I didn’t have the time to post about Howard Webb’s latest attempts to derail Spurs on Saturday.

I suppose we just have to count ourselves lucky that the opposition was only Blackburn. I mean if it had been ManUre, or the Woolwich Wanderers or Chelski or Pugwash’s Scousers then it could have been worse for ‘Arry and the lads.

Yup if it had been any of the Sky Big 4 then no doubt he would have given Gareth Bale a straight red for the outrages way he was tripped in the penalty box and didn’t keep on his feet without a leg to stand on. Thus depriving us of our best player so far in the calendar year 2010. The little Welsh Planet Of The Apes extra was again outstanding, bombing down the wing completely destroying the admittedly ageing Blackburn fullback Michel Salgado. Just imagine if Lennon was fit and on the other wing, that’ll be a sight to behold.

Anyway back to the most important man on the pitch, after all that’s who the paying punters in the crowd and those viewing on TV have come to watch. He could have chalked off the first goal because well it was Defoe and he’s offside often enough, might as well just flag for it every time he touches the ball. He might have disallowed the second because well technically the ‘keeper saved it.

Samba’s header was given of course. Climbing? Never heard of it, not in my rule book.

Pav’s second, Spurs’ third, why did he give that? I really don’t know, I mean Pavlyuchenko had already had one attempt at it, why should he be allowed another in the same phase of play. Then the ref lost himself for a moment and didn’t give what would have been Blackburn’s second by Kalinic, maybe again because it was just Blackburn or it might have been a goal and Dawson red carded for making Kalinic bring the ball under control with his hand.

Tottenham Hotspur 3 – 1 Blackburn

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Great news that Tom Huddlestone has signed a new five year deal a very much under appreciated player at the club. And speaking of great passes – were we? Yes, we were – you look at the distribution of Dawson against Blackburn and ask yourself why isn’t he in Fabio’s England setup when the likes of Upson and Lescott are.

A bit back it was announced that Wes Brown would only be out for a few weeks with his broken foot and I asked why England couldn’t catch a break and the dopey fullback that Fabio loves so much couldn’t be out until it was impossible for him to make the World Cup.

So it was with a cheer I heard last night that David Beckham will be missing out on his automatic squad place for what would have been his fourth World Cup.

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What with Lennon’s on going injury concerns making his involvement look less and less likely and Fabio’s apparent obsession with fielding those players that have failed miserably at the last three tournaments they got to, failing even more miserably to even get to the last one. There had to be some good news at some point.

Now I know in the last post I had a go at those that cheered Jonny Wilkinson’s injury during the Calcutta Cup and in no time at all have turned around and done the exact thing. But no, it’s not the same. One thing that was rugby football and this is association football two completely different things. What is acceptable in one is contemptible in the other

So the only tears I shed at the news of Beckham’s Achilles tear, are tears of joy. I’ll leave the tears of pity to himself, his various business managers, the silly little girls, the idiots that believe that hype and foreigners, mainly in the Far East who are more interested in celebrity than England achieving anything of any merit.

I’ll look at the facts that tell a far better version of the truth than the media fanboys who worship his every movement. Witness one Clive Tyldesley during AC Milan’s stuffing by ManUre in the Champions League just under a week ago. How many boxes of tissues did Mr. Tyldesley get through during the 26 minutes Beckham was actually on the park? The 26 minutes in which he produced on two decent things, one cross across the box and the shot, which you could count either way after all it didn’t produce a goal as it was straight at the ‘keeper. Every other cross and every set piece, you know those corners and free-kicks at which he is such a master, was inept finding only the head of a player in red.

That game pretty much summed up Beckham as we stood on Sunday afternoon. Not worthy of a starting place in a Milan side that was inept, as a sop, allowed on when the game was well and truly over to milk some applause, producing nothing that would get his team back into the game. And at the end when he’d done nothing on the park worth really talking about, walking off with a green and gold anti-Glazer protest scarf around his neck, to make sure he got his fizzog in the papers. Pathetically doing anything in desperation to deprive others of the headlines.

No tears for a player who went to three World Cups:

So no tears for the player who cost England in 1998 – no it wasn’t just him, Shearer’s elbow and some inept penalty takers played their part but if he hadn’t been sent off…

No tears for the player who cost England in 2002 – when with England one up and in control he ponced out of that challenge to save himself and the injury that should have kept him out of that World Cup, but for Svennis’ man-crush, leading to Rivaldo’s equaliser and the eventual loss to Brazil.

No tears for the player who cost England in 2006 – A lumbering nothing of a player, who slowed up every England move when he was on the right. More often than not though found clogging up the centre of the park humping aimless balls from deep well over Peter Crouch’s head. And that takes some doing. Lennon wasted on the sidelines, no coincidence that England were better when Svennis amazing replaced one with the other. Where Beckham just gave away possession with his inept crosses Lennon kept the ball. Then he limped off in the quarters and cried for himself.

No tears for the only England player sent of twice and only captain to be dismissed.

No tears for the man who again cried for himself when standing down as captain.

Ah but he got us to the 2002 World Cup, it was his free kick that did it. Of course but no mention that he was so poor in qualification that it had to come down to a that moment against Greece. He was atrocious on the day and had missed how many previous free kicks.

