Bleacher Report - Tottenham Hotspur

Tottenham v Wigan Athletic: Online Football Preview

Sports Betting Review — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 07:56:26 -0500

Tottenham v Wigan Athletic

Nov. 22, 2009

White Hart Lane, Kick-Off: 15:00 GMT

Tottenham

Heading into this Tottenham vs Wigan clash, Spurs got back to winning ways in their most recent match against Sunderland.

Harry Redknapp's men experienced a slight funk before that, as Spurs lost consecutive matches to Stoke and Arsenal.

Robbie Keane and Tom Huddlestone provided the scoring against Sunderland, though, as Tottenham marched on to a 2-0 victory.

Heurelho Gomes saved a penalty from former Spurs striker Darren Bent at a key stage in the match. Bent had the opportunity to level up the score at 1-1 early in the second half, but Gomes did well to save and preserve the lead.

The season as a whole has been very positive for Tottenham who find themselves in fourth place, with 22 points after 12 matches.

Wigan Athletic

Wigan could not manage to beat Fulham in their most recent match, despite dominating for large periods.

Emerson Boyce opened the scoring for Roberto Martinez's men in the 13th minute as Wigan raced out to an early lead, but the lead did not manage to last long, as Clint Dempsy levelled the score in the 39th minute from the spot.

A host of poor clearances presented the ball at Dempsey's feet, and as he was about to shoot, Titus Bramble cut him down from behind leaving referee Phil Dowd with no other option than to point to the spot.

The draw will come as a disappointment for Wigan, who had chance after chance go begging as Mark Schwarzer was phenomenal in goal for Fulham.

If nothing else, Wigan can at least take a good feeling about the chances they created from the match as they travel to London for this Spurs v Wigan Athletic football fixture.

Prediction

Last season's fixtures saw a win, a loss and a draw for both teams.

But given Spurs' depth, they must be considered favourites at the Lane on Sunday.

Tottenham v Wigan Prediction: Spurs 2, Wigan 0

Find the BEST Tottenham vs Wigan betting odds and tips at the Sports Betting Review site now!

Read more Tottenham Hotspur news on BleacherReport.com

Harry Redknapp Launches Scathing Attack on Spurs Squad Players

Willie Gannon — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:05:31 -0500

Spurs sit in fourth place after getting off to their best start to a league campaign in some time. But Harry Redknapp has indicated to his team that he is not prepared to sit on his laurels by lashing out at certain squad members for complaining to the clubs Chairman about not playing enough.

Tottenham's star has risen exponentially since Redknapp joined in October 2008. Sitting bottom of the table after their worst start to a season since 1912, Spurs moved to bring in the former Portsmouth boss.

His influence is there for all to see, as Tottenham rose from the depths of the Premiership to actually launch a concerted attack on the European positions of the league. Only a final game defeat to Liverpool denied Spurs what would have been one of the great feats of the Premiership age.

With the wind in their sails, Spurs were expected to challenge for those elusive European positions this year. As luck would have it, they would entertain Liverpool in the first game of the season.

Spurs ran out comfortable winners over the team that finished second last year, and the stage was set for a good start to the season.

Eleven games later and Tottenham sit in fourth place above challengers Manchester City, Liverpool, and Aston Villa.

Much of this progress can be attributed to Redknapp's influence on the team, but it is worth noting that he has spent £71.5 million in only one year at Spurs.

For the most part, the money has been spent very wisely. Spurs were lacking firepower since the sales of Dimitar Berbatov, Robbie Keane and Jermaine Defoe. So when Harry went looking for new strikers, it came as little surprise to see him re-sign both Defoe and Keane, before adding Peter Crouch to the mix.

These signings were quite significant, but perhaps his most important signing has been that of midfielder Wilson Palacios.

The Honduran was added to give Spurs some steel in midfield, as Redknapp reckoned that Spurs "lacked character in a battle." He was right.

Over the years, players have come in at Tottenham with the attitude that they have made it to the big time because Spurs are such a massive club and have then gone on to produce little on the pitch. This attitude has been endemic throughout the club over the years.

However, that attitude has begun to change since Redknapp came in.

Palacios bolstered midfield and all of a sudden certain players who had always thought that their position was unassailable were under threat.

There has been a massive culture change at Spurs in a little more than one year, and Harry deserves much credit for actually making these players work for the right to represent their team on the pitch.

Over the last 30 years, Spurs have gone through too many managers who were not equipped to tackle the culture of underachievement that had become part of the fabric at White Hart Lane, and Redknapp has now moved into the second phase of this culture change at the club.

Whenever a culture changes in an organization, it is normally met with fear, trepidation, and a general level of mistrust.

Changing your organizational culture is the toughest task you will ever take on. The organizational culture has been formed over years of interaction between the participants in the organization and changing it can feel like rolling rocks uphill.

Knowing that Spurs were burdened with players who were sitting on fat pay cheques and contributing very llittle, Tottenham Hotspur changed the players working conditions to try and force some of them into leaving.

In the summer, Spurs pulled their team out of the Reserve Squad Premier League.

All of a sudden, players were looking at going through a season without a game of football.

