Champions League Draw

The draw for the next stage of the Champions League takes place on Friday 17th December at 11am

As we finished top of the group it means we will be drawn against a team who finished runners up in the group, excluding Arsenal.

Possible opponents are;

Lyon
Valencia
FC Copenhagen
Roma
Marseille
AC Milan

The runners-up are drawn first and play the first-leg matches at home.

By Kirstie Teversham

Spurs Champions League Record

After netting another 3 goals in the away tie against FC Twente, we have set a new Champions League record of scoring two or more goals in every match of the group stages.

The goal scorers include Defoe, Kaboul, Modric, Crouch, Van der Vaart, Pavlyuchenko and Bale all hit the back of the net for us showing that goals are coming from all players from the defence to the centre forwards.

By Kirstie Teversham



FC Twente 3 Spurs 3

In goal frenzy game, Spurs saw themselves finish top of the group after away at FC Twente and Werder Bremen beat Inter Milan 3-0. Spurs only had to match Inter to claim top spot.

Spurs took the lead 3 times in the game, the first goal game 12 minutes in with an own goal from

Less than 10 minutes later a controversial penalty was awarded to Twente as Assou-Ekotto shielded himself from a powerful volley from Rosales. Handball in the referee’s view and points to the spot. Landzaat takes the penalty and scores only for the referee to order a re-take. Second attempt, second time the ball hit’s the back of the net. Wisgerhof’s back passed was completely missed by the man in goal for Twente, Boschker, and it rolled into the back of the net.
Jenas lasted just over half an hour before he was taken off injured and replaced by Lennon.

Kranjcar, Pavlyuchenko and Defoe had chances before the half time whistle but it remained 1-1.

It took Defoe just under 2 minutes to put Spurs back in the lead in the second half. Lennon, with great awareness and neat pass, sets up Defoe who cooly slots the ball home. 2-1 Spurs.

FC Twente had their chances and it paid off again 10 minutes later when they got their second equaliser. Rosales got the better of Assou-Ekotto, jumped well and headed the ball home. 2-2.

In a game full of goals we only had to wait 3 minutes to see the next one. Palcios dispossessed Janseen and ran in on goal. His attempt was saved by Boschker, however, his clearance was put right into the path of Defoe, who was making his first start in the Champions League after returning from injury, to tap it home. 3-2 Spurs.

Again, it was less than 5 minutes later and another goal was scored, this time by FC Twente, who for the third time bring the game back level. Another decision by the referee that could be questioned lead to a free kick, taken by Chadli. Well taken and a nice free kick see’s the score go to 3-3.

Gomes kept Spurs in the game with a fine save. At full stretch to his left he manages to fingertip away Brama’s fine curling effort.

Just last week Redknapp said the exit of Robbie Keane was likely in the January transfer window. After being left out of the squad against Birmingham he made the bench in tonight’s game and got some playing time with 20 minutes to go.

Kranjcar who was also making rare appearance makes way for Crouch after he picked up an injury in the 85^th minute.

Chances continue right til the final whistle but the game finishes 3-3.

By Kirstie Teversham

Champions League. Pre Match - FC Twente vs Spurs

We go into the game having already qualified for the next stage of the Champions League. We travel to FC Twente for the last game of the group stage needing to match or better what Inter Milan do who are away to Werder Bremen.

Top spot in the group is the only place left to play for as FC Twente have secured 3rd place leaving Werder Bremen out of both european competitions.

Spurs welcome back Jermaine Jenas and Robbie Keane for the game. Luka Modric is a doubt after suffering with flu. Van der Vaart and Kaboul remain out.

Redknapp has hinted at some changes with the busy Christmas and New Year period coming up.

"I might just make one or two changes," he said. "We've one or two players who are desperate to play and have been unlucky not to play.

"We've lots of important games coming up and it's important we don't overstretch one or two of the lads.

"If we make the changes, whoever comes into the side will do a great job for us."

By Kirstie Teversham

Keane set for January exit

Redknapp has admitted that in January, if the price is right, we could be seeing the exit of Robbie Keane.

Redknapp has said that he is struggling to get Keano in the team, including the subs bench! He also as good as ruled out a loan move by saying "Whoever offers the biggest fee will, I suppose, be the answer in January."

Keane returned to White Hart Lane after a disastrous 6 months in the Premier League with Liverpool which saw him make 29 appearances after a £20million move to the north.

A year after his return to the Lane, Keano went on loan to Celtic from January til the end of the season.

Keane, to date, has made over 200 appearances for Spurs in the league and over 300 in all competitions, scoring 123 goals along the way.

By Kirstie Teversham

Birmingham 1 Spurs 1

A point gained or a point dropped?

Van der Vaart and Kaboul failed to make the team, missing out through injury however the team sheet saw the long awaited return of Michael Dawson. Although he made the team he spent the 90 minutes on the bench.