Yes his speciality, how many times did you hear the commentators rave about his free kick ability when England were awarded one? And how many times did you hear them cheer him scoring one? Well in 115 caps he scored 17 goals. Says it all really, all those free kicks right in his area and he scored a whole 17 times.

David Beckham is not and was never a great player, would never make an all time England XI, wouldn’t make the bench or even the squad and that was when he was at his peak, which is a long time ago. He was only picked now to sell shirts, tickets and TV rights, not for footballing reasons. He will not be missed by England at the World Cup, well you certainly won’t miss him because you can guarantee he’ll make sure he’s the centre of attention throughout the tournament.

Gazza is the greatest football England has produced in my lifetime, he only went to one World Cup, in which he was a star, Jimmy Greaves who would be an automatic in an all time England XI was only in two and was cruelly denied glory in the second. Beckham was in three World Cups and two European Championships and lit none of them up. Don’t shed any tears for him not making one more.

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Two seasons ago losing to the Jocks resulted in then England head coach Andy Robinson losing his job, and quite right too. So shouldn’t only managing to draw against a Jock side coached by Andy Robinson result in sackings?

The old adage rings true, just because you are a great player doesn’t make you a great coach.

The more this England side go on like this and the more Martin Johnson tries to talk them up after such performances the more he sullies the memory of him just over six years ago lifting a certain trophy.

It’s not working, no one can say it is with a straight face, all the talk of a team in transition is meaningless as there is no forward movement they are just getting worse and worse and so much of it can be laid squarely at the door of the coaching staff. The prime example is the fullback, Armitage, in 2008 he came into the squad and proved a revelation, a little over a year later and it’s all gone. Where? Well when he was out of the system he had teh ability but since being part of the system it’s gone so the finger can only point to the England coaching staff coaching it out of him. Then we have their other failings, Armitage should have been dropped for this game after Foden’s cameos have impressed in this Six Nations, but no he’s a favourite so starts yet again. It’s no coincidence that England looked far more alive when the substitution was finally made. The only problem now is how long has Foden got before they coach all that promise out of him?

So along with the sackings at the top there should be droppings further down. Yet again Wilkinson got the stick when he wasn’t helped by those around him at all. Maybe it is time to find a replacement for Jonny but did anyone really believe Flood would kick any of those penalties at the end that would have won it, never mind slot over the drop goal. Wilkinson may have limitations on the field but they aren’t in his heart or head. He’s not a bottler. Your life depended on it, who would you really want kicking for your existence, Flood, Charlie Hodgson?

But as I said he certainly wasn’t helped by his team. Where was Flutey, where was Tate, where was the back row?

You only saw the two centres when they were missing easy tackles. I’m sick of seeing Tait flounce about, looking like Harry Potter, tackling like the bint from Harry Potter. As for the back row have you ever seen a more anonymous 6, 7 & 8 for England? I think of Back, Hill and Dallaglio or Dean Richards, Mick Skinner, Mike Teague and Peter Winterbottom. For all the talk of how good the Jock back row were on Saturday they wouldn’t have had a sniff with a perm of any three of those seven on the park. A solid forward base is needed, with an anonymous back row – Borthwick back to his usual self, Welsh game really was an adoration, and the only thing Deacon did all day was pushed the broken down medical cart off the pitch – to go with a second row that wasn’t seen, Wilkinson hasn’t a platform to work off. He then turns around after receiving the ball to find he has no one behind him to work with. A shocking example being a scrum-half making his début, Youngs, looked better on the wing than the winger Johnson has picked for every game so far, Monye.

And after all that no matter how bad England were on the day, and they were atrocious, and how well the Jocks played they never really looked like scoring anything but penalties handed to them by England and still couldn’t beat us, to take the Calcutta Cup, as Andy Robinson took befuddlement to a new level.

One thing though they should have some national pride in is the new depths they took the game. Forget the mindless jeering during kicks, Bill McLaren would have shown some mighty disdain for his countrymen there, but when they cheered Jonny going off injured after he took a heavy knock to the head. Scummy behaviour of the lowest level not befitting the game.

Scotland 15 – 15 England

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You can pretty much figure out what type of game it was without seeing a single minute of it. Unfortunately I did see every single minute of it – thank you teh interweb, fuck you STV – and you’d be right.

A lot of huff, quite a bit of puff and another game on the fixture list.

‘Arry, team selection wise, with his hands tied due to injuries and him buying/recalling cup tied players, meant he had only 13 recognisable first teamers at his disposal. One of them carrying a niggle, Defoe, the other not had much first team action of late, Gudjohnsen. So we got a starting XI and formation many had wanted to see for some time. Benoit Assou-Ekotto at left-back, Bale in front of him as a left winger and Modric moved into the central playmaker role.

A number of factors meant it didn’t really work. Firstly the location, The Cottage, nice little cosy ground – were there any home fans? All I could hear were Spurs chants throughout – it’s tight, not ideal for wide wing play and the pitch isn’t the best. But then so many aren’t after the winter we’ve had, just look at Wembley. And then there was the opposition and their ambition, or lack of it. First half all they wanted to do is defend and defend deep.

