Pepe wished he hadn't pulled Gareth's finger
Monday night was not Gareth Bale's.
While a 0-0 draw with Liverpool at Anfield is a good result for Tottenham, and the match itself was arguably one of the better stalemates you're likely to see in terms of energy and commitment, it is a game Bale might soon wish to put behind him.

Spurs played for a scoreless draw, Spurs got their scoreless draw.
While Liverpool's attackers could and should have done more, Tottenham's defending merited the scoreless draw. King and Dawson were outstanding, with Parker almost as important. After a paucity of clear cut chances for both sides, each could have scored the winner in the last five minutes, with Friedel and Reina making huge saves on Bale and Suarez.

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.

Tottenham yesterday saw both Roman Pavlyuchenko and Steven Pienaar leave White Hart Lane for Lokomotiv Moscow and Everton respectfully. Both moves do not come as a surprise, in fact if anything, they were both overdue.

After having been linked with a move away from Tottenham for quite some time, Pavyluchenko finally made the switch to Lokomotiv for a reported £8 million.

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The Mark Hughes Era Begins: Good luck to Mark Hughes.

It's January, as you might've noticed; and if you hadn't I would suggest those New Year's resolutions about not drinking anything that really ought to be kept on a shelf in the shed aren't going all that well. For the rest of you, you know the score. It's the beginning of the year and that can mean only one thing: the always-good-for-a-laugh-don't-believe-everything-you hear-better-off-not-opening-any-tabloid-newspapers-or-football-websites-for-a-month-pick-any-name-out-of-a-hat.

With no fresh injury concerns ahead of tomorrow's game against Swansea is it simply a case of ‘as you were'? Will Harry stick to the side that played Norwich and will he let Bale and VDV enjoy the roving roles that proved so telling on the night?

Unless there are any late withdrawals it does seem very likely that no changes are required but then again there are very few options.

For the first time in many games, there are far more questions to deliberate ahead of predicting the starting XI for tonight's match.

As we all know, Aaron Lennon has been ruled out of this game while Gareth Bale remains a major doubt. There are question marks too over Ledley King, Jermain Defoe and Emmanuel Adebayor.

With the loss of Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon on Sunday, Spurs lost much of the potency that had helped them climb the Premiership table and into third place.

Ultimately we won the game but if you saw a brief but apt Match of the Day package on Sunday night, you'll have seen where Bale in particular, was sorely missed.

"The measure of greatness is not how many you win, but how you react to defeat". Or something along those lines. In fact, AANP may have invented that just now.

Anyway, the point is that the epithet has been fairly redundant for as far back as I can remember, as we would generally fail to win in the first place, and then react to defeat with another defeat, or a two-goal lead thrown away late on, or whatever.

Don't be misled, people. Despite Marco Borriello's innovative approach to legwear, Roma's Christmas party was not fancy dress. Luckily, other players performed marginally better in the fash stakes, as you can see here. Image via tumblr.

The party spirit has certainly overwhelmed Marco Borriello in this photo, and we must confess to spending a little too much time practicing for our own 'do this week, too.

The Europa League has given some good opportunities for some of our younger players to gain some experience and the group games have probably been influential in the new contracts earned by Tom Carroll and Jake Livermore last week.

It has also given some of our fringe players a rare chance to operate in the first team but with European elimination looking likely, this could be the last chance for some of them to shine.

Croatian/ Tottenham footballer, Niko Kranjcar, was spotted looking worse for wear after leaving night club C London last night.

O-M-G Niko. Please have a seat. We need to chat.

You know we lurve you and every inch of your toned thighs and tousled hair.

But this macabre ensembe concerns us.

After a disappointing campaign in 2010-11, the season started on a more positive note for Niko Kranjcar as he stepped into the breach when fellow Croatian Luka Modric endured an unsettled August. The player's performance against Hearts even drew praise from manager Harry Redknapp,

"I thought Niko Kranjcar was outstanding in midfield," said Harry at the time.

Harry Redknapp has a few injury concerns ahead of Sunday's game with Stoke but the extra day could give Ledley King, Jermain Defoe and Gareth Bale the time they need to get fit.

