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Match Preview: Spurs v Arsenal

September 30th, 2011 Posted in Articles, Match Previews, Premier League
Sep, 30 2011
5 Comments »

Premier League, White Hart Lane, Sunday 2nd October 2011. Kick off 4pm. Sky Sports HD1 & 1

It’s North London Derby time again. On paper Spurs should have this game sewn up before kick-off. Football however is still played on grass and therefore the form book and comparative squad strengths go out of the window. Something Spurs themselves, have proven many times over the last 10-15 years. Sure, until the last couple of seasons there weren’t many Lilywhite victories, but there were more than enough hard fought draws against a team that was mostly far superior to Spurs. God that’s hard to admit, even harder to commit it to the internet. Of course, that’s not so much the case anymore; in fact it’s quite easy to argue that Spurs have the stronger first team available and probably the edge on overall squad depth.

But again, none of that matters. Arsenal and their manager especially, are under pressure and they will know that a big victory on Sunday will appease their fans immensely. For many Spurs players, this will be the first time that they take to the pitch as genuine favourites for a derby and it will be interesting to see how they react to that. Harry Redknapp will need to be on top of his game to make sure his players know exactly what is at stake and the way they must approach this game.

It’s hard not to be confident of success, sure Manchester City’s feeder club are coming off the back of 3 succesive victories, but they were against League 1 Shrewsbury, 10 man Bolton and a poor Olimpiacos side. Spurs meanwhile have put Liverpool to the sword, buried the ‘W’ team hoodoo with wins away to Wolves and Wigan and also seen the reserves show spirit to beat Shamrock on Thursday night.

Arsenal’s defensive woes are well documented, with Olimpiacos unlucky not to get more than one goal midweek and Blackburn – the worst team in the Premier League in this blogs opinion – putting 4 past them recently. And it would be remiss not to mention the 8 that Manchester United buried at Old Trafford.Their new centreback, Per Mertesacker, is a big lump who is not easily beaten in the air, but is one of the most immobile footballers ever. If Spurs can display the kind of slick passing and movement that tore apart Liverpool and from the first half at Wigan, the big man could have a derby baptism of fire. His partner Koscielny is capable of going from the sublime to the ridiculous, Spurs will hope for the latter. Spurs also need to try and expose the flanks, Bacary Sagna remains one of the leagues best right backs but Gareth Bale on top form can give him nightmares. On the other side, Kieran Gibbs is a potential weak link, Redknapp may be tempted to start Aaron Lennon and look to use true width. Then again, it’ll be hard to change from the team and formation that started at Wigan. If that’s the case, one man right wing, Kyle Walker will be the one to test Gibbs.

One compelling reason to stick with the 4-2-3-1 is that Scott Parker and Sandro will give Spurs a supremely solid base to nullify the creativity of Arteta and Ramsay. This will hopefully allow Bale, Luka Modric and Rafa Van der Vaart to swamp Song – the least defensively minded defensive midfielder – and get at their suspect back four.

The man who will look to prosper from the creativity in Spurs midfield is of course, ex Arsenal man and Spurs new goalscoring hero, Emanuel Adebayor. Sure to be a target of abuse from the travelling support, this is the kind of game on which Adebayor thrives. He will look to take that abuse and throw it back in the faces of fans that used to adore him. Adebayor’s impact at Spurs cannot be understated, the way he created the first at Wigan is something Spurs have lacked since Berbatov and Keane were doing their thing a few years back. His all round game is up there with the very best in the Premier League and Spurs midfield are able to supply him with the ammunition to put this game out of Arsenal’s reach. Nothing will give Adebayor greater satisfaction than putting one over on his old team mates and he could well be the key to a Spurs victory.

At the other end, one of his former strike partners, Robin van Persie, poses the biggest threat to Spurs chances. The Dutchman appears to be taking it upon himself to rescue Arsenal’s season and he always seems to score against Spurs. However if there is one man who can keep him under lock and key, it’s the imperious Ledley King. On his weekly outings this season King has shown the kind of form that make him the best English centre back for a very long time, maybe as far back as Bobby Moore. His developing partnership with Younes Kaboul is encouraging news for Spurs and has helped the French international grow in confidence himself. With Benoit Assou-Ekotto hopefully back at 100% and his Wigan error forgotten – if not forgiven by his harshest and unfair critics – he can keep Walcott quiet. On the other wing Kyle Walker will look to cement his growing reputation and keep Gervinho from posing a threat. Both goalkeepers are also in fine form. Brad Friedel has given Spurs a commanding and dominant presence that Gomes never could. His opposite number Szczesny is, van Persie aside, the only Arsenal player to be showing consistently good form, but with his defence often pulling ‘Keystone Kops’ moments that may not be enough to keep Spurs forwards at bay.

Additional: Since publishing this preview it’s been announced that Harry Redknapp has won the September Manager of the Month award. Always happy to give credit where it’s due, I’d like to congratulate the boss on this achievement. Let’s hope the curse of the award doesn’t strike and that the team continue to perform.

My Prediction

Even writing all this, I find it hard not to be incredibly confident about Sunday. Yet something nags away at me and says that they will get flukey and snatch a draw, or worse. I hope that’s just the eternal Spurs pessimist in me and that the form book and squad strength will stand up. I’m going to stay pessimistic and predict a 2-2 draw and hope that I am happily proven wrong.

COYS

Stuart Watts ( @Studub on Twitter )

The Odds

Spurs win: 11-10

Draw: 12-5

Arsenal win: 5-2

My prediction (2-2): 14-1

First Spurs Scorer:

Adebayor: 4-1

Defoe: 6-1

Van der Vaart: 7-1

Free bets at Freebetssport.com

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Match Preview: Spurs v Shamrock Rovers

September 29th, 2011 Posted in Articles, Europa League, Match Previews
Sep, 29 2011
3 Comments »

THFC1882′s Stuart Watts presents another guest piece from Ciaran Griggs. This time Ciaran previews the Shamrock game.

