Team News

Spurs: Gomes, Gallas, Dawson, Corluka, Assou-Ekotto, Lennon, Van der Vaart, Modric, Sandro, Pienaar, Crouch

Milan: Abbiati, Nesta, Jankulovski, Thiago Silva, Seedorf, Flamini, Abate, Boateng, Alexandre Pato, Ibrahimovic, Robinho

Updates will appear in the comments section below. Your own observations are more than welcome!

Harry has promised that attack will be his teams form of defence and the first 10 minutes appear to confirm this tactic. Van der Vaart is back in the starting lineup but unfortunately Gareth Bale has not quite made it (but is on the bench if needed!).

I can’t remember the last time I have been this excited about watching 90 minutes of football. The cold beer is at hand and the girlfriend is cooking pizza. Everything is perfect…. so far.

Where are you watching the game? Share your thoughts with us on the performance so far….

Not since the 2006-7 season have we been stood much of a chance of gaining a Champions League place – which I’m sure you remember was ended on the final day by a bout of food poisoning. Let’s hope that all meals are cooked to perfection for the remainder of the season!

So, let us look at the current situation and assess our chances of Champions League football at The Lane next year;

As I write we are sitting in 4^th place on 49 points. Man City are right behind us on goal difference, but have a game in hand. Liverpool are in 6th on 48 points, but we have a game in hand over them. Villa are currently down in 7^th with just 45 points BUT have 2 games in hand over the Spurs.

The battle for fourth place is still wide open. Wigan’s 1-0 win over Liverpool last night was well received, but they are still in it. Having said this they still have to travel to Old Trafford, and face a home tie against Chelsea before the season finale.

City have a home tie with United on the 17^th April, and I’m positive Alex Ferguson and his team will be desperate to beat their bitter (and big spending) rivals – even more so due to the fight for the Premier League title. A trip to The Emirates awaits City the following week. Can they beat two title contenders consecutively?

A meeting with Aston Villa in the penultimate weekend of the league campaign could be one to watch out for.

Speaking of Aston Villa, a trip to Stamford Bridge looks to be their trickiest fixture, with a relatively easy run-in compared to City and Liverpool. Don’t forget the meeting with City on the 1^st May though!

So, how about the mighty Tottenham Hotspur?

Unfortunately we have still to play all three of the title contenders before the season ends. Not just that, but on consecutive weekends.

Sat 10^th April: Arsenal Home
Sat 17^th April: Chelsea Home
Sun 25^th April: Man Utd Away

Not good news there then. More annoyingly, we keep working our way through the FA Cup the hard way. How many more replays are we going to let congest our fixture list?!

Liverpool have the Europa League. Spurs and Villa have the FA Cup. City have only the Premier League to concentrate on.

For that reason, I predict big spenders Man City to take 4^th place, with Villa close behind. I’m hoping we can take 6^th place with Liverpool behind.

Before I get abuse, I’m just being realistic based on remaining fixtures. It’s not what I WANT to happen, but what I THINK will happen.

If you have a different opinion, share it in the comments section below!

So, today it’s a short trip to the Emirates for a clash with out best buddies Arsenal (sarcasm of course!). After last Saturday’s defeat at home to Stoke we could really do with a win – whoever we were playing. Naturally, the majority of us would be quite happy with the Stoke result if it meant we could take 3 points against the Arse today!

History has proved this derby to be a particularly entertaining one with plenty of goals and drama. I’m sure we all remember the 4-4 draw last season! David Bentleys sublime volley, and Lennon’s very late equaliser. I love entertainment but I’ll quite happily take a 1-0 win today as long as it’s 3 points.

Having lost to United and Chelsea so far this year, we could really do with a win against another of the top 4 to add to our opening day defeat of Liverpool. More importantly, we are dangerously close to dropping from the top 4 ourselves. A defeat today would enable Arsenal to jump ahead of us by 3 points with a game in hand.

