Spurs News

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<p>Fans have three matches to make their choices – Bolton, Villa, Fulham – for May’s Player and Goal of the Month.</p>
<p>As always, we’ll take votes from here on Xtra, Facebook and @SpursOfficial on Twitter.</p>
<p><span style=”text-decoration: underline;”><strong>GOAL OF THE MONTH CONTENDERS – MAY<br /></strong></span></p>
<p>We’ve three candidates for May’s best goal.</p>
<p>A – Luka Modric v Bolton, May 2 – Rafa van der Vaart angled out a corner to Luka, left of centre, and the midfielder controlled and smashed into the top corner.</p>
<p><a class=”mailto” href=”mailto:contactus@tottenhamhotspur.com?Subject=MayGOMluka”><strong>Vote for Luka’s goal by CLICKING HERE…</strong></a></p>
<p>B – Rafa van der Vaart v Bolton, May 2 – Superb counter-attack as Luka Modric released Gareth Bale down the left and he squared for Rafa to sweep home, first time into the far corner.</p>
<p><a class=”mailto” href=”mailto:contactus@tottenhamhotspur.com?Subject=MayGOMrafa”><strong>Vote for Rafa’s goal by CLICKING HERE…</strong></a></p>
<p>C – Emmanuel Adebayor’s goal v Fulham, May 13 – Ade, left side, squares to Rafa van der Vaart and curves his run between defenders to receive Rafa’s inch-perfect return and sidefoot into the bottom corner.</p>
<p><a class=”mailto” href=”mailto:contactus@tottenhamhotspur.com?Subject=mayGOMade”><strong>Vote for Ade’s goal by CLICKING HERE…</strong></a></p>
<p><span style=”text-decoration: underline;”><strong>PLAYER OF THE MONTH – MAY</strong></span></p>
<p>As always, this will be an open vote.</p>
<p>Who has caught your eye in May? Have your say via email by <a class=”mailto” href=”mailto:contactus@tottenhamhotspur.com?Subject=POM-May”><strong>CLICKING HERE…</strong></a></p>
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<p>In typical Defoe style, the striker came off the bench for Rafa van der Vaart on the hour and scored with his first touch less than three minutes later to secure a 2-0 win and fourth place in the Premier League.</p>
<p>However, that goal had extra significance for Jermain.</p>
<p>That was his 17th goal of the season and 118th for Spurs – and meant he took 10th place on his own in the club’s all-time top goalscoring chart.</p>
<p>Jermain scored goal number 117 against Norwich on April 9 to move into the top 10 but level with Les Bennett, who scored 117 goals for us between 1939-55.</p>
<p>Now he’s 10th on his own with Robbie Keane (122) and Teddy Sheringham (124) next in his sights.</p>
<p>Indeed, he’s 20 goals from the top five with George Hunt, 138 goals for us between 1930-37.</p>
<p><span style=”text-decoration: underline;”><strong>OUR TOP-10 ALL-TIME GOALSCORERS</strong></span></p>
<p>1 – Jimmy Greaves – 266 goals in 379 appearances<br /><br />2 – Bobby Smith – 208 goals in 317 appearances<br /><br />3 – Martin Chivers – 174/367<br /><br />4 – Cliff Jones – 159/378<br /><br />5 – George Hunt – 138/198<br /><br />6 – Len Duquemin 134/307<br /><br />7 – Alan Gilzean – 133/439<br /><br />8 – Teddy Sheringham – 124/277<br /><br />9 – Robbie Keane – 122/306<br /><br />10 – Jermain Defoe – 118 after goal v Fulham, May 13</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>Scott added the One Hotspur Members Player of the Season Award to his Supporters Clubs Player of the Season Award presented to him after training on Saturday.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Gareth was named One Hotspur Junior Members Player of the Season.</p>
<p>Scott was an instant hit with fans following his arrival at the end of the summer transfer window.</p>
<p>He won the Player of the Month voted for fans on Xtra, Twitter and Facebook in his first three months at the club – September, October and November.</p>
<p>He won again in January and in February, proudly captained England in the friendly against Holland at Wembley.</p>
<p><img src=”/media/images/news/may-2012/14052012/scott_ohm_poy430.jpg” alt=”Scott” /></p>
<p>Scott played 34 times in the Premier League and FA Cup in his first season, starting 33.</p>
<p>Gareth, meanwhile, finished the campaign with 12 goals from 40 appearances in all competitions and an impressive nine in 34 matches in the Premier League.</p>
<p><em><strong>Our photographs show Scott being presented with his award by One Hotspur Member, Hilary Malyon and Gareth with One Hotspur Junior Member, Joshua Tarrier.</strong></em></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>

