Sunderland 1-0 Tottenham

With heavy spending comes heavy pressure; whereas a fifth place finish and good cup runs last season felt like some kind of achievement, this season more is expected of Tottenham Hotspur. Not only by fans, but by journalists, pundits and other managers, all of whom agree that Spurs surely are the favourites to break into the big four and upset the hierarchy a little. Pre-season friendlies against South African teams may not be much to go by, but it looked good – the new players seemed to settle into the team with great success and goals were scored left, right and centre.

Given the amount of new talent brought in during the summer, then, the line-up for the first Premiership game of the 2007-08 season was a strikingly familiar one – as recognisable as the problems. The only new features from start were Younes Kaboul and Pascal Chimbonda’s new hair cut. Injuries had ruled out King, Dawson, Lee and Bale, leaving Spurs yet again with Stalteri filling in at left-back and Gardner partnering Kaboul. The former was recognisably erratic, the latter had an impressive game; it was hard to remember that this was a 21-year old centre-half on his first game in the Premier League.

In midfield Steed Malbranque had a great and creative game, but essentially there was little of the pre-season firing power to be seen, despite the fact that Martin Jol deployed all four members of the glorious strike force. Partly this was Paul McShane’s doing; the Sunderland defender seemed to be everywhere at once. But something was missing from the Spurs efforts, unable to fully trouble Craig Gordon more than once.

Spurs carried most of the initiative throughout, gathering up momentum as the game progressed and the ideas clicked better and better, but Sunderland responded by chasing down every ball and managed to close down their visitors attempts quite well. Jol responded by putting more attacking players on, but the team seemed unable to adjust their tactics in order to break Sunderland down. What nice build-ups there were (and there were quite a few) lacked the final shot on target. Sunderland themselves only fully tested Robinson’s ability once before the goal – in both cases the fault lay with Gardner – and never looked the likelier winners. It was a game with plenty of action, just not in front of goal. A goalless draw seemed inevitable – but also the kind of game which can turn by a well-taken chance. And it did, in the 94^th minute, when Michael Chopra neatly finished off a cross by Ross Wallace.

Sunderland
Gordon, Whitehead, Nosworthy, McShane, Wallace, Edwards, Etuhu, Yorke (Miller 57), Richardson (Collins 72), Murphy, Stokes (Chopra 72). Subs Not Used: Ward, Connolly.
Booked: Whitehead
Goals: Chopra 90

Tottenham
Robinson, Chimbonda, Gardner, Stalteri, Kaboul, Jenas, Zokora (Huddlestone 87), Malbranque, Tainio (Bent 59), Berbatov (Defoe 77), Keane. Subs Not Used: Cerny, Rocha.
Booked: Zokora

Attendance: 43,967
Referee: Alan Wiley

Steed, working hard (Image from www.tottenhamhotspur.com)

Summer, signings and Squad numbers

Brief pre-season round-up: it all looked very good. 7 friendlies played, we won all of them and scored 17 goals in the process. The new lads all played some part of it, even if Gareth Bale was soon out injured and Younes Kaboul got kicked in the face early on. He is made of tough mettle, however, and soon recovered. Adel Taarabt, who of course played a little last season, was given the opportunity to strut his stuff in South Africa and Darren Bent has scored freely. We have yet to see the newest hot prospect from Germany, Kevin Prince Boateng, as he only arrived less than a fortnight ago.

The season is on, as is the pressure to turn potential into results. Results and consistency. The first defeat has already been suffered, a blow more keenly felt as Arsenal, the rivals we hope to depose of their top-four place, started their season by fighting back after falling behind to Fulham (who took the lead through a goal by David Healy, confirming the soft spot this author has for him) and winning 2-1. But this is a marathon, not a sprint. And it has begun.

Full squad numbers list for season 2007-08

1 Paul Robinson
2 Pascal Chimbonda
3 Lee Young-Pyo
4 Didier Zokora
5 Younes Kaboul
6 Teemu Tainio
7 Paul Stalteri
8 Jermaine Jenas
9 Dimitar Berbatov
10 Robbie Keane
11 Mido
12 Radek Cerny
13 Danny Murphy
14 Hossam Ghaly
15 Steed Malbranque
16 Gareth Bale
17 Kevin Prince Boateng
18 Jermain Defoe
19 Adel Taarabt
20 Michael Dawson
21 Wayne Routledge
22 Tom Huddlestone
23 Darren Bent
24 Jamie O'Hara
25 Aaron Lennon
26 Ledley King
27 Ben Alnwick
28 Lee Barnard
29 Phil Ifil
30 Anthony Gardner
31
32 Benoit Assou-Ekotto
33 Ricardo Rocha
34 Andy Barcham
35 Dorian Dervite
36 Simon Dawkins
37 Danny Rose

St Patrick's Athletic 0-1 Tottenham

It was all about the new boys when Spurs travelled across the pond to take on St Patrick’s Athletic in Robbie Keane’s corner of Dublin. Not only Bent, Bale and Kaboul, all of whom started, but also Taarabt, impressing on his second start for the first team. Having beaten Stevenage Borough 3-1 on the Saturday, it was time to take on the current leaders of the Irish Eircom League in a Thursday evening fixture.

