Yesterday was a tumultuos day for fans of Tottenham Hotspur. First came the news that Harry
Redknapp had been cleared of charges of tax evasion and he emerged from court to a hero's welcome.
Then in the evening came the news that Fabio Capello had resigned as England manager. Redknapp of
course was instantly installed as the favourite to take over by fans, media and players alike.
THFC1882 present a match report by Anthony Lombardi
Liverpool and Tottenham: Both Clubs Fail to Dare and To Do.
Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur drew 0-0 at Anfield, in a tight Premier League encounter that
neither team wanted to lose, or seemed determined enough to try and win.
THFC1882 brings another new guest writer. Football blogger and Spurs fan
(obviously) Anthony Lombardi previews Tottenham Hotspur's visit to Liverpool:
Liverpool v Tottenham: The Fab Four and Beyond.
This Monday Totteham Hotspur faces Liverpool at Anfield in a clash that is set to have far
reaching effects across the top of the Premier League.
The news broke this morning that the FA had finally taken some action over the John Terry racism
affair. Terry has been stripped of the England captaincy with immediate effect. Of course the
inadequate FA fell short of suspending him from playing for his country and it's unlikely that
Terry will be big enough to remove himself for selection.
So another transfer window comes to a close. This unlike many others was surprisingly quiet,
mainly due to clubs now having to take into account UEFA's Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations.
Another reason for the quiet was our gaffer's appearances in court seriously restricting his
ability to go on Sky Sports News every five minutes and tell the world which 'top top players' he
was looking at.
THFC1882 presents guest writer Kenny Palmer's report of Tottenham Hotspur
versus Wigan:
A man of the match performance by Gareth Bale against obliging opponents Wigan helped reignite
Spurs title challenge, as they now sit just five points behind the Manchester clubs following the
leaders City's defeat to Everton.
Okay, you can all relax now. Turns out that our hero, Arsenal captain Robin van Persie, will
NOT be sanctioned for allegedly throwing an elbow in the face of defender Carlos Cuéllar, after
all. Had the Football Association chosen to sanction him, and there certainly seemed to be
justification for doing so, the punishment to both Robin as an individual and Arsenal as a cohesive
whole would have been severe enough, considering the awful timing, to virtually end the team's
season on quite a sour note.
Okay, you can all relax now. Turns out that our hero, Arsenal captain Robin van Persie, will
NOT be sanctioned for allegedly throwing an elbow in the face of defender Carlos Cuéllar, after
all. Had the Football Association chosen to sanction him, and there certainly seemed to be
justification for doing so, the punishment to both Robin as an individual and Arsenal as a cohesive
whole would have been severe enough, considering the awful timing, to virtually end the team's
season on quite a sour note.
The President of Rwanda wants his buddy Arsene to step down? Robin van Persie is furious with
Arsene...Or is he? And, does Real Madrid really want Arsene?
It's been quite an interesting week for the Arsenal so far. If you haven't been following the
news as much as I have, allow me to illuminate you.
So then, this is what heartache feels like. This is what it means to have the figurative
broken heart. I have decided I don't like this feeling, at all. And I want it to go away.
Needlessto say, many hard-core Arsenal fans like myself are in agony at this moment in time. The
team that we love so desperately appears to be dead.
THFC1882 presents Adam Nathan's report of Tottenham Hotspur's visit to
Manchester City.
They are two time-old clichés, but not only is it a funny old game, it's also one heck of a
rollercoaster following Tottenham Hotspur. After a drab first half, the second period against
Manchester City yesterday afternoon pretty much had it all.
On Sunday, January 22, 2012, Manchester United will take the pitch against Arsenal at the
Emirates. Cognizant of the simple fact that Manchester United handed Arsenal an 8-2 loss that is
counted amongst the very worst in a period of 100 years, no one is giving much reason to believe
that the Gunners have a chance against the Red Devils.
The time has finally come to play out the reverse fixture of the 8-2 defeat that Arsenal
suffered at the hands of Manchester United on that horrific August evening at Old Trafford. The
memories of that mauling are fresh on the minds of not only the Gunners fans but also European
bookies like Champions League betting, which is why Arsenal have been priced as the underdogs
even though this Sunday's match is taking place in the North Londoners' own backyard.
