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So here we have it, the end of the season. We set our own personal best but at the end of the day our best fell agonisingly short. We took it to the wire and to finish on 72 points and to miss out on Champions League football goes to show how strong and competitive the Premier League has been this season. 72 points would have got us 3^rd in 2012 and 2^nd in 2011, which just goes to show how unlucky we have been this season.

As I said we took it to the wire, we beat Sunderland with another worldy from a certain Gareth Bale. But it should have been so much more comfortable with 2 stone wall penalties not being given (with Bale being yellow carded for diving on one of them) and another that we have seen be given countless times to other teams in the past. We held up our end of the bargain and although it wasn’t the 4-0 thumping Alan Pardrew said he didn’t care if they lost by, the 1-0 loss to Arsenal by his Newcastle team didn’t do us any favours.

If we look back to the beginning of the season, this was supposed to be a season of change for our boys. We had a manager that many didn’t want (I even remarked that we could end up with Steffen Freund in charge by the end of the season), we had sold two of our best players in Modric and Van Der Vaart, and Ledley King had hung up his boots having lost the battle against his chronic knee injury. Many of the pundits had us falling away from the elite teams in the league (Mark Lawrenson had us finishing 7^th, only one place above QPR… Just shows what he knows), but apart from our apparent “dip” in form around February/March we kept pace with those elite teams and even caused a few upsets along the way.

We can look back on this season with some fond memories. Yeah it didn’t start well, but we won at Old Trafford for the first time in 23 years. We had an amazing 10 minute spell against Manchester City to win 3-1 when it look like we were going to go down to another disappointing defeat. And who will ever forget all those top drawer goals from Gareth Bale? My goal of the Season is the rocket he set off that got us the three points against West Ham (it was made even sweeter that it won me just under £200 from a £15 bet!).

Hopefully Daniel Levy will get the check book out nice and early this summer and help AVB improve on what has turned out to be a very good squad to give us that extra something to get us back into the Champions League where many feel we have deserved to be for the past two seasons.

As it is the day after the end of the season I thought I would do a player by player report, marking them with grades and given a little insight as to why I have marked them so:

Goalkeepers

Hugo Lloris: #hugoboss gets a solid A from me. When we signed the current French number 1 keeper it was seen as a bit of a coupe. Many believed that Hugo was too good a player to not go to a Champions League team, but his signing showed our intent for the season. The reported £8m we spent on him is already starting to look like a bargain as he alone has saved us many points that I think Friedel would have spurned.

Brad Friedel: “Big-Bad Brad” gets a B- from me. He has been solid when called upon but at 42 I think he has lost a step, and with AVB wanting to play a high defensive line it was always going to show bad on Friedel’s weaknesses.

Defenders

Jan Vertonghen: “Super Jan” gets my second solid A. He defensive attributes remind me of a certain Ledley Kings; he reads the game very well, puts in solid tackles and is quick off the mark to make up for any mistake – his own or others. But add to that his ability to slot into the Left Back position with ease, his nice touch and passing ability and then his ability to find the back on the net, we have one of the most promising defenders in Europe playing for us

Michael Dawson: Daws gets an A- for his efforts this season, on and off the pitch. He was out of favour big time at the beginning of the season, with AVB trying to pack him off to QPR. But Daws dug his heels in and stood firm saying that he wanted to fight for his place at Spurs, and fight he did. He worked his way ahead of Gallas and Caulker to become our preferred partner for Vertonghen in the heart of our defence and he wore the shirt and the captains’ armband with pride. I’ve heard many refer to him as “Mr Tottenham” and it would take a brave man to argue otherwise after his massive show of loyalty at the beginning of the season, he seems to have filled the void of the leader on the pitch very well.

Steven Caulker: Young, strong, fast and seems to be in possession of a footballing brain, this has been the true breakthrough year for Caulker. Having showed such promise at the beginning of the season, we didn’t see as much of him towards the end as I would have liked, but in AVB we trust, and I believe that we have one of the most promising Centre Backs in the country. A future Spurs Captain maybe? I’m giving Caulker a solid B for his first full season in the first team

BAE: “Don’tcha wish your left back was B-A-E?” There probably won’t be as many teams as there was last year wishing that, as although Benny has still been solid, I don’t think he has been at the dizzy highs that he has reached in recent seasons. Because of this I am giving him a B-. Benny seems to have fallen out of favour with AVB and if it wasn’t for our lack of any cover at Left Back I don’t think we would have seen as much of him this season as we have.

Kyle Walker: Another who hasn’t hit the dizzying highs of last season, Walker has had a hit and miss season for us and I am going to give him my first C, albeit a C+. It has been a hit and miss season for our young England International but he is still young, with bags of talent and I believe this season will just be a blip and he will be back to his magical best next time around.

