EPL Challenge (The Ultimate Premier League Experience) FM2005 [*Established Clan*]

[ligs]

[hangs up Niall effigy] boooooooo [/hangs up Niall effigy]

[EmmYouEffSee]

Aboooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

[skintsaint]

SEASON 2 for Saints

Decided on sprucing up the squad for this seasons campaign. Too many "ordinary" players so decided to bring in the following :

Cesare Bovo (Palermo) Free - Quality Centre Back

Savio (Zaragoza) Free - Brazilian Winger

Amoruso (Malaga) Free - Flamboyant Brazilian Striker

Pedro Munitis Free - Creative Forward

Vladimir Smicer Free - Flamboyant Forward

Henrik Pederson Free - Hardworking Forward

Cosmin Contra Free - Strong fullback

Cafu (Milan) Free - The Legend

Stephan Kling (HSV) 750k - Efficient German Left Back

Vadim Vevseev (Lokomotiv Moscow) £775k - Full back who can play on both sides

Players who left the club were :

Sean Rudd - Released

Darren Kenton - £1.3m (Sunderland)

Chris Mcdonald - Released

So the season approached with Saints looking a much more formidable outfit. A tough start to the season awaited them.

WBA 0-0 Southamption Att: 30480

A largely even affair which could of gone either way if both teams strikers had been on form. Moreira had WBA's best chances but foiled by the impressive Niemi who won the MOM award. Pedersen could have got Saints all three points near the end but twice decided to miss from 6 yards out. No wonder Bolton got rid of him

Southampton 1-2 Man Utd Att: 32209

One of the big guns visited St Marys early in the season, Steel felt confident going into the match, and was even more confident after Hitzlsperger crashed one in from 25 yards. It all went Pete Tong after that as Utd dominated the match and scored through Rooney and Giggs, the class between the 2 teams showed.

Chelsea 2-0 Southamption Att: 42420

Another top team to play and this time it was Chelsea, 2 down after 22mins, Ballack with a header (surprise) and Joe Cole with the other. Saints looked to be going down to a heavy defeat but the showed some ***** and defended well for the rest of the game and even had a Beattie effort disallowed for offside.

So 3 games gone and Saints 2nd to bottom, not worried yet as already played 2 big teams, the next game is a crucial one, its a bottom of the table clash between Steel and new boy Danny King.

[goat261]

After a very successful second half of last season, this year I’m planning to continue our winning ways and hopefully succeed in finishing in the top 7. To do this we need more depth to a very small squad so I bought in these players.

Players In

De Sanctis Free

Westerveld Free

Loovens Free

Earnshaw 150k

Huszti 250k

Tiffert 350k

Ezquerro 725k

Zidan 2.5m

Carvalho 3.3m

To help the bills I had to get rid of 2 highly paid players.

Players Out

Kamara 5.25m

Parlour 375k

Portsmouth 1-0 Wolves

You cant ask for an easier opening game than this can you? Well surprisingly Wolves played some stylish football and also defended well until a 30 yard bullet went flying in tanks to Oakley to give us the 1-0 victory.

Man City 1-0 Portsmouth

City are now officially my bogey team. We hit the woodwork, had 1 cleared off the line and had 6 more shots on target. City only had 3 on target all game but were able to score 1 which was the difference between the two teams.

Portsmouth 0-2 Fulham

This game was unbelievable and just proves how the world is against us. The first ‘goal’ didn’t even go in, it went about 5 yards wide and didn’t even cross the line but for some reason they were awarded a goal . Then the second goal De Sanctis and Stafanovic had an argument about some crap so De Sanctis felt it was necessary to smack the ball at the back of Stefanovic’s head which then fell to John 3 yards from goal ho slotted it in the empty net . We still had enough chances to win the game but Crossley was too good and deservedly received the motm award.

Villa 3-0 Portsmouth

Villa dominated in our worst performance since I’ve been here, not much more to say really.

So its been quite an awful start to be honest but with Boro travelling down to Fratton next we are guaranteed to pick up 3 points.

[David Pagi]

The Bitch is Back!

Yesssss i'm back to marshall the troops once more after my little break, some twat wouldn't let me go on the pc while he was watching "his tv". AAaaanyway hopefully this season will be a marked improvement over it's predecessor as to be honest last season was pretty p*ss poor only just side-stepping the relegation trap door on the final day of the season thanks to Chelsea being so damn good and Newcastle's star studded team being so well sh*t.

