Martin Lol

Naturally disappointed but Spurs lost it at WHL with an abject performance but I look at it as building blocks for the future, there are positives to take out of it. PSV are no mugs, regular performers in the CL and they beat Arsenal last season without the need of having a penalty shoot out. Spurs will be better for the experience in the Uefa Cup next season, new signings coming in, Bale will be fit, Hutton will be eligible and Chimbonda will be gone. It would be rather ironical if Chimbo winds up at SJP for next season. It does seem to be quite likely.

Confidence is the key. If Newcastle could go to Brum believing they can win, they could well walk away from St Andrews with a point, maybe more. But Newcastle's confidence is in tatters and, tbh, Brum's confidence is high having beaten Spurs 4-1. We were awful but I'm a bit undecided whether they actually played better irrespective of how badly we played. Maybe tomorrow night's match at Pompey will show whether they really believe they can get out of the relegation fight. If Brum get anything out of Pompey then I'll be fearing for Newcastle.

I know what you mean. When Spurs were relegated I had a cracking time the season after. Seeing a lot of wins home and away did wonders for wiping away the misery of what went on the season before. But Spurs only got back on goal difference getting a draw at Southampton on the last day of the season and it's a lot tougher now to bounce back at the first time of asking. There's probably 10 teams who could realistically hope to get promoted and there usually is one team that you could never have guessed. Add to that the fact for a lot of clubs playing Newcastle would be their Cup Final, there would be totally motivated opposition every week. It all depends what players stay to fight for promotion, but I don't think it would be anything like a foregone conclusion that any team relegated will be near certainties to bounce straight back. Did anyone really expect Bristol City and Stoke to be leading the fight for a premiership place in March? I didn't expect either of them, let alone both of them!

Fergie, but you would expect me to say that too!

In most games at reserve level it is mainly kids against kids aka as the best Acadmeny players. So a big fucker like Carroll is going to dominate but put him against blokes who have a bit nouse, bulk & are bigger than him & he struggled. Not usually Academy players at Spurs, more often than not the youngsters who left the Academy last summer but haven't yet broken into the first team squad. Spurs played top of the table Villa tonight and played really well for a change to win 3-0. Pity Brummie isn't about now! Out of interest the teams were: Spurs: Button; Gunter, Archibald-Henville, Rocha, Martin; Parrett (Fraser-Allen, 50), Martin, Rose, Taarabt; Pekhart, Dawkins (Kasim, 82) Unused subs: Jansson, C Butcher, Cox Aston Villa: Sorensen; Hogg (Forrester, 66), Lichaj, Lund, Earls; Routledge, Salifou, D Bellon, Y Bellon (Albrighton, 59); Clancy (Bradley, 73), Berger Unused sub: Bevan May have overplayed the Acadmeny kid line slightly but the reseve teams nowadays are a lot younger to what these they used to be. Very true. With established average players costing millions, it makes a lot of sense to try to bring the kids on, if they make the grade all well and good, if they don't then they're a saleable asset (hopefully) to a Championship side or suchlike. But has it not become a beefed up junior league rather than a step to the first team. It depends on the club's philosophy on the youngsters and whether the manager is prepared to give them a go, but I do accept your point as the majority of clubs won't give their kids the opportunity to show what they can do in the first team. I suppose I get a bit of a distorted picture with Spurs' division, which also include Villa, West Ham and Arsenal, all of which, along with Spurs, do try to bring youngsters through. Ramos and Poyet were there tonight and apparently have seen enough of Danny Rose to be probably adding him to some squads this season with a view to making him a regular squad member next season. He has played well whenever I've seen him, tonight everything Spurs did went through Rose and Taarabt, looked very impressive, as did 16 year old Dean Parrett until he got a knock and was substituted. Ironically, tonight there were more experienced players on the pitch than I've seen in a long time. Spurs had Rocha (I won't count Gunter) and Villa had Sorensen, Routledge and Berger, that doesn't happen too often. Did Parrett get signed from QPR? £1m for a 14 year old iirc. Man City had an experienced side when we played them as well. Levy never buys any player for a set fee, there's always add-ons! It was an initial £200k which could go up to £2m depending on the usual etc's. I think if he makes his debut in the first team the amount paid at that stage will be £800k. £200k for a 14 year old is a tidy sum, but he does seem to be progressing at a rapid rate of knots. He's played twice in the reserves and is often the star performer in the u18's although he hasn't actually joined the Spurs Academy yet, he's not old enough to officially join until after the current season.