Kyle Naughton: Often played out of position at Left Back this season, I don’t think he was ever going to have an amazing season. He made a lot of mistakes and never looked comfortable, but at least we got to see some of him and he wasn’t just left as a back-up for Walker. Our other Kyle gets a C- from me

William Gallas: He still has the brain of a top flight Centre Back, but he doesn’t have the legs of one anymore. Gallas was brilliant at the beginning of the season for Caulker, being that more experienced player to help guide him through his nervy first few games for us. But for his own performances Gallas has been on a downward spiral since his heroics against AC Milan in the Champions League at the Lane. Granted he often played in front of Friedel who wasn’t quick enough himself to cover for Gallas’ loss of the proverbial yard, but I don’t think there would have been much more that playing in front of Lloris would have done for him this season. Good footballing brain, but no longer has it for the top flight, I’m giving Gallas a C-.

Midfielders

Gareth Bale: This man has to take the plaudits: PFA Player and Young Player of the year, and the Football Writers player of the year. I can’t think of a time when we have had a player of such skill and ability turn up and play pretty much week in week out at the top level. Gascoigne maybe? Hoddle? Even if it was either of them, that was a lifetime ago and I’m glad we have our Welsh Wizard playing for us. Bale’s season deserves nothing less than an A+.

Aaron Lennon: “Always the bridesmaid, never the Bride” is a saying I think can sum up Aaron Lennon for us. 9 times out of 10 Lennon comes up with the goods for us, but doesn’t seem to get the praise he deserves, as he gets overshadowed by our star player (Bale, VdV, Modric, Berbatov etc). He has had a solid season without setting it alight, so I’m doing to give him an A-.

Sandro: we only got half a season out of “The Beast” but what a half a season it was! He bossed the midfield and mopped up anything that came his way. He was amazing up until he did his knee in. It’s a shame that he got injured, as I think we would have easily got 3^rd if he hadn’t. I’m going to give Sandro’s half season an A-.

Moussa Dembele: Another very good debut season from another of our summer signings, and up until Sandro got injured, they looked to be onto one of *those* central midfield pairings that other teams wished they had. His season stuttered through parts as he wasn’t able to get the same partnership going with Parker but he was still good when called on and I am going to give him a nice B+.

Clint Dempsey: “Deuce” has had a solid season for us, coming up with some vital goals (we will always have Old Trafford) and his work rate is second to none. He might not light up the pitch when he’s playing but I’d rather him in my team than Gio Dos Santos. I’m giving Dempsey a B+.

Gylfi Sigurdsson: He had an opposite season to Dembele; it started slowly and ended on a high. Never a starting regular but always on hand when called upon. Gylfi get a solid B from me.

Tom Carroll: The rising star. I’m going to give him a B-. Tom Carroll can be the future of Spurs if we nurture him in the correct way. In the glimpses we saw of him he looks like a good player, but still one for the future. I hope he gets a full season on loan to another Prem team next season so he can continue to grow into the player he can be.

Scott Parker: The injury he got towards the end of last season seems to have resulted in Scotty losing a step. He is still quite reliable when called upon but is nowhere near the player he was last season. Maybe it’s something to do with being thrown into the deep end after Sandros injury, or maybe it’s the beginning of the eventual slip that all players suffer from in the twilight of their career. Still a good pro to have about, I’m giving Parker a solid C.

Tom Huddlestone: Thudd only really played the last few months for us, and was still quite erratic during them. We saw the best of him when he came on as a sub against City where he bossed the game and pretty much won it for us without scoring. But that was it for me, he did do badly, but he didn’t boss games like that as we know he can. I’m giving Thudd a solid C for his efforts this season.

Lewis Holtby: Can’t say much about Holtby, he didn’t get much playing time and when he did he was a bit meh. Always looked hungry for the ball and chases everything until it’s a lost cause, I think we didn’t get a chance to see the real Holtby that we heard about before he arrived. I hope we do next year as I think he will be our replacement for Van Der Vaart. Lewis gets a solid C from

Strikers:

Jermain Defoe: JD gets a B- from me. He scored 14 for us in all competitions and you have to remember that he was injured for a few months as well. I was tempted to give him a higher rating but he lets himself down with his greediness on the ball (some will say that’s a necessary evil for his game) and it seemed to take him 5-6 chances to get the ball in the back on the net. Still reliable and I hope we don’t sell him (yet).

Emmanuel Adebayor: Ade gets my lowest rating out of our first team players. I’m giving him a D+. We saw at the end of the season that he still possesses the ability to unlock defences and that when on form he is a quality striker but where was it for the majority of the season? He claims that the fact that he hasn’t had a proper pre-season for a few years and a niggling injury are to blame for his loss of form. Only time will tell if he was telling the truth.

