<div id="attachment_16782" style="width: 160px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Wayne-Rooney.jpg"><div><figure class="external-image"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-16782" loading="lazy" class="size-thumbnail wp-image-16782" src="/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Wayne-Rooney-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150"></figure></div></a>Is anyone in better form than Wayne Rooney at the moment? Image: MikeEgerton/Empics</div>
The saying goes that ‘form is temporary but class is permanent’&nbsp;and&nbsp;on many levels this holds true, however such a huge part of professional sport is the mental aspect of the game, which at the highest level can be just as, if not more&nbsp;important&nbsp;than the physical aspect.
With just 8 or 9 games remaining in the Premier League&nbsp;player&nbsp;form and the momentum it provides&nbsp;can be&nbsp;crucial&nbsp;to clubs fighting for something towards the end of the season.&nbsp;&nbsp;Classic examples include Fulham’s great escape in 2008 and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nW8p8xppxwA">Kevin Keegan’s Love it Rant</a> as the momentum of&nbsp;1996 title race shifted in Manchester United’s favour.
With this in mind I have been looking at the form players in the Premier League and which players&nbsp;managers would potentially want in their sides for the season’s run-in, should&nbsp;they have their pick of the division.

Adopting a 4-4-2 formation for&nbsp;nostalgic rather than practical reasons,&nbsp;players in this&nbsp;XI&nbsp;have made at least 20 appearances this season and are free from long term injury.
Goalkeeper – Joe Hart
Birmingham are having a fantastic season, chasing a Europa cup dream and this is in no small&nbsp;part due&nbsp;to the safe pair of hands on loan from Manchester City.
A good shot stopper and strong in the air, it will be a travesty if Joe Hart is not on the plane to South Africa with England on&nbsp;current form.
Right Back – Branislav Ivanovic
After signing for Chelsea in January 2008&nbsp;the Serbian international seemed to disappear off the radar and it appeared as if Chelsea had uncovered a modern day Winston Bogarde.
However when given the chance Ivanovic impressed the Chelsea faithful with&nbsp;strong, powerful displays at both the&nbsp;centre and right hand side of defence.&nbsp;The injury of Jose Boswinga has allowed Ivanovic to show his value on a regular basis&nbsp;this season.
Left Back – Leighton Baines
With the&nbsp;injury to&nbsp;Ashley Cole,an&nbsp;England debut&nbsp;and regular starting berth in a&nbsp;resurgent Everton&nbsp;side gives Baines the nod over Patrice Evra and Stephen Warnock.
Centre Back – Ryan Shawcross
Despite the&nbsp;publicity surrounding the tackle that broke Aaron Ramsey’s leg the 22 year old has received a positive response to his actions in the aftermath of the horror tackle.&nbsp;He has a commanding, committed&nbsp;style that fits into the Stoke ethos&nbsp;that has allowed Tony Pulis’ side&nbsp;to&nbsp;assert themselves in the Premier League.
Shawcross&nbsp;been one of the stand out defenders&nbsp;in the league&nbsp;this season earning himself an England call up and an outside shot at a place at the World Cup.
Centre Back – Thomas Vermaelen 
Bought by Arsene Wenger&nbsp;as a replacement for Kolo Toure the&nbsp;Belgian defender has helped&nbsp;plug a leaky Arsenal defence with some commanding defensive displays.
Costing a seemingly bargain basement&nbsp;€10 million&nbsp;the defender has also shown a keen eye for goal netting an impressive 7 times already this season.
Whilst there have been some doubts over his ‘big game’ performances he edges others such as Richard Dunne and John Heitinga.
Central Midfield – Cesc Fabregas
Cesc Fabregas has been one of the best&nbsp;midfielders&nbsp;in the Premier League for many&nbsp;years despite his young age. This season&nbsp;has arguably been his best so far&nbsp;with the Spaniard adding goals to his creativity at&nbsp;the heart of the Arsenal midfield.
Likely&nbsp; to make the first team at any club in the world,&nbsp;Fabregas is an uncontroversial central midfield choice.
Central Midfield – Frank Lampard
Frank Lampard has scored more than 20 goals in each of his last five seasons at Chelsea, despite having detractors dating back to his days at West Ham the player has a record that dumbfounds the criticism.
After a slow start to the season, attributed to his role in the Ancelotti diamond, Lampard has returned to form and looks set to reach 20 goals for a sixth successive season.
Winger – James Milner
Aston Villa are once again challenging at the top end of the table, and this can largely be attributed to the speed and skill of their wingers, although now being played centrally by Martin O’Neil, James Milner has shown he is adept out wide and adds versatility to this XI.
