Firstly – I was wrong. I said 6th or 7th at the start of the year, and I only started to change my mind late on. And I wouldn’t have been unhappy with 7th either (especially after last year), which shows in itself just how well we have done.

I don’t know if it’s my age, but I feel like my life as a Spurs fan thus far had been building towards last night. I was 7 when we won the FA Cup so, although I remember it, it wasn’t a huge deal for me. Winning the League Cup… yeah, lovely to win trophies, but when the competition has been devalued by reserve teams being used, then it’s not quite as special.

Finishing in the Champions League places really feels special. I realise that being 4th best shouldn’t necessarily be something to crow about but, in context, it’s massive. Although we’ve spent a lot of money, we have, I believe, the 8th highest wage bill in the Premier League.

Our previous Premier League finishes have been unspectacular:

08/09 8th
07/08 11th
06/07 5th
05/06 5th
04/05 9th
03/04 14th
02/03 10th
01/02 9th
00/01 12th
99/00 10th
98/99 11th
97/98 14th
96/97 10th
95/96 8th
94/95 7th
93/94 15th
92/93 8th

We have been seen as under-achievers (and even a laughing stock as a result) for years.

Well that has now all changed.

We have a young, predominantly English team to be proud of, with many of players being considered for a place in the England World Cup squad.
We have a popular, charismatic, and pragmatic manager, also English, to be proud of.
We have a new training complex on the way.
We have a new stadium on the way (albeit not immediately!).
And now, we have Champions League football (albeit qualifiers) at WHL.

Last night was huge and I’m sure I wasn’t the only one to feel the emotion… especially seeing Ledley’s post-match interview.

What a season.

I don’t know if anyone else occasionally peers into the bizarre world that is Blue Moon, but it does leave you thinking that all City fans are egotistical, Spurs-hating morons.

I am ashamed to say that I, therefore, felt surprised when I read an insightful and interesting article written by a City fan (Bloovic), regarding Wednesday’s game: Team and Tactics v Spurs (home) Double Bumper Edition. Well worth a read, and I couldn’t help but want to write a similar article in response to this, so here it is.

I could start by emphasising just how big this game is, but I think we all already know – it’s what we’ve been building towards all season, and it’s still in our hands.

These were the line-ups when we beat City 3-0 at White Hart Lane back in December, a performance which was probably in our top three of the season (better than the 9-1 in my opinion, because the opposition are that much better):

Mark Hughes was the City manager on that day, and it’s fair to say that things have changed fairly significantly for them since then – Mancini is now in charge, they’ve tended to go 4-4-2 with more regularity, Adam Johnson and Patrick Vieira have come in, Robinho has left, and Ireland has barely had a look-in.

Things have also changed for us, though. Modric has recovered from his broken leg, and has had some excellent performances, Pavlyuchenko is now generally preferred to Crouch, and Kranjcar is out for the rest of the season (and probably the start of next). The most significant change, though, is the form of Gareth Bale. He was a last minute substitute in the home game… I’d imagine that he will be near enough the first name on the team sheet come Wednesday.

There were two comments that stood out particularly to me from Bloovic’s analysis:

If Spurs decide to park the bus, City’s job will become that much more difficult – we’ve struggled against this tactic on a few occasions – and Mancini will likely have to alter his formation and approach while the game is in progress to achieve victory.

And:

I think it’s reasonable to say that if Redknapp decides to take a more positive approach, then this will suit City’s counter-attacking style more, opening up the big Eastlands pitch and creating space for Tevez, Bellamy and Adebayor to exploit.

The reason these stood out is probably clear – he could quite easily be describing us. We too have had difficulty breaking down teams that are prepared to play with two banks of four, and not be too adventurous (Wolves, Stoke, Hull, even Villa) . Conversely, we’ve had less issue with teams willing to attempt to come at us (Burnley, Wigan, and even City themselves in December).

Obviously at Eastlands, the tables will be turned somewhat. The pressure will be on City, as the home side, to come at us and play an attacking game. For that reason, and remembering that we only need a draw from this game, I’d imagine that Redknapp will be tempted to go with the majority of the team that soaked up so much pressure against Arsenal.

