Muntari, Petrov or Kranjcar. Who would you sign?

So with the window inevitably closing in around 27 hours and with the upsetting and deep-frowning news that we won't see Luka on a football pitch for the best part of two months, it makes sense that all sort of names have been thrown our way. But who would be our best option?

Should Redknapp dip back into the transfer market to acquire one more member of the playing staff who, if any, should we go in for?

Muntari. Had a great season at Pompey and I'm sure a season or two at Inter couldn't have done the lad any harm.
Martin Petrov. Once linked to us before joining City. Injuries always inhibited his career but when playing a great deliverer of the ball and an out and out left winger.
Niko Kranjcar. Arguably in the shadow of Modric but a genius with the football. A great filler for Luka.

There's always the internal option. I read a few of you would be happy to see Gio back into the starting line-up and such an idea shouldn't be binned by the board should the matter arise.

It's an utter shame that just when our left wing problem looked to be a thing of the past, arguably our best player picks up a nasty injury. So once again, the issue we have had for some many years arises once again.

Who would be our best option? One of the above in terms or Muntari, Petrov or Kranjcar or should we look internally at the possibility of Giovani; what do you think?

Regards.

A dark day for Tottenham

On most occasions, I enjoy waking up the day after a Spurs win and re-living the magic on BBC's Match Of The Day. My reaction today wasn't as gleeful. Our worst fears were finally confirmed this morning as it turns out our little Croat Luka Modric has a fracture to his right fibula. In other words, he's broken his leg.

No, we're not a one man team but this is a real kick in the bollocks. With United and Chelsea our next two games respectively in what will prove to be arguably our biggest test of the season so far, missing Luka for what is likely to be a minimum of 2 months is the most bitter of bitter pills to swallow. A killer blow. It's like losing an arm or a leg. No, worse.

So where does this leave us? It's a shame we let Jamie jump down the league when we did. No, he's not Luka Modric but he'd provide adequate cover whilst the Croatian is on the sideline.
Some reports are suggesting we should dip into the transfer market. I'm not so sure, unless it were to be for a player with Premier League experience. Someone like Martin Petrov from Citehh would be a shrewd signing.

How should we attempt to heal this huge wound in our season?

Regards.

How today's win reflects the improvement under Harry: Report

Birmingham at home. Many would've look at this fixture and expected our 100% start to continue through week four of the Premier League brushing aside any false Midlands hope that may have leaked in to the Lane. Of course expectations are rising as we pick up more points, why wouldn't it? I'm sure Harry wouldn't expect it any other way.

Birmingham started out how we expected. Eleven men behind the ball looking to frustrate and cut out the killer balls from Tommy and Luka. In truth, they did this well. Modric enjoying yet another field day, as he seems to every game. Brilliant. Let's hope Sir Alex keeps his dirty hands off.

Boy, did we look top four material. There, I said it. Balls being knocked out to either flank, possession kept well and the midfield playing as a bloody unit. It looked to be the summary of the season so far, and would've been if we'd hit the back of the net.
But still the first goal didn't come. We were playing like a top four side but we weren't finishing like one, of all people, Defoe blowing out best chance of the half.

The second half saw a rejuvenated Brummy side. IMO the score did not reflect the second half that was played but did illustrate the improvement in the Spurs side under Redknapp.
With King off injured at half time and Modric hobbling off about 5 minutes later McLeish's lot seized the initiative and pushed forward. Well, any game would be a challenge without that pair anyway.

Although, it was good to see a positive substitution bringing on Crouch in place for our Croatian magician. Thankfully, the substitution paid off. Crouch came close on a few occasions and tucked his header away nicely floating it to the back post from a tight angle. Many more of those please Pete.

Birmingham's goal was a poor one to concede. A familiar mix up at the back saw Lee Bowyer score the simplest goal of his career. At Spurs problems in the defence are always going to occur, it comes with supporting Tottenham, it's not the first mistake and won't be the last. This time Hutton and Cudicini the culprits.

The goal gave Birmingham hope who took a more optimistic approach to the game than they had in the previous half. Christian Benitez looking very useful up top. The game looked to tick away to a disappointing draw before our old friend Stephen Carr did us a favour losing the ball on half way resulting in Lennon smashing in our second of the match. Great finish cutting inside from the left.

In truth, the Spurs of old would've played out for the draw and may have even conceded in the last minute instead of scoring. Good to see we can break down the stubborn sides and achieve the result we deserve. Great attitude, great desire and a great win. Well done lads.