FWIW, I've been told that the proposed friendly in Beijing just prior to the Olympics is very close to being sorted out. Ashley wants it to open more opportunities for sportswear sales, Spurs want it for the benefit of the sponsors, Mansion, and both clubs want it to expand their 'brand'.

In most games at reserve level it is mainly kids against kids aka as the best Acadmeny players. So a big fucker like Carroll is going to dominate but put him against blokes who have a bit nouse, bulk & are bigger than him & he struggled. Not usually Academy players at Spurs, more often than not the youngsters who left the Academy last summer but haven't yet broken into the first team squad. Spurs played top of the table Villa tonight and played really well for a change to win 3-0. Pity Brummie isn't about now! Out of interest the teams were: Spurs: Button; Gunter, Archibald-Henville, Rocha, Martin; Parrett (Fraser-Allen, 50), Martin, Rose, Taarabt; Pekhart, Dawkins (Kasim, 82) Unused subs: Jansson, C Butcher, Cox Aston Villa: Sorensen; Hogg (Forrester, 66), Lichaj, Lund, Earls; Routledge, Salifou, D Bellon, Y Bellon (Albrighton, 59); Clancy (Bradley, 73), Berger Unused sub: Bevan May have overplayed the Acadmeny kid line slightly but the reseve teams nowadays are a lot younger to what these they used to be. Very true. With established average players costing millions, it makes a lot of sense to try to bring the kids on, if they make the grade all well and good, if they don't then they're a saleable asset (hopefully) to a Championship side or suchlike. But has it not become a beefed up junior league rather than a step to the first team. It depends on the club's philosophy on the youngsters and whether the manager is prepared to give them a go, but I do accept your point as the majority of clubs won't give their kids the opportunity to show what they can do in the first team. I suppose I get a bit of a distorted picture with Spurs' division, which also include Villa, West Ham and Arsenal, all of which, along with Spurs, do try to bring youngsters through. Ramos and Poyet were there tonight and apparently have seen enough of Danny Rose to be probably adding him to some squads this season with a view to making him a regular squad member next season. He has played well whenever I've seen him, tonight everything Spurs did went through Rose and Taarabt, looked very impressive, as did 16 year old Dean Parrett until he got a knock and was substituted. Ironically, tonight there were more experienced players on the pitch than I've seen in a long time. Spurs had Rocha (I won't count Gunter) and Villa had Sorensen, Routledge and Berger, that doesn't happen too often.

In most games at reserve level it is mainly kids against kids aka as the best Acadmeny players. So a big fucker like Carroll is going to dominate but put him against blokes who have a bit nouse, bulk & are bigger than him & he struggled. Not usually Academy players at Spurs, more often than not the youngsters who left the Academy last summer but haven't yet broken into the first team squad. Spurs played top of the table Villa tonight and played really well for a change to win 3-0. Pity Brummie isn't about now! Out of interest the teams were: Spurs: Button; Gunter, Archibald-Henville, Rocha, Martin; Parrett (Fraser-Allen, 50), Martin, Rose, Taarabt; Pekhart, Dawkins (Kasim, 82) Unused subs: Jansson, C Butcher, Cox Aston Villa: Sorensen; Hogg (Forrester, 66), Lichaj, Lund, Earls; Routledge, Salifou, D Bellon, Y Bellon (Albrighton, 59); Clancy (Bradley, 73), Berger Unused sub: Bevan May have overplayed the Acadmeny kid line slightly but the reseve teams nowadays are a lot younger to what these they used to be. Very true. With established average players costing millions, it makes a lot of sense to try to bring the kids on, if they make the grade all well and good, if they don't then they're a saleable asset (hopefully) to a Championship side or suchlike.