There is cover in place for King and JD but Harry will certainly be reluctant to take to the field without Bale, who is back to his best and scored both goals here in our 2-1 win last season.

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.

There are some fresh injury worries for Spurs ahead of tomorrow's game with Wigan at the JJB with news that Niko Kranjcar has been ruled out while left back Benoit Assou-Ekotto is a doubt with illness.

According to the club website, William Gallas is available ‘soon' so if he misses out tomorrow, King and Kaboul should continue their centre half pairing in front of Brad Friedel.

THFC1882′s Stuart Watts presents guest writer Ciaran Griggs match report of Sunday's game:

"Can we play you every week"

Spurs: Friedel, Walker, King (Bassong 83), Kaboul, Assou-Ekotto, Bale, Parker, Modric, Kranjcar (Van der Vaart 45), Defoe (Giovanni 83), Adebayor
Liverpool: Reina, Skrtel, Agger (Coates 27), Carragher, Enrique, Henderson, Adam, Lucas, Downing (Spearing 70), Carroll, Suarez (Bellamy 70)

Time flies when you're having fun, doesn't it?

Spurs v Liverpool as it happened | Tom Lutz

Match pointers • Since taking over at Spurs, Harry Redknapp has overseen five wins from seven games in all competitions against Liverpool and in only one of those games has his side failed to score at least one • Jamie Carragher has scored the same number of Premier League goals for Liverpool in his career as he has own goals for Tottenham (three) • Tottenham have conceded as many goals (14) in their past six home matches as they did in the previous 25 at White Hart Lane • Liverpool have kept only one clean sheet in their past seven Premier League matches 12.

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.

Squad sheets: Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool

Harry Redknapp's distaste for the Europa League had veered into parody by the time he fielded just one of the team to have beaten Wolves last Sunday, but the importance he placed on this fixture was genuine. Spurs's early-season form has been dubious and if they are to end their six-month recession then victory against nominal rivals and a team whom they beat twice last season would be a start.

Following the Manchester massacres, Spurs finally got their season up and running with an excellent win away at Wolves.
After soaking up the pressure in the first half, we took the lead through the debutant Emanuel Adebayor, before Jermain Defoe made sure of the points. It was refreshing to see two Spurs strikers playing together and both getting on the score sheet, while in midfield Scott Parker impressed alongside transfer victim Luka Modric.

After spending a whole transfer window trying to offload fringe players and missing out on key transfer targets due to inflated prices and a lack of squad spaces, Spurs fans must be astonished by comments in Harry Redknapp's latest interview.

"If David wants to come to Tottenham I'd welcome him with open arms, he's definitely still good enough to play in the Premier League"

This statement is a clear indication that there is no relationship between Harry and the board, and further highlights the lack of vision Harry has for the future of our club.

Forget those past two matches, the season has started now. Points on the board and promising signs from all over the park. The first half however was scrappy and not alot happened in the way of goal soring opportunities. The second half however, Modric, Parker and Adebayor all showed their quality and supreme ability in possession, keeping the ball and not letting Wolves have even a sniff of a chance.

Largely thanks to injuries and the issue of Luka Modric's head, fellow Croatian Niko Kranjcar has played a full part in Spurs' early season campaign.

While many thought his time at White Hart Lane was up, there was a distinct lack of rumours linking Niko with a move this summer and after the transfer window passed, the player is looking forward to being more involved this season.

Many of Spurs current squad are in international action tonight but in the meantime, on loan right back Adam Smith has impressed on his debut for the under 21's in their 4-1 win over Israel last night.

Smith, who is currently playing his football at MK Dons enjoyed a solid performance and had a hand in England's second goal before he was joined on the pitch by Steven Caulker.

Sell Luka Modric to Chelsea and give me the funds to spend on new players, Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp muttered under his breath a fortnight ago. A move which could have secured the signings of multiple long-term targets and inevitably defined our forthcoming season.

Spurs have retained a midfielder with undoubted quality, but no matter how hard Modric tries to forget about his dream move to Chelsea, he wouldn't be human if he wasn't feeling some bitterness toward a club he will be playing for each Saturday in front of a leaky defence.

Optimism to follow, but it would be remiss to begin proceedings with anything other than the nasty business of a post-mortem...

