Footy Mental

Michael Dawson returned to full training on Friday morning – and Harry Redknapp was delighted to see him back.

The popular central defender has been out since September after picking up an ankle injury on England duty.

“It’s great to have Michael back out on the training pitch,” said Harry.

“It’s the first time he’s been out with us. He’s worked hard with the fitness coaches and they’ve done a great job, but today’s his first day back out and that’s fantastic news.”

Michael said he completed the session without any problems.

“Everything’s fine,” he told us. “It was great to be back out there with the lads and I can’t wait to get back into action again.”

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Harry Redknapp rates Rafa van der Vaart’s chances as ’50-50, at best’ to face Liverpool on Sunday.

The Dutch playmaker picked up an injury just above his anke in Saturday’s 3-2 win against Arsenal and that ruled him out of Wednesday’s Champions League victory over Werder Bremen.

Jermaine Jenas is Harry’s other main doubt after limping off early against Werder Bremen with a calf problem.

“Rafa’s chances are 50-50, at best,” reported Harry on Friday morning (November 26).

“He’s not going to train with us today, so tomorow is really the last chance for him to be fit.

“We did okay though on Wednesday night, played with two strikers and always looked dangerous.

“Jermain Defoe is also getting fit and he will be involved again. If Rafa’s fit, great, but he’s doubtful.

“JJ has a tight calf and he’s going for a scan today. We’re all hoping it’s not a tear, we’ll have to wait and see on that one.”

Good news sees Michael Dawson return to full training with the first team this morning.

Ledley King (groin) remains out alongside longer-term injuries Jonathan Woodgate (groin) and Jamie O’Hara (back).

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As excitement builds in the run-up to Christmas, the Club will be hosting the following events at the Lane for fans to enjoy during the festive period…

One Hotspur Members Xmas Shopping Day

On Sunday December 5, One Hotspur members can shop all day at the Spurs Megastore and enjoy a 10% discount in store.

Meet Chirpy, take part in a free prize draw and kids will receive a free goodie pack on this special Christmas shopping day for members.

Legends Ossie Ardiles and Martin Chivers will also be in store from 1pm to 3pm to sign copies of their autobiographies.

The Megastore will be open from 10am until 4pm, so please remember to bring your One Hotspur membership card to get your discount and the chance to win prizes drawn in store at 3pm.

Meet the Players

Players will be taking part in autograph signing sessions for fans at the Spurs Megastore on the following dates…

Tuesday 14 December – 5pm to 6pm – Roman Pavlyuchenko and Luka Modric*

Tuesday 16 December – 5pm to 6pm – Tom Huddlestone and Carlo Cudicini*

Both of the above will be limited to the first 300 people. Please note there will be limited access to photos and a maximum of two items per person.

*players and times subject to change.

Spurs Santa’s Grotto

Saturday 18 December - 11am to 4.30pm

Sunday 19 December - 11am to 3.30pm

Come along and visit Spurs Santa and receive a special Spurs gift. All children are welcome and must be accompanied by an adult.

Tickets will be on sale on the day and priced at £5 from the Spurs Megastore. Adults accompanying children will get also get a 10% discount voucher to spend in store over that weekend.

Open Training at the Lane, Tuesday December 21

Why not visit the Lane and watch the Spurs first team train with Harry and the coaching staff and get your last minute shopping at the Megastore!

Training starts at 11am and gates open at 10am.

Entrance is free for Under-16s, £3 for Adult members and £5 for non-member Adults. Call 0844 844 0102 or go online. Tickets on sale soon.

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Our official betting partners Sportingbet give us a rundown of some of the markets on offer ahead of Sunday’s Premier League clash with Liverpool at the Lane…

Another victory in the week continued Tottenham’s November roll and they’re once again favourites for three points when Liverpool arrive at the Lane on Sunday.

After the winnings flowed for positive punters last weekend, the Werder Bremen clash proved just as profitable for those following our tips, as Spurs triumphed with -1 goal at evens as well as winning both halves to pay another 9/5.

This weekend, Liverpool bring a far from intimidating away record to North London – they boast just one away win all season – and Spurs are even money favourites to continue the trend.

Liverpool are 12/5 to earn a first victory at White Hart Lane since 2008, while the draw pays 9/4 if you see matters ending all square.

If you’re finding the results tough to call in a topsy turvy Premier League season, how about taking advantage of the added value in the First Goalscorer, Anytime Goalscorer, Correct Score and Scorecast markets.

