Tottenham pursued diminutive Brazilian winger come attacking midfielder Bernard last summer but he eventually moved to Ukraine. In 2012 his side Atletico Mineiro finished second in the table and he picked up the best newcomer award after scoring 11 goals in 36 games. The 21 year-old was wanted by Ukranian side Shakhtar Donetsk who bid £22 million for him, an offer his club accepted but his agent, also...
Gareth Bale has a mental desire to improve and a boyhood dream to play for Real Madrid, no doubt imagining himself in the white strip lifting the Champions League. He has worked his whole life to make that dream come true, it hasn't just fallen into his lap by accident. He has worked hard at his game with a single minded determined desire, the sort that produces winners. At Tottenham he developed,...
An interesting story given are perennial problem with strikers, well strikers scoring goals to be more precise. We lost Jermain Defoe to Toronto FC and Roberto Soldado didn't produce the goods for whatever reason. The bottom line is goals. Harry Kane played at the end of the season and bagged 3 premier League goals in just 7 games, a good start and a useful addition to the squad but another proven...
The problem of left-back and how to tighten up the whole left side so that it's comparable with Lennon and Walker on the right surely should have been addressed last summer. It seems we put all our eggs in one basket going after Real Madrid left-back Fabio Coentrão who decided he didn't want to come to Tottenham. We were left with Danny Rose, Benoit Assou-Ekotto having been told by Andre Villas-Boas...
If transfer speculation is anything to go by then Tottenham have targetted left-back as one of the key area Daniel Levy talked about that we would spend in this summer. We seem to view Zeki Fryers as more of a centre-back but whether that is still the case or whether that was simply Tim Sherwood's view I don't know. Either way he is not ready for first choice left-back and without protection in front...
Tottenham are thought to be considering a move for former centre-back target Toby Alderweireld with doubts surrounding the future of Younes Kaboul and Jan Vertonghen. The 6'1" (1.86m) Belgian international is another product of Ajax who we considered but had reservations about his close one-on-one skills. In the end we didn't pursue our interest and the 25 year-old moved to Atletico Madrid for £6.1...
The Sandro will he won't he saga rumbles on with his agent once again muddying the waters. Under Tim Sherwood Sandro was only half the player he had been before, he was off the pace in games, reacting to events rather than reading the game and anticipating events. Opponents were going past him with ease and he was having to commit early fouls to stop them getting himself booked. Sandro complained on...
Former chairman says manager should not rush decision Tottenham make Argentinian their No1 summer target The former Southampton executive chairman Nicola Cortese believes the manager Mauricio Pochettino should not rush into leaving St Marys and that the Saints should do their utmost to fend off interest in their young talent. Pochettino has been linked with the managerial vacancy at Tottenham , and...
Just take a read at this Frank de Boer quote he recently made for a moment. "When I first became coach Ajax didn't play football. They didn't create." Does that sound familiar? Under Andre Villas-Boas that is exactly the football we were playing, keeping the ball and creating nothing. The football was boring and the fans craved some excitement, there simply wasn't any now Gareth Bale wasn't there to...
Playing for Wales he misses out on another major tournament but it's not all doom and gloom, instead he goes on a promotional tour. For one week at the end of May Gareth Bale will spend a week in Asia (Indonesia and Singapore) appearing in a football festival in Jakarta to demonstrate his heading ability. Indonesia Menyundul Bola (Indonesia Heads the Ball) is a football festival in which participants...
Tim Sherwood conducted himself admirably on Goal on Sunday at the weekend, worked for ITV on the Cup Final and has been speaking to TalkSPORT, an in demand guy at the moment. What he has had to say the supporters could see for themselves. His stock in many supporters eyes is rising because he is not bad mouthing a club he has always given his best for. To the radio station he said: "I never had no...
Tottenham Hotspur continue to explore their options in case Hugo Lloris departs in search of Champions league football. He has been one player who could hold his head up high, in fact he should have been voted player of the year. While others around him were going through the motions and flaunting their mental weaknesses Hugo Lloris was one man who demonstrated pride, professionalism and the attitude...
Regular readers of this blog will remember a series I ran called Spurs Need To Go Mental where I discussed the mental weakness within the current Spurs squad and club. In 12 parts I discussed various remedies and ways in which the club could improve itself both on and off the field. All off field improvements help to engender a culture of improvement and complement the improvement that could and should...
Tottenham have been actively looking for new centre-backs with injury problems for the last two years decimating our defence. Jan Vertonghen may be leaving depending upon who we appoint at Head Coach and Younes Kaboul has been a shadow of the player we enjoyed for one season. Harsh decisions have to be made in football and keeping Kaboul in the hope he will return to the form he showed in the season...
The Manchester City summer transfer window fire sale will soon be upon us. The Premier League Champions have a UEFA transfer embargo that only allows them a net £49 million spend this summer and a Champions League wage freeze. As a result they are looking to offload players they are unlikely to use, raise some capital and reduce their wage bill enabling them to make further signings. Two homegrown...
Tottenham Hotspur fans saluted Ledley King on his testimonial night against the current Spurs squad so not only has he seen them train but he has now played against them. King is undertaking his coaching badges, which can be a long process if done correctly as Brad Friedel pointed out especially when he has other roles within the club. The Tottenham legend is a club ambassador and works with the Tottenham...
No manager, an unhappy, unbalanced and disjointed squad who didn't want to play for an interim manager, everything is not rosy at Tottenham at the moment. With a summer transfer window to negotiate it is imperative a new manager is in place by the end of the month and then work starts in earnest. Whoever is appointed will have until the UK window opens on June 9th (Holland, Turkey, Denmark June 11th)...
With Frank de Boer away on a post-season tour with Dutch champions Ajax Mauricio Pochettino took the limelight as flavour of the week. Countless reports and ITK confirmed Spurs were in discussions with his agent Jonathan Barnett, the man who negotiated the summer long sale of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid at the end of last season. The 42 year-old is the bookies favourite to start in the hot seat at White...
The annual transfer speculation surrounding Aaron Lennon is upon us again and as usual I can't see any reason to dispense with his services yet. If Pochettino is to be the Head Coach he likes players with pace. A winger getting back and doing defensive duties plus fast high pressing are important elements in his philosophy. Andros Townsend has yet to develop into his potential, Erik Lamela has yet...
An excellent interview with Tim Sherwood as he talks about his time at Tottenham. He has no regrets and confirms the players he left out are the ones who were not pulling their weight, who were not giving the best for the club. Only after they started pulling their weight in training did they get back in the team. He felt the players needed outing and many will agree but fans will of course take his...