Regards.

Pompey look to Spurs to help them climb the league

I don't think I could survive a day in the life of a Pompey fan. We have all experienced the fear and the desperation of being at the foot of league. The anxiety and nerves that awaited us every match day. It's a nasty position to be in and hopefully one that won't ever come upon us again.

Pompey's position looked worse. To put it in a nut shell, Pompey's financial situations looked worse than a West Ham fan after a 'scuffle' with a Millwall bloke the other night. Yeah, that bad. Now big 'Al' seems to have fixed the structure of the club and a steady repair job on the current playing squad is under way.

This brings us to two familiar names. Kevin Prince Boateng and Jamie O'Hara. To put blunt, one can play and one needs to jump on the next flight back to Germany, quickly. No prizes for guessing which statement refers to which player. Reports coming out from Fratton Park are that the blue boys have agreed a fee for KP and want Jamie on loan.

To be frank, Levy has done well to even get a fee for the Prince of all flops. At a reported £4m as well, I'm sure Harry and Levy could barely keep a straight face between them. But what about Jamie? Harry referred to him as 'terrific' and was praising his performance after the Doncaster game, so whether we'd be ready to let him join the South Coast outfit for a season could be argued.

Should we loan out Jamie giving him more first team football or does he provide sufficient cover meaning we should keep hold of the bloke? IMO we should keep hold of the player. He works his socks off, plays for the badge on the shirt and is a great ambassador for Tottenham Hotspur. What do you think?

Regards.

Could it be third time lucky for Spurs?

Internacional midfield and reported 'wonder kid' Sandro is wanted by Redknapp. This is official. What seemed to be usual paper talk now seems to actually be fact. Minus our young prodigy of Aaron Lennon flying down that right hand side every week, Spurs have always seemed to struggle to acquire a 'wonder kid' that has fully benefited the first team. Most end up being overrated, under played and then shipped out to another club before the end of the season. Giovani and Adel seemed to flourish out on loan at Ipswich and QPR respectively. Typical, isn't it.

So how much do we know about this 20 year-old Brazilian? I don't know about many of you, but Brazilian football is not my expertise. Surprising, I know.
Although, the fact that we have a strong midfield, are unbeaten this season and yet Harry is reportedly willing to spend another £14m on another midfielder does illustrate one thing. This guy has got to be good. IMO anyway.

Do you know anything about the player? More importantly, how would he fit in to our midfield? This a midfield, for the first time in bleedin' ages, that is winning games consistently and playing very well as a unit.

This would be the third Brazilian outfield player to join us, the other two in Defendi and Gilberto were, in one word, shit. Let's hope this would be third time lucky for Spurs.

Regards.

We are top of the league

Ah the song we have wanted to sing for so long can finally now be sung- All be it if it is only for a matter of days. The demolishing of 5 goals to 1 against Hull have left us joint top with Chelsea sniffing down our necks.

Jermaine Defoe. What a game this boy had, achieving his second Premier League hat trick in only the second game of the season. Other positives include Robbie getting his first and Palacios with his first in English football. Congratulations to the lad, it was always a matter of time before his first goal came with Harry giving him the freedom to break forward a lot more.

Well done to the boys and let's hope we can give that lot from East London a similar result at their place on Sunday

People always say don't get carried away, but boy, are we going to enjoy this one!

My report: Spurs 2 - 1 Liverpool

A warm day in North London saw everyone's eyes on the front two combination. With Harry deciding to go with Robbie and Jermaine up top. Defoe played well for England, and Robbie seemingly isn't allowed to start next to the regulars on the bench, so unless we were to play three up front, it made sense.

We started off typically Tottenham, a lot of energy but fairly sloppy in possession. Lennon, Modric and Hudd illustrating moments of good football- but that was to be expected.

Robbie continued his usual role that consisted of a lot of pointing, shouting and arm waving. The lad has a point to prove and chucking away three decent opportunities won't help him, or Spurs.

BAE popped up with a thunderbolt from nowhere scoring his first goal for Tottenham from 30- odd yards. Robbie's chances were suddenly forgotten, by most. My word though, hell of a strike from the left back after a poor Tommy free kick.

Liverpool looked very quiet. Torres nowhere. Gerrard anonymous and Bassong looking very solid with King. But still tho, 1-0 up at the break and looking good value for it even though, in truth, it should've been at the least double that.