With just two weeks of the January transfer window left, Tottenham Hotspur yesterday made their
first signing. Iago Falque's loan from Juventus was made permanent for a fee rumoured to be around
£1.5m. The young Spaniard was immediately sent out on loan to Championship club Southampton.
THFC1882 presents another guest writer. This time it's a guy I've known on
Twitter for a while and he's always got something to say on our beloved Tottenham Hotspur. It gives
me great pleasure to present Kenny Palmer with a preview of this weekend's game:
Wednesday's victory over Everton in the postponed game in hand from the start of the season has
left Spurs level on points with Manchester United and 3 off leaders Manchester City.
So the Premier League season is finally here, it's Tottenham Hotspur's opening game versus
Everton..........
That's how the preview for this one should have started, but the unfortunate and unseemly
rioting of early August put paid to Spurs opening fixture. Now this is the game in hand it's vital
that Spurs get maximum points if they want to be taken seriously as title challengers.
THFC1882 returns from it's Christmas and New Year break. Whilst we were off,
Tottenham Hotspur collected 7 points from Norwich, Swansea and West Brom, happy days. Today, the FA
Cup 3rd round was the focus and we have a special guest reporter for you. Here's Danny
Carrier from the Camden New Journal with his report:
This was the chance for Harry Redknapp's fringe players to step up to the plate and show what
they could do as well as give Michael Dawson and Aaron Lennon some much needed game time to get
their match fitness back.
This isn't going to be overly analytical of the game, THFC1882 is about to go
on it's Christmas holidays! Before that though we take a brief look at Tottenham Hotspur versus
Chelsea from The Lane.
On the balance of play both sides will have been satisfied with a point.
Tottenham Hotspur v Chelsea, Thursday 22nd December 2011, 8pm Kick off, Sky Sports 1 &
HD1
Spurs are used to playing on a Thursday night this season. Of course the previous fixtures have
been in the Europa League, now the Premier League are getting in on the action too.
It wasn't pretty. On a cold December Sunday afternoon, Tottenham Hotspur saw off a resilient
Sunderland to record a 1-0 victory and get back to winning ways in the Premier League.
Winning ugly is the sign of champions. Not getting carried away here, I'm not suggesting Spurs
are going to win the title, there's a chance of it, but Manchester City are a scarily good outfit
and their neighbours are impossible to write off.
Tottenham Hotspur v Sunderland, White Hart Lane, Sunday 18th December, 3pm Kick
off
So on Thursday night Spurs European adventure for this season came to an end, despite a 4-0 win
at Shamrock. The perceived wisdom is that this is a blessing in disguise and can leave Harry
Redknapp and his team to concentrate on getting Spurs back into the Champions League.
Tottenham Hotspur went to the Tallaght stadium needing a Lyon type turnaround to make it through
to the knock-out rounds. From his team selection, including only choosing four subs, it appeared
that Harry Redknapp wasn't really counting on the results going Spurs way.
As the game got started it was clear that Shamrock would try hard and run around a lot.
THFC1882 present a guest preview by Rob:
Shamrock Rovers v Tottenham Hotspur, Thursday 15th December 6pm KO ITV4
So here we are, at the last match in the laborious group stage of the Europa League. A
competition that is supposed to be the second best European competition to win but in my opinion is
just plain second rate as shown by the fact that not that many teams are interested in playing in
it.
THFC1882 presents Glen Bocking with a report of Tottenham Hotspurs visit to
Stoke.
So.... The 'run' is over, that game away fans always refer to as being a tough game has ended in
defeat, quite how Spurs lost though is another matter altogether.
For pretty much all of the 1st half and a decent chunk of the 2nd half it's fair to say Spurs
were the better team, aside from 2 set piece goals, Spurs spent the 1st half pretty much camped in
Stoke's half.
THFC1882 welcomes another guest writer on board. This time it's Glen Bocking.
Glen is an Essex boy but now lives in Stoke so is handily placed to attend this game. Glen's first
Spurs memories are the '91 FA Cup semi and final! Great start to his Spurs watching!
THFC1882′s Stuart Watts with news of an exciting new book, chronicling
memories of Tottenham Hotspur over the last 60 years!
It is with great pleasure that I would like to announce that I am one of the founding members of
the Spurs Writers Club!!
Prolific Spurs author Norman Giller has recruited a team of 45 writers and our first book The
Glory-Glory Game will be published early in 2012!
