EPL Talk » Robbie Keane

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.

Defoe Continues To Shine For Club And Country

Paul Bestall — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 19:25:46 +0000

Jermain Defoe has had a fantastic start to the new season, with goals for England and Spurs; including his 50th for the club in the 2-1 win at West Ham. His hat trick and all round performance against Hull City was clearly his best performance in a Spurs shirt in either spell. When he rejoined Spurs in January this year, he was welcomed back with open arms as a disastrous season began to show the green shoots of recovery under Harry Redknapp.To be reunited with his mentor at a club that could finally match his talent was a win-win situation for all concerned.

Whilst I appreciate Defoe had already been at Tottenham prior to Redknapp’s appointment, he was always considered a luxury player. Under Santini and Jol, the Defoe and Keane partnership didn’t really seem to pay off. This saw Berbatov and Mido brought in 2006 and to this end, either Defoe or Keane would then partner the bigger man upfront. As time went by, the starting pair was consistently Keane and Berbatov and Defoe became 3rd choice.

Under the hellish reign of Juande Ramos, Defoe felt completely unloved, under rated and unwanted. Strikers, like the lead singers of a band, are in general, very precious, needing to be loved and told as much for them to perform. The chance to leave Spurs to link up with Redknapp at Portsmouth was too good a chance to turn down. In January 2008, Defoe moved to Fratton Park for £7.5 million.

17 goals in his 36 appearance for Pompey is some return, but with the financial difficulties beginning to bite on the South Coast last Christmas, Defoe made no secret of the chance to once again be reunited with Redknapp and return to White Hart Lane after 340 days away. Around the corner however, fate had a cruel twist awaiting Defoe.

After breaking his foot in a training ground accident, Defoe was laid up until April and had just returned to the squad on April 19th when his half brother, Jade was murdered. Defoe was devastated, he was close to Jade and his death hit him hard and given compassionate leave for two weeks by the club, on his return to playing, the Spurs fans gave him a rapturous welcome. He was clearly moved by the fans support that day.

Still finding his way back, fitness wise, Defoe managed to get a goal in the win over Manchester City and a brace for England against Andorra. It was a precursor of what this season had in store for him.

He has continued to find strength in the adversity that has happened to him in the last 6 months and along with his team mate, Wilson Palacios; whose brother was found murdered in May, 19 months after being kidnapped, the pitch is allowing them a place they can get away from it all. It has been to England and Tottenham’s benefit that Defoe is showing such character and feeding of the inspiring humilty of Palacios to deal with life correctly.

Defoe has spent the summer working on every aspect of his game, working on increasing his strength and changing his diet. He now realises he has a club manager that has always had faith in him and an international manager who now has a selection issue.For Tottenham and England fans, Defoe is showing signs of finally realising the potential that Redknapp spotted in him when he was at West Ham.

After Eriksson’s ludicrous decision not to take him to the 2006 World Cup, Defoe should be a shoe-in for South Africa and the only question for Fabio Capello is should he start him Wednesday night, his place in the World Cup Squad already assured. After all that’s happened to him this year, it’s the least he deserves.

West Ham Fans To Get A Surprise

Paul Bestall — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 20:54:31 +0000

When the final whistle went and those West Ham fans who’d spent most of Saturdays game against Chelsea abusing former old boys, Frank Lampard and John Terry, had disappeared to the pubs around and about, I bet they never thought they’d ever see either player back at Upton Park that soon. Obviously they were unaware that both players have agreed in principle to play for West Ham in a testimonial match for the Hammers’ academy director, Tony Carr as a celebration of his 36 years working for West Ham.

Now the West Ham fans have to swallow their pride after Saturday and think about how their actions toward those two former players reflects on Tony Carr’s night. Here’s a guy who’s given years of service to West Ham United and brought through countless players since he took over the role as Director Of Youth Development in 1973.There’s no doubt if Chelsea had played anywhere that weekend, they’d have got a lot of stick, especially Lampard and Terry and the chants weren’t that bad in the context of some of the things that are sung at football matches.

