After an almost surreal 5-1 win over our perennial conquerors Chelsea, we needed reminding that we were indeed human.  A 3-1 humbling at home to Newcastle and a 1-0 defeat away to Derby did the trick, and showed that although we may be able to turn it on for the cup, we are still not one of the top teams in the Premiership.   Hoddle's claims that it was hard to play Derby when they were just getting a new manager was laughable, not least for the fact that when we got our new manager, I recall a complete and utter collapse at the hands of the Woolwich Wanderers.  Hoddle is rarely one to use pathetic excuses when the team doesn't perform, and this is something I have admired about him.  I hope that he does not start now.

        But when you're on a losing streak, who better to welcome to your place than Bolton.  Again, we dispatched the hapless Trotters, almost effortlessly.  It will be with more than a tinge of sadness that I will watch the limited Wanderers trot all the way out of the Premiership.  After all, they have been so good to us, when not even Derby have given us much.  Oh, well.  Perhaps their signing of former French international Youri Djorkaeff will give them the creativity and impetus needed to get the points to stay up.  And maybe Hoddle and Sergei Rebrov will leave their respective partners and set up home together, and sit with each other in the evenings drinking tea and munching scones, discussing the joys of Tottenham Hotspur and other wholesome issues.

         The deterioration of Hoddle and Rebrov's relationship will ultimately see the fans take sides.  It's going to be hard to choose.  Side with the former Spurs favourite, whose Tottenham side is playing the attacking football the fans have so long craved for, and is on course to win both Cups this season ... or the £11m flop who has been possibly the biggest waste of money of the decade (and this includes the Dome and Teletubby records), and talks casually of moving to deadly rivals Arsenal.  Personally, after much deliberation, I have decided to side with the GH.  I'd be interested to know whose side other Spurs fans would take.

        With Rebrov almost certain to leave in the summer, we do need another striker, rather the finished article than someone we will have to train and nurture.  Phillips would be the obvious choice.  He is an excellent attacker, but Sunderland seem determined to keep their prized asset from moving on to better things, and have insisted that he is not for sale.  It can only be a matter of time, though, before Kev puts in a transfer request.  He must be aware of the damage being at Sunderland is doing to his World Cup hopes, and I am sure he will want to play for England in the future.  To be honest, I can't see him staying on for more than another season at the mediocre Black Cats.  We have also been linked with Michael Ricketts, who would also be a great buy.  If Bolton do go down, which I really do think they will, there will be no shortage of suitors looking to buy Ricketts.  Although he may want to be loyal to Bolton after they plucked him from obscurity and have turned him into the player he is now, after having a taste of international action, he will surely crave more, and he will move in the summer, hopefully to the Lane.  He is a great talent who can only get better.  Otherwise, Michael Forsell at Chelsea could be an outside bet.  Chelsea would be very reluctant to sell him, but the Finn must be growing restless at a lack of starts, and if he moved to Spurs, or almost any other Premiership club, he would get a lot more first team opportunities.  He just happens to be at the club whose two main strikers have struck up the best partnership in the Premiership.

         Moving on, I felt very sorry for Ledley King, who was poised to make his England debut, but was struck down by a virus, and so had to pull out. He is undoubtedly a player of international standard, and it was a real shame, because a good performance would have made it difficult for Sven to omit him from his final squad.  This will have come as a blow because he has not played for England once yet, and there's only one or two left until the World Cup.  It is a shame, but I think it will be Sven's loss if he decides not to take deadly Ledley to the Japan and South Korea.

          Anderton should go as well.  He has been very consistent this season, and he continued his good form against Leicester, despite most of the team having an off day.  Anderton and Davies were the only real star performers.  Our lethargic display would have been punished by almost anyone except for Leicester, whose strike force of Matthew Piper and James Scowcroft was never likely to trouble the defence too much.  We cruised for 80 minutes, and then faced a worrying last 10 minutes, as Leicester pulled one back in dubious circumstances.  However, a team that bad was never really going to beat us, no matter how terribly we played, and we were dire.  Still, a good team is supposed to be able to play badly and still win, but these days, its pretty difficult to play badly enough to lose to Leicester City.  But at the end of the day, three points are three points, and Robbie Savage losing is still Robbie Savage losing.