So poor old Bale generally had two players marking him, the opposing fullback and right sided midfielder. That’s when he was luck, obviously Woy had been watching the recent Spurs games and targeted the Welsh player as Spurs best this year. So there was times when he had to combat up to five players, giving him very little chance of getting to the byline for a cross, or even passing it off for a one-two, or even passing it inside. But he stuck to his game and as an attacking outlet was the best player on the park .

Modric didn’t work either but again the situation created the problems, as Spurs ended up playing in front of an almost flat back nine. So we can’t say it’ll never work but when mentioning ‘Arry picking this setup in past posts I commented about how Bale may be better off bombing forward from fullback with Modric moving inside from a nominal left sided position, pulling defenders in and thus creating the space for Bale to flourish. But against a more attacking side, on a more suitable pitch who knows.

Another thing that didn’t work on the day was the partnership…well pairing of Crouch and Pavlyuchenko up front. A lot of comments about why did Spurs by this Crouch and not the one that played for England midweek. Well one major difference between the two was the service they received. On Wednesday Crouch had the ball played to his feet, the lack of Rio Ferdinand on the pitch meant the aimless hoofs up the park were cut down. They weren’t on Saturday evening. Far too many came in from deep and with Fulham’s defence well drilled to combat such an approach it really had no chance of coming off. So you can’t say Crouch and Pav don’t work, both are better with the ball at their feet, so again the right approach play and a less stifling defence it could work perfectly.

So Wilson won the day…oh helped by Gomes and another cracking save, from Gera, to keep a clean sheet and Corluka’s inability to strike the winning goal in the final minute – a winner for Fulham.

Fulham 0 – 0 Spurs

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Still one win away from Wembley, for the semi-final against Pompey. So the media might actually want us to win the replay so they can have the Pompey versus all their exes stories in the semi, where of course they’ll want us to lose.

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Song Surgeon – The Ultimate Musician’s Tool

Fabio has come out and stated he picked his strongest available side on Wednesday night against Egypt to scare their fellow North Africans Algeria who England face in their second group game of the World Cup on June 18th.

Well Fabio that first half starting XI will have them pissing themselves. Seeing the performances of Brown, Upson, Terry, Lampard, Gerrard, Walcott et al, will have the urine flowing down their legs.

Of course not in fear but pissing themselves laughing.

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Learn to play CLASSIC guitar leads

After an atrocious first half and then a not much better second half, after which England were flattered by a 3-1 scoreline against Egypt, who aren’t at the World Cup, last night, there was far too much talking up of the team and certain individuals in particular. Especially the captain and coach.

After all it may have ended well but Fabio picked that starting XI, the eleven that he thought could do the job and it gave an indication of what he’ll pick come South Africa in June. Does any England fan want to head into that first game against the US with that lineup? Hell it could even get worse with the club games certain players will have between now and then.

So lets start at the very back. Green? Why? Well Fabio said a while back he knows his #1, does this mean it’s Green. Why play him, he’s started a number of internationals lately, surely by now Fabio knows what he’s got, even if it’s very little. Green is a semi-competent ‘keeper, like last night he didn’t have much to do and what he did he was OK. But you know there’s a howler in there somewhere. His distribution last night was poor and that’s the last thing that defence needs is to be played into trouble by their own ‘keeper. Why wasn’t Hart given a look, he’s only got one cap, he needs the experience, after all Green may not be available in a few months and that leaves us with Calamity. Dear god, not again. As Robinson, having a pretty good season in a poor team looked on from above.

So that defence, man that’s grim. There’s one person on this planet that thinks Wes Brown is an international fullback and it ain’t even Wes Brown. And it’s certainly non of his team-mates as to a man throughout that game when in possession they looked up saw Brown free and immediately stopped themselves, had second thoughts and then you could almost hear them think – “oh god I have to, there’s no one else” – as their shoulders dropped. Oh and by the way it’s Fabio, he’s the only one that thinks it, in case you hadn’t guessed.

Terry, well Fabio said he thought the ex-captain’s form hadn’t dropped. Yeah right Fab, because he wasn’t skinned and embarrassed against Citeh time and time again. The power slides, yards from the ball, the running the wrong side of Tevez for the first goal – why would anyone go the non-goal side for that? – the air shots, all say he’s in tip top form. He’s slow and ponderous, only in there as the blocker, not there as a great footballer but to be the one to stop those that are. When he can’t even do that what is the point?

Now if you’ve got the Jack Charlton stopper you need the Bobby Moore player. But no, we’ve got Upson. There’s a reason he looks confused all the team, he’s trying to figure out why he’s there. A dear in the headlights, dullard who instils confidence in no one. Yes it was a slip for the Egypt goal but you know he’s going to slip at the important times, he didn’t slip when attacks were fizzling out. A decent club player, not an international, or he wouldn’t be at the club he is.

Baines, now there’s a shocker, Fabio actually picked the right player. When Milner’s name was listed among the defenders when the squad was announced, who didn’t think – “oh I see where this is going”? Now Baines didn’t disgrace himself but I’ve seen some criticism of him, all unjustified. His first cap and he’s out there on the left all on his lonesome, no help at all, well until the 73 minute. He defended OK, but we didn’t really see him get forward, mainly because he had no support out there on the left, it was him against Egypt’s right sided player and wingback. Against that on his own, I amend myself his defending was better than OK. After the 73 minute and with support we saw him finally get forward, put in a decent cross, though deflected, did result in a goal. He Also put in the only decent corner.

