EPL Talk » Tottenham Hotspur

Benitez Cannot Buckle Under Pressure

Paul Bestall — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:05:21 +0000

“It is difficult for us to qualify, but not impossible,We have to win our game and see what happens with Fiorentina and Lyon. Then we will approach the last game.” Benitez has certainly fought his corner today after the galling last minute equaliser Liverpool conceded in the Stade Gerland last night. Of course, the nay sayers and doom merchants are already drafting Rafa’s last rites as the promise of last season seems already consigned to the dustbin by mid November.

Even Liverpool’s most feverish critics must be surprised how quickly the wheels have fallen off this season. 5 league defeats, knocked out of the League Cup and facing demotion to the Europa League have seen Benitez under the most pressure he’s ever faced during his tenure at Anfield. With the financial situation at Liverpool as tight as it can be, the key achievement for Liverpool to aim for this season is to finish in the top 4 in the Premier League.

Of course, Lyon may win in Florence in 3 weeks time and Liverpool could win the last two games, making sure they beat Fiorentina by 3 clear goals to finish second, but it’s a straw that is swaying away from Benitez. With Torres still carrying a groin injury, Gerrard injured for who knows how long and Carragher having his ropiest period in a Liverpool shirt, the Reds 3 key players are all suffering in one form or another.

During the summer, all the predictions pointed to that it would be Arsenal who would be the one side in the big four that would be the most nervous about retaining their place at the Premiership’s top table. With Manchester City, Tottenham, Aston Villa and Everton all waiting to pounce, no-one considered that Liverpool would be the one with the most to lose.

Without the stadium revenue that Manchester United and Arsenal can pull and without the billionaire sugar daddies that Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham can call on, the financial rewards that the Champions League has to offer is crucial to Liverpool’s continued success. They NEED to be in Champions League to continue progressing, regardless of reputation, Manchester City have already shown money can attract players above their current station.

Yet Liverpool will not find it any easier and by December 13th they could be staring up at the top four and hoping that they can find a vein of form that has so far eluded them this season. They’ve failed to beat every decent side they’ve played this season, with the exception of Manchester United two weeks ago and that in itself is a worrying trend. With massive matches against Manchester City, Everton, Fiorentina and Arsenal in the next five weeks, something needs to sorted and quickly.

Of course, Benitez has a position of strength in the fact that he signed a 5 year contract in March this year and Liverpool’s finances would tend to support the argument that the club can’t afford to sack him. Liverpool fans tend to support their manager through thick or thin, only Graeme Souness lost the fans in the last 30 years and at the moment the attention for the fans frustration is the owners.

Chelsea sacked Scolari when the club were fourth, 7 points behind Manchester United. Liverpool are currently 6th, 9 points behind and whilst we may assume what Hicks and Gillett do, would it surprised anyone if they pressed the panic button? Unfortunately not. Trouble is, they may call on Jurgen Klinsmann, which shows just how little about club football they actually know.

British Journalists Have a Lousy Deal, and the Fans Suffer for It

Eric Altshule — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:03:28 +0000

I once read about a British sports journalist’s amazement at the access that American sportswriters had. The British writer was visiting Chicago and asked to tag along with the Sun Times reporter who covered the Bulls. First, he went to a Bulls practice, and after the practice was over, the Chicago reporter ambled up to Scottie Pipen and Phil Jackson and asked a few questions. Then they went to the game, and afterward walked straight into the Bulls’ locker room. There, the Sun Times scribe spent five minutes with Michael Jordan getting his thoughts on the game while Jordan dressed. He asked Jackson a few more questions, and then went upstairs to the office that the Bulls provide to reporters so he could finish writing his story.

Does that sound amazing to you? To Americans used to reading their daily sports section, it sounds as remarkable as finding popcorn in a movie theater. To the Brit, it was flabbergasting. The writer explained that he could go an entire season without once being able to ask a major soccer star a question. Outside of a manager’s weekly news conference and the quotes that are broadcast in the banal two-minute interview that happens after a game, he rarely has the opportunity to talk directly to the star players he covers, let alone the ability to get their insights after each game.

American sports journalists have a simple arrangement with the teams they cover. Journalists are allowed in the locker room after the games and can ask as many questions as they want. If a baseball relief pitcher blows an important game and is in no mood to talk, they are still obligated to answer questions until the reporters have the quotes and insights they need. In exchange, sports reports have to report the news. Like any other journalist, they have to source their stories, provide context to their reporting, and cannot make up falsehoods just to increase their readership.

