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No More Blame Game – United Preview

October 29th, 2010 Posted in Match Previews, Premier League
Oct, 29 2010
8 Comments »

The date was 04th January 2005. The location was Old Trafford and the player was Pedro Mendes. A 50 yard shot that was spilled 3 yards over the line by then United keeper, Roy Carroll, and yet linesman Rob Lewis nor referee Mark Clattenburg (tomorrow’s ref) saw the blunder. It was my first visit to the “Theatre of Dreams”. I was sitting with the home fans about a mile up, next to God. I’d controlled my emotions very well throughout but instinct took over as I lept to my feet in celebration. Thankfully most United fans didn’t notice as they quickly realised how lucky they’d been.

That’s when the moans and groans about going to Old Trafford started. There have been plenty of other occasions in the two clubs illustrious histories where things have seemingly gone against Spurs, far too many to mention here.

Since that night I’ve made the expensive, uninteresting trip to Manchester every season only to see us lose, usually being able to blame one particular moment on the result. It wasn’t long ago we were 2-0 up and cruising. Completely demolishing the most successful premiership team in history, only for Howard Webb to give one of the worse penalty decisions I’ve ever seen against us and we end up losing 5-2.

Missed chances, poor refereeing, blind linesmen and diving opposition have all been the cause of us not winning at Old Trafford in what feels like forever. Or have they?

The fact is they’re all excuses. Reason’s that we use to enable us to sleep better at night and justify the fact United are better than us. That’s the crux of the matter. They’re better than us and always show it. If that Mendes goal had been given we would’ve stolen the 3 points. We hardly offered a shot on target until that moment. Last season United won 3-1 but only with goals in the last 5 minutes but deserved their win. In the Carling Cup in ’99 we may have taken them to penalties but we were lucky to do that.

For some reason we capitulate against United and have done since I can remember. We offer slight resistance now and again. We may even tease Sky with the possibility of us winning, but we never do. We set ourselves up for a defeat nearly every time we make the trip. Last season in the Carling Cup is a prime example. They had injuries and rested some players, we had a pretty much full team out and they were there for the taking. Just like they are now.

This will be the first season since my first trip in 2005 that I won’t be going. I can stomach the high price, travel costs and non-atmosphere. What I can’t stomach is watching my team constantly lay down and admire the opposition.

Last week in my match review of the game I slammed Everton’s negative tactics, hoping for a draw against a team I felt they should be looking to compete with and on the day could’ve beaten. I fully expect I will have to do a very similar piece on Monday regarding Spurs. I hope I’m talking about a will to win and flowing football as well as determination and a spectacular 3 points. A couple of goals from vdV and Bale would do my fantasy team no harm either.

For the first time in a long time, this United team is on a downward spiral. There’s no hiding that fact. They’re still a good team and will probably finish above us in the league but if we want to finish in the top4 again this season we need to be looking at them as equals. When ESPN put the team sheets up tomorrow you’ll be hard pressed to honestly say there’s much between the teams on paper, but that’s where it’s ended in recent years. The players, coaching staff and managers we’ve had seem intimidated by the whole Manchester United franchise and it’s got to stop.

Once we’ve done it once we’ve shown how a teams aura dissipates quickly. Chelsea and Arsenal are no longer the teams they were 3-4 years ago. Maybe not away from home but at White Hart Lane it’s clear the players believe they can beat those teams. United are the one and only team that has our subconscious by the goolies and won’t let go. Once we manage to beat one of those teams away from home I’d expect that awful record to be smashed a few times after.

It’s one of the reason’s why Redknapp’s tactically errors last season in the Carling Cup were so bad. If we had beaten them then, even with a weakened side, the players stepping out tomorrow wouldn’t hold the same fear as they so obviously do. Get that one win against them and see what happens.

The one way I’ve always felt to beat United is to attack them. They hate it. Just like us this season they’re leaking goals all over the place. We could and should have an entertaining, end to end goal fest and that’s how we should approach the game. I’m not saying play Ossie Ardiles style but I don’t want to see us packing the midfield, keeping it tight and hoping someone can nick a late goal, although if that did happen I wouldn’t complain ;)

Go at them. Attack their weaknesses. Show them we’re not scared and we don’t fear them any more. The football landscape is changing and we want to be on the horizon, not digging a trench ready for the sea to come in. ~ I can honestly say I have no idea what I mean by that. If they want to come along for the ride then make sure they play better than they have done all season to get the result.

We are Tottenham, Super Tottenham and it’s about time we showed United that’s not just a song.

COYS

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The Benny Ekotto Show

October 26th, 2010 Posted in Articles
Oct, 26 2010
5 Comments »

There’s a very popular past time among Spurs fans at the moment and that’s slating our Benny, no matter what’s happened in the game, whether it’s his fault or not. I’m not sure how he became the current side’s scapegoat but every team has got to have one.

Let’s have a little history lesson on our left back to begin with. I’m not going to go into the history of his hair because that’ll take too much time, instead I’ll just focus on the facts as I know them. Ekotto joined us from Lens in 2006 as a then inexperienced but promising 22 year old. Let’s not forget a certain Alex Ferguson was also looking at him during that time. I’m not saying he’s a transfer specialist, far from it in fact but if United were looking at a player 4 years ago I think it’s a fair bet he was good enough for us, especially at the reasonable price of around £3m plus add-ons.

He was one of Damien Comolli’s success signings given he’s still in the first team 4 season’s and 3 managers on. When he signed he ousted South Korean international Young-Pyo and was one of Martin Jol’s first names on the team sheet. He showed promise and calmness for a player of his age. Then the whole Martin Jol debacle happened within the club and Ramos came in. I for one at the time thought Ekotto’s days at spurs were numbered because Ramos didn’t seem to fancy him but then given the entire Ramos era doesn’t that highlight quite possibly what a decent player Benny was/is?

It’s trickier to work out what Redknapp thinks of him. Sometimes I get the feeling if he could buy any other left back and ship Ekotto out he would but then there are other times he’s full of praise for the Cameroon international. There have been times this season when Harry’s dropped Ekotto and played Bale at left back much to the dismay of most fans, but he appears to have learnt from this mistake and the Ekotto / Bale partnership can be counted on most games now.

