| The Spur, a Tottenham Hotspur webzine, since '99. Sept 2010. |
The Spur's Champions League 2010/11 Spurs take an invaluable early lead that puts them ahead on away goals. A huge relief and now can we go on to win a match that's worth multi million pounds to the team that makes the euro champs league proper, that is, the group stages.
Rampant Tottenham went two up when Defoe, who controlled the ball with his arm but the officials did not see, rollocked a thunderbolt into the Park Lane net to leave Bern YB in an almost impossible predicament.
However, what is blowing my mind is that Heurelho Gomes is clearly unfit to play yet Harry is not making the change of goalkeepers. Had we not scored a second, it could have been a very costly price for such a bizarre and inexplicable reluctance on his part to do the right thing, and fast.
In the second half the Londoners quickly cemented their almost utter domination of this game from a super Bale corner meeting the lanky head of Peter Crouch for his brace.
For all the concerns of what seemed Tottenham's somewhat desperate bid to make the group stages, it all suddenly seemed so straightforward, that by the time Peter Crouch scored from the spot in the 78th minute, the contest was long over.
Tottenham are in the Champions League!
One of the more bizarre Spurs matches I've seen in my life saw us no less than three down after about half an hour and shellshocked. Like being in the Euro Champs League, albeit a lowly but crucial first leg qualifier against Swiss outfit Young Boys, was just too much for the lads.
Now it's back to the Lane for the second leg and Roman Pavlyuchenko's stunning strike puts Spurs back in with a serious shout to go through. One-nil or 2:1 for example would do it for us at the Lane.
Pre-match: From the Welwyn & Hatfield Times: "Even in this age of cosmopolitan football, there is something beautifully ironic in the fact that, when Tottenham face Young Boys in Europe on Tuesday night, the player who was born nearest to White Hart Lane will be playing for the Swiss.
"For those who are not already aware of Scott Sutter, this is the boyhood Spurs fan who was born in Chase Farm in Enfield and grew up in Potters Bar, just a short drive down the A10 from N17.
"And on Tuesday, the 24-year-old defender will be standing between the Lilywhites and the Young Boys goal, blocking Tottenham's route to the Champions League.
"I had a season ticket at Spurs when I was 10 or 11," Sutter recalls. "It must have been 1997/98, when Jurgen Klinsmann was there and Christian Gross was the manager.
"My favourite player was David Ginola but there were quite a few that I liked. I liked Jose Dominguez, although he seemed to get knackered in no time! He seemed to be one of these guys who shot out of the blocks but wasn't capable of sustaining it, but he always looked quite tricky when he came on.
"I'm definitely still a fan of Spurs. A lot of the Premier League gets televised over here and, when I haven't got a game myself or if I'm in a hotel then I'll definitely try to watch it."
POSSIBLE TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR LINE-UP. Gomes; Corluka, Bassong, Dawson, Assou-Ekotto; Lennon, Huddlestone, Palacios, Kranjcar; Crouch, Defoe.
Live on US TV.
That match against Arsenal.
Tottenham Hotspur's famous away support (this one at Fulham's Craven Cottage).
Spurs v Man City 1969 classic footage.
Sat, Aug 21, 2010
BBC news and sports headline video
The Spur's World Cup
Viva Espana!
The Final
played Sun., July 11
FIFA needs to get its act togeter
They definitely badly need goal-line technology to consult if the ball goes over the line. There is a credibility problem with the sport in that regard. But several matches, including most of the quarterfinals, gave us some scintillating drama, such as the amazing last moments of the Uruguay-Ghana match and the Brazil-Holland showdown.
Spain turned on the magic to do just enough to win the Cup and minimize the players' injuries, especailly from the Dutch hackers, so their stars can get back to making the big bucks with their clubs.
Links to Official Spurs USA Supporters Clubs:
New York City: New York Spurs Supporters Club meet regularly to watch games. Ian Harris at the helm.
Los Angeles: LA Spurs
The Spur's Premiership 2009/10
Full-time. 2-1 win to Tottenham. The final Spurs match to be watched live on Setanta Online as they bow out and leave the rest of their Prem schedule to Fox, who will offer the Setanta-I fare on a new TV channel launching March 1 already slotted into satelite, but not necessarily any given local cable provider. But what about online? Good news, according to EPL Talk (great research as always guys) it's gonna be happening!
