spurs 51 Aug. Glasgow Celtic 0 Spurs 23 Aug. Borussia Dortmund 0 Spurs 310 Aug. Spurs 5 AS Roma 0

An emphatic win by Spurs in their final friendly game, against a Champions League team, before the new season starts next week. A blistering start saw Bentley score on 3 minutes, from a floated free kick near the touch line which went through every player without being latched onto to end up in the net. Within two minutes, Bent benefited from a poor defensive pass and whipped the ball between the legs of the oncoming keeper to make it 2-0 . Bentley added a third in injury time of the first half, when he let go a terrific shot from 25 yards to leave the goalkeeper with no chance.

Spurs continued to dominate with slick movement and passing. Lennon added a fourth just before the hour, having come on as substitute for Berbatov and Bent made it 5-0 within 70 minutes. Maximum substitutes were made thereafter with the addition of Bale, Gunter, Gilberto, Huddlestone, King, O’Hara and 17 year old Swedish goalkeeper Oscar Jannson, making his first team debut with fifteen minutes left.

Darren Bent has now scored 12 goals in six pre-season games and looks very sharp.

The new season starts here on Saturday 16th August 2008, after Ramos has spent £46m on new players. Our current squad of first team players has only Alan Hutton still unfit with a pre-season stress fracture to his right foot. They do not intend to rush his recovery period. The Berbatov saga drags on!

FIRST PREMIERSHIP RESULTS 2008/2009

ARSENAL 1 West Bromwich Albion 0ASTON VILLA 4 Manchester City 2BOLTON WANDERERS 3 Stoke City 1CHELSEA 4 Portsmouth 0Everton 2 BLACKBURN ROVERS 3HULL CITY 2 Fulham 1Manchester United 1 Newcastle United 1MIDDLESBROUGH 2 Tottenham Hotspur 1Sunderland 0 LIVERPOOL 1

WEST HAM UNITED 2 Wigan Athletic 1

Middlesbrough 2 Spurs 1

Not the start we expected following our pre-season results ! The balance of the team looked disjointed at times and although we had 60% of the possession and played attractive football, we failed to take our chances. Bentley, who was probably our best player, went close twice. Bent, who was fairly subdued, came close with a swivelled shot from just outside the area and Jenas was thwarted after a fine interchange of passing with Berbatov.

Middlesbrough opened the scoring after 71 minutes when a corner from Downing had been headed clear by Zokora only to be returned by the same player to Alves at the near post. His deflection was saved by Gomes, who could only tip it onto the bar for Wheater to bundle in from close range. The lead was increased on 86 minutes when Mido stuck out a toe to deflect a shot that was originally going wide. Another deflection, this time headed backwards by Huth on 93 minutes into his own net, was scant consolation for Spurs!

A new system in the Premiership this season allows seven substitutes. Our team today, with paper ratings out of ten, was :-- Gomes 7, Zokora 7, Dawson 6, Woodgate 6, Assou-Ekotto 5, Lennon 6, Jenas 6, Modric 6, Bentley 7, Bent 6 and Giovani Dos Santos7. The substitutes were Berbatov for Dos Santos on 66 mins, Bale for Lennon on 66 mins and O’Hara for Assou-Ekotto on 78 mins. Substitutes not used were King, Gunter, Huddlestone and Sanchez.

Spurs 1 Sunderland 2

This is the first defeat at home to Sunderland in 30 years! With Berbatov not included in the squad, as he was considered not to be ’in the right frame of mind’, Spurs were a poor shadow of their normal selves. The whole club, including the dressing room, has been affected by this transfer saga, which still drags on! A poor first half left us on equal terms, thanks to Malbranque striking a post.

We were only marginally better in the second half and fell behind to a scorching shot from Richardson from outside the area on 55 minutes. Twice Modric shot at goal, for it to be blocked, before Jenas latched onto the chance from close range after 73 minutes. Make-shift right back Zokora gave Murphy time to deliver a dangerous cross. Gomes failed to command the six-yard box and Cisse slipped the attentions of King to score with his head, having come on as a substitute and making his on-loan debut from Marseille. Our formation meant Bent (4) was up front on his own, supported by Bentley (6), Jenas (7) and Modric (6) who all scored highest in the appraisal points. Dos Santos (4) came on as substitute for Lennon (5) after 55 minutes, together with Huddleston (5) replacing Assou-Ekotto (5). Bale had a disappointing mark of (4) playing in left mid-field. He had the best chance of the match when heading over from about ten yards. The other close chance fell to Woodgate in the six-yard area, but he scuffed it wide of the post during a frantic skirmish. All other

players were marked as (5). Our next match is away to top of the table Chelsea next Sunday. We, alongside Wigan, W.B.A. and Portsmouth, await our first point. Last season we started in similar fashion and only managed one win (at home) in the first twelve games and that was against Derby!

Thursday 28 August

Latest transfer news - Young-Pyo Lee to Borussia Dortmund, Tomas Pekhart, our 19 year old Reserve Top Scorer on-loan to Southampton. Speculation now surrounds the Berbatov saga. It would seem a deal could be struck in the next few days with Manchester United. On the way, say the papers, is 26 year old Roman Pavlyuchenko from Spartak Moscow for £14m. Others in the frame are Arshavin from Zenit St. Petersburg and/or Huntelaar from Ajax.

Chelsea 1 Spurs 1

A thoroughly deserved first point of the season against all the odds. Although Spurs had only 46% of the possession we were never overawed and look comfortable all match. Modric still looks a bit lightweight and needs more time to adjust to the robust Premiership. Chelsea had five good chances during the game and only one goal to show for their efforts. The first one involved a world-class save by Gomes, going backwards to tip a lovely chip by Lampard over the bar, which had GOAL written all over it. Anelka was put through only to blaze over and Essien hammered a shot against the bar before a rather fortuitous sliced corner clearance by Bent was diverted home from short range, courtesy of Belletti’s thigh on 28 minutes.

Substitute Kalou, dragged a good chance wide in the second half, shortly after arriving on the pitch at 76 minutes. Earlier Bent had redeemed himself by latching onto a ball which ricocheted off Lampard when Modric had lost control, and slotted the ball between Cech’s legs as he came out during injury time of the first half. A good solid performance, with outstanding efforts by Zokora, playing in the centre of the midfield five, and Woodgate and King at the back, looking rock-like. With Gunter at right back and Bale at left back, we had eleven full internationals on duty. Lennon replaced Giovani Dos Santos on 59 minutes and Huddlestone came on for Gunter after 63 minutes. Ten minutes later, Bentley was replaced by O’Hara.

Transfer Deadline Day Monday 1st. September closes at midnight.

Reports at 14.00 show we have secured Vedran Corluka, the 22 year old Croatian defender and best friend of Luka Modric, from Manchester City for £8.5m on a six-year contract. Possibly Berbatov will now be snapped up by Manchester City for £32.5m and not Manchester United? Reports showed that Spurs had accepted the bid but the player only wanted to sign for United. Roman Pavlyuchenko is now a confirmed signing from Spartak Moscow for £13.8m on a five year contract. Kevin Prince Boateng looks likely to be transferred to Birmingham City.

At long last Dermitar Berbatov signs for Manchester United for £30.75m, with Frazier Campbell, aged 20 and valued at £7m, coming to Spurs for a season-loan. Spurs have first option to sign Campbell at the end of the season. As part of the deal, Spurs will not pursue reporting Man. Utd. to the Premier League for illegally approaching Berbatov. Liverpool too can count themselves lucky in the way they procured Keane. There was no move for Boateng in this transfer window.

After a frenetic last day of dealings, Spurs failed to secure Sergio Garcia from Real Zaragozza, who signed instead for Real Betis. Failure too, in his summer pursuit of Arshavin from Zenit St. Petersburg, now results in Damien Comolli’s position as Tottenham’s sporting director being put under severe review. Three of his earlier signings have failed to make an impact also. Boateng, Taarabt and Rocha have not even been given squad numbers this season! Daniel Levy, the Spurs

Chairman, is ‘letting the dust settle’, before making a decision on Comolli’s future. He had taken sole responsibility for the Berbartov deal after advising both Ramos and Comolli of his intent. Earlier, Juande Ramos had made the Spanish striker his top priority and it looked like a ‘done deal’ on Monday morning. However, this proved not to be the case. A hint of desperation showed late in the day, when a Tottenham phone call to Reading at 10.30pm failed to prise Kevin Doyle from Steve Coppell’s squad.

Robson De Souza (Nickname Robinho), aged 24, signed for Manchester City for £32.5m (a new British record) from Real Madrid. A Brazilian, who started with Santos 2002-2005 was spotted by Pele, who said “This kid will bring us a ton of joy“, before moving to Real in 2005.

Current World Record Deals

Zinedine Zidane £47m - Juventus to Real Madrid 2001. Luis Figo £37m - Barcelona to Real Madrid 2000. Hernan Crespo ££34m - Parma to Lazio 2000. Robinho £32.5m - Real Madrid to Manchester City 2008. Christian Vieri £31m - Lazio to Inter Milan 1999. Andriy Shevchenko £30.8m - AC Milan to Chelsea 2006. Dimitar Berbatov £30.75m - Tottenham to Man. Utd. 2008. Rio Ferdinand £29.1m - Leeds to Man. Utd. 2002. Juan Sebastian Veron £28.1m - Lazio to Man. Utd. 2001.

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We now face seven games in twenty one days, like most top teams involved in Europe. This will test the depth of the squad and establish what sort of season to expect.

Spurs 1 Aston Villa 2

After an early season break for World Cup Qualifying matches, expectations were high by the faithful from the new signings. What a shock they were in for! Instead, a generally woeful performance by Spurs, which could have resulted in a 4-1 scoreline! They looked sluggish from the start and gifted Villa the lead on five minutes. Corluka was nowhere to be seen when Ashley Young fed Agbonlahor down the left, who then crossed for Carew to deftly flick on to Reo-Coker, who side-footed home with ease. Moments later he almost fluked a second when his cross deflected off Bale onto a post. It took fully half an hour before Spurs showed any signs of energy. Two excellent saves by Gomes kept us in the hunt. Modric was taken off injured on 29 minutes and replaced by Jenas. I was somewhat surprised by our starting line-up and system. The tried and tested 4-4-2 with Pavlyuchenko and Bent up front, didn’t seem to work all night, and Corluka and Dawson appeared to be off the pace, putting it mildly!

After the interval Bentley came on for Zokora and on 62 minutes, Giovani Dos Santos replaced Dawson. Although we enjoyed 70% of possession, we still gave Villa acres of space all night. On 54 minutes, Ashley Young skipped away from Dawson to fire in a shot from just outside the penalty area, which somehow Gomes failed to save, and the game was over. The Papers described it as a gaffe of Paul Robinson proportions, they were probably right! A Jenas shot that was going wide clipped Bent on the shin and was deflected into the net after 87 minutes. The usual hectic finish, which could have added to the score line at either end, failed to materialise. Villa, however, were thwarted by a Bale lunge in the dying minutes. Now bottom of the table with 1 point out of a possible 12, this has been the worst start to a league campaign for 34 years! A hard season ahead looms unless we quickly put this result behind us. The early leaders are Chelsea and Liverpool with 10 points, followed by Arsenal on 9 points and Aston Villa together with Hull City on 7 points.

Spurs 2 Wisla Krakow 1 Europa League Qualifying Round

Victory was no mean feat given Wisla have already defeated Barcelona in the Champions League this season but ultimately crashed out of the competition 4-1 on aggregate to the Catalan giants. After a sluggish start Spurs took the lead on 33 minutes when Giovani Dos Santos picked out Lennon down the left and Bentley struck a fine goal with his left foot from the resulting cross. The lead, however, only lasted a minute, when the defence was caught napping by some clever interplay by Brozek and Jirsak, who lifted the ball over the advancing Gomes.

Bent thought he had scored in the 55th minute only to have it harshly ruled out for offside. However, his persistence paid off when he scored with a fine header in the 73rd minute, following a beautifully flighted cross from the debut substitute Fraizer Campbell.

Spurs 0 Wigan Athletic 0

Another disappointing result! Chances were spurned by Bent, Lennon and O’Hara. A dubious penalty appeal for a perceived foul on Lennon was the closest to breaking the deadlock. During the last five minutes Wigan looked the most likely to score. Spurs are still bottom of the league with two points, and now ten points behind the new leaders Arsenal. Our 4-4-2 line-up was :- Gomes, Zokora. Corluka, Woodgate, Assou-Ekotto, Bentley, Jenas, O’Hara, Bale, Pavlyuchenko and Bent. Daily Mail paper top marks of seven were given to Zokora, Woodgate and Lennon, who came on for Bentley after 64 minutes. Campbell replaced Pavyuchenko after the interval and Huddlestone replaced Bale on 80 minutes.

Newcastle Utd. 1 Spurs 2 Carling Cup Round 3

This is the first ever Cup victory at this ground! Our last three visits have resulted in 3-1 defeats, so this was a welcome change of fortune. A first half that was lacking in tempo and goal chances, apart from headers by Pavlyuchenko and Woodgate that went close, and a worthy effort by Lennon, with a shot on the turn, which flew just past the post.

In the second half the pace picked up and Duff almost gave Newcastle the lead three minutes into the half. A N’Zogbia pass allowed him to chip the ball past Gomes but Woodgate was on hand to scramble the ball into touch for a corner. Giovani Dos Santos, who came on for Bale after 53 minutes, soon made his mark with a skimming cross that Pavlyuchenko just failed to convert by

inches. The Russian striker had looked lively all night and he was rewarded by a Lennon cross to head home his first goal for Spurs on 62 minutes. Four minutes later, O’Hara stole the ball from Taylor, who had lost control of the cross-field pass by Coloccini, and buried his left footed effort emphatically past Given. Owen scored in the 90th minute, to give Newcastle a consolation prize. A good win under the circumstances, but still a long way to go to find a balanced winning combination. Campbell came on for Lennon on 62 minutes, after creating the first goal and Modric returned after injury to replace Pavlyuchenko on 75 minutes. In commentary it was mentioned that the Russian striker began playing his season back in March and will be expected to perform until May next year! He looks willing and fit at the moment and hopefully won’t be overplayed. Bent and Bentley were on the bench, but not required in this comfortable win.

Portsmouth 2 Spurs 0

Yet another disappointing effort! A clear and unnecessary handball by Jenas, following a Glen Little free- kick, instigated by O’Hara’s rash yellow-carded tackle, gave Defoe the opportunity to convert from the spot after 34 minutes. This is the second yellow card in consecutive games for O’Hara and he needs to seriously curb his enthusiasm and timing. Up to this point the game had been evenly balanced, according to Ramos. Conversely, Spurs had an equally legitimate appeal for handball turned down by the referee before half time. On consecutive Sunday’s, Spurs have again been denied a harshly-judged penalty. On such decisions, games seem to hinge.