Bassong put Spurs ahead on the 19th minute which saw us go into the interval with a half time lead. A 1-0 half time lead may have been hard to believe after dominating the first half with Crouch having a couple of chances and a Wilson Palacios shot blocked by Bowyer before Bassong put us ahead with a shot from inside the six-yard box to the top left corner of the goal.

Spurs have yet to keep a clean sheet since the opening game of the season against Manchester City which finished 0-0 and things werent about to change at St Andrews. Nine minutes from time Gardner headed in the equaliser.

Next game: Champions league. FC Twente vs Spurs

By Kirstie Teversham

Three Lions

Capello has called up Tom Huddlestone, Aaron Lennon and Peter Crouch for his qualifier on October 12th at Wembley against Montenegro.

Huddlstone has 3 englands caps, Lennon 19 and Crouch with 40, scoring 21 goals.

Tottenham Hotspur 2 Aston Villa 1

Tottenham fought back from an early Albrighton goal to beat Aston Villa 2-1 at White Hart Lane.

Rafael van der Vaart once again stole the show scoring either side of half time. His first goal came from a fine cross in from Roman Pavlyuchenko which was met by Crouch who headed onto VDV for him to get in front of the in form Richard Dunne and head home just on the stroke of half time.

Spurs played well in the first half, creating good chances but failing to put them away. The midfield worked well although a change was needed to see Lennon come on to create some activity down the right, that change came as the second half kicked off and Pavlyuchenko made way.

Half time: Spurs 1 Villa 1

The good performance put in, in the first half was continue and improved in the second. More end to end football being played and good chances for both sides. However, it was Spurs who scored the 3^rd goal of the game with van der Vaart showing some fantastic skill from another assist from Crouch who headed down the cross from Lennon. Van der Vaart, who made it look easy, stepped inside of Dunne and slotted past Friedel for his second and Spurs’ second of the game.

Modric made way for Palacios and Sandro played the last few minutes replacing van der Vaart.

A good performance, a good win. Spurs sit 5^th in the table after all of Saturdays games.

Full time: Spurs 2 Villa 1

Gomes;

Hutton, Huddlestone, Bassong, Assou-Ekotto;

van der Vaart, Jenas, Modric, Bale;

Crouch, Pavlyuchenko.

SUBS: Cudicini, Corluka, Kranjcar, Lennon, Palacios, Sandro, Keane.

Tottenham Hotspur 4 FC Twente 1

Glory, Glory Tottenham Hotspur …

Bale, Pavlyuchenko and van der Vaart all make the scoresheet.

 

What an opening night in the Champions League it proved to be for Tottenham Hotspur. Facing the Dutch champions, nothing’s easy … apparently. However, Tottenham proved it to be otherwise, maybe with some help courtesy of the referee who awarded not one, not two but THREE penalties but also sent off the influential Rafael van der Vaart for two bookable offences.

The first half Tottenham stepped up to the mark and put in a solid performance. Gomes who returned from injury made a good save to prevent FC Twente from taking the lead.

With just 8 minutes remaining of the first half, Crouch won a controversial penalty after hitting the ground with Wisgerhof after attempting to connect with van der Vaart’s ball in from the right and it was van der Vaart himself who stepped up to take it. Unfortunately it wasn’t a repeat of his first penalty which saw him score his first goal for the club against Wolves as Mihaylov managed to get a hand to it and put it wide.
Spurs saw out the first half with a clean sheet and 11 men on the field, where really Huddlestone should be counting himself lucky after his challenge early on in the game.

Half time, Spurs 0 FC Twente 0.

It took van der Vaart just a minute to make up for his penalty miss but putting Spurs 1-0 up with a finely taken goal. Taken down on his chest, he spun and volleyed it into the back of the net.

Just over 5 minutes later Spurs were awarded their second penalty of the game after Bale was taken down by Rosales, up steps Pavlyuchenko. Sending Mihaylov the wrong way, Pavlyuchenko makes it 2-0.

Spurs went to sleep at the back when defending a free kick. Janssen crossed the ball in and the ball fell perfectly for Chadli to place it in the bottom right hand corner to make it 2-1.

It was on the hour mark that van der Vaart saw red for his second yellow of the game which leads to him missing the away tie at Inter Milan in three weeks time.

The third penalty was awarded just minutes after Spurs went down to 10men, another controversial penalty. Pavlyuchenko’s shot at goal hit the arm of Kuiper and although it took the referee a little while to award it, he finally made his mind up. Pavlyuchenko himself took the penalty and made no mistake in what was a dangerous penalty approach to take but still, he made it 3-1.

Bale rounded off the night with the 4^th. Making the most of Douglas’ mistake he charged into the box and with a cool attitude, slotted past Mihaylov. 4-1 Spurs, game over.

Keane, Lennon and Jenas all made appearances in the second half replacing Pavlyuchenko, Modric and Crouch.

Full time, Spurs 4 FC Twente 1.

