Spurs late summer looked a lot like the one experienced across North London at Arsenal. What the
acquisitions lacked in romance and long term strategic benefit they more than made up for in being
effective near-term band-aids. Spurs needed something new at forward and a deep-lying player to
both win the ball and start the attack.
Firstly, humblest apologies on the scarcity. Exams have been ruining my life for the last two
weeks and are set to ruin them for a week more, but then freedom beckons.
Which means of course, that this post is going to be shorter than aaron lennon because the books
are calling.
As the title says, a win is a win.
This is probably the hardest team to predict so far this season as we have been promised as many
as ten changes for tonight's match against PAOK.
"We've got a lot of senior players injured," said Harry Redknapp. "William Gallas, Michael
Dawson, Danny Rose, Steven Pienaar, Tom Huddlestone, Sandro, Aaron Lennon, Rafa van der Vaart, all
not fit.
Europa League Group A Thursday 16th September 2011
Spurs Team: Cudicini; Walker; Corluka; Bassong; Townsend; Falque (Fredericks 81);
Carroll; Livermore; Dos Santos (Parrett 92); Kane; Pavluchenko
'The kids are alright' So sung The Who .
Liverpool face a tough game against Spurs on Sunday afternoon.
Harry Rednapp's side turned us over last season 2-0, ending our bid for Europe for the Season.
Its a crucial game for Liverpool having cruelly lost to Stoke last Saturday, we need at least a
draw at Spurs to stay with the top teams.
Even stood next to Bale, Kuyt was still the ugliest specimen on the fieldRemember when Liverpool
were really good? No? Well that's fair enough, it was a fairly long time ago (he says in jest,
fully aware of his own team's recent decline). But if you believe the crowing coming from
Merseyside these days, you'd be forgiven for thinking they're shoe-ins for the title.
Even stood next to Bale, Kuyt was still the ugliest specimen on the fieldRemember when Liverpool
were really good? No? Well that's fair enough, it was a fairly long time ago (he says in jest,
fully aware of his own team's recent decline). But if you believe the crowing coming from
Merseyside these days, you'd be forgiven for thinking they're shoe-ins for the title.
It's back to the first choice line up for Sunday's game with Liverpool and manager Harry
Redknapp has enjoyed better news on the injury front after a bad start to the week which saw
Michael Dawson ruled out for two months.
Harry could welcome back Aaron Lennon, William Gallas and Rafael van der Vaart for this
televised game while Steven Pienaar, Ledley King and Tom Huddlestone all face late fitness
tests.
Preview: Tottenham v Liverpool
Liverpool travel to White Hart Lane for Sunday's early afternoon kick-off against Tottenham
Hotspur and The Reds will be wary not to make too many assumptions about how the game might pan
out. Watch Spurs v Liverpool live > > Looking at the league table it's 17th v 6th with the
home side having just got back from a trip to Greece for their Europa League match against PAOK
Salonica.
Tottenham play host to Liverpool on Sunday with both sides looking to enhance their top four
aspirations.
Both sides will be aiming for a UEFA Champions League finish come the end of the season and they
will be hoping to gain an early psychological edge with victory at White Hart Lane.
The hosts go into the game buoyed by their first win of the season over Wolves last weekend, while
Liverpool will be seeking to bounce back from their defeat at Stoke last time.
Tottenham play host to Liverpool on Sunday with both sides looking to enhance their top four
aspirations.
Both sides will be aiming for a UEFA Champions League finish come the end of the season and they
will be hoping to gain an early psychological edge with victory at White Hart Lane.
The hosts go into the game buoyed by their first win of the season over Wolves last weekend, while
Liverpool will be seeking to bounce back from their defeat at Stoke last time.
While Spurs manager Harry Redknapp has used the Europa League to blood many of the younger
players at the club, there is another benefit to the competition as he will discover tomorrow
night.
It has been difficult for Harry to find any positives from European qualification but tomorrow's
game against Shamrock Rovers gives the boss a possible opportunity to give run outs to Aaron
Lennon, Steven Pienaar and Danny Rose.
Harry Redknapp has already told us to expect some more experience in the Spurs side to face
Shamrock Rovers tonight and with players returning from injury, this should be the strongest team
that we have put out in the Europa League since our opening game against Hearts.
It also makes it harder to predict but we can assume that Carlo Cudicini will continue in goal
with Corluka and Bassong taking the centre half positions.
With fourth spot in the Premiership all but wrapped up it's time for everyone to swing around
and face this direction once again, just hither. I appreciate it can be jolly dashed mind-boggling
these days trying to separate one competition from the next, but my spies tell me that tonight it's
Europa.
