These wins aren't to be underestimated. Stoke are a handful and we rarely thrive against them, but today, despite withstanding a lot of second half pressure, Fulham stood firm and deserved their points.

New players are traditionally given a time to adjust when signing for a new club, but today Pavel Pogrebnyak was thrown straight into the deep end.

As we all know, Harry Redknapp has not even thought about becoming England manager. Given that the possibility of him doing just that is on all major news bulletins, OTP wondered what exactly he is thinking about. 1. Business investments 'Arry's still not got round to investing that money that Milan Mandaric gave him to [.

OTP gazes into its crystal ball to see who might take to the pitch to face France on June 11. 1. Shaka Hislop [Bloody Trinidad and Tobago] David James 2. Pascal Chimbonda [Passport TBC - but he's already played for two international teams so shouldn't be a problem] 3. Julian Dicks 4. Izzy Iriekpen 5.

Where there's subtle product shilling and grammatically correct Tweets on social media, you know there's a shameless publicity stunt just 'round the bend, Kickettes. And for you today we have one of the promo shots starring none other than Mrs Peter Crouch for the launch of Lynx Attract For Her.

C'mon 'Arry break out in a smile now!

Harry Redknapp's been found to be as clean as a whistle. The three week trial which took place at Southwark crown courts came to an end as both Redknapp and his former Pompey boss, Milan Mandaric were cleared of tax evasion charges with the prosecution building their case around the Peter Crouch sale which involved two transfer amounts totaling £189,000.

By Alan Duffy

Stoke City 0-1 Sunderland Premier League 4th February 2012

Martin O'Neill's Black Cats continued their ascent of the table on Saturday against Stoke, although the very harsh sending-off of Robert Huth on half-time was undeniably a game-changing moment.

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- Bert Adinall (RIP): Would Have been 91 Today - Bert Addinall middle of the Front Row - (Back row: Left to Right: Lew Clayton John Poppitt Harry Brown George Powell Des Farrow Reg Chapman. Front Row Seated: Left to Right: Billy Waugh Conway Smith, Bert Addinall, Harry Gilberg Ernie Shepherd).

By Chris Wright

Just a quickie to keep you abreast of the fact that Peter Crouch has reportedly escaped a three-game game ban and, indeed, will be allowed to get away scot free for his sneak-attack 'finger of doom' eye-poke assault on West Brom centre-back Jonas Olsson's corneas at the Britannia at the weekend a crime that would almost certainly land you with a six-match ban at the very least in a game as uncivilised as rugby.

Rosie gets an offshore bank account. What's in it for Buster?

Harry Redknapp maintained an bank account in Monaco into which Portsmouth's then owner, Milan Mandaric kept sending him secret payments or "bungs" to the tune of £187,000 as commissions from transfers. This was in lieu of bonuses promised to Redknapp when he was at Portsmouth, as director of football, and then manager.

THFC1882 welcomes another new guest writer. I've been wanting this guy to write for the blog for ages and finally he's found the time. Here's Adam Nathan with his preview of Tottenham Hotspur's crucial visit to Manchester City.

Spurs travel to the Etihad on Sunday to face perhaps their fiercest competitors for the Premier League Title in Manchester City.

Manchester City and Tottenham are ready to lock horns at the Etihad Stadium in a potential Premier League title-defining clash which promises to be dynamite. For the past two season's, Manchester City and Tottenham clashes have been purely to decide the squabble for that much-coveted fourth UEFA Champions League spot.

In the wake of Saturday's match against Stoke, much was made of the draw representing a complete tactical failure by Kenny Dalglish and Steve Clarke. The key failure in that larger breakdown was meant to be the deployment of three centre backs in a formation nearly identical to the one which had defeated Stoke at Anfield a year earlier, as in the eyes of many those three centre backs represented an overly defensive approach when facing a club with so little attacking intent.

Paul Merson felt Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish got his tactics wrong in their 0-0 draw with Stoke.
The Reds went into the match with three central defenders - Jamie Carragher, Sebastian Coates and Martin Skrtel - looking to deal with Stoke's lone striker Peter Crouch.
Merson said it became quickly apparent that Liverpool didn't need so many bodies at the back, but Dalglish persisted with the formation throughout a frustrating 90 minutes for the Anfield crowd.

