Santa's present

Nice Santa....thank you Santa....you brought me a sore throat and a streaming cold for Christmas. Yes on Christmas Day too! Boxing Day was the worst - I couldn't talk because my throat was just too painful and I felt really miserable. I didn't have the energy to play with my niece and nephew - hopefully I will feel better on Sunday when I see them again. I haven't had a cold for a whole year - why do they always wait until Christmas to attack? Anyway, we had John and Maria from over the road round yesterday (27th) and thankfully my throat was a lot better but now I'm streaming with germs.

I shouldn't complain really; there are far worse things that can happen. My friend Paula's mum had a heart attack just before Christmas - what a dreadful thing to happen. My prayers are with her.

Anyway, it was nice to spend Christmas as usual with family and I did receive some lovely gifts too, including the 125th anniversary Spurs shirt, 6 DVDs, vouchers, photo albums, 3 books, candles, clock with built in sunshine bulb, Spurs t-shirt, and 24 pairs of socks!

The 28th was a rest day. I spent a few hours putting our Sicily photos into one of the albums I received for Christmas. John and I then watched one of his DVD presents: Die Hard 4.0. What a slow and boring film... No, just kidding! It was not stop action with Bruce Willis kicking everybody's ass as usual. Good stuff! We then started watching Liar Liar on TV but then we had a power cut. The first one lasted about 10 seconds, the second and third were a few minutes and then the fourth was the long one. Luckily we had heaps of candles around the house and it all looked very cosy and festive. Maria came over to boil some water to make a cup of tea as she had guests over. I met our new next door neighbour (another Paula) in the darkness - she had just come home to find the power off and wanted to know how long it had been. She decided to go back to her boyfriend's. Hopefully, we'll get better acquainted in daylight!

I didn't go to Chris and Sandy's for New Year's Eve as I still felt really rough. I now have an awful dry tickly cough which is draining my energy. I saw the new year in with the TV and watched the fireworks over London - what a spectacular sight it was too! On New Year's Day, John invited Chris and Sandy and their kids along for lunch. Paul and his girls were in tow as well so had a house full for the afternoon - hope no-one caught my germs.

Today is the 2nd January and I still have the lurg. I've been coughing and spluttering for eight days now. I didn't go back to work today - I feel pretty rough at home so no doubt I'd feel ten times worse in the office. I'll see how I feel tomorrow...

We've been without email and the internet for 5 days now, hence no blogs. Seemed a bit of a coincident that it happened since the power cut and the same thing has occurred over the road at John and Maria's who are also with blue yonder. Their automated messages seemed to indicate nothing was amiss yet when John (our neighbour) rang them, they said there were some problems which they were dealing with. However, John rang them today and they confirmed nothing was wrong and went through some processes with John over the phone. Seems there is a problem with our router and will need to buy another one. Don't ask me - I've no idea what that means. But at least we now have access up on the pc in the loftroom.

Derby blues

Gooners 2 Spurs 1

Team: Robbo, Lee (Taarabt), Chimbo, Kaboul, Tainio, O'Hara, Steed, KPB (Huddlestone), Lennon, Keano (Defoe), Berba

Performance and possession-wise, I think you could say it was Spurs' first half. A very open game with space all over the pitch and Spurs knocked the ball around comfortably and with confidence. Robbo's kicking to Berba was particularly accurate

Ramos has certainly waved a magic wand over the team who are now looking as good as they did last season. However, a couple of criticisms I have is that they were not getting in any decent shots - two out of the three were miles wide; Boateng with the only good chance on 40 minutes. Also, not closing down the opponents quickly enough (that old chestnut).

Annoyingly, the commentators once again made reference to Berbatov's facial expression and body language! They are like a cracked record and totally uncalled for considering he was having a good game. How many players do you see running around with big grins on their faces?!!!

Jamie O'Hara, given his first start today and bearing in mind how big this tie is, played exceptionally well. I was very impressed and would expect him to make the first team on a regular basis.

The second half didn't start well. The Gooners came out all guns blazing and had clearly been given a kick up the arse (pun intended). Adebayour scored three minutes in and for the first time in the game our defence were off guard.

Spurs got back in the game in the 65th minute. O'Hara's fantastic pass to Lennon who in turn found Keane at the far post, and unfortunately the ball rattled the crossbar. Just 30 seconds later, Spurs were level when Berba smashed the top of the net from a very acute angle. In the 72nd minute referee Rob Stiles awarded Spurs a penalty after Berba was caught by Toure in the middle of the box. Feelings of disbelief that we could go 2-1 up were somehow justified when Keano failed to net the spot kick in his usual manner. The direction of his kicks (right of the goalie) are becoming too frequent, but he usually hits them high out of the reach of the goalkeeper's hands. A rare miss and a crucial one - I feel the pressure of the occasion got to him.