Europa League, White Hart Lane, 8.05pm Kick off, Channel 5

“Spurs have been drawn in a group with Shamrock Rovers…”

Who? Only the most hardcore of the largely-England based Spurs fans can claim to know anything more about Shamrock Rovers other than they are Irish. This, until recently, was a group to which I belonged. Ever the diligent Spurs fan however, I have brushed up on my Shamrock Rovers history. So what do we need to know about our next opponents in the Europa League. Will they provide any difficulty for even the youth players at a Premier League club of our stature?

Much like us, they are a team from the capital, being based in Dublin. Also much like us they have been in existence for over a century, being only 19 years younger than us, founded in 1901. On the pitch, they have had a chequered recent history. As recently as 2006, Shamrock Rovers were not even playing their football in Ireland’s premier division, having been relegated after a Scotland-style play-off defeat to the rather wonderfully named “Vikings”. After a large scale turnover of staff and players, and amidst some turmoil about the new stadium (sound familiar?), Rovers promptly bounced straight back into the Irish top flight for the 2007 season. In 2009, after much wrangling and legal dispute, Rovers were able to move into the newly built Tallaght stadium, a venue we visit later on in the campaign. In 2010, Rovers won the Irish Premier League title and thus found themselves involved in a 2-legged playoff with Partizan Belgrade to qualify for the group stages (part 1). After a 1-1 draw at home, Rovers produced a stirring performance to win 2-1 in Belgrade to pull off a 3-2 aggregate victory and progress. This season has marked the debut of Irish football into the Europa League group stage.

So what should we expect on the pitch from Rovers? The names of the Rovers team should hardly strike fear into the hearts of the Spurs players. One player who you may have heard of previously is Rovers midfielder Rohan Ricketts, an ex Spurs player (2002-2005) who has been bouncing around the smaller European leagues for the past few seasons. Perhaps of more interest will be the team that Spurs put out against the relative minnows from Ireland. On paper, any of the XIs we can create from our registered Europa League players should be strong enough to win comfortably in a home leg, against a side who have already played 30 matches in their domestic league this season, against our five.

Our previous outing in the Europa League this season resulted in a 0-0 draw which showcased some of our younger talents. The overall display was decent with Carroll, Kane and Falque in particular standing out on their European debuts. Many Spurs fans regard the Europa League as a competition we’d like to win, rather than being “frustrating” or “distracting” as our manager has suggested on a number of occasions. As a consequence, we expect to see some decent performances to reward our interest, and to keep our fringe players in form so that we can benefit from our much-fabled squad depth.

With the NLD just around the corner, I expect to see a team similar to that which played against PAOK and Stoke in the EL and LC respectively. Redknapp will not be taking any chances with players likely to be involved on Sunday, given the relative weakness of our opposition. Giovanni Dos Santos will probably be handed a largely free role, either playing wide or just behind the striker in a likely 4-4-2 formation. Dos Santos is perceived as a talented but troubled player, rarely able to bring his international form to bear whilst wearing the famous lilywhite. This match represents a chance for him to begin to win over the doubters and press for a chance in the Premier League first team reckoning. Falque, Kane, Townsend and Carroll are all likely to be involved. Falque impressed in his debut in this competition, coming close to scoring against PAOK and taking up some good positions on the wing before tiring later in the match. Kane and Carroll were industrious without producing brilliance and Townsend was effective in a left-back position that is not his natural berth. Bassong should start, to give some more experience in the backline, along with Cudicini in goal. Both should give support and a strong base to launch our youthful attacking line-up against the team from Dublin.

Prediction

Spurs should win this home leg against a semi-professional team at a canter, and should be able to restrict the visitors in the process. I’m afraid that the luck of the Irish won’t extend to this particular match – Young guns to outgun The Rovers, 3-0.

COYS

Ciaran Griggs ( @LordFIMM on Twitter )

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Scott Parker – I’m sorry

September 27th, 2011 Posted in Articles
Sep, 27 2011
30 Comments »

Scott Parker c/o
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club
Bill Nicholson Way
748 High Road
Tottenham
London
N17 0AP

27th September 2011

 

Dear Scott Parker,

You probably didn’t know this, but I never wanted you at Spurs. Over the last few transfer windows your name was constantly linked with a move to The Lane. I spent all of those transfer windows telling anyone who’d listen, and many who wouldn’t, that I thought it was a terrible move.

There were many reasons I cited for this, these were the main ones: your rejection of Spurs in favour of moves to other clubs, despite you being a Spurs fan as a kid; Your age bothered me and I figured that you needed Spurs way more than Spurs needed you; Being friends with Jamie Redknapp, it seemed that you coming to Spurs was just an ‘Arry job for the boys’ move; I was convinced that your Footballer of the Year award was a result of being the best player in the worst team in a poor Premier League; It seemed to me that for every decent performance you had in an England shirt, there were two average or rubbish games; Whenever I watched West Ham, all I saw you do was win the ball, run forward 20 yards, turn around and pass it sideways or backwards; Your supposed inspirational team talks were put down by me, mainly because I figured it couldn’t be hard to be more inspiring than Avram Grant.

I have no problem in admitting that I was wrong. Yes, you’ve only played three games and it could be that this letter is premature. Somehow though I sincerely doubt that will be the case (if it is, then prepare yourself for another less complimentary letter).

I am now willing to forgive your prior rejection of my beloved club, mainly because it’s obvious that 99.9% of footballers are in it for the money. I have no doubt that Chelsea, Newcastle and West Ham threw stupid cash in your direction and I can’t ever ask a footballer to love Spurs as much as I do. Those days are long gone. Your age is not the issue I believed it to be, sure you’ll have little resale value but that’s Daniel Levy’s problem, not mine. At nearly 31, you bring an experienced head to a team that, Ledley King and Brad Friedel aside, is in their early 20’s. As for Spurs not needing you as much as you needed us, the two games against Manchester’s finest showed how wrong I was, we needed a battler and a character, especially in the middle of the park. You are that man.