A very cool goal from Super Pav in about the twelfth minute, from a pinpoint Defoe cross, puts Spurs ahead.
Gomes looking uncomfortable in the Tottenham goal, but without Landon Donovan, The Toffees seems a little blunt up front.
Around the 27th minute an even better goal than the first, this time Luka Modric nabbing his first goal of 2010, superbly struck to dip over the groping American keeper Tim Howard.
Considering how strong Everton have been in recent matches, including victories over both Chelsea and Manchester United, it was more than pleasantly surprising to see how relatively ineffective they seemed against us.
They glaringly lack fire-power and evn when Landon Donovan came on, he was having an off-day and missed a sitter that could have turned this result upside down.
Some solid performances by individual home players but above all, a good, if not specatcular, team performance. Top teams may not always dazzle, but they consistently do a little bit more than the other guys on the day, which Spurs did.
Sat., Feb 6. Premiership:
In the second half Tottenham Hotspur threw everything at Villa. The good news is we can get very aggressive at home and lay seige to the opposition goal. The bad news is that visitors, if armed with a decent keeper and a tight defensive strategy, have figured out how to shut us out. And we don't know, unlike say Man United, how to unlock that situation.
Tottenham Hotspur have the luxury of leaving England's second or third most vaunted national team striker, Peter Crouch, out of the club's starting eleven owing to the fact that our hitherto shunned Russian goal ace Roman Pavlyuchenko is knocking them in as fast as you can pour a shot of vodka to toast the tall, talented Tottenham terrorizor.
He scored two to keep Spurs above fourth spot Eurochamp wannabes Manchester City, Liverpool and Aston Villa.
It took almost until the interval to break the stalemate when Jermain Defoe stabbed home a flick on from Corluka, his 17th league goal of the season as he sits in the fourth spot of top Prem hotshots.
Defoe fed Super Pav for the second in the 55th minute, but Rovers threatened a potentially nail-biting finale when Harry Allardyce's side equalized from a corner that caught Gomes completely out of position with ten minute to go.
However only five minutes later Spurs extended their margin to two again when the man who would otherwise have won player of the match, Gareth Bale, provided a beautifully struck low center that found the feet of the Russian strike sensation who in no form to fluff it from point blank range.
So after a pedestrian start to the match Spurs found their flair, but they did it like the modern THFC does -- the hard way.
The Spur's Premiership 2009/10
Wolves: Hahnemann; Zubar, Craddock, Berra, Ward; Foley, Guedioura, Henry, Jones, Jarvis; Doyle.
Tottenham Hotspur: Gomes; Kaboul, Dawson, Bassong, Bale; Bentley, Huddlestone, Jenas, Krancjar; Defoe, Gudjohnsen.
Interesting to see some line-up novelties: Kaboul is back from Pompey, and new signing Eidur Gudjohnsen, intercepted on his way to the Hammers, takes the place of Peter Crouch.
Right off the bat Spurs have a stab at goal with David Bentley beat his man to unwind a tight angled rasper from the right hand side that had American keeper Marcus Hahnemann tipping over, with the home side playing from right to left.
Wolves recovered to have a few goes themselves on this ice cold night, causing Huddlestone to commit a bad tackle in the 11th minute but amazingly the ref kept the card in his pocket.
By the 14th minute the Spurs support have found its voice, mostly as a way of passing the time as the energy level started to peter out for a while. Unlike the rollicking, raucous Stoke fans to the north, the Wolves fans seem surprisingly quiet.
20th minute. Beautiful build-up from Spurs, involving the two people we were talking about in the line-up, Kaboul and Gudjohnsen, to give Krancjar a golden goalscoring opportunity that he failed to bury.
Seconds later Krancjar gets dispossessed and Wolves surged forward, lobbing forward to Guedioura. With the Spurs off-side trap sprung, the Wolves midfielder centered but Jenas beat Doyle to push the ball behind for a corner. That was their best chance so far.
27th minute Wolves score with a Jarvis cross from the right and a fine finish from David Jones, moving the ball from foot to foot and picking his spot.
29th minute Dawson, you guessed it, hacks down a defender in the box, but the ref, who seems to like us, said no. Dawson is way too much of a liability. At two down we would be effectively dead after just half an hour, we don't have the grit or guile to get back from two down, away from home.