Yet, Lampard hasn’t helped himself before, with some comments about how his time was at West Ham, that he didn’t enjoy it as well, his family was badly treated by the club, he also said in a Chelsea supporters meeting he’d love to score the goal that sent West Ham down as well as the allegation that when he broke his leg playing for West Ham, some fans were cheering. I’d hate to think that was true, in fact I find it very hard to believe that West Ham fans would do that at all.So the abuse he got on Saturday was to be expected really.

People forget that Lampard has a history of slating West Ham whenever he seems to be interviewed but to say Lampard had a tough week last week would be an understatement, with the anniversary of his mothers death, an on air argument with a sad little shock jock and then the gauntlet of abuse he ran at Upton Park.

West Ham fans didn’t sing anything about his mother, but they did about the rant with the DJ and splitting up with his girlfriend, Terry got the same about his mother’s shopping indiscretion. That’s what happens at football matches, away players get rude songs sang at them, always have done, always will do. Some of the criticism the West Ham fans have received seems to be rather calculated in my opinion and I don;t think the stick they got was any worse than they would have received at Arsenal, Tottenham and Fulham.

I’m sure the majority of West Ham fans that attend Tony Carr’s testimonial remember it’s a celebration of someone that has brought through the calibre of Joe Cole, Lampard, Carrick, The Ferdinand brothers, Glen Johnson, Mark Noble,Tony Cottee, Paul Ince and the latest batch of Collinson, Tomkins, Sears and Stanislas. Let’s hope the minority don’t spoil a celebration of a man who would bleed claret and blue if you cut him, a more humble and proud Hammers fan you’d be hard pressed to find. Save all your singing for the next time you play Chelsea and give them the stick you feel they deserve, just don’t overstep the mark or spoil Tony Carr’s night.

Rick Parry Is To Leave Liverpool

Paul Bestall — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 11:53:33 +0000

What on earth is happening at Liverpool this week? There seems to some major leaking going on behind the scenes that seem to point to two camps eager to try and score points against each other. News has begun to circulate this morning that the chief executive, Rick Parry is to leave his position at Liverpool this afternoon after 12 years at Anfield. A statement is expected this morning to clarify matters. That sounds like he’s going to me.

After the Benitez leaving debacle on Wednesday, today the focus has shifted to Parry’s position in the Liverpool hierarchy. It’s an open secret that Parry and Benitez don’t get on at all, but once again, Liverpool’s dirty washing is being aired in public. After the news about Robbie Keane leaving Liverpool was revealed by the BBC pundit Mark Lawrenson in an interview with Irish Radio over Christmas, it’s been a constant stream of negativity leaking out of Liverpool.

Lawrenson made the cardinal sin of bragging about going for a drink with Steven Gerrard and that Gerrard had told him that Keane would be sold in the transfer window. Most of the British media picked this up and had a go at Lawrenson, though oddly the BBC ignored the story, and Lawrenson probably has been advised to keep things to himself in future by his Liverpool contacts. The decision to sell Keane was seen by many as a sign of strength for Benitez, he’d wanted Gareth Barry and David Villa. Instead Parry went after neither target and signed Keane, against Benitez’s wishes. Once Keane had been sold back to Tottenham, the battle lines were drawn. The relationship has steadily gone down hill and Benitez may have made the point that if they’d signed who he wanted in the summer, they’d still be top. That alone makes Parry’s position weaker.

Now 4 weeks later, it begins to seem as if Benitez has won out but it also makes you wonder, just who was behind the stories about Rafa leaving on Wednesday. Surely it wasn’t a deliberate act by someone either at Liverpool or working on information supplied to them by a Liverpool employee was to try and destabilise the team ahead of the crucial Champions League game at the Bernabeu? Defeat for Liverpool would have made things very difficulty for Rafa to salvage anything from a season that promised so much but has run out of steam. It would have made the owners consider if it was worth offering him a new contract, or looking at other options.

Overall though, whoever has in charge of Liverpools public relations this week has had their work cut out dealing with all the misinformation flying around. Is Parry really going to be let go this afternoon or has the Benitez camp begun some mischief making of their own? Ferguson will be loving this, Hiddink will probably think Liverpool have the implosion abilities of Ajax in his native Holland, O’Neill and Wenger will see cracks they could possible exploit. The Blue half of Liverpool will be revelling in the continuing soap opera developing across Stanley Park.

