Tottenham Hotspur - Road towards Pride[CM07]Newcastle vs Tottenham

[m_vaughan]

Schweinsteiger is like god in CM, so getting him would be great!

 

[shantanu_rooney]

First Ever Match

4th July, 2006. My first game as Manager of Tottenham Hotspur and it was against the reserves . The match was scheduled at White Hart Lane, the ground for the first team.

I preferred the traditional 4-4-2 formation with Berbatov and Robbie Keane upfront. My midfield was made up of Aaron Lennon and Sted Malbranque at the wings and Luka Modric and Jermain Jenas in the centre .

Gilberto and Hutton were my full backs . Dawson and Woodgate were in the centre . Robbie Keane wore the captaincy band .

I opted to have King , Chimbonda , Lee , Darren on the becnh .

Gus had also gone with a 4-2-2 formation with Barnard and Pekhart upfront. Jamie O'Hara led them from midfield .


The stadium had some 10,000 supporters . The atmosphere was good not great but I was very nervous .

Well it was an easy win for us before Barcham got some consolation for the reserves late in stoppage time .

Luka Modric and Sted Malbranque scored for us while it was young Barcham who scored for Reserves .

The half time score was 2 - 0 as the boys produced a game that was highly entertaining . We had more attempts off target rather than on target . Reserves were completely dominated by us in the first half . Luka Modric scored from a free kick 22 yards out and Fulop had no chance . We took the lead after 31 minutes . More happiness came when Sted Malbranque's got a great pass from Modric and he finished it quite easily .

I brought Gomes , Huddlestone , Lee , Dos Santos , Kaboul and Zokora at half time .

Gus' boys were all over the place chasing shadows .

in the second we could have got the lead after just 2 minutes from restart but Berbatov's header was well saved by Fulop . Dos Santos and Lennon were too hot too handle for the full backs . Dos Santos impressed me the most . His crosses and passes were perfect and he is a great talent .

I called the boys to keep the ball and attack . I made Lee and Hutton attack from the full backs and also asked Dos Santos and Lennon to keep changing their sides often .

We did get atleast 4 opportunities to score more goals contrived to miss them all . But finally due to lack of concentration in the defense the substitute Barcham scored from a Jamie O'Hara free kick to get some consolation for the reserves in stoppage time .

I earned my first ever win as manager and it was a happy feeling for me . Reserves played well to give us some competition but we were just too good for them .

18 year old Jamie O'Hara was superb for the reserves and he impressed be with his death ball ability .

After the win the atmosphere in the team was great and there was a great morale boost among the players .

[B][COLOR="Red"][U]Stats [/U][/COLOR][/B]

[B]7    -   Attempts on Target   -   3
10   -   Attempst Off Target  -   5
60%  -   Possession           -   40%
81%  -   Passess Completed    -   80%
14   -   Corners              -   2
17   -   Free Kicks           -   9[/B]

 

[m_vaughan]

Good to see the players taking a friendly game against the reserves so seriously.

 

[mattfb]

Nice win, shame about them scoring in injury time but it doesn't really matter seems its only a game against the reserves and wont effect your goals difference.

 

[shantanu_rooney]

Pre Season Friendlies

My next test was against Hull City . I put a strong line up with 4-4-2 . Jamie O'Hara was promoted to the starting lineup . But it was an frustrating draw for us . We had most of the chances but we weren't able to convert them . Hull City were just doing the defending and got away with a draw .

Next match was against Kayseri Ericyesspor . I had given Gus to take job for the match . He did quite well and his weak side got a 1-0 win over the Turkish side . Gilerto scored just 2 minutes before the first half and won the game for us .

Next was another easy win for us against Sheffield Wednesday . We completely dominated the game and could have scored more than 2 goals . At the end goals from Keane and Malbranque gave us an easy win . The defense was hardly tested by the home side .

Fixtures Announced

Fixtures for the 2006/07 English Premier League were announced . We play Fulham on Monday away at craven cottage and soon we play Manchester City at Home next Monday . Then we have a couple of tricky games against Newcastle(A) , Sheff Utd(H) and Reading(A) . Then the important game against Liverpool on 1st October at home . Then we play some mid table sides like West Ham , Everton and Villa before we go to battle at the Bridge 27th November . Then 3 matches later we have to play the all important London Derby at Emirates and soon later next week we invite Manchester United to White Hart Lane . Then we have some decent games against the mid table sides before we again face Liverpool on the 10th of February at Anfield . Soon we face Chelsea at home on the 25th of March . After some 3 games we face Arsenal in the London Derby this time at White Hart Lane on 25th April and then we go to Old Trafford on the 28th . So we have tough fixtures but I think we are ready for the challenge .

Transfers

Major Transfers

Most expensive transfer of the season so far​

As every other season even this season saw a lot of players transferring from one club to another . Major transfer of the season was surely gonna be Frank Lampard . Lampard moved from Chelsea to Real Madrid for a huge sum of 29.5m . Next major transfer was my own Ledley King who moved to Newcastle for a good 9m . Ludovic Guily moved from AS Roma to Valencia for 8.5 and Van Der Meyde moved from Everton to Atletico for the same price . Darren bent was signed up by Newcastle for 6.5m . Torsten Frings switched clubs to FC Bayern Munich for 7.7m. For me it was just two signing still now . Daniele De Rossi and Micah Richards for 5m each . Ben Foster was signed by Arsenal for 3.2m and Pascal Chimbonda was signed by Marseille for 6.2m .

