let's not all get on top of him, we're not katie price after all.

It did feel like a loss; and this just goes to show how much the bar has been raised this year in terms of ambition. I personally think the whole thing allows us to see the true nature of being a spurs fan. Firstly we generally find ourselves frustrated at the fact that until recently and during that one season when Martin Jol forced the article, we’ve always found ourselves looking at the prospect of finishing mid-table with a chance of flexing our muscles in the UEFA cup. Most of the time this usually results in a kind of autonomous twitch in spurs fans along with the denial that we are consigned to such a fate. It comes as no surprise to me that when we find ourselves nestling at the higher echelons on the table and finally in the realm where we feel at home, our ambition and expectations are almost automatically that of a club that deserves to be there. I for one would certainly never deny us this and I feel that this hunger for success in our club is what ultimately separates us from the likes of Aston Villa and indeed Everton who find themselves negotiating their success in a moderate way.

To react as the majority of us have to an away draw at Goodison Park is brilliant; because it simply goes to show that as fans we’re looking to consign the kind of capitulating performances of the past to where they belong, in the ‘dark ages’ of a club that is finding it’s head rather rapidly appearing above the clouds. Though as they say, anything can happen in football, and for that matter it would be better to make sure that we’re getting there sooner rather than later.

The game itself was a very aggressive affair, especially in the first half where several yellow cards were picked up by either side, Bale had to come on for Assou-Ekotto for this and also a fair bit of haphazard defending which I think we all could feel may have ended with us a man down. This may have been due to Kranjcar’s insistence of playing quite a fluid role that left Benoit and later Gareth exposed. Whilst shirking his defensive responsibilities somewhat Niko was fairly cool working with an improving Palacios to seek out opportunities for our front men. Who unfortunately lacked a certain sharpness today.

The two goals came relatively early in the second half and seemingly would have killed of the game if it weren’t for the lack of discipline that allowed Everton to commit the majority of their determined players into attacks in our final third every 3 or so minutes. Note that our two goals were relatively well taken in comparison, Dawson with a diving header moving off a defender, and Defoe exploiting his new found hook-up with Aaron Lennon providing a driven low cross to smash past Tim Howard.

So it came to pass that they managed to score firstly from Yakubu with about 15 minutes of the match to go which brought on the blitz resulting in an equalizer from Cahill; both goals a product of a saturation of Everton players in our 6 yard box. At this point is can be said that the majority of the fans would have been aggrieved as it was certainly the capitulating spurs of the past that we had seen, rather than the world beaters of Wigan fame.

Then came the penalty which as we all know now was missed by Defoe. I was one of the people who knew before it was taken in some kind of weird voodoo moment; and later questioned why someone who has such a strange record with spot-kicks would have been chosen to take it especially considering Tim Howard’s pedigree in relation to stopping them. It’s fair to say that should Defoe have scored, the confidence given to him through doing so would have given him more than enough rocket fuel for Wolves next week, so discussion on this is a bit of a moot point to be honest.

Wilson seemed to have done some damage in winning the penalty for us; but the good news is that he seemed to have gone to hospital as a precaution rather than an inevitability, and may be in contention for next week’s game against Wolves.

The point that is something we should take to heart is that if we were to look at our ranking now and discuss whether we would be happy with it at the start of the season, I’m not sure that we’d find a single fan who would be as unsettled as we are now, at least not in jest anyway. It just goes to show that we’re a supportership that’s reflecting the transition that the club is in too. With the fixtures we have coming up, (the Manchester City game the main issue in hand until around February), we should really be looking to take the issue now by the scruff of it’s neck and move onwards, as we’re looking at a tricky triple header of Chelsea, United and Arsenal in the later months of the league, three games that will really test our credentials.

]]> http://mcnamarasband.wordpress.com/2009/12/05/everton-preview-2/ Sat, 05 Dec 2009 21:18:20 +0000 mac http://mcnamarasband.wordpress.com/2009/12/05/everton-preview-2/

It was this fixture last year when Ledley got himself into trouble with the Police having returned to London and then gone out on the town. I was totally surprised by this figuring him to be a first class professional and with a knee like his a night staggering around would be from the pain and swelling at his home rather than night clubs and the street. Thankfully a Sunday night presents less opportunities to our night clubbing, world cup/champions league wannabes and certainly for Ledley who remains unfit but don’t rule out some sort of embarrassment in the press!