Sportingbet’s Goal Rush will have you cheering for goals as it offers to refund losing bets on the above markets in any game where there are five or more on the scoresheet.

That gives you licence to back Rafael van der Vaart to return to form and fitness at 5/1 for First Goalscorer, Peter Crouch to notch again at any time at 2/1 or even Younes Kaboul to continue his scoring streak at 7/1.

The Sportingbet Podcast mulls over the full Premier League programme if you’re looking for a few tips this weekend, as well as a preview of El Clásico – Barcelona v Real Madrid – on Monday night.

There’s also a South African view of the autumn international rugby, a look at the weekend’s horse racing and, of course, footballing views and that £50 Free Bet opportunity courtesy of ex-England international Steve Bull. Listen now!

Odds correct at time of writing.

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Peter Crouch believes qualifying for the knockout stages of the Champions League is just the start of what we can achieve in the competition.

Through to the last 16 with a game still to play in Group A, sitting top ahead of European champions Inter Milan and having scored 15 goals, the striker is confident nothing is beyond us as we prepare for the big time.

‘Crouchy’ is relishing us putting ourselves to the test against the continent’s best but is still determined to see us finish the job in this first stage when we travel to FC Twente on December 7.

The big man said: “We’re taking it each step at a time. Qualifying initially was a fantastic achievement but from then on, in by no means an easy group, to get the results we have and to qualify [for the knockout stages] is fantastic.

“It’s our first experience in the Champions League and the fans are absolutely loving it. This is a great achievement but we don’t want to rest on that, we want to give a good account of ourselves in the next round.

“Every big club wants to be in the Champions League playing against the best teams in the world and we’ve not looked out of place at all so far. Now we go into the next round and we want to go as far as we can for ourselves and the fans as well.

“First things first, we want to finish top of the group. The way it’s panned out, a lot of the top teams have won their group, and although we’re pleased to qualify, it would be good to finish top.”

‘Crouchy’ also paid homage to those around him after scoring his sixth goal in this season’s competition last night in our 3-0 win over Werder Bremen at the Lane.

He added: “We’ve got so much attacking talent, it’s great to watch, I know the fans are loving it, we’re scoring goals left, right and centre and long may it continue.

“It’s great playing with some of the players we’ve got here, we’ve got so much talent and it makes my job a lot easier.

“Luka Modric was different class. He’s such a talented player and when you give him the time and space as they did, he’s always going to threaten.

“I know when Aaron Lennon gets the ball that nine times out of 10 he will beat his man and get a cross in. You just have to make sure you’re in the box. It’s the same on the other side with Gareth Bale.

“It’s a dream for a centre forward and I think it’s been a great team performance throughout the Champions League campaign. We’ve played very well and deserve to go through.”

‘Crouchy’ concluded: “It’s been a fantastic week. Winning away at the Emirates, winning again last night and getting ourselves through in the Champions League and Liverpool on Sunday would round things off nicely.”

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Fans attending Sunday’s home match against Liverpool are reminded that our Ticket Office has now moved.

The Ticket Office is now situated opposite the Megastore on the corner of Park Lane and the High Road.

As before the Ticket Office will be open four hours before kick-off, until half time.

If you are picking up tickets you can continue to do so from the existing ticket collection windows on Paxton Road.

A new matchday-only Spurs Shop has opened on the site of the previous Ticket Office on Paxton Road and will be open from 12:00pm to 7:00pm, so why not pop along and find some great gift ideas for Christmas?

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PREMIER LEAGUE BACKS THE BID

Clubs and players are ‘England United’ for 2018 Bid

Premier League clubs will stage a league-wide, final show of support at every Barclays Premier League match this weekend as the England 2018 campaign reaches its climax.

Matches across the country will showcase bid messages which will be seen in more than 500 million homes across the world.

Each of the 10 games, broadcast in more than 200 countries, will feature bid branding across grounds while mascots will be wearing ‘England 2018′ caps.

This is the fourth ‘Back the Bid’ weekend the Premier League has staged and advertising, hospitality and other commercial inventory has been donated at Premier League games throughout 2010.

The Premier League has also contributed significantly to the final presentation films which will feature a number of its clubs and players.

In addition, Premier League Chief Executive, Richard Scudamore will be part of the England 2018 delegation: meeting with members of FIFA next week ahead of the final presentation and decision on Thursday, December 2nd.