The Manager:

AVB: What a season he has had. The media held a witch hunt for his head pretty much up to Christmas, and I think it was Adrian Durham who tweeted that ‘Arry would take QPR to a higher finish in the league than AVBs Tottenham. He proved the doubters wrong and has made a case for him to be a quality manager for years to come. It’s onwards and upwards for me and I can’t wait to see what he can get out of the team next season. AVB gets a solid A from me for his brilliance this season. I would have given him an A just for the way he celebrates every goal!

So the seasons done. We missed out again by the skin of our teeth. But I have faith in AVB and I believe that he is the man to lead us forward. He is young and has some brilliant ideas so let’s hope Levy and the board get behind him and help him build a team that we will be talking about in years to come, just like we do with the great Bill Nicholson and his ‘61 winning double team.

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Until August: Come. On. You. Spurs!!!

Not the greatest result, but it’s better than a loss and it’s better than what I could have imagined happening under ‘Arry.

I’ve heard people say on the forums that we should have brought Defoe on once we equalised, and that we should have gone for the kill. I’m of the opinion that bringing Defoe on would have only led to one result: a big fat loss for us.

Granted, Defoe has scored consistently for us this season, but the man takes 5-7 chances to get that one in the back of the net. That’s something he would not have been afforded last night.

And who would we have taken off?

Adebayor? Who was in the middle of his best game of the season? Having scored one and set up the other? No.

Parker or Huddlestone? And get over run in midfield leading to a collapse and probably a loss? No.

I think AVB got his subs spot on and although we didn’t light the game up, we showed a lot of grit and determination to make sure that we came out of the game with at least a point.

I unfortunately didn’t watch the game as I was at work but my brother told me that both Souness and Hoddle said that we are worse than we were last year. I’ll leave the rest of this to my brother, who wrote this during his lunch break because his kindle’s battery died and he forgot his charger…

“Souness/Hoddle: Spurs worse than last year

Are we? If Spurs get 6 points from the last two games then it would be three points better off from last year – suggesting that perhaps Spurs have improved. But this got me thinking, have we improved, are we treading water in reality or, as suggested last night, taken a step backwards. Well let us have a look…

Goalkeepers

In – Lloris

Out – Cudicini

Clearly this is an improvement; Hugo is a world class keeper. Friedel was a good signing but really cannot play the sweeper keeper that AVB wants.

Verdict: Improved

Defence

In – Vertonghen

Out – Corluka, Nelson, Bassong, King (Retired)

King was irreplaceable even with only one knee. It would have been awesome to have seen him and Jan together but we may not have signed him if King had played on. Caulker could also be considered an ‘In’ as he came on the scene back from Swansea and I wish he would get more playing time while Kaboul is injured but he appears to be out of AVB’s plans for the time being. Dawson, while being a great servant of the club and consistently giving 110%, really does not fit with the managers defensive plans – If Kaboul had been fit then he would have been playing alongside Jan all season. I suppose the most telling point is that we have already conceded 5 more goals than last season with two games still to play. In terms of players actually sold, I think Corluka is probably the only one we may have missed. He would have been used when we needed a more solid back line perhaps…

Verdict: Treading water

Midfield

In – Sigurdsson, Dembele, Holtby

Out – Kranjcar, Pienaar, Modric, Van der Vaart, Jenas

Simply put, Bale moving to be basically a striker has made our midfield a lot weaker than the transfers may tell. Also I cannot help thinking that Pienaar would have been much better playing on the left (vacated by Bale) with AVB’s tactics rather than Harry’s. However, even if Bale had stayed left wing I still believe our midfield is weaker than last season. Holtby may yet prove to be as skilful as VdV, he tries a lot but doesn’t seem to get much done – to me it feels like he is running in thick mud, a little like VdV did. I don’t mean to be harsh, he will be a great player but when he has had the chance he hasn’t shown me that he is class – hopefully this is him just settling. Dembele is a very good player, exceptional at times but he is not Modric. Dembele is better at breaking up play but I would suggest Modric was better at this than given credit for. Sigurdsson is a skilful and goal scoring midfielder but seems to be a little out of his depth at Spurs, he lacks a little pace which doesn’t help – better than Kranjcar though. He is getting better and I was surprised to see him dropped recently to the bench. I like him a lot but can’t help feeling he is a player suited to a team finishing 6th – 10th.