A 1-0 win is hardly the comprehensive victory one might have hoped for, but this is the pre-season and an opportunity to try new things and let the team gel into a new whole. A quite sparkling first half was followed by a more subdued second, but all in all Spurs certainly dominated possession and initiative. Cerny didn’t have a save to make, while the St Pat’s keepers, first Ryan and later Clarke, were kept on their toes with several each.

It is of course important to remember that this wasn’t the Premiership opposition that the team will come up against in the coming season, and Martin Jol was only prepared to label the performance as “ok”, but given the short time the lads have been back and in training together, their team work inspires hope. Kaboul, while not exactly busy enough to be properly tested, looked quite solid – especially while playing next to Gardner. Bale impressed, especially in attacking moves forward, and it was hard to believe that this was a soon to be 18 year-old on his first start for new, bigger, club. He was taken off with a (hopefully minor) thigh injury with 10 minutes to go. Taarabt again showed off his confidence, strength and best dance moves and provided much of the attacking impetus from the midfield in the first half. Bent and Keane already look quite comfortable together up front and had a fluidity which seems promising. The finishing was not quite there yet (even if most of the efforts were on target and saved), but the team as a whole played entertaining and attacking football with good ideas.

After a host of decent chances, a neat pass from Murphy was picked up and finished off in trademark Keane fashion, ensuring that the game ended in a victory and not just a display of Irish goalkeeping skills.

St Patrick's Athletic
Ryan (Clarke, 46), Murphy, Rogers (Guy, 46), Paisley (Haverty, 83), Maguire (Frost, 46), Gibson, Brennan, Keane (M Foley, 69), M Quigley (C Foley, 46; S Quigley, 59), Barker (Murphy, 69), Kirby (Mulcahy, 46). Subs: Macek.

Tottenham
Cerny, Rocha, Bale (Ifil, 82), Kaboul, Gardner (Dawson , 46), Taarabt (Maghoma, 46), Murphy (O'Hara, 57), Zokora, Malbranque, Bent (Barnard, 69), Keane. Subs: Robinson, Ifil, Daniels.
Goals: Keane (41)

Darren Bent and Gareth Bale, together for the first time in Dublin (image from www.tottenhamhotspur.com)

Transfers

Another major signing for the team was announced some ten days ago, as Younes Kaboul signed for Spurs from Auxerre. Captain of his country on the U21-level, Younes is a highly rated central defender. He joins Gareth Bale and Darren Bent in bolstering the squad and has already played a full 90 minutes for the first team. Looks like a very good addition.

Departures so far are:

Emil Hallfredsson to FC Lyn Oslo
Reto Ziegler to Sampdoria
Mark Yeates to Colchester United

Younes Kaboul (image from www.tottenhamhotspur.com)

Bent signs

Sorry, couldn't help myself. I have another picture somewhere...

Darren Bent, formerly of Charlton Athletic, has signed a 6 year contract in a transfer deal worth £16.5m. Staggering money, at least for us, and as such occasioning worries about the future of other players. If we can afford to pay so much for Bent, is that because there are imminent transfers for Defoe or Berbatov? There has been no talk of Berbatov going for a while, and The Guardian today reports that Defoe (ever the likelier to depart) will stay. If we for a moment dare to believe that our striking line-up for next season will, in fact, be Berbatov, Keane, Defoe and Bent, then we have cause for nothing but celebrations.

Europe next season, plenty of games to be played, and with these four talents there can be some rotation and back-up. Bent is a very good and still young player who really wants to play for Spurs, and as such a most welcome addition to the team. His decision to turn down astronomic wages at West Ham and fit into the comparatively low (comparatively, remember) wage structure at Spurs does him credit. "In my heart of hearts I always wanted to come to Tottenham", says Darren. Welcome.

Ah, here it is...

(Image from www.tottenhamhotspur.com)

Fixtures

Yes, the fixture list. Provisional and all, but still worth a post.

