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Posts Tagged ‘tottenham hotspur’

• Tottenham winger waiting for scan results on groin
• Lennon looked to be leading race for World Cup place

Aaron Lennon has suffered a setback in the build-up to the World Cup after feeling discomfort in his injured groin while training at the weekend.

The Tottenham Hotspur winger, who is waiting for scan results, had been recovering well from the problem he picked up in December but he may now face further inaction depending on the assessment of the complaint, which is due tomorrow.

Lennon suffered an ankle problem against Stoke City in October and then injured his groin two months ago against West Ham United.

Arsenal’s Theo Walcott looks set to get a chance in his absence against Egypt next Wednesday. He has been left out of the England Under-21 squad, who play the same day, which suggests he will figure in Fabio Capello’s plans at Wembley.

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In a line-up that’s every bit as unsurprising as the top four in the Premier League, James Richardson is joined in the pod by Barry Glendenning and Sean Ingle in another rip-roaring edition of Football Weekly.

The pod squad analyse Chelsea’s demolition of Arsenal, Liverpool’s bruising battle with Everton, and Tottenham Hotspur’s snoozefest with Aston Villa and ask: why are we getting another dose of the same old same old?

Also in the show – and lest we be accussed of Big Four-centricity – we discuss Hull City’s recent revival now that Phil Brown ditched the earpiece and the goatee.

Plus, we ponder whether Fabio Capello’s done the right thing in stripping John Terry of the England captaincy. And we get dewy-eyed about those Brat Pack movies of the 1980s.

Finally, our favourite Teuton Raphael Honigstein brings us news of a rift in the German national team and the latest from the Bundesliga; Sid Lowe brings us up to date with Spain’s La Liga; and Jimbo tells us about Lazio’s mounting woes in Serie A.

Have a listen and post your thoughts on the blog below. We’re also on iTunes, Facebook, and Twitter, and if you like this type of juvenile humour, get your daily dose with our tea-timely email, The Fiver.

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• Midfielder heralds squad’s ‘work rate and quality’
• Captain John Terry joins in praise of Aaron Lennon

Frank Lampard, the Chelsea midfielder who scored two goals as England beat Croatia 5-1 at Wembley to secure their qualification for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, thinks this is the best national team that he has played in.

“I think with the way we are playing it probably is the best England team I have been involved with,” Lampard said. “I have never been in an England team that have won so many qualifying games and done it so well. I have been in good teams before but the way we are playing at the moment is brilliant.”

England have won all eight of their Group Six qualifying matches so far. In October they play Ukraine away and Belarus at home to complete their programme.

“I am enjoying my football again for England and I am playing in a team that’s got such work rate and quality in it I just want to keep enjoying it and keep going,” said Lampard. “Hopefully we will make a bigger impact in the World Cup than last time. It was disappointing to get knocked out at the stage we did. Hopefully we’ll be helped by that experience of being there.”

In Germany in 2006 England reached the quarter-finals, where they lost to Portugal on penalties.

Lampard praised Aaron Lennon, the Tottenham Hotspur winger who played an influential role against the Croats. “Aaron is a fantastic player,” he said. “He can be as good as he wants to be, he can be a world-beater.”

England’s captain, Lampard’s clubmate John Terry, said: “Aaron played his way into the World Cup squad with that display. He was given a chance to make an impact and he certainly did that. He was man of the match as well and that has given him a great boost.”

Lennon said: “I’ve continued on from last season. A lot of it is down to fitness and working hard. I’ve started that and hopefully I can continue it. I don’t know if I’m in pole position to play on the right [for England] now. I’m not going to say it’s my position because there are so many other players who can play there.

“I’m trying to mix my game up, that’s the thing I’ve been improving. As I’ve got older I’ve played more games, I’ve got more consistent and it came off for me. It was only my second start for England and I didn’t know the team until quite late. But I prepared for it like any other game.”

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• Jermain Defoe finds peace in playing after death of half-brother
• Striker’s England credentials boosted under Harry Redknapp

The pitch has become a pocket of serenity for Jermain Defoe. He has been scoring regularly for club and country at a time when he would have been forgiven if he had faltered. In April his half-brother Jade died of a head injury after an alleged attack in Leytonstone. Defoe has found a greater focus than ever despite those events.

For all the supposed pressures of football, the field can be a sanctuary. “I think it’s the only place you get away from everything,” he said. “You focus on football. When you’re off the pitch you think about things. The reason why you play, get on with it and do so well is because that’s where you get your peace.”