An English player having a fantastic season, Milner looks likely to play a large role in&nbsp;England’s World Cup campaign.
Winger – Damien Duff
After seemingly fading into obscurity at Newcastle a move to Fulham has rejuvenated Damien Duff’s career, back to his dazzling best he has won many plaudits this season and scored some incredible goals.
With plenty of attacking options in the league it is the work ethic and consistency of Damien Duff which has given him the edge over Ashley Young, Nani and Florent Malouda.
Centre Forward – Wayne Rooney
The easiest selection of the lot, with 32 goals this season Wayne Rooney has come to the boil in a World Cup year and is seemingly single-handedly dragging Manchester United towards yet more&nbsp;silverware.
<div class="mceTemp">The first name on the England and Manchester United teamsheets, I doubt any manager in the world&nbsp;would hesitate to name&nbsp;him in their eleven given half a chance.</div>
Centre Forward – Didier Drogba
During his Chelsea career Drogba has been prone to sulking and picking up ‘minor’ knocks with greater ease&nbsp;than most, particularly odd considering his bullish style and excellent technique. Under Felipe Scolari it seemed as if his days in the Premier League were numbered, but under Guus Hiddink and now Carlo Ancelotti the striker is back to his best, hassling defenders and chasing down Wayne Rooney in a bid for the golden boot.
A tough choice but Drogba just about edges out Rooney’s former team mate&nbsp;Carlos Tevez for the second striker position due to his goal return and ability to terrorise even the strongest of defences.
Substitutes: Gomes, Modric, Young, Pienaar, Valencia, Heitinga, Tevez
There have also been many stand out performers this season that did not make the line up, for this reason I have named a strong bench. Last year’s&nbsp;villain Heurelho Gomes is now the hero at White Hart Lane and constitutes the goalkeeping option. John Heitinga is rewarded for his fine form by being named as the main defensive back up.
The game changing options are provided by a strong midfield quartet and Carlos Tevez.
A certainty less than a month ago would have been Ashley Cole who despite his off field woes was having his best season in a Chelsea shirt, before injury made him a doubt for the World Cup and gave England a left-back dilemma.
Interestingly notable players such as John Terry, Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres and Rio Ferdinand have been left out. The reason for exclusion is due to either&nbsp;injury or&nbsp;in the case of Steven Gerrard them not being hitting the high expectations they have set in previous years.
All in all&nbsp;I&nbsp;think that any manager in the league would be happy to name this line up on form alone given the choice, it may not be the best XI in the league but on current form each player would be a test for any opposition.

Premier League Form XI

Premier League Form XI - World Soccer Talk

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Authors note: As this is the first of many in an ongoing series I’ll attempt to keep some form of continuity throughout the end of the season but am sure to change aspects of the column to fit mine and readers needs.&nbsp;It’ll be difficult deciding what defines a week as various Premier League teams are spread thin through other obligations including European competitions and domestic Cups. That said, there will be times where a team will play a random Tuesday or Wednesday night fixture or their&nbsp;game in hand. In those circumstances, I’ll group that match into the following weekend’s fixtures. This may result in one team and subsequently those players&nbsp;getting two&nbsp;chances at winning Premier League Footballer of the Week – I’m sure once they get wind of this fascinating development they’ll sit down chuffed and thank their lucky stars. &nbsp;
Also, for this first entry I chose not to include the Carling Cup 2nd leg semi that featured both Manchester clubs because it was in fact a league&nbsp;cup tie&nbsp;or Manchester United’s (and more specifically, Wayne Rooney’s) demolition of Hull City this past Saturday. Rooney’s four goal haul v Hull City was an incredible performance but&nbsp;was covered this week on EPL Talk and can be seen <a href="http://epltalk.com/four-star-rooney-lifts-manchester-united-again/15222" target="_blank">here. </a>
So, on to Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s fixtures. There were some good games and some bad, some average and some boring. Here at the mother-ship we were able to view five of the eight matches plus one thrilling Carling Cup tie. Quite exhausted from the football and realizing how much more difficult this column is going to be, I want to first recognize some solid&nbsp;performances before I name my first ever Premier League Footballer of the Week.