Verdict: Weaker

Strikers

In – Dempsey

Out – Dos Santos, Saha

Lets face it, if Ade had played this year as he did last we would probably be second (or at least top 4 finish in our own hands). Defoe has made up for some of Ade’s shortfall but he frustrates, even more so since coming back from injury. Dos Santos never seemed to get it right at Spurs, always struck me as a little over confident while not being up for the battle. Clearly that is why Barca let us have him. Saha was a weird buy in the first place so no wonder he left. Dempsey suffers from not being the main man, he was a Fulham and therefore had licence to go missing every so often. Don’t get me wrong, he has not played terribly for Spurs just that he is not a Champions league player and that is the type of player we should have brought in. He has also been playing wide to accommodate Bale in the centre which has not helped his cause.

Verdict: Treading water (just)

So overall I think we are no better or worse than last year, improvements have been made but some areas have taken a step back. I think what Hoddle and Souness were really getting at is that Spurs are no longer the gung ho team they were under Harry, and to the pundit/neutral that would be considered as going backwards as it is not so entertaining to watch. We will wait until the end of the season before discussing how to improve the team, we may still finish third…”

So there you have it, even just one more win will put us level with our total from last year, so if we are to get Champions League football we are going to have to be better than we were last year. Even if we finish in 5^th there is a chance that we can finish with a better point tally this year. So its all swings and roundabouts when you look at it like that. Are we any worse than we were last year? I don’t think so. Are we any better? I don’t think we are there as well. The only difference between this year and last for us is that Chelsea have been better in the league, as if it wasn’t for their return to form and the top four the top of the league would have a familiar look to it from last year as we go into the final two games of the season.

So with all to play for we have to get 6 points out of 6 and hope that one or both Chelsea and Arsenal drop points, which isn’t that unrealistic seeing as Arsenal haven’t been very consistent this season and Chelsea have a Europa League final sandwiched in between their remaining fixtures.

So let’s get behind the team and roar them to a better points tally than last year! COYS!

Follow me on twitter @chriswadds (my brothers handle is @waddiealex) and the blog @thfc1882dotcom. There is also a facebook page, why don’t you “like” it if you so wish at www.facebook.com/1882thfc

So here we are. Chelsea vs Spurs. The game everyone has known will have a massive say on our season since it was postponed. If Chelsea win, they all but guarantee themselves a top 4 finish. If we win, we still have a chance of a top 4 finish. If we don’t win, why hello 5^th place (don’t mention it, maybe even 6^th…).

We go into this game on a 7 match unbeaten run, albeit with a few too many 2-2 draws thrown in there for my liking. There will be fitness doubts over the duo of Lennon and Dembele but if they are in contention do not be surprised if they both feature, even if it is from the bench. If neither starts I would expect Holtby and Scott Parker to take their places.

We haven’t won at Stamford Bridge since 1990 when Lineker and Howells scored in a 2-1 win. Spurs have been fond of these long records where Chelsea are concerned, but we’ve already knocked one 23-year-old record to touch this season when we beat Manchester United 3-2 at Old Trafford. I for one would take a repeat performance against Chelsea. It might not be good for my health, but it would be good for our hopes of a top 4 finish.

The team shouldn’t need much inspiration after Szczesny’s comments to the press. All AVB needs to do is print 18 copies of his quote and put it on top of all the squads kits for them to read. The only words he should have to say are: “Prove him wrong”.

Our back five will hopefully be untouched from the one that helped us record our first clean sheet in the league since our 0-0 draw with QPR back in January. The only change I could see happening is Vertonghen being pushed to Left Back with Steven Caulker slotting into the Centre Back position. This is one I hope does not happen as we need our strongest line up possible.

I am taking my midfield 5 as if Lennon and Dembele miss out on starting places. I would have Scott Parker and Huddlestone in the deeper central positions with Bale, Dempsey and Holtby as the forward three, with all able to switch between those positions.

Upfront I would go for Adebayor for this one. It’s a hard choice, and I was very tempted to stick Defoe in there as he does like to perform against the bigger teams. But as Chelsea’s Centre back pairing (whoever it will be) will be big and strong, we will need the presence of Adebayor to hold up the ball, and as a target man if needed.

My starting line-up is:

I predict an energized performance with a lot of end-to-end attacking football, with us nicking a vital win via a 3-2 score line, with none other than Gareth Bale to get the all-important winning goal.

We need this win and we need to break this 23 year jinx that we have at The Bridge. We’ve had some important wins against Chelsea in recent memory: The League Cup final win and the 2-1 win at The Lane the last time we got Champions League football. Let’s hope we get another to add to that list and keep our surge to the top 4 going! COYS!

Follow me on twitter @chriswadds and the blog @thfc1882dotcom. The blog also has a facebook page. Why don’t you “like” it at www.facebook.com/1882thfc

The Welsh Wizard did it again. When it looked like we were heading to a 0-0 draw and relying on others to do us favours to keep our Champions League hopes alive: BANG! Another world class shot from Bale sinks the Saints and we get the all-important 3 points.