Two minutes later, the game turned sour when substitute Bendtner headed Arsenal into the lead from a header - his first touch! Spurs didn't recover after that and a few heads went down and the frustration showed.

ARGH! So close. I really don't know how we lost this game as Arsenal certainly weren't at their best and our lads are improving more and more. Our seasons always seem to be filled with 'if onlys' and here's another one. :(

In dreamland....

Man City 0 Spurs 2 (Carling Cup)

I can hardly believe it! Are things finally looking up for us?

JD got his first start for ages and scored within five minutes - say no more. It's gotta happen more often as Bent has proved he's not worth his price tag. However, it all turned sour after 20 minutes when Zokora (still a makeshift centre back) was sent off by referee Bennett. Unfortunately, the internet froze at that moment so I didn't see the tackle but from what I gather from the commentary, it sounded extremely harsh - I will watch the highlights on TV later. If this red card wasn't warranted, that'll be two players wrongly sent off in a matter of weeks (Keano has now served his three match ban). So down to ten men for another 70 minutes of the match and poor old Jermain gets subbed for Tainio. I can understand his frustration but he did unfortunately show some descent to the manager.


Our defence has suffered a lot this season. So many injuries with King, Bale, Gardner, Assou-Ekotto and Rocha. The latest casualty is Dawson who is ill but hopefully he will be back for the Gooner game this weekend. Zokora has slotted into the centre back position okay, but without him, Tainio also has to fill in. Taking all that into consideration, I think they did a damn fine job tonight - a vast improvement.

Other things that stood out for me was how they got to the ball first and their determination. Unfortunately this resulted in some yellow cards and at times I felt like it was going to fall apart. But miraculously it didn't. With ten men, Spurs showed magnificent resilience and Robbo made two fantastic reaction saves.

The pressure was eased dramatically when a superb long range pass from O'Hara found Malbranque in the centre forward position, and he kept his composure to put Spurs 2-0 up. Berba could have made it three when he turned the defender with great skill but then shot too near the goalkeeper.

Another clean sheet and through to the semis. I'm really proud of my boys.

EDIT: True enough, the red card was ridiculous. Yes - Zokora's studs were showing but he actually won the ball; he didn't even touch the player! (see pic below). Unfortunately, after another appeal, the FA has rejected it. What a surprise!

What an anti clilmax!

I demand a recount! I can't believe Rhydian wasn't crowned winner of the X Factor. It's so wrong. It's not that I dislike Leon but he just doesn't have the charisma to warrant being the winner. I think his duet with Kylie may have swung things for him - the jazzed up version of 'Better the devil you know' was the style she used in her Showgirl Homecoming Tour.

All the way though, Rhydian has delivered excellent performances and has not sang one note out of key. You really feel emotion when he sings. I didn't like him at all at the beginning; he appeared too arrogant and cocky for my liking - a trait I can't stand in people. However, that hard edged exterior soon softened up and as the compliments flooded out of the judges' mouths, he always seemed surprised. It seems such an anti-climax to get all the way to the final and your favourite doesn't win - still, I realise it's not life or death situation - Rhydian will surely gain a very successful career from this.

I thank the Lord that Same Difference didn't win as their gushy personalities and over the top smiles freaked me out.

One observation: last year Leona won - this year Leon. Just an 'A' missing! I doubt anyone will better her in the future.

Whoop whoop whoop!!

Pompey 0 Spurs 1

All I can say is WOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
1) Spurs win 2) away from home 3) against an on-form team 4) clean sheet 5) Berby scored

It can't get much better than that.

No match review today, I really can't be arsed...just ecstatic because I predicted we'd lose and so I'm on a complete high. We have more points than games played now.

Oooh and I think they said on Gilette Soccer Saturday that this game displayed the most pairs of gloves ever! I will be counting when I see the highlights it later on. :)

No slip ups this time - phew!

Spurs 2 Man City 1

Team: Robinson, Chimbonda, Kaboul, Dawson, Lee, Malbranque, Zokora, Lennon (Boateng), Jenas, Berbatov (Tainio), Bent (Defoe)

It was a cold and damp day at the Lane and with Spurs' results of late, the mood of the fans reflected the weather. The atmosphere was truly lacking and at times, it was almost silent around the stadium.

