It was just like old times, those sepia-tinged, heady days of late-summer 2009, when rubbish teams would traipse up to the Lane and be promptly destroyed, with our heroes requiring nothing beyond second gear. From the outset the only worry last night was that we might fail to turn domination into goals, but merrily this was not to be one of those wretched occasions.

Quite a week for Gareth Bale, now universally regarded as being up there alongside Pele, sliced bread, the wheel and opposable thumbs on the list of The Best Things Anyone Has Ever Seen Anywhere, Ever. Unfortunately, and I suppose inevitably, one publication has gone completely overboard in their praise of the chap, the Daily Telegraph going to the ludicrous extent of describing Bale as "photogenic".

Tonight's game promised to give one of the closest indications so far of who could become European champions this year, but in truth, nobody could've predicted what followed. Barcelona dissected their rivals with precise, incisive play that arguably would have torn absolutely any team in the world apart.

In between various planes and trains back from Morocco I managed to catch yesterday's goings-on at Elland Road, and jolly heartening they were too. One of my brothers, for whom the rigours of parenthood mean that Spurs-watching is less frequently indulged in these days, texted afterwards to note that, as the first full Spurs game he has seen in around a year, he was pleasantly surprised by our performance.

Two days until kick-off, so let's throw some more names out there for you as you prepare for your mini-league and NCNB Fantasy League domination. We already looked at strikers, so here's a quick and dirty look at midfielders. Expensive: Lampard ... Continue reading →

Well this Champions League business is turning out to be cracking fun. Never mind the tube strike, I think most of us floated home aboard Cloud 9 last night.

White Hart Lane's finest hour? Those who watched Danny Blanchflower lift the League title back in the spring of ‘61 might beg to differ, and by all accounts the UEFA Cup Final win of '84 was one heck of a night, but the denizens of AANP Towers have been up all night carefully weaving a blow-by-blow account of last night's fun into the tapestry of The Most Blinking Marvellous Tottenham Moments of All Time.

And the Spurs go stumbling on. A missed penalty and a rash, unnecessary challenge prevented us winning but we did go one better than United and managed not to lose. If I were a neutral I would have enjoyed this exciting cup tie but fans on the whole would take a boring win over an exciting draw any day.

Team selection was never really an issue when we were banging them in left, right and centre and the side picked itself, but times are a-changing. While annus horribilis is probably a bit strong, our form since the turn of the year has been worrying, reflected not only by poor results and sloppy performances but now scrutiny of the line-up.

Really not sure how to call this one. Back in August I would have pencilled in Birmingham away as a solid point and a good chance for all three, but it's a different kettle of fish here in January 2010. Our win over Fulham was bizarrely comfortable, but hardly suggested that the Tottenham juggernaut is revved up to full throttle, ready to blitz aside all-comers.

Well that could have been a lot worse. Having taken a few deep breaths and poured myself a stiff drink prior to kick-off, proceedings began in precisely the depressing manner expected. I suspect there is not one soul in Christendom surprised by our early struggles in the face of perennial tormentor Kevin Davies, as well as the stream of set-piece deliveries.

A theory doing the rounds in some quarters is that the crunch games in our push for fourth is not the quartet against the big boys (Man Utd-l'Arse-Chelski-City) but the four against the less glamorous mob – Pompey, Sunderland, Burnley and Bolton. Anything less than three points against each of this lot, so goes the theory, and we really will throw away fourth spot.

Well we had better get cracking with the inquest then. The slew of instant reactions I have overheard in the couple of hours since meltdown have included "Sack Harry"; "Sell Crouch"; "Recall Keane"; and even "Get Jenas back in the team". Okay, I made up that last one, but some of the opinions ventured do seem possibly to have been delivered a tad hastily.

Tottenham to beat Man.Utd. 3-1. Gomes to score first. Tottenham to be awarded a penalty and pigs to crash land in the centre circle at half time. Tottenham to beat the top three in consecutive games and Bale to score in all three games. Which of these bets is the fantasy one? You've all seen them in betting shop windows.

Tempus doesn't half fugit when things are going swimmingly. It barely seem five minutes ago that we pitched up to the Lane for the first time this season, to offer Steven Gerrard some legal advice ("Self-defence, you're having a laugh") and salute BAE's frankly mental long-range effort.