So what if you’re mates with Jamie Redknapp? That literally isn’t a problem, it was me trying to justify myself. To myself mostly. From what I’ve seen so far, the Footballer of the Year award was just reward for looking as good as you did for West Ham. To be honest, you deserved something for having to play with the likes of Matt Upson and Carlton Cole week in, week out. England performances are no way to judge anyone and that was definitely unfair, Messi could look average in an England shirt so we’ll forget about that.

As for what you did with the ball once you got it, on last season’s evidence, I don’t think I was far off. That however was more to do with the quality – or lack thereof – of the players around you. As you’ve shown already, with top class players around you, you’re capable of much more than Ray Wilkins-esque crab passing. That assist for Ade’s goal on debut was fantastic and on a number of other occasions, you’ve shown a delightful range of passing along with the tackling that I did credit you with. I still hold the belief that it can’t be hard to be more inspirational than Avram Grant, but props for being the man to stand up and take on that responsibility.

Basically Scott, I’d like to say I’m sorry for doubting you. As I’ve said, I have no problem admitting I was wrong. Particularly when I’m proved wrong to Spurs benefit. That very much seems to be the case so far. Keep it up Mr Parker, you and Sandro can eat opposition midfields for breakfast in the coming weeks and months. Once you’ve done that, you’ll be feeding the balls for Rafa, Luka, Bale and Ade and that really can only be a good thing for Spurs.

I hope you can find it in you to forgive me?

Yours sincerely and COYS

Stuart Watts

( @Studub on Twitter )

 

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Match Report: Wigan 1 – 2 Spurs

September 25th, 2011 Posted in Articles, Match Reports, Premier League
Sep, 25 2011
9 Comments »

THFC1882′s Stuart Watts presents another guest writer. Long time Spurs fan Ralph Dixon was at the Wigan game yesterday and this is his report:

Job done (just): Wigan 1-2 Spurs

It was 4 hours each way on an overheated coach to Wigan to watch the club I’ve supported since the days of Greaves & Gilzean. I left home full of post-Liverpool optimism but returned sadder and wiser. We won, yes, but I feel we should have murdered an unconvincing Wigan team.

For 30 minutes Spurs were immense, as against Liverpool, and looked like overrunning the Latics and scoring a hatful. Van der Vaart scored elegantly within 3 minutes from Adebayor’s pass, after he capitalised well on a dreadful Wigan defensive error. Then Bale’s glancing header direct from a Modric corner gave us a second after 23 minutes. The jubilant away support, remembering 2 years ago, stayed on their feet (to coin a phrase), sang “we want 10″ and mocked the silent occupants of the home stands chanting “your ground’s too big for you”. There were over 5,000 empty seats in the Wigan stands but none at all in the away end.

Only Roberto Martinez, always busy semaphoring in his technical area, could possibly have believed that the winning margin would be less than 4 or 5. But towards the end of the first half something imperceptibly changed. Our outstanding close control and passing began to fail, with less energy and urgency shown by all but Scott Parker (my man of the match by a mile).

In the 2nd half the standard of play got worse and worse, typified by a crass mistake – a trademark one – by Assou-Ekotto leading to the Wigan goal. Benny, never one simply to “get rid”, lost possession in the penalty area and, with some poor defending by Kaboul, Mohamed Diame took a difficult chance well shooting low to Friedl’s left.

Despite a few Spurs chances late on many of us watching at the DW feared a loss of concentration or last-minute slip-up (as so many times before) and were hugely relieved to hold on for the win.

Many will say we did what was necessary, getting 3 points at a “lesser” club (remember last year?), and should be satisfied. But, with expectations high after our goals and the Liverpool performance, I was disappointed and frustrated by our 2nd half display. Spurs had very nearly their best starting 11 out and we simply under-performed.

Van der Vaart is still not fit, and after the goal only rarely showed his undoubted class. In the 2nd half he played too deep, didn’t make many runs and lacked sharpness. He didn’t look happy and seemed relieved to be substituted. Is he a square peg in a round hole? Frankly I would rather have seen JD playing in a “proper” 4-4-2 had he been fit.

Adebayor, and the jury is out on him for me too, looked so good in the first half. He is everything Crouch (despite his goal against Man U) is not: strong, determined, skilful with both feet, good in the air and a handful for any defender. Best of all he doesn’t fall over at every challenge. I so much want to believe he will consistently turn it on for Spurs. But in the 2nd half he went down in the penalty area to a tackle, looking for a penalty, and then stayed on the ground for several minutes as if in agony after which he sulked and simulated a limp for the rest of the half. He wanted us all to believe he was injured. Was he actually hurt? I don’t think so. Come on Ade, less of that nonsense please!

Modric, who as we all know can be sublime on his day, played well in flashes but didn’t consistently boss the midfield like last week. He had a quiet game, but I wouldn’t criticise his attitude despite all the transfer talk.

Bale too had his moments and, not for the first time, proved that one-on-one few defenders can stop him except by a foul. And so it proved when Gohouri received both of his yellow cards and was sent off for just such agricultural challenges on Gareth, but Spurs didn’t capitalise on their advantage from the sending off over the remaining 30 minutes of the match.

Sandro played well enough, but unsurprisingly tired in his first game back after injury. A fan in the row in front of me wore a Sandro-tribute wig (a mohawk with blue at the sides) to show how well-liked the boy from Brazil is by the supporters.

I enjoyed watching Ledley King in action, if “action” is the right word, because he is the master of minimalist football. Always in the right place at the right time and faster than he has any right to be on his creaking knees. Let’s hope he’s fit for the Arsenal game to mark Van Persie.

Best of all though was Parker. I predict he will be captain when Ledley is next out of action. His stamina, determination and will-to-win were outstanding and (although I can’t prove it with statistics) he must have made more tackles and passes, and run further, than any other player. He encouraged the others and organised the whole midfield too; he’s just the gritty general we need. In our wonderful first 30 minutes he fed Luka Modric with the ball time and again as Perryman used to do for Hoddle. Even when the rest of the team was struggling Scotty battled away, never giving up & showing why he must stay in the England team. My hero!