I always go by the old saying "If it's broke fix it" And my Bolton team of last season was very much broke, poor players, poor tactics, poor management, so this season I've called up me old chum now then now then Jimmy Saville to help me fix it. He suggested new tactics, 31 yeah count them 31 new players and the same old shitty manager, well what u gonna do I'm the only man who can communicate with the fifty-six different nationalities registered on the clubs books.

I was abit of a bosman bandit during the summer heres what I picked up

Players In

Titov/2m/Spartak Moscow - Didn't mean to sign him just sort of ignored the deal because I thought i never had the money to pay for him oh well he's here now and the boy can pass.

Karypidis/240k/AEK - 1 of a cluster of Greeks I purchased I thought to myself they won the euros 1 of them must be decent young defender got potential

Lettinga/210k/Heerenveen - Young Dutch centre mid not quite good enough for Prem atm got potential though

Arabatzis/70k/AEK - Cover gk

Nelson/35k/Boavista - Cover for rb

Vasco Faisca/20k/Braga - Pacy Portugese cb slots straight into first team

Davies/30k/M'Boro - 20 year old cb/rb defender with potential

Now the bosmans............

Pistone, Pieri, Guiza, Takahara, Morrone, Smertin, Magiotta, Lagos, Bergkamp, Batistuta, Di Canio, Van Der Gun

Shawcross, Kneissel, Watkins, Rustu, Djourou, Bellanova, Guardalbam, Augustine

Recent Fixtures

Bolton 1 v 2 Fulham

First game of the season, the fan's full of anticipation, optimisum, and any other adjective u wanna use were soon brought back down to earth as Lee Clark smashed in the first goal of the new season with only 35 seconds on the clock new season, same old **** apparently. Despite all the new faces 31 to be exact, The Trotters still playing pig ugly a la last season, only had 2 shots all game at home aswell a disgrace! giuza scored my equaliser 24 mins, Legwinski scored the deserved winner on 30 mins with a trademark <hint of sarcasm> 30 yard free kick post and in.

Aston Villa 2-0 Bolton

I had 1 shot the whole game and that was off target says it all really outgunned by current table toppers Aston V , Vassell opened scoring converting a header following Jackson's cross, a Legrottagile OG made it 2-0 after the bald bullet Veron unleashed a humdinger at Jussi's frame struck the bar Legrottagile panicked and popped the ball into his own goal the donut another appaling display.

The Assistant took control of the following two games, done better then me tbf thats not hard though is it

Bolton 0-0 M'Boro

ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz

Blackburn 0-0 Bolton

ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz New tactic needed me thinks

[ligs]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by goat261:

...but with Boro travelling down to Fratton next we are guaranteed to pick up 3 points. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

You should do stand up goat needless to say these words came back to haunt the Pompey boss. Find out more later

[ligs]

Bah, was just finishing off my update, then there was a f'kin powercut so I lost it all. Can't be bothered to do it all again, here's the jist of it:

League:

Boro 4-1 Leeds

Boateng (30) Arteta (65) Hasselbaink (67) Ambrose (81) ; Winter (55)

Portsmouth 0-3 Boro

Mendieta (5) Downing (19) Boateng (35)

And after goat's prediction of his easy 3 points

UEFA Cup 1st round 1st leg: Boro 3-0 Austria Vienna

Own Goal (55) Hasselbaink (75) Tudor (77)

[BelfastNiall]

Somehow the fixture list had contrived to land us with fixtures against Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea in the first five games, so off we went to last season's treble winners Chelsea hoping to put in better performances against Mourinho's men this season than last years two drubbings.

Chelsea 2 - 0 Everton

Chelsea lined up in their favoured 4-2-3-1 formation with the danger man earmarked to be Damien Duff who topped last seasons assist charts with an incredible total of 17 and who once again is up near the top of this seasons creative charts. With us sticking to 4-5-1, the main hope was to soak up the expected pressure and hope to have a bit of luck on the break against Chelsea's miserly defence. Am I having a laugh? A bit of luck? Me - against Chelsea...Ha Ha. read on...

The game opened in predictable style with Bridge firing a good chance over the bar on 74 seconds and Cavallero saving well from a Mutu drive on 9 minutes. Duff was causing havok already, but on 16 minutes we had our first excellent chance. Defending a corner, the ball dropped to Oliver Bernard deep in our area. Looking up, the French fullback delivered an inch perfect ball into the path of Tobias Hysen who rushed in on goal. With Cech exposed, Hysen dithered in the big moment and allowed John Terry to get back and wrap a leg around the ball. The chance to take the lead was gone.