Also threatening our position are Liverpool in 5th position and just 1 point behind. In 6th Man City are also on 18 points but they have played one less than us. City travel to Birmingham today and I expect them to take all 3 points. Villa are in 7th, and only 2 points behind us, also with a game in hand. Everton are their hosts this afternoon and this could be a tight one but I still expect Villa to take the points. In summary – the pressure is on to remain in the top 4 this weekend!

Lennon is injured, so David Bentley will start and hopefully carry on the good form he showed in the 2-0 Carling Cup win over Everton in the week. Woodgate looks set to partner King in defence, and Defoe is suspended.

50 MINUTES UNTIL KICK-OFF – COYS!!!!

Since the last post we have lost 3-0 to Chelsea. Having read the match report I am under the impression that the match was much closer than the scoreline suggests. Correct me if wrong.

Just like my analysis of the defeat by Man Utd, I am of the opinion that there is no shame in losing to a team of Chelsea’s quality.

It’s fair to say that this defeat has not affected us after a midweek 5-1 thrashing of Preston. Crouch finished with a superb hat-trick including a cheeky little back-heel that is a must see!

As I write this, we are 5-0 up against Burnley (who almost caused an upset against us in the Carling Cup last year of course). Today it’s Keane’s turn to impress going one better than Crouch, scoring 4. So that’s the fourth time this season that we’ve scored 5 in a match. Love it!

COYS!!

My thoughts can be summarized in just one short sentence;

It had to end sometime, and it’s certainly no embarrassment to lose to the current champions.

Don’t get me wrong, I would have loved to get 3 points on Saturday evening, but in fairness we were up against one of the best teams in Europe – if not the world.

Fergie is a master tactician, and United are never beaten until the ref blows the final whistle. Who could forget the classic ‘game of 2 halves’ a few years back when the Red Devils came from 3-0 down to beat us 5-3.

My first thought when Defoe put us one up in under a minute on Saturday was – it’s too early. Actually, that’s not strictly true, as I spent a few seconds punching the air and cheering out aloud in my flat (to the amusement of my flatmate!).

The early opener merely motivated United – out of neccesity – to come at us. They duly obliged with devastating effect.

We missed Modric and Palacios. The latter was on the field, but nowhere near his best after his long journey for international duty. The Honduras midfielder struggled to keep up with the pace and was needlessly booked before being replaced with fit again Jermaine Jenas at half time.

Now that United have handed us our first defeat of the season, it’s time to move on. Chelsea are the next opponents and I for one am looking forward to the trip across London – especially as my Dad is a passionate Chelsea fan.

3 points would be much appreciated, thanks Harry!

England were at their very best last night and never looked in trouble against a Croatia team rated 9th in the Fifa World Rankings. From the start we were positive in attack, and controlled in defence. Every time we got the ball we looked threatening.

It’s even better that our very own Aaron Lennon is getting such rave reviews on the back pages today, and there is no doubt in my mind that this is his season to finally reach his potential and answer the many critics that doubt his international credentials.

If only his second half effort wasn’t brilliantly saved by the Croat keeper. A first international goal was very much deserved, but it was not to be. In retrospect, the winger could have done slightly better with the shot, but I’m not going to take anything away from an outstanding performance.

The first goal was always going to be important, and it was Aaron who won the penalty that Lampard duly converted after an obvious (despite protests!) trip in the area proved to be the only way the Croatian defence could stop the Spurs man.

Following this, a fantastic cross set up Gerrard to head home, putting England firmly in control. The performance impressed Beckham, his competition for the role on the right side of the England midfield.

Defoe failed to add to his impressive  goal tally after coming on as a sub for Heskey. Despite calls for Jermain to start, Capello stuck with the Heskey-Rooney partnership. Although many Spurs fans wanted to see our man get his reward for recent impressive displays, I can understand why he didn’t.

Despite this, Defoe still looked sharp when he joined the action on the hour, and should be fit and raring to go against United at the weekend.

It is possibly unfair to judge Kranjcar on this performance, as England simply didn’t allow the Croatians into the game, and therefore our new acquisition failed to make any impact on the game at all. Time will tell whether this was a good signing for us, but for just £2million we can’t really go wrong!