           Again, though, we turned on the style for the cup and saw off Tranmere for the second time by four goals to nil.  Tranmere were never going to trouble us, in our territory ... and by "our territory", I mean both White Hart Lane and the cup.  This year, we have played like it is our divine right to win both cups, and Chelsea in the next round should pose little trouble if we keep playing like we have been in the cups.  A 5-1 repeat would be acceptable, but I'd prefer us to score a few more, of possible.

          Seriously, it will be quite a battle if Chelsea play to their full potential, but we certainly have the belief and talent to beat them.

          Anyway, let us put Leicester City et al aside, as we focus on Wales.  Our next match is the biggest of our season, and could make or break our season.  If our key players play to the best of their ability, like Anderton, Davies, Sheringham, Poyet and King, then we will breeze past Blackburn, who are desperately fighting relegation. Graeme Souness' idea that the Worthington Cup finalists should be guaranteed Premiership safety, sound like the pleas of a desperate man.  The idea, for want of a better word, is ... well, mingin' !

If you agree or disagree with anything I have touched upon in this article, you can email me at Just_shaun@hotmail.com

"If our key players play to the best of their ability, like Anderton, Davies, Sheringham, Poyet and King, then we will breeze past Blackburn, who are desperately fighting relegation."

 

 
Anderton: 6/10. Certainly not at his best. Sometimes lost his temper with Mark Hughes, who was marking him, shall we say, a little over eagerly.  Very quiet.  Made one telling cross all match.

 

Davies: 7/10.  Came on late into the second half.  Looked lively, but was not on the pitch long enough to make a real difference.

 

Sheringham: 5/10.  Made one good dummy.  Made a meal of the late foul and fell over too easily, which may have been the reason that Poll didn't give it.

 

Poyet: 6/10.  Very quiet in first half.  Did very little of note.  Did a little better in the second half, curling a shot onto the woodwork and making a decent pass or two.

 

King: 5/10.  His passes were off 90% of the time.  Certainly not his dominating self.  Although passing and tackling improved in the second half,  horrendous error gifted Blackburn their second goal.

 

And the rest.

 

Sullivan: 6/10.  Was probably at fault for the first goal, which he let slip too easily through his legs.  Could do little about second. Made one good save.

 

Perry: 7/10.  Perhaps a little nervous at the start of the game, but got better as the match went on.  Got stuck in, and nicked the ball off players well.

 

Thatcher: 7/10.  A surprise inclusion, but one of the better performers.  Discipline was a worry, but no elbows this time.  Made important strong tackles.

 

Ziege: 8/10.  Looked very dangerous when getting forward.  Crossed the ball well, and had a shot go inches over.  Passed the ball well and made a good through pass later.  Defending a bit of  a problem though.  Well positioned for the goal.

 

Taricco: 5/10:  Committed needless fouls.  Had a pretty shocking game and nothing he did seemed to help the side.

 

Sherwood: 5/10:  Made a silly challenge to get himself booked.  Hardly showed his former club what they were missing.  Spoiled memories of previous good form, as he appeared to revert to the old Sherwood we were going to send to Wolves.

 

Ferdinand: 5/10:  Messed up a 1 on 1 again (Chelsea, away).  This time it mattered.  Did well to set up the goal, but messed up two further free headers.

 

So, we lost the most important match of our season so far.  And its not like we deserved to win it either.  Blackburn appeared to want it more, and we lost in the fight for the right to win it.  Blackburn played better, and although we weren't totally outplayed, the result was a fair one.

The penalty blatantly was a penalty, though.  Graham Poll obviously just couldn't be arsed for extra time and so decided not to give it, although Teddy's over enthusiastic tumble did little to help matters.