Parry isn’t exactly Mr Popular with Liverpool fans, or the owners though he has always counted on George Gillette’s support. By all accounts though, that support has begun to evaporate leaving Parry isolated and alone at Anfield. The fans in general, have nothing but loathing for him, blaming him missing out on Villa and Barry in the Summer and seem to have no respect for him at all. If anything positive was to come out of this season for the Reds, Parry announcing he was leaving would probably placate a lot of them.

Liverpool Have Blown Their Title Chance

Paul Bestall — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 17:58:33 +0000

Alex Ferguson will be singing the praises of Manchester City today after Liverpool stuttered, spluttered and failed to find the winning goal they needed to have any chance of winning the title. From a fantastic position before Christmas, Liverpool have thrown point after point away to allow Manchester United to catch them up, draw level and now pull too far away to catch.

7 points with 12 games to go may not seem too far a distance for Liverpool, but honestly, can you see United losing 3 games whilst Liverpool keep winning. It’s never going to happen and Ferguson has been proved right when he questioned if Liverpool had the experience and stomach for a consistent title challenge in January. Benitez has seen his side falter and his stubborn insistence on playing two defensive midfielders, even in home games, has cost them any hope of the title. Why is he obsessed with playing Lucas? I cannot understand his inclusion in the Liverpool starting line up, especially with the attack minded Babel on the bench.

It’s a decision that confuses me when they need to win games. Lucas is never going to offer anything, his passing was its usual dreadful range of over hit passes, under hit balls, awful first touches and safe sideways passing. Why is he in there rather than a more attacking midfielder? For some reason, Benitez doesn’t seem to come under anywhere near the level of criticism for his transfer dealings that he should. How much money has he wasted in his 5 years, £100 million? £150 million? Liverpool’s two most consistent players, Gerrard and Carragher, in his tenure were already there, Torres has simply been injured too many times this season and the cover he has for him simply cannot cope with the pressure of a title challenge. Selling Robbie Keane after treating him like a diseased leper, becomes a worse decision every time Liverpool drop points or fetch on David N’gog to try and salvage something.Peter Crouch, Jermaine Pennant, Scott Carson, Craig Bellamy, Mark Rodriquez, Fernando Morientes, Gabriel Paletta, Jan Krompkamp and Mo Sissiko have all been bought and sold under Benitez. The side cry out for a decent left back, but he sold their best one to Blackburn Rovers, there is no quality cover for Gerrard and Torres. The reserve side is full of cheap South American imports that won’t push themselves in to the first team. Lucas cost £6 million. That alone is a travesty.

After 3 years of not winning anything after 2 of the luckiest cup final wins in the history of football ( The 2005 Champions League and the 2006 F.A. Cup) you have to question his future as manager of Liverpool. Why should he be offered a new contract? How many points will Liverpool finish behind Manchester United, if they even manage to hold on to second, which is no guarentee with Chelsea and Aston Villa still breathing down their necks. What excuses will we be given next? It’s always someone else’s fault that Liverpool don’t win games and his childish outbursts are frankly absurd. He picks the team, chooses the tactics, plays midfielders up front, centre halves at right back and strikers on the wing. Is Alex Ferguson brainwashing him to pick such unbalanced sides?

Does he honestly believe that his defensive strangulation of football can deliver another Champions League? Will he try to suffocate Real Madrid at the Bernabeu on Wednesday night, a side transformed under Juande Ramos since he was parachuted in to save their season in January. 8 wins on the trot have seen Madrid eat in to Barcelona’s lead, cutting it from 12 points to 7 and perhaps the Champions League is more realistic proposition for Madrid than it is for Liverpool. A bad result on Wednesday night will be the end of Liverpools season that promised so much 6 weeks ago to be over before the end of February. They will be fortunate to finish 10 points behind Manchester United and lucky if they get anywhere near the Champions League final. Benitez has thrown the Premiership title away and if Liverpool want to win it, they need a new manager.