The game was a poor one for us on the whole, with Southampton looking like the home team and the one with more to play for. Apart from one shot early on from Defoe the visitors looked the more likely to score and if it wasn’t for a class save from Lloris, Lambert would have broken the deadlock and the result could have been a lot different.

As the game went on we grew into it and we moved up the gears in the final 15 minutes of the 90. We started passing the ball about and getting a quick tempo to our own game which put Southampton on the back foot pretty much for the first time in the game. Frustratingly though, we still didn’t create any clear cut chances.

There was a strong call from Bale for a penalty that was ignored before he took matters into his own hands and rifled a shot in from 25 yards after he had cut in from the right onto his favoured left foot.

We held on for the rest of the game and we momentarily moved into forth, before Walcott scored after 20 seconds in the game against QPR, which ended up being their winning goal.

If you haven’t seen Bales goal, then look it up. It’s worth it. A moment of magic from a player who had been frustrated by Southampton’s tactics for 86 minutes. It wasn’t his best game, and it wasn’t his best goal (West Ham for me). But as the season draws to a close and if we get Champions League football this goal will be seen as one of the most important goals Bale has scored for us.

I’ve already heard from disgruntled Arsenal and Chelsea fans (and even a West Ham fan, what do they care?) saying that we are a one man team and that we wouldn’t be where we were if it wasn’t for Bale. I didn’t see Bale sprawling to his left to make that save from Lamberts free kick, I saw the world class Hugo Lloris keeping us in the game.

Granted Bale is our talisman, just the way RVP is for Man Utd, Lampard is for Chelsea, and this season what Walcott has been to Arsenal. Where would those three teams be without those mentioned players? Every big team needs a big player like that and if we want to be a big team, we need him more than ever.

Things are still in our hands. It’s easier said than done, but win our remaining games and we are in the Champions League. We had the same kind of run in when we last got there and we got over the finish line in style at Manchester City, so I don’t see why we can’t do it again with a defining win at Chelsea. We have to go there and give it our all. Go out on our shield if we must. Let’s get some measure of revenge for the semi-final last year, and their lucky win in the final.

Again, if you are at any of the games in the run in, get behind the team. Roar them over the line and onto Glory! COYS!

Follow me on twitter @chriswadds and the blog @thfc1882dotcom

The rollercoaster of a season is approaching its end. But we’ve got a few loop-the-loops to go and I can guarantee a few more ups and downs before we are asked to get off this ride until August.

After dropping points against Wigan (who else thinks we could have done with another 9-1?) we missed the chance to put pressure on Chelsea and Arsenal. This puts added pressure on today’s game. Anything but a win and we will be relying on others to do us favours, a position I do not want to find ourselves in.

AVB deployed Naughton at Left Back last week and I am hoping he doesn’t do the same again. I want to see BAE back in the starting line-up. Our last 4 games have to be treated as cup finals and this isn’t the time to be resting our best players for no reason. They will have the close season to rest. The rest of the back 4 pick themselves with Walker, Dawson and Vertonghen likely to keep their places.

Mousa Dembele trained yesterday but there are still question marks over whether he will be fit enough to play today. Again this is a time to play our best team. And by best team I mean the form team. Because of this I would like to see Parker dropped to the bench and Huddlestone to start in the defensive midfield/deep-lying playmaker role.  It was a hard choice for me to make between Parker and Huddlestone as neither is in bad form, it is just that I believe Huddlestone makes more of an impact than Parker does, and this is why I would start Huddlestone. Although AVB seems to prefer Parker so I wouldn’t be surprised if he starts instead of Huddlestone

The next three I think will be Lennon, Bale and Dempsey. All are in good form and all have been scoring of late so it would be a mistake to drop any of them in favour of Sigurdsson or Holtby.

Defoe is our only option upfront with Adebayor unfit and not in form.

Southampton are sitting almost comfortably in 13th position on 39 points but if results go against them they can still be dragged into a very late relegation struggle. Because of this I don’t think we will be up against a team with nothing to play for. I think we will be up against a team wanting to ensure that they get to play in the Premiership next season.

My line up for the Southampton game is:

Although I can see Parker coming in for either Huddlestone of Dembele for reasons I mentioned above.

My prediction is a 2-1 win with Bale smashing two past his former team.

If you are at the game, get behind the team from the first minute to the last. Let’s be that 12th man and help them get over the finish line and back to the promised land of Champions League football. COYS!