Honorable Mention
Joe Cole, Chelsea– Joe Cole was at his pirouetting best for Chelsea as they dominated a very good Birmingham City team who had finally lost after going 12 unbeaten. Cole skinned Lee Bowyer in the 5th minute, impressively bombing down Chelsea’s right flank to place a floated ball&nbsp;square on the head of Flourent Malouda for Chelsea’s first goal.&nbsp;Cole forced Joe Hart into a few routine saves in the first half, but his pace, ball control and footwork were paramount in a dominate Chelsea attack.
Ashley Young, Aston Villa– This 0-0 draw could have been the match of the round as both sides attacked and played their respected brands of positive football as we knew they would. They “went for it”, and the match reflected both sides willingness to do just that.&nbsp;By the second half, the game had opened up to numerous Arsenal counter attacks with Villa continually using the pace in their squad (Downing, Agbonlahor, and Young himself)&nbsp;to bolster their forward movement. Ashley Young came close for Villa with a free kick that missed by the smallest of margins. Young’s dribbling skills were on display as time after time he challenged Arsenal’s Gael Clichey&nbsp;(who was just back from injury) down the right flank. The battle&nbsp;resulted in&nbsp;Villa coming closest to the breakthrough after a fine ball from Young&nbsp;to the back post after beating Clichey&nbsp;that the cautious Stewart Downing failed to commit to. A point each, but Young impressive.
Premier League Footballer of the Week –
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Luka Modric, Tottenham Hotspur– The Croatian midfielder who started on the left side of midfield&nbsp;was clever, creative and quite possibly the best on the field for either side. David Bentley was also a surprise for Spurs as he looks to regain the promise he showed in what seems so long ago at Blackburn Rovers. The 2-0 scoreline will suit Harry Redknapp just fine, but the goals could have been more. In the opening 10 minutes, Spurs moved down the left side to create 2 decent attempts on the Fulham goal. The game had a good pace about it as the first half progressed with meaningful balls constantly served into Fulham’s penalty area.
The breakthrough came when Modric single handily and skillfully&nbsp;served the ball on a platter to Peter Crouch by nipping in on Bjorn Helge Riise as the ball looked set to roll out of bounds for a goal kick. Modric didn’t give up and flicked the ball over Riise, then volleyed it to Crouch for a tap in. A nifty piece of skill for the Croatian who was bright and back at his best after breaking his leg&nbsp;earlier in the season.
Modric also impressed late in the first half when he dribbled past Aaron&nbsp;Hughes and curled a shot that beat Mark Schwarzer in Fulham’s goal, but&nbsp;couldn’t beat the post. Modric completed the game with a solid performance rarely giving away possession. He was the best midfielder in a Spurs side whose midfield controlled the game.
When Modric is on good form, which is almost always, he could walk into any team in the Premiership. He’s a manager’s dream and one of the best examples of a creative midfielder in today’s game. He’s got a broad passing range and the vision, skill and technique to go along with it. If Modric can stay fit, he’s Spurs best chance of staying in that fourth spot and we should all look forward to seeing him compete in the Champions League next season.