After this we defending well against a barrage of Chelsea crosses and corners and even had a succession of pressure ourselves, a few corners and crosses being dealt with by the Chelsea defence. On 38 minutes though, Cavallero proved his worth by rushing out and managing to tip the attempted lob by Mutu over the bar. Chelsea were turning the screw and a minute later, trickery from Joe Cole lead to Michael Ballack crashing a drive against the crossbar from 25 yards. Then Cavallero saved again from close range as Geremi became the latest to try and break the deadlock. On 43 their inevitable goal arrived, Mutu getting space to play Duff in 30 yards from goal. Duff's pace and control enabling him to hold off the attentions of Aaron Hughes to slot past Cavallero. I had tried dealing with the Irishman but he was just too good for Hughes.

Into the second half, and only a minute and a half in, I was rueing another superb opportunity missed as substitute Calaio was put in by Zurawski, only to suffer the same fate as Hysen in the first half and an outstanding recovery by Terry - who is supposed to be pretty slow ffs.

However, our adventure in the 4-4-2 formation was giving Mourinho problems but on 54 I knew it wasn't going to be our day when Calaio, put right through again, managed to get the shot away this time but ballooned it wildly over the bar from 18 yards out. And when Cech made an outstanding save from a Boumsong header on 58, I waited on the inevitable sucker punch which duly arrived in the 75th minute, Richard Carvallho with an excellent header from a corner finishing the contest.

All in all, I felt we were worth a point in this game which I took as an indication of progress made since last season.

Everton 1 - 1 Birmingham

All the post match press comments were dominated by new Birmingham manager Danny King who I was welcoming to Goodison Park for the first time and expecting to beat comfortably, although I kept that very much to myself as I praised King's attacking adventure in his previous games. Unfortunately, I knew the result was all of a sudden put into doubt by King's revelation that he was specifically going to move to a 5 man defence for this game. Basically, King turned up at Stamford Bridge and parked the a bus in front of, behind and at the sides of the goal. Pensioners in the second city were not happy campers at all, but that didn't bother King one iota. I decided to stick with 4-5-1 at the start to see how things progressed, with enough options on the bench to change things if King's dastardly plan looked like succeeding.

The breakthrough almost arrived very early in an Everton onslaught. On three minutes, an excellent whipped ball in by Selakovic evaded the entire Brum defence and was met with a powerful header from close range by Sivok, which the bus deflected away off the windshield. On 9 minutes a long drive from Lewandowski beat the huge vehicle at the far post but went inches over. On 13 minutes, Birmingham took a risk and put 3 men into our half, with Izzet shooting wildly wide from 50 yards before King lost the head at him for venturing too far forward. On 17 minutes we got our reward. A free kick from Selakovic was parried and this years top Premiership scorer Zurawski pounced to make it 1-0.

Just as I was getting comfortable though, King showed that he has quickly learnt one of Liggins' favoured tactics. If the other team is better than yours, get to the ref before the game and pass him a brown envelope. This is the only reason I can see that Bernard's breathing on Clinton Morrison in the box could have resulted in a penalty. I was outraged. A soft soft decision indeed - David Dunn converting. 1-1. And that was the way it stayed, with us rightly outraged at the turn of events and King on the mobile to Liggins thanking him for such a valuable EPL tip.

The Table

[Dunga99]

Transfers...

A couple of beat the deadline transfers to tell you about.

Malcolm Christie from Middlesbrough for free

A great backup for my strike force and with only Heskey and Morrison my 2 other options to partner Forssell he could soon find himself first choice.

Season long loan

David Bellion from Manchester Utd (0% of wages paid)

Another backup forward for my squad. This was more of a panic loan just incase the Christie deal fell apart due to Charlton Athletic making an offer for him.

Slow start for Birmingham City

Premiership Game 3

Southampton 1

Amoroso 18

Birmingham City 1

Savage 48

Man of the Match: Savage 8/10 Birmingham

Attendance-32240

Refereed by John Evans

Next up was Rob Steel Southampton and with Birmingham City still looking for there first win this was other important game. Some of the players were still not match fit after the Atalanta game so some were rested. This was an even game with Southampton Amoroso scoring a good goal against us to give them a 1-0 lead at half time. Then in the second half Robbie Savage bends a lovely free kick around the Southampton wall to draw the game level for Birmingham City.