Follow me on twitter @chriswadds and the blog @thfc1882dotcom

Firstly, a quick look back. I didn’t watch the game against City, not by choice but due to regular in-law visits (they wish to see their grandchild) that always happen to be when Spurs are on. From what I have read, City pretty much dominated until they lost interest/AVB made changes, we blitz them for 10 minutes scoring three goals to give the score line a healthy look and all is well. Champions League qualification is back in our own hands despite Fulham being unable to do us a favour like Everton did. This is good and bad – good that we are in control, bad that the pressure is back on Spurs!

The result (if not the performance) reminded me of a few games back in the 09/10 season when we finished fourth. Not the City away game (perhaps Chelsea on the 8^th May will remind me of that game) but the two games against Arsenal and Chelsea. They were a few days apart (I was lucky enough to attend both games) after a defeat away to Sunderland and the press, pundits and fans alike all agreed that if Spurs were to finish in the top four then two wins were needed. We know what happened (two 2-1 wins in case you don’t) and the rest is history. It kind of felt like that going into the City game and we got the result we needed, let’s hope we go on and do it again this year. Finishing fourth should not be seen as success (unless it was totally unexpected as in we finish just outside relegation each year) but we need Champions league football (read money) to progress to be more than just also-rans.

Right, on to Wigan. I have had the pleasure of visiting the DW stadium a few times (once a dull 0-0 the other a 2-1 win) and our support is always fantastic up there. Wigan are in the middle of yet another relegation dog fight which will result in them being hard to beat – while the home support are never the loudest (at least the times I went) they will expect their team to go in hard against our team. Martinez doesn’t promote this, he appears to want Wigan to ‘play’ football but when the chips are down and results are needed, aggression will almost always replace the “tippy-tappy” football preached. This will be a hard game, harder than most will acknowledge.

That does not mean we should not win, if we are to be considered a top team then we should be going to Wigan, controlling the game and winning fairly comfortably. If it was the middle of the season I would suggest we would do exactly that. But given where Wigan are it will not be so easy. I expect AVB to make one change for this game and it is not Defoe, Lennon for Dempsey meaning:

I know lots of people are saying give Carroll a go but it is not the time of year for that. As for Thud I would suggest not, he has a temper and would probably get himself sent off with Wigan’s challenges flying in. While Adebayor has been out of form I think AVB see’s him as better foil for Bale when he plays behind him rather than Defoe. I’m probably wrong and it will be Naughton for BAE, Thud for Parker and Defoe for Ade.

I predict it will be 2-1 to spurs, Lennon and Defoe to score. I would much prefer Wigan had been in mid table with only the FA cup to play for…

So that’s that – my first blog entry as my little brother was too lazy to write one himself. Follow the blog on twitter @THFC1882dotcom (he will get his backside into gear eventually) or on Facebook (search THFC1882). If you are really bored, follow my occasional ramblings about anything and everything on twitter @waddiealex. COYS!

We must win. It’s as simple as that. Anything else and we are out. Anything else and it won’t be convincing.

The game is in our hands, I was impressed with Basel last week but I didn’t see anything that should strike fear into the hearts of our players. It should be a game that they go into thinking “If we win this we can prove that we are a team to be reckoned with.”

As we don’t have a game this weekend I would hope that Lloris would start but AVB has stuck with Friedel in Europe since the middle of October and I don’t expect this to change.

William Gallas is still injured so AVB will be forced to play a better centre back pairing. If he goes with Caulker and Vertonghen, which I expect him to, Caulker will have to perform much better then he did against Everton on Sunday. But I have faith in him being a great centre back in the future and I believe it was only a blip on what has been a very good season for our young England International.

BAE and Walker should fill in the fullback posts but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Naughton picked over either of them, as AVB has been rotating the squad on a regular basis.

We’re still without the injured Bale and Lennon so I would imagine our midfield to be Parker and Dembele holding with Sigurdsson, Holtby and Dempsey in the forward three positions

Up front we are still limited to one senior striker, but for the first time in a while we have a striker who scored in his previous two games. If you haven’t guessed I am going for Adebayor.

My prediction is a 2-1 win for Spurs, with Adebayor to score and Vertonghen to get the winner.

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Again 2-2 is not the worse result we could have got against Everton. As I said in my preview Everton are a bit of a bogey team for us so to only draw is ok.

We started off brilliantly my taking the lead within 33 seconds when Vertonghen put an inch perfect cross in for Adebayor to toe the ball through Howard’s legs.

We almost gifted Everton a way back in when Dawson’s poor pass was intercepted by Osman whose curling shot went narrowly wide of Lloris’ upright. Everton didn’t have much longer to wait to strike level when Baines whipped in a corner that was met by Jagielka’s head which somehow found its way into the back of the net through many lilywhite shirts.

We took back the initiative after they levelled but we could not create any clear cut chances to threaten the Everton goal.