His biggest decision in my opinion is whether to select Palacios. We know that he is one of Redknapp’s favourites, and we also know that he likes him when we play away – even at the expense of changing a winning team (United is a perfect example). The organisation and intelligence of Modric and Huddlestone as per the Arsenal and Chelsea games, or the combative, energetic Palacios? It’s a big call.

I have an inkling that he will go with one up top (probably Defoe), push Bale and Lennon high up the pitch, and give Modric a free role. Playing this way will mean that we won’t be able to play long too often, and we will need to ensure that our passing is short, crisp and, most of all, high tempo. What it does give us, though, is defensive solidarity – effectively a midfield three, with Modric occupying the deepest lying midfield-player (presumably De Jong), and Bale able to double-up on Wright-Phillips if necessary.

I do worry about Bassong, who hasn’t had so much football lately, against a City strike paring that seem to be re-finding their form, and I also worry about the prospect of Ben Alnwick in goal. Defoe’s form concerns me too – only four league goals in 2010, although two of them did come away from White Hart Lane.

This game could be a classic – there will be plenty of pace and attacking ability on display, and there is so much to play for. On the other hand, with so much at stake, both teams could play a cagey game, and try to grind out a result – especially as a draw for us would be seen as an excellent result. I don’t think that style suits us, so I hope we try to play football.

The nerves are building in anticipation, and they will only get worse. I just hope our players play to their true ability, and do themselves and us proud. COME ON YOU SPURS!!

Just a brief note to say congratulations to Robbie Keane and Jamie O’Hara, who have received ‘Player of the Year’ awards for Celtic and Portsmouth respectively.

Special mention, though, to Steven Caulker, our 18 year old centre back. In his first full season of league football, he has picked up several awards at Yeovil Town, with Player of the Year amongst them:

CAULKER’S CUP CABINET CREAKS

Yeovil Town’s on-loan central defender Steven Caulker completed a near-clean sweep of the “Player of the Year” awards this afternoon.

The trophies were handed out after the game in front of more than a thousand fans who had stayed behind to acclaim the players after the home campaign finished today with a 3-0 victory over Oldham Athletic.

Steven, 18, scooped the top awards from the Green & Whites Supporters Club, the Cary Glovers, the Away Travel Club and also grabbed the Bobby Hamilton Young Player award. It marks an impressive haul for the defender who turned eighteen just after Christmas.

Craig Alcock prevented his defensive colleague from helping himself to the lot when both he and keeper Alex McCarthy pipped the Spurs loanee in the Western Gazette Merit Marks category while Terrell Forbes finished second to Caulker in the Away Travel Club award.

The Away Travel Club also awarded a special recognition award to former player Darren Way who retired from the playing side earlier this season and is now an invaluable member of the coaching staff.

The Andy Stone Memorial Trophy, given to the top scorer each season, went to Dean Bowditch for his ten goals making him the only non-defender to receive an award.

Log in later tonight to see the exclusive pictures from this afternoon’s presentation.

Green & Whites: 1st. Steven Caulker 2nd. Craig Alcock
Western Gazette: 1st Craig Alcock 2nd Alex McCarthy 3rd. Steven Caulker
Away Travel Club: 1st. Steven Caulker 2nd. Terrell Forbes Special Recognition Award Darren Way
Andy Stone Memorial Trophy – Dean Bowditch
Bobby Hamilton Young Player – Steven Caulker
Cary Glovers: Steven Caulker

Currently we have the following players out on loan:

Jon Obika – Millwall
David Button – Shrewsbury Town
Adam Smith – Torquay United
Adel Taarabt – QPR
Steven Caulker – Yeovil Town
Mirko Ranieri – Ipswich Town (U18s)
Giovani dos Santos – Galatasaray
Jamie O’Hara – Portsmouth
Kyle Naughton – Middlesborough
Alan Hutton – Sunderland
Robbie Keane – Celtic

Now returned from loan:

Adam Smith – Wycombe Wanderers
Ben Alnwick – Norwich City
Lee Butcher – Grays Athletic
Dean Parrett – Aldershot Town
David Button – Crewe Alexandra
Sam Cox – Cheltenham Town
Danny Rose – Peterborough
Lee Butcher – Leyton Orient
Oscar Jansson – Exeter City
Sam Cox – Histon
Jake Livermore – Derby County
Andros Townsend – Leyton Orient
Calum Butcher – Barnet
Jamie O’Hara – Portsmouth
John Bostock – Brentford
Troy Archibald-Henville – Exeter City (now joined Exeter permanently)
Kyle Walker – Sheffield United
Sam Cox – Torquay United
Jake Livermore – Peterborough United
Andros Townsend – MK Dons
Ryan Mason – Yeovil Town

Jonathan Obika isn’t getting too much action for Millwall, with their strikers (Morison, Batt and Harris) all in decent form, and the team winning.