Maybe it's just as well. For all the joy and excitement, it was actually a bit disorientating to see us churn out displays of such professionalism and efficiency week in and week out. Just as in the final episode of an American soap opera, when popular former characters are wheeled back in for nostalgic cameo appearances, so in tear-jerking style Spurs made sure that in the season finale we were given a final glimpse of former weekly regulars, the Soft Underbelly and Barely Fathomable Implosion.

Something for your withdrawal symptoms if, like yours truly, you have such a Tottenham-shaped hole in your life that you now spend the first half hour of your working day actually working, rather than trawling the interweb for morsels of Spurs news. Before season 2009/10 becomes but a sepia-tinged memory sending good vibrations through your very core, it is only right and proper that the second AANP End of Season Awards are dished out.

That's more like it. Six points from two tricky fixtures and we now sit level on points with l'Arse and Man Utd. Admittely ours has been a fairly gentle fixture-list to date, but given our struggles to juggle Premiership and Champions League I'm quite grateful for what he have.

This Week's VDV Magic

Having bossed games in recent weeks this was a relatively mundane showing from Van der Vaart, but when you hail from Amazingville then even your mundane showings are sprinkled with magnificence, and so it was that VDV's quiet day still brought about the game's best piece of skill and a game-changing moment.

As the great man said, it's a funny old game. Prior to a trip to a slightly below-par Man Utd I could not for the life of me envisage a three-point haul; and yet ahead of the visit of European Champs Inter I bound around AANP Towers all bonny, blithe and gaily optimistic that this will be one of the most famous nights in our history.

Watching the spectacle that unfolded at White Hart Lane this Champions League week, whilst shocking and pleasing me in equal measures, it also led me to question the credentials of the other contender for the coveted fourth place in the English Premier League; Manchester City. Whilst every single Spurs player played like it was a case of do-or-die (at this point I do not believe it necessary to add any more superlatives to the abundance that already exist surrounding the ‘if only he was English' wonder-kid that is Gareth Bale), and with Redknapp (soon to be England Manager), getting the tactics absolutely spot-on; I was proud to be the son of a Spurs fan.

From sublime to ridiculous in two shakes of a lamb's tail. How Inter Milan must have shaken their heads in bewilderment. On Saturday our heroes appeared to be running a competition amongst themselves as to who could make the most mistakes, with bonus points for any particular ineptitude that led to a Bolton goal.

Blessed relief. With the 4-4-2 formation, flowing pass-and-move stuff and hatful of chances throughout this was vaguely akin to the glory glory days of way back in season 2009-10. Seeing Paul Robinson look on forlornly as the ball crashed repeatedly into the net really did give the afternoon a retro feel, but after our recent run of form the priority was three points in any manner possible, and they have accordingly been lapped up most gleefully around these parts.

For shame sir, we spit upon your cards. Our determination to do things the hard way continues. Following the reckless leap by Defoe against Villa we now have the loss of composure by Kaboul against Newcastle. Both resulted in red cards and three match bans. Neither affected our ability to win the game, in fact we only scored the second goal to make the game safe after the sending off.

(Apologies for the tardiness – deadline week on the book Spurs' Cult Heroes)
The FA Cup? Why not? The only team that ever seems to beat us in knock-out competitions has itself been knocked out, and for our part we look capable of despatching anyone on our day. This is not a reaction to our win on Saturday, far from it, but rather a reaction to the exit of Man Utd.

I am not quite certain how we lost our cherished banana skin outfit but its pretty clear that Man.Utd found it. There is no reward for its safe return. Keep it, you're welcome. We still have the casual wear Premiership 'blip' jacket but with any luck we will soon dispose of this too. By a peculiar irony we drew Leeds, at The Lane in the next round of the Cup.

If statistics ever made a game a formality then Saturday's visit of Hull is the text book case. Currently 19th in the league without an away win and conceding close to 3 goals per game away from home they are a perfect choice of opponents for us to start the next phase of the season. They have gone 15 games without a win or a clean sheet.