Wilson Palacios replaces Jermaine Jenas to start the second segment.
Weak Spurs start to the second half. Even Peter Crouch and the long ball would be better than this choss.
Finally we come to life in th 55th minute with some fluid build-up work, but the shots on goal are not happening.
60th minute. Whistling dixie. Anybody know any jokes, apart form Spurs?
Nothing else happened. Peter Crouch came on. The long ball didn't work. Bale tried hard on the left overlap but in the end the American keeper just rose for the long balls and Spurs went off to pick up their pay cheques.
Scuba diving anyone?
Sat., Jan 29th. English Premier League:
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A well-updated link to English Premier League matches on US TV is via "EPL Talk homepage" and go to TV schedule. A great way to find out when the must see matches are on.
For all futbol on USTV LiveSoccerTV is worth a look.
Spurs in the League Cup this season
Spurs ease past Everton 2:0 in League Cup
Tottenham Hotspur coasted to victory over Everton in their second League Cup match of the season (the fourth round, so Spurs are in the quarter finals), and although the match was overshadowed by the upcoming clash with Arsenal in the league, it was great to see Tottenham's "second team" looking good, albeit playing a severely weakened injury hit Everton outfit.
Players like Gareth Bale, Jason Bentley, and Alan Hutton all looked good, and first team regular Robbie Keane, working hard and scoring the second, seems to be on his way out of a slump.
But out of favour striker Roman Pavlyuchenko has lost all confidence and looks sadly to become our latest version of Sergei Rebrov! Hope not.
Spurs win 1:5 at Preston in League Cup debut
Spurs led 0:2 by the half with goals from Crouch and Defoe, and Crouch claimed a second to put the Londoners in a commanding lead.
The Lancashire side, three down, pulled back a late goal but the game had been sewn up by then, and indeed Spurs were to strike twice more.
An intelligent Huddlestone feed to Robbie Keane, who duly netted with his outstep, made it 1:4. Then Peter Crouch claimed his hat-trick with a nifty backheel from a wonderful Lennon asssist, to make this, in truth, a thrashing.
The Spur's Premiership 2009/10
It looked to be a very nervy ten minutes to go until a sensational Jermain Defoe goal finally gave us the desperately needed second goal which came in the 81st minute.
The move had started with Wilson Palacios getting stuck in and dispossesing a Hammer just outside own own box. A string of quick forward passes ensued with Palacious to Modric to Lennon, who as usual turned on the jets to cover midfield in a second, in turn feeding Defoe on the left. Beating two players as he ran inside,
Great goal, and Defoe ran towards to the East Stand paddock to hugs and adulation from the ecstatic Lilywhite faithful. That a player gets booked for such a moment of pure joyous celebration beggars belief and is one more reason why I'd like to see that moron Sep Blatter dunked mercilessly until further notice.
West Ham had come out stronger after the break following an abject showing by the east London side in the first period. But when Tom Huddlestone's explosive shot hit the Paxton upright it was a clear statement that Spurs intended to continue to dictate, and the crowd chanted their appproval.
Spurs dominated possession and created far more chances but just could not kill off the game, yet West Ham showed few signs of capitalizing.
Luka Modric had scored in the 11th minute from a dazzling run by Aaron Lennon towards the Park Lane goal. Indeed England's World Cup hope from Yorkshire was running rampant.
A few days earlier Fulham managed to lock down the marauding wing-half but West Ham, already with two hamstring injuries early in the game, were on their heels as Spurs surged forward, whether via Lennon, Palacios, and even Corluka on the right, or Modric everywhere else.
The Hammers came off a win at home to Portsmouth but in the first half they showed almost nothing and their fans must be in shock at such a lame performance in what for them is their biggest London derby rival. For us, it's just a game against a small team in Millwall!
A beautiful display of football from Spurs with the only wish being that we could finish more often. But to complain after the way Spurs scored two top shelf goals would, in the end, be churlish.
Very good victory in the end and overall a good run for Spurs: ten points from four games, and four consecutive clean sheets.
Corluka
Lennon
Crouch
Four Play Excites Lane
Crouch hits hat trick
Aug 25, 2010 (Ssn 2010/11)
Tottenham Hotspur 4
Bern Sports Club YB 0
Rob Francis watched on Fox soccer ch.
The Spur's Champions League 2010/11
Oops!