After the game Rob Steel gave his interview to the press and said Birmingham City are heading for the drop on this showing. I'm hoping to prove him wrong 1-1 Draw

Premiership Game 4

Birmingham City 0

Arsenal 3

Henry 4, 42 & 90

Man of the Match: Henry 10/10 Arsenal

Attendance-29992

Refereed by Martin Yerby

After the international games in midweek Forssell game back with a low fitness level so I had to give him a rest again

Playing Arsenal is never going to be easy and missing you best player doesn't help. I went for Emile Heskey, Clinton Morrison and Marian Pahars to try and get us some much needed goals.

My lads just didn't turn up for this game and it turned into the Henry show as he scored 3 past us and could have scored alot more on another day. 3-0 Lost

Premiership Game 5

Birmingham City 1

Carter 47

Blackburn 1

Drulic 54

Man of the Match: Pedersen 10/10 Blackburn

Attendance-29885

Refereed by Mark Halsey

This is the kind of game I have to start winning if I'm going to keep Birmingham City in the premiership. The good news was Forssell was almost back to full fitness so I took a gamble on him to start up front with Heskey and Christie up front.

The first half was boring with little to offer in highlights but most of Blackburn best play was coming via Pedersen and he was looking there danger man. Second half and against the run of play Carter scores for us to give Birmingham City a 1-0 lead which doesn't last long as Drulic draws Blackburn level 1-1. After that Blackburn could have stole the 3 points but if it wasn't for some last minute defending from my lads. The game ended 1-1 Draw

My team still hasn't played the kind of football I know they can but I hope I can turn it around.

Everton 1

Zurawski 18

Birmingham City 1

Dunn pen 36

Man of the Match: Traore 8/10 Birmingham City

Attendance-40247

Refereed by Peter Walton

Next up was Niall Murphy high flying Everton and I felt is was time for a change of tactic and as this was an away game I went for a defensive formation 5-3-2. Right from kick of Everton came at us hitting the cross bar within the first 10 minutes and then the breakthrough for Everon with a free kick from Selakovic was parried (bad goalkeeping) straight at Zurawski to make it 1-0 and thats the way it stayed till half time. Second half Bernard tried to hack off Clinton Morrison legs in the box which resulted in a penalty. Dunn done the honours and put the ball in the bottom corner to draw the game 1-1. After the penalty it was all Everton again and they could have taken all 3 points if they had better finishing. In my first season to come to Goodison Park playing as badly as I have been and to get a 1 point is a good result for me. 1-1 Draw

Manager comments

Still looking for my first league win after 6 games but a couple of wins could take us out of danger and I'm hopeful I can turn the team around. I may stick with a 5 man defence and see if I can nick a few 1-0 wins along the way but only time will tell. As the song goes things can only get better

[Inter]

Well three more games to report on and the fatigue in the players is already starting to show...

Leicester City 3-0 Man City

Well in all honesty Leicester fully deserved the win and could have won by more.

Leicester City have continued their excellent start to this season by hammering Man City at the Walkers Stadium. Shola Amiobi on 36 minutes put the newly promoted team ahead and deservedly so. Thats the way things stayed until the 56th minute when Jordan Stewart hit a deflected shot into the back of the net. City's misery continued in this match when a dubius penalty decision went against Guy Demel supposedly tripped Ameobi up in the box. David Connelly converted the penelty.

No surprise that Leicester looked solid at the back with the best defence in the league, only conceeding 1 goal.

Better luck next match was needed for the trip to Anfield.

Liverpool 1-1 Man City

This was a game where the visitors fully deserved the win but where held to share the points.

All game, Liverpool could only seem to hit long shots, most of them going off target only hitting the target 2 times in over 90 minutes.

The dead-lock was broken by Man City's Brazilian attacking-midfielder, Giovanni who hit a well taken goal on 17 minutes. It was knocked along the defence for a bit before former Liverpool man, Stephane Henchoz hit a long ball towards Alan Shearer (who is finding himself playing alot above Anelka recently), he beat Igor Biscan in the air to flick the ball into Giovanni's stride. The brilliant Brazilian

showed his flair by embarresing the big Fin defender Sami Hyypia, then taking the ball round goalkeeper Chris Kirkland before slotting the ball into the back of the net.

The equaliser hit on 25 minutes, was scored by the Man City keeper and ex-Liverpool goalkeeper, David James. It was a scramble in the City box, the ball ended up being headed against the bar by Hyypia then hitting off the former England number 1's back and trickled across the line....gutting.

So for the recent performances of David James it was looking likely that Dutchman, Edwin van der Sar was going to replace him in goal.