But the fact is we lost to an inferior side, who are 18th in the league.  This was extremely disappointing, especially since we did create an awful lot of decent chances.  Ferdinand had three, and messed up all three of them.  Although credit has to go to Friedel for all three saves, a better finisher would have given the American no chance.  Someone like Kevin Phillips, perhaps?  I have no doubt that had we had Phillips on our side, we would have won the game.  Blackburn played better, but it was us who created the better chances and all we needed was a decent finisher to put them away.  Ferdinand has showed that he is not up to the job and although he is certainly a useful player, I would definitely prefer a finisher to occupy his place in the side.  He has played his heart out for the side this season, but when his finishing is as woeful as that, he is almost a liability.

As I have shown, our key players just didn't perform, and this gave Blackburn the chance to win the game.  Had players such as Poyet and Sheringham been flying, we would have wiped the floor with them.  King had a terrible game, showing that he may not be ready for the big occasion just yet, and for this reason, I will backtrack and say that perhaps he is not ready for the World Cup.  If he cannot perform in Wales in a domestic cup final, how can he perform in Asia in a World Cup? 

Sheringham will have not done his WC bid any favours.  His failure to perform in one WC may well see him miss out on the other WC.

It was distressing to see so many passes go astray.  We are so much better than that.  I really hope that we can learn from that defeat and that is has not been too morale sapping.  We must pick ourselves up now.  I am sure that Glenn must have gone through the game with the players and shown them where they went wrong, and hopefully we can give Sunderland a thumping on Saturday to try and erase the pain.

Our attempt to qualify for Europe via the league has spun wildly off course and we have now lost more games than we have won.  A win over Sunderland will do wonders for confidence now, although I think the FA Cup is the most important thing at the moment.  If we do not beat Chelsea, our season could be over.  Qualifying for Europe through the league looks to be an uphill struggle now and although the Chelsea game will be hard, we have no reason to fear them, after our last meeting.

Arsenal and Newcastle will also want to win the FA Cup, so it will be very hard to win, but we are capable of it, and we must do our utmost to secure it, because otherwise, our chances of qualifying for Europe will be worryingly slim.  We need to be in Europe to attract the good players.

We have failed once in Wales, but if we get there again this season, and this time come up trumps, all will be forgotten.

If you agree or disagree with anything I have touched upon in this article, you can email me at Just_shaun@hotmail.com

If you agree or disagree with anything I have touched upon in this article, you can email me at Just_shaun@hotmail.com

If you agree or disagree with anything I have touched upon in this article, you can email me at Just_shaun@hotmail.com

Why has the team failed miserably, once again, to attain anything this season? I t has to be, quite simply, the personnel. 

In goal, Sullivan has not been the influential keeper that he was last season.  This massive loss of form has to be one of the factors for our dismal finish of 9th. I think that 

Ziege has had a fairly good season, and has added flair to our left flank, getting some very telling crosses in, and although he's still not outstanding defensively, he's done enough this season to be omitted from my damning appraisal of the side. 

Taricco, although a good player, has been a liability this season.  He has easily been one of the dirtiest players in the Premiership and has landed us in a lot of trouble this season. From his horrendous tackle on Gravesen at the start of the season, to his ridiculous sending off spree towards our 4-0 nightmares, he has been very, very dirty.  I thought that, when we bought Ziege, that would be the end of dirty full-backs.  But we sort it out on the left and it pops up on the right.  I don't have too many complaints about Taricco's football this season.  Again, he's not really defensively astute, but has been dangerous when attacking.  However, I think the man must go.  We need 11 players playing for us, and when Taricco is one of those 11, it is a fair bet that they won't all be playing at the end of the match.  I am no great fan of Thatcher, but at least his tackles were blatant.  He just jumps onto you and elbows/kicks/stamps on you.  Taricco is far more sly.  He is the type of player to surreptiously sneak up behind you, slap you on the head and then run away, whistling away as though nothing has happened, affording himself a chuckle as his teammate gets unfairly punched in the face by Taricco's victim.

King has been great for most of the season, but he does make too many unforced errors.  I am confident that he will overcome this side of his game and eventually surpass Campbell, but at the moment, he is not the man to lead our defence.  We need someone more experienced to marshal our back three.  

I had hoped that Bunjevcevic would be the man to do it, but obviously, that hasn't happened.  It is difficult to lead by example when you're in hospital. 

