3rd January 2014

Spurs to participate in Nutifood Cup‏, Vietnam

I realise that with a NLD tomorrow, blogging about an Under-19 tournament in Vietnam seems somewhat irrational, but I was intrigued to see earlier that we are late entrants to the Nutifood Cup.

Participation in this tournament means that we’ve had to postpone two Barclays Under-18 Premier League fixtures – the game at home to Southampton this Saturday and another away to West Bromwich Albion next weekend. To do so, John McDermott and his team must see this opportunity as incredibly worthwhile. McDermott’s belief in tournament experience as an important part of the development of young players has been well documented, and in an interview on the official site he seemed enthused:

“We’re going as a replacement for another European side so everything’s been a little bit last minute, but we just thought it was too good an opportunity to turn down.

We play against the Japanese and Vietnamese national sides as well as Roma so they’ll be three really tough games in heat and humidity. It’s a really invaluable lesson for our lads to go through.”

It’s an Under-19 tournament and is so-called because one of the co-organisers (along with Vietnam Football Federation (VFF), HA.GL Group and Eximbank) is the ‘Nutifood Nutrition Food Joint Stock Company’. The winning team receives $100,000 in prize money.

The fixtures are as follows – times are local times, which I believe are GMT+7.

January 6:
15:40: Tottenham Hotspur v Japan
18:00: Vietnam v AS Roma

January 8:
15:40: AS Roma v Tottenham Hotspur
18:00: Vietnam v Japan

January 10:
15:40: Japan v AS Roma
18:00: Vietnam v Tottenham Hotspur

I would guess that the squad is something like the below, but there is no official squad list available as yet.

Daniel Akindayini
Luke Amos
Dominic Ball
Laste Dombaxe
Antony Georgiou
Cy Goddard
Shayon Harrison
Filip Lesniak
Aaron McEneff
Luke McGee
Alex McQueen
Darren McQueen
William Miller
Nathan Oduwa
Connor Ogilvie
Josh Onomah
Joe Pritchard
Emmanuel Sonupe
Kane Vincent-Young
Harry Voss
Kyle Walker-Peters
Anton Walkes
Harry Winks

NB: Some squads appearing online included Veljkovic and Michael-Percil (who definitely haven’t travelled), and didn’t include Dombaxe or Alex McQueen (who have), so are inaccurate.

Look out for more news on the official site from Monday morning, and keep an eye on Wiziwig for potential streams, as the matches are being televised in Asia.

2nd January 2014

Analysis of the goal conceded against Manchester United (1/1), plus competition

Welbeck’s goal – Danny Welbeck latches on to Adnan Januzaj’s clever through ball and lifts the ball over Hugo Lloris.

Teams are said to be at their most vulnerable when they have just scored themselves, and this was certainly the case for Spurs on New Year’s Day. Antonio Valencia has possession shortly after the kick-off, and is looking for a forward pass.

Adnan Januzaj takes possession, and gets his head up. Notice Welbeck, on his toes…

Welbeck makes a move away from Dawson, runs across the pitch to stay onside, and then darts in behind Chiriches. Rose doesn’t get tight enough to Januzaj to influence his decision, and it allows the young winger to slip a terrific ball in behind the Spurs defence into Welbeck’s path.

It’s a quality piece of movement, and a quality pass. The Spurs defence are caught out by both.

Welbeck waits for Lloris to commit himself, and lifts the ball over him. Could Lloris do more? Possibly.

Overall, this was a very mature away performance from a relatively young Spurs team, and a shrewd tactical victory for Tim Sherwood. Whilst United had chances (and probably should have had a penalty – as should Spurs), Lennon missed two golden opportunities, and Soldado also put one over the bar on the stretch. In truth, we deserved the win despite being dominated in terms of possession, passes completed and corners.

Now, in a first for this website, I am able to offer some awesome Spurs swag to one reader…

The good people at Campo Retro have got in touch, and are offering Spurs fans around the world a fantastic opportunity to win a Tottenham Hotspur retro shirt with any name and number on the back.

Campo Retro has a wide range of Spurs retro shirts available, with classic shirts and track jackets ranging back from 1962 to 1991. Not only that, but Campo Retro will also print any name and number on the back of the shirt to make it extra special.

This competition is open to entrants from all over the world, so whether you live in North London or Australia, you still have a great chance to win this fantastic prize. It couldn’t be simpler to enter this competition, all you have to do is answer the simple question below by emailing
[email protected].

‘Which player currently holds the record for most appearances at Spurs?’

It’s that simple. The competition closes on 17/01/2014 and the winner will be announced soon after. The winner will receive an email from Campo Retro to request information on shirt size, personalisation and delivery address. All entries will also receive an exclusive discount to use at www.camporetro.com.

GOOD LUCK!