In most games at reserve level it is mainly kids against kids aka as the best Acadmeny players. So a big fucker like Carroll is going to dominate but put him against blokes who have a bit nouse, bulk & are bigger than him & he struggled. Not usually Academy players at Spurs, more often than not the youngsters who left the Academy last summer but haven't yet broken into the first team squad. Spurs played top of the table Villa tonight and played really well for a change to win 3-0. Pity Brummie isn't about now! Out of interest the teams were: Spurs: Button; Gunter, Archibald-Henville, Rocha, Martin; Parrett (Fraser-Allen, 50), Martin, Rose, Taarabt; Pekhart, Dawkins (Kasim, 82) Unused subs: Jansson, C Butcher, Cox Aston Villa: Sorensen; Hogg (Forrester, 66), Lichaj, Lund, Earls; Routledge, Salifou, D Bellon, Y Bellon (Albrighton, 59); Clancy (Bradley, 73), Berger Unused sub: Bevan

A lot depends on whether Torres plays. I think he will. Liverpool 3-0

No problem for them. They've got a striker who's gonna get half a dozen goals a game for the rest of the season! :lol:

Birmingham I think are a team who can scrap, will scrap, and get the necessary points as a result. I reckoned they would end up with 6 points more than Newcastle. The more important teams are Bolton and Wigan. I reckoned Newcastle would end up with 33 points by beating Fulham and getting a couple of draws. Have a look at Bolton and Wigan's remaining fixtures and see if you think they could possibly get more points than Newcastle. IMHO unlikely for Wigan, impossible for Bolton.

Those teams are scrapping for their lives and picking up points. I don't know who they're playing but teams like Tottenham who have nowt to play for might just hand them the points. Where the league matches fall in relation to the Uefa cup games might well have a significant bearing on how Spurs' results go(assuming of course that we get past PSV).. I can also envisage them playing noticeably worse away compared to performances at home. Newcastle, Boro and Bolton are at WHL, we've still to meet Wigan and Reading away. FWIW, I've just gone through the BBC predictor again and my bottom 3 are still Derby, Fulham and Bolton, Newcastle come 16th, a point ahead of Wigan and 4 pts ahead of the drop zone. I've always said I can't see Newcastle going down because there are too many poor teams at the bottom. KK & Co will have the summer to start putting things right. I seem to be a lot more positive than quite a few here.

No way would I ever have wanted Ameobi at Spurs!!

We do and the difference is obvious.We would never has coped with extra time under Jol as we did on Sunday Probably the most conspicuous is Malbranque who was always getting substituted aroung the hour mark as he ran out of speed. Now he's almost like a different player. Since the media have picked up on our double training sessions, I see that Reading and Wigan are doing them too. Ramos so far met the players half way at the moment but next season the sessions will be longer in the way he operated at Sevilla.

:clap: Taylor is consistent for the U21's, good defending, sound tackling and very few errors. By contrast, for Newcastle, Taylor has been poor this season but that doesn't make him a poor defender imo. I think it indicates more that a young player has been affected by the constant changing of manager, coaches, training methods etc. away from match days and constant changing of defensive partners on match days. The crowd getting on his back in the matches does little to boost confidence in a team which is obviously lacking that commodity. I have no doubt that Taylor will come good, no doubt about it at all, and if he was made available for transfer I hope that Spurs would be bidding because, in time, he will be a quality defender.

I'm not having a good day with dates and old articles today!

Dennis Wise doesn't look for first team players full stop.. Oh OK, I was just assuming, is it KK then? I've never seen how the workload is split between Keegan, Wise, Vetere and Jimenez. Has it ever been said?

On Wiki, it says he is being strongly linked with Wigan! Left Lyon on a free looking for regular first team action, only played 10 games at Besiktas. Surely Dennis Wise is looking for better than that?

