For 26 years of my Spurs supporting life I was a fit and mobile, but sometimes inebriated Tottenham fan. Everything changed for me in September 2004 when I stupidly broke my neck on a night out in Plymouth.
This incident would prove to be serious and of life changing magnitude. The vertebrae at the base of [...]

It has been confirmed that either Spurs or Fulham will face Portsmouth on April 11th in the FA Cup semi-final.
Should Tottenham get there, it means that the North London derby, which is currently scheduled for April 10th, will have to be rescheduled.
Our fixture list around this time already looked tough, with Arsenal on the 10th, [...]

Everyone and their dog are currently reporting the news that Wilson Palacios has admitted that he has his heart set on a move to Real Madrid. Whilst it would be preferable if Wilson had kept his ambitions to himself, I don’t think that it’s something that should cause us major concern.
I’ve already read views from [...]

As the World Cup build-up gathers pace and the media take aim at their final squad selections, it seems to me that regardless of our consistent existence outside of ‘the big four’, it is in fact Spurs players who could play the biggest role as England look to finally conquer their second World Cup. If [...]

A draw away at Fulham isn’t a bad result, certainly not this season (just ask United), but a semi final draw against Portsmouth is a cracking result. Wembley is within our grasp – and not just for the semi.
This is the best chance we’ve had to get a real piece of silverware (that can’t [...]

This was a fantastic time to be a Spurs supporter. There was a wonderful blend of style and courage in the team. Graham Roberts and Paul Miller provided the guts and determination, Hoddle and Ardiles could twist, turn and pass the ball majestically, while Crooks and Archibald would score goals for fun. Even [...]

I was born into the English leagues. I grew up in Britain so the only leagues I could see on television and see in person when I was a child in the late 70s and early 80s were the British leagues. And one of the factors that attracted me most to those leagues, not that [...]

Related posts:

1. The New Gaffer: Introducing Klopp at Borussia Dortmund Continuing our series introducing the Bundesliga’s newest gaffers is Jürgen…
2. The Set: Borussia Dortmund 1-0 Köln I missed the first round of games on family…
3. The Set: Hamburg 4 – 1 Borussia Dortmund Hamburg shook off their early season funk and tore…

The most anticipated match-up of the weekend is the AS Roma-AC Milan contest to decide which club can challenge Inter for the top spot in Serie A.  While the loser still has an outside shot at the scudetto, an Inter victory over Genoa would make it a tough task.
Rather than a traditional post rehashing strengths [...]

Related posts:

1. Lessons Learned from Giornata 26 As Serie A takes a quick breather for a World…
2. Lessons Learned from Giornata 24 Objects in your mirror are closer than they appear Inter’s…
3. Lessons Learned from Giornata 20 After this weekend’s action, the eyes of Italy will be…

No Spurs season is complete without at least a couple of major injury crisis. The worst kind are the type which concentrate on a certain position, while leaving the rest of the squad intact. This results in at least one player floundering around as a square peg in a round hole, while a bunch of [...]

As Serie A takes a quick breather for a World Cup friendly this week versus Cameroon, this past weekend once again saw changes in the standings as well as a tightening championship race.  Before we look ahead and begin debating which players deserve to make the national team, let’s take a look back at a [...]

Related posts:

1. Lessons Learned from Giornata 24 Objects in your mirror are closer than they appear Inter’s…
2. Lessons Learned from Giornata 25 This weekend’s action has a wealth of subplots, controversy, and…
3. Lessons Learned from Giornata 20 After this weekend’s action, the eyes of Italy will be…

As it happens I’m not about to go off on one and castigate Stoke or any of their players apart from saying that lack of intent is no excuse, and on a football pitch as anywhere else in life you need to be responsible for your actions. And that means accept whatever consequences there are. Shawcross does have previous and having broken two opponents legs by the age of 22 says something about the way he plays. He has to consider that as he alone is responsible for his actions and consider whether he wants a repeat with another career-threatening injury for an opponent or whether he should moderate his style of play somewhat.