After the interval, Lennon replaced Gilberto on 46 minutes and Giovani Dos Santos came on for Zokora after 58 minutes. Following two fine saves by Gomes, Spurs went two behind in the 68th minute, when the goalkeeper failed to hold onto a stinging shot from Traore and Crouch was on hand to head home the rebound. With Pavlyuchenko upfront and mostly alone, Portsmouth were rarely troubled. Indeed, when Bent replaced him after 74 minutes, the situation hardly changed, as support play was minimal. Lennon came closest, with a well directed shot which James finger-tipped past the post. Efforts by Bentley, Dos Santos and Bent failed to trouble the goalkeeper. Substitutes not used were Sanchez, Modric, Huddlestone and Gunter. King, Bale and Campbell were not on the bench. Put simply, Spurs have spent a lot of money to be worse off than they were 12 months ago. They have won three league games since lifting the Carling Cup and this represents the worst start to a campaign for 53 years! We have two points from a possible 18 and now find ourselves 12 points behind new joint leaders Chelsea and Liverpool. Next up is a tricky UEFA Cup tie in Poland and then a home game against Hull City, who defied all the experts and landed the enormous odds of 9/1, when they beat 1/5 favourites Arsenal 2-1 at The Emirates Stadium. Lose these two matches and the knives will be out at White Hart Lane for sure. There is paper talk of a possible £400bn buy-out of the club, by an Asian billionaire.

Wisla Krakow 1 Spurs 1 Europa League Qualifying Round

Disaster was averted, but only just, as Spurs booked their UEFA Cup group place for the third year running. A nervy encounter that saw Spurs shade the first half before taking the lead in the 58th minute, following a Bale cross that saw Campbell coming across his marker to force an own goal. Initial viewing made you think he had finely glanced a diving header into the far corner but the ball had in fact come off the Polish defender. Spurs were now showing more authority, but a through ball between the two centre backs resulted in an 83rd minute equaliser being lobbed over the advancing Gomes. Revitalised, Wisla went in search of a further goal to force extra time. However, Gomes thwarted them with a double save from Cleber’s 20-yard volley and then a close-range stab from Brozek in the closing minutes. Earlier. Campbell had come close before his rasping shot had been deflected for a corner and a surging run by Zokora saw him go inches wide when a pass across to Campbell would have been the easier option. Man of the match Gomes, together with Zokora and

Woodgate, are the only ever-presents this season.

‘There was no euphoria,’ said Ramos of the mood in the dressing-room. ‘It was just a sense of getting the job done. I am happy with the qualification.’ Hull, though, are unlikely to be quaking in their boots! Substitutes were O’Hara for Campbell on 68 minutes, Huddlestone for Modric on 77 minutes and Dawson for Lennon on 88 minutes. Woodgate, Bale, Lennon and Zokora were booked. Top star ratings of 7 were given to Gomes, Woodgate, King, Zokora, Jenas and Campbell.

Spurs 0 Hull City 1

This third home defeat of the season condemned Tottenham to their worst start since 1912, when the Titanic sank! That season they went twelve games without a win before beating Newcastle on November 23rd. Remarkably, they avoided relegation by seven points and finished above Arsenal and Chelsea. Just don’t bet on a repeat! A 30-yard curling thunderbolt of a free-kick from Geovanni in the 9th minute was unstoppable. It sped into the top right hand corner of Gomes’ net, giving him no chance. Dean Marney, a former Spurs reserve player, almost made it two in the 36th minute, when his shot struck the foot of the post only to see the ball bounce back to safety. The woodwork too denied Spurs when Bale had a stinging free-kick tipped onto the bar and a left foot volley by Woodgate was deflected off a defender’s chest onto the post. For all their possession, Spurs created very few chances. The best fell to Bent, who had come on for the injured Pavlyuchenko after 34 minutes, but his shot dribbled wide of the far post.

Bentley replaced Gunter at right back on 54 minutes, and Giovani Dos Santos replaced Lennon on 73 minutes. Gomes made a very good save with his legs towards the end when Spurs were chasing the game. Overall a much better effort and performance which probably deserved a draw, but still lacking fire-power in mid-field and up front. The press are calling for Ramos’ head but it will cost £15m to buy out his remaining three year contract. So even with the fact that Derby last season had four points at this stage, it is no time to panic. Due to internationals next weekend, Spurs management now find themselves with a fortnights respite in which to sort out the many problems that currently beset the club. The following fixtures against Stoke (a), Bolton (h), Arsenal (a), Liverpool (h) and Manchester City (a) will surely test our resolve? Top star ratings of 7 were given to Jenas and Lennon.

Stoke City 2 Spurs 1

A swirling wind throughout the game made it difficult for both sides. An early yellow card for Bale followed by a second on 17 minutes, confirmed the bad run for Spurs, and Higginbotham duly converted from the penalty spot after re-spotting the ball four times! Although Bent and Jenas were offside when Hutton unleashed a shot, it was deflected into Bent’s path, to level the scores after 25 minutes, whilst the flag remained down. Eight minutes after the break Delap scored and Stoke went desperately close to adding a third when Woodgate fouled Soares. From the resultant penalty, Fuller managed to hit both posts before Delap struck the crossbar. Another late effort from Fuller also struck the woodwork. Late on Dawson was sent off and refused to leave the field thus making a three match ban into five! Corluka had earlier been stretchered off following a collision with Gomes, which gave ten men Tottenham,11 minutes of stoppage time to find an undeserved equaliser.

Udinese 2 Spurs 0 Europa League Group Stage

A much better performance overall, but a backpass to Gomes, which should have been cleared, led to the goalkeeper slipping slightly and thus failing to control the ball, leaving him to claw down Quagllarella in the penalty area. Having seen the incident several times it has to be said that the forward was very theatrical in his dive, although Gomes did try and haul him back. Spurs looked comfortable nevertheless and Bent had a very good header palmed away for a corner late on. Now chasing an equaliser, Spurs left themselves without cover at the back, and Pepe scored off a post in the 86th minute, to ensure victory. This means Spurs have to win their next three games in Europe to stay in the competition.

Following Thursday night’s defeat in Italy, urgent talks between Levy and Harry Redknapp began on Friday and were concluded at 03.00 on Saturday morning. Ramos and Poyet, together with their backroom staff, and Director Daniel Comolli were given the sack! Nobody could see this coming so swiftly and it took the football world by storm! Redknapp took immediate charge and Portsmouth reluctantly let him go for £5m compensation. It has been suggested in the press since, that Portsmouth are in need of the cash!

Spurs 2 Bolton Wanderers 0

Sunday afternoon allowed the miracle worker from Portsmouth to produce our first Premiership win of the season at the 9th attempt!

True, Clive Allen chose the team, but Redknapp had suggested that Luka Modric play in a more forward position. ‘Arry then sent on Bent from the bench, to clinch victory from the penalty spot after 76 minutes. Earlier, an opening headed goal ,after 17 minutes by Pavlyuchenko, following a ’world-class’ cross by Bentley, had settled the nerves. Man of the match was Luka Modric, with high markings too for Huddlestone. Although Bolton did finish with 10 men, due to a rash tackle too many by McCann, Spurs were galvanised by their new manager and deserved the three points. Big question marks remain over Gomes, who seems loathe to command high balls in his six-yard box. The word is that come January, ’Arry will be looking for a new goalkeeper, perhaps Foster from Manchester Utd., together with a quality centre back to cover when Ledley King is unavailable.

We are still bottom, but only 18 points behind the new leaders Liverpool, who beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge 1-0. This is the first defeat at home in the league for Chelsea since February 2004 and broke their unbeaten run of 86 games! What a record! During this run they won 62 times and won 18 of their 86 games by a 1-0 scoreline.

Arsenal 4 Spurs 4

Hailed by many to be the greatest game ever witnessed in the Premiership to-date! Spurs showed great resolve by coming back from 3-1 and 4-2 to equalise in the fourth minute of injury time!

Although Arsene Wenger was quoted as saying that his team were two levels above Spurs, throwing away two goals in the last five minutes of play, when leading 4-2, is unforgivable, and showed a lack of experience. Spurs opened the scoring when Bentley chested down a pass onto his instep inside the Arsenal half and volleyed a looping thunderbolt from fully 40 yards to create a serious contender for goal of the season after 13 minutes. Silvestre then equalised on 37 minutes heading in from a cross, but within a minute of the restart, after the break, Gomes was exposed again, as he

failed to deal with a Van Persie free kick and Gallas duly headed home. Arsenal then went 3-1 ahead, after Denilson released Nasri who lobbed the advancing Gomes for Adebayor to beat the hesitant Hutton in a race to force the ball over the line. Spurs hit back three minutes later when Huddleston’s fierce shot was parried by Almunia and substitute Bent was on hand to tap in. A minute later, Adebayor intercepted a poor backpass by Hutton, and squared for Van Persie to drill home.

All seemed lost at this point, but Spurs kept plugging away and when Jenas dispossessed Clichy, he strode forward and curled a superb left foot shot high into the net from twenty yards after 89 minutes. With continued pressure in injury time, Modric struck a fine right foot shot from 25-yards against the post and Lennon was on hand to scramble the ball home on 94 minutes to record a truly dramatic finish to a most wonderful game! Still bottom however, and now 20 points behind new leaders Liverpool, who visit us next Saturday.

The papers reminded us that the same score line of 4-4 applied in 1958 at Highbury, with Arsenal winning 4-2 after 86 minutes. The Double Winning side were also held 4-4 in 1962, with Arsenal clawing their way back after being 4-2 down at half time and with 17 minutes left equalised and clinched an astonishing draw. The week before, Spurs had previously beaten Nottingham Forest 9-2! A year later, in 1963, with almost 68,000 in attendance, Arsenal again recovered from 4-2 down in much the same way as Spurs did today. Again, a 4-2 half time score line was cut down with two goals in the last five minutes of play! Today’s game makes it all square on the 4-2 score line deficits resulting in a 4-4 draw.

It was announced that Tottenham Hotspur will leave White Hart Lane for a new ground on acreage adjacent to the present site in about five years time, incorporating shops and a hotel. Daniel Levy has bought up surrounding houses for £40m in order for this idea to proceed, although planning permission from Haringey Council has yet to be sought and approved.

Spurs 2 Liverpool 1

This was Liverpool’s first defeat of the season! What an opening seven days with Harry Redknapp in charge! Two wins at home and that memorable draw at Arsenal! However, he had a fright after three minutes, when Kuyt slammed home an acute angled shot following a throw-in which involving an interchange with Robbie Keane. A deflected clearance attempt by Bent a few minutes later came back off the post, and Spurs looked very vulnerable for a time. Modric had a splendid effort saved at the second attempt by Reina after 40 minutes.

After the interval O’Hare and Assou-Ekotto were replaced by Hutton and Pavlyuchenko. Corluka was moved from right back to left back and Spurs tried 4-4-2. In comparison with the excitement and euphoria that surrounded the last game, this was a rather mundane affair, with Liverpool proving themselves to be much the better side but failing to capitalise on four clear chances in the space of eight minutes, just before the hour mark. First a fantastic save by Gomes, to fingertip a deflection onto the post and then to be a villain, again, when short-changing a pass from inside his own penalty area to Ledley King, which then led to Gerrard chipping the ball onto the bar, with the goalkeeper nowhere to be seen! Two further efforts went begging, one a header and the other a lunging leg, both of which failed to find the net, when normally a goal would be expected. These misses ultimately proved very costly for Liverpool. Instead, Spurs equalised on 70 minutes, when a Bentley cross was headed home by Carragher, due to pressure by King and other Tottenham players in the box. This was the third own goal by Carragher against Spurs! Lennon replaced Modric on 75 minutes. Late on, Bentley cut in from the left wing following a throw-in and hit a swerving shot from the edge of the penalty box only to see Reina parry it away and for Bent to quickly latch onto the half chance and square the ball back for Pavlyuchenko to slide home in the 90th minute. A

memorable and much needed victory that has, overnight at least, lifted us above Bolton and Newcastle. We are now only 17 points behind the new leaders Chelsea!

With Bolton and Newcastle winning over the weekend, we still find ourselves bottom with nine points but only adrift by two points of W.B.A., Bolton, Wigan and Fulham, who have a game in hand. Sunderland and Newcastle are only three points ahead at this stage.

Spurs 4 Dinamo Zagreb 0 Europa League Group Stage

A Darren Bent hat-trick scored after 30, 33 and 70 minutes together with a stunning volley by Huddlestone on 59 minutes, secured this comfortable win against Modric’s former Croatian club. John Bostock, replaced Bentley after 79 minutes, to become the youngest player to appear for Tottenham Hotspur at 16 years and 295 days! Campbell earlier had replaced Modric after 75 minutes, and Gunter came on for Woodgate after 85 minutes. A thoroughly good performance to endorse the Redknapp revolution.

Manchester City 1 Spurs 2

This win, over a depleted Man. City for 64 minutes, when Fernandes was dismissed in the 26th minute and Dunne in the 83rd minute, was just about deserved, following a sterling fight back by City in the last ten minutes, when Gomes saved well on two occasions. Assou-Ekotto also was sent off after 89 minutes. This game was played under very wet and windy conditions and was probably accountable for the bookings and errors on both sides. City took the lead in the 15th minute, when a rasping shot by Vassell was only parried by Gomes and Robinho was on hand to score from close range. Three minutes later, Bent latched onto a through-ball by Modric to beat Hart with his left foot. Modric then almost put Spurs ahead with a terrific shot which Hart did well to turn round for a corner.

After the interval the increased pressure of playing against 10 men took it’s toll. Bent scored the winner after 65 minutes, following a lovely long ball by Huddlestone to Jenas, who then set up the free-scoring striker to shoot across Hart into the far corner. This win now moves us up to 16th place. Apart from the top six teams who have 20 points plus, the rest of the division is very closely grouped, with only 7 points separating 14 teams.

Spurs 4 Liverpool 2 Carling Cup Round 4

An inspired display by Spurs against a second string Liverpool. Spurs made five changes from the last game. King, Woodgate, Jenas, Modric and Bent were all rested allowing Dawson, Bale, O’Hara, Pavlyuchenko and Campbell to start. A thrilling game played at pace throughout. Spurs scored three goals in seven minutes before the interval. Poor defending by Hyypia, allowed Campbell to square the ball back from the by-line to the unmarked Pavlyuchenko, 12 yards out. He duly swept the ball through the goalkeeper’s legs on 38 minutes. A floated forward cross by O’Hara then found Campbell, who turned and chested it down in one movement, as goalkeeper Cavalleri and defender Dossena collided , before slotting home into an unguarded goal after 42 minutes. A cross by Lennon should have been cleared but Campbell headed home easily from five yards after 45 minutes, for his second of the night.