The second half saw reality hit us, and bleedin' hard as well. A combination of poor defending and a Johnson run saw the former south-coaster brought down by Gomes with Gerrard smashing in the equaliser from the spot. Luck, that would best describe Liverpool's equaliser.

Sebastien Bassong, what a signing this boy has been. Another set piece saw Modric stick in a pin point cross for Bassong to out jump both Johnson and Jamie to head in the resulting winner on his debut. Justice, justice and more justice.

Palacios ran riot and bossed the midfield. Lennon's build up, as usual, impressed and let's hope that final ball will come this season. A top, top performance from the boys today. The heads never went down and a very confident win from us.

A solid defence saw Torres and the rest kept quiet all game and a thoroughly deserved win. In truth we took advantage of a poor Liverpool side and played with the heart on the sleeve.

Let's just hope this can kick us up the league and for the first time in years, let's bloody stay there.

Regards.

Moussa Sissoko

In a week where you'd be forgiven for thinking all the press had jumped shipped to Holland, it seems as though another player has found his way into being touted for a move to us. Well, when your playing for Toulouse I'm really not surprised.

Yeah, it's that man Moussa Sissoko. I hear echoes of 'who' being sounded out from all corners of Tottenham. Of course, the Sun reported this story so the authenticity of it is, indeed, questionable.

Apparently all you have to do these days is run to your local journo and say "I would like to play one day in England" then before you know it there's a Premier League club wanting you. So, according to the Sun, Harry is set to up his offer from £12m to £15.5m.

I struggle to see how this 'midfield hard man' would fit into our team, I thought we had one of those in Palacios'. Whether we have that sort of money to spend, without selling anymore players, is also questionable.

So will we sign him? All I'd say is, never try and second guess Harry.

Regards.

Why Spurs should have a good season

One season wonders. That seemed to be the Tottenham transfer system; until now. Our Ghanaian Prince topped that list with Younes Kaboul, Adel Taarabt, Giovani.. need I say more? These were the 'ones for the future,' the prospects that would play us into the Champions League and eventual winners of the league; I will never read so much irony again in my life. Instead, these players played us to the foot of the table leaving us to fight the likes of Sunderland and 'Boro to save us all the embarrassment of falling into the 'Coca-Cola' league and 'doing a Newcastle'- not including two fifth place finishes we enjoyed under Jol. Forget Arsenal and the Champions League, we were happy to remain in the league- by May.


'This is the season we will break the top four'. This statement has been quoted more times than the Gooners have sung songs, I feel a trend playing around N17. Crouch has just fallen into this trap. Although, this year seems to be different. Our problem was a consistency in purchasing more and more 'hot prospects' of late naive to the fact that the team of the present were priority. That seems to have altered slightly this summer. I read established names all over the back pages now; including the likes of Huntelaar and Luca Toni. Can it finally be the case that a Spurs manager is building a team for today? I feel the usual frustration and stressfulness dampen slightly each day as I read that the players being linked with moves have actually been through puberty and not just about to hit it.

I hate the morning papers, I really do, but I must admit that they follow a trend when linking us to a player now. The player is a fairly established one, known across the seas and not just by the football bods who hold a player database in their brains. Harry may have finally cracked what us fans have been pleading for, for years. Success, establishing Tottenham as a real force once again- not a team that gets done over by the likes of Hull and Sunderland at home each season.

I never feel to optimistic during a Spurs pre-season, and, I never will. Although, I dare smile to read the fact that finally we may be fielding established players next term. None of these unheard 19 year old foreign 'wonder-kids', leave the potential future success for the future and focus on bringing success to the present.

Harry has realised the fans' dream, and dare I say it, I look forward to it- ever so slightly.

Regards.

Why have Spurs rushed it?

So we drafted in Bassong for around £8m yesterday from the 'new Leeds'. He's been pictured in a Spurs shirt and has already given his first interview on Spurs TV online which we can now all enjoy thanks to the generosity of Tottenham giving us the privilege of a free trail. Isn't that kind.

Although, I seem to recall our latest signing receiving a red card in Newcastle's home defeat to Fulham obviously resulting in a suspension. The appeal that followed was also rejected- I guess nothing goes your way when your at the bottom, eh. Bassong missed Newcastle's final Premier League game away to Villa but this still means he has at least one game he is unavailable for.

So, as the most obvious of obvious questions is asked.. why did we sign him when we did and why not wait until after the Championship began? This would have meant Seb would have missed Newcastle's game against the Baggies tomorrow and not ours against Liverpool. Was this just naivety from the Spurs board, were they unaware of the suspension?