ALBERT LUQUE last night gave a damning insight into the cash-crazy reign of Freddy Shepherd which nearly destroyed Newcastle. New chairman Chris Mort has already blasted Shepherd for leaving the Toon in a state of financial ruin before Mike Ashley’s millions rescued the club. Mort, who took over in July, insisted last week the club were “close to folding like a pack of cards” before reclusive billionaire Ashley took centre stage. And now super-flop Luque has shown just why. The Spanish striker revealed his pure astonishment after plucking a monumental wage demand out of thin air — and hearing Shepherd say ‘Yes’ with no hesitation. Luque, who pocketed around £85,000 a week, admits he just joined for the money in 2005 and left for Ajax in the summer simply appalled at the way Shepherd ran Newcastle. He said: “No one could understand why I joined Newcastle but I got an offer I couldn’t refuse. “I had a meeting with the chairman Freddy Shepherd and he asked me what I wanted to earn. “So I said an absurd, completely ridiculous amount and he immediately said it was OK. “The next day he spoke with Augusto Lendoiro, the chairman of Deportivo La Coruna, and in that meeting it was exactly the same. “He asked what the price was and Lendoiro said 15million euro and the deal was done. “In both cases, Shepherd didn’t even negotiate. “Twice, he said ‘Yes’ and in 24 hours my whole life changed dramatically. “It was bizarre. I was going to earn a gigantic amount of money at a club I had never followed in a city I didn’t know. “From all the players at Newcastle, I had never heard of them — and I hardly spoke any English.” The Spain international endured a nightmare spell on Tyneside after being signed by former Magpies chief Graeme Souness for a whopping £9.5m two years ago. He left for Holland before the transfer window slammed shut for around £1.5m, joining the likes of Jean-Alain Boumsong and Marcelino as the biggest wastes of money during Shepherd’s rollercoaster 10-year reign. Luque, 29, made just SIX Premier League starts in TWO years and hated working with former Newcastle manager Glenn Roeder. In his time at St James’ Park, he scored just three goals in all competitions — while earning the best part of £9MILLION. Luque has already hit two for Ajax to help them go top of the Dutch League. He added: “It is a wonder I held out that long. In that period I was often asked about returning to Spanish clubs but being perfectly honest nobody could match my contract. “I earned so much at Newcastle and you don’t let that go so easily. “But this summer I told myself that money wasn’t everything and isn’t important. So I’ve chosen for life and for football and to feel like a player again. “In between, Newcastle have a new chairman and I told him that for me he could keep his money as long as I can go. “For the club it’s good that Shepherd and Roeder are gone. “I still had a contract for three seasons so I’ve lost a tremendous amount of money. “But that doesn’t interest me one bit right now. I was fed up living like a tourist in England. I just left for Amsterdam and didn’t want to stay one day longer in Newcastle. It was an awful time and that’s why I’m glad of the challenge that’s awaiting me. “I am happy now. With my wife we’re living in the middle of Amsterdam and that’s in contrast with a village outside Newcastle. “In the morning when I open the curtains I see people while, in Newcastle, it was only trees. “My father is so proud that I’m now playing for the club where his hero Johan Cruyff became a star. Ajax is a choice for my life.” Joey Barton is another player who has hardly set Newcastle alight — but not through choice. Barton quit Manchester City for Tyneside in the summer but has been out with a broken left foot. The £5.8m midfielder played for Toon’s reserves against City this week — his first game since suffering the injury in July. And he insists he deserves some of the credit for City’s amazing revival under Sven Goran Eriksson. He said: “I hope they appreciate the job I did last season. “Were it not for myself, Micah Richards and Richard Dunne they wouldn’t have had Thaksin Shinawatra, the Premier League and Sven Goran Eriksson. They could easily have gone down last season but for a couple of results.” Eriksson has led City to third in the Premier League, thanks partly to the millions of new owner Shinawatra. But Barton, 25, insists he has no regrets about joining Toon. He said: “Hopefully, we’ll get the kind of investment they got at City and get a similar result. “Newcastle can be as big as they want to be. No disrespect to City but, in Manchester, Manchester United will always be top dog. “As much as City want to believe it, it is not going to be. “The big thing about Newcastle is there is only Newcastle. “Newcastle could be a big side and turn it from a big four into a big five.” http://thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/article291342.ece Probably nothing new, but could be good for you that the Sun can't do any better than regurgitate something old, even if there are a lot of direct quotes in it.