BAE was, well, BAE ….. the marmite of left-backs. He’s capable of anything, usually very good things but sometimes gaffes like the one leading to the Wigan goal today (and he was caught in possession or out of position several other times). Let’s face it, he’s not really one of life’s natural defenders is he?

Kaboul had 3 late chances in the 2nd half & is a real threat in the other side’s penalty box; he hit the bar from a good free-kick move and twice narrowly headed wide. Otherwise he did as he was told by Ledley in defence and played well. Walker is improving as a defender but didn’t shine in open play as he can. Friedel did what little he had to do well enough, and inspired a confidence in the defence which Gomes never could last season. Substitutions? Livermore did well enough, but Dos Santos was disappointing (again).

So, returning to the theme of this report, there was something lacking in the Spurs side. With a truly world-class front 4 of Adebayor, Bale, Modric and Van der Vaart I hoped for much more. Was it attitude? Do our stars think playing at Wigan in front of a crowd of only 18,788 is beneath their stellar talents?

The job was done, the points were won and we are climbing the table nicely at least.

Finally a tip. The Marquee – a bar for away supporters forming part of the stadium but accessed from outside it – is excellent and rather (there is no other word for it) civilised. Most of the Spurs fans, including myself, found it unnerving to be treated so well, but I did love the pies!

COYS

Ralph Dixon ( @spursdiver on Twitter )

 

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Younes Kaboul – the future of Spurs defence

September 24th, 2011 Posted in Articles
Sep, 24 2011
11 Comments »

Ka-boom!! For all Spurs fans Younes Kaboul’s 85th minute winner at the Emirates last season was a moment to savour. It wasn’t the first time the French international had scored a crucial goal in a big game. Spurs 125th anniversary game had turned into a bit of a nightmare, being 4-1 down to Aston Villa certainly didn’t point to a glorious birthday celebration. Kaboul however capped a fine comeback with a rocket shot in time added on to clinch a 4-4 draw. Moments like these mean that Kaboul has built a cult-hero reputation among Spurs fans. There are still a few that harbour doubts as to his ability though, this season he is beginning to answer those critics and show exactly what he’s about.

Kaboul celebrates his winner in the North London Derby

In recent weeks the media and now manager Harry Redknapp have begun to recognise the contribution he’s making and the potential he is beginning to fulfil. That potential was first recognised at Auxerre, a club that is famed for its academy and bringing youth into the first team. Other Auxerre alumni include World Cup winner Laurent Blanc, enfant terrible Eric Cantona and current French international, Phillipe Mexes. By the time Kaboul was 19 he had established himself as a regular at centre back and was part of Auxerre’s Coupe de France winning team in 2005.

His performances for Auxerre and France under 21’s, who he captained on several occasions, brought him to the attention of Damien Commolli, then Director of Football at Spurs. In summer 2007, Spurs completed the signing of Kaboul for a fee in the region of £8m, a big price tag for someone who wasn’t a household name this side of the Channel. Kaboul made his Spurs debut on the opening day of the 2007/08 season and enjoyed a run in the team for the early part of the year. However Martin Jol’s departure combined with a spell of poor form led to him falling from favour and a time on the side lines. Although it seemed Juande Ramos never really rated him, Kaboul did make a substitute appearance in Spurs successful League Cup final against Chelsea.

The start of the next season though saw Kaboul sold to Portsmouth, for his first spell under Harry Redknapp. Kaboul quickly established himself in Portsmouth’s team and showed that despite what Ramos may have thought, he could make it as a Premier League defender. Once Redknapp had departed for Spurs, to save them from the Ramos debacle, Kaboul was soon on his way back to White Hart Lane. Redknapp hailed Kaboul as a much improved player from his time at Portsmouth and someone who was a late bloomer. This of course is typical Redknapp hyperbole, building up his own part in the players development, while simultaneously belittling what the player had achieved previously.

Since his return to Spurs, Kaboul was often asked to play at right back. This was something he did willingly for the benefit of the team, but despite his athleticism, it is clearly not his favoured role. He did however have a good spell at centre back in Autumn 2010 and was clearly growing in confidence. His performances soon attracted the attention of France manager Laurent Blanc, leading to a call up to the squad for the friendly with England last November. Whilst he didn’t make it on the pitch for that game, by the end of the season he was back in Les Bleus squad. Kaboul made his France debut in a friendly against Ukraine in June, capping his performance with a goal. He has since gone on to make a further three appearances for the national team, including his competitive debut against Albania earlier this month.

This season Kaboul has been able to play at centre back and showed his intent with a solid performance against Manchester United. This was followed by the nightmare at White Hart Lane against City, but he was hardly alone on that front. Since that point Kaboul has gone from strength to strength and is now surely making a strong claim to be first choice, even when all centre backs are fit. His performances have no doubt been helped by playing alongside Ledley King, after all King used to make Anthony Gardner look competent. That isn’t to take any credit away from Kaboul though, he has looked extremely composed and his once suspect concentration has dramatically improved.

That concentration and composure are vital in Kaboul taking his career to the next level. Kaboul’s physical attributes have never been in doubt. At 6 foot 3 inches and built like the proverbial brick outhouse, Kaboul also has good pace and can compete with even the most powerful opponents. Kaboul is a fantastic header of the ball and has shown an improved reading of the game, something that will only continue to develop as he plays alongside King. That reading of the game and his decision making mean he is now much more likely to know when to step up and intercept, muscling players out the way, and when to hold back and make a tackle. Technically, Kaboul is superior to all of Spurs centre backs except King and is assured in possession. Occasionally this leads to him being a little over confident, but again he is learning to cut those moments out. His range of attributes make him a much more rounded defender than Gallas, Dawson or Bassong and means he can forge a partnership with any of them or King.