Today’s speculation knows no fear

With so much of this morning’s newspaper sports coverage given over to yesterday’s thoroughly unremarkable and in no way nerve-shredding conclusion to the title race, there isn’t much room left on the back pages for much in the way of transfer tittle-tattle. But even though his club’s participation in next year’s Champions League remains more up in the air than that blue moon Manchester City fans were singing about into the early hours, the Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy has hinted that there will not be an exodus of big name players from White Hart Lane this summer. Despite finishing fourth in the Premier League table, a position that would normally guarantee them a berth in the Champions League qualifying rounds, Uefa rules dictate that Tottenham will miss out on their tilt at making it to the group stages if Chelsea beat Bayern Munich in the European Cup final next Saturday night.

“Our squad has top players at all levels and we shall continue to seek stability and to retain key players this summer and beyond,” said Levy, prompting The Sun to interpret his comments as an “insistence” that “the club won’t be selling any of its stars this summer”, which will come as welcome news for Tottenham fans fretting that Gareth Bale, Luka Modric and Rafael va der Vaart might be heading elsewhere. The Sun also reports that Spurs have “stepped up their bid” to bring the Marseille striker Loïc Rémy to north London, and have been so successful that the French international with 17 caps to his name is actually due in the locale on Wednesday for transfer talks.

Elsewhere in France, Lille’s right-back Mathieu Debuchy has been told he’ll be allowed to leave the Ligue 1 club during the summer and is unlikely to be short of suitors if speculation that Manchester United, Newcastle, Bayern Munich and Valencia are interested in securing his services. Despite starting his career as a holding midfielder, it is as a full-back that the £6.5m-rated Debuchy has made his name; and it is there where he was playing when Sir Alex Ferguson travelled to check out the cut of his jib when Lille took on Lyon in March.

The Manchester United manager was on the road again over the weekend just passed and was in the stands at the German cup final on Saturday night, to see Borussia Dortmund hammer Bayern Munich 5-2 to secure a league and Cup double. With Dortmund’s Japan international midfielder Shinji Kagawa, Poland striker Robert Lewandowski and German defender Mats Hummels all reported to be on Ferguson’s shopping list, Manchester United bean-counters would have to shell out somewhere in the region of £50m if they wanted to bring all three to Old Trafford.

The Italian newspaper Corriere Dello Sport reports that Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov could be on his way to Lazio and says that the Rome club’s chairman has already discussed personal terms with the Bulgarian, who has also been tenuously linked with a surprise move to Liverpool.

Having finished above Liverpool in the league table despite spending approximately £150m less than their neighbours in transfer fees, Everton will celebrate being top dogs on Merseyside by treating themselves to the rare luxury of buying a brand new player. Olympiacos’s Hungarian goalkeeper Balazs Megyeri is the man being linked with a move to Goodison Park, where supporters will be hoping their potential new recruit is and has a safer pair of hands than his compatriot Marton Fulop, who had the mother of all shockers between the sticks for West Bromwich Albion during their defeat at the hands of Arsenal on Sunday. In other goalkeeping news, the highly regarded out-of-contract Peterborough keeper Joe Lewis has held talks with representatives of both Cardiff City and Ipswich Town.

In a state of affairs that suggests somebody might have shown him the Premier League table, AZ Alkmaar’s Swedish midfielder Rasmus Elm has warned long-time suitors Liverpool that it is not a foregone conclusion that he will leave the Dutch club this summer. And fresh from his side’s win over Liverpool yesterday, the Swansea manager Brendan Rodgers has said he’ll discuss the future of his mega-successful loan-signings Steven Caulker and Gylfi Sigurdsson with their clubs Tottenham Hotspur and Hoffenheim respectively. “I will speak to Tottenham on Steven Caulker, he has been incredible for me this season at just 19 years of age,” said Rodgers. “With Gylfi, we will have talks with Hoffenheim over the course of the next week or so.”