UEFA Cup 1st Round 1st leg

Man City 4-0 FH

A fully deserved big win for Manchester City who completely dominated the game. Fh, the team who got beat by Inter in the 3rd qualifying round of the Chamions League, only had 3 shots all match, none of which hit the target. A quiet game for van der Sar. Man City hit 23 shots all game, 15 of which on target.

The first goal of the game was scored on 15 minutes byt Giovanni again. A great season for him so far with 9 goals in 14 games. He hit the ball perfectly beyond the goalkeeper into the bottom corner. It was a lovely long range ball through the middle from Balde to create the goal. Balde in contension for a regular first team place after yet another good game. Dellas will have to start performing better to keep his place.

From then on, City just kept on attacking and attacking until finally in the 87th minute, Alessandro Simonetta's replacement Locatelli headed in from another great Shaun Wright-Phillips cross.

Two more goals followed from Anelka, the man who came on for Man of the Match Giovanni late on won the game convincingly. His first hit nicely beyond the keeper on the rebound of Locatelli's shot, still had a lot to do, and his second was a well converted penalty.

With the away leg still to play, it still looks like Manchester City will qualify for the group stages.

Next up is a home game against giant killers Tranmere in the League Cup 2nd Round. Should really qualify, but we will be taking no chances. Tranmere will be up against the first string team with Hartson starting on his return from injury. Hopefully we wont sustain any injuries as we play host to Charlton with their new boss Chris Stapleton. Plenty of squad depth should make sure we have no injury crisis however.

League form so far...

Games played - 5

Won - 2

Drawn - 1

Lost - 2

Goals for - 3

Goals against - 5

Goal difference - -2

Points - 7

League position - 11th

Clubs Top Goal/Assist Players

Goals - Giovann with 9.

Assists - Shaun Wrigh-Phillips with 6.

Best New signing so far this Season

In my opinion, the best new signing has been my right back Simone Padoin. Being playing brilliant considering I was only putting him there because I had no other Right backs eligible for the Intertoto Cup. He has impressed in the games he has played in.

So things arent looking too badly for City at mid-table but will be another erratic season for them?

[EmmYouEffSee]

One Trick Pony...?

Are Spurs just a one trick pony? Are they always destined to be a club that just picks up the odd win? More ups and downs at White Hart Lane this year than in the bedroom of John O'Shea and Will Young. Things are all over the place and well, that's the tale of the Spurs season so far to be honest. One great result was usually followed by one of not such fortune as the lack of consistancy was gleaming through the results each week. As the Premier League began, the fixtures weren't panning out as hoped as trips to Liverpool, Monaco and Manchester City were ahead. A Very tricky start to the season played out like this....

Saturday 13th August 2005

Tottenham Hotspur [2]: Defoe(35), Kanoute(41)

Charlton Athletic [2]: Holland(59), Euell(89)

A very fast paced match at White Hart Lane took place on the opening day, with Charlton dominating procedings throughout the match dispite going down two goals in the first half. A very strong Charlton were prepared for a hard faught battle against a Spurs side that had a foot in the Champions League door, and at the end of the day they wanted the win ever so much more than the home side did. Could the form that killed the momentum at the end of last season have been carried over?

Saturday 20th August 2005

Liverpool [1]: Cisse(23)

Tottenham Hotspur [0]:

The dominance again showed through for the opposing side, as Spurs' first real close cut shot on goal game on 67 minutes. With long shots flying in all over the shop and a strong Liverpool back line, this egg was always going to be a tough one to crack and Tottenham left Anfield empty handed. 14th Place in the league was fortunate, and with only one point, things had to improve.

Wednesday 24th August 2005

Monaco [3]: Nonda(6 Pen), Adebayor(44,66)

Tottenham Hotspur [2]: Guarin(9), Moore(45)

An early penalty was cancelled out by a fantastic Freddy Guarin strike almost straight after eachother. The tie was pretty much killed off on half time as the score was placed at 7-2 over both legs. An array of tallent was on show in both games proving both teams were clearly able to take on the Champions League challenge, but Spurs prevailed and took the spot in Group D.

Sunday 28th August 2005

Man City [1]: Shearer(9)

Tottenham Hotspur [0]:

Very little to say from a Tottenham point of view for this game. A very well organised Manchester City side battled well dispite all the different tactical changes that were thrown at via the away team and ended up taking all three points. Tottenham not quite yet recovered from their 'blip' in form as Leo Hardy picks up respect from his opposing manager aswell as a few places in the league.