After our Carling Cup headshake we return to league action and a ground that has provided two nil nil draws on our last visits. With Everton’s fitness crisis David Moyes joked that he might get a game himself so we should be able to get on the score sheet this time round. If we play anything like we did in the second half at Villa we should win at a canter but let’s not get carried away.

Having proved themselves unworthy of a place in the week Harry has no selection problems and is likely to revert to the side that started at Aston Villa. It will be interesting to see if Luka Modric makes the bench as the Spurs website is now picturing him back in training or whether the forthcoming home games against Wolves and Manchester City offer him more opportunity.

With the way Niko Kranjcar has settled into the side of late it no longer looks a straight swap and Tom Huddlestone will need to put in a decent performance to avoid becoming the casualty when Luka resurfaces.

 Everton are always decent opponents. Their recent record at WHL has been outstanding – barring the Carling cup game earlier in the season – but are more vulnerable at home against us. After seeing the results today we need to get at least a point to keep distance on Man City, Liverpool and Villa and a win will see us return to third place. Can we win this – Yes we certainly can and I predict we will do 2-0.

on your feet lad

Today’s match report is going to be important; and on the back of some over zealous rating by myself after last week’s game; today’s will be a minute by minute match report. Aston Villa will be welcoming us to Villa Park, and on the back of our 9-1 win will be aiming to take us lot down a peg or two.

Importantly they are a team that we have struggled against away in the past and with the strength in the wide areas of their pitch could offer our tentative fullbacks plenty of food for thought today. Whilst Modric isn’t back yet many fans are slightly perturbed by the suggestion by Redknapp that he’s looking to change the setup for the away day.

Many cries of; ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it!’ and ‘Keano doesn’t do anything anymore’, will be met with the likely appearances of Jenas and Keano respectively. Whilst this seems like madness on the part of the gaffer; the only way competition for places will be if we aim to keep certain important players at the club rather than replacing them every time they feel they’re not achieving much playing time, then we will definite benefit from the continuity of our success.

A win today would definitely put us in a great position to receive Manchester City in a couple of weeks time, who may offer us the most threat, (other than ourselves of course), to achieving the aim of a top four finish this season. Aston Villa would love to be the villains today in relation to our title hopes, but in my eyes if we keep our concentration up and cauterize the threat posed by Villa on the wings and up top, we should be able to enjoy continued success.

Players to look for today; Kranjcar, Defoe and Lennon who certainly impressed last week aswell as Gomes who’s consistancy at the moment is great. Roll on 3 o clock.

liquid awesome

When we went out of our way to make a move for Niko at the end of the summer window; most people saw the purchase as a shrewd move in backing up lynchpin Luka. However despite the absence of Modric, Kranjcar has found very limited time on the pitch despite being a perfect ‘fit’ for the role.

Much can be made of the suggestion that Redknapp values Robbie’s influence on the pitch so much that he overlooked Kranjcar for the time being. On his performance against Wigan, (despite the other distractions that game had to offer) you can’t help but feel that playing Robbie in his position is somewhat shortsighted when you consider that Niko can simply do it better; and with another avenue to explore in attack the confidence that is installed in the players at the moment is certainly something we should be looking to maintain.

However, this weekend could very well see the return of Modric himself which could mean one of two things; firstly that Kranjcar returns to the bench for the time being; (which I believe personally is pretty unlikely), or we’ll have to rejig the system to incorporate both talented Croatians. Whether this would mean a fluid role for both, switching from wingplay to attacking midfield, (I’m hoping in the absence of Jenas) could really be something that would excite the Spurs faithful. If this is the case; then Huddlestone also finds himself in a bit of a quandary as it’s fair to say that when looking at the team sheet, he’ll find himself hard pressed to usurp Palacios, Lennon, or Crouch/Keane for a place.

If only we were allowed 12 players! For me though, Krancjar seriously has to get more game time, as his quality is something which I always tend to find myself comparing to Berbatov, which is a joy that we’ve repressed since his acrimonious departure to Manchester.

In other assorted newsy bits. It’s all gone a bit quiet on the western front in relation to Joe Jordan’s possible move to take over as the Scotland manager. Whilst some of you might say; ‘who?’, this fiery scot is one of the member of backroom staff which for me is invaluable in our recent turn of fortunes as he seems like a seriously ‘to the point’ kind of guy. Fingers crossed he won’t be heading anywhere, but the lack of any official statement to suggest that he would shy away from a move might be an indictment of his possible plan.