Maybe the reason Redknapp appears to have mixed feelings about him and the reason so many fans seem unable to see what a quality player he is, is because of the comments he’s made about football in the past. The fact he see’s it as his job and one he doesn’t particularly enjoy and only does for the money. Strange that, because I say the same about my job and people just laugh and don’t look at me like I’m crazy. There’s no way he’s the only player who feels that way. Redknapp loves the game, of that there’s no doubt, as we all do, so maybe the fact someone lucky enough to do it for their living and make a fortune while doing it doesn’t love it is hard for him and us to come to terms with? The one thing I remember he said was the last time he truly enjoyed playing football was when he was younger, playing with his friends in a park. I’d bet that’s true for a lot of professional sportsman, no matter what the sport. Once you do it professionally it becomes your job and there are few people in the world who truly love their job. I once spent a large proportion of my spare time playing poker. I got fairly good at it and decided I might be able to make a living out of sitting in front of my laptop earning the odd $ here and there. I took a week off work to give it a go and I won quite nicely but the fun quickly disappeared and it felt like a job. I went back to my normal boring job where there was at least a known monthly wage and kept poker as a fun hobby.

So that’s his personality done with. It doesn’t seem to effect his work or his passion at winning or the team scoring a goal. Just look back at the Danny Rose wonder strike against Arsenal for proof of that. Sure, he may not be the type of player who signals to the crowd to be louder and pumps his fist at a result but then neither is Gareth Bale.

His performances on the pitch must be the reason people don’t like him and every transfer window claim we need to buy a new left back. Really? This can’t be the case or I’m watching a completely different game to everyone else. The last two league games he’s been easily one of, if not our man of the match against Fulham and Everton.

I understand he makes mistakes, but so does everyone else. You must have a favourite player in the team who you believe makes us tick and without him the team would suffer badly but you’ve still got to be able to see their flaws. I’m a massive Modric fan and when on form he can run a game from his central battle station or turn a game on it’s head with an amazing piece of skill but I can also see when for some reason he just drifts out of a game or doesn’t even get into it. Bale is the golden boy of the current team but he can go a few games without producing much too, but the game he does produce he destroys and that’s all anyone remembers. With Ekotto, it’s the complete opposite. No-one remembers or even notices the very good games he has, all they remember is the sliced clearance against Bremen which of course eventually led to a goal that was his fault. It wasn’t Jenas for allowing the cross to come in from the throw-in or Cudicini’s for staying routed to his line. It was Ekotto’s fault for slicing a clearance out for a throw-in 30 yards from goal. Even Redknapp mentioned it after the game but didn’t mention the fact that he was by far our best defender on the pitch that night and made some world class last minute tackles inside the area while on the right hand side of the pitch covering the out of position Corluka.

Again, I’m not saying Benny is faultless. Far from it, but does he make the most mistakes? Is he really the worse player we have on the pitch? Hutton? Gallas? Cudicini? Crouch? Lennon? All of these players have looked terrible compared to Ekotto this season but none have come in for the level of criticism he gets. Why?

Maybe it’s down to his constant need to try and keep the ball. I know that sounds strange given that’s exactly what we want our players to do but he does have a tendency to do it at the wrong times. He likes to play what I call heart in the mouth football. He’s in his own penalty area with a striker right behind him and instead of giving away a corner or throw-in he tries a little Cruyff turn. In all fairness to him 95% of the time he pulls it off, we all cheer as he makes the oppositions star player look like a muppet and he passes it to a man in white. Great stuff Benny. Unfortunately it’s the 5% when the striker gets a nic on the ball and is suddenly through on goal that lets him down. However, I have the feeling if he did do the simple thing of kicking it out he’d get lambasted for that too, with people saying he just hoofs it and doesn’t keep possession. God help him if a goal resulted from the corner or throw in.

Is he the best left back in the world? No. Is he the best left back in the premiership? No. Is he in the top 3 or 4 left backs in the premiership? Yes. The obvious players better than him are Cole and Evra. After that it becomes tricky. Some might argue that Clichy is better but I don’t think everyone would. Even if he is, that’s only Chelsea, United and Arsenal who have a better left back than we do. Three of the most successful teams in premiership history. As good as our team is at the moment there aren’t many positions in the team that we can say that is there?

Maybe it’s time we as a Spurs collective gave credit where it’s due and stoplooking for a scapegoat in Benny. He’s a very good defender who may have his moments of madness and mistakes but overall performs to an exceptionally high standard week in week out on the pitch. Whether he enjoys playing or not, invariably he earns his wages and gives 100% to the cause. The partnership he’s formed with Bale on the left side over the past 6 months or so is exceptional. Bale couldn’t do half the things he does if he didn’t have a good player behind him and Ekotto’s saved us more times than he’s let us down.

Having said all that, I wish I was a video techy person so I could compile a montage of Benny moments, speed them up and play The Benny Hill theme tune in the background. As I can’t you’ll just have to click play below, close your eyes and imagine him twisting and turning with more hair styles than David James, all in the name of earning a living.

Don’t worry Benny, there’s still some of us out here who rate you.

discuss this and other spurs stuff in our forum HERE

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Everton: The Baines of Entertaining Football

October 25th, 2010 Posted in Match Reports, Premier League
Oct, 25 2010
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Before I begin I haven’t seen any football this weekend apart from the Spurs match. I haven’t seen how Match of the Day pieced together the “highlights” of the game so I don’t know how it would be perceived from a non Sky TV audience. I also couldn’t make the Lane this weekend so I’ve only got the opinion of a TV viewer, or put another way, the opinion of anyone other than the 34,000 Spurs fans in attendance on Saturday.

It’s sad to see but in my view Everton are anti-entertainment and are therefore anti-football. They’re worse than the Wolves, Stokes, Blackburns and the old Bolton teams because they should know better. If you’re an Evertonian reading this I’m sure you’re thinking, “I’m not reading any further because this guy clearly doesn’t know what he’s talking about”, but bare with me while I explain.

Spurs were there for the taking on Saturday. None of our star players performed particularly well apart from Modric in the first half who like last season’s corresponding fixture tore Everton a new one. Bale was quiet, mainly due to being double and triple teamed throughout and vdV similarly experiencing a slightly off day. They didn’t play poorly by any means and it would be wrong of me to say so or not give credit to Everton’s tactics for nullifying their threats the best they could but when your best attacking threat is Alan Hutton in a team full of quality players you know you’re not quite on fire.

On another day we might’ve had a winning goal from Pav who’s deflected shot with 15 minutes to go could’ve gone anywhere but could we honestly say we deserved it?

The first half was an open, exciting, end to end game. A game you don’t mind paying the over inflated ticket prices for. A truly world class free kick from Everton’s Baines, the power of Yakubu causing us a lot of trouble and Cahill dropping between the defence and midfield to find space galore. Modric did the same to Everton, finding space and pulling the strings. Hutton was bombing forward and crossing at will, eventually crossing for Tim Howard to miss, Crouch to groin it across goal and Rafa to hit a screaming drive into the bottom corner from 1 yard. Half time was greeted with applause from the stands, everyone seemingly happy. Spurs fans would’ve felt the extra quality might pay off in the end and Everton fans had seen their side create enough and cause our defence enough problems to think they could get all 3 points.

