Gareth Bale achieved an amazing PFA double last night when landing both the Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year awards. He becomes only the third player to win both accolades in the same season, and the first since Christiano Ronaldo in 2007. With Spurs' chances of playing Champions League football next season still hanging in the balance, will the Welsh wonder now be on his way out of White Hart Lane?
Does anyone else feel like Tottenham are stuck in limbo? Probably too good for the Europa
League, not quite good enough for the Champions League. A situation that it appears impossible to
free ourselves from. I'm not interested in the riches of Manchester City or Chelsea. I feel like
any achievements they make mean very little as there are no real obstacles in either side's way
other than the impatience of their respective owners.
Former Tottenham and Arsenal boss George Graham is apparently a huge horse racing fan and perhaps he should stick to trying to predict the finishing order of the 2013 Kentucky Derby horses rather than voicing his unwanted opinion on Spurs in the press as he has been recently. Graham believes that both Chelsea and Arsenal will finish above Tottenham this season, meaning that we will once again miss out on Champions League football by the narrowest of margins.
I've always felt the Europa League is a bit of a nonsense competition. Having to fly out to various distant parts of Europe to play in the cold on a Thursday night must have a negative effect on Premier League results. The taste of Champions League action probably hasn't helped and neither did the fact we finished fourth last season only to be cruelly denied another tilt at that elite contest.
There is always much debate surrounding the merits of Jermain Defoe. Twitter is awash with
comments about him being a flat track bully and is nothing more than an impact sub. While I agree
with some of the criticism levelled at him, I don't think Defoe has had enough opportunities at
Tottenham to judge him without some level of doubt.
Since the transfer window came into force during the 2002-03 season, Spurs have been one of the
most active clubs in terms of players arriving at and leaving White Hart Lane.
After a fairly quiet window by their standards – signing trio Yago Falque, Louis Saha and Ryan
Nelsen all on free transfers, let's take a look at seven players signed for big money during the
January period.
Jermain Defoe Blonde
So, it feels pretty good to be a Spurs fan at the moment right?! Six points off City with a game in
hand and possibly even more satisfying, six points in front of Arsenal with that same game in hand.
I'm looking forward to the FA Cup this weekend and I'm hoping we will make short work of Cheltenham
even if most of the first eleven are given what would be a well overdue rest.
How can anyone dare to question the abilities of my favourite Satay House fan Benoît Pierre
David Assou-Ekotto? Not to be confused with the wife and child killing wrestler Chris Benoit,
Assou-Ekotto has been one of our best players this season as far as I'm concerned. That is in
addition to having the world's biggest head of hair and saying 'lol satay house' on the majority of
his tweets.
Five points behind Chelsea, six off Man City. We haven't scored in our last three games, haven't
won in five. Since the 16th January, our strikers have only scored six goals between them. Worst of
all, Tottenham are highly unlikely to be playing Champions League football next season. A heavy
defeat in the Bernabeu on Tuesday night would really finish us off.
So, the dream has become a reality and Spurs have made it to the Quarter Finals of the Champions
League. After being three nil down against those pesky Young Boys in the first qualifying round,
Harry Redknapp and his European soldiers are now just four games away from the final of Europe's
biggest football competition.
Here is your chance to ask Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp the question you have always wanted
him to answer.
Yahoo are conducting a web interview with Harry and have asked for questions from White Hart
Pain readers. Simply submit your questions in the comments section and the best ones will be fired
at the Spurs boss on Valentine's Day.
So it looks like Harry Redknapp has pulled off yet another coup in the transfer market by
signing Everton's star midfielder Steven Pienaar on the cheap. Admittedly, his contract was going
to expire in the summer, but paying Everton a couple of million to secure his services now makes
sense. The only issue is, where exactly do we accommodate him?
So, no players want to sign for us on a permanent basis then! The fact we can't tie any of our
top transfer targets down is a little disheartening but it's probably also an indication that Harry
Redknapp isn't prepared to buy second rate players just to bring in bodies. He seems very much of
the opinion that if the price isn't right, we should just move on.
So that was a white lie, but it will hurt seeing Martin Jol at another Premiership side if
today's papers are to be believed. Maarten Cornelis Jol should never have lost his job as Tottenham
manager and the way he was treated still gets my goat when I think back to it. Obviously it's all
water under the bridge now, and I wouldn't swap Harry for anyone, but I was very disappointed when
the Dutchman was replaced.
After our disappointing FA Cup Semi Final exit at the hands of Portsmouth, I don't think anyone
could have predicted that Tottenham would bounce back in such dramatic fashion. With our run of
fixtures, I honestly thought a top 4 finish was very unlikely, but after two incredible victories,
Spurs are now favourites to take the last Champions League spot.
Although Roman Pavlyuchenko seems to be the current favourite among the Spurs faithful on the
back of his goal scoring exploits, manager Harry Redknapp doesn't appear to be a massive fan of the
Russian.
Regarding Pavlyuchenko, Redknapp has been quoted as saying, "when he wants to play and wants to
work he's great.
Before I start I'd like to say I have no problem with what Harry has got out of the players on
the pitch. He's done wonders to get Spurs to the standard they are playing at currently and I hope
he's at the helm for the foreseeable future.