The transfer wagon has also started rolling again and whilst at this stage any links without specific insider knowledge backing them up are indicative of lazy hacks with a penchant for annoying us yids, I’ll be taking a closer look at some proposed targets in the near future to give you the low down.

Here’s some light viewing to keep you occupied.

Having struggled to find a decent feed of the game I tuned in to see Bolton celebrating their opening goal. Already concerned by our starting back four for our most physical away game of the season it took one minute to crystallise my fears.

After 20 minutes I was even more worried for we had our backs to the wall and had little decent play of our own. We then started to get the ball down and play it around with some confidence resulting in an equaliser from Kranjcar following a decent cross from Palacios that Crouch nodded back for a volley in from around 12 yards.

We were decent in central midfield and it was Jenas who picked up the predicted card for a slightly late sliding effort. As the half wore on he and Palacios started to capitalise and we looked the more likely to score at half time.

Having got back into the game my concern was can we keep them out for another 45 minutes? After starting brightly and continuing to dominate the play it looked pretty likely until another casual piece of defending at the back post allowed Kevin Davies to put Bolton back in front. Frankly it was poor in that Davies did what everyone knows he will do; use all of his strength to get the ball into the back of the net.

Not to be put off we had a few decent efforts before Corluka managed to equalise from a Kranjcar corner heading it back across the goal and into the near corner. From there we pressed with Defoe, on for Keane, and Crouch both having opportunities to make Jaaskelainen show his ability.

Lennon was useful on the counter and I am liking his new found ability to contribute in winning the ball back and make tackles. Jenas had a decent game and is starting to look like he knows what to do with the ball in open play.

It was felt to be a game we could win but after being one down in a minute, not having a shot until equalising after 25 minutes and then falling behind for a second time a draw is a pretty reasonable result particularly when considering that we usually crumble in such circumstances. At least we continued to look for a winner on a ground we have never won at before.

The infamous summer transfer window is now well and truly shut. UEFA have told everyone to shut up and make do until January now. But are all the Premier League clubs sufficiently stocked?

The penultimate article looks at Sunderland, Tottenham and West Ham.

Sunderland

Sunderland were looking to improve their squad in quality by using their renewed wealth after investment. With Djibril Cisse’s loan period ending, a striker to partner Kenwyne Jones was paramount, as was securing more imposing players to reinforce the spine of the team.

Darren Bent joined from Tottenham after becoming frustrated at Spurs’ inflated possession of strikers. He’s started solidly and should continue that form throughout the season. Lorik Cana arrives with a huge reputation and will form a feisty central midfield partnership with Lee Cattermole.

Most of the reinforcement was focused around the defence with Michael Turner, Paraguay international Paulo Da Silva and pacey ex-Lyon defender John Mensah all coming in.

Tottenham

Harry Redknapp had set his sights on taking advantage of his old club Portsmouth’s situation. A raid for a number of their players was touted by the press- David James, Peter Crouch, Sylvain Distin and Niko Kranjcar all mentioned as possible arrivals.

Crouch and Kranjcar ended up at White Hart Lane on September 1^st, with Redknapp having to keep faith with his current goalkeepers Carlo Cudicini and Heurelho Gomes rather than go for James. A centre half was brought in- the highly rated Sebastien Bassong joining from relegated Newcastle United. Kyle Naughton and Kyle Walker are mouth-watering prospects for the full back positions, and the pair were signed for a sizeable fee from Sheffield United.

After Luka Modric was ruled out for the first three months of the season, Kranjcar was the only deadline day deal that Redknapp completed.

West Ham

Finances are Upton Park were sure to limit Gianfranco Zola’s ability to improve his squad. A striker or two was his priority, but with big clubs chasing his centre back pairing of Matthew Upson and James Collins, he needed to be prepared to replace them.

With Collins joining Aston Villa, Zola drafted in Manuel Da Costa from Fiorentina in a swap deal for the promising Savio Nsereko who had struggled to settle in London. Radoslav Kovac and Herita Ilunga completed permanent moves to the Hammers, with the latter in particular impressing last season. Luis Jimenez should provide a spark of creativity from midfield.

But after only signing Alessandro Diamanti, West Ham are massively light in the forward position. They may well need to dip into the free transfer market. But with Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink recently joining Hull, how many good yet free strikers can there be out there?