That’s where the entertainment ended though and that’s where my problem with Everton began. They came out in the second half and defended. They defended well and limited us to half chances at best. A draw at full time was a fair result, but why did Moyes feel the need to tighten things up and hope for the draw? And why does it appear everyone thinks that’s a good thing?

I fully understand when teams like Stoke, Wolves, Wigan etc come to White Hart Lane and defend first and hope to sneak a goal on the break at some point. All of those have done that very effectively at some point over the last year, but Everton? Should Everton be thinking a point at Spurs is a good result? Sure, if they’re 2-0 down and manage to get a point it’s a good one but when they’re 1-0 up, have caused us problems and have shown with 45 minutes left it’s a very open game and any result is still possible why did they choose to play for the draw and stop the entertainment?

Shouldn’t teams like Everton be thinking they can compete with us? Surely they should be at least looking at competing with us? As much as I’d like to think we were, we’re not Chelsea and probably one of the best ways to beat us is to attack, especially at the moment with our defensive frailties. There was nothing in that first half to suggest Everton were lucky to go in level and that’s my problem. I’d feel the same and have done in the past if it was Spurs doing the same. The beauty of supporting Tottenham is even when we lose at least we give it a go.

It’s an entertainment industry after all.

Forget the injury problems they had too because they had the same injuries in the first half. It was a tactical decision by David Moyes to stop an open, attacking, free flowing football game into a defend deep, let them have the ball and hope we can catch them on the break kind of game. I feel sorry for the Everton fans that made the trip down. Sure, they were happy with a point. It’s better than losing after all but do they seriously believe they should be playing for a draw at Spurs?

Does that make them a small time club? Personally I don’t think they are but they’re being run in a way that’s turning them into one. Just look where they manage to get to in the league when for all intense purposes they’re main striker and the man they rely on for goals is a midfielder. It shows the talent they have in their squad and they should be looking to win 3 points at Spurs, just as I’d like to think we’ll try to do when we visit Goodison. We may fail in that quest but at least we’ll try. At least the home fans will see a good game, but not because of their team, because of the visiting one.

If Everton want to be considered a big club they need to stop doing what I saw on Saturday when they could continue to try and entertain and quite possibly win the game. They’re good enough, or certainly were on Saturday to win more games than they lose, but as long as they’re managed by a man who see’s them as inferior to teams like Spurs they’ll remain mid-table with the occasional season in Europe.

Maybe you’re a spurs fan ready this and are asking yourself why it appears I’m selling my own club short. Well, I’m not. We’ve got a very good team/squad at the moment with some exceptional players. We obviously had a great season last time around and are trying to do the same again this time but I’m realistic enough to realise we’re also not in Europe’s elite. We’ve already shown this season how vulnerable we can be and after 83 minutes playing with 10 men on Wednesday, we saw an Everton side come to Spurs 60 hours later, roll over and play dead, killing what was a good game of football because they felt they we were far superior than they were. Over 38 games I’d like to think that’s absolutely the case, but over 90 minutes with tired legs in the side, AND taking the lead? That just wasn’t the case.

It was poor by a team that like us were once in the BIG 5. At least we’re trying to get back to where we once were. Everton? They’re just trying to stay level with Fulham which is a shame. The papers say they’re resilient, they battle and show endeavour. To me that’s just thesaurus words for boring.

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Spurs v Everton Preview

October 22nd, 2010 Posted in Match Previews, Premier League
Oct, 22 2010
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This time last week I was chomping at the bit (what does that saying mean?) to get Spurs playing again after a dire international break and now it doesn’t seem long enough to wait between games does it? Most of us have only just got over the San Siro game. Those who made the trip to Italy only got back late last night or even this morning and now our minds have to turn their focus to tomorrow. A lunchtime kick off against a resurgent Everton side.

It’s a conspiracy theorists dream. Why did the club agree to an early kick off after what they would’ve known was going to be a tough game in Italy? Perfect perhaps for Sky to try and get their favoured top4 sides back, and it highlights just how important money is in today’s game. What’s important for the team is no longer of primary concern, what’s on the bottom line is.

So, a 12.45pm kick off, only 64 hours after playing last season’s champions league winners with 10 men for 82 minutes or whatever it was. Clive Tyldesley was right when he said David Moyes would enjoy watching the game knowing his team would be travelling to N17 in a few days, although I’m not so sure he would’ve enjoyed watching the second half quite as much.

Those 3 goals from Bale not only resulted in inappropriate questions from journalists to the flying Welshman and Redknapp about his valuation and availability to others clubs, including one question of “how do you expect to keep him?”, it also gave the team fresh impetus going into what’s really important, league football. The one thing running through my head when we were 4-0 down was how this was going to effect the rest of our season. If we want to emulate last season’s exploits we need to be winning as many home games as possible, no matter who we’re playing.

What will the result be on Saturday?

  • Spurs Win (79%, 15 Votes)
  • Draw (21%, 4 Votes)
  • Everton Win (0%, 0 Votes)

Total Voters: 19

Loading ... Loading ...

We’re playing an Everton team who have won their last two games 2-0, away to Birmingham and home to Liverpool. Neither an easy game, especially as one was a derby. They haven’t been playing badly all season but have been a little unlucky at crucial times meaning their points tally isn’t quite as good as it should be. I’m expecting a very difficult match. Yakubu seems to have gained a little form and we struggle against that sort of striker. In fact it would be fair to say we struggle against any type of striker at the moment, but look at the damage Heskey did to us against Villa before he was injured.

We’ve also got to stop allowing midfield players to run right through us. We were lucky against Fulham that they didn’t have the type of players that could punish us for being so soft in the centre of the park. Inter showed what can happen if a team gets it right. With Arteta and Cahill, Everton have two fantastic players that can really hurt a team. Rumours are Arteta might be injured which would be a huge boost for us, but I’m sure Everton will do everything they can to get him out there.

Apart from Bale’s hat-trick in the San Siro the other positive was Gomes’s sending off as that meant we rested Modric. That should mean he and van der Vaart are raring to go and will have no European hangover. What about the rest of the team though? We’ve shown that we can suffer from one but the last time we played after a midweek game we managed to get ourselves together and get the win. Defensively we can’t be full of confidence at the moment though and that’s a problem. The sooner Dawson is back the better, but if we start with Gallas and Bassong again it’ll be their 3rd game together in a week so some sort of partnership should start to develop.