As a consequence, American sports consumers have access to an amazing amount of behind the scenes information and insights. An American sports fan can read stories about far more than what happens on the field – stories about how the personalities interact, how the team prepares, and how the organization may be planning for the future.

British sports fans are comparatively left out in the cold. Teams control strict access to the players, who in turn will sell the rights to a few interviews a year to one of the major papers in England. Daily sports journalists are left in the stands, watching the same game as the rest of us, and forced to write up an article with no more information than what the rest of us have already seen with our own eyes.

Before last week’s North London Derby, Tottenham’s Robbie Keane was one of the few personalities from either Spurs or Arsenal to answer a question about the game to a reporter. His trite comments about how Spurs may have the deeper team were regurgitated by every major London paper for several days. Compare that to a rather ordinary article on the LA Galaxy – Chivas game that appeared in the New York Times. The article quoted four different players along with Galaxy coach Bruce Arena, and gave the reader a detailed sense of the level of admiration and conflict between the two teams.

Because the British reporters have so little access, they end up writing a lot of stories that have little relationship with the truth. This is especially true when the transfer window is open, and articles pop up full of tripe detailing how every star player is headed out the door and around the bend. Without access, sources or official quotes, journalists have no choice but to report rumors as fact in order to fill their copy space. From the reader’s perspective, they can either read these fictions or chuck the whole sports section in the trash.

This has created a vicious cycle between the British press and the teams. In the absence of access to their subject matter, the journalists write all manners of compost, so the teams do not take the press seriously. They see no reason to work with the writers to give them access, so the writers are forced to fill their fishwrapper with even more guano.

I personally experienced this last week while I was researching my article on how Arsenal scouts for future players. I came across the story of Danny Karbassiyoon, the only American who has ever scored for the Arsenal senior team (see him receive the pass from Fabregas and slot it home against Man City in this clip). After a knee injury destroyed his career, Karbassiyoon became Arsenal’s full-time scout in North America. Sounds like an interesting guy with a lot to say to American fans of the EPL! When I e-mailed the Arsenal press office asking for an interview for a podcast, despite Arsenal’s desire to reach out to American audiences, I was summarily turned down. They simply could not be bothered.

The mystery of all of this is that, with a ravenous press population eager to promote their product and a worldwide audience ready to consume every nuance and tidbit, why do teams deny access with such militancy? As Americans learn more about how wonderful a game soccer is, perhaps the Brits can learn something from Americans about how to better market their product.

EPL Talk Meets Henry Winter

Paul Bestall — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:23:49 +0000

Henry Winter is one of Britain’s most respected football journalists and currently works for the Daily Telegraph. His career started at the Independent and he moved to The Telegraph in 1994. A familiar face on Sky’s Sunday Supplement, Henry was been kind enough to have a quick chat with us about himself and football.

Henry has been at the top of British sports writing for over 20 years and alongside his work for both the Daily Telegraph and Telegraph online, he currently writes a column for Four Four Two and can often be heard on Radio Five Live discussing the beautiful game.

EPL Talk: Thank you for taking the time to talk to us today Henry.

Henry Winter: No problem.

EPL Talk: First up, I believe you started your career with the Independent back in the 1980’s when it launched? ( The Independent launched in 1986) How was it starting on a major paper so young? Did you come to the Independent straight from University or did you cut your teeth on a local newspaper first?

Henry Winter: I managed to convince the Independent that they needed to include a sports and schools column when they launched. I’d spent the previous 12 months after graduating from Edinburgh University in 1985 producing a magazine on sport in London.

EPLTalk: You’ve been at the Telegraph since 1994, one of the things I really enjoy about your writing is that you don’t just concentrate on the Premiership. Is it refreshing to have such a variety of football to cover?

Henry Winter: Half of all football attendances in Britain are outside the Premiership, and Leeds United are a bigger club than all of the Premiership sides, with the exception of the top 6 or 7, so it’s very important to go and see them.

EPLTalk: When I was talking to Patrick Barclay, we discussed his appearances on the Sunday Supplement on Sky. Do you enjoy being on the programme as much?

Henry Winter: I love appearing on the programme because it’s a group of friends sitting around and talking football, which tends to be the way I live the rest of my life!

EPLTalk: I first came across you’re writing with the Kenny Dalglish biography which I received as a present when it was released in 1996. Did you know him well before writing it and how difficult was writing the chapter that covered the Hillsborough disaster?

Henry Winter: I didn’t know Dalglish very at all before writing the book, so I was very honoured to be asked to write it with him. The Hillsborough chapter was very difficult.

EPLTalk: I notice your last book was with David Davies, with F.A. Confidential. Was it eye opening to uncover some of the things that were going on?