I don't know why exactly but it felt like a strange game. It was neither good nor bad, there were some pleasing moves and some dreadful ones, our defence was rarely troubled by City but nothing was coming off for us up front. Maybe we were missing Keano, who unfairly received a red card last week and is now serving a three match ban despite an appeal. Kaboul didn't seem to know how to kick a ball - I counted four times when his attempt at an aerial pass flew aimlessly away by a huge distance. He would have been subbed had Ramos had an option on the bench. Anybody still think Anthony Gardner is a liability? Hurry up and get fit Tony!

I think Spurs have to think themselves lucky with the first goal just before half time. Chimbonda was clearly offside at the far post but this went unnoticed to everyone's relief. It's about time we had some luck for a change. Of course, City equalised and once again Spurs found themselves unable to defend a corner and it was headed in. City went down to ten men quite rightly when YP Lee was chopped down two footed by Steven Ireland. He could've broken his leg. The fans were calling for Defoe and he finally entered the arena with fifteen minutes left. This was enough though and he made some good runs and held the ball well. With nine minutes to go, a deflection off the post found JD and wasn't going to miss. We now entered 'cardiac arrest' time but for once, Spurs managed to hold on for the three points.

Once again, Steed was MOTM for me. 100% effort, great tackling, always on the heels of the opponents. His performances have earned him a regular place and well deserved. If he carries on like this, he may achieve Spurs Player of the Year.

A good day at last, and it was topped off with the Gooners losing to Boro! :)

I love being on top

:) Got you looking didn't it?! Sorry, just footie talk again.

Anderlecht 1 Spurs 1 (Berbatov pen)

A draw against the Belgians meant top of the group after our last game. All we need now is for Getafe and Anderlecht to draw in a couple of weeks and we will win the group, meaning an easier first tie in the knock out stages.

I wasn't sure about the line-up again - Mr Ramos seems to be keeping everyone on their toes and even left Kaboul at home, putting Zokora in central defence.

Team: Robinson, Chimbonda, Zokora, Dawson, Lee, Malbranque, Jenas, Huddlestone, Lennon, Keane, Bent. Used subs: Stalteri, Berbatov, Defoe

Spurs could surely have won the game if they'd pressed a bit harder. In the first half they were closing down the ball better than they have been but seemed to forget in the second. There are still a lot of problems all over the pitch, especially the defending which again looked a mess when the goal was conceded. I don't know how many times during a game I yell out 'get your foot on the ball'.

I just have one thing to add and that is if Berba gets any more relaxed, he will fall over! He showed his class when he came on for the last half hour with intricate little touches and passes. No fuss, no rush. But then I am a tad biased :)

The main talking points were not really about the football, the referee for one was a bit dodgy with his decisions but at least he gave the penalty correctly. In the closing minutes, masses of missles were thrown from the Anderlecht fans, one of which hit Zokora. They were all gathered after the final whistle which included a metal pipe, an inhaler and several cigarette lighters. UEFA no doubt will take this incident very seriously and so they should.

Take That and Party!

Saturday night was the long awaited arrival of the Take That gig at the o2 Arena in London. Al and I had been looking forward to this event since we bought the tickets early in the year, forking out a massive £245 each for the privilege of a 'sold out' 3rd row seat via an agency. Mad I know, but we knew it'd be worth it and it may be a 'once in a lifetime' scenario.

Travelling up there was no problem - easy peasy, Shoeburyness to West Ham then on the Jubilee Line to North Greenwich. Good job I checked because John said we needed to get on the DLR from Limehouse, and this would have been totally wrong!

Anyway, on to the show. Firstly I have to say what amazing seats we had. Although it was 3rd row to the left side of the stage, they were staggered in such a way that there was no-one in front of us. We were literally a few feet from the barrier which went all the way around the stage.

The first support act was a singer called Tim Daniel, an unknown artist who was promoting his first album. His music was inoffensive and quite catchy at the time, but then instantly forgettable. Next up was Sophie Ellis-Bextor, who was on stage for half an hour. I recognised most of the songs and she ended with Groovejet (the one she featured on with Spiller) followed by Murder on the Dancefloor. There was nothing wrong with her performance but I couldn't have sat through an entire gig of hers.

Fifteen minutes later, Gary, Howard, Mark and Jason arrived on stage to rapturous applause. This is what we had been waiting for! The show was absolutely amazing - they performed most of their hits and as it was the Beautiful World tour, quite a few from the album. These are the songs as far as I can remember (I may have forgotten a couple - Al, help me out!), in no particular order:

Beautiful World
I'd wait for life
Relight my fire
Reach out
Patience
Back for good
Could it be magic
It only takes a minute
Rule the world
Sure
Wooden boat
Everything changes
Never forget
Shine
Pray

Looking back on it I can't believe they left out 'A Million Love Songs', 'How Deep is your love' and 'Love ain't here anymore'. However, they are all ballads, so maybe it was better to keep most of the show uptempo. I know Mark said he sang 'Babe' in their last tour and wasn't going to do it this time.