Everton started the second half brightly and took the lead after 52 minutes through a good solo goal that Caulker and Parker could and should have done better with.

We almost hit back straight away when Dembele’s shot was deflected of a defender, then off Howard’s outstretched arm onto the crossbar. We got back into the game in the 88^th minute when Sigurdsson converted the rebound after Adebayor’s shot came back off the post.

Although we only drew 2-2 there were plenty of positives to take from our performance. Everybody was writing us off saying that we wouldn’t be able to cope with out Bale (kind of feel sorry for Lennon that he doesn’t get the praise he deserves from the media) but it only took us 33 seconds to show that we can cope just fine and that we are not a one man team. We attacked with pace and worked as a team. The game also marked the return to form for both Kyle Walker and Adebayor. I had Walker as our Man of the Match.

Unfortunately even though there was much to be happy about both of their goals were soft on our part:

Their first came from a good corner that was whipped in by Baines, but our defending was terrible. First of all Jagielka should not have been able to rise above Vertonghen. Secondly both Lloris and Caulker should have done more on the line then they did, with Lloris letting the ball through his legs when he did a weird star jump and Caulker standing there watching rather than acting. On another note – if we had a player on the post that shot would never have gone in.

Their second should have been dealt with before it even had a chance to happen. I noticed this the first time I saw it but if you watch it back Parker bottles it where Sandro would have won the ball and most probably have took out their player. Parker’s indecision allowed the ball to be passed onto Mirallas who weaved his way to the edge of the box to fire into the bottom corner. Caulker made the fatal mistake of turning his back when he should have stood his man up and put a challenge in.

With harder test to come in the coming weeks we will have to take our chances better and not have the momentary lack of concentration that happened for both of Everton’s goals.

I don’t believe this result will hurt our overall pursuit of Champions League football as long as we win convincingly against Basel on Thursday. If we win and book our place in the Semi Finals of the Europa League I can see our squad brimming with confidence for the game against Man City the following week. I would like to see AVB go with our strongest possible team as we have a weekend off as Chelsea will be at Wembley to face Man City in the Semi Final of the FA Cup.

On a side note I can see Chelsea beating Man City to book another final appearance in May. This can only help us as it will dent City’s confidence for our game and their moral would be at an all-time low with nothing to play for. It also means Chelsea have to play another game before the season end.

With everything still to play for and a moral lifting performance against Everton I still have complete confidence in our teams ability to bring Champions League football back to the Lane and bring the bonus of a bit of silverware to put in the trophy cabinet.

Keep the faith and Come on you Spurs!!

2-2 is not the worse result that could have come out of last night’s game. We were outplayed in every area by a team that we seemed to think we would walk over. That was mistake number 1. FC Basel are a good CHAMPIONS LEAGUE team and we saw last season that they wouldn’t be a push over when they knocked Manchester United to the kerb.

Our second mistake was playing a Goalkeeper and Centre Back with the combined age of 76. Friedel is still a good keeper but his weakness is his ability to rush out and play the “sweeper-keeper” role that Lloris does so well. These weaknesses would have been well hidden if we had played a younger faster Centre Back in the form of Steven Caulker who, along with Jan Vertonghen would have been able to deal with Basel’s pacey forwards a damn site better than Gallas.

FC Basel came out the blocks like Usain Bolt and didn’t give our players any time to think. They pressed and hounded every pass and every mistake was taken advantage off. The writing had been on the wall for a while when they eventually broke the deadlock after 30 minutes. Hitting us with a beautiful counter attack while tying our defence in knots, Stocker was the Basel icing on the cake when he knocked in from the edge of the 6 yard box after the first shot had rebounded off the upright. This seemed to stun our players for roughly 5 minutes, and it was only 5 minutes that Basel needed to double their lead when Frei got away from Naughton and slotted his header past Friedel.

It was only after going 2 down that we saw a more attacking assured Spurs and it only took us 5 minutes to get ourselves back into the game with the goal coming from an unlikely, but much needed source . Bale had switch to the right putting a cross in that the awaiting Adebayor almost wasted when his first attempt ended up an air shot that would be worth of those novelty blooper DVDs your Nan gets you at Christmas. Thankfully for him Parker was there to put the ball back in the danger zone where Adebayor had no problem acrobatically volleying home.

We should have been level before the break but it wasn’t to be as Scott Parkers shot deflected off Holtby’s studs to roll agonisingly wide.

The second half carried on as the first finished, with us pushing for an equaliser and Basel trying to extend their lead on the break. Kyle Naughton almost made up for his poor defending for Basels second when he was denied what would have been a “Worldy” by some good solid keeping from Sommer.