Spurs climb mountain to stay in touch for 2nd leg
Aug 17, 2010 (Ssn 2010/11)
Bern Sports Club YB 3
Tottenham Hotspur 2
Rob Francis watched on foxsoccer.tv usa
"Super Pav's
wonder goal
gives us
the edge"
Classic Spur Clips
Spurs on US TV and online
Stoke City vs Tottenham Hotspur
7am Pacific on Foxsoccer.tv
Holland
0:1 Spain
11.30am Pacific time, ABC
Overall, very good World Cup in it's own way. Don't get me started.
These official Spurs supporters clubs took over from CAATS, part of The Spur. The CAATS page still exists and will stay on the web for posterity but The Spur -- this page -- is where future updates will occur from this US based Spurs webzine.
Pav and Modric net for Spurs
Revived Toffeemen meet their match
Feb 28, 2010 (Ssn 2009/10)
Tottenham Hotspur 2
Everton 1
Live on Setanta-I (USA)
Harry started Super Pav! 
East Yidlands
Tottenham H. 0:0 Aston Villa 
Match was live, Fox Soccer Ch.
No score during the first half with the White Hart Lane crowd chanting "boring boring Villa" for their uninspiring long ball approach. Hang on a tick, aren't we the team with Peter Crouch?
The Spur's Premiership 2009/10
Super Pav Does It Again
Roman the Russian still the Spur of the moment
March 13, 2010 (Ssn 2009/10)
Tottenham H. 3
Blackburn Rov. 1
White Hart Lane, London N17
US TV live: ESPN2
Bloody fantastic
In the Lamb for a QO
Wolves devour Spurs
Wanderers gain double over THFC
Feb 10, 2010 (Ssn 2009/10)
Wolves 1
Tottenham Hotspur 0
Molineux, Wolverhampton
US TV same day del: Fox Soccer Ch.
We should clobber this lot
E. Pinion
Birmingham City 1, Tottenham Hotspur 1 
@ 7-9am [Pacific time], Fox Soccer Ch.
After an abject first half which had many of us questioning the meaning of life, Tottenham Hotspur took the lead in the 69th minute from a superb combination attack from Peter Crouch and the goalscorer Jermain Defoe. Worth the preceding stalemate just for that. Unfortunately Tottenham's propensity to give up the advantage proved true once again with an injury time equalizer form Liam Ridgewell after Spurs had dominated the game once their lead had been secured. Two points thrown away is the only way to look at this. But credit Dawson with an amazing headed clearance near the end, and, amazingly, a solid display from prodigal son David Bentley.
On Tuesday, Dec 1st Spurs played in the quarter-finals of the League Cup. The result was Manchester Utd. 2, Tottenham H. 0, eliminating the Lilywhites from the tournament. Previously.....
Preston North End are off to a solid start in the Championship, and it would be nice to see them regain their ancient glory in the top flight next season, but this encounter only underlined the chasm between a good second tier side and a good Premiership team resting many of their first-choice players.
Festive cheer for Tottenham
Defoe hammers home Spurs superiority
December 28, 2009 (Ssn 2009/10)
Tottenham Hotspur (1) 2
West Ham (0) 0
Rob Francis watched on Fox Soccer Ch.
Jermain's first strike was a scorcher and all Robert Greene could do was to parry right back to the England marksman, who buried it at the second time of asking.
Gomes
Dawson King A-Ekotto
Huddlestone Palacios Modric
Defoe
Pride of London
Sat., Aug 28th:
Tottenham Hotspur 0, Wigan Ath. 1 
White Hart Lane, London N17
A blunder by Harry to play the same team, barring injuries, as in the midweek triumph over YB Bern in the European champions league led to an embarrassing defeat at home for Tottenham Hotspur. Has our manager ever wondered why the likes of Man Utd and Chelsea have effectively two squads so that they can compete viably in both the domestic campaign and in Europe? Let's hope he learned from this. If not, we are in deep trouble.
The Spur's Premiership 2009/10
The action here as a wonder volley from Gareth Bale makes the difference.
Pre-match: After the glamour games of hosting the millionaires of MAnchester City followed by our long awaited reentry into Europe's top club competition, now it's back to the games that ultimately make or break a club's season, the non-glamour trek to a middling club that tends to punch above its weight. The likes of Stoke City FC.