Premier League Footballer Of The Week, 1/26 &#8211; 1/27

Premier League Footballer Of The Week, 1/26 - 1/27 - World Soccer Talk

Premier League Footballer Of The Week, 1/26 – 1/27

<div><figure class="external-image"><img src="/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/defoe_jan6.jpg" alt="defoe_jan6.jpg" align="right" hspace="5"></figure></div>Striker Jermain Defoe should complete his return to Tottenham Hotspur after the two sides agreed terms on an as yet undisclosed transfer fee. The fee is expected to be in the £15m range, a significant increase from the £7.5m that Pompey paid Spurs for Defoe’s services in 2008. The BBC reports that the deal will also take into account monies owed to Tottenham by Portsmouth in deals for Younes Kaboul and Pedro Mendes so just how much Pompey will net remains to be seen. It should ease some of the financial strain the club is under though losing one of their main offensive weapons will be difficult.
For Tottenham, I have to wonder if this is the right move. Spurs have not been prolific in goal-scoring this season but I don’t know that they are lacking in options up front. They already have a solid starting pair in Darren Bent and Roman Pavlyuchenko. Pavlyuchenko started slowly but has shown signs of late that he is adapting to the Premier League. They also have Frazier Campbell on loan and one has to wonder what his future at the club is now that Defoe has arrived. Campbell and Defoe are similar players and Campbell has been solid for Spurs in his limited playing time, notching 3 goals and 4 assists. Defoe has been more prolific this season but is a few years older and has also had more playing time. Is Defoe worth the big cash that Tottenham are throwing out to land him? I don’t think so as a further strike against Defoe, at least for me, is that he is cup-tied having played in the UEFA Cup for Pompey.
I feel the real trouble with Tottenham has been in the midfield and at the back. For starters, I don’t think they have the right mix of players in midfield at the moment. Adding Stewart Downing, though that is looking unlikely at the moment, may not be the right answer as questions linger about whether his potential has been overestimated. Spurs already have enough cover at the under-performing midfield position with David Bentley, Aaron Lennon and Jermaine Jenas all fighting it out for the ‘honours’. If they are looking for a left-footed player in midfield, then Gareth Bale may be a reasonable answer. He does not seem to defend well enough to be a starting left-back at the Premier League level but he has the pace and skill going forward to make a decent left-sided midfielder.
The potential good news for Spurs fans is that free agent Stephen Appiah has been training with the club and is likely to sign a deal this week. Appiah is an experienced midfield presence that will bring loads of energy and positional awareness to the side. He’s a strong two-way midfielder and will add some defensive strength to the club if they sign him.
One area that Tottenham has failed to adequately address in the past couple of transfer windows is reliable cover at the back. They are especially vulnerable at centre-half with injury-riddled Jonathan Woodgate and Ledley King seemingly unable to start consecutive games. That instability makes it hard to keep clean sheets and have a solid base upon which to build. Their first choice right-back Alan Hutton has also been injury-plagued and though Verdan Corluka has been good cover defensively, he is not as proficient on the flank as Hutton.
Questions still hover over Spurs keeper Gomes as well and though his play has improved, I don’t know that he instills a great deal of confidence in anyone right now. A move for an experienced keeper like Reading’s Marcus Hahnemann or a&nbsp; younger prospect (with some experience) like Manchester United’s Ben Foster might be on the cards. Even if Tottenham stick by Gomes, someone to push him for the number one shirt would be a good idea.
Something had to be done at Tottenham to shake things up as a run of one win in six league games leaves them above the relegation zone only on goal difference. The initial magic of&nbsp; “Harry Houdini” has worn off and now the hard work begins. The Defoe signing is a signal of intention that Spurs are not willing to stand pat and hope for the best with what they have. Will the Defoe signing payoff? If they avoid relegation then of course the answer will come back yes but let’s wait to see what other moves are made before judging this deal as a positive step for the club.
What are your thoughts on the signing?

Tottenham Sign Defoe But Is It The Wrong Move?