What I think is a problem is when our players pick up the tabloids and find yet another Harry
exclusive.
I was hopeful Spurs would managed at least a win and a draw from our three away games on the
spin but as it turns out, I'm reasonably satisfied with two more league points. The only
disappointing part is we should have got all six!
As much time as I have for Everton, our class should have been enough to win yesterday's
game.
Firstly credit to Stoke. They work on a shoestring budget in comparison to us and they are
consolidating their position as solid Premier League side. Unfortunately, the result did nothing
for Spurs chances of consolidating their position in the top 4!
I don't think you can criticise Harry's tactics or the Tottenham performance as a whole.
After seven games, things all look very rosy. I certainly would have taken 15pts and 4th place
in the table at this stage if you had asked me at the start of the season. We can't stop scoring
and our only defeats have been to arguably the best two sides in the country. We are certainly
improving and very much going the right way under Harry but for me there are still five teams in
the league that are better than us and I don't see what we can do about that.
It seems like we are reverting back to the Spurs of a few years ago with awful luck where
players getting injured is concerned. After losing Bassong and Ledley on Sunday, our defence is
literally in pieces. Woodgate has no imminent return date and although Dawson isn't too far away
now, him leading the line is something I don't want to think about.
It's a shame but it's not the end of the world. We were beaten by a better side on the day.
While I would have hoped we could cope with Utd at the Lane the fact is we couldn't on Saturday. It
doesn't mean we can't.
It's easy for me to make comment after the game and I'm not criticising Harry's tactics but I
was a little puzzled by his decision to shuffle the side and start Keane out of position rather
than bring Kranjcar in as a like for like swap for Modric.
Tottenham are probably better equipped to beat Manchester United tomorrow than they have been at
any point in the last ten years. I have no doubt Spurs are more than capable of beating Utd at
White Hart Lane on Saturday and I think they just might.
Personnel aside, the difference between the current Tottenham squad and those of years gone by
is belief.
As our currently absent Miss Spur alluded to some time ago, Niko Kranjcar finally completed his
move to Spurs yesterday. It's a Croatian to replace a Croatian by the looks of things after Luka
Modric picked up a significant injury at the weekend.
After being linked with a number of targets on deadline day, some good and some worryingly bad,
we ended up with just the one signing and probably the best of the bunch at that.
I was having a look at the betting for next season's Premier League today and although the
bookies normally aren't far wrong, I feel the prices are a little off the mark. While I don't for a
second expect Tottenham to be winning the league, I am confused as to how they can be 40/1 shots
with Man City as short as 9/2 and Liverpool as short as 11/1.
Here is our exclusive Jimmy Greaves interview. It takes place in the back of a black cab and is
very entertaining! Jimmy is working with Burger King during the World Cup. Check out what he's up
to over at Whopper Legend
Jimmy Greaves Exclusive Interview
I have been asked to do an interview with Tottenham Legend Jimmy Greaves tomorrow and I'm
looking for White Hart Pain readers to submit some questions!
He's going to be at Burger King in Leicester Square tomorrow. It's all connected to the World
Cup and their Whopper Legend promotion.
Visit the website here to see what it's all about http://whopperlegend.
With a number of players not returning to training until Friday, it means we only have one day
to prepare for Saturday's crunch clash with Manchester United. Harry Redknapp isn't happy about
this situation;
"I have no idea in my head of what team I will be able to play against United because of
these internationals and because many of them won't be back at the club until next Friday.
Harry can't do a lot wrong as far as most Spurs supporters I speak to are concerned. He's
improved the squad, team morale and our league position massively since he took over. Almost 14
months ago, Tottenham looked doomed. Since then, Redknapp has been considered a hero amongst the
Spurs faithful.
Harry Redknapp gave Jermain Defoe a dressing down in front of his team mates after his sending
off against Pompey on Saturday. Nothing wrong with that as far as I'm concerned, especially when he
already warned him to cool it at half time.
Redknapp said: "Yes. He's sorry for what's done.
Never before has a Welshman won the Barclays Premier League Player of the Year award but Gareth's Bale's goals galore tips the balance firmly in his favour for the coveted award. No Spurs player has ever won the award either, but with impressive performances, stunning goals and fast spreading transfer rumours, it's hard to look past the Welsh wonder to seal a first time double in a month's time.
With only one Premier League game remaining for Tottenham in the month of February, it looks like March will be the all important period as far as Spurs cementing one of the top four positions is concerned. It begins on the 3rd with Arsenal making the trip to White Hart Lane in what is sure to be one the the most competitive battles of the Premier League season thus far.
For a couple of months now, it seems thing have gone a bit, for want of a better word, stale.
Blackpool and Fulham aside, results have still been good overall but we just seem to lack both
killer instinct in front of goal as well as a bit of spark. I can't quite put my finger on it
because everyone is playing well still and we are creating chances but something is lacking.
Sorry about the lack of updates recently. I've been living in a parallel universe where
Tottenham win almost all the time. They beat Arsenal at the Emirates in the Premier League and
qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League with a game to spare. Instead of gifting the
opposition late goals and having no luck, Spurs now snatch victories from the jaws of defeat and
make their own luck.