What ho. It's been a while, hasn't it – in fact we haven't had a league game this decade. When we last wandered these parts our glorious heroes had gone into overdrive – four wins in five, clean sheet after clean sheet and plenty of attacking brio. A pessimist might bemoan the fact that the wintry interlude has rudely interrupted the momentum that had been gathering; but Hull at home presents an excellent opportunity to pick up where we left off.

inspired performance by the welshman denies spurs

Before the game I didn't consider that Myhill would offer us too many problems; but he managed to single-handedly take a point back north for his club after an amazing performance denied our players of a single goal. Simply put this will be seen as one of the shut outs of the season as chance after chance was saved; including two double saves.

Once again I got this one nearly right. They didn't score, as I correctly predicted, but I forgot to factor in that they might not only bring a goalkeeper with them but one who was destined to have the best afternoon of his life. Step forward Boaz Myhill. You can't blame Harry for this one whatever alterations you might make in starting line up and substitutions.

(Yes yes, it's about a year late. Sorry. Finishing touches being applied to the opus Spurs' Cult Heroes)

It appears that "Just one of those days" is lined up to become ‘Arry's Triffic Phrase of the Season 2009/10, following the success of "Two points, eight games" last year. The official company line at least appears to be that the blank drawn against Hull is not something about which to get too worked up, and in a sense one can appreciate the point – we may not have been at our fluid best, but Gomes spent most of the game in smoking-jacket and slippers, puffing contentedly on cigar and squinting down the far end of the pitch.

We at AANP Towers are firm proponents of the dying art of chivalry, always happy to whip off the jacket and place it over a puddle for a lady to walk across, or leap into a burning building to save a one-armed orphan; but once on the football pitch I would positively encourage our lot to dispense with the p's and q's, and instead adopt all the airs and graces of a gaggle of behooded youths at a train station.

Curiouser and curiouser. You think you've seen it all at the Lane, you brace yourself for the worst – and are then treated to a completely serene, straightforward, almost routine home win, as far removed from the All-Action-No-Plot mentality as is possible.

It Was The Midfield What Won It

Ledley and Daws were generally rock-solid (the latter a little excitable, in his unique, loveable way) and at the other end Defoe barely touched the ball; but in the middle we held the upper hand, player-for-player and as a unit.

Safe from relegation before the end of January. When did that last happen? And the hoodoo has been jinxed and the jinx has been hoodood. We finally won a Premiership game with Gareth Bale starting. Luka Modric was back to his best and the stand out player on the pitch. He combined with our flying full back to put Fulham to the sword.

Amidst the vacuous football-speak loosely bandied around, the phrase "massive" is merrily pre-fixed to just about every fixture of the season, by managers and players alike, but Spurs-Villa today is probably more deserving of the epithet than most fixtures. Not only are three home points at stake, but winning this one would go a long to reducing from four to three the group of contenders for the Champions League spot.

Frustrating stuff. A couple of months ago I was fairly sanguine about points dropped at home, reasoning with sage, Yoda-like calm that as long as we kept playing well the goals and wins would eventually follow. Never folk to take decisive action if we could get away with thrusting our heads into the sand and waiting, we at AANP Towers reasoned that there was no need to panic - the problem would take care of itself.

Oh dear. Going down all guns blazing, with seventeen shots on target and against a goalkeeper possessed by the spirit of Jennings is one thing; being outplayed by a side in the relegation zone is another. We actually started relatively well, with some slick passing all round, and Bentley looking a good bet for general mischief on the right.

The response to our current blip has included a vitriolic chorus from some quarters for the sacking of ‘Arry. Having dragged us from the relegation zone to contention for the top-four – via Wembley – in little over a year, it seems a slightly disproportionate reaction, but defeat in the Cup today would not go down well amongst already restless natives.

Well we can postpone work on those "Sack ‘Arry" placards for the time-being at least. With a maturity that even they themselves probably did not realise they possessed our heroes adapted to the conditions better than the other lot, made better chances and saw out the game with consummate professionalism.

As I'm away for the weekend, thought I'd post the Spurs-Everton preview nice and early...

Confusion hath made its masterpiece here at AANP Towers. Are we back on track, or is this just a fleeting break from the woes of 2010? Sunday's game should help clarify a situation that has become rather confusing for legions of bandwagon-jumpers.

time to defend a lead for 40 minutes. triffic or tragic?

Sorry I've been away for so long, my life is becoming very busy in the end season, (Typical eh?) Here's a piece I've written for Tottenham Blog though! Will be looking to post more soon.

Tottenham 2 Everton 1 – A Win That Could Have Been So Much More?

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