So what was Baines real problem, ah yes the collector of undeserved caps – that was number 78 – the captain who led by example. Gerrard. As he floated about, aimlessly in the middle of the park, Gerrard put in his standard England display. Useless. Totally exposing Baines, who he didn’t help at all throughout his time on the pitch, more interest in self-glory. Gerrard’s performance can be summed up in passage of play, somewhere during the first 45 minutes he lost the ball weakly in the Egypt half, as the Egyptian player ran forward, Gerrard sauntered behind not making any attempt to catch up never mind atone for his error. There was a little pinball and the ball luckily made it’s way back to the captain at which point he hit a standard glory ball for a Rooney run. Nobody watching could understand why Rooney bothered, there was no way he would catch it before it crossed the dead ball line for a goal kick. The pass to Barry for England’s opener was the only pass he didn’t over or under hit in those 73 minutes.

Another manager is trying to crowbar him into the team, it’s no coincidence that England looked livelier, sharper and that Baines finally got forward and attacked when Milner came on. Look at the last few games and ask yourself why is Gerrard starting and Milner only a sub? It doesn’t make sense. It’s not as if the captain is even being outstanding for his beloved club. As for having the armband, who was leading them out there? He provided nothing, as Rooney was screaming at his team mates.

Another manager finds that Gerrard and Frank don’t fit, though you may be forgiven for asking “Frank who?” Yes Lampard was playing, he was just slightly more anonymous than Gerrard and Barry. Oh yes Barry was out there for all the game, I know you only noticed him after Carrick arrived. Can a central pairing have ever done so little, bar miss one sitter, in a half of football? Well one that doesn’t include the Jenasite. Now Frank was slow last night and it was flagged up the amount of games he’s played so far, well that number ain’t gonna get any lower by the summer.

So the right flank and the starting position given to the last man standing. How else did Walcott get a starting place, hardly in his club side and certainly not in any kind of form. He was only there because he was the only one left on the list Fabio picks from. Lennon, out injured. Beckham, flitting between the geriatric day centre that is Italian football and funeral waiting room that is the MLS. Wright-Phillips, not in any sort of form. Ashley Young, discarded, even though he’s the only candidate that is playing well.

So Walcott, poor old Theo stuck between a rock and a hard place, play badly and miss out on the World Cup, play well and his club manager will punish him as he doesn’t make the bench never mind the starting XI for their next game. He had the beating of the fullback but after the first succeeded he didn’t have the footballing ability to repeat. Another English player destroyed by that club and it’s manager? Wright-Phillips came on and yes he score one lucky goal and laid on another but other than that he was as inept as Walcott. The same old SWP, has the ability to beat a player but instead of knocking the ball past him, turning him and chasing it down, he will insist in running into the player and meekly losing possession. All too predictable.

The strikers, well there was a genuine surprise, Defoe up with Rooney. Whoa actually saw that coming? Not me. Anyway we were then told the line about the two England strikers on form, well yes and no. Rooney is, Defoe well has been and hasn’t been. It’s not been a season long form , it’s been an up and and down form. A lot of peaks where scoring comes in bundles but separated by many a fallow week, after all Pavlyuchenko is the one on form. He only really had one gilt edged chance, one that he dithered over and could get a shot off in time. No real surprise seeing him replaced at half-time.

Rooney, ran about, did a lot of running, quite a bit of defending as well but didn’t really link with Defoe and neither of them got any real service in that first half. Also did a bit of shouting, told the ref to “fuck off”, did a bit more screaming and shouting at his team. Some say he had a great game, he didn’t get the service to have a great game. At the moment the way he’s playing for ManUre he’s filling the same role and therefore the same positions as Defoe. It’s a pairing that hasn’t worked before and I don’t think will work. Also how many times have we heard in the last few weeks about the number of headers Rooney has scored, how many crosses came in last night?

Crouch’s introduction changed things, surprisingly for England not for the worse. As the beanpole came on first thing you expect is an increase of long aimless humps up the park. Thankfully Rio was playing, so that was kept to a minimum. It was played to feet for both his goals as finally a striker received decent balls, which he proceeded to stick away with two excellent taken finishes. Now what does Fabio do? It worked but you feel Crouch is going to be on Spurs bench a bit from n ow on.

This was all against a team that didn’t reach the World Cup, yeah they may have won a third straight African Cup of Nations but after they went ahead they dropped back and barely got out of their half for much of the game and England huffed and puffed and struggled.

Yes the England team that finished were far better than the one that started, so Fabio made good changes but he also started that first XI and they were his first choice from those available. The first half was piss poor, the second wasn’t as great as certain TV broadcaster would have you believe and the frightening thing is it could be worse, sat on that bench was Calamity James, Beckham, Lescott and Heskey.

That’s your lot, knocking on 1800 words, most of which you’ve read here before but hey it’s the truth…

England 3 – 1 Egypt

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FREE – Stairway to Heaven Guitar Lesson

England could have quite easily have beaten Ireland on Saturday, is it better that they didn’t?