A fine Spurs performance, Bale again outstanding and van der Vaart as influential as he has been since joining Spurs saw us pick up all 3 points and go second in the group.

Gomes; Hutton, King, Bassong, Assou-Ekotto; van der Vaart, Huddlestone, Modric, Bale; Crouch, Pavlyuchenko.
Subs: Cudicini, Corluka, Lennon, Palacios, Kranjcar, Jenas, Keane.

Next up, Inter Milan.

By Kirstie Teversham

Bale wins Goal of the Month award!

Gareth Bale has won the goal of the month award for August.

Bale scored both goals in our 2-1 win away to Stoke but it's the first of his goal that steals the award.

The goal was made possible after Lennon ran with the ball and made a fantastic cross to Bale who hit the back of the net with a left-foot volley.

A stunning goal worthy of the award.

Bale celebrating vs Stoke

By Kirstie Teversham

Time for Woodgate to hang up his boots?

Jonathan Woodgate, what an unfortunate, yet fortunate career he has had. Starting his career at Leeds United he then moved on to Newcastle before joining Real Madrid. He left Real Madrid to join Middlesbrough on loan before making the move permanent. It was from Middlesbrough that we signed him for a fee of £7million.

It was at Newcastle that his injuries started to hit him. In his first season at Real Madrid he failed to make an appearance due to being out through injury. Now at Spurs, since 2008 Woodgate has made 64 appearances for the club in all competitions. Most famously scoring the winning goal in extra time against Chelsea in the Carling Cup in the 2007-08 season.

In today’s paper Redknapp is believed to have revealed that Woodgate’s latest treatment on his long-term groin problem has been a failure, leaving question marks over his future.

Is it time for Woodgate, also known as “Woody”, to hang up his boots and admit defeat to his badly injury hit career at the age of 30?

We have Bassong, Dawson and Kaboul along with Gallas and King, who also suffers from injury problems but has mastered ways benefit him, who fill the centre back position with Huddlestone and Corluka (questionably) who can also slot in as cover.
By Kirstie Teversham

West Ham 1 Spurs 0

After the midweek Carling Cup game against Arsenal, ‘Arry made 10 changes to the starting line up to face West Ham. In came Crouch, van der Vaart, Bale, Lennon, Huddlestone, Jenas, Lennon, Corluka, Hutton and Cudicini.

With a first half performance best to be forgotten, the second was much better.
Both Jenas and van der Vaart forced Green into action with some good saves before a corner for West Ham saw them take the lead with a looping header from Piquionne who found the back of the net from an unmarked post, error one from Spurs.
A few good attacks from saw us come close. A good run from Lennon down the right beating Noble and Boa Morte put in a good cross for Modric who forced Green to pull off a fantastic save, pushing it onto the woodwork to keep it at 1-0 West Ham.

1-0 West Ham at half time.

A good start to the second half with a couple of good chances, Huddlestone with probably the best of the game. With Crouch to his left and just Green to beat, Huddlestone took the shot on himself. After going past Green he put it wide.

Into the second half ‘Arry made some changes. Keane come on for Lennon, making his 300^th appearance for the club, Giovani on for van der Vaart who was having a good game and had created most of our chances and a bit later on Pavlyuchenko also made an appearance replacing Crouch.

Noble forced Cudicini to make the save of the came with just 20 minutes to go.

1-0 West Ham full time, fully deserved. Cudicini;
Hutton, Bassong, Corluka, Bale;
Lennon (Keane, 66): Jenas, Huddlestone, Modric;
Van der Vaart (Giovani, 78);
Crouch (Pavlyuchenko, 80).
Unused: Pletikosa, Kranjcar, Sandro, Palacios.

Discuss the match on http://www.soccer24-7.com/forum/showthread.php?t=183014

By Kirstie Teversham

Is the squad depth good enough?

As we all know, the injuries are piling up and we’re beginning to understand a little what Everton felt like last season. The difference between Everton being hit by injuries and ourselves is that our squad is looked upon as having good squad depth, but do we?

After the likes of Bentley and Giovani dos Santos who are expected to be pushing for first team football put in a performance best to be forgotten in the 4-1 defeat by Arsenal midweek in the Carling Cup, it left many fans with question marks above their heads and looking past them to others who may be able to the job. And there lies the question, do we have anything better other than the likes of Lennon and van der Vaart and the like who are regular starters.

We then have the likes of Caulker, who has been highly rated, Livermore, Sandro and Naughton, players who are hoping to be part of a strong future Spurs yet didn’t deliver what some had hope for. For some you could give the benefit of the doubt, but the likes of Bentley and dos Santos, its extremely frustrating.

Modric, Bale, Lennon, van der Vaart, Dawson and Huddlestone are all players that we don’t like to see dropped yet who to we look to replace them to have the same strength and impact on the team?

So to stick with what we’ve got and hope for improvements or strengthen in January? 

By Kirstie Teversham