With Kaboul still only 25, I’ve made no secret of my belief that he and Steven Caulker are the future for Spurs in central defence and can help us maintain and improve upon our position as one of the ‘big six’ (or whatever moniker is currently being applied). As much as we all wish it were not the case, Ledley King isn’t going to be able to go on indefinitely. Younes Kaboul however has all the qualities and belief in himself to carry on King’s legacy and give Spurs an assured presence at the back for years to come.

COYS

Stuart Watts ( @Studub on Twitter )

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Match Preview: Wigan v Spurs

September 22nd, 2011 Posted in Articles, Match Previews, Premier League
Sep, 22 2011
5 Comments »

Premier League. Saturday 24th September 2011. DW Stadium. 3pm Kick Off.

Wigan. A team that have been struggling and scrapping around the bottom of the table for most of their Premier League life. Wigan. A team that Spurs destroyed 9-1 at White Hart Lane in 2009. Wigan. A team that Roberto Martinez has playing nice football, that many have tipped for the drop this year. Wigan. A team that took 4 points from Spurs last season.

It all sounds so typical doesn’t it? A decent footballing side that Spurs should destroy and yet last season they took 3 points away from The Lane and then held out against a spluttering strike force to claim a home point. Obviously that was a feature of last season, Spurs playing well against the lower teams yet coming up with virtually nothing to show for it. It’s no secret that at least one win over Wigan, Wolves, WBA, West Ham and Blackpool would have seen Spurs take a Champions League place comfortably. Too often last season, it was all domination and no penetration. Sounds like a recipe for rubbish porn and poor football. A great win, inspired by the debutants at Wolves followed by a fine performance against Liverpool suggests that we may be looking at a different story this year for Spurs. Will this be the case on Saturday?

Wigan news

The biggest news coming out of Wigan is the injury to probably their best player, Hugo Rodallega. His absence will be keenly felt by Roberto Martinez and his team and a lot of responsibility will fall upon Victor Moses. Wigan’s young English forward was much touted when he was at Crystal Palace and some were surprised when he chose the Latics over bigger clubs. Moses had a slow start but is now beginning to show the potential that brought him to the Premier League. Along with Moses, Wigan will look to Franco di Santo to trouble Spurs back line and James McCarthy may also have a big part to play. Ali Al-Habsi will have a big role to play if Wigan are to keep the fired up Emmanuel Adebayor and Jermain Defoe at bay. The Omani keeper can be inspired but can also have lapses in concentration, any of those will be pounced upon mercilessly by Spurs attackers who are now clearly hungry for goals.

Spurs News

After the excellent performance against Liverpool at The Lane there are unlikely to be many changes although Rafa Van der Vaart may well come in for Niko Kranjcar to play from the right. Last season this caused problems, with the right back being left exposed and resulting in Spurs conceding. With Kyle Walker starting to look like a one-man right wing and Scott Parker adding more defensive responsibility in midfield then this could well work now. There are others now coming back into contention and William Gallas, Sandro along with possibly Huddlestone and Pienaar could give Redknapp some good selection problems. Luka Modric’s goal last week seemed to reinvigorate the Croatian as has his burgeoning partnership with Scott Parker. Those two should be able to dominate the Wigan midfield and get Bale and Van der Vaart/Kranjcar into the game and provide opportunities for Adebayor and Defoe. At the back, Brad Friedel is set to continue in goal. If Ledley King is able to keep up his game a week routine then Spurs new assuredness in defence should continue despite any threat that Wigan may muster. I expect Spurs to line up like this: Friedel; Walker; Kaboul; King; Assou-Ekotto; Van der Vaart; Parker; Modric; Bale; Adebayor; Defoe.

My prediction

For all Wigan’s pretty football, Spurs do it better and have stronger players in every position. If Redknapp can continue to keep his side motivated for these kind of games then there is no reason to believe that Spurs won’t come away with anything less than a win at the DW Stadium. I believe Adebayor and Defoe will continue their goalscoring form, the defence to continue their solidity and expect Spurs to run out 3-0 winners.

COYS

Stuart Watts ( @Studub on Twitter )

 

The Odds

Spurs win: Evens

Draw: 5-2

Wigan win: 11-4

My prediction (Spurs 3-0): 14-1

First Spurs goalscorer:

Adebayor 5-1

Defoe 6-1

Van der Vaart & Pavlyuchenko 7-1

Free bets at Freebetssport.com

 

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The penalty miss heard around the World

September 21st, 2011 Posted in Articles
Sep, 21 2011
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Don DeLillo’s modern classic American novel ‘Underworld’ opens with the 1951 National League title (baseball) game between the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers, held at the Giants Polo Fields stadium. In the 9th innings the Dodgers Ralph Branca pitches to Bobby Thompson, who hits it into the stands for a 3 run homer that secures the title for the Giants. This home run almost immediately became known as the ‘Shot heard around the World’. One of the main reasons for this is that in the days before television, fans would huddle around radios and listen to the action from wherever they were. Back then commentators had a real sense of duty to their listeners, using extremely florid and descriptive language to get the action across.

Which brings us to last nights match. I hadn’t planned on being outside of London last night but sometimes the real world takes over. So there I was with just a 3G dongle and netbook to try and catch a glimpse of the action. Not long before kick off however it became clear that I wasn’t the only one who was going to struggle to see this game. It wasn’t being broadcast anywhere and as I tuned into Twitter to look for a stream there were desperate cries from scores of Spurs fans seeking the same.

It emerged that our only hope was to tune into BBC Radio London who had live commentary of the game. Having found the BBC radio player on the net I listened intently while cooking dinner. Unfortunately commentators these days don’t have the same duty of care for their listener as in days gone by. An interview by Rob Smyth with legendary commentator Barry Davies – he of ‘Is Gascoigne gonna have a crack? He is, you know. Oh I say! Brilliant! That is Schoolboys Own stuff’ fame – in issue two of the excellent The Blizzard, bemoans the lack of quality commentary and it couldn’t be more right. I don’t even know the name of the commentator with Bradley Allen but it was painful listening to their attempts to describe the action. Nevertheless, at least I knew what the score was and could sate my Spurs need in some way.