Last season's corresponding match saw a 1:2 win for Spurs up in the Potteries on March 10, 2010.
Tottenham Hotspur went a goal up thanks to a Eidur Gudjohnsen's first ever Tottenham goal 20 seconds from the second half kick-off, plus the Potters went down to ten men following a red card for Whitehead.
The bad news is Super Pav got injured in the first half, and Essou-Ekotto gave up a penalty to allow a battered Stoke back into the game.
Essou-Ekotto made up for his blunder with a cross, admittedly not intended for its recipient, however it was Kranjcar who struck with precision to restore London supremacy, inspiring the travelling Lilywhite army to notch it up from what was already tremendous vocal support.
PREVIEW: Rob Francis reporting for duty. All the action is online as "Setanta-I" has bid a fond adieu and gave up its Prem fare to Fox Soccer, who stuck our match on their online service. Actually it's also on their second futbol TV channel Fox Soccer Plus, but I don't get that on my crap cable service, nor would I buy it if it was. Comcast are on their rear ends out of my life with a big boot of the old cherry reds within the next three months.
The online product "Foxsoccer.tv" is priced the same as Setanta and the quality on the demo looks bloody brilliant, so the proof is in the pudding tomorrow when I watch my first game on it, yes Stoke v Spurs.
This is a must win for us if we are to stay in contention for the fourth spot and a place in the European Champions League. Look, let's not mince words, of all the contenders, we have by far the toughest run-in and we're ****** with even a draw, not to put too fine a point on it.
The Spur's Premiership 2010/11
A crucial opener against the team most likely to dislodge us from the top four in the form of Manchester City, parading an ever more expensive line-up of heavyweight talent.
But the first half was almost all Tottenham Hotspur and I was impressed, often thrilled, by what was being served up by the boys in white and navy blue. We could so easily have been five or six goals to the good, but supreme goalkeeping from Joe Hart and a lot of luck saved City blushes.
It's no surprise that despite a much stronger showing by the visitors in the second half, overall Spurs topped them by 18 to 7 in the shots on target category and had more than three times as many corners. The Londoners were also the more disciplined team with fewer fouls committed and no yellow cards (two for City).
After the break City's almost endless pool of top draw players began to tell and the pendulum swung more in their favor as the chances continued to be created at both ends in a spellbinding match that left most of what we saw in the World Cup in the dust.
It was amazing that as I watch with three minutes left it's still nil-nil. One goal will decide it now. Modric's shot deflected in the 88th minute and Spurs have a corner but wide by Super Pav.
And then it's all over, a match that had bags of goalmouth action but nobody actually hit the back of the net.
It's gonna be very tough to beat Man City this season. You could already see how their passing and possession game will, as they start to become familiar with each other, give them a big edge over teams (like us) who have a harder time keeping the ball.
What we have is the ability to use width and utilize the talents of Lennon and Bale down the touchlines. That caused City a lot of grief in the first half.
But with Crouch in the middle the tendency is to launch the ball forward too frequently. It's a good weapon to have, but it must only be one option for us, we need to work on keeping hold of the ball and create more deliberately crafted opportunities.
The Spur's Premiership 2009/10
Absolutely unf*******believable, 11 minutes to go at time of writing and Spurs up 2:0, Terry sent off, Drogba bottling it by pretending to limp around the park, this is a fantasy script after the triumph over Ars*nal midweek.
Spurs have dominated this game so far, at times almost taking the piss. Unlike Arsenal who had enough attacking bite to have won comfortably but for our keeper, Chelscum are just not showing the quality. They have it, we know that, but only flashes of it shown so far, whereas Tottenham are looking proficient and consistent all over the shop.
Beautiful block in the 83rd by Dawson to deny Drogba a goal. It looks like it could be our day. A minute later another Chelsea chance foiled, meanwhile Drogba almost loses it with the fans when they are slow to return the ball. He can't handle the hostility, taken aback by how much Spurs hate the knuckledraggers.
Bale breaks loose yet again in the 87th and a left footed flick misses the far post by inches.
"Everywhere you look the men in white have played with aplomb and confidence," crowed the commentator, adding that "Chelsea are looking like the shadow of the side we have seen in recent months."
Tottenham support every inch as good as that incredible atmosphere against Arse, with Chelsea's support truly abject, one chant all game, only one more than Arsenal's vacuous non-entities. That's bad support, that's embarrassing.