It is a disturbing fact that there is a Tottenham Hotspur team-mate who may be going through a similar process. The body of Edwin Palacios, the brother of the midfielder Wilson, was found in Honduras in May, 19 months after he had been kidnapped. “I wanted to speak to [Wilson] but sometimes in situations like that you don’t really know what to say,” Defoe reflected. “I know what he’s going through. You can see from the way he’s played that he wants to do well for himself and his family. It shows in his football.”

Defoe’s sibling was a DJ and you sense his affection for Jade when he smiles at the thought of his half-brother floundering on the pitch. “He used to try and play when he was at school,” Jermain said, “but he then realised that he never had it. He was in the music industry and with football I was always travelling. It was difficult for us to actually see each other a lot. But he was my half-brother and we were close.”

Jade’s condition had deteriorated steeply in hospital. “I was training on the Friday before the Man United game,” Jermain recalled, “and the manager said to me: ‘Your mum’s in the car park.’ I knew straight away when I saw her face. She just said to me: ‘I think he’s got two hours to live.’ So I had to get myself to the hospital and just be there for him. All the family were there and his close friends.

“The year before that I had lost my nan. It was strange. Look at my brother. He was 26 years old. You don’t expect that. When people die it’s easier to understand when they’re ill and you prepare yourself.”

The power of family life is inscribed in tattoos on Defoe’s arms that honour his mother, sister, brother and late grandmother. There is an affectionately comic reaction when he describes his mother Sandra’s reaction after he had scored England’s goals in the 2-2 draw with Holland last month. “After the game,” said Defoe, “she was on the phone crying. I was like: ‘Come on mum, please.’”

The support structure has been precious for a footballer enduring uncertainties. In his first spell with Tottenham he looked a secondary figure by comparison with Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane. Twelve months at Portsmouth then brought such progress that Tottenham, with a £15m fee, paid twice as much as they had received to re-sign Defoe.

The striker, at 26, knows he is stronger than ever. There is a poise about him now and he is also at a club who appreciate how much encouragement he needs. Harry Redknapp had also managed him at Fratton Park. “He always gives me confidence,” Defoe reports, “and says: ‘You’re one of the best strikers in the league so just go out there and relax.’”

Pep talks are on offer, too, in the coaching of the former Tottenham attacker Les Ferdinand. Defoe’s morale had suffered harm in times gone by and he is yet to make the cut when an England squad is being chosen for a major tournament. He had few expectations of going to Euro 2004, but it pained him to be excluded from the 2006 World Cup.

The then England manager, Sven-Goran Eriksson, seemed sure that Defoe lacked the quality for international football. “Hopefully he’s watching the games now,” the striker said. Defoe’s anguish was magnified three years ago because he was among the standby players. “I was actually there with the boys in the hotel and then I had to come home,” he said, reliving the misery. Theo Walcott, who did not appear in the tournament, was in the full squad ahead of him.

Defoe still complains that he did not get “a fair chance” under “the other manager”, as he terms Eriksson. His progress, all the same, explains why Fabio Capello is more ready to accommodate him. Defoe, currently picked for the squad in preference to Michael Owen, even rejoices at being a substitute, since the Italian sometimes brings him on for the whole second half.

There have been seven goals from him in his last eight outings with his country, even though he tends not to be on the pitch at the same time as Wayne Rooney. For Defoe, all the same, there is pride at holding any place in England’s plans.

Kevin McCarra rates five strikers to partner Wayne Rooney

Peter Crouch

There is no obvious blend of characteristics. Despite his height, Crouch is not really a target man. Rooney, too, would be disappointed if he was planning on hitting through balls since the Tottenham attacker does not have a turn of pace. Each possesses the touch to link with the other, but it is hard to know where the moves would lead if Crouch could not get behind the back four. His omission for the Holland match showed that the striker can take nothing for granted.

Combined goals per 90 mins – 1.07

Jermain Defoe

Defoe has been scoring regularly with England, but Fabio Capello has been treating him as a deluxe substitute and playing time with Rooney is extremely limited. The Tottenham striker will come into the reckoning more if his club continue to prosper. He does seem an improved footballer, with more awareness of the game as a whole. There is no cause to scorn a specialist finisher either. The time may come when England count on Rooney picking out Defoe in the goalmouth.

Combined goals per 90 mins – 0.19

Carlton Cole

He constituted one of Capello’s surprises. The Italian was so struck by his pre-season form that he got on to the field in the match in Holland. In principle, the appeal is obvious. He has a degree of physical power comparable to that of Emile Heskey and a potential for scoring not shared by the Aston Villa forward. He can be haphazard, as when hitting that ridiculous pass that let Defoe score for Tottenham. In theory, though, Cole and Rooney would both offer strength and adventure.