As a balance to some of the hysteria being vented by Gooners, let’s remember why Nasri wasn’t able to play at the start of the season. And that was due to another Arsenal player. So it happens. It’s convenient to think that it’s because it’s Arsenal, but it’s not quite that simple. But it does tend to happen more to talented and technically-gifted players more. It’s as well that Rooney is built like a brick outhouse or I’m sure he’d be injured more than he is.

However it has happened three times in four years in competitive games for Arsenal players. Yes other player’s do get legs broken, but not as often as Arsenal players do. That’s a fact. So when Arsenal’s opponents cross the white line does a red haze fall? I’m not so sure that it’s purely to do with it being Arsenal. I think it’s as much a symptom of the deeper malaise that grips the English game.

Now I am proud of being English, born in a country that is as dogged as it is and has in it’s psyche the ‘Bulldog Spirit’. Historically it’s got us through a lot of difficult times when we’ve needed to dig in and ignore the odds. It’s a national characteristic that could as easily be assigned to Brits, but since this is about football, I’ll focus on England. Trouble is this trait no longer works to our advantage in footb ..

It looks like another scudetto wouldn’t be enough for Inter Milan’s management.
ESPN Soccernet is reporting that Inter owner Massimo Moratti wants former Manchester United and French national team star Laurent Blanc as his manager next year if the squad fails to advance to at least the finals of the Champions League.  The Nerazzurri beat Chelsea [...]

Related posts:

1. Mourinho denies Inter rumour Friday our sister site EPL Talk broke the story on…
2. Champions League Final 16 – Juventus Roma Inter And Then There Were Three    Atop Group A Roma have definitely turned the right…
3. Tough Games Ahead for Inter Milan We have seen the powerful Inter of Mourinho, we saw…

This weekend’s action has a wealth of subplots, controversy, and exciting soccer play.  But the main story line out of this weekend is the standings.  Right now, the top four spots in the Serie A standings are occupied by the clubs most thought would occupy them in some order: Inter Milan, AS Roma, AC Milan, [...]

Related posts:

1. Lessons Learned from Giornata 24 Objects in your mirror are closer than they appear Inter’s…
2. Lessons Learned From Giornata 6 Two words to describe this weekend’s action: low scoring.  No…
3. Lessons Learned from Giornata 26 As Serie A takes a quick breather for a World…

Fans of AC Milan have suffered through a bad four weeks, beginning by losing to short-handed rival Inter and most recently suffering a devastating defeat in their Champions League match versus Manchester United.  This comes the same week that Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi criticized Leonardo’s managerial style and encouraged him to allow his team to [...]

Related posts:

1. Seven Keys to the AS Roma-AC Milan Match The most anticipated match-up of the weekend is the AS…
2. Reviewing Milan’s Defeat Against Manchester United With the current crop of players, Milan were unlikely to win the…
3. Inter Lining Up Mourinho Replacement It looks like another scudetto wouldn’t be enough for Inter…

It’s all very well for Arsène to say this or that players is immensely talented, but as our latest Euro-trip so clearly points, talent is not enough.

It would be easy to focus on Fabianski, but truth be told his ’schoolboy’ errors are far from the only one’s which have lost us points or games this season. I’m not someone who reacts to a bad individual performance by claiming the player is rubbish, etc. With a few exceptions our players are very talented, and you just have to watch them play (between errors) to realise that. But obviously having a squad of gifted players is still leaving us short of the sort of results we should be achieving.

Is it team ethic, attitude or merely down to the frightening number of injuries we have continued to pick up? If only someone could make a watertight case for it being one of them. Trouble is, inevitably it’s probably a mixture of them, with a dash of peculiar tactics thrown in.

I’m not suggesting we start engaging in faux camaraderie and group hugs to bolster our team ethic. If it ain’t meant, it won’t work. But when you put it together with what looks an awful lot like fear (or at least trepidation) at times, you start to wonder whether there just isn’t the belief that this team will prevail. I know Cesc among others has said we can’t use the ‘Age’ card any more. I’m not so sure. Apart from some of the older players, I’m still sometimes reminded of schoolyard games where the smaller and younger guys pull back from tackles with the big guys because they’ve been intimidated verbally or physically very early in the game. I can’t imagine that the players think it’s appropriate to not get stuck in, but psychologically there seem to be lines they won’t cross. I do wonder whether there is the spectre of two bad ankle breaks to Arsenal players in recent years is just niggling at their sub-conscious.