Liverpool were stung into action after the break and Plessis headed home after 49 minutes when Gomes really should have saved! Pavlyuchenko converted a Zokora cross on 52 minutes to restore

the balance and make it 4-1. Liverpool continued to press and yet another mistake by Gomes resulted in Hyypia heading home from a cross that should have been cleared after 63 minutes. Although Gomes came out to punch the ball clear he was never nearer than a foot away from Hyypia’s head when contact was made. Gomes made amends when he saved bravely at the feet of Degan in the 68th minute and was then replaced by Cesar Sanchez, making his debut. Boateng and Bent were brought on in the 90th minute, for nine minutes of added injury time. An excellent effort, particularly from Campbell, Pavlyuchenko, Lennon and Huddlestone. This makes five wins and a draw since ‘Arry arrived!

Fulham 2 Spurs 1

The Redknapp bubble has burst on his seventh game! This was due in part to a below performance by the whole team, and in particular, to Gomes who gifted Fulham a goal that a schoolboy could have saved in the 35th minute! A cross by Simon Davies glanced off the head of Woodgate and took one bounce before Gomes fumbled it off his chest into the net. He did atone somewhat later by three particular good saves but again was criticised for not commanding his area to allow a second goal from short range to be put past him in the 70th minute. Spurs did get a consolation goal in the 81st minute through Campbell, when he stroked home off the post to set up a testing last few minutes. Fulham, however, held on for a deserved victory.

It was admitted by Roy Hodgson afterwards, that Gomes had been targeted and they had spent 20 minutes in training putting a lot more people closer to goal on corners with a view to crowding him out and having to deal with flatter, faster balls from just under the bar. The Spurs Austrian goalkeeping coach has a lot of hard work ahead of him before next week’s bottom of the table game against Blackburn, who are one place above us on goal difference. Harry is still supporting Gomes but must be looking forward to the January Transfer Window to open. Bale still awaits being part of a winning Spurs Premiership team! Is he a jinx, the papers are asking? The backroom staff have been bolstered by Joe Jordan as coach with Tim Sherwood and Les Ferdinand accepting part-time coaching roles. Darren Bent, by virtue of injuries, and his current scoring form - 7 Premiership goals and 4 UEFA goals to-date - is included in the England squad travelling to Germany for a friendly international next Wednesday. Although now bottom but one from W.B.A. , who are on 11 points, only 4 points separate the bottom ten teams! This is certainly the tightest league positioning in the Premiership since inception.

Spurs 1 Blackburn Rovers 0

A vital and deserved win overall that takes us up from 19th to 16th place and within three points of 9th position! A scintillating performance by Lennon, particularly in the first half, that has surely brought him back into England contention. His speed and eagerness to win the ball led to the only goal of the game after nine minutes. A loose cross-field pass, just inside Rovers half, allowed Lennon to challenge and sprint away from the young Swedish full back Olsson, and cut into the penalty area before squaring back to Pavlyuchenko to sweep home from twelve yards. The Russian was unlucky not to double his tally when he headed against the post from a Bentley free kick. Shortly afterwards, Lennon struck a fierce shot that deflected off Ryan Nelson and then struck Paul Robinson before going for a corner. It was all Spurs, and Lennon continued to speed down the right flank to cause further mayhem. A second yellow card saw the young Swedish left back removed from the game in the 38th minute.

Blackburn did better in the second half with ten men but rarely bothered Gomes. It was just as well,

as he had started the game by not holding a cross in the 6th minute which was scrambled away and later Woodgate cleared a lob by Emerton by heading off the line when a goal seemed certain. It was noticeable how the crowd backed Robinson when Gomes came flapping hopelessly at a corner, they chanted for ’ England’s No. 1’ and telling him ’You’re Spurs and you know you are.’ Watch this space in January, perhaps Robinson will return? Our Austrian goalkeeping coach has now left by mutual consent and another ‘old boy’, Tony Park, has taken on the role of trying to sort out our nervy keeper. Huddlestone had another sound game and came closest to scoring in the second half although Bent was unlucky too in stretching for a Lennon cross. Modric and Hutton are both still injured. Campbell came on for Pavlyuchenko in the 73rd minute and O’Hara replaced Bent on 86 minutes.

NEC Nijmegan 0 Spurs 1 Europa League Group Stage

A relatively easy game for Spurs in Holland, which virtually assures us of a place in the UEFA knockout stages, notwithstanding Bale, Zokora, O’Hara and Campbell all starting. The final game to be played will be against Spartak Moscow at home on 18 December. A lovely threaded through ball down the left wing by Bentley saw Bale cross low for Campbell to crash against the underside of the bar from close range and O’Hara, following through, headed home after 14 minutes. Gomes saved well, when NEC looked likely to draw level, before Gunter tackled bravely to put the rebound away for a corner. Although playing controlled football, NEC rarely looked liked bothering Gomes, who was now playing with more authority, following his earlier save. A chant of “We love you Gomes” by the 700 Spurs fans during the warm up, would also have bolstered his confidence.

Within three minutes of the restart Spurs should have doubled their lead when Bentley’s teasing cross was headed goalwards by Bent, only to be tipped over. Lennon replaced Bent on 71 minutes and two youth products were given their first taste of European football. 18 year old Jonathan Obika replaced Campbell on 84 minutes and 17 year old Ryan Mason replaced Bentley on 90 minutes. O‘Hara was voted man of the match after an industrious display. Also on the bench were Carlos Sanchez, John Bostock and Adam Smith. Paper speculation now surrounds Adriana, the Brazilian forward with Inter Milan, Podolski, the Polish forward with Bayern Munich, and Stephen Downing, with Middlesbrough, who could cost £11m in the January transfer window.

Spurs 0 Everton 1

Only our second defeat in ten games under ‘Arry, and the first home reversal! A momentary loss of concentration in the 51st minute saw a quickly taken free-kick converted by Pienaar, after deflecting off Corluka’s leg. Lennon and Corluka must share the blame as they had turned their backs on the ball when it was brought into play. Gomes had no chance as it flashed in at the near right hand post. Earlier, Gomes had saved well three times but Spurs failed to take their chances. Pavlyuchenko came closest with a downward header which Howard saved well. Despite the introduction of jinxed full-back Bale,(now no win in Premiership match number 18), replacing Assou-Ekotto in the 67th minute, Campbell for Bent on 62 minutes and Boateng replacing Huddlestone on 75 minutes, we failed to claw back the deficit. This result, had it gone our way, would have moved us up to 13th place! In the event, we are still in the relegation zone with seven other clubs and still in 16th position with 15 points from 15 games!

Watford 1 Spurs 2 Carling Cup Quarter Final

This win gives us the chance of another Wembley appearance. Our third consecutive semi-final was

made hard by a Watford side punching above their weight. A superb low cross by Tommy Smith from the by-line, after outstripping Dawson, enabled Priskin to turn superbly and give Gomes no chance at the near post. Lazy defending by Jenas and Woodgate allowed the Hungarian the opportunity to bury his low left foot shot from ten yards after 13 minutes. The Watford goalkeeper made several good saves before Spurs equalised from the penalty spot two minutes into injury time in the first half. Jenas was fouled in the area and Pavlyuchenko made no mistake.

Further pressure after the interval saw Lennon thwarted by a magnificent save by Loach, who tipped his attempted chip from the outside of his right boot, over the bar for a corner. Pavlyuchenko should have scored his second but managed to hit the bar when a goal looked the easier option. Another Lennon lob almost resulted in Campbell converting a bicycle-kick effort. Substitute Bent replaced Campbell on 65 minutes, and soon rewarded ’Arry with a fierce right foot drive inside the near post after a splendid move on 76 minutes. Man of the match was Jermaine Jenas, who had returned after a toe injury. An excellent performance by Watford who must have thought they deserved a draw. The draw for the semi-finals will be on Sunday next. Manchester United, Burnley, who beat a reserve string Arsenal and Derby, who beat Stoke with a penalty in the 95th minute, are the other interested parties. Spurs now face Burnley and Man. Utd. face Derby County in early January.

West Ham Utd. 0 Spurs 2

A well-deserved and hard-fought victory that lifts us to 15th in the table on 18 points. Modric should have netted in the first minute but shot straight at the goalkeeper. Bentley had a stinging shot turned away for a corner and a Lennon cross was met by the fully stretched right leg of Pavlyuchenko, only to cannon off the post.

After the interval, Bent replaced Pavlyuchenko on 54 minutes, and within minutes we started to exert more pressure. A claim for a clear hand ball was rejected when Corluka crossed the ball into the penalty area. Undaunted by that bad decision, Spurs continued to put pressure on the home side and this culminated in a fine cross by Lennon for King to head firmly downwards and into the net on 68 minutes. This was King’s first goal for three years! Now relaxed and still controlling the play, we edged towards the final whistle with O’Hara replacing Bentley on 80 minutes. A fine double save by Gomes, however, in the 89th minute, was cleared up field. Accurate passing then allowed O’Hara to latch onto the ball and blast it home with his left foot in the 90th minute from outside the penalty area, to give keeper Green no chance.

Spurs 0 Manchester Utd. 0

An excellent all-round effort and well-earned point, considering Woodgate went off in the 10th minute and Ledley King was unavailable. Corluka and Dawson were the backbone of the defence with Zokora reverting to right back and Huddlestone coming on as substitute. Dawson and Zokora excelled in controlling Berbatov, who had a very subdued afternoon, and Ronaldo, who was up to all his usual trickery. Gomes was given man of the match status after several good saves and a superb 89th minute effort to tip away a Ryan Giggs free-kick, that had goal written all over it. From hapless to heroic, in a few weeks since letting in that soft goal against Fulham! He can now boast three Premier League clean sheets in four games, and the resultant confidence that goes with it. The only goal conceded in that time was an unlucky deflected effort against Everton. Bentley nearly scored an outrageous goal from near the touchline and just inside the United half. He juggled the ball before swivelling and letting go a looping left foot shot that had Van der Sar diving to push round the post for a corner. Almost an Arsenal repeat long distance effort! Another good effort by

Bentley was turned over by Van der Sar. Spurs were snapping away at a side that enjoyed 64% possession, and this was the key to the result- hard work! Lennon again looked sharp and had a good game. In the final analysis a draw was a fair result. Hopefully, we can now gain lot of confidence from this creditable result and advance up the table from our current 15th position. Bent came on for Pavlyuchenko on 54 minutes and O’Hara replaced Jenas on 62 minutes, Subs not used were Sanchez, Bale, Gunter and Boateng.

Spurs 2 Spartak Moscow 2 UEFA Cup last 32 Round

Losing 0-2 at half-time, the score-line omens were not good. A bright start failed to bring an early goal for Spurs. With Campbell up front on his own and ably supported by Modric, Spurs had high hopes. Instead, after 23 minutes, by which time Gomes had denied Spartak twice, Gilberto was caught in two minds whether to help on a Bale back pass. Instead, he chose to dither leaving Gomes stranded and allowing Dzyuba to nick the ball before stroking home. Ten minutes later, Dzyuba rounded makeshift centre-back Zokora, as though he was not there, and repeated the trick on Gomes, to bury the ball into the empty net to complete his brace. Huddlestone and O’Hara responded with good efforts, but Spartak almost went three ahead when Gomes spilled a shot which flew through Dawson’s legs before gathering at the second attempt. ’Arry brought on Lennon in place of Gilberto after the break, and when Modric turned in Lennon’s cross after 67 minutes, the tide began to turn. This was Modric’s first goal for Spurs since his £16.6m summer move from Dinamo Zagreb. On 74 minutes, a bullet header by Huddlestone from Bale’s ball at the far post, added some respectability to the overall performance. This draw ensures that we progress to the next stages in 2009.

Newcastle Utd. 2 Spurs 1

This result left ‘Arry fuming, as he thought we were the better side in the first half and missed chances we should have taken to ensure at least a point. Not a good hunting ground of late, having now been beaten on our last six visits, apart from the Carling Cup win earlier this season. In the end, a goal in the 90th minute sealed our fate. King failed to head to safety and Duff, who had only just come on, combined with Viduka who cleverly back-heeled a return pass to slide home under Gomes’s body. A booted ball by Shay Given allowed N’Zogbia to power into the area, where Assou-Ekotto failed to properly take control and his clumsy challenge resulted in N’Zogbia quickly getting up to win the ball and drill a shot under Gomes in the 11th minute. A looped clearance by Dawson, with Pavlyuchenko clearly offside, but not interfering with play, resulted in Modric running on and scoring well from just outside the area in the 27th minute. Lennon again sparkled and crossed only to find Pavlyuchenko backing away when he needed to be inside the six-yard box. Campbell missed a couple of chances created by Lennon, and Bentley too, was unlucky with a stinging drive which Campbell also failed to convert. Paper ratings for the players were 6 & 7 which reflected the overall good display, if not the outcome. With Bent ill, Pavlyuchenko played up front until Campbell replaced him in the 65th minute.

Hutton is out for the season and Corluka filled in at right back. Dawson was paired with King in the absence of Woodgate and Jenas too, remains injured. It was announced that Paul Stalteri, aged 31, has had his contract terminated by mutual consent and will join Borussia Moenchengladbach. Our next match on Boxing Day against Fulham will be the half-way point in the season. We are currently in 16th position on 19 points. Newcastle have now leap-frogged over us to 12th position on 22 points. Bolton and Portsmouth in 9th and 10th positions are within range on 23 points. A wheeler-dealing January transfer market looks highly likely for ‘Arry and his first signing could be 31 year old Steve Finnan, who has only played four games with Espanyol, since leaving Liverpool in the summer.

Spurs 0 Fulham 0

A fairly even encounter which saw Spurs come close with a clever piece of footwork by Modric which left him free to lash a left footed shot only just past the far post. Good work by Assou-Ekotto on the left, saw Lennon free to drill in his cross only to see a smart save by Schwarzer deny him. A glancing header by King was only inches wide while Dempsey’s acrobatic kick at the other end, brought out the best in Gomes to turn it over for a corner. Modric got onto a cross but saw his header go a yard wide of the post. Zamora was a foot away from converting a cross late on. Huddlestone was substituted by Jenas after 19 minutes, Campbell replaced Bentley on 58 minutes and Pavlyuchenko came on for Bent on 71 minutes.