Another magnificent performance from the team and the fans, despite one back from Lampard deep into injury time, now two nail-biting minutes left. Alex almost nabs the equalizer, 10 man Chelsea making a surprise last gasp effort to grab a point. Spurs break at the other hand with 3 on 1, Bale feeds Super Pav but he misses a sitter. Crouch on with minus 45 seconds to go!
Finally the whistle goes and the missed heart-beats stop. We've beaten the *****!
Pre-match:
Spurs hero in goal for the Arsenal triumph Heurelho Gomes is back between the posts, in defence it's Kaboul, Dawson, Bassong, and Assou-Ekotto. Bentley, Hud, Modric, and Bale get the nod for midfield, with Pavlyuchenko and Defoe starting at the front. We can do it. Long shot, but that's a decent line-up by anyone's standards.
Well here we go, our penultimate home match. All to play for with a header by Paul Scholes to give United a sensational last gasp injury time goal to keep the end of the season run-in at fever pitch, with United still within reach of Chelsea and, far more important, we are stll in with a shout for fourth spot and all that that means.
Not surprisinlgy Chelsea can draw on even stronger players, none more so than our tormentor Didier Drogba, but with a side that boasts the likes of Deco, Zhirkov, Mikel, and Malouda, plus Cech in goal, it's no wonder they are favourites to take the title.
So, kick off imminent. Come on you SPURS!
Please revisit as the season unfolds for a delayed reaction to the visit of the highly disliked Chelsea to Tottenham Hotspur's White Hart Lane, home of our famous victory last Wednesday over the ever more disliked Arsenal.
First I am watching the early game between Manchester City and Manchester United which of course has a profound bearing on the outcome of our own outside quest for a Champions League place, and of whether United can deny Chelsea the Premiership title.
The reason for watching the Manchester derby first is that if I watch the Tottenham match they are bound to give away the score of the earlier game and I really don't want to know the outcome of either match 'til I've watched them.
Meanwhile well into the second half its 0-0 at Eastlands. Feels weird to be, for the first time ever, urging on United to win, albeit half-heartedly, they're just not a side I coud ever feel that enthusiastic about, to put it mildly. Strange but necessary, for the good of Spurs and the bad of Chelsea.
Then time to watch the big London derby with Spurs hopefully well up for it again. It would truly be beyond wildest dreams if we could beat Arse and Chels back to back in the space of four days.
The Spur's Premiership "A truly seismic night at White Hart Lane" is how the commentator summed it up at the final whistle after a final agonizing and stressful fourteen minutes, including 4 mins injury time, in which Arsenal pulled one back and Huerelho Gomes was performing wondersaves between the sticks.
Unpredictable Spurs are at it again, surprising the faithful. Tottenham went ahead from a breathtaking volley by teenager Danny Rose, later to be injured, into the Park Lane goal about nine minutes in. Half-time and 1:0 to the Tottenham.
Minutes into the second half, Arsenal caught napping as Gareth Bale sweeps a second, rarely has a goal looked so easy against a Wenger-run Goonsquad. Massive relief to get the two goal cushion, I can finally relax and enjoy this.
The crowd are literally jumping as well as singing and chanting in a jubilant White Hart Lane. Amazing stuff: the score, the goals, the atmosphere. This is what it's all about. Glum fat Gooner fan is portrayed in their silent dull section.
Our players are looking like they are really enjoying this too. Commited play by both sides, but especially Spurs. They know that for all their poor recent performances not only is all forgiven, but they become heroes in the eyes of the Lilywhite faithful.
The last ten minutes saw three unbelievable saves from Gomes before Arsenal snatched one back with five minutes left on the clock.
Pre-match: An extra edge to this north London derby with Tottenham needing a win to have any chance at fourth spot and Euro Champs, and for the hated Gooners anything less than a win effectively ending any hope of their title chance.
The Spur's FA Cup 2009/10: Semifinal Was it the pitch, the poor refereering, the fact that Portsmouth had nothing left to lose given their situation, our players not being motivated, or any number of other explananations?
The team is definitely in a slump and it's come at a bad time, knocked out of our only silverware hope, watching our chance of the European champions league slip away as Manchester City finally find their stride, and with the biggest league match of the season coming up with Arsenal's visit.