The Arnie Approach

In the absence of our recognised midfield enforcers, our glorious leader adopted the cunning tactical ploy of leaving the back-four without any protection to handle a City front-line so shiny and expensive they had Tevez on the bench, while the rest of our team was crammed with attacking types .

1. Niko Kranjcar is not Claude Makelele

When I walked into White Hart Lane and discovered that we were playing Niko Kranjcar alongside Luka Modric, it was instantly obvious that we would lose. I like Kranjcar, but the only positions I want to see him play in for Spurs are out on the left, or possibly in the Van der Vaart position behind a lone striker.

An hour before kick off, stood in the car park of the Bell & Hare the sun was shining and there were some optimistic voices. Minutes later and the team news filtered through.
Almost everyone was incredulous. A central midfield of Luka Modric and Niko Kranjcar against the most powerful & dangerous midfield in the Premier League?

An early preview, as I'm off gallivanting for the weekend, and for the second time in a week this all looks rather ominous. City's charming social experiment into whether money can indeed buy you everything has turned them into something approaching the equal of the United side that so emphatically dismantled us last week.

Supporters' etiquette dictates that we ought to be mightily supportive of the emergence of home-bred talent into the first team, but here at AANP Towers constructive criticism of the various whippersnappers is obscured by outrage at how unfeasibly young they all are. With their trendy haircuts and no doubt listening to music that would simply sound like noise to the bastions of AANP Towers, Townsend, Fredericks and Kane appeared to have been plucked from the fresh-faced crowds milling around collecting their GCSE results earlier in the day.

There will be much speculation ahead of the naming of the line up against Hearts tonight but it seems increasingly likely that Luka Modric will make his first appearance of the season.

While Niko Kranjcar has admirably filled his compatriot's usual position in the side, if Luka stays then he needs to play and that is a feeling echoed by Harry Redknapp,

"The situation is that he is not for sale," Redknapp said in the Evening Standard.

My, this is embarrassing. We wait three months – plus those tortuous extra 9 days – for our season to begin, then promptly find ourselves nestled amongst the bottom one teams in the table after being torn apart by a bunch of blasted kids. Thank heavens for the fixture-list and its remaining 37 entries.

It's difficult to be positive following a three nil defeat to team deprived of its star centre backs, and with an average age of twenty-three, but I guess as a Spurs fan I should have known better than to expect anything different.

I honestly believed we could take our Europa league form to Old Trafford, expose their young defenders lack of experience, and put an end to our twenty-two years without a win.

New season, same old story. Good possession and passing wasted because there's nothing going on up front. Unprotected defenders stretched out of shape, eventually reaching breaking point. Free-kick routines that would be laughed off the pitch at an under 10s tournament. After coming back into the match before and just after half-time, by the end it's relief that it wasn't more.

Having held and matched Manchester United for an hour last night, manager Harry Redknapp believes that the first goal was pivotal. Had Spurs managed to sneak the opener after just shading possession in the first half it may have been different but after Danny Wellbeck struck, the proverbial flood gates opened.

Spurs team: Friedel; Walker (Corluka); Dawson; Kaboul; Assou-Ekotto; Lennon; Livermore (Huddlestone); Kranjcar (Pavlyuchenko); Bale; Van der Vaart; Defoe.

Losing to this Manchester United team at Old Trafford isn't the cause to call the Samaritans, in spite of what some Spurs fans would have you believe.

Fútbol México - Fútbol MéxicoFútbol México -

Manchester United vs Tottenham 14:00

Manchester United disputa su segundo partido en la premier league mientras Tottenham debuta en la maxima division inglesa.

Javier Chicharito Hernandez no estara ni en la bancha en este partido, a el se le suman las bajas de Darren Fletcher, Antonio Valencia, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Michael Owen y Rafael.

Rejoice, all ye fellow lilywhites. Admittedly it is also with a degree of trepidation (Old Trafford will do that to a Spurs fan) but goodness me it is wonderful finally to be able to look forward to Spurs in Premiership action tonight. ‘Tis with delight therefore that I invite you to gather round and peruse with me the permutations of team selection for the evening's festivities.