Tottenham Sign Defoe But Is It The Wrong Move? - World Soccer Talk

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Video highlights of Spurs earlier in the season would have been filed in the Horror category, but their performances of late can be found under the Best Seller section, such is the way Tottenham are playing. Harry Redknapp has turned the side into world beaters especially after their convincing 4-0 win against Dinamo Zagreb in the UEFA Cup.
Darren Bent emerged as an unlikely hero after working incredibly hard to score a hat trick. Luka Modric had a wonderful game right behind Bent in attack, and the pair created plenty of chances as did Aaron Lennon on the right and David Bentley on the left.
Other than the performance by Spurs, I was very impressed by the away support of Dinamo Zagreb, the Croatian side. For almost the entire 90 minutes, the away fans were louder than the home fans. They kept on singing loudly with an unmistakeable deep Croatian voice. In the first half, it sounded like they were singing a version of “Yellow Submarine.” And right before the first half whistle, I could have sworn they were chanting “3,000 nutcases” over and over again.
Three thousand nutcases they were as the Dinamo Zagreb fans literally set White Hart Lane on fire with flames that were thrown into the away section. Smoke from the flares swept across the pitch at times. Sure, it created a great atmosphere but the Tottenham officials must have been concerned about the safety of the away and home fans.
Here are the video highlights of Spurs 4, Dinamo Zagreb 0:
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Tottenham 4-0 Dinamo Zagreb: Video Highlights

Tottenham 4-0 Dinamo Zagreb: Video Highlights - World Soccer Talk

<div><figure class="external-image"><img loading="lazy" border="0" align="right" width="226" src="http://epltalk.com/wp-content/uploads/newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44976000/jpg/_44976374_deal226.jpg" height="170"></figure></div>I got up this morning expecting another tense, dull day to be spattered with the occasional factual transfer as the transfer window creaked shut getting excited about nothing much in particular. A day spent scouring the BBC and Sky Sports transfer vidi-printers and tutting at bored 14 year old’s just texting and e-mailing rubbish to fill the gaps as the frustration grew as the day shortened, the last couple of transfer windows have been very dull affairs, so I was not expecting much. Silly me.
What I didn’t expect was that Manchester City would, as of 9.30am, became the richest football club in the world with the end of Thaksin Shinawatra’s short reign as owner and start throing money around like water. I never expected the Royal Family of the United Arab Emirates to buy&nbsp;any club, never mind Manchester City&nbsp;and immediately tell manager Mark Hughes to spend, spend, spend in an unprecedented scenario. The new&nbsp;owners, Abu Dhabi United Group are the investment &amp; financial&nbsp;arm of the Royal Family and have almost 1 trillion pounds available to them, or 10 Roman Abramovichs. This is football investment on an unbelievable level and&nbsp;has&nbsp;completely changed the entire landscape of world football in a few short hours.
If that wasn’t enough, they then offered a British record transfer fee of £35 million pounds for Dimitar Berbatov, which Tottenham accepted, then announced they’d bid £30 million for David Villa and a further £25 million for Mario Gomes. As I type this, Marca in Spain is reporting that they’ve also bid for Robinho and several other high profile signings but other than the 3 strikers that ADUG spokesperson Sulaiman Al-Fahim confirmed earlier today, nothing is concrete fact. <div><figure class="external-image"><img loading="lazy" border="0" align="right" width="240" src="http://epltalk.com/wp-content/uploads/newsimg.bbc.co.uk/eur.yimg.com/ng/sp/empics/3815778" height="330"></figure></div>Manchester City can now afford to buy anyone at any club with no worries at all, but the one thing that holds them back is the lack of Champions League football, a key point that will probably see Berbatov choose the red side of Manchester over the blue. Ferguson will be determined to finalise the transfer he sees as vital to enabling United to try and become the first club to win back to back Champions League titles and I expect Berbatov to be a United player by midnight.
The majority of players they need to push on to go for a top four spot would seem to be loathe to swap Champions League for a season of UEFA Cup football so they may not get the players they need by the time the window shuts at midnight but don’t rule out some massive deals being prepared for the next transfer window. Also key to their forward recruitment though&nbsp;is that City are in a position to attract these players in January when they’ll need them, so Hughes knows he needs to keep City in and around the top 8 come the turn of the year. Additionally, the due to Manchester City deal,&nbsp;I expect this&nbsp;to push&nbsp;DIC forward&nbsp;to purchase Liverpool, now that their royal rivals have trumped them to buying a Premiership club first, something that will not be going unnoticed back in the U.A.E.
One man who won’t be a Manchester City anymore is Vedran Corluka who confirmed his protracted move to Tottenham, originally completed on August 10th, this morning to join Pavlyuchenko at Spurs Lodge. It’s been probably the worst kept transfer in football so no surprises that he now joins up with his best friend, Luka Modric. A canny pair of&nbsp;signing for Ramos to add a bit more depth to the squad. All in all, today could be the most important day in the history of the Premiership so far and with 3 hours to go until the window closes, who knows who else is going to switch sides and which football club is going to be bought next by midnight.