This Boxing Day draw leaves us in a precarious 16th position, on goal difference, above Middlesbrough and Stoke City on 20 points. This mid-point in the season still shows that we have a lot of hard work ahead of us to avoid relegation. Bolton Wanderers in 10th position, on 23 points, are not yet clear of the danger zone either. With a particularly crucial game next when we visit The Hawthorns on Sunday, W.B.A., currently bottom on 15 points, will be pulling out all the stops for three points. With the transfer window fast approaching the papers are tipping Downing to join Spurs from Middlesbrough. Craig Bellamy also interests ‘Arry but he is likely to be priced out by Manchester City, who have a bottomless pit of money available since their Saudi Arabian owners took over, and are now the richest club in the world.

West Bromwich Albion 2 Spurs 0

A result that was enforced by two poor refereeing decisions. A red card given to Assou-Ekotto in the 34th minute which deserved a yellow card only, and in the 83rd minute, a headed goal by Bednar, when he clearly pushed Dawson in the back in order to score. The second Albion goal came in the 94th minute, with everyone pushing forward for an equaliser. Earlier Gomes had made two very important and classy saves. Substitutes O’Hare 70 min., Bale 75 min. and Campbell 87 min. Subs not used Sanchez, Taarabt, Gunter and Obika. ‘Arry will no doubt be called before the F.A. Committee following his post-match outburst about Referee Tanner. Roll on 2009 and the ‘Transfer Window’ to get some goal power up front! We have only won one of our last six premier games!! Latest paper gossip is Aston Villa are keen on Darren Bent and Jermain Defoe with Aaron Lennon being traded for Stuart Downing. Ben Foster is also a possible target from Manchester United. We await with interest to see the outcome of these claims.

1 January 2009

Paper reports currently suggest that ‘Arry is keen on signing Jermain Defoe, for the third time! He is also apparently keen on Craig Bellamy and Stewart Downing, but only at the right price! Lukas Podolski, the 23- year old forward with Bayern Munich, is also highly regarded. ’Arry is quoted as saying that Adel Taarabt is ”a genius, a real talent, and a match-winner.“ Having returned from an ankle injury, Giovani Dos Santos does not appear to feature in Redknapp’s plans and could be offloaded, having yet to play a single game under the new manager. David Bentley could also have cause for concern, given the interest shown in Liverpool’s winger Jermaine Pennant. Whatever the outcome of negotiations during the’ Transfer Window‘, ’Arry is adamant he will only pay market value and will not be held to ransom. He insists he will only bring in good players in whom he has complete faith.

Spurs 3 Wigan Athletic 1 FA Cup Round 3

A fairly even first half, although Spurs had more chances (4-2) with efforts from Modric twice, O‘Hara and Bentley. Bent was substituted after 27 minutes, with a groin strain, by Campbell. Bentley was seen delivering plenty of ill-judged crosses in the first half, much to the dismay of everyone. Statistics showed 50-50 possession overall, however, but Wigan looked the sharper team. The tempo was raised after the interval when Bale surged through and tried to flick the ball out to the left wing. It struck a defender and was diverted to Campbell who spurted forward only to be brought down by the advancing goalkeeper, who clipped his heel. Pavlyuchenko coolly slotted home from the spot on 52 minutes. On 55 minutes Pavlyuchenko crossed from the right for Campbell to head what seemed a certain second goal. A great save by the goalkeeper who turned it round for a corner. Wigan nearly punished Dawson for misjudging a header but a great saving tackle by Woodgate on 60 minutes averted a probable equaliser. A looping ball into the penalty area saw Pavlyuchenko stretch out a foot to beat the keeper only to see the ball bounce over the bar on 64 minutes. Two more efforts by the Russian went close in the next four minutes as Spurs continued to dominate. Bentley shot straight at the keeper on 72 minutes but two minutes later Campbell threaded a through ball to Pavlyuchenko, for him to see his effort go just wide of the post. It came as no surprise in the 75th minute that Spurs went 2-0 ahead. A simple cross ball from the right touchline by Bentley to Corluka found it’s way on to O’Hara, who hit a terrific left foot shot from 25 yards only to see it rebound off the post. Modric, who had followed the path of the ball, slipped face down on the penalty spot but quickly raised his head to the rebound to put it in the net. Confusion in the home penalty area allowed Camara to score from close range in the 87th minute. Although Pavlyuchenko has now been playing for 18 months without a break, he rounded off a great second half performance by lashing home from 20 yards in the 93rd minute to give Spurs a relatively comfortable victory. Lennon came on late as substitute for Modric on 90 minutes. Interesting to note on the bench was Hossam Ghaly, who last appeared 20 months ago, when he removed his shirt and threw it down in disgust at being substituted against Blackburn in May 2007. He looked all set to come on but some booing in the crowd seemed to make ’Arry change his mind, notwithstanding that he had made a plea to forgive and move on in his programme notes. Also on the bench tonight was Ben Alnwick, now returned by Carlisle after his loan period, Taarabt, Boateng and Gunter. We now face Manchester United at Old Trafford in the next round.

Monday 5 January 2009

Paper speculation is now highlighting interest in Upson, Chimbonda and Storey. The Downing saga continues, now that the player has put in an official transfer request, although the ’Boro chairman and manager are adamant that they will not sell. Stephen Appiah, the highly rated 27 year old Ghanaian international with Turkish side Fernerbache, is said to be training with Spurs this week, after being released from his contract . His inability to find a top club centres around his fitness and his previous serious knee problems. Other top clubs such as A.C. Milan, Celtic and Arsenal are also interested.

Spurs 4 Burnley 1 Carling Cup Semi-Final 1st Leg

Parading our new signing Jermain Defoe before the match should have kick-started Spurs into goal action. Instead, Burnley looked sharper and took the lead in the 15th minute when Eagles cut inside Bentley and Bale to square across goal for Paterson to tap in. Bale was very poor in his distribution in the first 20 minutes and must have been mortified by the speed of Eagles in setting up the goal. Lennon too was disappointing in his over-crossing of the ball. The Spurs mid-field were being outplayed because Bentley and Lennon were wide on the flanks. Burnley nearly made it 2-0 in the 23rd minute when Blake headed just wide. A minute later Woodgate’s header was helped on by

Pavlyuchenko only to see the ball rebound off the keeper’s legs. Losing 1-0 at half-time, ’Arry got stuck into a few players and substituted Bentley for O’Hara. Spurs came out with renewed passion for the second period and reaped immediate reward when Dawson headed in from O’Hara’s corner after 47 minutes. O’Hara then shot over on 49 minutes and then in the 52nd minute Pavlyuchenko crossed from the right and Modric deflected onto O’Hara who hammered in a left foot shot that squeezed under the goalkeeper, and should have been saved, to put Spurs 2-1 ahead. Now in buoyant mood, Modric headed wide in the 54th minute and Campbell had a shot saved in the 61st minute. Burnley almost equalised in the 63rd minute with a mix-up in the penalty area but Gomes retrieved the situation and within two minutes O’Hara again featured by feeding the ball out to Bale on the left who crossed for Pavlyuchenko to beat his defender on the edge of the box and drill home a fine shot with his left foot for 3-1. An O’Hara free kick in the 68th minute saw Duff head into his own net to make the score 4-1. Completely dominating play Spurs should have made it five when Zokora was teed up outside the penalty area, but shot over. He has yet to score for Spurs. Dawson was nominated Man of the Match and the whole team will be pleased with the second half showing. Subs not used were Alnwick, Gunter, Taarabt, Boateng, Giovani and Rocha.

Wigan Athletic 1 Spurs 0

A third successive away defeat leaves us in the bottom three and ’Arry is raving at his squad for lacking character. Only King, Woodgate, Dawson, Zokora and O’Hara escaped his wrath. After a row with Jenas earlier in the week, he stripped him of the vice-captaincy and put him on the bench together with Bent, Lennon, Huddlestone, Bentley and Campbell. When Jenas came on as substitute for the injured Dawson on 78 minutes, you would believe he had a point to prove. Instead, in the 91st minute, he failed to outjump the Honduran full back Figueroa, who headed the winner from close range, giving him his first goal for the club. Spurs played well in the first half hour and came close to scoring in the second minute when King’s header was tipped away only for Dawson following in to find Kirkland tip it away a second time for a corner. Gradually, Wigan started to get the upper hand and came close several times. With Spurs playing 5-3-2 with King just in front of the back four, we looked comfortable and composed in defence bur rarely threatened up front. After the interval, with still little thrust up front, Pavlyuchenko was substituted by Bent on 53 minutes. He fared little better with £15.75m debut boy Defoe having a very quiet game. On 58 minutes, Modric was replaced by Lennon. He too made little impact as Wigan piled on the pressure. With Bale playing it was almost prophetic that Spurs should not win. Draw maybe, but this is his 20th league appearance without being on the winning side! He is now only one match behind Giles Barnes of Derby County, for the most games played without being on a winning side! Early promise and expectation about Bale seems to be seeping away. He is six foot tall and was left floundering for speed on several occasions and lacked the accuracy of cross when given the opportunity. Will Spurs offload him and Jenas in the January transfer window? Confirmation now received that Boateng has returned to Borussia Dortmund on a season-long loan deal.

Thursday 15 January

National paper talk surrounds our interest in Kenwyne Jones and Emile Heskey. ’Arry has been in Italy trying to tie up a deal with Inter Milan for the forward Adriano, who is currently out of favour. He has been wayward in the past but undoubtedly has talent if controlled and handled in the right way. It has been suggested that a loan deal involving Jenas and Bale was offered but turned down. Further paper talk has now linked us to Wilson Palacios of Wigan Athletic. The 24 year old Honduran was signed from Birmingham City for £1m.in January 2008. Spurs have reputedly offered £10m., then £12m. and may be forced to £14m. to secure a very combative, skilful and energetic midfielder. Other talk involves Xavi Alonso and Jermaine Pennant from Liverpool with Lennon being involved.

Spurs 1 Portsmouth 1

A thoroughly entertaining and open game that should have given us three points, when Bent headed wide from five yards after Bentley had looped over a cross in the 80th minute. How he failed to score is a complete mystery as he was unattended in the six yard box! This awful miss gave rise to ’Arry commenting that ‘his missus would have scored from that distance‘! End to end stuff from the start saw Defoe shoot just wide after seven minutes, when normally you would expect him to score. James made at least three very good saves during the course of the game. Defoe, King and Lennon were unlucky to find man of the match James in such fine form to deny them. Nugent should have given Portsmouth the lead just before the break but Gomes managed to stick out a leg and divert the danger. Earlier Gomes had saved at the second attempt to deny Pompey the lead. He continues to carry his groin injury and all goal kicks were taken by defenders and he resorted only to rolling the ball out when required. With Pavlyuchenko taken off on the half hour, due to an ankle injury, and King pulling a hamstring on 43 minutes, Spurs went in at half time a bit shell-shocked. Bent and Dawson were the replacements. On 59 minutes, Lennon had his deflected effort brilliantly saved by James and Spurs appeared to have the bit between the teeth. Immediately following that save, and within 19 seconds of what appeared to be a certain goal, the ball was swept up field where Traore surged across the pitch from the left wing and was tackled by Corluka, who could only divert the ball directly into the path of Nugent. From just outside the penalty area he struck it well, for his first goal for the club, into the far right hand corner of the net, after taking a slight deflection from Bale’s outstretched leg. Bentley then came on for Bale in the 67th minute and looked industrious. On 70 minutes, a fine passing movement between Defoe, Zokora and Modric saw a delightful final pass by the Croatian set up Defoe to fire a fierce left foot shot between Campbell’s legs to give James no chance. Bentley had a floated free-kick tipped away by James and Corluka and Defoe went close again before the ‘Darren Bent Howler’. A deserved point for Portsmouth overall but Spurs could and should have collected three points. From an overnight position of being bottom of the table, we now find ourselves in 16th position above four other clubs on goal difference, all sharing 21 points. At least Spurs scored, to deny a new club record of four goalless home league games in succession. The ‘jinx’ of Gareth Bale continues as he has now drawn level with Giles Barnes on twenty one league games without being on the winning side! What price on him being selected for the next league game? Latest reports show that Pavlyuchenko should be fit for the Carling Cup semi-final second leg against Burnley on Wednesday but King will be out for some time and Corluka and Gomes must be doubtful with groin strains. Jenas too, is still reported unfit, although paper reports suggest he has played his last game for Spurs following his bust-up with ‘Arry. Unused subs today were Alnwick, Huddlestone, Taarabt and Campbell.

Burnley 3 Spurs 2 aet (Aggregate 4-6) - Carling Cup Semi-Final second leg

Through to Wembley by the skin of their teeth! Losing 1-0 at half time and 3-0 at 90 minutes the game was heading for penalties before Pavlyuchenko scored from a reverse pass by Benoit Assou-Ekotto in the 118th minute and Defoe sealed it on 120th minute for Spurs to defend their trophy against Manchester United. A night that started with Spurs defending their 1st. leg lead until the 34th minute when Alnwick failed to position himself for a Blake free kick that flew past his left hand, Further pressure and goals resulted in the 73rd and 88th minutes to give Spurs a mountain to climb to retain the cup. Pavlyuchenko replaced Modric, Bale replaced Gunter in the second half and Taarabt replaced O’Hara in the first period of extra time.

Manchester United 2 Spurs 1 FA Cup Round 4

A result that just about reflects the extra effort put in by Utd. Both clubs fielded below strength

teams so as to avoid unnecessary injuries to key players in forthcoming European matches. Spurs took the lead in the 5th minute when a delightful chip by Huddlestone found Pavylyuchenko who glided his header past Foster into the far corner with ease. Spurs continued to be the equal of United during the first half hour. However, pressure by Utd. resulted in Scholes scoring via a deflection off Huddlestone in the 35th minute and a minute later Berbatov scored following a neat piece of control following a through ball by Carrick. Even though a lot of second string players were on the pitch Utd. still had eight internationals compared to Spurs six, on view. The game was being played at a fairly leisurely pace and Spurs only showed and real urgency in the last few minutes. Modric was substituted by Giovani in the second half, Bale was replaced by Taarabt and Defoe came on for Bentley.