Since the premier league started Everton have been our favourite team to play against. We’ve got more points against them than any other team, 67 from 36 games. We’ve only lost 5 times in the league to them in the past 18 years. That should suggest a nice home win but it’s never as easy at that. If Moyes has done one thing it’s got his team fighting for every point. Not in a Sam Allardyce management style, but fighting all the same. Our two games against them last season highlighted what a tough time we have against them. 4 points from 6 is a decent return but the results didn’t tell the entire story. At Goodison we cruised for most of the game, taking a 2-0 lead only to throw it away and draw 2-2. Remember that 94th minute penalty miss by Defoe? We almost did the same at home. 2-0 up at half time, a majestic performance from Modric including a brilliant goal, then before we knew it we were praying for the final whistle, only getting the 3 points when Landon Donovon missed an open goal from 3 yards out.

This is the archetypal 2-1 win on the pools. Rarely is it a comfortable game for either side and I don’t expect any different tomorrow.

Player for player, whether we played 90 minutes on Wednesday or not we should have enough quality to sneak this one. Expect another performance from vdV and maybe Lennon if he gets on. It’s nice to see him finding some form again. Will Bale be able to produce again against the likes of Neville and youngster Coleman or will the comedown begin? Again, centrally is the way to win this one. Win the ball and keep it. Pass and move, let quality shine through and finish your opportunities. It’s a fair bet we’ll need more than 1 goal to get all 3 points so let’s go for it.

The entertainers have returned to N17.

COYS

There’ll be a question/answer thingy mo bob from your’s truly over on Everton site www.bluekipper.com later tonight so check it out

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Pride (In the Name of Spurs)

October 21st, 2010 Posted in Champions League, Match Reports
Oct, 21 2010
2 Comments »

What did we want from last night’s game? We were playing the champions of Europe in their own backyard. Many, if not all, expected us to lose and anything above that would be a bonus and that’s exactly what we got.

Ok, so Bale’s 2 late goals might have papered over some pretty big defensive problems but we all know that and more importantly so do the coaching staff. We’re doing the best we can with the players we’ve got. The one thing we all wanted was a quality centre half in the summer and we all got was Gallas. Carrying an injury or not, his displays of late have highlighted the reason I didn’t want him at the club. Nothing to do with who he’s played for in the past, my opinion was based on his talent.

Anyway, I’m not going to sit here and lambast every player because whichever way we look at it they could all come under attack for that first half. What a shambles it was. The press are talking about how bad the performance was and they’re right but the lads were rocked early on by Zanetti’s 1st minute goal. That can happen to any club, especially away from home. It’s the way you recover and regroup after it. Unfortunately we didn’t do either until half time.

However, let’s not forget how young and inexperienced at this level our team is. We’re not getting the credit we deserve for what we’ve achieved so far. If we manage to get out of the group, which still looks very likely at this stage, we’ll be in a minority to do that at the first time of asking. Don’t quote me on this but I don’t think Chelsea, United or Arsenal managed it the first time and I’d be surprised if they were in the group as strong as the one we’re in. The constant comments about this is our first real test in Europe etc were also very derogatory towards the teams we’ve played so far. Twente don’t look like they travel well so that’s fair enough but Bremen at home are a very talented side and will undoubtedly give Twente and Inter a tough test when they meet them in gameweek 4 and 6 respectively. This group is far from done. Think of it this way, we’re actually only 2 games away from getting out of the group. Even if we lose at home to Inter, if Bremen and Twente draw, we beat Bremen at home and Inter beat Twente in the San Siro it won’t matter what happens in Holland for our last game. Lots of ifs and buts there but looking at the fixtures it’s a possibility and we’re in the driving seat.

In all likelihood Bremen will beat Twente at home and the deciding game could be our home game against them. If we win that one and don’t lose at Twente we’ll probably make it through. That’s if we don’t beat Inter at home though.

What should we expect from that game? Well, we’ve gone to the San Siro, played most of the game with 10 men, lost the first half 4-0 but won the second 3-0. It might not have been pretty on the eye at times in the second half but we did exactly what we should’ve been doing in the first. We were tight in central midfield and didn’t give Sniejder the time and space he wanted. Inter play a lot like Arsenal and don’t often get the ball out wide. They like to play little one-two’s in and around the box and in the first half we were letting them. Both Huddlestone and Jenas were caught ball watching far too often and we were punished. At one stage I counted all 10 players in our own penalty area and they still managed to get a shot off. The players were stunned and those of us back home wondered just how many we might concede. This was not what was required.

The second half started much better. We were more compact and played as a unit as we all know we can. They still looked dangerous at times but those chances were being limited. Then the beast got the ball and scored one of the great goals. Forget your Ryan Giggs in the FA Cup against Arsenal, this was all about strength, skill and finishing. 4-1. Still no possibility of a comeback and quite frankly it didn’t look on at any point but even before we scored our second goal at least we’d managed to salvage some pride.

My real fear was how this could effect the rest of our season. If we ended up losing by 6 or 7 what was the atmosphere going to be like on Saturday against Everton which in my eyes is a far more important game than last night’s was. Two almost identical goals later, the match ball and 30 seconds of hope that we might complete what would be not only the best comeback in Spurs history but quite possibly the best comeback in footballing history. So close but in the end no cigar and we wouldn’t have deserved it had it happened.

So we lost. If we’d lost 1-0 we wouldn’t have been surprised. Strangely we’ve probably learnt more and gained more confidence from losing 4-3 even if those last two goals did come very late on. We now know we can hurt them. If we can hurt them we can hurt anyone in European football. I said on Saturday that at some stage we’re going to play well for 90 minutes week in, week out and when that happens I can see this team becoming special. Very special.

50 years since our last league triumph. I don’t think it’ll be quite as long this time. A loss on the night but a triumph for the players and fans. Build on this not only when Inter come to the Lane but by beating Everton and United before then. The future is very bright.

I’ll finish by just commenting on ITV. I don’t use this phrase very often because I think you’ve got to be a 13 year old girl to do it correctly but “OMG”. Was I the only one who felt they were enjoying the situation in the first half? The constant patronising of the team and the fans like we were a very small team trying to live the dream. We’re a giant awakening from our 25 year slumber you idiots. Then of course there were the glaring errors. I had to laugh when according to Clive Tyldesley, van der Vaart and Lennon hadn’t played together yet because of injuries. Well, Mr ITV commentator, if you had any basic footballing knowledge you’d realise that not only have they played together but the reason they haven’t at times is because of Lennon’s form. I did wonder if it was all in my head, until ITV confirmed I was right by showing all the Inter goals in their closing credits and not one Spurs goal. Not one. Thank you and goodnight. You must’ve done a really bad job if I’m looking forward to listening to Andy Gray on Sky next time.