Is Today The Day The Premiership Changed Forever?

Is Today The Day The Premiership Changed Forever? - World Soccer Talk

<div><figure class="external-image"><img loading="lazy" border="0" align="right" width="250" src="http://epltalk.com/wp-content/uploads/i.a.cnn.net/si/2007/writers/gavin_hamilton/11/06/coaches/p1_ramos_1106.jpg" height="310"></figure></div>It’s certainly been a busy summer at White Hart Lane this year as Juande Ramos begins to weed out the players he feels are holding Spurs back over the last few weeks and looks to bring in the kind of players he feels can bring more silverware Tottenham’s way. With the exception of Robbie Keane, Ramos has certainly been busy shipping out some of the dead wood and replacing them wholesale. There can be no doubt that come August 16th at Middlesborough, the Tottenham team that walks out at the Riverside will certainly be a team that Ramos has stamped his influence on in every area of the pitch.
Since he joined Spurs in October last year, Ramos has fetched in 9 new players and shipped out 13, trying to concentrate on quality rather than quantity which often seemed to be the key transfer policy at Tottenham since Santini’s ill fated tenure back in 2004. At some points during the last 4 years,&nbsp;it seemed that Spurs were applying to break some kind of recruitment drive record,&nbsp; since chairman Daniel Levy decided to try and pull the Premiership’s perennial under achievers back toward the top end of the table.&nbsp; Tottenham have&nbsp;brought in an amazing 48 players in the last four years and let another 37 leave, incredible figures and one that beggars the question, how on earth did they finish 5th in 2005-2006 and 2006-2007, never mind win the Carling Cup last season.&nbsp;
Ramos took over a talented team in free-fall, identified the issues and has so far addressed most of them. A leaky defence has been tightened up with the acquisitions of Alan Hutton, Jonathan Woodgate and Heurelho&nbsp;Gomes replacing Robinson, Chimbonda, Rocha, Dawson&nbsp;and Gardner&nbsp;with&nbsp;Gareth Bale’s return to fitness like another new signing. The midfield has a new look too with the delightful Luka Modric and Giovanni Dos Santos’ flair coupled with David Bentley’s wicked right foot&nbsp;to add quality to a sometimes lightweight area but it is up front that Ramos will have it all to do. The loss of Robbie Keane was unfortunate, but there was no standing in the way of Keane once Liverpool had made contact with the player. <div><figure class="external-image"><img loading="lazy" border="0" align="right" width="200" src="http://epltalk.com/wp-content/uploads/i.a.cnn.net/media/00/03/97/darren_bent.jpg" height="256"></figure></div>The £20 million paycheck will certainly help but Ramos knows he needs a proven top quality striker to support Darren Bent and the continued speculation over Dimitar Berbatov’s future cannot help matters. He knows he definitely needs one striker but he’ll probably need two which doesn’t help matters at all. Bent’s form in preseason has been incredible, hitting 9 goals in the last 10 days and he needs to hit the ground running for Spurs. Last season saw the striker struggle, but Bent seems to have been reborn since Keane’s departure. 2 hours after Keane’s transfer had been announced, Bent was hitting his 4th goal against Norwich City in a 5-1 win, a more timely announcement could not have been better planned by the like-able lad.
The baggage of displacing Keane and the hefty price tag that accompanied him from Charlton seemed to weigh the young lad down last season but he can certainly match Keane’s 23 goals of last season. In his two seasons Bent hit 31 goals in 68 games, almost 1 every 2 games. Add to that the fact that his second season at Charlton saw him often played up front as a lone striker&nbsp;as&nbsp;Charlton struggled all year at the foot of the table and his figures become even better. Ramos knows the lad can be his ace in the pack but he needs some help to get the goals.
In my opinion, Ramos has yet to make a mistake in his acquisitions and he knows that the striker issue is key to Tottenham’s campaign in both Europe and the Premiership. He knows Dos Santos can play up front as well as the left hand side of midfield and Dos Santos himself feels his best position is as a front man, but Ramos will realise if Berbatov gets his transfer, they are very light upfront and need more quality to match his other transfers. He also knows that this team stands on the threshold of maintaining a consistent attempt to break into the sacred land of the Premiership’s top 4 and also push for the UEFA Cup and&nbsp;his next couple of signings will be key.
Spurs need another experienced centre half to support the quality but injury prone duo of King and Woodgate, a defensive midfielder to support Huddlestone and Zokora&nbsp;as well as&nbsp;a top notch striker such as Huntelaar, Arshavin or Pavlyuchenko, yet Ramos will not need anyone tell him what&nbsp;and who is&nbsp;required and I look forward to see just who joins the White Hart Lane revolution next. I’ve got a feeling it’s going to be a very exciting season for Spurs fans and fans of attacking football in general.