Spurs 3 Stoke City 1

Our first win in the league since early December against West Ham United! Stoke have not won away in the top flight since 1984!! A much better performance with goals by Lennon after 8 minutes, Defoe, after a Pavlyuchenko through ball on 21 minutes, and a Dawson header on 25 minutes. Although Stoke pulled one back after half time through new signing Beattie on 57 minutes, the result was rarely in doubt. A much needed win that takes us up to 13th position, with still more hard work ahead. With the arrival of 35 year old Carlo Cudicini, our new keeper from Chelsea last Monday on a free transfer, Spurs looked more assured at the back. Woodgate returned to partner Dawson with Corluka and Assou-Ekotto at full back. Bentley and Modric had excellent games and were well supported by Lennon and Zokora in midfield. Defoe and Pavlyuchenko up front appear to have a future together. Huddlestone and Campbell came on as subs in the 91st minute for Lennon and Pavlyuchenko. The arrival of Cudicini, Wilson Palacios and the return of Pascal Chimbonda, should give us the depth and strength to climb the table quickly. We await the outcome of Stephen Appiah’s one month training and fitness issues, following a reserve game on Wednesday 28th January. A class player, if we can offer a contract!

Bolton Wanderers 3 Spurs 2

At 2-0 down in the 64th minute we clawed our way back with two goals by Darren Bent in the 73rd and 75th minutes only to find the game snatched away in the 87th minute. ’Arry was mortified in the post match interview when he said we were encamped in their half for virtually all of the second half and at 2-2 he could only see one winner - Spurs. This is now the fourth game that we have surrendered the game in the closing few minutes. For more than an hour Spurs were guileless and gutless. Puygrenier, a loan signing from Zenit St. Petersburg, headed home a free kick in the 31st minute. Kevin Davies added a second after 64 minutes, when the Spurs defence failed to clear a free kick properly and were punished by being out-muscled in the air. The introduction of Chimbonda for Corluka on 67 minutes revitalised Spurs. Earlier, Jenas had come on for Zokora and Bent had replaced Modric after half time. Lennon burst through on the right flank and allowed Chimbonda to turn the ball back for Bent to tap in on 73 minutes. Two minutes later a shot by Palacios was blocked and Bent was quick to take advantage to score through Jaaskelainen’s legs. A corner late on was not well defended as Davies flung himself in front of Palacios and Dawson to head home just inside the near post, notwithstanding that Bentley was guarding the line.

A recent training ground injury to Defoe, resulting in a possible stress foot fracture, could mean he

is out for the rest of the season, so the papers are saying! Do we have time to replace him before the “January Transfer Window” shuts at 17.00 on Monday 2 February? Speculation that Robbie Keane may return is rife in the press, notwithstanding that Liverpool appear to be continually blocking the idea. Roque Santa Cruz at £20m appears beyond Spurs as Manchester City close in. A more likely transfer is Stephen Hunt from Reading, who would solve the problem left midfield position. We have also asked about highly-rated Inter Milan forward Mario Balotelli aged 18 on loan. It was reported that a late loan bid for Podolski failed.

At the end of an extended day in the transfer market, hampered by the worst snowfall in eighteen years, Spurs managed to buy Robbie Keane back from Liverpool for £12m plus add-ons. This could accumulate to £15m or even £20m over his four year contract, depending on the clauses drawn up. Six months ago they sold him for £20.3m! Not bad business at all for Spurs and the twenty eight year old, who had only scored seven times in twenty eight outings for Liverpool and couldn’t force his way into the team on a permanent basis! His previous six years with us yielded 107 goals in 254 appearances! He now becomes the third most expensive player of all time in terms of transfer fees commanded. He has now fetched £73m in transfers but still trails Nicolas Anelka (£84.8m) and Juan Sebastian Veron (£76.2m). He has played for six clubs starting with Wolves and was sold to Coventry for £6m ,who then sold him onto Inter Milan for £13m. He played only six games in Italy and didn’t score a goal. Inter then sold him to Leeds for £12m and then Spurs bought him for the first time at £7m. Liverpool then paid £20.3m for him for six months before offloading him back to Spurs for £12m plus contract clause add-ons. His career statistics show 466 games played and 174 goals scored, which equates to roughly a goal every two and a half games!

Manchester City were the big spenders in the “January Window“, having failed to prise Kaka for £100m from AC Milan. Earlier signings were, Nigel De Jong from Hamburg at £16m rising to £18.3m, Craig Bellamy for £14m from West Ham United, Wayne Bridge for £12m from Chelsea and Shay Given from Newcastle for £8m. Arsenal eventually got their target midfielder Arshavin at £16.9m from Zenit St. Petersburg, after going to the wire,

Defoe’s injury has now been confirmed and he will have surgery on his right foot today. The stress fracture to his fifth metatarsal was caused by a training ground incident. They expect he will be playing in ten weeks time, which means a mid-April return at the earliest or probably May realistically, should they need him to bolster the relegation threat. Both Defoe and the new club captain Keane, will miss the Carling Cup Final.

Hossam Ghaly, Paul Stalteri and Cesar Sanchez have been released by the club on free transfers. Tomas Pekhart our Czech Republic U-21 reserve forward, has gone back to his original club, Slavia Prague, on a twelve month loan following his loan spell at Southampton.

Spurs 0 Arsenal 0

This exciting 144th meeting of the two clubs was not short of incident. Spurs have not beaten their arch rivals in the league in the previous ten meetings. They came so close this time, with 57% of the play, following the dismissal of Eboue in the 37th minute and a gilt edged opportunity missed by Modric in the last minute of injury time. Arsenal were denied an early lead in the thirteenth minute when Eboue was adjudged pushing Dawson in the back before netting from close range. A gladiatorial encounter from the start with the new look Spurs showing more urgency with the introduction of man of the match Wilson Pa- lacios, giving an excellent performance. He hunted and tackled with relentless energy and was unlucky not to score with a rasping drive that was turned over. Modric too, was buzzing and unlucky not to score the winner late on when put through by substitute Taarabt, but Almunia saved well with his legs. Keane was unlucky also in the second half

when heading just over. Bent came on for Pavlyuchenko, who had wasted a couple of chances in the 64th minute, but failed to make an impact. Chimbonda replaced Corluka in the 74th minute and Taarabt came on for Lennon on 87 minutes. Others on the bench were Gomes, Zokora, Huddlestone and O’Hara. Shots on target were 6-2 in Tottenham’s favour but Arsenal battled well and justified a point. ’Arry felt we should have claimed three and was quoted as saying “he’d have put his life on Modric scoring and winning the game in the last minute”. Nevertheless he was very happy with the effort and performance and now see’s a worthwhile team emerging from these dark times. Although we are currently 15th in the table with 25 points it is still very tight at the bottom with Middlesbrough and W.B.A on 22 points and Blackburn, with a game in hand, on 23 points. Stoke have 24 points and are equal with Portsmouth, who also have a game in hand . Although losing at home to Liverpool 3-2 in the last minute, Pompey showed enough grit to get out of trouble, notwithstanding that after the match they sacked manager Tony Adams after taking over from Redknapp in October. Slumping from 7th to 16th position, following only two wins since he took over and taking two points from the last 27 available ,sealed his fate. With a break next weekend due to international fixtures our next match will be away to Shakhtar Donetsk on Thursday 19th February followed by a trip to Hull City on Monday 23 February.

Tuesday 17 February 2009

The Daily Mail reports Spurs are interested in signing Serbian international Darko Lazovic, aged 18, from FK Borac Cacak, after impressing whilst on trial last month. He is likely to cost around £500,000.

Adel Taarabt, aged 19, came on as a substitute for Morocco against the Czech Republic, to make his international debut last week. Although he has lived in France since he was nine months old, he decided not to wait for the chance of being selected for France and opted instead for an African Cup chance and possibly a World Cup opportunity with his country of birth. His best friend at Spurs, Benoit Essou-Ekotto, from Cameroon, may well find him in opposition for a World Cup place.

Shakhtar Donetsk 2 Spurs 0 UEFA Cup Last 32 Round First Leg

A gruelling schedule of six games in the next 17 days meant ‘Arry sending out a second eleven for tonight’s game and an even weaker team for the return match next week, prior to the League Cup Final against Man. Utd. A brave effort by the team who played well enough for a draw, but on 78 minutes conceded a sloppy free-kick, which led to Gomes failing to punch away the dangerous flighted ball which was headed home by the substitute who had just come on seconds before. A second goal ten minutes later, following a good run across the pitch and a clever flicked 1-2 move, sealed the game. Spurs looked comfortable most of the time and had half chances which were spurned by Giovani, Jenas, Bent and Parrett. Dawson played well as did Huddlestone and Campbell. The team tonight playing 4-5-1 was Gomes, Gunter, Dawson, Huddlestone, Chimbonda, Bentley, Jenas, Zokora, Parrett, Giovani and Campbell. Substitutes were Bent for Giovani after 68 minutes and John Bostock now aged 17, replacing 17 year old debutant Dean Parrett on 87 minutes. Substitutes not used were Gilberto, Oscar Jansson, Adam Smith, Ryan Mason and John Obike. Good experience for all concerned but little hope of progressing in this competition with a second eleven squad. The winners of this tie face Aston Villa or CSKA Moscow in the next round.

Hull City 1 Spurs 2

An unconvincing overall performance but very welcome three points that takes us up to 14th position on 28 points, just one behind Hull. A generally poor first half for Spurs, although a well worked corner by Modric and Keane allowed Lennon to crash the ball home from the edge of the

penalty area on 17 minutes. A thunderous drive by Palacios, set up by Keane, was blocked by Gardner’s impressive frame, as it looked certain to hit the back of the net. Unfortunately, a needlessly given away corner by Corluka allowed Turner to equalise from close range after Cudicini had flapped and missed on 27 minutes. He had been disturbed a few seconds earlier by the physical presence of Cousins, who bundled him into the net, without meriting a free-kick. A high number of corners for both teams throughout the game indicated the end to end flow of play. In the second half Spurs upped their game and after Corluka had clipped the bar with a header a ‘head of steam’ seemed to emerge in the ranks. A deserved winner arrived on 86 minutes, when Essou-Ekotto cleverly beat Gardner on the left wing before sending over a cross which Woodgate superbly climbed onto, to head fiercely into the net. Hull shaved the post and Woodgate went off with a head injury to be replaced by Dawson in the final few minutes. Lennon was substituted by Zokora on 86 minutes and Bent was replaced by Pavlyuchenko on 72 minutes. Hull did not allow Spurs to play their normal game and were in their faces throughout the 90 minutes. In consequence, Spurs looked ragged and pedestrian at times, with too few good passing movements to savour. Bent hardly showed all evening and Pavlyuchenko fared little better when he came on. Substitutes not used were Gomes, Huddlestone, Bentley and Chimbonda.

Spurs 1 Shakhtar Donetsk 1 (Aggregate 1-3) UEFA Cup Round of 32 second leg

Tottenham failed to make it past the last 32 for the first time in three years, despite a hugely spirited effort from ‘Arry’s mainly second string squad. Team for the night :- Gomes, Gunter, Chimbonda, Huddlestone (Capt.), Gilberto, Giovani, Palacios, O’Hara, Bale, Jonathan Obika, our 18 year old 1st

Year Academy player making his full debut and Campbell. Substitutes :- Two further 1st Year Academy players, Dean Parrett for O’Hara on 71 minutes and John Bostock for Gilberto on 77 minutes. Substitutes not used :- Oscar Jansson, our young professional third string keeper, together with four 2nd Year Academy players, Adam Smith, Ryan Mason, Calum Butcher and Andros Townsend. Giovani scored his first goal for the club in eleven starts. The 19 year old Mexican international from Barcelona collected a flick-on by Campbell on the edge of the box before sending an unstoppable shot into the top left hand corner with his left foot after 55 minutes. Moments later the comeback looked on when Campbell was sent tumbling in the area for the second time in the match but much to the fury of the Spurs bench and the crowd the Italian referee waved play on. John Obika had earlier shown neat bits of footwork and went close a couple of times. Shakhtar put the time beyond Tottenham’s reach when Bostock lost possession, allowing Fernandinho to side foot past Gomes. With the Carling Cup final in three days time Gomes is certain to play as Cudicini has sustained a knee injury. O’Hara returned tonight after being sidelined for a month with a hip injury. Proof of his fitness may well get him on the bench on Sunday as Palacios and Chimbonda are ineligible. Also missing, due to ineligibility, will be Campbell and Keane. Injuries to Cudicini, Defoe and Hutton, make a total of seven first team squad members being unavailable for selection.

Carling Cup Final at Wembley - Manchester United 0 Spurs 0 (aet Utd. win 4-1 on penalties)

“You couldn’t have asked for more” said ’Arry after the game, putting on a brave face. A truly courageous effort by Spurs who matched Utd. and came away holding their heads up high after two hours of play that almost saw them retain the trophy. Shortly before kick-off Woodgate failed a fitness test on his achilles tendon injury. United chose not to involve Van der Sar, Carrick and Berbatov who were fit to play, and Rooney, who had a virus. Giggs, Vidic and Anderson were used as substitutes for United. Both goalkeepers appeared redundant and took until 71 minutes before serious action was seen. A fierce drive by Lennon was thwarted by Foster who parried it away for a corner then Ronaldo, with only twelve seconds of injury time remaining, struck the inside of a post only to see it cleared. Spurs had good claims for O’Shea to be sent off earlier for a bad foul on

Modric. It was turned down by referee Chris Hoy but then Spurs were equally lucky not to have a penalty awarded against King when he brought down Ronaldo. Instead Ronaldo was booked for diving, but the television replay showed different. Bent was almost a hero but his shot was deflected for a corner off Foster’s legs after 115 minutes. A rather mundane affair overall but a very good team performance and outstanding contributions from Lennon, Modric, Zokora, Dawson and King. Giggs struck gold when Utd.’s first penalty found the net off the inside of the post 1-0. O’Hara then bravely stepped up for the Spurs first penalty but his firmly struck shot was parried away by Foster. Tevez made it 2-0 down but Corluka struck back to make it 2-1. Ronaldo made it 3-1 and Bentley then stepped forward and blasted it wide of Foster‘s right hand post leaving Anderson to complete the misery and for Spurs to lose 4-1 on penalties. In mitigation this was against the best team in England, probably Europe and possibly the world. So an afternoon of expectation and heartache for the club and supporters, turned out in retrospect a sterling effort to be admired. An interesting fact that emerged after the game was that while the players were preparing for the shoot-out, Foster admitted to viewing Tottenham penalties on an iPod, shown to him by Eric Steele the Utd. goalkeeping coach. Ex referee Graham Poll thinks hat the iPod incident should be outlawed in future and will bring it to the attention of the F.A.

Spurs Team :- Gomes, Corluka, Dawson, King, Assou-Ekotto, Lennon, Jenas, Zokora, Modric, Bent, Pavlyuchenko. Substitutes :- O’Hara for Pavlyuchenko on 65 minutes, Bale for Jenas on 99 minutes and Bentley for Lennon on 102 minutes. Substitutes not used :- Alnwick, Huddlestone, Gunter and Taarabt.