After his goal in the game against Yeovil (goal on around 1:10), Kenny Jackett singled him out for some praise:

“It was good to see Jon get his goal. He is a good finisher and his goal-per-game ratio is good.”

He has now made 11 sub appearances for Millwall, scoring twice. His other goal – 1:20 in. He comes short for the ball initially, and then sweeps in with a nice finish at the near post.

David Button has had a promising spell at Shrewsbury, keeping nine clean sheets for them (twelve all season) in 26 appearances.

Paul Simpson’s praised Button in the local press this week:

“Dave Button’s played a huge part in it, as have all the back five,” said Prostar chief Simpson.

“We’ve had a lot of situations where the opposition have got in behind us but Dave’s stood up really strong.

“Three clean sheets is a great achievement and now we want to make it four and then five.”

Simpson insisted he had been delighted with the impact of the big England under-20 international since drafting him in on loan from White Hart Lane in November.

“I think Dave’s a hell of a good goalkeeper,” he said. “He’s a good size, he’s a real presence in the 18 yard box and he’s an excellent kicker which is a big part of a keeper’s game now.

“He’s been much more positive over the last month or two as Dave Timmins has been drumming into him the need to get on the front foot, and we’re seeing the benefit of that.

“Whether or not he’s going to get in at Tottenham over the next year or two, I don’t really know, but he’s got a great chance from what I’ve seen.

“He’s done himself no harm at all coming here and he’s had a run of games which has done him the world of good.

“He’s grown in confidence and I would imagine there will be clubs at a higher level who will want to take him next year.”

Adam Smith is supposedly unofficially back at Spurs, after losing his place in the Torquay United team. It’s a shame for Adam, as he was a regular for them earlier in the season, was popular with the fans, and has made 16 appearances for them in total. It will be interesting to see whether we hang on to him and try to get him out on loan again next year.

Adel Taarabt came off injured in QPR’s win against Watford in midweek, and therefore missed this weekend’s match. He is still having a mixed time – drawing interesting comment from Neil Warnock:

“Adel, I don’t know what you do with Adel really,” Warnock told Sky Sports News.

“I play a system for him really and I don’t think you can do that in the Premiership.

“I think he’ll probably leave Spurs in the summer, if it’s not us, it will be somewhere else.

“He’s got a tremendous gift if you can find the right place for him. He’s done well for me and I’d like to keep him, but I think finances will dictate that.”

Warnock, who left Crystal Palace to take charge of QPR last month, is expecting a summer of rebuilding following the club’s fight against relegation.

He added: “I’ll be looking at all the situations and if I don’t think they are going to be in the squad next year I will try and move players on.

“That’s always the case and the whole club needs a bit of a look at.”

And this just a few weeks after these comments:

“Adel has tremendous skill. I said if he played well today he could have a few days off.

“He is shooting off to catch a train. I think he is going to France, I can’t tell with him. He is a rogue.”

He is seen as a Marmite player on the QPR forums – this thread is worth a read.

There are rumours suggesting that we will want over £4m for him in the summer, and Sevilla have been strongly linked.

Steven Caulker continues to impress at Yeovil Town. He consistently does well in the Player of the Month polls on Yeovil fan-site Ciderspace, often winning them. He should comfortably win their Player of the Season award, and I’d imagine that he will either be sent to a Championship club, or be involved in our cup matches next year.

Unfortunately for Steven, arguably his worst game for Yeovil came in the defeat by Leeds, live in Sky Sports. He managed to keep Beckford quiet, but his man scored twice from set pieces, which will have disappointed him.