So, to finalise, we lost. We expected to lose but didn’t want to lose too badly. We almost had a shocker but regained pride with a spectacular performance from Gareth Bale and the others. Bale might’ve scored the goals but credit must also go to all of the 10 men for turning things around. We’re a team learning. We’re a team on the up and losing 4-3 in the San Siro isn’t as bad as the not so long ago losing 3-0 at Wimbledon evenings we had to endure. Let’s keep everything in perspective shall we. We’re two players away from winning the league after all ;)

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Stranger Things Have Happened

October 20th, 2010 Posted in Champions League, Match Previews
Oct, 20 2010
1 Comment »

What a day to be a Spurs fan. Not sure if you’ve heard but the team that wasn’t given a chance to finish in the top 4 last season by the press or the team that didn’t get anywhere near the plaudits after winning 4-1 in their last Champions League game compared to what their local neighbours are today after a similar result will be playing in the San Siro tonight against the current champions. I’ll say it another way, this team of misfits who we watch every other week in the cesspit that is Tottenham are playing the best club team in Europe tonight. It’s what wet dreams are made of!

While I’m excited I’m also a very jealous yid this morning. Most if not all those making the trip will be in the air, half way across Europe or already trying to find an open bar. Unfortunately the bank would only let me make the trip to Bremen so I’m left with ITV, but that won’t stop me screaming, shouting and singing. The wife might, but not the TV.

Apart from the home game against Inter this was the one we all saw as the “glory game” of the group. That usually means the game we go out to enjoy but don’t expect much from. That all changed when we saw FC Twente had held Inter to a 2-2 draw in Holland. Maybe Inter aren’t as strong as they were last season? Forget that, they are. They followed that result with a thumping of Bremen 4-0 to sit on top of the group, if only on goal difference from us. Do we really believe we can get something from tonight’s game?

I’ve heard a lot about the fact Rafa Benitez manages Inter now and we shouldn’t be worried about them because he’s crap. Well, that might be true in the league but even with Liverpool he made very few mistakes in European competition. He know’s what he’s doing in Europe. Which probably isn’t the case with Redknapp. No disrespect is meant by that comment but he’s obviously still learning as are the players and tonight will be a very tough game for him.

All the odds are against us. Look at the Inter team and it rightly resonates greatness. Maicon, Lucio, Zanetti, Stankovic, Sneijder, Eto’o and that’s just 6. At White Hart Lane I can see us beating anyone. For 44 minutes against Bremen and 20 minutes against Fulham we played football of the highest quality. That doesn’t sound like much but at some point the team’s gonna click and it’ll be like sex with Reese Witherspoon, Angelina Jolie, Kate Moss and Jennier Aniston rolled into one. It might be even better. Who’s to say that night can’t be tonight?

Stranger things have happened. Only this summer Switzerland beat the mighty Spain and New Zealand went unbeaten in the world cup. Jason Dozzell was once our big money summer signing. Jurgen Klinsmann anyone? Rooney wanting to leave United. Spurs beating Chelsea in the 2008 carling cup final. England drawing 0-0 in Italy under Hoddle. Coventry beating us 3-2 in the ’87 cup final. Greece winning the 2004 Euros. Cameroon beating Argentina 1-0 in the opening game of Italia 90. North Korea beating Italy in 1966. South Korea having their turn by beating Italy in 2002. Denmark winning the 92 Euros. Wimbledon beating Liverpool in the ’88 FA Cup.

That’s just to name a few and there’s enough there that have happened in Italy or to Italy that should suggest there’s every chance tonight. That’s the beauty of football. Who would’ve thought Wigan could come to spurs this season and win 1-0 after last season’s 9-1 and 3-0 defeats against the same team. On paper, and more importantly with the difference in experience between the two sides and management it’s a home win and we all know that, but if football was that obvious we wouldn’t watch it. What would be the point? If you’re 100% confident we won’t get anything from this game I wouldn’t expect you to watch it, but if you do watch it there has to be at least a 1% chance.

I think there’s more than that. I’m not saying we’ll win but if we set up correctly we should cause them problems and if we do that who knows what can happen. If we’re not overawed by the stadium, the opposition and the night in general we could do something we’ll all remember for a long time to come. Tonight could be the making of the team. There’s no reason why any of the players should be in awe of what’s going on. They’re all International footballers, many of whom played in this summer’s world cup.

I’d expect us to line up in a 4-5-1 formation, although I’d prefer a 4-1-4-1 so we have someone sitting just in front of the defence to cover Sneijder. He’s such a good player in my opinion and a player who can destroy you on his own. If you don’t know much about Dutch football just look at him like this; he keeps vdV out of the national team! The one thing Inter don’t have is a lot of pace. They have some, but not a lot. We on the other hand have bundles.

Hutton, Lennon and Bale should have plenty of pace to worry Rafa’s team on the counter. That’s where we could get something from the game. Players like Modric and Huddlestone will probably end up too deep to have any real effect on the game attacking wise and Crouch will have his hands full with Lucio. If Crouch can come out on top of that duel that we’ve got a chance. It’ll be very hard for him because quite frankly, Lucio is a better defender than Crouch is a striker but the Brazilian loves to get forward with the ball. If a Jenas or Modric can nick it off him early enough we’ve got the perfect break away opportunity.

The Bale / Maicon fight will be brilliant. So much so, I’d start Bale on the right and Lennon on the left just to confuse matters. Rafa is a strategist and will have warned Maicon about Bale and issued ways to stop him. So why not line up, if only for the first 10 minutes or so on the other side? It may not make a difference but in those early exchanges it could.

There will be battles all over the field. Will we be able to win the midfield without sitting so deep we just entice them onto us as we have done in the past against Arsenal at home last season. It worked then, but it could so easily have failed. Will Crouch be able to offer the out ball and will he be able to hold it up with Lucio against him to enable us to break and offer an attacking threat? Will Bale and Lennon look on tonight in years to come as the night they both raped one of Europe’s finest teams? Will Modric step into vdV’s shoes and become the catalyst for one of our glory nights? Will the patched up defence come away bloodied and sweaty, adrenaline pumping from a job well done?

Whatever anyone says a win is possible. As is getting our asses handed to us ;)

Do we go there looking for a point or do we go there looking for the win? It can’t be all out attack obviously but there’s no reason to think they’re better than us. There’s no reason to think they don’t look at our team of Gomes, Gallas, Modric, Huddlestone, Bale, Lennon, Crouch and have fears because they will. They know this is their toughest home game. On our day we can beat anyone, home or away.

We are Tottenham, super Tottenham, we are Tottenham from the Lane.

BELIEVE. Coys.