The stage sets, lighting, dancers and effects were brilliant. You couldn't fault any of it; it was pure entertainment and the guys were such pros. When they stood at our side of the stage, they were literally about 10-12 feet away and looked straight down at us smiling and waving. So surreal being that close.

During 'Relight my fire', flames ignited all around the stage and it was intensely hot. The guys had special gear on which allowed certain parts of their bodies to catch on fire - I think it was Jason's shoe, possibly Howard's leg (?) and Mark's hat but unfortunately Gary's arm didn't catch alight.

Half way through the show, they walked across a bridge onto a small circular stage in the middle of the arena where they performed for approximately 15 minutes. Al and I felt hard done by after paying so much to be up the front but I suppose that's being a bit selfish! One of the best moments for me was when the guys returned from that stage to the main one, coming through the audience and through a barrier a few feet away from us. I managed to stroke Howard's arm and when I held out my hand to Mark he shook it. Gary and Jason had entered the other side of the stage.

As you may have seen, Gary has lost an awful lot of weight which meant he had no difficulty doing the dance routines. However, it made me chuckle because when watching his facial expressions during the routines, you could still see that he doesn't particularly enjoy doing it. Bless!

'Never Forget' was fantastic. A great sing-a-long song in its own right and of course, you have to do the arm raising thing, but the effects they used were very clever indeed. They guys were on some sort of treadmill but no matter how hard I try, I really can't explain the rest of it. Perhaps the 6th pic below will help a little but you really had to be there to understand it properly. They said goodnight after this one but you just knew there would be an encore. Sure enough, they returned to complete the night with 'Shine' and 'Pray', two of my all time faves. No frills, just the four of them side by side doing what they do best. Magnificent!

One dampener on the evening was a 'jobsworth' security guard who looked little more than 17 years old. For half the show, fans were told to stay in front of their seats but as it went on, the entire centre barrier had bodies hanging over it. Al and I did the same but were ushered back. Some people in our area returned to the barrier and were not told to move - it was totally unfair and inconsistent. However, we still had a fabulous night - it was over far too quickly though; we could've done it all over again. Thanks for your company girlie! I do hope it's not Take That's last ever tour (as indicated on the night) coz I'm certainly up for it again!

I managed to take quite a few photos and these are a selection of the best ones.

Religion gone mad

I felt I just had to write a quick blog about the madness that is Islam. Gillian Gibbons, a teacher helping in Sudan was taken into custody last week after allowing her pupils to name a teddy bear Muhammad. She was tried for blasphemy under Sudanese law and found guilty which meant 40 lashes or a jail sentence. However, protests were being made on the streets of Khartoum, appealing for her execution. What is the world coming to?! She received 15 days in jail. Thankfully, Gillian was pardoned after two Muslim members of the House of Lords, Lord Nazir Ahmed and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, travelled to Khartoum and lobbied the Sudanese government. She flew home today.

I do respect that religion is an important part of certain countries' existence but surely they can see that this kind of behaviour is totally ridiculous and defies logic. It was a very honest mistake but common sense has to prevail.

A week in the life of Tottenham Hotspur

I've been resting my shoulder hence three blogs in one covering Spurs' last three games...

West Ham 1 Spurs 1 (25th November)

It was never likely to be a repeat of last season's classic 3-4 win at Upton Park, and it wasn't.
Two mistakes from either team secured the 1-1 scoreline. Kaboul, ever becoming a bit of a liability in defence hesitated on the ball and instead of making an easy clearance, it was charged down leaving him one on one, then a neat pass across the box left Robbo stranded.

Robert Greene was the villain for Spurs' equaliser when he came to punch the ball but missed it by miles, leaving Dawson to head it into an open goal. The big debate of the day was the refereeing decision when Keane just had Greene to beat, lobbed it over his head but was brought down by the goalkeeper's trailing leg. If there wasn't contact then why would Robbie fall over when a goal was looming? Riley wasn't to be convinced despite all of Robbie's flapping and it felt like we'd been robbed yet again. More drama followed when the ref did give Spurs a penalty in the dying minutes for a bit of a lame tackle on Defoe. I wouldn't have given it personally but as we should've had the first one, I think it was fair. This was probably in the mindset of the referee as well. However, with Keane already substituted by this time, JD was left to deal with the penalty but sadly it wasn't good enough and Greene parried it onto the post. What a chance spurned! So just another point earned.