I have no doubt Martin Johnson and his captain talked about taking the positives out of the game in the post match interviews – didn’t see them as the BBC forum on the red button somehow turned into a game of curling, which has pretty much been the case every time I’ve use said button over the last fortnight – and there was some positives to be had but with a victory they would just have been used to mask all the negatives.

Jonny came in for some stick after the Italian game, some of it deserved a lot of it not. You can blame him for the missed kicks, it’s not what we expect of the special one. Though the Ireland game showed yet again he needs to stop attempting the halfway line jobs, he hasn’t got the leg for it these days, when was the last extra long kick he actually got to the posts?

But you can’t blame Jonny for those around him and you can’t blame him for positioning himself on the pitch based on those around him. All the complaints about him being to deep, yeah it’s OK being flat with a decent scrum-half but when the number 9 takes three steps, then sends in a slow looping pass that’s a foot above Jonny’s head, can you really blame him for standing a little deep? Or would it be better if he stood flat to take everyone of those hospital passes.

So if one guy next to him isn’t Matt Dawson – who still can’t say Ricky Flutey’s name without adding a few too many syllables – the said centre isn’t Will Greenwood. Though that fact is hard to prove cause I’m not sure Flutey was on the pitch on Saturday. Heard his name a couple of times but never really saw him with my own eyes. So Jonny gets blamed for the guy inside providing crap service and the guy outside him disappearing. Then after the wining Irish try he’s blamed again for missing a tackle, or not being there to tackle. Blamed by Jeremy Guscott with a smug grin on his face. Yes the same face he used to try and protect by poncing out of tackles in the 90s.

Yet they still could have won, in fact really should have but for stupid things. Forget the Danny Care penalty, that shouldn’t have been overturned, one of the very few things the ref surprisingly got wrong. But really, really stupid things. There’s a few things I detest players doing in sport, in football it’s chickening out of a block, turning their back and jumping out of the way while pretending to make the block. In rugby it’s what England did time and time again at the weekend, seemingly every time they were in a great attacking position with Ireland on the back foot.

Lollygagging at a ruck. A ruck has formed, there isn’t enough players in there to secure it and the ball is almost out of it and they just stand around looking – “I’m not a scrum-half, not my job”. One bang from the other side, ball is loose and then turned over. That and lollygagging when a player is isolated with no support, it resulted in turnover ball time and time again on Saturday and the weeks before. If they’d played that part of the game with more brains, they would have had quicker ball and the running game which they wanted to play would have come off better than it did.

As I said the ref had a decent game, bar the odd choice. The Care penalty that was overturned being one because it highlighted something the ref missed, with the Irish scrum-half again stopping England play by holding onto the ball, the amount of times he penalised the Irish. If it had been the other way round what chance and England player wouldn’t have see yellow. When England scored their try, an Irish player had illegally tried to stop him on the line. The ref really didn’t need to ask the TMO, just awarded the penalty try, then shown the yellow card.

But other than that he was one of the fairest officials I’ve seen on the international game for a while, something needs to be done about many others and the way they interpret the laws. I mean I don’t know when rugby union changed into the NFL but it seems you’re allowed one forward pass per phase of play – one on Friday night was so blatant with a line on pitch highlighting it but totally ignored by officials, commentators and pundits alike – and if you’re Welsh you’re allowed to block any tackler off the ball with a “dummy run”.

England 16-20 Ireland

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Where have we seen this before, we have seen this before, haven’t we, I’m sure we have, it really rings a bell, can you remember it?

Oh that’s right in so many games, especially the reverse fixture, nearly everything about the game had you thinking deja vu except for a few things. One of them very important.

Well they both started the same as Spurs battered Everton, barely allowing them a touch of the ball, this time though the ball hit the back of the net. A great ball from Huddlestone, a long ball, but certainly not an aimless hoof up the park, right on Defoe’s foot who controlled it superbly. His shot though was going some way wide but thankfully there was a goal scorer on hand, sliding in to score his 6th in a little over 200 minutes of playing time. Now it’s one thing I have previously flagged up about Pavlyuchenko, sometimes he’s been lollygagging and not there for the tap in. He looks hungrier now, wants to show ‘Arry why he should be starting.

The second goal was just a piece of art, Croatian art, as Corluka, Kranjcar and the Modric teamed up for the little one to deposit a sublime finish past Howard. Modric, he’s a true Spur. OK there was the amount of chances as in the first game the football was there. Certainly didn’t miss Bentley on the left as Kranjcar filled in adeptly and on the other side Bale put another masterclass in “bombing on” (© Slaven Bilic).

Half time it was a cruise but half time came and gave Moyes a chance to have a go at his players and unlike their midweek European excursion, it had an effect. What also had an effect was the injury to Huddlestone, now last time around it was Palacios that went of with a “bad one”, luckily it wasn’t as bad as first thought, just have to hope the same with Hudd. As it totally disrupted Spurs with the introduction of Kaboul in the centre of the park. So we’ve found out Younes isn’t a right -back, now we’ve been shown he’s not a central midfielder. With him and Palacios in the middle there wasn’t really anyone to link up with the forwards with any passes the way Tom does. Could Everton have piled forward as much as they did with the chance of just one Huddlestone pass dropping over the back of them into the path of Defoe or Pav?