In the words of a £15m signing at Spurs Lodge in 2008, the footballer who couldn’t wait to rise through Arsenal youth ranks before he moved to Ewood Park in 2006:

“We can do anything we want, anything we put our minds to.”

Exactly, Spurs wanted to sign everyone in the summer!

Ex-Arsenal Midfielder, celebrating at The Emirates after scoring the opening goal for Spurs in The North London Derby, much to bear the wrath of gooners and more importantly, the author of this note.

Once hailed as “The New Beckham”, the former Arsenal trainee cuts a miserable figure at White Hart Lane these days (if at all, he is on the bench). Leave aside the chance to show off his boots embossed with DB7, he is struggling to get a chance to kick a ball. The spurs midfielder is yet to start for Spurs, this season.

Around one and a half months back, he was left with a cut face and a black eye by a punch from an unknown lad (who must’ve been a Gooner. We are proud of you arsemate. A Toast to You!) while he was dining at a North London restaurant. Plus, a few weeks back, he got arrested of driving under the influence of alcohol when he smashed his Porsche onto lamp-post. Consequently, the midfielder been banned of driving for one year and was fined two-week wages by the Spurs.

Icing on the cake, his loan move to Manchester City also fell through on the last day of the summer transfer window.

Lets all laugh! Hahahahahaha….

You are out, C*ntley! Where will you go now? Stoke in January? Join Larsson to avoid relegation at Birmingham? Or would you like to play under another like-minded Bulldog with Headset at Hull? I even doubt that, C*ntley. And don’t even try to dream that Manchester City will come again—you aren’t even going to earn bucks.

Being at the most confused club in the Premier League at the moment, what more can you expect! Presenting to you: The Roflham Lolspurz!

"I sold Chimbonda on the way up here" - Harry to Spurs fans at Doncaster (Carling Cup)

• Sold Defoe to Pompey in for £9 million only to bring him back after an year for £15 million.
• Bought the teen sensation-Giovani Dos Santos from Barcelona for around £5 million and ultimately loaned him out to Ipswich Town to avoid the further payments to Barcelona. According to transfer clause, Spurs may have to pay Barcelona as much as £8.6 million for Giovani, depending upon his appearances for the club. I guess he is back now at the club.
• In Jan ‘09, Robbie Keane was back at White Hart Lane after seven disappointing months at Anfield.
• Pascal Chimbonda resigned for Spurs in Jan ‘09 having lasted only six months at Sunderland. And Redknapp again offloaded him to Blackburn in this summer
• They also wanted to sign Patrick Vieira, the cult figure among Gunners—their fiercest, and arguably the most intense rivals in the Premier League.
• When Sol Campbell moved to Notts County, Redknapp expressed his desire to bring him back to white hart lane once again. Apparently, the fans who were infuriated with Sol’s move to Arsenal, back in 2001, stopped him.
• When all the big clubs were quiet, Spurs, as ever, were active in the market on the transfer deadline day. Redknapp has almost raped Portsmouth of their finest players – Peter Crouch, Jermaine Defoe and Niko Kranjcar. He almost got David James too. If Portsmouth head towards relegation, the convict has to be Harry Redknapp.

What can I say, Levy?
To me at least, its not the real estate business. You just can’t buy and sell. Why don’t you just make some use of your Land Economy degree to find a better place for your fans to sit and watch your c*nts?

Arsemates, give me more reasons to laugh at Bentley and Spurs. I will update the list with your reference.

God is Awesome. God is a Gooner. Cheers!

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]]> http://hoofit.wordpress.com/2009/09/03/transfer-window-review-united-pompey-potters/ Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:22:15 +0000 Bradley King http://hoofit.wordpress.com/2009/09/03/transfer-window-review-united-pompey-potters/

The infamous summer transfer window is now well and truly shut. UEFA have told everyone to shut up and make do until January now. But are all the Premier League clubs sufficiently stocked?

How did Manchester United, Portsmouth and Stoke do?

Manchester Utd

The big question was how United would make up for the impact and goals that the Madrid-bound Cristiano Ronaldo provided. Carlos Tevez also decided not to stay at the club, increasing the clubs problems up top.

Antonio Valencia was signed from Wigan to slot into the wing position vacated by Ronaldo. But he will never provide anywhere near the goal tally that the Portuguese glamour boy did. He’ll need to give fellow new arrival Michael Owen the service that he’s been lacking in the past few years at Newcastle.