Spurs 4 Middlesbrough 0

An emphatic win over a team that had beaten Liverpool 2-0 last Saturday! Three days on from the disappointment of Wembley, unlike last year when we celebrated too much, our concentration and application to stay in the Premier League was seen by all. Keane opened the scoring from close range after Dawson had flicked on Modric’s corner in the ninth minute. This was his first goal since returning from Liverpool. Five minutes later, after Tuncay had pulled down a delicious 70 yard pass from Downing to lash past Gomes into the roof of the net, only to find the flag raised, Spurs scored again. A body swerve by Modric on the edge of the box allowed him to cross for Pavlyuchenko to scramble home from close range. Lennon and Modric were revelling in the space allowed and Keane threaded a pass through Huth’s legs for Lennon to side-foot home on 40 minutes. Leading 3-0 at half time Spurs were naturally full of confidence and increased the lead in the 79th minute when Lennon took a clever pass from Keane and chipped over the advancing goalkeeper. ’Boro had their moments with Gomes saving well and a cross cum shot by Tuncay which hit the post and was cleared. Bent replaced Pavlyuchenko on 53 minutes, Huddleston came on for Jenas after 64 minutes and O’Hara took over from Daily Mail man of the match Modric on 73 minutes. The TV pundits reckoned Keane would qualify for man of the match status, as he was highly energetic and had a hand in all four goals. Lennon too had a marvellous game. An excellent display all round, with Zokora getting the nod over Corluka and Chimbonda at right back, to contain Downing. This win takes us up to 13th position on 31 points, further points are still required from our remaining 11 games to reach safety. Team;- Gomes, Zokora, Dawson, Woodgate, Assou-Ekotto, Lennon, Jenas, Palacios, Modric, Pavlyuchenko and Keane. Substitutes not used were Cudicini, Chimbonda, Bentley and Corluka.

Sunderland 1 Spurs 1

A goal by Richardson after 3 minutes and an equaliser by Keane, who hooked in Bent’s cross after 89 minutes, was just desserts for the dominance Spurs showed. Chances were not taken by Bent and Keane earlier, and so a point was hard earned to take us above Sunderland on goal difference into 12th position. Not the sparkling display demonstrated against Middlesbrough, with four changes

made. Zokora, Dawson, Assou-Ekotto and Pavlyuchenko making way for Corluka, King, Chimbonda and Bent. Substitutes used were Huddlestone for Jenas on 63 minutes, Bentley for Palacios on 72 minutes and Pavlyuchenko for Corluka on 83 minutes. Substitutes not used Cudicini, Dawson, Zokora and O’Hara.

Friday 13th March 2009.

It was announced today that Chris Gunter, our 19 year old full back, is joining Nottingham Forest on loan for the rest of the season. (Nott’s Forest lost 5-0 away to Burnley next day)!

Aston Villa 1 Spurs 2

A hard earned ‘snatch and grab raid’ exercise, that saw Spurs score after four minutes of each half to kill off Villa, who responded too late in the 85th minute. With only one success in the past 17 years here at Villa Park and Villa striving to hold onto 4th place, the omens were not good. However, with a run of four Premier matches undefeated and the fear of relegation still looming over the club, anticipation for a point was realistic. An open and entertaining game that was set alight by Lennon crossing from the right, after a cross-field pass by Modric. His quick accurate delivery was too hot for Friedel, who could only parry on the edge of his six yard box for Jenas to head home the rebound. Villa dominated play until the 35th minute when Zokora was replaced by Corluka. He had been roasted by Ashley Young several times and had received a yellow card in the process. His previous recent efforts at right back had been outstanding, but Ashley Young gave him too much of a headache on the day. An excellent managerial decision by ’Arry, which paid dividends, with Corluka coping much better with the fleet-footed Young for the rest of the match. Spurs almost scored twice before the interval with efforts by Modric and Jenas. In injury time in the first half, however, Spurs had a very lucky escape with Heskey beating Woodgate in the air, only to see his header come back off the angle of the woodwork, with Gomes beaten. The start of the second half was a carbon copy of the first. Keane and Lennon combined before Palacios unleashed a drive that was blocked and the ball fell out to Keane on the right, who shot across Friedel into the far corner of the net only to find Bent sliding in to claim the goal on the line. This deflated Villa, and Modric, Lennon and Keane saw further excellent efforts go close before Milner crossed from the right for Carew to rise above King to head an excellent goal into the top corner after 85 minutes, giving Gomes no chance. A sterling Tottenham display that takes us to 11th in the table. Woodgate was nominated man of the match by the Daily Mail but Lennon, King, Modric, Keane, Corluka and Gomes also excelled. Team for the day:- Gomes, Zokora, Woodgate, King, Essou-Ekotto, Lennon, Palacios, Jenas, Modric, Keane and Bent. Substitutes were Corluka for Zokora after 35 minutes and O’Hara for Modric on 82 minutes. Substitutes not used were Cudicini, Dawson, Huddlestone, Bentley and Pavlyuchenko. Next few matches include Chelsea at home, Blackburn away, West Ham at home and Newcastle at home.

Spurs 1 Chelsea 0

This monumental win was only the second time in 19 years that we had taken maximum points from Chelsea. With a security scare outside the ground, the match kicked off at 15.30, allowing Chelsea the knowledge that Manchester Utd. were losing 1-0 at Fulham, as they strode out onto the pitch. To learn that they had lost 2-0, with still half an hour remaining, was enough to double their efforts and create a torrid final 15 minutes. A 50th minute goal by Modric, beautifully carved out of a cross by Lennon, was enough to claim all three points. Chelsea failed to allow the ball to run out on the left wing and decided to play themselves out of pressure. The ball was cleared up field where Woodgate headed straight out to Lennon on the right wing, who ran and beat Ashley Cole inside the

penalty area to square back to Modric, who rifled a low shot past Cech‘s left hand, just inside the post. A great goal and just reward for previous efforts by Keane, who was thwarted by Cech three times and Jenas. A second goal looked certain when Lennon again found Modric but this time he failed to connect sweetly. Not long after, with Lennon in rampant form, he surged into the penalty area yet again and only needed to square back a cross for a second goal but somehow skewed the ball behind. Gomes and the defence were under intense pressure in the final stages and he produced at least four match-winning saves, one in particular from Terry. In 4 minutes of injury time, Gomes came to the rescue by smothering and saving efforts, one of which was a downward header by Alex which beat him to hit the bar and he managed to palm the ball to safety. A Lampard header, virtually on the goal line, was somehow diverted by Corluka onto the post and went behind for a corner. Slow motion footage showed that it struck Corluka’s forearm but it was on the blindside of the referee ,some sixteen yards away. Gomes had a great game and deserved that piece of luck, by showing an all round ability during the match with confidence in punching and in taking high balls under pressure. This was an unchanged team from the last match with the same substitutes on the bench. O’Hara replaced man of the match Modric on 87 minutes and Zokora came on for Lennon on 90 minutes. The tonic coming into the game, was our reserves beating Chelsea 4-0 in midweek, even though Pavlyuchenko missed a penalty!

Players sent out on loan during the last four weeks include Adel Taarabt to Q.P.R., Jon Obika to Yeovil Town, Dorian Dervite to Southend Utd., Yuri Berchiche and David Hutton to Cheltenham Town. All are away until the end of the season. Huddleston is making noises that he wants first team football, according to paper reports.

Blackburn Rovers 2 Spurs 1

A game that was taken out of our grasp in the last ten minutes. Leading from a Robbie Keane penalty just before the half hour, we were seldom tested. We continued to dominate play and came close several times, including Robinson saving brilliantly from Bent, until Palacios was unjustly sent off in the 80th minute. The equaliser was a soft goal from close range following a looping ball over Woodgate to Samba who managed to miscue across the goal for Roberts to caress home on 82 minutes. An even softer goal, following a corner, found its way through the near post defence, including Gomes, to be nudged home after 89 minutes. A desperate win for Blackburn who were in the bottom three before the game and a blow to Spurs’ recent run of form. ‘Arry was livid with the referee after the game for the sending off and echoed the sentiment that we were coasting up to that point. Again an unchanged side from the last game with the same substitutes on standby. Zokora replaced Lennon after the Palacios dismissal. A defeat that still means that we are about three points from safety but probably ends our hopes of finishing 7th and qualifying for Europe next season.

Spurs 1 West Ham United 0

A tame first half that saw Bent heading wide and little else to get excited about. Zokora replaced Jenas on 46 minutes and Pavlyuchenko replaced Bent on 56 minutes . The substitutions added the zest needed and on 65 minutes Pavlyuchenko turned his man in the area and shot across Robert Green into the far corner. A fine goal created by Corluka and Modric. Further good efforts by Huddlestone, coming in for the banned Palacios, Keane and Lennon could, and should, have improved the score line. Apart from a faux pas by Woodgate, that threatened to give West Ham an undeserved goal, we were generally in command. Woodgate failed to deal with Green’s long clearance when slipping and Di Michele had only Gomes to beat but was thwarted by the keeper in the 59th minute. This win now takes us up to 9th place on 41 points, our highest position in the league so far this season, only 3 points behind West Ham and 2 points behind Fulham. With six games remaining, a strong finish might just secure us 7th place and a chance to compete in Europe

again. Substitutes remained the same as in previous games, but Bale was added in place of Huddlestone. Paper talk suggests we may be interested in the 23 year old Colombian Wason Renteria, currently out on loan from Porto. His fee is believed to be around £6m.

Spurs 1 Newcastle United 0

A great result from a mature display that should have shown a larger margin, given the dominance overall. A late chance saw Martins hooking over from short range under pressure and was the nearest Newcastle came to scoring. However, they would count themselves a little unlucky when Woodgate clearly brought down Martins in the area with only eight minutes remaining, but referee Mark Halsey was unmoved. Spurs dominated generally throughout and were only pressurised in the last 30 minutes when Martins and Viduka came on, but deserved the three points. Bent scored on 24 minutes after Harper failed to hold onto his first effort. A through ball by Modric intended for Keane was cut off by Bassong who diverted it into the path of Bent, who put the ball away from the rebound. Lennon was energetic and missed narrowly with his left foot in the second half but Keane, although busy, failed to sparkle. Man of the match Trevor Huddlestone saw a screamer tipped over from 30 yards and was seen at his imperious best with seventy yard passes and a cross that should have resulted in a goal. Palacios was unlucky when he had a shot blocked from ten yards and Modric excelled with his industry and vision. Essou-Ekotto also had a fine game, showing that he too is capable of long accurate passing. This was our first win against the Magpies in six league meetings, and our first points of any kind in that period! We did win earlier in the season at St. James’s Park in the Carling Cup 2-1. Dawson was taken off injured and replaced by the impressive Alan Hutton on 32 minutes with Corluka moving inside to partner Woodgate. Alan Hutton, returning from a lengthy absence, soon slotted in with his forays down the right wing and had a wonderful cross headed over by Bent soon after the first goal. Defoe came on for Bent on 72 minutes after returning from a lengthy injury. Other substitutes not used were Cuducini, Campbell, Bale, Bentley and Zokora.

Manchester United 5 Spurs 2

An absorbing encounter that turned on a poor refereeing decision. With Spurs winning 2-0 and still in charge of the game, Howard Webb, one of the top names in the Premier League, considered that Gomes had brought down Carrick in the penalty area in the 56th minute. TV experts, with the hindsight of footage, agreed that Gomes had clearly touched the ball away from Carrick. My first impression was that it was harsh on Tottenham. ‘Arry was furious at that moment in time and still livid after the game demanding an explanation from Howard Webb. From that moment on the game swung dramatically in United’s favour, with five goals in 22 minutes. With Corluka out of position, Rooney scored in the 67th minute slotting in at the near post from a Ronaldo cross and within a minute Utd. were 3-2 ahead. This time Rooney was the provider, with a deft chip which found Ronaldo heading home from short range. Now on the rampage and in full flow, United added two further scrambled goals in the 71st minute courtesy of Rooney following a chip from Ronaldo and in the 79th minute, following a chipped ball by Rooney, Berbatov got his name on the score sheet. Spurs had earlier looked at ease and opened the scoring in the 29th minute when he got the better of Ferdinand and Vidic to slam the ball home from close range following a cross by Corluka. Three minutes later, Modric struck sweetly in at the near post following a cross by Lennon, who had beaten Evra on the outside. Earlier Bent had missed a good opportunity and Ronaldo had a superb effort turned over by Gomes. Late in the game Bent went just wide with an effort and Keane was denied by Van der Sar‘s legs. The introduction of Tevez for Nani after half time certainly had the desired effect with Berbatov, Rooney and Ronaldo all buzzing at the same time. Had that penalty not been awarded I feel Spurs would probably won at best or drawn at worst. Substitutes used were Bale for Modric on 86 minutes and Huddlestone for Keane on 87 minutes. Unused substitutes were

Cudicini, Chimbonda, Hutton, Zokora and Bentley. Defoe was not named in the squad as his half brother was recently murdered in a drug related gang confrontation. The police are now holding a man in custody. We now lie 10th in the table level with Manchester City but with an inferior goal difference. Fulham are three points ahead and West Ham Utd. are one point in front.

Spurs 1 West Bromwich Albion 0

A keenly fought contest with Spurs just shading the goal chances 7 to 5. Both teams hit the post and Gomes was called upon to make several excellent saves to thwart a spirited Albion. Jenas broke the deadlock on 43 minutes when he received a short pass from Corluka to convert from 20 yards. This win keeps us in 10th position, on inferior goal difference with Manchester City and Fulham all sharing 47 points. West Ham Utd. currently lie 7th on 48 points. It is nearly 90 years since Spurs conceded just 11 goals at home in a season. With one home game to go, we have so far conceded just 9 goals! Everton away is the next fixture then Manchester City at home and finally away to Liverpool to round off the season.

Everton 0 Spurs 0

A game of few chances, with defences on top throughout The nearest of which came to Everton when Gosling shaved the post from 20 yards late in the second half. A well justified performance from Spurs who deserved the point. Gareth Bale played well but still awaits a Premier League victory. Huddlestone looked impressive and replaced Palacios who had picked up a knock. Pavlyuchenko replaced Modric after 81 minutes but made little impact. Substitutes not used were Cudicini, Bentley, Gunter, Campbell, Chimbonda and Rose. I watched the whole game from a bar in Majorca.