Manager Sam Bouchard had this to say after the result.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Ahhh...more points lost. To be honest i havn't yet spoken to the team about what i thought about the game. I'm unhappy with the way they are playing. The fact that they seem to fold like paper when the opposition scores and begins to keep the ball and play around with it. I dont want a team that doesn't try. I'm here to win. I will strive to make this club a success because i am a successful manager. The board know what i'm capable of, as do the fans.....but the players...i'll show them something tomorrow morning that'll get their arses in gear for this season. And hey, if it doesn't work and the board are unhappy, i will say goodbye. Until the board or myself decide otherwise, these players will work...they'll work harder than they ever have before...thank you </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Bounce Back Bouchard

Well the team appeared at the Spurs training ground Monday morning at 06.00 sharp and were greeted with a schedule. All players on contract with Tottenham Hotspur were to train together. This would, according to the notice, give the players in the 'First Team' a chance to learn something off the trainee's and the youth players. The players reguarded as the first choice were to clean the boots after the training sessions before they were alowed any free time.

On Tuesday evening Sam Bouchard held a press conference to tell the media about his radical changes.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Well i mixed everything up. 15 year old's were going through a tough training schedule and were doing better than the first team. The fitness and the will to succeed is there. The competition for places in most positions is there. The places where there lact any 'umpfh' so to speak is the attacking force in the midfield. That's why in the last three hours i'm delighted to say that i've spent £7.5 million on the duo of Robin van Persie and Niko Kranjkar. Two very skillful attacking midfield players who will instantly provide more options for my selection. I told the team i expected more from them for us to win as a team. For us to compete amongst the European elite we've got to believe in ourselves, believe in the game and believe in Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Wednesday 31st August 2005

Tottenham Hotspur [3]: McFadden(43), Moore(62), Kranjcar(70)

Wolves [0]:

Star of the show was new boy Niko Kranjcar. Hands down, the best player on the pitch. A very good and for once, convincing Spurs performance. The defence were tighter than Niall Murphy's buttocks, the Midfield were getting more stuck in than a sticker in a Panini album, and the Attackers were bangin' them in more frequently than Ron Jeremy. All in all a very good day for Tottenham Hotspur

Saturday 10th September 2005

Tottenham Hotspur [5]: Kranjcar(6), Kanoute(31,62,65), Ricketts(86)

Fulham [0]:

Simply perfection! International Friendly's meant that a vast majority of players were away for a week and for those that werent' taking part in that 'scene', it meant they had more fun with the new training scheme! Chris Coleman brought is Fulham side across London to White Hart Lane to face a seemingly tired and weary Spurs side. However the internationals during the week did nothing but freshen up the players who instantly slotted into the groove when the whistle blew. A Very fast paced game was anything but end to end with the ball sticking inside the Fulham half for the vast majority of the time. Shots came off the post and twice off the bar but 5 managed to seep through the Fulham defence and the goalkeeper. Many value Fulham as a very good side and this result only goes to prove how Tottenham are progressing...ever so slowly.

After the game the Spurs boss had this to say...

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">I thought it was a very good performance. The team looked strong and i believe i've added a fantastic young player in the form of Niko Kranjcar in the centre of midfield. This team have shown today that they have a will to win, and my god they can do it in style. Fulham are a very good side...i mean no disrespect to their team or Chris Coleman, but i can't ever see that side beating a very good side. They will beat the average sides and the teams at the bottom which means that they have the quality's to be a good side theirselves but i can't ever see them scoring goals enough to beat any GOOD side. A Good side wouldn't concede i dont know......8....against this mob.....and if i were the manager of a team that conceded an awful lot of goals to Fulham, i'd personally be pleading with the board to remove my head from the chopping block. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Wednesday 14th September 2005

Flora [0]:

Tottenham Hotspur [3]: Kompany(52), Defoe(56 Pen), Carrick(84)

With Kranjcar unavaliable for the Champions League due to not being registered in time, it was Michael Carrick that had to take charge of the attacking end of the team, and that he did. A Fantastic performance capped by a goal at the end of the game showed off the talent that he is and most definatly his value to the Spurs squad. Flora did well to hold on until after half time due to having the fortune of the lino ruling out a headed goal from Vincent Kompany and the onslaught of the Spurs side against them. When the chance arose for Kompany in the second half the lindsman could do nothing about it as the man from Belgium rose like a salmon and planted the ball into the back of the net. A penalty for Defoe soon after killed any chance of a Flora comeback and with their formation change to playing 5 at the back and 5 in the middle the oppertunity for the home side to peg one back was minimal. A very good evening in the Champions League for Spurs then as they sit top of their Group 2 points clear of 2004 winners Porto.