As the second half kicked off, the other pitfall of listening to a radio stream with a 3G dongle raised its head, lag and just plain cutting out. To be honest as long as I wasn’t missing any goals it was almost a relief to my ears. From what I could gather though any goals were unlikely to be forthcoming. Therefore when the stream cut out at around the 75 minute mark I wasn’t too fussed, there were plenty of options for getting news of the result. I was also fairly confident at this point that the game was going to penalties and that Spurs would, by virtue of it being penalties, lose.

So I settled down with a cup of tea and some ice cream and awaited news of the result. As it became clear that the game was heading to penalties I decided that the last thing I wanted was to hear Whoeverhewas and Bradley Allen describing Spurs exit. At this point I turned to Twitter for my updates. Ignoring completely @Spursofficial which is notoriously slow and basically not very useful, I searched my timeline for someone who knew what they were talking about. My first saviour was @HotspurLucy who was clearly on the ball and described the first 8 or 9 penalties accurately and quicker than anyone else. After that point she seemed to disappear, don’t know why, perhaps the real world interrupted her too. Luckily up to the plate stepped @WindyCOYS who seamlessly took over commentary duties from Lucy to take the game to it’s conclusion.

There’s no need to go into detail about that conclusion, we all know young Massimo Luongo was unsuccesful and Spurs fell at the first hurdle in this competition for the second year running. Luongo certainly shouldn’t be crucified in a pressure situation on his professional debut. From what I could gather through the night and with his penalty, Roman Pavlyuchenko maybe should. He’s certainly lost his SuperPav tag and as I stated in my preview of this game he needed a good game to get his season started. Hmmm.

One thing that is clear after last night is that no matter what the broadcasters and media think, fans do care, even about the Carling Cup and that with no TV or streaming of the game it was all a bit surreal. It harked back to those bygone days in some respects, yet with poor commentary and poor internet connection, it highlighted how much things really have changed. It also showed how much we take for granted being able to see virtually every minute of our teams season. While that penalty miss may have been heard around the World (my Twitter feed, with Spurs fans dotted around the globe told me it was), it’s unlikely to stay in the memory 60 years on and be invoked in classic literature, as Bobby Thompson’s home run has.

COYS

Stuart Watts ( @Studub on Twitter )

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Match Preview: Stoke v Spurs

September 19th, 2011 Posted in Carling Cup, Match Previews
Sep, 19 2011
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Carling Cup. Tuesday 20th September 2011. Brittania Stadium. 7.45pm Kick off.

It was surprising to hear that Harry Redknapp is interested in the Carling Cup. Having made his disdain for the Europa League clear due to its allegedly crazy scheduling, it may have been expected he’d think the same of a trophy where Spurs are playing just 48 hours after a Premier League fixture. But Redknapp said today “We want to stay in the competition, we want to win and go all the way if we can,” he went on to say “We could have Sandro and William Gallas back, Pav needs another game, van der Vaart is back, Gomes, Bassong, Corluka – that’s not a bad team, is it?” and finished by saying  “One or two of the youngsters will get another chance as well.” It really is encouraging to hear these words from Redknapp, after all the game is about glory. For me at least, glory equals silverware, after all in years to come the record books will show who won the trophies in a given season but they won’t mention who came fourth.

So onto Stoke then. Tony Pulis has done a fantastic job in establishing Stoke in the Premier League and has also started to evolve his side from their brutish image.  Of course adding a bunch of ex-Spurs players is going to help in playing better football. Matty Etherington was already at Stoke but has now been joined by Johnathan Woodgate, Wilson Palacios and Peter Crouch. I won’t pretend to know enough about Tony Pulis’ plans for his team and whether he’s intending on taking the Carling Cup seriously but it seems certain that at least one ex-Spur will be present. Therefore whoever it is, is likely to score against us. That’s just one of those unwritten rules of football. Stoke are coming into this match on the back of a 4-0 beating at the hands of Sunderland and Pulis’ team are nothing if not proud and will look to set the record straight.

Spurs themselves are also coming into this one after a 4-0 result, this time a fantastic win over Liverpool at The Lane on Sunday. It was encouraging to see the majority of pundits seeing the truth of this result and that Spurs were far superior to Liverpool even before the two red cards. As Redknapp himself has said, there will be many changes but even so confidence in the squad must be high and this really is a good opportunity to get a good result and aim to make waves in this competition. One area of concern is the goalkeeper. Gomes didn’t look good against Hearts and hasn’t featured since, he was set to play against PAOK but Redknapp changed his mind at the last minute. This seems a strange move on the face of it, Stoke are a team who have serious aerial power and crosses and set pieces are the biggest weakness of the Brazilian keeper and this could leave him and his team exposed. It could however be a move to expose him to as much of the rough stuff and crosses as possible in a sink or swim kind of style. Risky, but if it comes off it could inspire Gomes to new heights and help the defence gain confidence in him. Michael Dawson, Aaron Lennon, Steven Pienaar, Tom Huddlestone and Danny Rose all remain sidelined with injuries. That leaves this as the likeliest line up if Gallas and Sandro come through their fitness tests: Gomes; Corluka; Gallas; Basssong; Townsend; Van der Vaart (or Dos Santos); Sandro; Livermore; Kranjcar(or Falque); Kane; Pavlyuchenko. If Pavlyuchenko does get another chance then he really has to improve on his appalling run outs in the Europa League so far this season. If the Russian doesn’t turn it on then he could well find himself well and truly off Redknapp’s Christmas card list.

My Prediction:

Neither manager will want extra time and penalties so it promises to be an open game with some good attacking football. If the team looks anything like the one suggested above then I can see Spurs being able to get a positive result. That’s not to write Stoke off but Spurs should have enough of a mix of experience and youthful exuberance to get a 3-1 win.

