could you say no to this face?

Harry seems to have the steely constitution to do exactly that; and moreover on a weekly basis. Whilst it is expected of a shameless agent (and especially russian) to manufacture a move away from a club; quotes attributed straight to Pavlyuchenko himself seem to suggest that Levy will be getting his bargaining hat on again in time for January.

'sorry? (...) yeah shut the **** up.'

That wasn't really what I was expecting to be honest. Despite notable absences from the Sunderland side, and to a certain extent a lack of bite in our midfield today's game was one that we won't be forgetting for a while. It's safe to say that it was somewhat of an aggressive affair with both sides putting boots where perhaps they shouldn't have been and this incision found its way into the general scheme of play.

what do you want from me?

Well; in the press anyway. What he can say he will say and for the most part we're going to be looking worse for it. However, the way that Darren played in our system was all well and good; but lacked a certain 101 cutting edge that we now have with our striking collective.

what? we are!

We've all had a bit of time to mull over the not so shocking defeat at the Emirates. It wasn't so shocking really was it? For a start; on the back of quotes attributed to Robbie Keane; our squad couldn't stand up to that of Arsenal's. At full strength perhaps we have players who are of a similar calibre, (Defoe/Van Persie, Modric/Arshavin and Woodgate/Gallas), but with a squad that seems to change uncontrollably due to the forced hand of Redknapp.

dig, dig, dig.

Good afternoon everybody! I thought it would be a good opportunity to do� another live match report as this is naturally such an important match. The big news to start off with is that we're playing in a 4-3-3 again with an attacking trident of Bentley, Crouch and Keano.

'i told you id show you gaffer'..... (silence)(siren)

So it comes to air today that our potential complete striker, (in an attack full of specialists), is suffering from a crisis of confidence due to Harry's insistence on only giving him fringe chances in the squad. Whilst this is a disgustingly obvious piece of media work from Oleg Artemov who as an agent can only assumed to be looking for another healthy 10% to put the final down payment on his gold plated Lexus.

что же, спрашивается, Вы говорите о Вас сумасшедший человек?

I don't understand a word of it either. What I do know is that whilst 'The Emperor' looked sharp tonight in a hold-up role. However he had plenty of chances to place his name on the scoresheet that went wanting.

tonight's match really is a great opportunity for slick rick.

What I love about cup games is that you really get to see where the priorities lie for a manager depending on the squad that hits the field. You also get to see the depth of a squad, (if indeed there is any FULHAM). For me personally, I really enjoy watching cup competitions because despite the economic pedestal the league and top-tier european competition look down loftily from, the cup competitions have a certain 'je nais sais quois' that is emblematic of what football is really all about.

comolli and ramos did *try* to learn the basics.

As a seemingly fitting anniversary present for us and nearly exactly one year since his dismissal as head coach at White Hart Lane, (along with Damien...); Juande Ramos is once again out of a job. Seems that he can't keep one these days for love nor money.

it's not entirely his fault.. seriously.

When you're playing against a team like Stoke; who throw every single limb they have at the ball at any given time; a flair(ish) side like ours has to be sure of two things. The first of these is that you're making enough space to force your style of play upon them; rather than allow them to dictate the game through simply clipping your heels and forcing the run of play.

5ive's return to the london club scene was perhaps too much of an incentive for pete.

A couple of headlines have arisen since my last post; both of which would seem to proliferate the idea that our squad (and the wider representation of our club in the mainstream) would be top of the league for competitive drinking.

get your coat oscar; you'll need it.

Speculation (and I hasten to say speculation); seems to suggest that Mr. Levy's move to sure up relations with Internacional in the last window was another savvy decision from our shrewd chairman as the major press seem to have heard wind of movements which might suggest that the capture of Sandro in the winter window (to sure up the enforcing side of our midfield), would seem to place us in pole position.

'oww'

Good news/ bad news day today. Best to start off with the bad news I guess just to get it out of the way. Have a whiskey to settle your nerves.

Modric; who many were led to believe that could be running around our left-hand side once again is unfortunately feeling a bit of a twinge on his broken fibula.

just walk away...

Why did you do it Jermain!? If there is anything that is going to make you look like a liability to Capello; it would be getting carried away in the heat of the moment and making a rash move; such as the one that saw you leave the pitch; and our beloved team in a whole load of trouble this afternoon.

futuresight: harry does a maradona...

Apologies for my absence in these recent days; been quite busy with some other commitments; though the guilt of leaving my beloved Spurs in the lurch as we found a drop in form; In some ways I feel partly responsible. For the most part though; if you haven't got anything nice to say best not to say anything at all right?