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Death of a King

October 19th, 2010 Posted in Articles
Oct, 19 2010
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August 16th 1977, June 25th 2009 and October 16th 2010. Two of those dates have gone down in history and one could do. The first is the day Elvis died, the second was the death of Michael Jackson and the third was last Saturday. Two self proclaimed King’s have passed away, leaving only one true King in our midst, but for how much longer?

This is such a controversial subject. This time 2 season’s ago it would be unheard of for a Spurs fan to suggest what I’m about to. This time last season, there were murmurs from the message boards but most were hounded out for talking such gibberish (including me). Now though, it seems it’s gathering pace.

As I stood in the Putney End stand at Craven Cottage on Saturday and saw our captain and longest serving playing fall to the ground, again clutching his groin my heart sank. I was pleased he was playing in the league match and hadn’t been saved for the mid-week trip to the San Siro. If we could get 2 games out of him in a week instead of the one that made sense to me. Plus the league’s importance far outweighs anything we do in Europe. King had to make the long walk around the edge of the pitch, past the home fans, eventually passing the away fans and down the tunnel. Everyone stood to applaud and the Ledley related songs began. However, unfittingly or perhaps a sign of how he’s viewed now the song that really took off mentioned the fact he’s only got 1 knee and he’s better than John Terry. Both could be argued as fact but the look on King’s face as he walked past us told a different story. There was pain in his eyes. Not pain caused by his groin, but pain, knowing deep down, that song encapsulates his career. There was no wave to the crowd, no clap and thanks for your support guys. His head was hung low as he trudged off for yet another week with the physio.

As I touched briefly on yesterday, Ledley King is the best central defender of his generation. I mean that and it’s not just a pro-Spurs thing. When he’s fit and playing regularly players like Ferdinand and Terry can only dream of being that good. A quiet man on the pitch he leads by example, making few mistakes, taking the simple option and frustrating some of the worlds best strikers. The problem is he can’t be compared to players like Ferdinand and Terry and he know’s that. I’m sure he’ll appreciated the sentiment in the chant that was sung for him but he know’s he’s not better than John Terry because he hasn’t played enough. He won’t be remembered for his talents, he’ll be remembered for his injuries. We’ve seen it before at White Hart Lane. Darren Anderton was also one of the most talented Englishmen of his era of which there’s no argument but what do people remember him for? He’s more likely to be referred to as Sick-note than Anderton.

Is Ledley King known throughout Europe? No. Of course some people will have heard of him, people who know about football but will the run of the mill fans of other clubs know him? They don’t. Not like they know Terry or Ferdinand. King’s injuries have hampered not only his Spurs career but his international career and his trophy cabinet.

Let’s get one thing straight. One of the reason’s Spurs fans love King is because he’s been with the club all his career. He came through the youth system, and is in fact the last player to come through that system and make it regularly in the first team. He’s the club captain and gives his all, but would he still be with Spurs had it not been for his injuries? Obviously, there’s no way of knowing but in my eyes he wouldn’t and there’s nothing wrong with that. He was being courted by Sir Alex and others not long before his knee went for the first time and he missed a large chunk of that season. He was at the right age then to start thinking about leaving to increase his chances of silverware. This is something I’ve never blamed players for doing. I hold no ill feeling towards Teddy Sheringham for doing exactly that after he gave us plenty of his best years. King wouldn’t have done a Campbell that’s for sure so we would’ve got paid for him and he could’ve moved on and would’ve probably been a mainstay in the United and England team to this day. He would’ve won everything in sight (maybe not with England) and would be known throughout the world. However, that’s not how his career was destined to unfold. He’s been at Spurs his entire career because he’s had no choice. Don’t misinterpret what I’m saying though. Ledley King is Spurs through and through. Supports the club and loves the club but 4-5 years ago if an offer had come on the table to join one of the big boys he would’ve taken it and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Fast forward to the present day. We look all over the shop in defence. Quitehow we’ve only conceded 7 goals in the league (only City and Chelsea are better) I don’t know. Every time the opposition attacks they look like scoring to me. It’s not quite the rock it looked last season at times. Of course we’ve had major injury problems in particular to Dawson who would’ve been a mainstay but the constant chopping and changing every other game isn’t helping. You can see the communication centrally just isn’t happening and that’s when King IS playing. It’s time we looked to the future and stopped dwelling on the past and what might’ve been. I really do hate saying that because like every Spurs fan, Ledley King is a legend to me. The way he conducts himself, the way he plays, his pure quality and the fact he’s been with us forever, but instead of him playing being an attribute to Spurs when he starts it’s beginning to become a problem.

There are certain positions on the pitch that need to be the same every game if possible. Positions that squad rotation just doesn’t work. You need to keep the core of your team the same. That means the keeper, central defenders, midfielder and strikers. Partnerships and team-work are developed over time in these positions and they can turn a team from also-rans into challengers. I know there are those that believe a player like Bassong is accident prone and makes mistakes, just look at the Villa goal 2 weeks ago but for a youngster he does most things well. He and Dawson formed an excellent partnership last season and we only looked shaky when Seb was dropped for the returning King. If Bassong is the only fit central defender we have at the club currently he should be playing every week. When Dawson returns, he’s his partner. If that means King is fit but only sits on the bench then I’m sorry but that’s the way it is.

Players need to know where they stand. Put yourself in Bassong’s shoes for a minute. You train all week with Dawson. You’re learning each other’s favourite positions and you’re developing an understanding of where your partner will be when a cross comes in. You’re working on all the set pieces your manager and coaches want you to. Then come a Saturday morning before a match, a player who hasn’t trained at all for the past year and can only make 2-3 games maximum a month walks straight into the team ahead of you, completely negating all the training you’ve done. Now, Bassong isn’t a stupid guy and he’ll appreciate like the rest of us how good King can be but when there’s a very high possibility he won’t play in the following game or even worse will waste a substitution by being injured again as he was on Saturday, surely that’s not good for the team?

Continuity is what football is all about. We only see it on match days which is a bit like just seeing the tip of an iceberg. All the hard work and foundations that go into that tip is done under the surface. Training isn’t about keeping your fitness levels up. They play enough to do that naturally. It’s about working as a team. Trying to get a sense of what your team-mates natural game is so come Saturday we stand in the crowd and hopefully watch free flowing pass and move football. It’s all worked on in training and it’s the only way to get better. Unfortunately, King can no longer get better and by the look on his face on Saturday he know’s that.

It’s time we said thank you Ledley, here’s a spot on the bench but you can no longer walk straight into the team. You’ve been a great servant to the club but equally the club and fans have served you during the tough times. We owe you nothing and likewise. I’d like to see him stay at the club in some capacity whether that’s as a coach or an ambassador but the days his name is first on the team sheet have long gone, if not for the good of King, then definitely for the good of the club.