Throughout the campaign the Premier League has contributed significantly to the England 2018 Bid. Every club is involved with the bid’s technical proposal in some capacity and eight Premier League stadiums have been put forward to stage 2018 FIFA World Cup^TM matches.

Players and club officials have also attended bid meetings and events; filmed messages for video presentations to FIFA members; and hosted the FIFA Inspection team during their visit in August 2010.

The Barclays Premier League is the world’s biggest continuous annual global sporting event. Across nine months of the year, 380 matches are beamed out to over 500 million homes in 211 territories. Last season, an estimated cumulative global audience 2.65 billion watched the 100,000 hours of coverage that was broadcast, so the impact of the clubs’ involvement is potentially enormous.

Football League clubs across the country will also be running ‘Back the Bid activity and Chairman, Greg Clarke, is due to be part of the England 2018 delegation in Zurich next week.

Fans can show their support by visiting www.england2018bid.com, texting ‘ENGLAND’ to 62018 or following www.facebook.com/england2018 and www.twitter.com/england2018bid

FIFA will make its decision on the 2018 FIFA World Cup^TM hosts on December 2nd.

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We are pleased to announce the introduction of the Tottenham Hotspur Business Directory.

The Business Directory is a listing of local, national and multinational businesses which support the Club either as an Executive Box Holder or Executive Member. The directory covers a wide range of businesses so there will be a contact for you whatever your need.

So if you want to do business with other Spurs supporters simply follow this link to search!

All companies’ contact details are listed so give other Spurs supporting businesses a call today and strike up a new relationship!

If you are interested in becoming an Executive Member or Executive Box Holder please contact our Sales Team on 020 8365 5010 or email hospitality@tottenhamhotspur.com

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Gareth Bale has been shortlisted for one of the world’s top football accolades.

Our flying Welshman is one of 55 players shortlisted for the FIFA/FIFPro World XI 2010, which is to be
revealed at the FIFA Ballon d’Or gala in Zurich on January 10, 2011.

The shortlist was announced today by the worldwide players’ union FIFPro and FIFA.

The nomination is just reward for Gareth’s stunning 2010.

After
a spell out of the team, he was handed his chance by Harry Redknapp
following injury to Benoit Assou-Ekotto in our FA Cup tie against
Peterborough United on January 2.

He simply hasn’t looked back.

Highlights
include goals in our back-to-back wins against Arsenal and Chelsea in
April, when he was named the Premier League’s Player of the Month.

His stunning volley at Stoke was named August’s Goal of the Month on BBC’s Match of the Day.

He
followed that up with a memorable hat-trick against Inter Milan in the
San Siro and, incredibly, managed to even top that in terms of
performance for the return match at the Lane, when he tore
world-renowned Brazilian full-back Maicon – also shortlisted – to
pieces, setting up two of our three goals.

And throughout his rapid rise, he’s kept his feet firmly on the ground.

As Jermain Jenas said this week: “He is a very down to earth guy.

“That
sounds very clichéd and boring but it is the truth, he is such a good
lad and he has come a long way and we are very pleased for him.

“The
way that he has been handling the praise, which he has deservedly been
getting, is exceptional and shows the maturity of the lad.”

The
50,000 professional footballers belonging to the players’ unions across
the world that form FIFPro received voting forms in a secret ballot to
nominate their peers for inclusion in their World XI – choosing the best
four defenders, three midfielders, three forwards and goalkeeper of
2010.

World champions Spain lead the way with the most players in
the shortlist with ten, followed by nine from Brazil, eight from
Argentina, six from England, four from Germany, three each from the
Netherlands and Italy, two from Portugal and one each from Uruguay,
Wales, France, Bulgaria, Serbia, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Ghana, the
Ivory Coast and Cameroon.

Spain’s Primera Division attracted the
most nominees with 18, followed by England’s Premier League with 17 and
Italy’s Serie A with 15. Four nominees came from Germany’s Bundesliga
and one from France’s Ligue 1.

The final FIFA/FIFPro World XI will
be announced at the FIFA Ballon d’Or gala in the Zurich Kongresshaus on
10 January 2011. During this televised gala, the winner of the FIFA
Ballon d’Or for the best player of 2010 and the FIFA Women’s World
Player of the Year 2010 award will also be revealed. Meanwhile, the FIFA
World Coach of the Year for Men’s Football award and the FIFA World
Coach of the Year for Women’s Football award will be presented for the
first time, while the FIFA Puskas Award for the best goal of the year
will be announced for the second year running. The FIFA Presidential
Award and the FIFA Fair Play Award will also be presented during the
gala.