Huddlestone will be a loss, if it is a bad injury, what with Lennon staying sidelined for another 6 weeks, so having to cover the right wing, there’s a lack of depth in the middle. Thankfully the Jenasite is heading off for an operation, might as well just start with ten men than put him in there. I wonder if ‘Arry will think of putting Assou-Ekotto back in at left-back, move Bale up as left winger and shift Modric in the middle to see if he can run the game. In reality it’s what he should have done on Sunday, instead of Kaboul. Also the replacing of Pav with Crouch, now that didn’t work, just inspired aimless humps up the park.

Of course the one great difference between the games, the scoreline. From 2-0 up this one thankfully finished 2-1 not in a two all draw. Thanks to Gomes, who went from ridiculous to the sublime, with a range of flapping and dropping the ball turning to some great saves. But more than the ‘keeper thanks has to go to Landon Donovan, Everton’s resurgence this season can be attributed to that draw in the reverse fixture and then his loan signing. But his two yard, open goal, miss of the season and the reaction of Moyes filled many a Spur heart with joy.

No late equaliser, no dropped points, back up to fourth.

Spurs 2 – Everton 1

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Now in other news: It’s about time a team made a stand. Stoke, their manager and captain, should sue Whingeing Wenger and his club for statements he made after their game at the weekend. He slandered all of them, as anyone who saw the challenge can see as Shawcross never took his eye off the ball for one instant. Sympathy for other player, lost instantly with the reaction of his manager and fans.

And as for Pugwash, I hear Barca have changed their mind and aren’t going to follow the Blackburn / Big Sam method of football, they’ve decided to go with the fat Spanish waiter’s style. Set up ultra defensively, with one up front at home, hoping not to lose, a draw being good, maybe nicking a win. They just have to budget for the bag of balls and a set of cones to bring Lucas, Kuyt and the rest of Pugwash’s dullards to the club.

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As I posted yesterday England manager Fabio Capello was insistent that there was nothing wrong and that Wayne Bridge would not only be in the England squad for the friendly against Egypt next week but would be flying out with the rest of the team to South Africa for the World Cup finals.

Wayne on the other hand has a different take on it…

I have thought long and hard about my position in the England football team in the light of the reporting and events over the last few weeks.

It has always been an honour to play for England. However, after careful thought I believe my position in the squad is now untenable and potentially divisive.

Sadly therefore I feel for the sake of the team and in order to avoid what will be inevitable distractions, I have decided not to put myself forward for selection.

I have today informed the management of this decision. I wish the team all the very best in South Africa. – Wayne Bridge (via his lawyers)

Read that one well Fabio, well it’s good that you used all those friendlies and dead rubbers to blood some of the fringe players to see if they were up to the game and didn’t just ignore those that weren’t part of Fab’s Favs.

I mean you wouldn’t want to be going into the final match before the World Cup having to check in one game if a cap-less player or one with 1 cap is the best option now would you, what kind of manager would do something stupid like that…I ask you…

Oh and what was the point of stripping Terry of the captaincy now, what with Ferdinand being crocked and looking more and more likely to miss the finals it leaves us with Gerrard holding the armband and by default a starting XI spot.

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In the end Spurs really didn’t need those two goals that Bolton scored for them to get into the quarter finals of the FA Cup last night.

Yes the first one helped just steady nerves and probably helped contribute more to the final score than just being 4-0 rather than 3-0. But this was a bit of a cruise from the moment Owen Coyle decided where his and his club’s priorities lay – league survival.

Can’t be many Spurs fans unhappy to see Kevin Davies and his elbows on the bench. The only real problems Spurs had were self inflicted, as this was probably the sloppiest four nil stroll you’ll see. The number of times a player in white gave the ball away was shockingly slack. Passes straight to Bolton players, couldn’t really be called misplaced as they went straight to opposite players who had no Spurs player anywhere near to them. Then when the game was beyond them and Coyle made some substitutions that finally injected some life into the away team, with Spurs dropping off and being a touch more casual, did they look like they were interested.

Who thought ‘Arry could remove the midfield steel, in the form of Palacios, to have a whole play-maker midfield against the likes of Bolton.

‘Arry bowed to the pressure of Pavlyuchenko’s brace against Wigan at the weekend, giving the big Russian a well deserved start and he didn’t disappoint – well except for Peter Crouch probably. Another two exceptionally well taken goals, which if you add up minutes on pitch makes it 5 goals in pretty much 2 whole games, not a bad strike rate. Crouch with 10 goals in 33 appearances. should be resigned to a spell on the bench. The player on form and in possession should keep the starting place, Big Pav is on form and now in possession, it’ll be interesting top see if ‘Arry starts him against Everton at the weekend.

One thing about Pav playing the “big” striker to Defoe’s “little” one, there was less humped up long balls than when Crouch plays.