Interesting interview:

Over the course of the season with you playing week-in, week-out, how much do you think you’ve learned over the past six, seven, eight months?

SC: Massively, physically, technically and also on the mental side of things. You’re learning how to turn out game after game, whereas before if you were feeling tired you could just take a game out. But here, with the points at stake, you just have to be ready for it week-in, week-out.

Giovani dos Santos has been a regular for Galatasaray, playing alongside the likes of Elano, Harry Kewell, Lucas Neill and Milan Baros. In fact, it probably tells you a lot that Milan Baros has been free-scoring, and Lucas Neill is currently being viewed as one of their best players.

A fortnight ago, Milan Baros scored a hat-trick for them in a 4-1 win, with Lucas Neill getting the other goal. A report – there’s also a decent clip there. Giovani got an assist for Neill’s goal. Some of the defending is unbelievably bad.

I would imagine that he will be on his way in the summer, but we shall see.

Jamie O’Hara is currently sitting it out for Portsmouth with a back injury, but is hoping to be fit for the FA Cup final.

Portsmouth-Mad gave him 7/10 for his performance against Blackburn, and he also scored highest (7/10 again) after their Chelsea thrashing.

Before that, he scored a superb free-kick against Hull (Portsmouth-Mad gave him 8/10 that day).

Kyle Naughton‘s spell at Middlesborough hasn’t worked out as well as we’d have hoped, and I do wonder why we’ve left him there. He is currently struggling to get selected ahead of Justin Hoyte and, when he has been picked, it’s normally been as left-back cover in recent games.

Alan Hutton had a bit of a nightmare for Sunderland yesterday. He was sent off for an incident involving Altidore – I think he can feel slightly hard done-by, but he should also be embarrassed at his behaviour. Sending off incident at 5:18. Hutton throws the ball at Altidore, and then goes down like a sack of potatoes when Altidore “headbutts” him.
Although, frankly, Hutton could have been sent off for the tackle on 3:35, which is a shocker.
Also worth checking out his defending for the penalty incident, 3:50.

Steve Bruce’s comments on the sending off are worth a read:

Alan Hutton was a bit silly to throw the ball at Altidore’s back, but that wasn’t going to hurt him.

The letter of the law is apparently that if you throw the ball then it is a red card, but that, for me, doesn’t warrant the same punishment as a headbutt.

It’s a good job that Hutton managed to get out of the road as much as he did, but he has still ended up with a cut eye, a smashed nose and a chipped tooth.

He was close to having really serious facial injuries. In a way, he was lucky because it could have been far, far worse and he could have been in hospital now.

The last thing you want is somebody to headbutt you – that’s GBH, not a sending off.

However, on the whole, his loan move seems to have been a success, and Bruce is keen to keep him:

We’ll do our utmost. We’ve got to respect Tottenham and see if they want to sell him.

He’s been fantastic since he’s come here. He gives you so much going forward, so we’ll see what develops. I’d love to make it a permanent move if I could. He’s been excellent.

Robbie Keane has been named Celtic’s Player of the Year, and has now scored 13 goals (9 in the league).

Keane’s goals:
Vs Dunfermline: Keane’s penalty
Vs Aberdeen: Keane assist on 20 secs, and goal on 40 secs
Vs Dundee United: Keane’s goal
Vs Falkirk: Keane’s two goals
Vs Kilmarnock: Goal 1, goal 2, goal 3.
Vs St Johnstone: Keane’s penalty.
Vs Kilmarnock: Keane’s first goal, Keane’s second goal.
Vs Hibs: Keane’s penalty.
Vs Hibs: Robbie Keane’s goal.

In terms of players who are now back from loan, we played West Ham in a reserve friendly last week. The team that started was:

Alnwick
K Walker Caulker Livermore Smith
Townsend Parrett Jenas Rose
Mason
Bostock

Spurs report.
West Ham report

We won 5-2, with Andros Townsend scoring twice, and John Bostock, Steven Caulker and Adam Smith also getting on the scoresheet.

In other news, a few of our young players have attended the Premier League exit trials, and Sam Cox has had a trial at Exeter City. I saw this on an Exeter forum…

Sam Cox looked impressive, doing the best last ditch challenge ive ever seen in my life by sliding and heading the ball away… amazing