Perry is just not good enough.  He appears to be stricken with nerves in the really big games and his comical attempt to clear the ball against Arsenal was the final straw for me.  The man is not top six standard.  If we want to be top six standard, we must get rid of Perry.  

Gardner has been excellent when he has played, and will probably play  a bigger part in our campaign next season.  My only worry is that he, like King, is inexperienced and will be prone to errors too, but if we can get a real experienced defender, hopefully Gardner and King will learn from him, and stamp errors out of their game.

In midfield, Poyet had an excellent start to the season, but unfortunately ran out of steam towards the end of the season.  The man is 33, and the way he plays, he has to do an awful lot of running.  We could not have expected him to maintain that level of consistency the whole season.  We needed to rotate him, but we didn't.  We relied far too heavily on him, and it showed, particularly in games like the Worthington Cup Final.  

Anderton has had a fairly consistent season, so I will not single him out for criticism because at times, he has been superb and has never really been absolutely awful.  I think he should have gone to the World Cup, but that's a concern for a Swede, which is ridiculous really.

Davies has had a great season too, and will probably ultimately be Poyet's replacement in midfield in a couple of years or so.  His crossing, running, and uncanny knack of scoring important goals has been vital to us during the season, and he too, escapes my acid tongue, or fingers.

Sheringham and Ferdinand are both too old to have played so many games this season.  Sheringham, like Poyet, started brilliantly, but fizzled out towards the end.  I think he can count himself lucky that he is going to Japan and Korea, after his abysmal post Worthington Cup Final form.  It would have been ironic if Jansen, whose form rose dramatically after that game, replaced Sheringham on that plane, but ultimately, Sheringham is an experienced head in a predominantly young England team and I am sure he will benefit the side.

Ferdinand's finishing was woeful this season.  Only Akinbiyi could really have compared to Les this season.  Ferdinand wasted countless chances over the course of the season, and although his approach play has been reasonable, we cannot afford to have such a poor finisher playing upfront for us.  Added to the fact that he is 35 or 36, I don't think he really has a part to play for us in the near or distant future.

So how can we rectify these deficiencies in the team?  Well for a start, Hoddle must warn Sullivan that if he starts next season that badly again, he will waste no time in replacing him.  Perhaps he could sign another goalkeeper, just to keep the Scot on his toes.  Taricco will be swiftly replaced by Carr, I am sure, next season and we all know Carr's attributes.  The wing back will be bitterly disappointed to be missing the World Cup and, hopefully, he will channel his frustration properly at the start of next season, and be the player we know he is.

Hoddle should also look for a decent defender of 27+ years, to marshal the defence and show the way for young King and Gardner.  I don't know if Bunjevcevic is up to the job, but if he is, it will save us a lot of money.  It is up to Hoddle to decide.

In midfield, we will have Freund back and Hoddle has snapped up two extra midfielders to increase competition and give him the chance to rotate the squad a little so Poyet doesn't suffer from burnout.

I know Hoddle is looking at a number of strikers for next season.  Eto'o, Gomes and Phillips are amongst the names mentioned.  I am not convinced that Eto'o (who struggled to cement a place in the Mallorca side) has the class to spearhead a Premiership attack, whilst I would be ecstatic if we got Gomes and/or Phillips.

Hoddle has a hell of a lot of work to do in the summer, but he'll tackle the challenge with vigour.

Unless you are an expert on Yugoslavian or Slovenian football, I expect you know as little about Acimovic as I do.  Hoddle has said he is a talented midfielder, who scores more than his fair share of goals.  Before we all start jumping up and down in joy at finding the new Poyet, Hoddle also said that Iversen would get 20 goals a season if he wasn't injured so much ... and I think he said something or other about disabled people, that didn't really amass much support ...

Nevertheless, although not the best diplomat, like Monsieur Wenger, (in response to Fergie's jibe that he never had a drink with the opposing manager after a game, he insisted "I am never thirsty after a match"), Hoddle still has an eye for a bargain, and spots talent.  None of his signings have flopped so far.  Although Bunjevcevic has been injured most of the season, he has not done anything to suggest that he is not a Premiership class player, and Poyet has been one of our best players, especially in the first half of the season.  Ziege has been a revelation on the left wing as well.