The side could totally eradicate the awful results at Sunderland and Wembley with a victory over the Gooners on Wednesday night. Admittedly it's not looking good the way we've been playing, and given the recent rub of the green. But at the Lane for a big match like this it's conceivable that we could snap out of it and make it a result to remember.
Harry has got to find the way to get the players going again. He's done it before so we're counting on you, sunshine.
According to the Glory Glory poll last time I looked, 84% of the fans still back the manager.
I could never see us beating City to the fourth spot, just as I predicted that Chelsea, during their period as the wealthiest club in the league, would inevitably win the Premiership most times.
City are still gearing up but as the new wealthiest club they will eventually be the #1 side, with Chelsea 2nd, and Arsenal and United making up the new big four with Liverpool gone.
We're not a poor club but we don't feature in the top four because it's all down to money and facilities. We can't realistically compete with the money of MCFC and CFC, and we don't have the big filled stadiums (or global merchandising sales) of Arsenal or Man Utd. It's that simple.
For that reason THFC are doing better than I would have expected. My only complaint is that the players we've got should be doing way beter as a collective unit than rolling over to the likes of Sunderland and Portsmouth.
The Spur's FA Cup 2009/10: Quarterfinal replay
Maybe Harry denied the players their halftime oranges and tea, but more likely his method was more a positive form of reinforcement, but whatever it was, the north London side emerged transformed for the second half, quickly equalizing through David Bentley, a free-kick into the box that nobody could touch, and so floated in goal #1 for Tottenham Hotspur, followed by the inevitable tally from on-fire Super Pav, crowned with a put away goal from Gudjohnsen who is showing that maybe Harry was on to something after all by bringing him to the club.
Pre match: On January 26th we beat Fulham 2:0 in the league and we dominated the game. Expectations are high that the Lilywhites will make it to the FA Cup semfinals after drawing 0:0 at the Cottage.
Victory today sees us take on Portsmouth, who won the Cup in 2008 but have since almost completely collapsed both on and off the pitch, dangling the prospect of a relatively easy path for Tottenham Hotspur through to the vaunted Cup Final itself.
Clear your throat and get ready for two hours of "Spurs are on their way to Wembley".
The Spur's Premiership 2009/10
A scorching first time shot by Jermaine Jenas in the 59th minute gave a glimmer of hope that Spurs could get back a goal, but the cutting edge that we had shown in our previous game against Hull, despite its 0:0 result, was almost completely absent at Anfield.
Our vaunted strike force is in a slump. Peter Crouch was okay, Defoe was out of sorts, and Keane came on and fizzled out! So one okay striker at Anfield isn't going to be enough.
Harry's substitutions seemed odd and they didn't work. Alan Hutton came on and showed how not to cross a ball, Bassong's inane challenge in the box gave up the second goal from the penalty spot, and Robbie Keane, though bright and bubbly as usual, made little impact for all his honesty.
Worse, we could not exploit Liverpool's defence, who in recent games such as against Reading and Stoke looked unbelievably frail. True, they tightened up and closed down effectively for the first time this season: it always happens like that against us.
They wanted this win more, which is not a great reflection on our side, and they took the steps to get it, including dominating the midfield, more thoughtful build-ups, and better passing.
Losing at Anfield in itself is nothing new or alarming, it was more the way in which we sank. Liverpool, nervous and desperately lacking in confidence in previous games, seemed to know we posed no threat and grew in confidence and swagger with each passing minute.
It's as if opposition dressing rooms still see us as "soft Spurs" and on this night we duly obliged.
The Spur's Premiership 2009/10
Acrobatic saves at both ends, and for the all the criticism leveled at his punches, the fact is that Heurelho Gomes is up there with our legendary goalie of yore Pat Jennings when it comes to reflex saves and I would be the last person to bandy about that kind of statement lightly.
Breathtaking stops to deny Damien Duff and Bobby Zamora were two that spring to mind before watching the highlights again, but you'll see plenty more where those came from, in just one game.
If it had not been for our Gomes and their man in the gloves Mark Schwarzer this would have been a festival of goals.
But it was far from a vintage performance from Spurs and there is no question that when you consider Fulham's motley collection of discards from "bigger" clubs, including former Spur midfielder Danny Murphy, who was the first to force Gomes into a fine save in the 11th minute, their manager Roy Hodgson has done a spectacular job in organizing the Thameside outfit. They outplayed us for much of the game, just like they did with Man United and Liverpool.