Even so, the deals done now and, as a result, we have another centre back who is unavailable for the start of the season.

Regards

Roy wants Gio, again

Giovani Dos Santos, what happened to such potential? The case for Gio to be promoted back to first team duties resulted in split opinion amongst us when it was argued on here not so long ago.

It seems as though old Roy is looking to bring the Mexican back to Portman Road after completely tearing the Championship apart in the 8 games he played in. Again, on loan. According to Keane, he'd ensure the players 'train properly' and were 'on time'. Do no other clubs ensure this then, Roy?

Harry looks to have made it clear that GDS doesn't feature in any plans this year- there's no Uefa Cup we can throw him in this season. But then again, we all know to never try and second guess Harry.
It looks to be that there's more of a chance Berbatov will be cheered by Spurs fans the next time we play that lot than for Gio to play in the Premiership this season. Shame really.

The end product to our investment in Giovani is likely to be that of the player wearing another shirt and more money into Levy's pocket. I mean, how many times can we keep sending him out on loan?

Regards.

Keane could be set for midfield role

Robbie came on against South China in a surprise centre midfield role. There was increased speculation about Keane's future amid the signing of Peter Crouch and the public pursuit of the Klass. Seemed as if the Villa were trying to bring him up to Birmingham on the cheap. It looks as though Harry's dampened that speculation down by suggesting that the former Liverpool bloke could be set for a run in our midfield.

Speaking after our defeat to South China: "I brought him on as JJ had a bit of an injury and I didn't want to push him too far," said Redknapp.

"Robbie came on and he played in there. He is a good player and he can play several positions. He is always enthusiastic and he loves to play wherever he is asked to play."

Some of Keane's attributes could work in midfield. He can read the game well and obviously has good attacking sense. Not so sure on the defending and tackling side of things though.

If he isn't going to get much of a shout up front, would playing Keane in midfield work? Let's just hope Harry gets it right whatever he decides to do.

Regards.

Bassong set to leave

You'd think this was a bleedin' Newcastle blog because of all the news surrounding Sebastian Bassong.

Well it seems as though there's another 'twist' in the saga as the 23 year old has been cut from the N'castle squad to play Dundee despite being fit. The new Championship team have started with: Harper, R Taylor, S Taylor, Kadar, Enrique, Gutierrez, Barton, Smith, Duff, Nolan, Carroll.

Newcastle have effectively started with their first eleven against Dundee and have left out arguably one of their better players from last season.

Whether he's gone for talks somewhere is really anyone's guess amongst us. Harry had recently refuted claims we'd stuck in a bid for the player.

Regards.

What Bassong bid?

Only hours ago, reports were being thrown about that Spurs had made a £10m bid for Newcastle Centre back Sebatien Bassong. It made sense, the guy seemed to have a good season in what was a poor Newcastle side and we are in the market for a centre back.

Although, speaking after our 2-0 loss to South China, Harry had this to say:

"It is not true. Not since I have been here today," said Redknapp.

"He is a player that I was interested in. I like Bassong, he is a young player with a good future and a good central defender.

"I don't think we have made an offer as far as I know. I am sure the chairman has not made an offer."

Would Levy stick in a bid for a player without consulting Redknapp first or is Harry not being totally honest with the press?

Regards.

Newcastle look to disrupt our Premiership start

It looks as though Harry has acknowledged that a defender is number one priority and have finally stuck in a bid for one. Maybe old 'Arry has decided that mimicking the management style of Ossie Ardiles isn't really the way forward in the Premiership today.

Anyway, Sky Sports have today said that we have been rebuffed by Newcastle for their 23 year old centre back, Sebastien Bassong. Reports say that we offered them the equivalent of purchasing a 10% stake in Newcastle, 10 million pounds.

So Harry is looking to draft in a Centre back before our home start against Liverpool in under 2 weeks, anything to do with a 2-0 loss to South China perhaps? Newcastle should be grateful, £10m for a Championship centre back is a fair amount of money. I'm sure old Mike Ashley had a problem turning that bid down.

Regards.

Spurs introduce social networking policy

Tottenham are set to introduce a new policy for players using 'Networking and Micro-Blogging websites'.

All players must now declare their site and give a member of Tottenham staff acecss to it.

So it looks as though Spurs have acted in light of the recent Darren Bent Twitter controversy. Although is the policy really ncessary? It's not as if it was hard to find out what was on Darren Bents' twitter.. is was all over the bloody news the next day.

Regards.