So anyways, say we have a bunch of young, mostly physically immature playe ..

GolTV soccer color commentator Lindsey Dean has left GolTV.
Dean, who often covered the Bundesliga and La Liga for GolTV, has left South Florida and moved to Chicago. The accomplished American commentator is best known by many as one of the pundits of the American Soccer show, which was a successful weekly soccer talk show that [...]

Related posts:

1. Interview with GOLTV’s Lindsey Dean Lindsey Dean of GolTV was kind enough to speak…
2. Bundesliga: Behind The Scenes at GolTV Bundesliga Talk recently went behind the scenes at the GolTV…
3. Opening Weekend Bundesliga Games On GolTV It’s hard to believe, but the new Bundesliga season is…

With the current crop of players, Milan were unlikely to win the Champions League as the Rossoneri have no depth, are short on alternatives in key positions and have an inexperienced Coach in Leonardo. The Brazilian Coach has been decent overall working to his best with the players available at his disposal. Against Manchester United he made a [...]

Related posts:

1. Milan v. Manchester – Champions League Round of 16 To me, the first half had three major themes. First,…
2. Should Milan Replace Leonardo? Fans of AC Milan have suffered through a bad…
3. The Italians are coming! Champions League action is back starting 20:45 GMT today, I’m…

Objects in your mirror are closer than they appear
Inter’s 0-0 draw at Napoli was their second draw in as many matches.  That coupled with AS Roma’s 4-1 result over Palermo means i Lupi are within seven points of the league leader.  The match also extends Roma’s win streak to six matches; their last draw was [...]

Related posts:

1. Lessons Learned from Giornata 25 This weekend’s action has a wealth of subplots, controversy, and…
2. Lessons Learned from Giornata 26 As Serie A takes a quick breather for a World…
3. Lessons Learned from Giornata 17 The big story of the weekend was the snow that…

Everton striker Louis Saha has refused to put pressure on himself after blasting both goals in the 2-1 midweek win over Chelsea.
On Wednesday Saha displayed the type of form which persuaded boss David Moyes to tie him down to a two-year contract extension.
Forget the striker’s penalty miss and it was a superb all-round display from [...]

Sure it’s easy to say now, but who would have been whistling along Monday morning?

It really is bonkers how a bunch of guys kicking a carefully crafted and ridiculously expensive ball around can have such a profound effect on ordinary life. But only when your particular bunch of guys gets the ball in the net more than someone else’s bunch of guys is it a positive effect. Otherwise there is deathly quiet, interrupted only by the occasional quiet sobbing. Or is that just me? Going into last nights game against Liverpool I had either unknowingly taken some happy substance or I was firmly convinced all would be well for no good reason. Well yeah it did take quite a long time until all was well, but what the hey. The life/football balance is now in equilibrium again.

Once more Diaby showed that he is if not the Prince of Darkness, then at least the Prince of when it gets darker just before it gets really dark. It’s been much discussed, but he does seem to have an extra something the later the kickoff gets. No matter whether that’s actually true, it’s now an urban myth so it’ll be on Wikipeadia shortly and will then become fact.

It seems blindingly obvious, but having someone who is allowed to go on the bigger rides in theme parks upfront seems to work a tad better than not. Funny how we got ourselves in the situation where Bendtner was our Great Hope considering he wouldn’t top many Gooners polls as the most effective striker we have ever had. But he made a nuisance of himself and that’s what we lacked, so good on him.

Something was also lacking in the aftermath of the game. Anyone notice the deafening silence in the media that greeted Prince Charming’s antics all over the shop? Whilst not expecting an Eduardo-esque outpouring, you might have thought that Gerrard’s attempts at ‘gaining an advantage’ merited that odd mention. Serves Bendtner right that he’s a Dane is what I say. The penalty embargo is still in ..