2-0 to Blackburn. For a very different reason they need the points just as much as you. And they're better equipped to get them imo.

And as if by magic, SSN report Woodgate has a sprained ankle and will not play at the weekend. Woody is just about ok,he could play against Brum but he's being held back for the match against PSV on Thusday, there's no urgency over league positions anymore. King won't be there either, probably won't play against PSV at home either, just being wrapped up in cotton wool for the away leg. Ramos doesn't want a keeper that can't catch crosses so Robbo will be on his way, as will Chimbo. Comolli has been out in Spain today, hopefully finalising deals for Villa, Jarque and Diego Capel! I can wish I suppose.................

Left winger. Although there's abviously friction between Spurs and Sevilla nowadays, his buyout clause is £8 or £9m and Ramos thinks he's worth it. Arsenal are also wanting him though. Fantastic dribbler of the ball. He is indeed. Gave Chimbonda a torrid time in the uefa cup last season. I know Ramos has been impressed with Malbranque's application on the left but Diego Capel would be a significant upgrade. Capel would be good but not at the expense of Steed who's probably been our player of the year. I guess we could move him in the centre but those positions are more than likely reserved for jj and a new dm. Oh and i dont actually think he played that well against us in the uefa cup game last season tbh. I don't see Malbranque being moved on tbh, he's played consistently well for us, but he's not a Ramos style of player that Capel is. There's a strong argument for saying Lennon could easily be replaced by Steed should Capel arrive. Poyet confirmed on Catalan radio RAC1 that Kameni and Jarque are definitely potential targets, which tbf, is really only confirming old news though Amelia is still said to be the #1 choice. FWIW, I'm told Newcastle have spoken again about Chimbonda. no bid or anything like that, just asking about the current state on his availability. The interest does seem to be serious though. Yeh heard about that. Not really how we usually conduct business is it? (saying that, we did the same thing with Downing). Jarque looks good from the little ive seen of him but he's more the Dawson mould than King or Woodgate (he seems rather slow but a good tackler and very strong). Kameni's reflexes is probably one of the best in the world but i dont really like these essentric goalie's tbh (he'll either be really good or s****). Do you honestly see the point in signing Jarque when we already have 4, more than capable cb's (im assuming rocha is sold)? I'm told there was reasoning behind Poyet's radio interview, but I haven't got a clue what the reasoning would be, both Jarque and Kameni have been on the radar for a while though the deal for Amelia I thought was more or less already agreed, might be wrong though. Jarque is necessary imho. King - big ? on fitness Woody - little ? on fitness Daws - Plays his best games alongside King Kaboul - getting better but still learning the trade Rocha - farewell Dervite - coming back steadily from his ACL. Take out the top 2 and I think there is a big need for another CB, especially if the board are serious about pushing on to a higher level. FWIW I wouldn't be surprised to see Daws go when Kaboul and Dervite have got more experience under their belts.

Thought Grant was excellent on Sunday tbh!!

Chimbonda has played at CB for Spurs quite a few times and LB as well as RB so he is versatile, but yes, it is a strange one to think about a potential first choice RB when you've already got Beye who ticks those boxes. I've said before that Chimbo could do with the signing on fee and his agent is Willie McKay but that's no reason why KK would lash out the best part of £8m (what Levy is looking for) for a player who wouldn't seem to be a high priority signing. By the time the summer window closes I think I'd be surprised to have seen this deal completed, not because I don't think it could, but because I can't think of enough good reasons why it should.