For example, the way they basically shut Aaron Lennon out of the game. They also zipped the ball around beautifully at times and we seldom showed that kind of flair, although our build-up to Peter Crouch's crackerjack shot in the 82nd minute was a joy to behold, with the introduction of Luka Modric onto the field making a big contribution, in addition to a superb first touch feed from Jermaine Jenas.
Spurs actually put the ball in the back of the Hammersmith End net, but the ref had already blown for a Lilywhites free kick. Thems the breaks sometimes.
Minutes later a superb free kick from American Clint Dempsey slammed onto the crossbar as Fulham, initially taken aback by a strong and confident Spurs start, began to assert themselves towards the half hour mark and thereafter always looked the more likely to nick it.
Unfortunately for Tottenham our hero of the previous game Niko Kranjcar was disappointing, and indeed most of our players were having an average day. Again, credit to the hosts for closing down the midnight-blue shirts at every opportunity.
So an away point these days at Craven Cottage is not a bad result at all, and if we can beat the Hammers at home it will be a satisfying holiday weekend for the resurgent Tottenham Hotspur.
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR LINE-UP. Gomes; Corluka, Bassong, Dawson, Assou-Ekotto; Lennon, Jenas, Palacios, Kranjcar; Keane, Crouch.
Next league game -- West Ham (h) Dec 28, live on US TV.
Spurs stoked by Welsh ace volley
Stoke equalizer denied as goal-line tech cries reach frenzy
Aug 21, 2010 (Ssn 2009/10)
Stoke City 1
Tottenham Hotspur 2
Britannia Stadium, Stoke-on-Trent
US TV LIVE: Foxsoccert.tv [online] is crap. Don't subscribe.
Spurs fans at Stoke. Not pretty, but happy. Corner. Long throw. Long throw. Corner. Free kick. Corner. Long throw. I need a drink.
Mudshark
Spoils shared in Lane thriller
Both sides showing big potential
Aug 14, 2010 (Ssn 2010/11)
Tottenham Hotspur 0
Manchester City 0
Rob Francis watched on ESPN2 USA
We just needed that goal and if we'd got the first goal the game would have been totally different.
Harry Redknapp
Spurs masterclass stuns Chelsea
Roll on United, we'll 'ave you 'n all!
April 17, 2010 (Ssn 2009/10)
Tottenham H. 2
Chelsea 1
White Hart Lane, London N17
Live: Fox Soccer Ch. Rob F watched.
Can't wait for next season. Bale and Lennon rampaging down the wings with Modric in the engine room. Watch out! 
Michael Dawson. Yes, this site has been critical of him for all the unnecessary penalties given up over they years, but today he was immense and a great run of form gets even better, leading to chants of "Dawson for England". Agreed, Park Lane.
Glory Glory Tottenham Hotspur
Danny Rose wondergoal and Gomes saves outstanding
April 14, 2010 (Ssn 2009/10)
Tottenham H. 2
****** 1
White Hart Lane, London
Rob F. watched on ESPN2 (USA). Highlights.
Spurs choke
Another FA Cup run ends
April 11, 2010 (Ssn 2009/10)
Portsmouth 2
Tottenham H. 0
Wembey stadium, London
Rob Francis watched online at Foxsoccer.tv
Starting on Wednesday night, fight to the death.
rob prk-lane
Spurs through to Wembley semifinal
Pompey last hurdle to final
March 24, 2010 (Ssn 2009/10)
Tottenham Hotspur 3
Fulham 1
Rob Francis watched on Foxsoccer.tv online
Definitely a game of two halves. Fulham looked confident and superior in the first half going a goal ahead from ex-Spur Bobby Zamora.
Harry Sub Par
Substitutions only made things worse
Jan 20, 2010 (Ssn 2009/10)
Liverpool 2
Tottenham Hotspur 0
He's a Heuro
Brazilian stopper saves point for Spurs
December 26, 2009 (Ssn 2009/10)
Fulham 0
Tottenham Hotspur 0
Rob Francis watched on Fox Soccer Ch.
Heurelho Gomes
Heurelho
Heurelho Gomes
Heurelho
Heurelho Gomes
Heurelho
We got the best goalkeeper in the ******* land!
"When the ball
hits row zed
it's Zamora!"