COYS

Stuart Watts ( @Studub on Twitter )

 

The Odds

Spurs to win: 13-8

Draw: 12-5

Stoke to win: 8-5

My prediction (Spurs 3-1): 20-1

First scorer (Spurs):

Adebayor: 11-2

Pavlyuchenko, Van der Vaart, Defoe, Kane: 7-1

Free bets available from Freebetssport.com

 

 

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Match Report: Spurs 4-0 Liverpool

September 18th, 2011 Posted in Articles, Match Reports, Premier League
Sep, 18 2011
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THFC1882′s Stuart Watts presents guest writer Ciaran Griggs match report of Sunday’s game:

“Can we play you every week”

Spurs: Friedel, Walker, King (Bassong 83), Kaboul, Assou-Ekotto, Bale, Parker, Modric, Kranjcar (Van der Vaart 45), Defoe (Giovanni 83), Adebayor
Liverpool: Reina, Skrtel, Agger (Coates 27), Carragher, Enrique, Henderson, Adam, Lucas, Downing (Spearing 70), Carroll, Suarez (Bellamy 70)

Time flies when you’re having fun, doesn’t it? So much so that I’m struggling to understand how it’s already late on Sunday evening. Didn’t I just get out of bed to go and catch my replacement bus service and two trains to make my season debut at our spiritual footballing home, White Hart Lane? Perhaps this introduction is giving away my thoughts on the game, but it deserves a much more in-depth treatment than this, so here goes.

Coming into the match, Spurs fans were cautiously optimistic. They had won and kept a clean sheet away to Wolves, with both the new signings involved in the goals and a good all-round performance. Ledley had returned to mastermind our defence and Luka was beginning to look like he was interested and motivated again, with the transfer window a, thankfully, distant memory. Liverpool fans also had reason to be cautiously optimistic, with a decent start to the season and £100m worth of new talent (all purchased in 2011) in the starting line-up. Carroll, Suarez, Henderson, Downing and Enrique are the beginning of the Kenny Dalglish rebuild and speaking to Liverpool fans, they enjoy the way that the team is beginning to shape up.

This Spurs fan was hoping to see the winning line-up from Wolves remain, and with the sun shining on my way to the Lane, my optimism was rewarded with Harry dealing out an unchanged side with Bale reverted to his true home on the left wing. Van der Vaart wasn’t quite 100% following his 2-week recovery from a hamstring strain so started the game on the bench.

Spurs started the game strongly with crisp passing and excellent movement opening Liverpool up again and again. We were unlucky not to go ahead within the first 5 minutes as an excellent move was almost finished by Adebayor from 12 yards out, his poked shot drifting just wide of Reina’s right-hand post. The fans didn’t have to wait much longer than that for a goal. Modric, often maligned for his goal-scoring record, picked up a rebound on the left edge of the D and hit a beautifully curled right-foot shot past a stranded Reina. Modric celebrated like a Spurs-man reborn and the fans reciprocated energetically.

Over the next few minutes, Liverpool had the occasional foray into Spurs territory but with Parker patrolling ahead of the defence magnificently, very little room was left for Adam and Lucas and Liverpool were largely contained. Spurs continued to slice Liverpool open with Bale in particular enjoying vast amounts of open space behind an isolated Skrtel, space which Modric was able to unerringly find on numerous occasions. Both Adam and Skrtel were booked early on for clumsy attempts to stop Bale’s marauding runs.

Having been thoroughly outplayed, Liverpool should have been looking to hunker down, regroup and get back into the game. Instead, 2 incidents in 2 minutes deepened their woes. On 27 minutes, a clearly distressed Agger was substituted, with new signing Coates on to replace him at centre-half. Coates name was greeted by a chorus of “Who?” from Spurs fans. The fans and players alike could sense a Liverpool side for the taking.

Compounding their woes a minute later, Adam was sent off for a second yellow card after a nasty high tackle, contacting Parker well above the knee. Adam was lucky to avoid a straight red card and will now have to make his annual public apology for recklessly damaging a Spurs player. The remainder of the half was dominated by Spurs playing neat possession football but without creating more genuine chances. The evidently frustrated Suarez was booked just before half-time for making some rather rude gestures to the home fans, I’ll leave the description to just that, so as not to offend…

The second half began with Van der Vaart replacing the quiet Kranjcar on the right-hand side, resulting in a generally narrower side for Spurs for much of the remainder of the match. Spurs had plenty of the football without threatening a second goal for the first 15 minutes of the second period. Adebayor continued to look lively and Walker and Assou-Ekotto started to become more involved in the general play. Liverpool on the other hand looked demoralised. If some of the away fans hoped for a comeback, this hope was crushed on the hour mark when Skrtel rashly went through the back of Bale, earning a second yellow for him and a second red for the team. 9 men now, you could almost see the Spurs players licking their lips.

Sure enough, 5 minutes later, Spurs extended their lead with Defoe rasping a shot low to Reina’s left after receiving the ball with his back to goal and neatly spinning Enrique. Spurs heaped further misery on Liverpool 2 minutes later when the excellent Adebayor showed great anticipation to follow up after Reina had spilled Defoe’s powerful shot from outside the box, tucking in from short range.

Spurs fans wanted more goals and were duly rewarded in the 3rd minute of stoppage time when Adebayor brought down a cross from the excellent Assou-Ekotto before extending a right-foot to push the ball past Reina, stuck on his line after Carragher had failed to hold his line, playing Adebayor onside.

4-0 was a fair reflection on a game where an energetic, tactically adept Spurs side dominated against the Liverpool team and for the record, Spurs dominated against not only 9 and 10 men but for nearly 30 minutes against the full 11 that Liverpool started the game with. This was an emphatic message of intent from Spurs. The new signings have slotted in quickly and Spurs have scored 6 goals without response in the last 2 Premier League matches. So for tonight, let’s forget any discussions of managers or signings and instead focus on an excellent performance. Personally, I’m looking forward to reading news stories tomorrows containing the words “Spurs are genuine contenders for CL football again”. Are you?