The 55-player shortlist in full:

Goalkeepers:
Gianluigi Buffon (Italy, Juventus FC), Iker Casillas (Spain, Real
Madrid C.F.), Petr Cech (Czech Republic, Chelsea FC), Julio Cesar
(Brazil, F.C. Internazionale), Edwin van der Sar (Netherlands,
Manchester United FC)

Defenders: Daniel Alves (Brazil, FC Barcelona), Gareth Bale (Wales, Tottenham Hotspur),
Michel Bastos (Brazil, Olympique Lyonnais), Ashley Cole (England,
Chelsea FC), Patrice Evra (France, Manchester United FC), Rio Ferdinand
(England, Manchester United FC), Philipp Lahm (Germany, FC Bayern
Munchen), Lucio (Brazil, F.C. Internazionale), Maicon (Brazil, F.C.
Internazionale), Marcelo (Brazil, Real Madrid C.F.), Alessandro Nesta
(Italy, AC Milan), Pepe (Portugal, Real Madrid C.F.), Gerard Pique
(Spain, FC Barcelona), Carles Puyol (Spain, FC Barcelona), Sergio Ramos
(Spain, Real Madrid C.F.), Walter Samuel (Argentina, F.C.
Internazionale), John Terry (England, Chelsea FC), Thiago Silva (Brazil,
AC Milan), Nemanja Vidic (Serbia, Manchester United FC), Javier Zanetti
(Argentina, F.C. Internazionale)

Midfielders: Esteban Cambiasso
(Argentina, F.C. Internazionale), Michael Essien (Ghana, Chelsea FC),
Cesc Fabregas (Spain, Arsenal FC), Steven Gerrard (England, Liverpool
FC), Andres Iniesta (Spain, FC Barcelona), Ricardo Kaka (Brazil, Real
Madrid C.F.), Frank Lampard (England, Chelsea FC), Javier Mascherano
(Argentina, FC Barcelona), Thomas Muller (Germany, FC Bayern Munchen),
Mesut Ozil (Germany, Real Madrid C.F.), Andrea Pirlo (Italy, AC Milan),
Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany, FC Bayern Munchen), Wesley Sneijder
(Netherlands, F.C. Internazionale), Xabi Alonso (Spain, Real Madrid
C.F.), Xavi (Spain, FC Barcelona)

Forwards: Dimitar Berbatov
(Bulgaria, Manchester United FC), Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast, Chelsea
FC), Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon, F.C. Internazionale), Diego Forlán
(Uruguay, Atletico Madrid), Gonzalo Higuain (Argentina, Real Madrid
C.F.), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden, AC Milan), Lionel Messi (Argentina,
FC Barcelona), Diego Milito (Argentina, F.C. Internazionale), Arjen
Robben (Netherlands, FC Bayern München), Ronaldinho (Brazil, AC Milan),
Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal, Real Madrid C.F.), Wayne Rooney (England,
Manchester United FC), Carlos Tevez (Argentina, Manchester City FC),
Fernando Torres (Spain, Liverpool FC), David Villa (Spain, FC Barcelona)

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Younes Kaboul believes we must not rest on our laurels after three massive wins and insists ‘we have to carry on like this’.

Liverpool are next up at the Lane in the Premier League on Sunday – and the in-form defender is already relishing the clash with the Merseysiders.

We have followed up our win over Blackburn at the Lane 10 days ago by coming from behind to win a North London derby at the Emirates and booking our place in the last 16 of the Champions League with victory over Werder Bremen – and Younes puts it down to belief.

And he feels this will stand us in good stead going forward, saying: “We’ve done well but we can’t just be happy with winning three games. We have to carry on like this.

“We’ve got a very big game on Sunday and they’re the type of games we want to be involved in so we’re very happy and we’re looking forward to it.

“We will approach that game with the same mentality we have been showing as that’s the only way to win.

“We’re learning more and more and that’s very important for us. We play football to win so I hope Sunday will be the same.”

Wednesday’s win over Bremen was the eighth consecutive game in which Younes and fellow countryman William Gallas have marshalled our back line.

Their consistency was rewarded with a first clean sheet for the pair in the 3-0 success and Younes is delighted.

He added: “Everything is going perfectly with William. He’s an experienced guy, he’s very clever, so it’s easy to play with him. We always try to keep clean sheets so this was good for everyone.”

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