Spurs 2 Manchester City 1

Our win today created a new club record of only conceding 10 goals at home in a season, breaking the previous 90 year record. Historical records and statistics highlight the old Division 2 in 1919-20, when 11 goals were leaked at home. Again in Division 1 in 1971-72, 13 goals were scored by the opposition. and in the Premier League in 2000-01 and 2005-06, our home defence were breached only 16 times. In today’s game, with the remote possibility of playing in Europe next season, we got off to a bright start but early pressure was not rewarded. However, a goal by Defoe, with a clever back heel flick on 29 minutes, following a cross by Huddlestone, was reward for a dominant first period, with Shay Given making three good saves to keep the score down. After the interval City equalised on 65 minutes when substitute Bojinov scored his first goal for the club. Spurs were a little lucky with a penalty award when our substitute Campbell was bundled over by Richards and Keane converted on 86 minutes. A late scare saw Benjani head over from close range. Substitutes were Hutton for the injured Woodgate after 46 minutes, Zokora replaced Jenas after 67 minutes and Campbell came on for Pavlyuchenko on 75 minutes. The Russian had missed a gilt edged chance earlier and stormed off down the tunnel, more annoyed with himself than the manager or team. He apologised for his behaviour later and stated his intent to improve. Unused substitutes were Cudicini, Bale, Chimbonda and Bentley. Regretfully, Fulham won away at Newcastle to maintain their two point advantage and with only Everton to come at home, they are favourites for the 7th spot. A draw will be sufficient against the Cup Finalists, even if Spurs win at Liverpool next Sunday on the final day of the season. Huddlestone has now had a knee operation following the game and will be out for a few months. Our Middlesbrough target, Stewart Downing has also had surgery on his foot and ankle, following a tackle by Petrov the Villa player. He will be out for three months and, therefore, any transfer will be delayed.

Liverpool 3 Spurs 1

With Fulham losing at home to Everton 1-0 at half time and eventually 2-0 at full time, the incentive was clearly in our hands to raise our game to qualify for Europe. Everton gained their first victory at Craven Cottage for 43 years! Alas it was not to be, as we were well beaten in the end and with Gerrard hitting a post it could have been more. Torres headed a goal after 31 minutes from a Kuyt cross when he found himself unmarked at the far post. On 64 minutes, a Kuyt shot that was drifting wide was deflected by Hutton’s outstretched leg to make it 2-0. Keane managed to latch onto a long through ball to give Spurs some hope on 77 minutes, but four minutes later the match was put to bed when Benayoun held off a half-hearted challenge by King to roll a shot under the advancing Gomes with Corluka also looking a little tired and disinterested. This defeat meant we finished a very creditable 8th with 51 points on goal difference above West Ham United and a point ahead of Manchester City. With 14 wins, 9 draws and 15 losses it was a fantastic recovery from 2 points from the first 8 games and bottom of the table under Juande Ramos. Manchester United pulled off a hat-trick of titles when they won 1-0 at Hull with their youngsters. They took the title with 90 points followed by Liverpool on 88 points and Chelsea on 83 points. The also-rans were headed by Arsenal on 72 points, Everton on 63 points, Aston Villa on 62 points and Fulham on 53 points, taking the final Europa place next season with seventh place, beating their previous highest position of 9th. It took all the strength of Manchester United to lift the Carling Cup from us, as holders, after extra time and penalties We progressed to the final stages in the U.E.F.A. Cup but were not quite up to the mark. The team for today’s final game was :- Gomes, Hutton, Corluka, King, Assou-Ekotta, Modric, Jenas, Zokora, Bale, Defoe and Keane. Substitutes used were Bentley for Jenas on 40 minutes, Pavlyuchenko for Defoe on 70 minutes and Bent for Bale on 79 minutes.(Bale has still to appear on a winning Spurs League side!). Substitutes not used were Cudicini, Chimbonda, Campbell and Gunter.

A superhuman effort by ‘Arry and his squad, to resurrect the club from the early season potential of a relegation scenario.

31st. May 2009

It is now a week since our season finished. Last Wednesday Barcelona beat Manchester United 2-0 to win the European Champions Cup and yesterday Chelsea beat Everton 2-1 in the Cup Final. Now the dust is starting to settle on the domestic season the journalists have been allowed to beaver away at likely summer transfers. The Mail on Sunday is keen to impart that Spurs could be ready to unload seven or eight players. Zokora is due to return to France, they say, and Bale, Bentley, Gomes, Pavylyuchenko, Huddlestone and Bent are up for sale. In addition, they feel ’Arry might contemplate a big offer for Modric. Watch this space over the coming weeks, to see whether their comments have any truth in them.

11 June 2009

The Sun today revealed a major clear out at Spurs. According to them ’Arry is due to offload Chimbonda, Gunter, O’Hara, Huddlestone, Jenas, Gilberto, Boateng, Giovani Dos Santos, Zokora, Bale, Bent, Pavlyuchenko and Bentley. The last three named cost £47.8m ! Rocha has already gone, and due to injuries, only appeared 18 times in the first team. Spurs continue to show interest in Van Nistelrooy, aged 32 and recovering from knee surgery, and believed to be holding out for £100k per week! Other interest is in Santa Cruz and German club Wolfgang’s Edin Dzeko together with Inter Milan’s Luis Jimenez. The Chilean is rated at £10m.

To start our preparations for next season it has been announced that Spurs will play at Wembley in a two day tournament on 24 July against Barcelona, Celtic and the top Egyptian side Al Alhy.

Cristiano Ronaldo, has today been sold by Manchester United to Real Madrid for £80m, setting a new world transfer record! This now supersedes the recent Kaka £56m signing by Real Madrid only a few days ago!!!

Redknapp has decided to scrap our Reserve team and has withdrawn them from the Barclays Reserve League for next season. He believes the 18-21 year olds will be better suited by being loaned out to other clubs to further their experience.

Premier League 09/10 / Tottenham Hotspur / Seasons Appearances

Name StName Start Sub Subbed Sub on Goalart Sub Taken off Came onGoal

Tom Huddlestone 33 1 5 - 2Heurelho Gomes 31 4 1 - -Jermain Defoe 31 3 18 3 18Benoit Assou Ekotto 29 2 5 1 1Vedran Corluka 29 1 3 - 1Wilson Palacios 29 7 7 4 1Michael Dawson 25 6 1 4 2Sebastien Bassong 25 12 3 3 1Luka Modric 21 5 7 4 3Peter Crouch 21 17 1 17 8Aaron Lennon 20 2 5 2 3Ledley King 19 1 5 1 2Niko Kranjcar 19 8 10 5 6Gareth Bale 18 12 - 5 3Robbie Keane 15 9 12 5 6David Bentley 11 17 4 4 2Jermaine Jenas 9 16 1 10 1Roman Pavlyuchenko 8 21 7 8 5Younes Kaboul 8 6 - 2 -Carlo Cudicini 6 4 - 1 -Eidur Gudjohnsen 3 11 2 8 1Jonathan Woodgate 3 1 1 - -Kyle Walker 2 6 - - -Alan Hutton 1 21 - 7 -Ben Alnwick 1 26 - - -Danny Rose 1 12 1 - 1Andros Townsend - 2 - - -David Button - 3 - - -Dean Parrett - 1 - - -Dorian Dervite - 3 - - -Giovani Dos Santos - 4 - 1 -Jake Livermore - 6 - 1 -James Walker - 1 - - -Jamie O'Hara - 4 - 2 -Kyle Naughton - 10 - 1 -Pascal Chimbonda - 1 - - -Totals : 418 266 99 99 67

Premier League 09/10 / Tottenham Hotspur / Leading Strike Rate

Name Goalls Matches Strike Rate# Name Goals Matches Strike Rate

1 Jermain Defoe 18 34 1.892 Peter Crouch 8 38 4.753 Robbie Keane 6 20 3.33

4 Niko Kranjcar 6 24 45 Roman Pavlyuchenko 5 16 3.26 Luka Modric 3 25 8.337 Aaron Lennon 3 22 7.338 Gareth Bale 3 23 7.67

Premier League 09/10 / Tottenham Hotspur / Club Bad Boys

Tom Huddlestone Midfield 8 0 0Wilson Palacios Midfield 8 0 0Jermaine Jenas Midfield 6 0 0Benoit Assou Ekotto Defender 5 0 0Michael Dawson Defender 4 0 0Jermain Defoe Forward 3 0 1Niko Kranjcar Midfield 3 0 0

Premier League 09/10 / League Table

# Club P W D L GD P# Club P W D L GD P

1 Chelsea 38 27 5 6 71 862 Man Utd 38 27 4 7 58 853 Arsenal 38 23 6 9 42 754 Spurs 38 21 7 10 26 705 Man City 38 18 13 7 28 676 Aston Villa 38 17 13 8 13 647 Liverpool 38 18 9 11 26 638 Everton 38 16 13 9 11 619 Birmingham 38 13 11 14 -9 5010 Blackburn 38 13 11 14 -14 5011 Stoke 38 11 14 13 -14 4712 Fulham 38 12 10 16 -7 4613 Sunderland 38 11 11 16 -8 4414 Bolton 38 10 9 19 -25 3915 Wolves 38 9 11 18 -24 3816 Wigan 38 9 9 20 -42 3617 West Ham 38 8 11 19 -19 3518 Burnley 38 8 6 24 -40 3019 Hull 38 6 12 20 -41 3020 Portsmouth 38 7 7 24 -32 19

Premier League 09/10 / Home Attendance

Club Average Total Highest LowestClub Average Total Highest Lowest

Manchester United 74,875 1,422,624 75,316 73,709Arsenal 59,927 1,138,606 60,103 59,084

Manchester City 45,494 864,380 47,370 40,292Liverpool 42,864 814,411 44,392 37,697Chelsea 41,423 787,029 41,836 40,137Sunderland 40,355 766,748 47,641 34,821Aston Villa 38,573 732,895 42,788 32,917Everton 36,685 660,324 39,652 32,163Tottenham Hotspur 35,794 680,091 36,041 35,318West Ham United 33,683 639,983 34,989 30,024Wolverhampton Wanderers28,366 538,949 29,023 26,668Stoke City 27,162 516,082 27,604 25,104Blackburn Rovers 25,428 483,135 29,912 21,287Birmingham City 25,246 479,680 28,958 19,922Hull City 24,388 463,379 25,030 22,822Fulham 23,909 454,276 25,700 20,831Bolton Wanderers 21,881 415,737 25,370 17,849Burnley 2 0,643 392,224 21,761 18,397Portsmouth 18,249 346,737 20,821 16,207Wigan Athletic 18,006 342,118 22,113 14,323Total 34,141 12,939,408

Premier League 09/10 / Leading Scorers

Total Name Team29 Didier Drogba Chelsea26 Wayne Rooney Man Utd24 Darren Bent Sunderland23 Carlos Tevez Man City22 Frank Lampard Chelsea18 Jermain Defoe Spurs 18 Fernando Torres Liverpool15 Francesc Fabregas Arsenal14 Emmanuel Adebayor Man City13 Louis Saha Everton13 Gabriel Agbonlahor Aston Villa12 Florent Malouda Chelsea12 Dimitar Berbatov Man Utd11 Nicolas Anelka Chelsea11 Cameron Jerome Birmingham10 Craig Bellamy Man City10 John Carew Aston Villa10 Andrei Arshavin Arsenal10 Carlton Cole West Ham10 Hugo Rodallega Wigan

Premier League 09/10 / Leading Strike Rate

# Name Club Goalls Matches Strike Rate

# Name Club Goals Matches Strike Rate1 Didier Drogba Chelsea 29 32 1.12 Fernando Torres Liverpool 18 22 1.223 Wayne Rooney Manchester United 26 32 1.234 Carlos Tevez Manchester City 23 35 1.525 Darren Bent Sunderland 24 38 1.586 Frank Lampard Chelsea 22 36 1.647 Francesc Fabregas Arsenal 15 27 1.88 Emmanuel Adebayor Manchester City 14 26 1.869 Jermain Defoe Tottenham Hotspur 18 34 1.8910 Louis Saha Everton 13 33 2.5411 Florent Malouda Chelsea 12 33 2.7512 Dimitar Berbatov Manchester United 12 33 2.7513 Gabriel Agbonlaho r Aston Villa 13 36 2.77

14 Cameron Jerome Birmingham City 11 32 2.91

Premier League 10/11 / Tottenham Hotspur / Seasons Squad

Heurelho Gomes Goalkeeper 1 15/02/81 Brazil 25/07/08Stipe Pletikosa Goalkeeper 0 08/01/79 Croatia30/08/10Ben Alnwick Goalkeeper 27 01/01/87 England 03/01/07Carlo Cudicini Goalkeeper 23 06/09/73 Italy 26/01/09Michael Dawson Defender 20 18/11/83 England 31/01/05Vedran Corluka Defender 22 05/02/86 Croatia01/09/08Bongani Khumalo Defender 36 06/01/87 South Africa 31/01/11Jonathan Woodgate Defender 39 22/01/80 England 28/01/08Alan Hutton Defender 2 30/11/84 Scotland 30/01/08William Gallas Defender 0 17/08/77 France 20/08/10Kyle Walker Defender 0 28/05/90 England 22/07/09Kyle Naughton Defender 16 11/11/88 England 22/07/09Sebastien Bassong Defender 19 09/07/86 Cameroon 06/08/09Younes Kaboul Defender 4 04/01/86 France 31/01/10Gareth Bale Defender 3 16/07/89 Wales 25/05/07Benoit Assou Ekotto Defender 32 24/03/84 Cameroon 01/08/06Ledley King Defender 26 12/10/80 England 01/07/98John Bostock Midfield 0 15/01/92 England 01/08/08Steven Pienaar Midfield 40 17/03/82 South Africa 20/01/11David Bentley Midfield 5 27/08/84 England 25/07/08Sandro Midfield 11 15/03/89 Brazil 01/08/10Rafael van der Vaart Midfield 0 11/02/83 Netherlands 01/09/10Jake Livermore Midfield 29 14/11/89 England 01/08/07Danny Rose Midfield 25 02/07/90 England 26/07/07Niko Kranjcar Midfield 21 13/08/84 Croatia31/08/09Jermaine Jenas Midfield 8 18/02/83 England 01/09/05Wilson Palacios Midfield 12 29/07/84 Honduras 21/01/09Tom Huddlestone Midfield 6 28/12/86 England 01/08/05Luka Modric Midfield 14 09/09/85 Croatia01/07/08Aaron Lennon Midfield 7 16/04/87 England 01/08/05Giovani Dos Santos Forward 17 11/05/89 Mexico01/08/08Robbie Keane Forward 10 08/07/80 Ireland02/02/09Roman Pavlyuchenko Forward 9 15/12/81 Russia 30/08/08Jermain Defoe Forward 18 07/10/82 England 09/01/09Peter Crouch Forward 15 30/01/81 England 27/07/09

SPURS 2010-2011

NEW SQUAD RULES FOR THE COMING SEASON apply to Premiership games and not Cup games.