And finally, Middlesbrough want to bring Portsmouth striker Luke Varney to the Riverside Stadium, while Burnley’s £1.2m offer for Derby County defender Jason Shackell has been rejected.

Joey Barton is not worth the hassle; this was a good season for Spurs; and the relegated clubs will supply some rich pickings

Barton is a liability

Some people scoff at the idea that footballers are role models but Joey Barton’s red card against Manchester City was eerily reminiscent of one shown to the captain of another west London club.

Just as when Chelsea’s captain, John Terry, kneed Alexis Sánchez in the back during the win over Barcelona, QPR’s Barton, likewise captain, was dismissed against City for landing an apparently retaliatory elbow on Carlos Tevez and then compounded that mindless act by kneeing Sergio Agüero, attempting to headbutt Vincent Kompany and threatening to start a row with Mario Balotelli on the touchline. All this with QPR, having just equalised through Djibril Cissé, needing to avoid a defeat to be certain of staying up. In that context it was not merely a moment of self-sabotage, it was a display of petulance that could have cost his side everything.

Barton is meant to be their leader yet, when QPR required him most, once the red mist descended he acted only in self-interest, demonstrating a blatant disregard for the needs of his team-mates and the club’s supporters. For all that he has tried to reinvent his image this season and make himself the poster boy for fascinated intellectuals with little interest in football – mainly by showcasing an in-depth knowledge of where the CTRL C and V keys are on a keyboard – this was Barton at his worst: vicious, thoughtless and selfish.

If QPR could, they would probably get rid of him, especially as his average performances for them hardly justify the baggage in the way, say, Balotelli’s potential for genius can. But who would want him now? He is not worth the hassle even if, as with Terry’s team, Barton’s ultimately got away with it, despite losing. JS

This has been a good season for Tottenham

In 2006 it was the lasagne; in 2012 it could be Chelsea. Tottenham Hotspur have, after beating Fulham 2-0, taken the final Champions League spot but, if Chelsea go and win the thing in Munich next week, fourth place will not be enough to gain entry to next season’s tournament. However, it would be harsh to criticise Tottenham for that, tempting as it is to joke about their capacity to find weird and wonderful ways to mess up a good thing.

At the start of the season fourth place was the goal and now, having achieved that, they are at the mercy of a result which is completely out of their control. They cannot be blamed for that. Last season they finished fifth so they can justifiably point to improvement and, despite the manner in which talk of a title challenge ended almost as quickly as it began, Spurs should view this campaign with some satisfaction. It could have been more and they should have finished third. But, if they can hang on to Gareth Bale and Luka Modric in the summer, there should be no doom and gloom around White Hart Lane. JS

Bolton are the luckiest unlucky team in recent history

So Bolton Wanderers are down, relegated after Stoke City were allowed to score one goal against them by means of a physical assault on their goalkeeper and another from an extremely dubious penalty. If it were not for that, if just one of those two decisions had gone in their favour on Sunday afternoon, it would have been QPR, and not the Trotters, weeping into their cornflakes this morning. And then cast your minds back a week to the manic moments when Djibril Cissé scored for QPR against Stoke at Loftus Road and then James Morrison equalised for West Bromwich Albion at the Reebok, a decisive single-minute, four-point swing. How terribly unlucky, how incredibly unfortunate.

But let’s look at the goals they scored in those same two games: a penalty, a bizarre freak own-goal, a clearance that ricocheted off a midfielder’s shin and into goal from 15 yards and a cross that sailed straight into the top corner – in other words a compendium of the serendipitous and the providential, a joyful sequence of lucky breaks. They talk about swings and roundabouts but that is a dizzying amount of swinging and, um, roundabouting to happen over 180 minutes of football. And when the swings stopped swinging and the roundabouts stopped, er, roundabouting, what were they left with? The slide. SB

Rich pickings from the relegated clubs

Championship sides should probably be happy that QPR, rather than Bolton, have stayed up given the strength of their respective squads and finances. The same applies to Blackburn Rovers and Wigan Athletic. Still, there are a few players at the three relegated clubs who will look very attractive to potential suitors. At Blackburn, Junior Hoilett and Yakubu Ayegbeni, who scored again at Chelsea, will surely leave and they could be followed by Steven N’Zonzi, Mauro Formica, Paul Robinson and Martin Olsson.