THFC1882 presents Siva's guest report on yesterdays action:
Tottenham: Friedel; Walker, Kaboul, Gallas, Assou-Ekotto; Lennon (van der Vaart 72), Parker
(Livermore 85), Modric, Bale; Defoe, Adebayor
Goals: Bale 7, Lennon 50, Defoe 61
Well that was easy.
THFC1882 gives a debut to Siva who previews the Bolton game for us. Siva has
been a Spurs fan all his life and as the man puts it himself he was born with lilywhite in his
vains! The first game Siva remembers was when he was 5 or 6, Ledley King (or Mr Spurs for Siva)
is his favourite player and he likes a drink in the Bell and Hare pre match.
There's a buzz about Spurs at the moment. Everyone is talking about Harry Redknapp's team
electrifying the Premier League. There's even talk of a title challenge! After the first two games
of the season, who would have thought that?
Brad Friedel has made the goalkeepers position his own by offering calm and confidence in place
of Gomes panicky flappiness.
THFC1882 presents Rob's guest report on last nights action:
Tottenham Hotspur team: Friedel; Walker, Kaboul, King, Assou-Ekotto; Lennon,
Modric (Sandro, 89), Parker, Bale; Van der Vaart (Defoe, 69); Adebayor
Goals: Spurs Adebayor 14, 40.
THFC1882 welcomes back Rob for another guest blog. In June Rob wrote this about
Harry Redknapp. So have the last five months changed Rob's opinions? Has the manager won him over?
Read on to see what Rob has to say:
Five months ago I asked this blog site if I could do an article on Harry Redknapp.
THFC1882 presents guest writer Ralph Dixon's match report:
Chickens 1 2 Cockerels
The previews for this match, the chat on Twitter and the fan forums were all spot on and the
match hardly needs a report from me at all. You Spurs fans know it in your hearts already, even if
MOTD manage to edit their highlights to give a different impression.
Sunday 23rd October 2011. Ewood Park. 3pm Kick off.
Sunday sees Spurs travel to Ewok Park (anyone else miss Soccer AM's days of actually being
funny?) to take on Blackburn. Before the season kicked off I did a guest appearance on The Elastico
podcast for their Premier League season preview.
Spurs line-up: Gomes; Walker; Livermore; Bassong; Rose; Lennon (Modric);
Sandro(Kaboul); Carroll; Dos Santos(Assou-Ekotto); Defoe: Pavlyuchenko
'From Russia with love'
Roman Pavlyuchenko reclaimed his SuperPav tag, even if only for tonight, with a rocket-like free
kick that was enough to claim the win for Spurs.
THFC1882 present Gareth Johnson's reflections on Spurs draw at Newcastle:
They say time is a healer, hence me writing this review having had a small period of reflection.
We nearly had them. It was nearly the perfect victory. It nearly made me smug. It just about
devastated me.
Thursday 20th October 2011. White Hart Lane. Kick off 8.05pm. Channel 5.
Thursday night sees a top of the table clash in Group A of the Europa League. Visitors Rubin
Kazan like Spurs have taken four points from their opening two games of the Group stages and are
sure to provide the Lilywhites toughest test yet in the competition.
THFC1882′s Stuart Watts presents the return of guest writer Gareth Johnson for his very
personal preview of Spurs visit to Newcastle:
Sunday 16th October 2011. St James' Park. Kick off 4pm. Sky Sports 1/HD1 and
3D
It's the big one. No, it really is.
As someone who has always had an interest (some have called it an obsession; meh) in football
around the world, Rafael van der Vaart came to my attention about 10 years ago. Another graduate of
the famed Ajax academy, breaking into the first team and showing his exciting talent on the world
stage.
Premier League, White Hart Lane, Sunday 2nd October 2011. Kick off 4pm. Sky Sports HD1 &
1
It's North London Derby time again. On paper Spurs should have this game sewn up before
kick-off. Football however is still played on grass and therefore the form book and comparative
squad strengths go out of the window.
THFC1882′s Stuart Watts presents another guest piece from Ciaran Griggs. This time Ciaran
previews the Shamrock game.
Europa League, White Hart Lane, 8.05pm Kick off, Channel 5
"Spurs have been drawn in a group with Shamrock Rovers..."
Who?