The focus was placed on Tottenham's ever-improving Academy side and many young squad players were sent out on loan to get experience.

While others were left to fight it out for the first team.

This obviously had a huge impact on players—not getting games. Now Harry has lifted the lid on how some disgruntled players have decided to complain to the clubs Chairman rather than the manager.

“What I found amazing is that agents will ring the chairman [Daniel Levy] and complain about their player not playing, you know, ‘What is your manager doing, why is he picking this player?’” Redknapp said.

That’s something that’s new to me and I find it strange and very difficult to deal with—if a player hasn’t got the courage to come and see you himself and ask why he’s not playing and get his agent, who would know nothing about football anyway, to ring.

“He [the agent] is only there because [the player] is a money-making machine. He’s got no interest in the player when he finishes his career probably, but will ring up the chairman and ask why you’re not picking this particular player.

“I’m lucky that the chairman doesn’t take any notice and he tells me about these idiots who ring him. But I just find it amazing that they have the nerve to do that, and I’m amazed that the player is weak enough to let his agent ring up the chairman and ask why he’s not playing.

“He should be coming to see me, knocking on my door. But that is what’s going on and I’ve come across it more and more in recent times.”

The broadside seems aimed at players like Roman Pavlyuchenko, Jermaine Jenas, David Bentley, Giovani Dos Santos, and Alan Hutton, who have all found their chances limited this year.

At least two of those five are expected to move on in January after AS Roma and Zenit St. Petersburg announced their interest in Pavlyuchenko, while Bentley has been linked with a swap for Manchester City's Martin Petrov.

There needs to be many components in place for clubs to change. For a start, it's particapants actually have to want to change.

It then begins with the chairman, who has to understand how the current culture works and how it can be changed. He then puts together a team to bring in his vision of how the organisation should be structured.

Levy made one massive mistake with Juande Ramos as manager and Damien Comolli as Technical Director, so he went back to traditional methods and chose the most traditional of managers for the task.

Redknapp has been in management since 1984 and is one of the few managers to have reached 1000 professional games.

His history is there for all to see, and now he is the key influence on Tottenham's future.

So far, he has done a very good job.

But the progression off the pitch will only be recognised if he can make progress on the pitch.

To do that, Spurs must finish in the top seven. So far they are on course, but as any Tottenham fan will tell you, they're used to false dawns, and hope that this is not another.

Read more Tottenham Hotspur news on BleacherReport.com

Spurs' Wonderkid John Bostock Scores Twice on His Debut for Brentford

Willie Gannon — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 04:14:13 -0500

Tottenham's on-loan John Bostock scored a remarkable double on his debut for Brentford, as the Bees drew 2-2 with Millwall. And he was then described as a "young Zinedine Zidane" by Brentford's boss, Andy Scott.

The Spurs youngster is expected to have a bright future at White Hart Lane, only signed for Brentford on Friday after the two clubs came to an agreement concerning a three-month loan deal.

Bostock put Brentford ahead with a sweet finish in the ninth minute. He forced his way past Tony Craig before finding the bottom corner with a sublime finish from outside the box.

Unfortunately for the Bees, Millwall drew level in the 15th minute through Paul Robinson with a close0range header.

Bostock then added his second direct from a corner after he curled his set piece right into the top corner of the near post. It was a fantastic piece of skill that caught Millwall on the hop, as the Bees went ahead 2-1.

Brentford were only denied the win they deserved in the 88th minute as James Henry fired home to secure a draw for Millwall.

After the match, Andy Scott had this to say about the Spurs youngster, "John's a special player. Any lad who's bought for big money at 15 has got to have something.

"He's physically strong, and has outstanding vision. After seeing him in training, the lads thought he was Zidane!

"He took his two goals really well."

His achievement is all the more remarkable when you realise that this game was the first time Bostock has ever completed 90 minutes at senior level.

Harry Redknapp, Tottenham Hotspur's manager, is said to be delighted with the progress Bostock is making but felt the young player needed some first-team experience before being involved with Spurs' first team, hence the loan move to Brentford.

The now 17-year-old made his debut in late 2007 for Crystal Palace at the tender age of 15 before Spurs came in and signed him after playing only four games.

The move to White Hart Lane infuriated Palace owner Simon Jordan, who then threatened to cancel Bostock's father's season ticket with Palace after the teen-ager agreed terms with Spurs.

Initially, the two clubs could not come to an agreement over the fee for Bostock, and the case was sent before a tribunal ,who it must be said, found in Tottenham's favour, especially when you consider the youngster's skill and potential.

The tribunal declared that Tottenham would pay £700,000 for Bostock, with add-on payments of up to £1.25m dependent on appearances and a further £200,000 should he make his full international debut.

A sell-on clause entitles Crystal Palace to 15 percent of any profit Tottenham makes from any future sale of Bostock's contract.

The powerfully built midfielder has captained England U-17s as well as Spurs' Academy team, and was influential as Tottenham won their league section last season, only to be beaten to the title by Arsenal after a playoff.

Bostock has yet to play a league game for Spurs, but has played three times in Europe, making him not only the youngest player ever to play for Crystal Palace, but Tottenham too.

Read more Tottenham Hotspur news on BleacherReport.com