Ramos&#039; Revolution Can Pay Dividends

Ramos&#039; Revolution Can Pay Dividends - World Soccer Talk

Ramos' Revolution Can Pay Dividends

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Sometimes it’s hard to fathom, but the Big Four as we know them won’t be able to sustain their power forever. At some point in time, one or more of those four will be dislodged and replaced by a new heavyweight. The question is, what team is capable of breaking the monopoly and which of the four clubs will be the first to drop from their mighty perch?
Call me insane, but I honestly believe that this upcoming season will see a shift in the power of English football. The club that will shake up the league reside in London N17 and is named Tottenham Hotspur.
Supporters of Spurs have been used to having their hopes built up only for them to come crashing down, but this season will be different. This will be the first full season that Juande Ramos, one of the best managers in the game, will be in charge. Last season’s experience was a good introduction for Ramos to learn more about his players, the Premier League and how things are different in England. With that knowledge under his belt, Ramos is now ready to deploy his tactical expertise in the matches against the Big Four and the other teams in the Premiership.
The four main reasons why the 16 Premier League clubs outside the Big Four have been unable to dethrone Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool are:
<ol>
<li>The 16 Premier League clubs have less money to spend on proven players,</li>
<li>The Big Four have better players to choose from, both on and off the bench, and</li>
<li>The clubs outside the top four have a lack of self belief and, as a result, psychologically think they’re unable to beat the Big Four,</li>
<li>The 16 clubs don’t have the consistency and staying power throughout the entire season to mount a serious challenge.</li>
</ol>
With Tottenham, I believe that under Ramos they have the answer and are able to meet the four main requirements to break into the top four.
Consider these facts:
<ul>
<li>The club has spent more money this summer than any other Premier League side</li>
<li>Spurs has signed the most new talent such as Luka Modric and Giovanni Dos Santos</li>
<li>Tottenham now has a team who is strong in every position</li>
<li>Psychologically, Juande Ramos is turning this Spurs side into winners, and</li>
<li>Ramos is continuing to work on the fitness of the team to ensure they can play the whole season at 100%.</li>
</ul>
This is not Martin Jol’s Tottenham Hotspur. The team has been spending the summer at an exclusive golf resort in Spain where Ramos has been putting the team through its paces. I have a strong feeling about Spurs this season. I may be proven wrong, but I really believe they’ll be able to crack the top four.
Who will be the team most likely to drop out of the top four to make room for Tottenham? It has to be Liverpool. I’ve been unimpressed by Rafa Benitez’s summer signings so far. It seems like he hasn’t been given the money to get a star signing and he instead is buying another crop of players who will quickly go through the Liverpool system and be sold in the next couple of years.
The key for Tottenham is to hold on to Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov. That struggle may seem fruitless but it seems that Tottenham are fighting to hold on to them. If they are sold, then Ramos will need to make some astute signings to find players with that caliber. Both Keane and Berbatov are dynamite up front and are one of the best striking partnerships in the world when they’re on song.
It’s time for Spurs to make White Hart Lane a fortress. With the ground possessing some of the most passionate football fans in the country, it’s already an intimidating atmosphere for opposition teams. But what the club needs to do this season is to take it to the next level and to make it like Stamford Bridge where Chelsea are undefeated in the league for years. Clubs need to fear playing at White Hart Lane.
What do you think? Share your feedback below by clicking the comments link.