COYS

Ciaran Griggs ( @LordFIMM on Twitter )

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Match Preview: Spurs v Liverpool

September 17th, 2011 Posted in Articles, Match Previews, Premier League
Sep, 17 2011
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THFC1882′s Stuart Watts presents another guest appearance by Ciaran Griggs, previewing tomorrows match:

Spurs vs Liverpool. Premier League. White Hart Lane. Kick off: 1.30pm Sunday 18th September 2011.

Following on from their Thursday night exertions in Greece, Spurs return to Premier League action with a potentially difficult home match against a new look Liverpool side. Spurs rested all of their key players meaning that we should not face any of the post-CL fatigue issues that we suffered during parts of last season.

The two sides had contrasting outings last time in the Premier League. A newly balanced Spurs team, shorn of Rafael van der Vaart, played impressively in beating Wolves 2-0 at Molineux, a feat not many other teams will achieve this season. Both debutants were involved in the goals, Parker with an assist and Adebayor with a goal to continue his feat of scoring on his debut for Premier League sides. In contrast, Liverpool suffered a 1-0 away defeat to Stoke, a side Martin Samuel claims are genuine 4th place contenders. Kenny Dalglish defied his dour demeanour to launch an attack on the refereeing decisions during the match but might be wondering to himself how he could have expected to win the game with such profligacy up front.

So how will the two sides fare against each other in an early meeting of two of the sides supposedly battling it out for fourth place? Without a huge amount of early season form to go on, it’s perhaps easier to look at the potential line-ups for the match and see where we think the two sides’ strengths and weaknesses may be…

Goalkeepers: Friedel appears to have made the Spurs number 1 his own for the time being, with Gomes apparently unhappy about his demotion to the understudy role. Friedel has made some excellent early saves, defying his age at times. The save from Karl Henry low to his right last weekend was a particular highlight. For Liverpool, the consistently excellent Pepe Reina is in goal and with his record of clean sheets in the league, it’s difficult to argue against Liverpool having the stronger of the two keepers on show.
VERDICT: Liverpool edge the keepers

Defence: Liverpool surprisingly chose not to strengthen their defence significantly during the summer. Carragher and Agger are a decent, if somewhat slow and uninspiring pairing. Many Liverpool fans see Carra as a player in decline, evidenced by the clumsy fashion in which he clambered over Walters for the Stoke penalty last weekend. New left back Enrique has decent potential and Skrtel is a good Premier league squad player. None of them would get into the Spurs defence tomorrow though. King and Kaboul patrolling the centre back roles with Walker and BAE rampaging is a strong defensive unit. BAE is a mainstay of our defence and Walker has shown hints of play that suggest he is close to cementing a regular place in our starting XI. King brings a sense of calm to the Spurs defence that elevates them far past the levels they achieve in his absence. Every Spurs fan will be hoping he passes a late fitness test on Sunday, and that he has liberally oiled his creaky knees in anticipation of a 90-minute masterclass.
VERDICT: Spurs clear winners in the defence

Midfield: A very interesting area, very difficult to call. Liverpool have neither supremely attacking nor defensively minded players. Adam had a good season last year with Blackpool but as yet has failed to reproduce that kind of form for the Merseyside club now paying his wages. Parker and Modric should be able to overpower and outplay Adam and Lucas in the centre. Parker was in good form last time out and brings a defensive edge we missed in the first two games with Sandro still injured (everyone remember Niko and Luka in the middle? I’m trying to forget it). Luka showed some modicum of his old form against Wolves last weekend. Now that the transfer window is well and truly shut, he can concentrate on doing the things that led to many Spurs fans labelling him the best player they’ve seen in a Spurs shirt for many a year. On the wings, Stewart Downing is in excellent form for club and country and needs to be watched whilst Henderson is still finding his feet and shouldn’t cause too many problems playing in an unfamiliar wide right role. If Bale is put on the left (hear that, Harry, LEFT) wing we should just edge the midfield battle. Rumours are gathering pace that Van der Vaart will make a miracle recovery from his injury, potentially returning 4 weeks ahead of schedule, to further strengthen our midfield options.
VERDICT: Spurs edge the midfield battle with some cunning play backed with Parker steel.

Attack: Here is where the difference in the teams transfer policy really shows. Liverpool have set about bolstering their forward line with a £55m outlay on Andy Carroll, a young English talent in the old-fashioned number 9 mould, and Luis Suarez, a player deemed too lightweight for Spurs but who has already showed some sublime touches and excellent play early on in his Liverpool career. Liverpool have also shrewdly brought Bellamy back into the club after he fell out of favour at Man City. Bellamy has genuine pace and on his day is a top, top striker and a threat against which we need to pay careful attention, particularly if he is used as an impact sub late on in the game.
Spurs on the other hand have only the 1-year loan signing of Adebayor to bolster a forward line short of form and goals. Ade is in possession of genuine quality but there’s always a nagging doubt about his ability to display this consistently. Defoe may continue his form into this game although if Van der Vaart is fit, I can see Harry playing our top scorer from last season behind Adebayor, a 4-4-1-1 system that has potential, though sometimes leaves us lacking the ability to press against slower defences. Past that we lack any real strength in depth with our third choice striker, Pavulychenko, turning in a very poor performance in PAOK match.
VERDICT: Liverpool take the striking gong.

A closing thought. Spurs fans should console themselves with the knowledge that it’s 3 years since Liverpool finished above us and despite consistently outspending us over the past 2 years, they have failed to gel sufficiently well to displace a strong Spurs side. There is no longer an expectation of struggling to get a result against England’s second most successful domestic side. We simply don’t fear them anymore. They’re our competition; they’re part of the peer group of clubs within which we now operate. We can, and I think will, win this game and then we will really be off and running this season. My prediction 3-1

COYS

Ciaran Griggs ( @LordFIMM on Twitter )

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