Combined goals per 90 mins – 0.00

Emile Heskey

He amazed everyone other than Capello by being such a catalyst for Rooney. The Villa attacker pinned defenders back and so forced open space for his partner. Nonetheless, it is a worry that Heskey can do so little on his own account that the influence on Rooney is virtually his sole asset. The time of crisis will come when England need more than that. Capello might wonder about his club situation, since Heskey has had 10 minutes of Premier League action since Aston Villa’s opening-day loss to Wigan.

Combined goals per 90 mins – 1.32

Michael Owen

Capello was virtually the founding sceptic. He would not bring in the forward when he regained fitness in the spring and still holds the same view. Owen failed to score in the period that confirmed Newcastle’s would be relegated. The pace will not return, but if he can prove that the scorer’s instinct is still present he might dislodge Defoe. It ought to worry him, though, that he was not brought on when United were losing to Arsenal last weekend. Owen’s reputation counts for nothing.

Combined goals per 90 mins – 1.06

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Defoe’s speed of thought and execution made up for grotesque defensive lapses in England’s draw with Holland

For Michael Owen, England’s second-half comeback against Holland was the worst possible news. The meaning of Jermain Defoe’s brilliantly executed brace of goals is that it will take a near-miracle in the colours of Manchester United for the former golden boy to regain the position of England’s penalty-area predator in time for a last tilt at the World Cup next summer.

Those goals took Defoe’s total to 10 in 35 sporadic appearances since his international debut five years ago, symbolising the way England’s substitutes reinvigorated the team’s performance after half-time. That, at least, will have assuaged some of Fabio Capello’s wrath after a couple of dreadful defensive errors allowed the home side to take a 2-0 lead.

Set up first by Frank Lampard and then by James Milner, Defoe coolly put his oft-doubted range of accomplishments on display. Lampard’s lobbed pass was neatly controlled on the run and jabbed past Maarten Stekelenburg in a marvellous cameo of composure and skill. To reach Milner’s precisely judged square ball and prod it home, he needed to demonstrate an instinctive speed of thought and execution.

England played the final 20 minutes with a forward line of Shaun Wright-Phillips, Carlton Cole, Defoe and Milner. Drawn from the ranks of Manchester City, West Ham United, Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa, not one of them is currently playing in a team qualified for this season’s Champions League, often considered a virtual prerequisite for a place in the national squad. Together, however, they not only brought England back on to level terms but, with the support of Lampard and Michael Carrick, established a clear superiority that might well have brought them victory, not least when Cole controlled and juggled the ball as deftly as Defoe had for the first goal before putting his very similar shot inches wide of the post.

Their collective liveliness temporarily banished the memory of the grotesque lapses that had presented Holland with their goals. If you are going to have disastrous defensive mix-ups, then it is certainly better to make them in a match like this, with nothing at stake other than pride and reputation. But there is never really a good time for such displays of vulnerability and Rio Ferdinand and Robert Green must have wanted the ground to open up and swallow them as they handed the eager Dirk Kuyt a chance to give the home side an early lead.

The alarming reappearance of Ferdinand’s tendency to doze off would have infuriated Capello. Italians do not like conceding goals and such a self-inflicted wound will have offended his most profound footballing principles. Gareth Barry’s error, which created the opening from which Rafael van der Vaart doubled the margin, was similarly feckless. Perhaps the two of them had their minds on the weekend and the start of the Premier League season, but neither that consideration nor Defoe’s double will have spared them the manager’s private wrath.

Those blemishes obscured England’s otherwise respectable first-half performance, with David Beckham and Ashley Young often to the fore. Beckham started the game thanks to the injury that kept Theo Walcott on the bench, and also to the inability of David Bentley, Gabriel Agbonlahor and Aaron Lennon to secure a place in Capello’s affections. It is the sort of role the former captain has been happy to accept in his quest for a record number of caps and for the beneficial effect of a continued international presence on his commercial profile, not to mention the pleasure and pride of playing for England.

Having chosen to keep faith with Beckham rather than promote the young pretenders, Capello may have been relieved when a minor groin strain ensured Steven Gerrard’s unavailability. The Liverpool man’s withdrawal allowed him to compensate for the absence of Walcott’s speed on the right wing by selecting Young, another young flyer, on the left, thus maintaining a balance of speed and experience.

Three years ago, in the aftermath of the debacle in the last World Cup, it would have seemed inconceivable that Beckham could still be getting opportunities to wear the No7 shirt. But he performed effectively enough, encouraging Glen Johnson to use his younger legs to overlap down the right, while Young gave several glimpses of his potential.

Showing that he had the beating of Johnny Heitinga, Young needed to be given more of the ball as England strove to overcome their early humiliation. But his Villa team-mate Milner, who replaced him after 68 minutes, did even better when he left the right-back standing to put a gloss on an evening that had threatened to end in drab disappointment.

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