Henry Winter: Yes it was but nothing surprises me with the English Football Association.

EPLTalk: Do you have any further plans to write anymore books?

Henry Winter: Yes I do, but I have been very spoiled with the subject matter so far, Kenny Dalglish, John Barnes and Steven Gerrard.

EPLTalk: Now, back to your football career. Did you play for Spartans in the East of Scotland League or have I imagined that?

Henry Winter: I played for Edinburgh University first team but as I didn’t stay on, so I unfortunately missed out on the opportunity to play for Spartans.

EPLTalk: Finally Henry, as Arsenal fan, what were your feelings on the move from Highbury and do think Arsene Wenger gets too much criticism?

Henry Winter: I have been accused of being a Manchester United fan by Manchester City fans, a Liverpool fan by Everton fans and a Tottenham fan by Arsenal fans, so I guess I’m pretty neutral. As for Highbury, the club had simply outgrown it and needed to move onwards. The Wenger criticism is ludicrous, do people want Stuart Houston back?

We’d like to thank Henry Winter for his time and you can keep up with his regular column online here:

What A Difference A Year Makes At White Hart Lane

Paul Bestall — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 13:01:34 +0000

With the season starting slightly earlier this year due to the World Cup, most teams in the Premiership have played 8 league games already. Last season, the 8th round of matches was played two weeks later, on the weekend of October 18th/19th. By the end of it, Tottenham were staring up at every other team in the league with a lowly 2 points. A 2-1 loss against Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium had left Spurs trailing Newcastle by 4 points and Stoke and Fulham by 5.

A club in disarray, the fans in despair, the players lacking leadership on or off the pitch, things were not looking good. Not since 1988* had Tottenham propped up the table, ironically on Halloween. That season was to shadow a remarkable turn around in events at White Hart Lane as the week continued to get worse as Udinese beat Spurs on the Thursday 2-0 with a implosion in the last 15 minutes. Juande Ramos cut a depressed figure on the touchline in Udine, a man completely at a loss to explain what was happening or it seemed able to arrest the decline.

Daniel Levy’s reign as chairman had seen plenty of ups and downs during the course of the 7 years that had led to this point. Ramos was supposed to be the marquee managerial signing to move Spurs onwards from the work of the underrated and under appreciated Martin Jol. It was fast becoming a disaster of epic proportions as the club lurched from crisis to crisis. After 5 managers in that time, Levy was under enormous pressure to finally deliver, yet here they were, bottom of the league, winless, shapeless and facing relegation.

After the defeat in Italy, Ramos made the usual “We can play our way out of trouble” statements, but they rang hollow in the ears of the Spurs fans. Other than a well deserved point at Stamford Bridge, there had been nothing to cling to in the way of optimism. No-one else could see where the win was going to come from, the team looked beyond help. On Saturday, October 25th as the fans prepared for another inevitable defeat the next day against Bolton, things couldn’t get much worse.

As Match of the Day finished, I flicked over to Sky Sports News, just to see if perhaps anything at all had happened. As the image flicked on, the newsfeed at the bottom of the screen suddenly went in to to overdrive. “Tottenham have sacked Juande Ramos, Gus Poyet and Daniel Comolli with immediate effect…..Harry Redknapp has been confirmed as the new manager of Spurs …. Discussion with Redknapp next on Sky Sports News.” Then the adverts kicked in. Damn it!

I’d had a drink, who wouldn’t when you’re team was bottom of the league and playing like Worksop Town. I rewound the pictures and watched it again. Yep, still said the same. I shot to the PC, went on the BBC football site. It was the top story, Breaking News. The I checked the Guardian, yep, same there. It was true. I ran to the bedroom and woke my better half up, she told me to stop winding her up. I insisted it was true, and probably to simply placate me, she got up and went downstairs with me to see for herself.

Chelsea fans don’t believe a lot, though living with a Spurs fan means you get used to false dawns on a seasonal basis. Sitting down, SSN burst in to life once more, BOOOOOOOOOM went the special effects, WHOOOOOOOOOOSH went the graphics and then it was confirmed by the presenters clearly excited that people would actually be watching for once late on a Saturday night. Redknapp was indeed the new manager of Spurs. I let out a hearty cheer! My other half wasn’t impressed at all, ” Oh no, I’ve always really liked Harry. What has he done that for!” Time for another drink I decided, my despair transformed in minutes to optimism! Ah the joy’s of football eh!