Sunday 18th September 2005

Aston Villa [1]: Angel(29)

Tottenham Hotspur [1]: Kranjcar(22)

His third goal in as many starts gave Kranjcar and Spurs the lead they so desperatly needed against Villa. The away side took the lead after a fantastic through ball from James McFadden set Niko on his way as he nessled the ball behind Thomas Sorensen in the Villa goal. A poor piece of positioning from goalkeeper Paul Robinson gifted Juan Pablo Angel the chance to put his team back level on the half hour mark, as the man between the sticks slipped whilst taking a kick offering Angel the time to have a 'cup of tea and a fag', as my Sunday League manager used to say, before planting the ball into the opposite corner, well out of reach of the embarrassed Robbo. Two good looking sides played out the game to a draw without much else to note. A point away from home against a tough challenge in Villa when it could well have been all three is quite acceptable considering it's Spurs' first on their travels in the Premier League this season.

[BelfastNiall]

A good night's work gives cause for optimism.

Carling Cup 2nd Round

Everton 4 - 0 Rotherham

A mainly reserve side took apart Rotherham in convincing fashion, with the manager enjoying a relaxing evening at Goodison Park. A double salvo from Emmanuelle Calaio had eased the threat of any cup shock in the first half.

Further goals were added by 17 year old midfielder Marchisio and Olivier Bernard which completed the rout. Unfortunately, the draw has not been kind to the Toffees in the 3rd Round, as we face an away trip to Sam Bouchard's Tottenham Hotsperm. Speaking to the press after the game Murphy commented,

"A trip to big spending Bouchard's Spurs is a very attractive tie. Indeed maybe only Danny King would argue that it isn't the tie of the round. Spurs have had a surprisingly inconsistent start to the season and may feel they have bigger fish to fry in the Champions League to be taking the Carling Cup too seriously. That is a testament as to how quickly Sam Bouchard has turned things around at White Hart Lane. For Everton however, the Carling Cup is higher on our priorities and we'll be hoping to travel down to Spurs and put on a good show for the fans."

Bolton 0 - 1 Everton

Pagi's Bolton continue to struggle near the foot of the Premiership so I was very keen to take three points at the Reebok Stadium to embellish the fact that Everton are one of the most improving sides in the Premiership. The lads duly delivered against a poor Bolton side, whose main threat came when Ilhan Mansiz was brought on off the bench in the second half.

It took one stunning move to win the game. A fantastic through ball from Flamini picked out Calaio and split the Bolton defence. Calaio surged forward and delivered an awesome cross, which was matched by another awesome finish by Zurawski, who beat two defenders to the ball and won the game for Everton.

Everton 6 - 1 Leeds United

An awesome performance here by the whole team in the best performance by Everton under my tenure, eclipsing even the 3-1 win over Arsenal at the beginning of the season. Everything went right from an excellent goalkeeping performance by Robert Green, through to hat trick hero Maciej Zurawski up front.

The Pole notching three goals cementing his place at the top of the Premiership scoring charts. Hysen, Flamini and Holneak also registered a goal. On this performance I am confident that we now have a squad capable of challenging for the top six or seven places this season.

Portsmouth 2 - 1 Everton

Unfortunately, the comprehensive nature of the demolition of Leeds three days previously encouraged me to stick with the more adventurous 4-4-2 line-up against Nilsen's Portsmouth, rather than play my stifling 4-5-1 game which had seen us win and draw comfortably at Fratton Park last season.

Playing Portsmouth these days is a case of "Who the hell is that?" as all these unknown foreigners now ply their trade on the south coast of England. On the day, Everton played well, with Nilsen counting every shot his side hit from the half way line as an attempt on goal.

Unfortunately, Nilsen appears to have a problem recognising that having a lot of shots doesn't make you the better side as Pompey's wayward shooting was causing the Everton defence little or no trouble for the majority of the game.

However, on the day Portsmouth just had a little more luck than Everton. On the half hour we momentarily lost Mascherano on the edge of the D. The Argentinian hit a weak shot which seemed to deflect off an Everton defender and roll past the impressive Green. Into the second half an on the hour Everton equalised with a magnificent goal. Hysen finding Calaio on the left of the area and the big Italian forward fired a missile past De Sanctis in the Portsmouth goal (the Pompey keeper having been playing an 8 for the majority of the game).