Tottenham Hotspur Is Ready To Crack The Big Four

Tottenham Hotspur Is Ready To Crack The Big Four - World Soccer Talk

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Before this tournament started a lot of people had Croatia down as their dark horses to cause a major upset in the European Championships and who cold blame them after Slaven Bilic’s side came through a tough qualifying group to make it to this years competition. But having watched them struggle to overcome Austria last night my faith in the Croats to cause any kind of upset has slowly drained away.
Their performance last night was far from impressive having hung on for the majority of the second half against a team who are ranked below Mozambique in the FIFA rankings. Take nothing away from Austria though who gave it everything and with a bit more luck could have easily taken a point from a game which after the first 15 minutes I thought the Austrian’s where going to be steamrollered. The Croatia we saw briefly at the beginning of the first half was the side that so many pundits had placed as their possibly side to upset the apple cart. They played the balls to feet quickly and where constantly going forward and causing the Austrian defence all kinds of problems. The likes of Luka Modric and Daniel Srna looked lively and much of Croatia’s play went through them. The major weakness that the Croats face is a lack of goals now they have lost Eduardo who managed to net 10 in qualifying for this tournament. This lack of threat really showed last night as Ivica Olic and Mladen Petric worked hard for the cause but never really threatened, the sight of Petric blazing a golden opportunity into the crowd in the first half could be a sign of things to come.
In fact having watched Croatia again since they beat England back in October I am now very worried that my pick for the Euros will struggle to get past the group stages. With the Germans coming up next a point will be vital if they hope to go into the last game ahead of Poland who I expect to dispatch Austria. But the chances of Croatia getting anything from that game could well have dried up. Germany looked pretty good last night and should have put at least three past the Poles, Mario Gomez more guilty than most of wasting chances. If the Germans click into gear against Croatia then the Balkan country could be in for a long and nervy night. <a href="http://betting.betfair.com/football/euro-2008/" target="_blank">Click here for the last Euro 2008 odds</a> for Croatia Vs Germany or any of the games taking place in the competition.
That said I’m sure Bilic will have his troops fired up for their encounter with the Germans on Thursday and as the BBC have pointed out Croatia are slow starters when it comes to major tournaments. In fact its fairly impressive that Croatia have a team at the Euros at all being the smallest country in the tournament in terms of population with just 4.4million residing their. It puts to shame the likes of England who failed to qualify with all their money and facilities when you compare them with what Croatia have to go on. Bilic is paid just £35,000-a-year to manage the side, an amount which some English footballers earn in a few days. From having seen the side play and read about them on the internet there is certainly a large amount of pride involved with playing for the national side, something which a few sides lack. Last week Ronald de Boer claimed that the Dutch side lacked the pride required to pull on the orange shirt. It’s also plain to see that some of the England players don’t take much honour in supporting the three lions on their chest, for them its just another means to increase their profile.
That’s why I went for Croatia before the tournament started, the way in which they showed up England in qualifying was a sight to behold, especially the 3-2 victory at Wembley. Whilst most English fans believe that their side deserves to be there it was Croatia who earned the right to play at this summer’s tournament. Despite the doubts cast by the side with their performance last night I believe that if they can get themselves together for the next game against Germany then they will give the favourites a run for their money and possibly maintain their tag of dark horses, although that is easier said than done.
Good luck with you <a href="http://betting.betfair.com/football/" target="_blank">football betting</a> and enjoy the tournament.

Croatia no longer the Dark Horses of Euro 2008?

Croatia no longer the Dark Horses of Euro 2008? - World Soccer Talk

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Croatia no longer the Dark Horses of Euro 2008?