The thing is, he has come from Red Star, like his mate Bunjevcevic, who has spent most of his Spurs career in the treatment room.  A midfield trio of Redknapp, Anderton and Acimovic could be a real handful ... for the doctors.  Hopefully, they will prove more of a challenge to opposing midfielders, but we shall see.

This season has been awful.  There have been countless lowlights, and very few highlights.  Losing 5-3 to United, the Worthington Cup, the embarrassing successive 4-0s, injuries to Carr, Freund and Bunjevcevic, Arsenal winning the Double, Arse Sol, take your pick.

Hoddle must work in the summer to give us a fighting chance of not humiliating ourselves in front of arch rivals any more.  We must at least make Arsenal our rivals again, rather than some insignificant mid table side who happens to be located near them.

Last year, before the season, I suggested that we try and sign Benito Carbone, John Hartson, Frank Lampard, Seth Johnson and Stephen McPhail.

My views have still not changed on Carbone, who would inject some much needed flair into our side.  I am not certain where he is.  If he's still at Middlesbrough, we could probably get him for about £5m or so, and I think it would be worth it.

Hartson has proved to be a fans favourite at Celtic, where his passion, and aggression has been a major factor in their continued domination of their league.  I suggested we go for him when he was at Coventry.  I think we did go for him, but he failed a medical.  Well, he certainly doesn't look unfit up in Scotland.

Lampard has not been an outstanding success at Chelsea, and in retrospect, I would not have wanted him at Spurs.  He doesn't actually have the quality to be a really outstanding player and his only real asset is his long range shooting.  £11m would have been a waste, and how embarrassing would it be to have had two £11m flops?

Johnson got a big money move to Leeds from Derby.  He has done nothing to suggest he's not worth it and I think he will become integral to England and Leeds in a year or two.  I would have loved to see him at Spurs, especially as at that time, Freund was useless.  Freund has become a lot better this season, but Johnson is class.

Finally, McPhail has gone to Millwall on loan.  I still think he's a Premiership player.  His passes can split defences open, and that is a very valuable attribute.  I can see him becoming a force in the future in the Premiership.  If not at Leeds, then somewhere else.  I certainly wouldn't mind it being at Spurs.

I think Hoddle should have a look at Matthew Piper of Leicester, a young striker who has recently broken into the first team at Leicester.  He has been a breath of fresh air to the club, providing some much needed creativity.  He appears to do for Leicester what Rebrov was supposed to have done for us.  A real star of the future, mark my words.

It might be a long shot, but maybe we could see if Litmanen of Liverpool is available.  He is a fantastic player, in the same vein as Bergkamp, but Houllier only uses him sparingly, and if the Finn is tiring of limited opportunities, perhaps we could get him.  He is a superb player and it would be a brilliant coup if we could snap him up.  As I say, a long shot, but worth a try?

Michael Ricketts is also worth going for.  His goals have kept Bolton up and the guy has a lot of skill on the ball as well as a fearsome presence.  Les Ferdinand with the finishing, you might say.  He would be an excellent player to have in our team.

I know they finished above us, so he may not be interested, but if we could get West Ham's Trevor Sinclair, that would be a great signing too.  His crossing is very good, as is his dribbling and finishing.  I don't think he would have looked out of place at the World Cup.  He would probably cost £10m, but I think he'd be worth it.

Finally, Lucas Radebe of Leeds could be the experienced defender we need to bolster our defence.  The South African may be aggrieved at less first team chances due to the partnership of Woodgate and Ferdinand, and may fancy a change of scenery.  Maybe White Hart Lane would be an attractive proposal?

But, whoever Hoddle goes for, I trust that they will be quality players.  Our manager is a good manager and I think he will ultimately succeed with Spurs.  No one will be more hurt by our awful season than him and he will be actively attempting to rectify that.