A maximum of 25 players has to be announced by EACH CLUB by 16.00 hrs. on 1st. September after the Transfer Window closes on 31st. August. THE SQUAD MUST CONTAIN EIGHT HOME GROWN PLAYERS OVER THE AGE OF 21. Clubs who cannot name EIGHT players will be reduced accordingly and may be forced to play with a lesser number or even play with a squad of SEVENTEEN! Any number of players under the age of 21 can also be selected.

11 July 2010 - First pre-season friendly against Bournemouth before travelling to the U.S.A. for three matches.

Bournemouth A.F.C. 0 Spurs 4

Scorers - Obika 37, Pavlyuchenko 61, 75 and Rose 62.

Team for the first half - Cudicini, Hutton, Butcher, Caulker, Bale, Bentley (sub Townsend 26), Bostock, Parrett, Mason, Keane and Obika.

Team for the second half - Alnwick, Naughton, Kaboul, Livermore, Rose, Smith, Jenas, Modric, Townsend, Taarabt and Pavlyuchenko.

17 July - San Jose Earthquakes 0 Spurs 0

Team - Cudicini, Hutton (Modric 46), Walker (Smith 71), Kaboul, Bale, Naughton (Kranjcar 46), Huddlestone (Butcher 85), Jenas, Townsend, Keane (Mason 78), Obika (Pavlyuchenko 46).

22 July - New York Red Bulls 1 Spurs 2

Scorers - Keane 62 and Bale 72.

Team - Cudicini, Hutton, Corluka, Walker, Naughton, Kranjcar, Huddlestone, Jenas, Bale, Modric and Keane. Substitutes were Button, Smith, Mason, Rose and Townsend.

25 July - Sporting Lisbon 2 Spurs 2

Scorers - Keane 23 and Obika 69.

Team - Cudicini (Button 46), Hutton, Corluka, Walker, Naughton (Rose 63), Kranjcar (Townsend 67), Jenas, Huddlestone, Bale, Taarabt (Obika 59) and Keane.

29 July - Spurs 1 Villarreal 4

Scorers - Giovani 57 Rossi 22, 32, 70 and Ruben 87.

Spurs were handed a beating in front of a half full White Hart Lane. Hopefully, this will benefit them and serve as a foretaste of European strength for the coming season . Villarreal, seventh in the Spanish league last season, looked much the better side and were sharper and inventive and good

value for their 2-0 lead at half time. Jenas was injured and replaced by Rose after 19 minutes and seven further substitutions were made at the start of the second half. A Giovani goal after 57 minutes, seemed to have got us back in the game, but 13 minutes later a wicked deflection allowed Rossi to complete his hat-trick. A goal three minutes from time sealed an excellent performance by the visitors.

Team - Gomes (Button 46), Hutton (Walker 46), Dawson (Bassong 46), Corluka, Naughton (Assou-Ekotto 46), Lennon (Bale 46), Huddlestone (Parrett 78), Jenas (Rose 19), Kranjcar (Taarabt 81), Defoe (Giovani 46), Keane (Crouch 46).

2 August - Ipswich Town 0 Spurs X1 1

Team - Alnwick, Smith, Kaboul, King (Butcher 46), Carroll (Byrne 74), Parrett, Livermore (Kane 74), Mason, M’poku (Dawkins 66), Obika and Pavlyuchenko. Substitutes not used were Ranieri, Oyenuga and Durojaiye.

Scorer - Pavlyuchenko 61.

3 August - Benfica 0 Spurs 1

Team - Gomes (Cudicini 46), Walker, Dawson, Corluka, Bale (Rose 63), Lennon, Huddlestone, Jenas, Modric (Kranjcar 46), Giovani (Townsend 70) and Crouch (Defoe 46). Substitute not used was Naughton.

Scorer - Bale 55.

Currently injured are Woodgate, Bentley and Keane. Possibly injured include Bassong, Assou-Ekotto and Hutton. Taarabt is set to sign for Q.P.R. at the end of the week. John Bostock has been loaned to Hull City for the coming season. David Button has been loaned out to Plymouth Argyle and Steve Caulker to Leeds United, both for the whole season. Oscar Jansson our Swedish U-21 goalkeeper has joined Northampton Town on a one month loan.

6 August - Our passport to potential £20m riches in the UEFA Champions League lies in beating BSC Young Boys of Switzerland. The first leg is away on 17 August with the return match on 25 August.

7 August - Spurs 3 Fiorentina 2

We concluded our pre-season matches with a well-deserved win over good Serie A opposition, thanks to a goal in the 90th minute by Keane, having being behind twice in the game. Defoe is believed to be currently injured.

Team for the day was - Gomes (Cudicini 68), Kaboul, King (Walker 68), Bassong, Essou-Ekotto (Naughton 78), Lennon (Kranjcar 46), Jenas (Huddlestone 46), Palacios (Livermore 78), Giovani, Pavlyuchenko (Rose 68) and Crouch (Keane 46).

Scorers - Pavlyuchenko 27, Keane 57, 90. Gilardino 7, Ljajic 36. 13 August - Season-long loans have been agreed for Dean Parrett to Plymouth Argyle and Andros Townsend to Ipswich Town. Doncaster Rovers have also negotiated an initial one month loan with

Ryan Mason.

After a ten day trial, a contract has been offered to the 17 year old Honduran “Wonder Kid”, Anthony Lozano.

Still confirmed on the injured list are Woodgate, Bentley, O’Hara and Rose. The rest of the staff are available for selection ahead of tomorrows opening game against Manchester City.

Saturday 14 August 12.45 kick off - Spurs 0 Manchester City 0 The only early starting pipe-opener for the season was a highly entertaining match where both teams merited a point. Spurs were thwarted by an excellent masterclass display of goalkeeping by Joe Hart, the new England No.1 and only costing £600,000. from Shrewsbury Town, with Capello watching in the stands. Following on from his initial cap against Hungary on Wednesday, this display will allay any fears about his undoubted talent and will certainly push Shay Given into second choice position, it would seem. Five superb saves in the first-half kept City in the game. A near post header by Crouch was pushed aside for a corner after 8 minutes. After 11 minutes, Lennon found Crouch who headed back for Defoe to swivel and smash a shot from six yards, only to find Hart brilliantly palming away. On 16 minutes, Hart punches away a Bale corner only for Huddlestone, hovering outside the box, to unleash the sweetest of right foot volleys, but somehow Hart managed to fling himself across the goal and turn the ball round for a corner. On 17 minutes, Assou-Ekotto drilled home a 30 yard shot which deflected against Wright-Phillips and looped towards the top right-hand corner. In a milli-second, Hart changed direction before an acrobatic leap allowed him to keep Spurs at bay with a superb one-handed stop which he tipped over for yet another corner. On 30 minutes, Defoe is again thwarted by Hart when the keeper clears with his right leg when a goal looked likely. When Hart was eventually beaten by Bale after 32 minutes, the ball rebounded off the foot of the post and was scrambled away. A scintillating opening period, a spell of football as entertaining as any that will be witnessed this season. Manchester City made a better showing in the second half but Spurs still spurned chances. Pavlyuchenko had two shots stopped in quick succession after 72 minutes and Bale scuffed the best chance on 84 minutes from the edge of the area. City’s best chance fell to Wright-Phillips to beat the offside trap mid-way through the second period but Assou-Ekotto brilliantly tackled back to avert the danger. An excellent overall performance to sharpen us up for the astro-turf encounter on Tuesday in Switzerland. Team for the day - Gomes, Corluka, Dawson, King, Assou-Ekotto, Lennon (Giovani 77), Huddlestone, Modric, Bale, Crouch (Keane 68) and Defoe (Pavlyuchenko 68). Substitutes not used were Cudicini, Kaboul, Palacios and Bassong.

The cost of each starting line-up shows that money alone cannot guarantee success. Manchester City boasted a £152.1m line-up compared to Spurs more modest figure of £72.9m. Interesting to note that Chelsea paraded £150.7m and Manchester United likely to be confirmed third placed highest spenders with £96.35m when they play on Monday night. Liverpool are next with £82.3m followed by Arsenal on £74.45m just above us in sixth position. In seventh spot are Aston Villa with £63.15 of talent followed by West Ham United on £41.1m and Newcastle United just below them on £40.8m. Contrast these figures with the bottom three - Wolverhampton Wanderers with a line-up costing £15.65m, West Bromwich Albion with £13.93m spent and Blackpool having invested £2m.

The opening matches of the season showed the champions Chelsea, as keen as ever, giving a 6-0 thrashing to W.B.A. Blackpool then surprised everyone by trouncing Wigan Athletic 4-0 away and Aston Villa soundly beat West Ham United 3-0 with Manchester United also winning comfortably 3-0 against Newcastle United. Wolves beat Stoke City 2-1, Blackburn beat Everton 1-0. Sunderland drew 2-2 with Blues, Liverpool drew 1-1 with Arsenal, having had Joe Cole sent off in the 45th minute, and Bolton drew 0-0 with Fulham.

Tuesday 17 August - BSC Young Boys of Switzerland 3 Spurs 2 - European Champions League Play-Off Place First Leg. - An astonishing experience for Spurs, who last entered this competition 49 years ago, when we were defeated 4-2 by Gornik Zabrze in front of 70,000 Poles during which they trailed 3-0, as they did tonight, but went on to lose to Benfica on a 4-3 aggregate in the semi-finals. We can only hope the wake up call arrives for next Wednesday’s return match now reckoned to be potentially worth £30m. The Astroturf was always going to concern Spurs and the artificial pitch was cunningly watered just before kick-off to make it even slicker, playing a role in unsettling Tottenham defenders. The pace rather than the awkward bounces found Spurs puzzled from the start. In the second minute Gomes could only watch as a shot from the edge of the area struck the base of the post. Spurs were unable to time tackles and looked lethargic. Assou-Ekotto picked up a yellow card in the third minute for a trip. Pressure was mounting when a rather fortuitous shot rebounded to Lulic, who looked offside, and he side-footed it into the corner past Gomes after 4 minutes. A second goal on 13 minutes, after Dawson had misjudged a through ball, left Bienvenu an easy task to stroke his shot past the helpless Gomes. There was little sign of cohesion in defence as Spurs looked bewildered by the sheer pace of the Young Boys. With Dawson and Bassong looking shaky and Palacios, Bale, Modric and Giovani unable to hold and control the play, it came as no real surprise when Bassong failed to cut out a clever through ball for Hochstrasser to slam home for 3-0 after 28 minutes. ’Arry had seen enough by now and after 36 minutes Huddlestone replaced Assou-Ekotto with Bale dropping back to left back. After 42 minutes Bassong redeemed himself when he rose and powered home a bullet header to give Spurs a life-line. Following a ravaging by ’Arry at half-time Spurs started to believe in themselves. Modric was replaced by Kranjcar at the start of the second period due to a groin strain and Keane replaced Defoe after 66 minutes when he also appeared to be injured. After surviving a scare or two, Pavlyuchenko eventually combined with Keane, by running over a Corluka pass, to run onto a lovely deft pass and smash a spectacular shot high into the top left hand corner, giving the goalkeeper no chance after 83 minutes to make the score 3-2. A highly charged evening for Spurs who will be more than grateful to take only a one goal deficit back to White Hart Lane next week. A “glorious defeat” was the description given by ’Arry to the media after the game. Team for the night was - Gomes, Corluka, Dawson. Bassong, Assou-Ekotto, Giovani, Palacios, Modric, Bale, Pavlyuchenko and Defoe. Substitutes were Huddlestone for Assou-Ekotto after 36 minutes, Kranjcar for Modric on 46 minutes and Keane for Defoe after 66 minutes. Substitutes not used were Cudicini, Kaboul, Lennon and Crouch. Since returning from Switzerland ‘Arry has confirmed the following players will not be considered against Stoke City on Saturday due to injuries - Modric, Defoe, Keane, Pavlyuchenko, Giovani and King.

Wednesday 18 August - Dorian Dervite, our 22 year old Frenchman signed from Lille in July 2006, has signed for Villarreal. He made his first team debut against Port Vale in the League Cup in November 2006 and spent time on loan with Southend United towards the end of the 2008/9 season making 18 appearances.

Friday 20 August - Jon Obika 19, has joined Crystal Palace on a season-long loan.

Subject to a medical on Friday afternoon, it has been confirmed that Spurs have signed the French international William Gallas 33, on a free transfer with a one-year contract. The ex-Arsenal captain is considered a great signing, given our medical problems with Woodgate and King.

Saturday 21 August - Stoke City 1 Spurs 2 With so many injuries, ’Arry was forced to try out a new-look Spurs formation. Team for the day was - Gomes, Corluka, Dawson, Kaboul, Assou-Ekotto, Lennon, Jenas, Huddlestone, Palacios, Bale and Crouch. Substitutes were Alnwick, Naughton, Walker, Livermore, Rose, Kranjcar and Bassong. The new combination bore fruit in the 19th minute when Lennon put a short ball through for Bale in the penalty area but his chipped effort

was deflected by Sorenson and the ball fell to Crouch to head home. However, Shawcross was on the line and he managed to get his knee to the ball but it bounced off Bale’s head into the net from a yard out. A fortuitous goal, but reward for some early pressure. Fuller then equalised in the 25th minute, following an Etherington corner, when the ball was touched home from six yards following indecision by the Spurs defence. Bale then volleyed in his second goal from 13 yards following a chip across goal by Lennon. This was an exquisite volley which found it’s way to the top left hand corner of Sorenson’s net in screaming fashion, giving him no chance. A true contender for Goal of the Season! Stoke City pressed in the second-half and Gomes was equal to a couple of Tuncay’s efforts around 65 minutes. Another good save by Gomes kept Fuller at bay in the 80th minute. Bale was put through by Jenas, but his chip shot was anticipated well by Sorenson. Kyle Walker came on for Lennon in the 85th minute to add strength to the rearguard action. An equaliser looked certain for Stoke in the 90th minute when the ball appeared to cross the line but Crouch cleared the ball with his chest when kneeling behind the line, following a Shawcross header which Gomes tipped against the bar. Gomes was then pushed and bundled by Huth into the back of the net prior to the ball being scrambled away. The referee was only two yards from the incident and ignored Stoke’s protestations and also failed to give a foul