Our pressure paid off eventually when substitute Sigurdsson, on for the injured Lennon, saw his shot take a telling deflection into the back of the net, leaving Sommer routed to the spot powerless to do anything about it.

We ended the game with 9 men after Gallas walked off complaining of a calf strain (suspected tear) and Bale being stretchered off after falling awkwardly on his right ankle.

With Bale and Lennon both missing for the upcoming visit of Everton I would like to see AVB try a different system and play a 5-3-2 formation, using our last outlets of natural width in BAE and Walker to our advantage. Lloris should return between the sticks and my back three would be Caulker Vertonghen and Dawson. BAE and Walker would fill the wing back roles naturally and comfortably as there would be less emphasis on defending and more on attacking than normal.

My midfield three would be Dembele Parker and Holtby, with Parker holding out of the three. I was impressed with Holtby against Basel, he was the only one of our players who seemed to start off the blocks at the same pace as they did, and he was unlucky not to score just before Parker was even unluckier.

I would then play Sigurdsson in the “Bale” role just off the lone striker. Gylfi is in form and his confidence seems to be growing with every passing game so I would have him starting over Dempsey.

As our only senior striker Adebayor picks himself for Sunday’s game but let’s not forget, he did score on Thursday at a vital point in the game. Let’s hope it’s the turning point of his season and he finishes strong.

Playing this formation would give us natural width where otherwise we would be lacking if AVB sticks with his preferred 4-5-1/4-2-3-1 formation. It would also see Dembele, Holtby and Sigurdsson play in their natural roles and this should get them performing to the best of their abilities.

This is quite an adventurous formation and one that I don’t think Spurs have played since Hoddles reign just over 10 years ago. BUT I think it would work and we would get the best out of the players we have available.

Everton, who beat us in quite dramatic style in December, will be without the suspended duo of Fellaini and Pienaar but come into the game having won their last three games in the League, including a brilliant 2-0 over Manchester City. Everton have become somewhat of a bogey team for us in recent years, we have only won 3 of our last 13 games against them. David Moyes has a good squad who know how to play good football, and they possess arguably the best left back England has on offer at the moment. Everton is never an easy game and I don’t expect it to be on Sunday

My line up for Everton is:

Prediction: 1-0 win with Sigurdsson scoring the winner

I have just read on the Tottenham Hotspur website that Bale and Lennon’s scans went well today and the club are hopeful that they will be back for the Manchester City game (AAAAND RELAX!)

Follow me on twitter @chriswadds and the blog @thfc1882dotcom

As I said before I feel that the international break came at the right time for our Stuttering Spurs as we looked tired and drained against Fulham. With a rested and refueled squad I fully expect Spurs to bounce back against another team whose form has been stuttering of late.

Our international players all came through unscathed and reports yesterday said that our squad (apart from Kaboul and Sandro) have a clean bill of health.  With Defoe, Dempsey, Sigurdsson and Bale all scoring for their countries we should have a few players ready to fire us back to winning ways.

Our back four seem to be picking themselves at the moment, although Caulker is keeping three of them on their toes (if BAE doesn’t do well I would imagine Vertonghen would be moved to LB) and if any of them were to slip up I could even see Caulker making an appearance.

Our two holding midfielders will probably be the duo of Parker and Dembele. Before the late news of Lloris’ injury I was going to argue for Tom Carroll getting a start, saying that the Deep Lying Playmaker Role was made for him. But with Friedel taking the gloves for this one I would have to put Parker in as I believe we will need a more defensive minded midfielder.

Now here’s the problem, we have six players for our front four positions. Our out-and-out striker is between Adebayor – the last man to score for Spurs in a competitive match or Defoe – fresh of netting two for England, albeit against San Marino. If I was to pick the team I would go for Defoe on this one. He is a confidence player and those two goals may have brought the confidence back that saw him net consistently before he picked up the injury around the Christmas period.

We then have four players contesting it for our final three positions: Bale, Sigurdsson, Dempsey and Lennon.

There is the argument that three out of the four all scored for their countries and should start but I believe that we play our best football with natural width available on the pitch. In my eyes dropping Lennon would be a mistake. We missed him massively against Fulham and he could have been a game changer. The unlucky one for me will be Dempsey. Bale is un-droppable at the moment and Sigurdsson has been putting in some nice performances as his confidence has grown.

Here’s my starting line-up:

Friedel

Walker Dawson Vertonghen BAE

Parker Dembele

Lennon          Bale     Sigurdsson

Defoe

Subs: Archer, Caulker, Adebayor, Dempsey, Holtby, Naughton, Carroll

My prediction:  1-0 to Spurs with a much needed Goal from Defoe

follow me on twitter @chriswadds and the blog @thfc1882dotcom