For Bolton the key will be to hold on to Stuart Holden and Lee Chung-yong, whose lengthy injuries were a major factor in the side’s relegation. Martin Petrov would be a useful addition if he has another year in the top division in him, as would Ivan Klasnic. The creative Mark Davies may interest clubs in the bottom half as well, while at Wolves the excellent Steven Fletcher, who scored his 12th goal of the season against Wigan, will undoubtedly find a new home. And there is already talk of Alex McLeish being interested in taking Karl Henry to Aston Villa. Which is possibly where this argument falls down. JS

What we learned about learning

This is the 180th thing that regular readers of this weekly blog will have learned from it this season. Some of them have proved to be red herrings – “Wolves look fit to take on all comers” in week one is probably not our most triumphant moment – while others have stood the test of time somewhat better. Here are some key What We’ve Learned statistics:

• We have learned the same number of things or fewer about fully 50% of Premier League clubs as we have about Mario Balotelli alone. After Balotelli, with six things, the next most learned-about players were Fernando Torres and Andy Carroll with four.

• We have learned least about Fulham and West Brom – three things each (or a mention in 8% of our blogs). Two of West Brom’s three were actually about Roy Hodgson and the other about Shane Long, in August. We learned four things about each of Norwich, Stoke and Wigan and five things about Bolton.

• We have learned most about Chelsea (14, meaning that 39% of our blogs have featured them), followed by Liverpool (12), Aston Villa (11), Arsenal and Tottenham (10) and Manchester City and Newcastle (nine).

• We learned one thing about Scotland, one thing about Spain, one thing about non-league football and seven things about the Nationwide League.

FULL TABLE
Chelsea 14
Liverpool 12
Villa 11
Arsenal, Tottenham 10
Newcastle, Man City 9
Man United 8
Swansea, Everton 7
Blackburn, Bolton, QPR, Wolves 6
Norwich, Stoke, Sunderland, Wigan 4
Fulham, West Brom 3

Also:
Referees: 5
Andy Carroll, Fernando Torres 4
Mario Balotelli 6
Scotland, Spain 1
Clubs in the Nationwide League 7
Non-league 1