Sunderland away on the first day is tough, but interesting – and should be televised. As should Liverpool at home on the last day, a fixture which I have to admit made me swear a little at my innocent copy of The Evening Standard. The rest of the run-in is impossible to assess now; Reading might be suffering from second season syndrome – or have overtaken us completely, just as Bolton may be a just as strong an opponent as they were this season – or have fallen to pieces due to the departure of Big Sam. On that topic I would think that Newcastle (who despite a crappy season did do a double over Spurs…) are destined for a big revival. I can’t get the image of Sam Allardyce, donning an apron and a broomstick, cleaning up the mess that is Newcastle United like a latter-day, overweight Mary Poppins out of my head. “Just a spoonful of sugar”… Absolutely irresistible.

Playing Arsenal at home reasonably early on looks great, methinks, due to the disarray they seem to find themselves in. Henry’s departure could have strong unsettling effects and even if they sign some big names, Wenger might not have turned it all into a team by mid-September. Oh, allow me my optimism.

The 07-08 Season

Sat Aug 11 Sunderland A
Tue Aug 14 Everton H
Wed Aug 15 Carling Cup 1
Sat Aug 18 Derby County H
Sat Aug 25 Manchester United A
Wed Aug 29 Carling Cup 2
Sat Sep 1 Fulham A
Sat Sep 15 Arsenal H
Sat Sep 22 Bolton Wanderers A
Wed Sep 26 Carling Cup 3
Sat Sep 29 Aston Villa H
Sat Oct 6 Liverpool A
Sat Oct 20 Newcastle United A
Sat Oct 27 Blackburn Rovers H
Wed Oct 31 Carling Cup 4
Sat Nov 3 Middlesbrough A
Sat Nov 10 Wigan Athletic H F.A. Cup 1
Sat Nov 24 West Ham United A
Sat Dec 1 Birmingham City H F.A. Cup 2
Sat Dec 8 Manchester City H
Sat Dec 15 Portsmouth A
Wed Dec 19 Carling Cup 5
Sat Dec 22 Arsenal A
Wed Dec 26 Fulham H
Sat Dec 29 Reading H
Tue Jan 1 Aston Villa A
Sat Jan 5 F.A. Cup 3
Wed Jan 9 Carling Cup Semi-Final (1)
Sat Jan 12 Chelsea A
Sat Jan 19 Sunderland H
Wed Jan 23 Carling Cup Semi-Final (2)
Sat Jan 26 F.A. Cup 4
Wed Jan 30 Everton A
Sat Feb 2 Manchester United H
Sat Feb 9 Derby County A
Sat Feb 16 F.A. Cup 5
Sat Feb 23 Chelsea H
Sun Feb 24 Carling Cup Final
Sat Mar 1 Birmingham City A
Sat Mar 8 West Ham United H F.A. Cup 6
Sat Mar 15 Manchester City A
Sat Mar 22 Portsmouth H
Sat Mar 29 Newcastle United H
Sat Apr 5 Blackburn Rovers A F.A. Cup Semi-Final
Sat Apr 12 Middlesbrough H
Sat Apr 19 Wigan Athletic A
Sat Apr 26 Bolton Wanderers H
Sat May 3 Reading A
Sun May 11 Liverpool H
Sat May 17 F.A. Cup Final

The Under21 Championships

A competition which has largely gone by unwatched by me; the only game I saw was the only one not featuring any of my Spurs lads. England did reasonably well, however, and it is striking to see such a comparatively strong side of players on this level – most of them with plenty of Premiership experience. The game against Italy, which I watched, was very entertaining and contained some nice football. Perhaps the future of English football is not so dark after all?

Tom Huddlestone reaped praise for his efforts early on, but his absence in the Italy game was said to be a contributing factor to the increased pace of England’s game. Hmm. His sending off in the unpleasant game against Serbia (which has prompted new moves against racism) still baffles me; judging by the composed look of bewilderment on his face upon receiving the card, Tom was similarly affected. Anyone who knows what actually happened, feel free to comment.

After drawing 0-0 with the Czech Republic and 2-2 with Italy, England beat Serbia 2-0 and came up against Holland in the semi-finals. The team came very close to a 1-0 win, but the game ended a draw and had to be decided by a marathon of a penalty shootout. England at any level tend to find penalties problematic, but at 13-12 you’ve done pretty well despite losing. Special mention to Stephen Taylor of Newcastle who played on despite injury and then took, and scored, one of the penalties.

Elsewhere, Paul Stalteri and Canada did not make it past the semi-final stage of the CONCACAF cup, as they were beaten by the USA 2-1.