For more discussion like this please feel free to join our forum here

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Fortress Fulham Broken & Destroyed

October 18th, 2010 Posted in Match Reports, Premier League
Oct, 18 2010
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Maybe that title is a little over the top. We did only win by 1 goal and Fulham had plenty of chances to get something out of the game. Some would say our winner was offside but they’d be wrong so I won’t be justifying those people with a response. We deserved to win on Saturday and that’s the bottom line. We deserved to beat one of only two unbeaten teams at a ground we haven’t won at in the last 8 or 9 visits in the league. The result of a top 4 team? Possibly.

Sexy Football

The first 20 minutes or so was the best I’ve seen a Spurs team play in a long time. Better even than the 44 minutes in Bremen. Well, maybe not because we didn’t score. If you only managed to catch the highlights on Match of the Day you won’t know how well we played in those opening exchanges. Unfortunately the BBC choose to only show one shot from Pav that went just wide. I’m sure if it had been our neighbours they would’ve salivated over ever flick and every one-two for hours. The passing and movement was exceptional. I’m not exaggerating when I say if our away shirt was red you could’ve mistaken us for Spain. It was a pleasure to watch.

If only we had that goalscoring maestro we all so badly want. With the chances we can create I’d be looking at Spurs relishing the opportunity to score 30+ goals a season because that’s how many I truly believe a world class striker should be looking to score in our current team.

Defensive Worries?

At the other end of the team, things aren’t quite as easy though. With the constant injuries and changes in the back line we looked Sunday league for most of the 90 minutes. In the first half we had a problem picking up Kamara who was dropping between the defence and midfield to collect the ball, something which Redknapp sorted as best he could in the second by bringing Lennon on for Sandro. This meant THud and Modric resumed their central midfield partnership. Neither in my opinion are natural defensive minded midfielders but their communication is superb so they made sure at least one of them was helping the defence. It still wasn’t comfortable but it was better.

Man of the Match

It wasn’t all bad in the defence though. My man of the match was Ekotto. Again, if you only caught the highlights I’m sure you’ll be wondering what illegal substance I’ve taken this morning but trust me, Benny was superb. He did plenty of his normal heart in mouth twists and turns but they all came off and he was really the only defender on the pitch who didn’t make one error. He was committed, confident and made the right decisions. He linked up as well as he could be those around him and didn’t give the ball away. I know he’s a player who splits opinions but if you can name 3 left backs in the league better I’d be surprised. Cole is obviously the best, followed by Evra who has been prone to mistakes recently and other than that I can’t think of anyone you could say is 100% definitely better than our Benny.

I don’t want to comment too much on King’s latest injury because I’m going to blog about it tomorrow but suffice to say Ledley’s face as he walked past us was like thunder. He really could’ve been the best defender in the world without his injuries couldn’t he? I’m not talking about Terry and Ferdinand, even unfit he’s better than them, I’m talking better than Puyol, Ramos, Cannavaro, Nesta and possibly even Maldini. That’s how good he could’ve been. I don’t think for one second without those injuries he would still be playing for Spurs but career wise, the injuries have stopped the world from knowing one of footballs finest.

A couple of points on 2 players that stood out for me. Lennon when he came on and inevitably van der Vaart. Let’s start with Rafa. Saturday was his poorest game in a Spurs shirt!! He was still better than most on the pitch but he was far from his glorious best we’ve seen of late. He gave the ball away at least half the time he had it and didn’t win too many tackles. His movement was again better than sex with Reese Witherspoon though. If this is Rafa on an off day I don’t think we’ve got too many things to worry about. Even off form he can still turn a game. I’ll be honest I didn’t even realise what he’d done that resulted in Pav’s equaliser. I was standing directly in line with him as he pulled his foot back to blast a shot and the next thing I knew the ball was floating onto the crossbar and down to Pav for a tap in. The disguise on his chip was just incredible and if it had gone in it would’ve been better than similar goals scored by Cantona and Bergkamp recently and possibly better than our very own Hoddle, because of how close he was to goal. Sex, just pure unadulterated football sex.

It was good to see Lennon come on at half time. It made all the difference and enabled Modric to be more influential in a central position. He just doesn’t work on the right for some reason. The last couple of substitute appearances by Azza have seen him almost back to his best. Maybe he is back to his best but others around him have since moved up a level so he doesn’t stand out quite as much? Either way, he’s definitely still got his lightning pace and he’s now making the runs behind the defence which is something he wasn’t doing in the early part of the season. It looks like he just needs a kick up the backside and some competition to get him going again. Good to see.

The rest of the field

The weekend as a whole also gave me fresh belief in what we might be able to achieve this season. I thought we would get 6th come May and that could very easily still be the case but there’s only one team in the league we should be looking at thinking we can’t finish above them and that’s Chelsea. They’ll win the league probably by a big margin but everyone else is fair game. Yes, City have had a good start but they’re hardly looking like world beaters. Take Tevez out of that team and where do the goals come from? They’re too defensive for us to honestly believe they can go on a 10 game winning run to cement their position. United and Arsenal both look fragile. United more so at the moment and it does look like it could be the end of an era at Old Trafford. There’s no reason in a couple of weeks we shouldn’t go there looking for the 3 points.

It’s going to be very close this season and it could come down to the odd game. I hope we don’t regret the Wigan and West Ham results in 8 months. It looks to me it’s all going to come down to the games against those around us. We know we can beat any of them on our own patch, but it’s the away games we’ve got to look at getting points from. If we can win more than we lose of those matches I’m starting to think there’s absolutely no reason why we can’t only finish in the top 4 again but quite possibly improve on it.

Spurs, bringing sexy back. COYS

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From Country to Cottage

October 15th, 2010 Posted in Match Previews, Premier League
Oct, 15 2010
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It seems like ages since we last had a game of importance. 2 weeks is a long time in football but instead of the normal excitement I experience of an impending match I’m starting to feel like I want this one out of the way already. Let me explain and I apologise in advance for any nonsensical rubbish I might spout today but I’ve got a trapped nerve in my shoulder/back which makes it painful to breath and some little bug thing has bitten me on my finger which itches like a bitch.

Against Villa I took my best mate to the game to try and persuade him that the red of United he normally likes will soon pale into insignificance compared to the lilywhite at White Hart Lane. He had a cracking day, drinking in the Bell and Hare from 11am and experiencing the van der Vaart show after I’d spent much of the pre-match build up talking him up. Whether I could actually turn his allegiance I doubt but I’m sure he’ll be more than happy to call us his second team and pop along for a match now and again. Tomorrow I’ll be doing it all over again, but this time with my United supporting father.