In other matches, Pavlyuchenko scored in the 90th minute in Wales with Russia winning 3-1, this follows 2 penalties converted at the weekend. Good news that the Russian striker will not have to travel to far to rejoin the club.

Bassong has impressed since arriving at the club from Newcastle, and we could certainly do without losing another central defender before our meeting with United at the weekend. If Bassong is to miss the Man U game, there is a possibility we’d only have Corluka left as a (semi-) recognised centre back. Corluka and Huddlestone against United? Hmm…

On the plus side, Corluka was sent off during Croatia’s 1-0 win over Belarus and will miss the meeting with England on Wednesday. At least he should be fit after only playing 29 minutes before seeing red!

With King, Woodgate, and Dawson all set to miss the match at the weekend, we could really do with Bassong being fit. Time to cross our fingers, not only for that but for all our other Internationals set to play on Wednesday. No more injuries, please…

• We got Krancjar
• We didn’t get James (did we ever really need him?)
• Pav, Hudd,  and JJ are still Spurs players
• After his performance against Doncaster, not seeing Bentley go also has some sort of satisfaction

Of course there may be a few Yids left feeling a little disappointed with today’s transactions. Maybe some of us would have liked Petrov swapped out for Bentley; possibly a last gasp bid for Young would have brought a smile to many a Yid face. Or maybe some of us are genuinely gutted we didn’t get the man of a 1000 hair-do’s David James!

There is a reality at the Lane which has not existed for sometime – we didn’t really need anyone! If there is any doubt about this look at the league cup tie against Doncaster.

I remember a conversation I had some seasons ago and someone asked the question, “What sets the top 4 apart from the rest of the league?”. My instinctive answer was, “When a team can send out a reserve side in the league cup and progress comfortably, that is when you know you have a top 4 team”.

The Doncaster game proved beyond a doubt for me we now have the strength and depth at Spurs to compete at the top level. We have the depth to cope with most injuries and suspensions that may cost us first team players.

And when we get King, Dawson, Woody, Jenas, and Bale fit ……… oh my goodness!!! Plus we have players loaned out all over the place honing their talents. When have we ever have had a squad that looked so good?

If Modric had not become injured on Saturday I still feel Krancjar (or Petrov) would have signed today anyway. Left midfield is our weak link so this was clearly a position Harry needed to shop for Modric injury or not.

The key for this final day of transfers was not who we bought. The fact that we didn’t sell anyone was the big story of the day. And it must be said Harry and the board must have worked some minor miracles to convince Pav to stay, as well as a few others I might add.

I am a very happy Yid this evening and now look forward to a great Autumn of football for us.

And for those that were less than enthralled at 17:00 today all I can say is at least get behind Harry and his glorious team for now ………. January is just a few months away!

Team news – and current form – suggests an unchanged line-up from the 11 that started away to West Ham. This is dependant on Assou-Ekotto passing a late fitness test. Or, is Harry thinking of giving Pavlyuchenko a game in order to prove he is in his plans this season. This seams unlikely considering the form of the Defoe-Keane partnership thus far.

With an eye on other matches, our title contenders – excuse me for milking the fact we are top of the table for as long as I possibly can – Arsenal and United meet at Old Trafford in the evening fixture, whilst Chelsea host Burnley in the lunchtime slot.

I suppose we ought to mention Liverpool as they are – supposedly – one of the top four. Benitez’s side face a tricky away fixture at Bolton who will be desperate to get some points on the board.

If the Arse and United can draw we can move 5 points clear of both with a win. I fully expect Chelsea to beat Burnley, so we would be level with them on points at the top if results go as I expect them too. Sounds good to me…

I’ll leave you with a nice quote from Birmingham boss Alex McLeish. Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I do;

They (Spurs) have captivated the country with their imaginative football and we know we are in for a game. Harry’s certainly got the riches, but Harry builds a team ever so cleverly.

Source: BBC Sport

Expected starting 11: Cudicini, Corluka, Bassong, King, Assou-Ekotto, Lennon, Huddlestone, Palacios, Modric, Keane, Defoe.