The United squad definitely look weaker this year. It’s difficult to see where the goals are going to come from if Owen misfires, because Dimitar Berbatov has been very hit and miss during his time at Old Trafford.

Portsmouth

It was a summer of complete upheaval at Fratton Park. The club only just avoided going under on a number of occasions, so just to get through the off-season is an achievement in itself.

Among others, Peter Crouch, Glen Johnson, Sylvain Distin and Niko Kranjcar were sacrificed by the club and were replaced by Frederic Piquionne, Steve Finnan, Mike Williamson and Kevin- Prince Boateng. Replacing quality with the untried, unsuccessful and unwanted can result in just one conclusion.

To be fair, the Portsmouth board have done their best to provide something for manager Paul Hart to work with- he has spent an estimated £15million in transfer fees. It’s just a shame it’s been on general rubbish.

Stoke

After a very successful first season of top flight football, Stoke were looking to strengthen and freshen up the machine. Ideally, Tony Pulis would have wanted new players that will not only add to the physical side of the team, but also offer something a little different.

Perhaps most importantly, Pulis kept the squad of last season together as well as improving it. The hotly tipped Diego Arismendi and Sanli Tuncay are not what would be described as typical Stoke players. Tuncay’s ex-Middlesbrough team mate Robert Huth also put pen to paper on a much more emblematic deal at the Britannia.

Stoke will need to have an extra dimension to their game this season if they are to avoid being ‘found out’. Arismendi and Tuncay could provide that.

Tottenham have completed the signing of Niko Kranjcar from Portsmouth for a fee in the region of £2.5million. The Croatian midfielder has been drafted in as a replacement for his fellow countryman, Luka Modric, who is facing a spell on the sidelines after breaking his leg against Birmingham at the weekend. Spurs left it late to wrap up the deal and the paperwork was only pushed through moments before the 5pm deadline. White Hart Lane chief Harry Redknapp knows all about the player following their time together at Fratton Park and the midfielder is sure to play a key role in the forthcoming season.

With one day left in the Premier League transfer window and Spurs losing Huerelho Gomes, Ledley King and Luka Modric to injury, it seems ‘Arry Redknapp will have to dip in to the transfer market a couple of times today or tomorrow.

Unsurprisingly he is rumoured to be returning to his former club Portsmouth for Niko Kranjcar and David James in an £8m double-bid. Kranjcar is a very tidy attacking midfielder who could be the playmaker that Tottenham desperately need in the centre of midfield. I have concerns with Modric playing in a central pairing given his lack of ‘presence’.  This, however, doesn’t address the glaring problem the club still has on the left but I’ll get to that.

David James is a clown and sadly I think if he comes to Spurs then he’ll retain the “number one shirt” even after Gomes returns to fitness.  Gomes is by no means perfect but he has improved immeasurably in the last 12 months.  I think he’s undoubtedly a better keeper than James but he won’t get a fair crack of the whip under Redknapp who will guarantee James a first team place.  Cudicini has looked very shaky in his limited outings since his signing so there is no doubt that Tottenham do need someone.

I should be more positive about the move to sign Martin Petrov for £3.5m from Manchester City.  He’s a natural left-sided player and is regarded for his pace and crossing.  He would certainly be an improvement on our other left-sided options even if I’m not overly-impressed with his contribution in a City shirt since his 2007 move.  My enduring memory of him is the red card he received for kicking Leon Osman in a league defeat to Everton last year and he’s also had his fair share of injury problems.  Providing we don’t pay him what he gets at City (rumoured to be £70k per week which may have played a factor in him turning down Spurs two years ago) then it seems a good deal.

The club have just announced a “link up” with Brazilian club Internacional and it was hoped that it may have helped Spurs land midfielder Sandro.  The media, however, are reporting that the bid has been turned down and Sandro will remain with Internacional.  I’ve never seen him play but I’m reliably informed that he’s rather good even if he may not have been ready for first team action yet.

Rafael van der Vaart won’t be joining Spurs it seems.  A player of his quality would have been a hell of a capture for Redknapp but according to Sky Sports he will be retained following the departure from Real Madrid of Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben last week.

Summary:

Petrov: Looks most likely

Kranjcar: Would be a good buy

James: Likely if he’s first choice

Sandro: Seemingly not

van der Vaart: highly unlikely