‘Arry though did throw one curveball, two left-backs. All those years Spurs didn’t have two left footed players in the side never mind specialist left-backs and now here’s two on the pitch at the same time. Assou-Ekotto coming back into the side but on the wrong side and it told. As an experiment it didn’t work, it also showed the folly of letting two right-backs go on loan while recalling one right-back and signing another player who was thought of as cover, both of whom are cup tied. At the end there with Rose coming on it meant four left footers on the park, with Bassong starting at the back.

With the way Bale performed again BAE will struggle to get his proper position back, he kept coming inside and his crosses were far too heavy each time, defensively he didn’t do too bad but the room was there to be an attacking force and he didn’t take it because it meant using his right. It didn’t help Bentley playing wide right but then Bentley didn’t help himself either, another lacklustre performance. There’s been a few of them lately, getting back in the side he seemed to have upped his game but now looks to have fallen back to the old player. Useless flicks and needless fancy Dan crap, added to a succession of nothing crosses and even worse set pieces, every corner heading into the box an aimless long loping floater to the back stick. Just living off Lennon’s injury currently. In possession but not on form.

A sloppy four nil victory over a Premier League side, the joy of fans and team-mates alike from Pav scoring again and again, some delightful stuff by Modric, another clean sheet with some cracking saves by Gomes, another good game by Bale, linesman denying Gudjohnsen from making it an even more emphatic margin of victory. Only two more games to Wembley?

Spurs 4 – Bolton 0

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I imagine those the words Fabio Capello used to comfort poor inconsolable Wayne Bridge as the England manager patted him on the head and confirmed the Citeh fullback will not only be in his squad for next week’s friendly against Egypt but will also be on the flight to South Africa in the summer.

When Capello was introduced as the England manager he trotted out the same old line we’d heard before. There’d be no favourites and players would have to be fit, on form and playing for their country. We soon found out this was this same old line was the same old pony.

This week he said…

Wayne Bridge will be at the World Cup – yes, why not? Cole and Bridge are the best left-backs that we have, so why not? – Fabio Capello

Now Bridge has just returned to the Citeh first team, in the games he has played this season he hasn’t exactly set the world on fire. In fact the exact opposite as week in week out sofa pundits have picked his performances to bits. Not so much a “Left-back for Dummies” instruction manual but a “Left-back by Dummies” how not to guide.

This looks like that clause you hear about at American colleges – don’t know if it’s a Hollywood myth thing – where if your room mate commits suicide you get a free pass for the year and straight As at the end.

John Terry shags your EX-missus and you get a free trip to the World Cup.

Bridge is not the best left-back available. The best players of that position currently in the Premier League, both fit and on form, are Gareth Bale and Leighton Baines. Only one of them is available, sadly Bale is ineligible, the one that was teaching ManUre a lesson at the weekend. Baines is technically both attacking and defending the best left-back in the country, far ahead of Cole and Bridge.

But we’re in an age where people keep saying Cole is the best left-back in the World. Yeah, best at being a scummy tit. Pace is very important in the modern game, especially at international level but it shouldn’t overshadow deficiencies in defending and attacking abilities, yes it can cover up some of those deficiencies but sooner or later you are caught out and pay the price.

Cole has used it to cover for defending abilities for years, as for attacking, one goal this season has blinded them to the fact he’s woeful going forward. His crossing is 99 times out of 100 atrocious, most of the time you can forget the use of pace as he cuts inside and we have that little stutter step as he panics and passes back to someone in trouble.

If, as no doubt he will, Cole goes to South Africa this summer, unfit, we’ll have one crock and one dolt for that position. Now if neither is able to go what will we have, a position filled by someone out of position or by someone that hasn’t been involved much previously. Surely next week is the ideal time to give Baines that first senior cap, see if he’s got it in him to take the place.

But of course doing so would give Fabio a headache, should he pick someone who played well or one of his favourites?

The question now is would Posh being willing to sacrifice herself to make sure David is on the flight?

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Spurs decided to play their match in conditions more fitting of the time when the great man plied his trade. That is on a ploughed field.

With the weather we’ve been having so far in 2010 – which of course was going to be the warmest year on record according to the Met Office – sharing your ground with a rugby league team isn’t going to help Wigan boss Roberto Martinez in his quest for good football from his team. But saying that it certainly doesn’t help the visitors either.

One thing that did help was the flanks were in a far better condition than the middle of the park, strange then that Bentley kept coming into the centre that was clogged up with both players and mud. But it helped Bale to extend his run of excellent performances, since getting his chance. A chance he’s taken with both hands, as someone – can’t remember who – Twittered yesterday if Assou-Ekotto hadn’t been called up for the African Cup of Nations and then gone down injured, Bale might have been moved on. We are now seeing what we could have missed.

A good bit of “bombing on” (© Slaven Bilic), after nice work from Crouch and Kranjcar, and a good cross from Bale, let Defoe in to score the opener. Yes Defoe was offside, a mile off and not exactly hard to notice in that retina burning yellow away kit. Now most people complain about the referees and yes refs in this country are pretty poor but those running the line are far worse. They get very simple things wrong and the closer the action is to them the greater the chance they’ll get it completely arse about.

But then you have to say what did Wigan really have to complain about, after all in the reverse fixture their goal scored by Paul Scharner came as a result of him handing the ball – these things even themselves out.