Paul Merson felt Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish got his tactics wrong in their 0-0 draw with Stoke.
The Reds went into the match with three central defenders - Jamie Carragher, Sebastian Coates and Martin Skrtel - looking to deal with Stoke's lone striker Peter Crouch.
Merson said it became quickly apparent that Liverpool didn't need so many bodies at the back, but Dalglish persisted with the formation throughout a frustrating 90 minutes for the Anfield crowd.

Liverpool turn their attentions back to the Premier League this weekend when they welcome Stoke to Anfield after two games in the FA Cup and Carling Cup.
The Reds go into the clash boosted by the news that skipper Steven Gerrard has signed a new long-term deal which is likely to see him end his playing career at Anfield.

Having had a great win at the Etihad Stadium against Manchester City in the Carling Cup on Wednesday night, expect to see Kenny re-introduce the likes of Jose Enriqué, Maxi Rodriguez as well as the combination of returning Captain Steven Gerrard to play alongside Charlie Adam in midfield in the absence of young Jay Spearing who did his hamstring on Wednesday.

Mirror: Video: Darren Lewis with all the Transfer news, rumours and gossip from Tuesday's papers

The January transfer window is just around the corner so stay on top of all the latest news and rumours here. And don't miss The Top 10 transfers we expect to happen in the window and the Football Spy guide to the January transfer window.

Schalke 04 midfielder Jermaine Jones, pictured above heading into Boa Steakhouse for a bite on 26.12.2011, has been suspended for eight weeks after the American was charged with intentionally stepping on an opponent's injured foot. After first saying it intended to appeal, the club decided to accept the penalty instead.

I awake from a two-day coma, just in time for the magic of the FA Cup. Provided this magic includes Romelu Lukaku and, of course, Josh McEachran I'm all in. Bring forth some elaborate illusions at the expense of our third-round opponents, Portsmouth.

Setup, the performance, and the prestige.

Liverpool's depressing 2-1 defeat to AC Milan in the 2007 Champions League final was hard to take for players and fans alike, and Daniel Agger has revealed that he still feels the heartache of losing such an important game.Rafa Benitez inexplicably picked Bolo Zenden and Jermain Pennant ahead of the (arguably) more deserving Craig Bellamy and Peter Crouch that night, and I think that even

Chelsea moved back up to fourth place in the Premier League after picking up a 2-1 away victory against Wolves, although it took an 89th-minute winner by Frank Lampard to end Chelsea's four-match winless run.

Stephen Ward thought he had done enough to earn Wolves their fourth consecutive draw when he cancelled out Ramires's second-half effort with just five minutes remaining, but Lampard pounced to take the Blues a point above Arsenal, who failed to reclaim fourth spot after losing 2-1 at Fulham.

Chelsea moved back up to fourth place in the Premier League after picking up a 2-1 away victory against Wolves, although it took an 89th-minute winner by Frank Lampard to end Chelsea's four-match winless run.

Stephen Ward thought he had done enough to earn Wolves their fourth consecutive draw when he cancelled out Ramires's second-half effort with just five minutes remaining, but Lampard pounced to take the Blues a point above Arsenal, who failed to reclaim fourth spot after losing 2-1 at Fulham.

Like all responsible pet owners, we left our snark in the office over New Year. We ensured it had adequate food, water and celebrity list programmes to see it through the night, with the TV turned up loud to avoid firework-related outbursts.

We were concerned that it might be sulking today and therefore refuse to contribute to the first results post of 2012, but you'll be relieved to see it's in fine form and frolicking around our captions like nothing had even happened.

Three Premier League goalscorer tips: Steven Fletcher, Danny Welbeck and Peter Crouch to be on target

Betting expert Ed Malyon has picked out three goalscorer tips for Saturday's English top-flight games, all offering very tasty returns

View the full story here: Goal

A news article on 2011-12-30 12:03:00 from: Goal

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Many a time and oft my Spurs-supporting chum Ian has peddled the theory that Gareth Bale should be shoved right up the top, through the middle, and play as an out-and-out centre-forward. Outlandish it may be, but last night actually provided a glimpse of how the world would be run if Ian were King.

Wilson Palacios was given his first start in the league for Stoke City yesterday and his services were required immediately. More immediately than he probably thought, as his mascot suddenly had a need for his mommy. Or was frightened by Peter Crouch. Or he just knew he was going to have to sit through 90 minutes of Stoke City.