Spurs 3 Aalborg 2 (29th November)

Truly a game of two halves. The opponents took the lead within two minutes of the start and stunned Spurs. It didn't get any better when they went two up and it looked like a shock was on the cards. However, Mr Ramos got his tactics right and brought on Huddlestone and Bent for Jenas and Kaboul in the second half which made an immediate impact. Berbatov, Malbranque and Bent scored the goals which made for a classic comeback and immense relief.

Spurs 2 Birmingham 3 (2 December)

I was back at the Lane for this fixture, and very much looking forward to a good win following on from Thursday's great comeback. The area when we were sitting had a great atmosphere - loads of singing and ranting, just how I like it!

Oh man! (there it is) - yet again, it was a quite unbelievable outcome...or should I say believable knowing what Spurs are capable of? For once, the boys came out straight away looking up for it and actually showed us that they can play attractive football. They created heaps of chances and it was all one way traffic; it could easily have been 4-0 in the first half and would've killed off the game. But no, that is not the Spurs way. Of course, we let the opposition score first, totally against the run of play...although to be fair, it was a very soft penalty which lead to their goal. Kaboul was adjudged to have tripped the opponent but upon seeing the highlights on tv, it really was a poor refereeing decision. Sound familiar?

We've quickly learned that if you don't play well, Ramos will whip you off the pitch and that happened again with Kaboul. He was the only one letting the side down in the first 45 minutes, and a replacement central defender is getting desperate now with Ledley's comeback being put back constantly - to be honest, I don't think he'll ever be fit again. Dawson isn't the player he was last season and Gardner is injured and I have no idea what's happened to Rocha. I wonder how much dosh Mr Ramos will be given to play with in the January transfer window but honestly, the way the team are playing at the moment, I'd say they need to replace half of them.

Anyway, back to the game. Huddlestone and Defoe came on for Kaboul and Bent. Not sure I would have replaced Bent so early and it proved so, as JD hardly made an impact. The tempo was lost a little but it wasn't long before Spurs also won a penalty when Berba was tripped. Keano scored with confidence as per usual. A few minutes later, Spurs went 2-1 up courtesy of
Robbie Keane again. If only they had kept up the momentum and scored the third it would've killed the game off and everything went pear-shaped from then on. Bale got an injury to his foot/ankle and hobbled off - Lee the replacement. Birmingham scored an unexpected equaliser when the defence was found lacking again. Robbie was then adjudged to have gone into a tackle with studs, after the ref consulted the 4th official Mr Uriah Renny and gave him a straight red. Absolutely ridiculous! Even if it was a distance away from where we were sitting, I knew in my heart that Robbie would not intentionally try to hurt another player - upon seeing the tv highlights I was livid! It was clearly not a malicious tackle by any means, there was only one leg involved not two and it was a ridiculous decision. Stitched up like a kipper yet again! The club have since confirmed they will be appealing against the red card. The worse possible scenario happened in injury time, when a long range effort from Larsson gave Robbo no chance at all. Just how many times has this happened to us? It's getting to be such a regular occurrence, can we consider ourselves to be the unluckiest club in the league or it is always the slack defending that let's us down? We are already officially the most stressful team to watch in the Premiership.

I must say I am impressed with the new manager's ethos so far, but why are players still not closing the ball down quicker? For me, this is the most fundamental problem and it is causing us to let in so many goals. It's not as if it's a hard problem to solve - just do it!!!

Big up Biggins!

A belated well done to Biggins who was crowned 'King of the Jungle' on Friday! I'm afraid I'm on catch-up with my blogs from the past 7/8 days as I've been resting my shoulder. He certainly was a worthy winner - such a lovely, warm-hearted and funny man; he lightened the mood as soon as he entered the jungle, a couple of days after everybody else. He was brave in all his trials, especially the last one where he had to eat the most ghastly things - they get worse and worse every year. I always have to hide behind a cushion when the kangaroo testicle comes out - it makes me gag my guts up seeing someone try and chew one. Urgh! Surprisingly, Janice Dickinson came runner-up but I guess she was someone you love to hate. What made my laugh was she accused everyone else of moaning when she was the worst! I get the feeling her 'OH MAN' will be used rather a lot from now on!

A lot of people may detest reality celebrity shows but I just think it's one of the best entertainment shows on telly. Maybe it's seeing other people suffering that attracts us?!