Spurs were in control but that second wasn’t coming and when that doesn’t happen the only thought running through a Spurs fan mind is “late equaliser”. But then ‘Arry got out of his comfy dugout chair and made changes. Now I can maybe see the logic in not starting Modric on a cold wet Wigan, Sunday with a quagmire for a pitch. But when he did enter the fray he didn’t look like he was playing on the same pitch as the rest, as he glided over the surface with the ball perfectly controlled at his feet. Well those type of pitches never stopped the likes of Greavsie, Dave Mackay, Danny Blanchflower, George Best etc.

If little Luka changed the game he was helped a few minutes later by the introduction of Pavlyuchenko, in a surprising move replacing Defoe. Now was the latter being saved for later, he had shown a bit of petulant behaviour earlier and was probably lucky to stay on the park. Big Pav’s introduction was something I’d hope to see these last couple of games, when things hadn’t exactly been clicking, but with the Russian’s supposed disagreement with ‘Arry appearing again in the press didn’t expect.

But he should exactly what he can do with two excellent goals to make the game safe and completely void any thoughts of an equaliser and dropped points. So that’s three goals in his last two appearances that amounts to about 40 minutes actual playing time, not a bad strike rate now is it. What was maybe even better than the two goals was the celebrations, it showed a player who might not get on with the manager but wants to play for the team, for the fans and gets on really well with his team-mates. Everyone in yellow congratulated him after each strike and then after the final whistle, with Defoe running on to give him a hug. Now that’s a good sign but when will his next chance come?

Pavlyuchenko’s trained well this week. He’s worked hard and showed a great attitude. I’ve always said he has got great ability. When he wants to work and give everything, he’s a top quality player. – ‘Arry Redknapp

Give Pav a chance ‘Arry.

Three place leap from 7th back up to 4th, another clean sheet, only downside being Ledley going off and facing more time out. Bolton in the Cup midweek, hopefully they’ll play at The Lane the way they did against Blackburn, then Everton in the league. Moyes’ side haven’t really looked back since they pegged Spurs back top a two all draw. Taken four points off Chelski, drawn with the Woolwich scum and a cracking win over ManUre at the weekend. It’ll be tough.

Wigan 0 – Tottenham 3

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On the day of his 70th birthday, England’s greatest goal scorer…

Spurs 5 – ManUre 1 (1965)

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…the third in that stuffing of ManUre is still one of the best goals ever scored.

We are in an age when Bobby Zamora is being thought of as an England player, what would we give for a player with half the ability of Jimmy Greaves?

1963 European Cup Winners’ Cup

Spurs 5-1 Atlético Madrid

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Not just a medal at the Olympics for Britain, but a gold medal, the top one for an individual, surely some mistake.

What’s it been, 30 years since an individual medal, and this is the first for a real sport, not one for fannying about to music covered in sequins. Yeah a proper Winter Olympic sport, one where the person chucks themselves down an ice track with no protection but a crash hat and an all-in-one novelty condom outfit. This one adding the tea tray on which you chuck yourself down face first at speeds approaching 150kph or 93mph. All with probably all the financial backing that wouldn’t keep our useless track & field “stars” in bling.

It’s funny throughout the whole of the BBC coverage before Thursday night (GMT) all they talked about was Shelley Rudman, her partner, her kid, her parents, her partner’s parents, never even saw Amy Williams. Until that first run when she destroyed the track record. It was her track.

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Good that Kanucks were wining and whinging after their golden girl ended up without a medal. They’ve done everything to make sure they “own the podium”, maybe it would have worked better if they’d only had the 30 runs down the track, like the rest of the world, not the 300 plus.

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Is it better to crash out after two and a half seconds…

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…as France’s Marion Rolland did yesterday (above) in the women’s downhill, at the Vancouver Olympics.

Or is it better to fly down the track and launch yourself into one of the biggest jumps probably ever seen on an Alpine run, with the finish line in sight?

I can’t find any available video footage to embed into the post of Sweden’s Anja Paerson, who did that is some spectacular style yesterday. As she hit the last jump of the Whistler track, Hot Air, and soared through said air for almost 60 meters. You can see it at TotallyCrap.com, the fist skier shown – this video is OK but the rest of the site might be NSFW.

Now 60 meters that’s knocking of for 60% of the distance the winner of the first gold medal at these Olympics jumped to win the individual normal hill ski jump. Hell Eddie “The Eagle” Edwards jumped 73.5m in the ‘88 games, so it’s not far short of that.

Now I ain’t putting Eddie down here, after all with bugger all backing and limited training compared to the others in the competition he had the balls to not only sit on that plank at the top of those hills – which alone would scare the shit out of many. But he had the guts to push himself off that plank down the jump and launch himself, knowing that he had to lean forward into nothing but air and that if he got that wrong he would be landing jaw first into some compacted ice which wouldn’t provide much protection from the ground underneath.

After all that Lindsey Vonn’s gold medal winning ski was outstanding, I thought Elisabeth Goergl’s run would take some beating, until Julia Mancuso knocked nearly a second off it and I thought that could just nick it, but Vonn then taking nearly another second of that was top class.

And all that while ARSEnal and Judas Cuntabll were having piss taken out of them in Portugal, what could be better.

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