As managerial announcements go, for me, its quite possibly one of the oddest I’ve ever come across, late on a Saturday night, less than 24 hours before a team is due to play a match. I bet every newspaper editor was cursing Levy throughout the United Kingdom. Yet, in the 38 League games Redknapp has managed Spurs in now, his record reads Played 38, Won 19, Drawn 8 Lost 11.With this season’s excellent start, Redknapp has assured that for the first time in 4 seasons, Spurs are not playing catch up after a slow start. 16 points from 8 games is Tottenham’s best ever start to a Premiership season.

No Spurs fan thinks that we’ll win the League, or finish in the top 4, but after the year of hell that was the Ramos era, it’s a whole lot better. The oddity of Ramos’ tenure, Spurs won the League Cup, their first trophy in 9 seasons and a 5-1 victory against Arsenal, yet it will always be viewed as a dreadful year. Two shots of sunlight do not make a summer, but at least Harry’s got Spurs fans smiling again.

There is still plenty of work to do at Tottenham, the centre half issue needs resolving due the injuries King and Woodgate now have. The midfield have to learn to be able to play without Modric against big teams and not let Palacios do all the running, Keane needs to keep performing as he did against Burnley and Hull City. Defoe needs keep running and not get downhearted and the players outside the first 11 need to knuckle down and try and force themselves into Redknapps plans rather than whining to the media. Then maybe a top six place wouldn’t be out of the question, anything else would be a bonus.

*Spurs became the first team to be bottom of the First Division on Halloween in 1988 and not be relegated, actually finishing 6th as Gascoigne and Waddle combined to drag them up the table. The following season saw Spurs finish 3rd with Lineker joining the team as Waddle went to Marseille.

Can Ledley King Keep Going?

Paul Bestall — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 21:48:52 +0000

The sight of Ledley King pulling up when Didier Drogba was running towards the Tottenham goal in Sunday’s London derby left me with a resigned feeling of deja vu. Even on one leg, a training regime of swimming twice a week and the frailties of the midfield formation that wasn’t working, King was keeping Drogba quiet. That was the key turning point of the match for me, regardless of the legitimacy of the penalty claim.

Since King fractured his metatarsal in a Premier League back in April 2006, missing the World Cup, he has had no luck with injuries at all. Yet it’s nothing new, in the 9 seasons since he became a first team mainstay, King has played in over 30 league games in only two seasons, 2001-02 and 2004-05. Tottenham fans still regard him as one of the best of the last 20 years to play at the Lane and his staus as club captain from 2005 to 2009 recognises his contribution, on and off the field of play.

The chronic knee injury which now plagues him was caused ironically, in a training ground clash during the summer of 2006. Since then King has managed to play in only 52 League games from a possible 120 matches. It seems a cruel twist of fate that King could have been a consistently recognised player for his country, as the spat between Capello and Redknapp earlier this year showed.

As much as his injury problems have affected his playing career, Capello rightly recognises King as one of England’s best 3 centre halves and a fantastic defensive midfielder at both club and international level. What makes King’s continued appearances more astounding is the fact that his knee is inoperable. His problem is he has no cartilage in the affected knee, so he plays games with bone rubbing on bone.

At 28, it’s an incredible risk to put himself through so much on a weekly basis simply to play football. Why does he do it? After each game the knee swells up, making it impossible for him to play more than once every 6 or 7 days. The stress that must be putting on his body must be incredible. The trouble is, because he now can’t train, other area’s of his body are beginning to show signs of wear and tear. The injury to his right hamstring on Sunday seemed to just happen. He wasn’t in full flow, he wasn’t stretching, it simply went on him.

I can honestly say that King is one of my favorite players and one of the best centre halves that we’ve had at Tottenham since I actually knew anything about the game. Yes, I still rate Campbell and yet King perhaps harks back to early time in what drives him to keep going. I see so much of Gary Mabbutt’s attitude in the way King puts his health on the line for the shirt, the fans and the club.I find it astounding, I really do that he cares enough to keep going like he does.

Mabbutt, if you were unaware, is a diabetic and had to inject himself four times a day, check his blood sugar levels before, during and after games and always keep his insulin kit with him at all times. To think he played over 600 professional matches and appeared 16 times for England gives you some idea of the spirit that drove Mabbutt onward.Despite being diagnosed at 17, he continued to play, train and work diabetes in to his football routine and got to the top level of his sport regardless of how easy it could have been to give up.

Whilst King’s condition is nowhere near as serious, it gives some idea of the mental strength that he must summon every time he steps out on a pitch for Spurs. I just hope that he can keep going without causing himself permanent injury in later life. At the end of the day, it’s only football and Ledley already has a place in the hearts of the Tottenham faithful.