So, Senegal pulled off what will rank amongst the biggest shocks of the tournament, whatever other twists the World Cup produces.  The Senegalese produced an epic performance to stifle the French, and scramble a goal, scored by Diop after Petit and surprise, surprise, Barthez, got tangled up with each other messily over a cross.  Petit had an awful game, to confirm my suspicions that he peaked long ago with the Scum.  The fact that he decided not to sign for us for a certain reason (are you reading this, Sol? You might learn something), has certainly turned out to be a gain rather than a loss.  He has been a flop all season and he failed to turn it on once again, despite being back with his beloved partner Patty.

Senegal may have deserved the win through their sheer resilience, but I do think that Henry probably deserved to score.  He looked lively and his body shape for his shot when he hit the woodwork was superb.  He was one of the few players who did not deserve to be on the losing side.  Still, my sympathy for him is limited.  How much sympathy can a French Gooner expect?

Diouf had a very good game.  His skill had Marcel Desailly bamboozled for the duration of the match and it is no surprise that Liverpool stepped up their efforts to get him after that match, and have finally secured his services.  Owen and Diouf will be a formidable partnership next season, to match Van Nistelrooy and Solskjaer, Hasselbaink and Gudjohnsen, and of course, Sheringham and Iversen ... !

Today has seen three interesting matches.  The early birds among us will have seen Ireland battle it out with Cameroon, with the honours being shared.  It was pretty obvious from the outset that Cameroon had a lot more flair than their hardworking opponents, and if anyone was going to win the game through a moment of magic, it would have been the Africans.  They have the potential to go far.  That said, Robbie Keane deserved to score, as he had a good game, and was desperately unlucky to hit the woodwork.

If Samuel Eto'o is not a transfer target for us any more, he should be, after a very good performance.  He set up Cameroon's goal and displayed a lot of skill throughout the game.  The only problem is, if we got him, is that we cannot expect him to score 20 goals a season, as he is not that type of player.  He appears to like going wide, taking defenders with him and then dragging it back, or passing into the middle, for his unmarked team-mates.  He excels at this, and would be a useful addition to our side, but we still need an out and out goalscorer.

I was also impressed with former Newcastle misfit, Jon Dahl Tomasson.  Despite the guy's failure on Tyneside, he looks to be an excellent player, and his summer move to Milan should be a great success.  He scores goals, has brilliant positional play and generally looks the complete attacker.    

Another reported Spurs transfer target, Denmark's Martin Jorgensen, looked like an excellent player for the limited amount of time that he was on for.  Despite carrying an injury, his mazy dribbles tormented Uruguay for the last 20 minutes.  The man has bags of skill, and would be a brilliant signing if we could really get him.  I imagine that Udinese would value him very highly though, and so we would probably have to really splash out to get him, but it would be worth it.  We lack a player that can take on opponents.  And, as a bonus, he's not even lazy !  Not that I'm saying the last player we had who could dribble was lazy....

Our man Ziege had a pretty comfortable time against Saudi Arabia.  His crossing made two goals and passing set up Ballack's cross for another goal.  He did have ample space which the generous Saudis afforded him in which to get his crosses in.  He looked good, but then, Carsten Jancker managed to look good against possibly the most pathetic international team in the World Cup.  8-0 is a farcical scoreline and if you're going to get thumped like that in the World Cup is there really much point in attempting to qualify for it?

Miroslav Klose produced the first hat-trick of the tournament and although it was probably one of the easiest hat-tricks anyone will be gifted this summer, he certainly showed what a good player he is.  The Kaiserslautern man may be a player to watch in this tournament.  His aerial ability is very good and he has a lot of skill on the ball, unlike his gangly partner, Mr. Jancker.

Back home, not a lot is happening, really.  I'm sure Hoddle is scouring the globe for new players.  But, for now, lets forget about Les Ferdinand, Oyvind Leonhardsen and Chris Perry.  It's the World Cup !  Enjoy, for a month or so, the spectacle of the best players in the world, playing on the biggest stage in the world.  And don't let the fact that Steffen Iversen is not displaying his considerable talent at the WC spoil it for you. It's a disappointment, of course, but just put it into the back of your mind, and settle for Henry, Keane, Recoba, Ballack, Veron, Santa Cruz and Owen!