<p>That would normally be good enough for a place in the Champions League but as we all know, we now have to wait for the outcome of Saturday&rsquo;s Champions League Final.</p>
<p>Chelsea travel to Bayern Munich knowing that victory in the final will mean the Blues take our place in next season&rsquo;s competition.</p>
<p>Goals from Emmanuel Adebayor and Jermain Defoe ensured the team did the job with a 2-0 win against an impressive Fulham side on Sunday.</p>
<p>That meant Arsenal had to win at West Brom to stay third and despite trailing 2-1, they managed a 3-2 win to hold on.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been a fantastic season,&rdquo; said Harry.</p>
<p>&ldquo;To finish fourth in a Champions League place, we can&rsquo;t ask for more than that. To finish above Liverpool and Chelsea, to be right up there, one point behind Arsenal in the end, it&rsquo;s been a fantastic achievement.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We played some amazing football this season and to finish in the top four is great for us.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Tottenham have only finished in the top four twice since the Premier League started and I&rsquo;ve been lucky enough to be manager both times. I&rsquo;m very proud of that.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Asked about wanting Bayern Munich to beat Chelsea on Saturday, Harry added: “I&rsquo;d be a liar if I said otherwise. Tottenham is my team. I just want us to be in the Champions League next season.”</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>The manager went into the game without a recognised left-back, without injured central defenders Ledley King and Michael Dawson and Scott Parker sidelined with Achilles trouble.</p>
<p>Gareth Bale stepped back into his old left-back role and Jake Livermore returned to central midfield.</p>
<p>The pre-match problems were compounded by injuries to Younes Kaboul and Kyle Walker during the game, with Ryan Nelsen and young full-back Adam Smith, on for his debut, deputising in the second half.</p>
<p>In the end, goals from Emmanuel Adebayor and Jermain Defoe were enough although Fulham impressed and Brad Friedel was forced to make four fine saves to hold onto his 14th clean sheet of the Premier League campaign.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It was a tough game,&rdquo; said Harry. &ldquo;Fulham are a good side and played some good football.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We were a bit patched up as well, no left-backs, Younes was struggling with his knee, Ledley wasn&rsquo;t fit again, Kyle was hobbling around.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Gareth had to start at left-back, he did great for us. I brought Jake Livermore back in to play with Sandro and they were solid in midfield.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We lost a couple of players during the game and that made it difficult.&nbsp; Young Adam Smith came on and did well and it was great for him to be involved.</p>
<p>&ldquo;William Gallas was back with Younes, then Ryan Nelsen came on, a fantastic professional. Brad Friedel pulled off a couple of saves when he had to.</p>
<p>&ldquo;All we could do was win the game and that&rsquo;s what we did.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>Goals from Emmanuel Adebayor and Jermain Defoe were good enough for maximum points and a place in the top four of the Premier League for only the second time.</p>
<p>Focus now turns to the Allianz Arena, Munich, for the Champions League Final on Saturday night.</p>
<p>Chelsea, who finished sixth in the Premier League, take on hosts Bayern Munich knowing that victory will see them take our place in next season’s competition.</p>
<p>Every Spurs fan in White Hart Lane and no doubt worldwide went through all the emotions in Sunday’s thrilling finale.</p>
<p>We knew that victory over Fulham would secure a top-four finish and force Arsenal to match us at West Brom.</p>
<p>Thankfully, Adebayor scored inside two minutes to settle nerves at the Lane.</p>
<p>It was then all about The Hawthorns – with Arsenal also scoring early but then West Brom fighting back to lead 2-1 and we all dared to dream of third.</p>
<p>Even though Santos levelled for the Gunners, we sat in third until approximately 4.09pm, when Laurent Koscielny fired Arsenal ahead.</p>
<p>Defoe pounced with his first touch in the 63rd minute after coming on for Rafa van der Vaart to give us that vital two-goal cushion against Fulham but, alas, there were no further wild outbreaks from the fans celebrating goals elsewhere and on the final whistle, it was fourth place.</p>
<p>That was mission accomplished for the season – but our Champions League fate will decided with Chelsea’s on May 19.</p>
<p>Harry Redknapp made one change from last week’s 1-1 draw at Villa.</p>
<p>Jake Livermore was back in the starting line-up for suspended Danny Rose, with Gareth Bale reverting to left-back in a 4-2-3-1 system.</p>
<p>A good start was vital and Adebayor delivered in the second minute. Drifting in from the left, he played a sharp one-two with van der Vaart, whose return pass invited the striker to dispatch a low sidefoot past Mark Schwarzer.</p>
<p>The Fulham goalkeeper did well to close down Bale froma tight angle and a number of half-chances went begging as we bossed the first half-hour.</p>
<p>Van der Vaart curled inches wide after 34 minutes but Fulham were starting to find their feet and Brad Friedel was forced into two fine saves in the space of a minute to deny John Arne Riise and then, even better, Moussa Dembele.</p>
<p>Schwarzer’s hands were then burned by Bale’s blaster in added time and we went into the break with third place on.</p>
<p>The manager was forced into an early change in the second half as Kyle Walker limped off, replaced by Ryan Nelsen. William Gallas switched to right-back.</p>
<p>Sandro couldn’t get enough power to trouble Schwarzer from Lennon’s cross after 52 minutes and there was another warning from Fulham as Dembele’s clean strike cannoned off the foot of the post.</p>
<p>Defoe was soon introduced for van der Vaart and, typically, took all of three minutes to make his mark.</p>
<p>Lennon’s shot deflected into his path and he finished clinically from eight yards.</p>
<p>That goal gave the striker 10th place on his own in the club’s all-time top 10 goalscorers.</p>
<p>Young full-back Adam Smith was handed a debut in the 76th minute when Kaboul limped out of the action.</p>
<p>It was then all about The Hawthorns, and waiting for another delirious cheer to spread through the stadium.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, it didn’t come and the final action saw Friedel excel again to first tip Damien Duff’s shot onto the post and then flick another fine strike from Dembele over the crossbar.</p>
<p>Spurs (4-2-3-1): Friedel; Walker (Nelsen, 49), Gallas, Kaboul (Smith, 76), Bale; Livermore, Sandro; Modric, van der Vaart (Defoe, 60), Lennon; Adebayor. Unused subs: Cudicini, Giovani, Kane, Saha.</p>
<p>Fulham (4-4-1-1): Schwarzer; Kelly, Hughes, Hangeland, John Arne Riise; Duff, Diarra, Murphy (Kasami, 67), Frei; Dembele; Pogrebnyak. Unused subs: Stockdale, Senderos, Bjorn Helge Riise, Gecov, Briggs, Trotta.<br /><br />Goals: Spurs – Adebayor (2), Defoe (63).</p>
<p>Attendance: 36,256.</p>
<p>Referee: Mr P Dowd.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>