When I say United supporting, he watched them when he was a kid. He’s lived abroad for the past 20 years so hasn’t really experienced the highs they’ve gone through in that time. With him being in the UK this weekend and me already going to Fulham I thought it would be a good idea to try and turn another manc. How wrong I was. You see, the trouble with old people is they think everywhere is too far and everything is a hassle.

How do I book a train in this country? How long will it take? I can’t drink for 3 hours before a game or I’ll fall asleep at half time. Can’t you just pick me up and drive to London? What tube line have we got to take when we get there? Will it be raining? I don’t want to get wet.

Moan, moan, moan. So, I’m driving to tomorrow’s game with dad in tow. I live in the South West of England in the little seaside resort of Weston-super-Mare (home to Alan Gilzean and where Monty Python’s John Cleese was born) so the train is always the easiest option. Definitely not the cheapest, but the easiest and socially more fun due to the drink drive laws. Anyway, my old man is currently in a Somerset town of Bruton which is an hour away from me which means a 3 hour drive each way with an old man who isn’t that interested in the football.

So, my first trip to Craven Cottage will be punctuated by a long unnecessary drive in both directions. Right, that’s enough of me moaning (I’m starting to sound like him), onto the match.

As I said, tomorrow will be my first trip to Craven Cottage. It’s one of those grounds I’ve always wanted to go to but never got round to it and even though the £49 per ticket is ridiculous I figured why not? As for the game I expect a very tight affair as everyone probably does. I don’t know our record there exactly but it’s hardly been sparkling over the years has it? In fact I can’t remember the last time we won. I vaguely remember a Defoe goal that led to us winning 1-0 when I was on holiday in Zante one season but I can’t remember when that was or even whether we were home or away. I blame the ouzo. I think it’s safe to say though that we don’t win there very often.

This is exactly the type of game we need to be getting all 3 points. Fulham are the only undefeated team other than United in the premiership which I find surprising but the fact they’ve only won one of those games isn’t. Struggling for strikers and goals Mark Hughes has made sure they’re hard to beat and pick up as many points as possible until they can get going again. The master of the draw is Mr Hughes, having drawn something like 13 of his last 19 games and only lost 1, a 3-0 defeat to guess who? Spurs, while he was at City. ;)

So, more of that would be very nice tomorrow, although I doubt it somehow. I’d settle for a scrapy 1-0 win in the 89th minute. 3 points is 3 points. What I don’t want is to see a team of players paying attention to a game in midweek. The San Siro beckons and we all want to see us do well over there but not at the expense of tomorrow. If the players want to play in Italy, make sure they know they’ve got to earn their places at the Cottage.

There’s no vdV against Inter so we should expect him to be going full out for the win, not that he’s done anything different since his arrival, but it’s the likes of Jenas, THud, Pav, Bale, Modric etc that need to be putting a shift in too. 2 games in 5 days is hardly life threatening and isn’t something players should be thinking about. Give 100% tomorrow and go into Wednesday on a high.

Then there’s possible injuries. I hate internationals. It looks like we’ve lost Lennon and possibly Hutton. Some would say that’s no big deal given current and past form but against Villa Lennon looked like he’d had a fire lit up under his arse with the sudden realisation that he was no longer guaranteed his spot so I’d like to see him doing more of that and Hutton’s been a revelation since coming on against Wolves. With our central defensive injury worries it’s handy to be able to put him on the right and let Corluka go central, no matter how bad Charlie is playing at the moment.

How do we play tomorrow? Formations and tactical options galore. Personally I’d like to see us play with 2 strikers because Fulham will easily cope with a lone striker. Playing Fulham in my opinion is all about controlling midfield. If we can restrict them to long balls over the top instead of threaded ones along the floor we should be able to keep it quite tight at the back. This is where Jenas, THud and Modric come in. Whichever of those 3 play they’ve got to keep the ball. Look to bring Bale and Rafa into play behind their midfield and defence. I expect to see plenty of Harry’s new tactic of the cross to the back post for Crouch to knock down and Rafa to run onto. It’ll be interesting to see if Hughes has scouted that and if he can do anything to stop it.

To summarise my ramblings today, I expect tomorrow’s game to be won tactically. It should be pretty on the eye at times but will be tight all over the pitch. Redknapp say’s tactics aren’t important in football but if you’re going to beat an unbeaten team who you rarely beat on their patch, tactics have to be right, players have to perform and you might need a little bit of luck too.

COYS

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Fight the Power

October 14th, 2010 Posted in Articles
Oct, 14 2010
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I don’t know about you but recently I’ve felt a little left out on the protest front. We’ve had the United fans going on for ages about the Glazers, wearing their green and gold scarves and now we’ve got Liverpool chavs standing outside the High Court with their Pitbull Terrior’s singing You’ll Never Walk Alone.

I have no doubt most of the people who wear those green and gold scarves have no idea what they represent but as everyone else has one and they’re only £8 each it’s only right they should all have one so they’ve got something from their day trip to Manchester. I’d be very surprised if any of the Liverpool fans we’ve seen on the TV over the last few days are scousers, with most probably never having been to Anfield, but they do what they feel is right and I respect them (sort of) for that.

However, neither set of fans have the same kind of problems we have. The trouble is until recently we’ve had no way of voicing our frustrations against the travesty that is besetting our beautiful football club. What am I talking about I hear you ask? Alan Smith commentating on Spurs matches on Sky TV.

Yes that’s right. We’ve all sat their watching the game, whether it’s Champions League or Carling Cup and as soon as his grating midlands accent pipes up we ask ourselves what are Sky doing? We know we’re not one of their favourites but there’s no need for that. Even Andy Gray commentating when we’re playing Everton or Villa is better than Smith when we’re playing Arsenal or anyone else. His biased views against Spurs are clear for all to hear. It ruins the viewing experience for all concerned. If I was to be completely fair I wouldn’t call him the worse support commentator on TV by any stretch of the imagination but just don’t give him our matches.

So what can we do about this? Not very much if we’re honest but with “Power to the People” ringing in our ears we can sign an online petition that’s been set up. Unlikely to be successful but anything’s worth a try. Imagine the sense of great satisfaction if it worked? Beating the might of Sky TV and more importantly knowing a meeting’s taken place with Alan Smith to tell him he’s no longer welcome on a yids TV screen.

So, follow this link and sign away. Pass the link onto your friends, family and internet pals. Let’s show United and Liverpool fans what real fan power is all about ;)

Petition to Remove Alan Smith from Commentating on Spurs Games

COYS

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