Tottenham Hotspur Transfers

Well it was a busy transfer market for us as many of the players were transfer . Ledley King was trsnfered to Newcastle for a handsome amount of 9m .Chimbonda went to Marseille for 6.2m and Taino also joined him for 4.2m . I had to sell Ekoto as he didn't wanted to go on loan and he was brought by Liverpool for 2.9m . Darren Bent to joined King at Newcastle for 6m . Paul Salteri went to Charlton for 2.4m .

My Major Signing - Daniele De Rossi​

In spending some money I was able to buy Daniele De Rossi for just 5m from Roma . He was joined by Richards from Man City for 5m . Offers for Bastin Schweinsteiger and Phillip Lahm 10m and 20m respectively were rejected . Klaas Jan Huntelaar rejected to sign a contract as he didnt wanted to leave Ajax . I also bid 10m for Diego but his work permit apllication failed .

But know its all tactics and strategies in my mind for tomorrow's Premier League opener against Fulham as I drive home .

 

[m_vaughan]

Wow! An Italian in the Premier League, and that too one of the best.

 

[Dr. Pepper]

...and for only £5 mil. Great negotiating Shantanu!

 

[saladguy]

De Rossi is a great signing! Lamps leaving Chelsea!

 

[shantanu_rooney]

Our first match of the season begins with a tricky trip to Craven Cottage against Fulham . Fulham were just saved from relegation last season on the last day of the season under Lawrie Sanchez .

We are confident about the away trip . We had a decent pre season matches . Winning 3 matches and drew just 1 match . New signing of Daniel De Rossi will make the midfield more stronger .

Key men to watch out:

Danny Murphy: The former Liverpool and Tottenham player would like prove a point against us . He has great passing ability and can score many important goals .

Simon Davies: Pacey Attacking Midfielder . Likely to cause a lot of problems.

We have put the boys through a systematic training regime and we hope that pays of .

All set to play for tomorrow. Micah Richards will be joining us tomorrow so he will be avialble for our next match against Man City

We expect a narrow 0 - 1 win tomorrow.

---------------------------------------------

Odd's Column

The odds favour Tottenham Hotspur for an easy win .

Fulham 10/2 , Draw 7/3 , Tottenham Hotspur 1/2

 

[m_vaughan]

I am going for a 2-0 win with De Rossi scoring on his debut!

 

[Kiko_97]

Good start to this Shantanu a real SOTM contender next month KUTGW

 

[shantanu_rooney]

Fulham vs Tottenham Hotspur
Craven Cottage - 21.08.2006
Referee: Uriah Rennie

Pretty moderate crowd of 21,000 had turned out to this opener against Fulham. Pretty good conditions with the temperature at 18 degrees, perfect for a good game of football.

My first EPL game as manager of Tottenham. I had stuck to the tried and trusted formula of 4 - 4 - 2 with Daniele De Rossi making his debut in the centre midfield and Jermain Jenas on the right wing .

Gilberto started as left back and it was the striking duo of Keane and Berbatov .

Fulham had opted to play 3 striking men in their 4-3-3 formation . Davies , John and Thompson did the attacking while their midfield had likes of Jansen , Bullard and Murphy

As the boys were lining up the tunnel to take the field I told them to play their own game .

It turned out to be an easy match for us . We started the game very attacking and after just 5 minutes Robbie Keane saw his shot fly wide the left post . Fulham too got a chance in the first 10 minutes when Colin John's header from a Murphy cross was saved by Robinson .

The game was evenly poised as the two teams shared the same number of chances before Sted Malbranque made use of some poor passing from Fulham . Hangeland's pass to Murphy was intercepted by Malbranque and he went all the way to beat Niemi and scored the first goal of the match in the 32th minute . 2 minutes later Tottenham Hotspur doubled their lead when Jenas cross was headed pass Niemi by captain Robbie Keane . The celebrations by the aways fans were wild . But there was something more left . 5 minutes later Jenas who assisted the previous goal this scored from a freekick 25 yards out to seal the match for us .

Jermain Jenas celebrates his brilliant free kick​

We went to half time with a huge advantage . At half time I told the boys not to under estimate them as a small mistake could cost us all three points . Geovanni Dos Santos was brought on for Robbie Keane as I wanted him to be rested .

Second half didn't start as we wanted it to happen . Fulham had a golden chance with John but his shot hit the post . Lawrie Shachez brought Christanval and Stefanovic for Volz and Queudrue respectively . But that only boosted our attack . Dos Santos was brilliant with his pace against the two center backs .

Berbatov could have scored his first of the game but his header from Gilberto cross was punched away by Niemi . In the dying minutes I told the boys to keep possession and don't lose concentration and they did the same . We had most of the possession in the game and mostly in the last 7 minutes . The passing of the team was great .

I was very happy to hear the final whistle blown by Chris Foy and it was by first win in charge as Tottenham Hotspur manager in a competitive game .

I was very happy about the thing that the boys had played up to their standards and also it was my first ever premierleague win .

 

[mattfb]

Nice win there. Too easy. Great gfx.

 

[Kiko_97]

Great win shantanu, what a debut for Micah Richards a clean sheet, KUTGW.

 

[Karachi Xpress]

Good start Shan. Nice win there!