Boxing Day Preview: Manchester United, Chelsea And Winning Bets - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Premier League clubs are all set for Boxing Day showdown as 14 teams take to the field on Monday, with the remaining 6 playing on Tuesday. Here's a look at the choicest fixtures from the next two days and the best betting odds for them.

Festive Fun: Guess The Liverpool Players

Merry Christmas to all my readers out there! I just thought for a laugh and to get us all into the Christmas spirit i'd make a short and sweet post giving you the chance to have a bit of fun. Below are ten Liverpool players from past and present but Santa, baubles, stars and all sorts of things have got in the way, can you guess who they are?

Merry Christmas to all my readers out there!
I just thought for a laugh and to get us all into the Christmas spirit i'd make a short and sweet post giving you the chance to have a bit of fun.
Below are ten Liverpool players from past and present but Santa, baubles, stars and all sorts of things have got in the way, can you guess who they are?

It's a fact that I think will divide opinion amongst Chelsea fans, Spurs fans and even football neutrals right now. Chelsea had a hoodoo over Spurs for years and called their patch "three point lane" but you have to admit we can't call it that anymore can we.
Spurs (no matter what your bias is) have done great under Harry Redknapp considering that some of them didn't want him!

Chelsea's recent winning streak was halted by a 1-1 draw at Wigan Athletic, Jordi Gómez capitalising on a horrible mistake from Petr Čech to equalise two minutes from time.

The Blues were on course for a fourth consecutive Premier League win when Daniel Sturridge collected a long, diagonal ball from Ashley Cole and drilled a shot across Ali Al-Habsi after 59 minutes.

By Alan Duffy

Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-2 Stoke City Premier League 17th December 2011

You have to hand it to Tony Pulis, you really do. For all the (often justified) criticism of his team's tactics and style of play, Stoke continue to ground out decent results season after season, never looking like getting themselves embroiled in a relegation dogfight.

Hi everyone,
As most of you have seen the game between Stoke and Tottenham there were a few questionable decisions made by the referee Chris Foy.
First I think its right to talk about Peter Crouch's handling of the ball before setting up the goal. It could be said that the referee did not have a clear view of the incident, however the fact that the assistant referee could have signaled should not be ignored.

Stoke City ended Tottenham's six-match Premier League winning streak while Martin O'Neill's Sunderland left it late to heap more misery on Steve Kean and Blackburn Rovers.

Simon Vukčević's early goal seemed destined to give Blackburn their second consecutive victory and lift them out of the bottom three.

Sitting down to type when one's lip is literally still quivering with rage must surely be ill-advised, but how else to express sheer, undiluted incandescence? Here at AANP Towers we are generally loath to criticise the officials, since their job is jolly difficult, their mistakes are always honest and frankly I imagine that to a man the players make many more errors per game.

A plethora of former Tottenham players suited up in a Stoke City uniform and fully played their part in ending the Spurs' 11-game unbeaten run with an impressive 2-1 win at the Brittania Stadium.

Matthew Etherington, who was a Spurs player between 2000 and 2003, scored twice in the first half, with his opening strike being assisted by Peter Crouch, who just left White Hart Lane this summer.

After a run of 10 wins in 11, and six in a row, the true connoisseur does not really want the record to grind to a halt against Stoke. Against Barcelona maybe, or the Harlem Globe Trotters – but not Stoke.

Stoke are actually a member of that elite and highly exclusive band of English teams that have indeed beaten us this season (cast thine mind back to our peculiar Carling Cup exit a few months back).

After a run of 10 wins in 11, and six in a row, the true connoisseur does not really want the record to grind to a halt against Stoke. Against Barcelona maybe, or the Harlem Globe Trotters – but not Stoke.

Stoke are actually a member of that elite and highly exclusive band of English teams that have indeed beaten us this season (cast thine mind back to our peculiar Carling Cup exit a few months back).

In August I wrote an article asking if Harry Redknapp could solve our striker crisis from within, rather than investing in a new forward. At the time, we had the option of selecting either Jermain Defoe, Peter Crouch or Roman Pavlyuchenko to play alongside Rafael Van der Vaart, who enjoyed a superb debut season in a Tottenham shirt.

For many a tortured soul, Peter Crouch's exit from Tottenham was as good as a new signing. A two-season career which peaked in Manchester on that famous evening- briefly spiking into the green with a Young Boys beating hat-trick and the heroics in Lombardy- withered somewhat terminally in its final months.