Goals in each half by Emmanuel Adebayor and Jermain Defoe secured a fourth-placed finish in the Premier League for Tottenham Hotspur, which will enable the club to take part in next season’s Champions League provided Chelsea do not take that slot instead by winning the final next Saturday. Chants from the White Hart Lane crowd of “There’s only one Bayern Munic…” heralded the beginning of a torturous week-long wait for Harry Redknapp’s team.

Tottenham came into the match knowing that victory would require their squad passing a depth test, as the lack of regular left-backs forced a rejig. Gareth Bale slotted in to the position previously occupied by Benoît Assou-Ekotto or Danny Rose, while Luka Modric shifted to left-midfield and the 22-year-old Jake Livermore was introduced to midfield to make his first start since the home defeat by Norwich City last month. If the White Hart Lane faithful feared a repeat of such a shock, their nerves were quickly soothed. Just 96 seconds after kick-off, Rafael van der Vaart dissected a static visiting defence with a low pass to Emmanuel Adebyor, who steered the ball into the bottom corner from 12 yards.

With Fulham sluggish, Spurs were rampant and Mark Schwarzer had to make a close-range save from Bale as the home side looked like entering Europe with a swagger. News that Arsenal were trailing at West Bromwich Albion, meaning Tottenham could have been spared having to depend on Bayern next Saturday, seemed to put an extra spring in Tottenham’s step. It certainly cranked up the decibels in a festive White Hart Lane.

Spurs should have extended their lead in the 33rd minute when Aaron Lennon darted behind the visiting defence and puled the ball back to Adebayor, who teed up Van der Vaart. The Dutchman fired wide from 10 yards. The more prolonged Tottenham’s profligacy, the greater the risk of them being pegged back, a recurring problem over the past two seasons. A reminder of the danger came in the 35th minute when Bred Friedel was called into action for the first time to prevent Fulham from scoring on the counter-attack and he plunged to his left to turn away a shot from the edge of the area by Jon Arne Riise. The American soon had to reprise that save to stop the excellent Moussa Dembele from equalising.

Worryingly for both Tottenham and England, Kyle Walker hobbled off with an injured left foot early in the second half but Fulham had sagged back into slothfulness. Tottenham should have doubled their lead within moments of the resumption, as first Sandro headed a Lennon cross straight at Schwarzer from five yards and then Adebayor shot straight at the goalkeeper after being put clean through.

Dembele offered Fulham’s first threat of the second period, flashing a low just inches wide on the hour. In a bid to increase Spurs’ margin of comfort, Redknapp introduced Defoe for Van der Vaart, whose influence had waned badly after a promising start. Dividends were delivered quickly, as within two minutes the England striker made it 2-0, poking into the net from eight yards after a Lennon shot was deflected into his path. Arsenal’s comeback at The Hawthorns, however, meant that third place was beyond Spurs, who will now feel little solidarity with their fellow Londoners in Munich next week.

The best images from the final day of the season ifeaturing teams in the title race, the Champions League battle and the relegation scrap