Luck however was firmly with Nilsen on this occasion as a dive by Ezquerro in the box, saw the referee penalise Boumsong for a trip and award a penalty that was duly converted. Of course, there was still time for Pompey to have one more huge slice of luck as Calaio struck the foot of the post with five minutes left, denying Everton a point they probably deserved on chances created and through sound defending.

Next session is Thursday night lads, usual time

[goat261]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by BelfastNiall:

Portsmouth 2 - 1 Everton

Unfortunately, the comprehensive nature of the demolition of Leeds three days previously encouraged me to stick with the more adventurous 4-4-2 line-up against Nilsen's Portsmouth, rather than play my stifling 4-5-1 game which had seen us win and draw comfortably at Fratton Park last season.

Playing Portsmouth these days is a case of "Who the hell is that?" as all these unknown foreigners now ply their trade on the south coast of England. On the day, Everton played well, with Nilsen counting every shot his side hit from the half way line as an attempt on goal.

Unfortunately, Nilsen appears to have a problem recognising that having a lot of shots doesn't make you the better side as Pompey's wayward shooting was causing the Everton defence little or no trouble for the majority of the game.

However, on the day Portsmouth just had a little more luck than Everton. On the half hour we momentarily lost Mascherano on the edge of the D. The Argentinian hit a weak shot which seemed to deflect off an Everton defender and roll past the impressive Green. Into the second half an on the hour Everton equalised with a magnificent goal. Hysen finding Calaio on the left of the area and the big Italian forward fired a missile past De Sanctis in the Portsmouth goal (the Pompey keeper having been playing an 8 for the majority of the game).

Luck however was firmly with Nilsen on this occasion as a dive by Ezquerro in the box, saw the referee penalise Boumsong for a trip and award a penalty that was duly converted. Of course, there was still time for Pompey to have one more huge slice of luck as Calaio struck the foot of the post with five minutes left, denying Everton a point they probably deserved on chances created and through sound defending.

</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

the biased murphy there forgetting to add green played a 10 and we had 22 shots, 9 on target and 9 corners. everton had about 8 shots 3 on target and only 1 corners. stats say it all really

[BelfastNiall]

Responding to Andy Nilsen's allegations of bias in his match analysis, Niall Murphy this afternoon retorted.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> Nilsen appears to have missed the point I was making about the amount of shots his team had during the game. Yes he can say he had 22 shots - but he cannot say he had 22 shots on goal for that would frankly be laughable - as the fans behind the goal were in more danger of being troubled by most of them and not Robert Green. And I did make mention of the fact that Green had a splendid game, didn't I point out that he was impressive in the match? After all, this is why I backed my judgement on him while Nilsen dithered - over matching our £3m bid in the summer.

At the end of the day, Portsmouth had 9 shots on target, one which was a mishit deflection by Mascherano and another an extremely questionable penalty. This is what the match was decided upon. For us, we had 5 shots on target and also hit the post, so it is perfectly clear that Nilsen is attempting to portray a domination that isn't borne out by the facts. I have to say this these theatrics by Nilsen can only be an attempt to distract criticism from his team lying in 12th position, which, the last time I looked, was a good few positions below Everton. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Here's to the rematch at Goodison.

[goat261]

i had more shots, more chances, more corners and you keeper got a 10 and motm.

you had about 4 highlights with only 1 being a shot inside the box which hit the post.

how can the penalty decision be dodgy? Boumsong swept Ezquero's legs away (mayswell of pulled out a sledge hammer and smacked him one it was that clear), lucky he wasnt sent off infact.

doesnt matter were we ar in the league after 10 games, its at the end were it counts and i guarantee Pompey will not only finish above Everton but also finish in the top 5

[ligs]

League Cup 2nd Round: Newcastle 3-2 Boro

The least important of the competitions we were entered for this season, so a defeat is no concern. What is more of a concern it the complete f**k up by the FA for scheduling a team in Europe in the 2nd round in the first place. Because of this, all members of the recognised first eleven were rested. Unfortunately, the back-ups didn't do their job, and were 2 down in 20 minutes, Robinho (7)and Van Bommel (19) with the goals. It really should've been more by half time, but Avitabile was playing well in goal.

The game turned when Matusovic was sent off after 53 minutes: a triple substitution followed, with Hasselbaink, Arteta and Mendieta coming on. Suddenly, despite being down to 10 men, Boro were dominant, Hasselbaink (76)and Pazienza (83) getting things back onto level terms.

Now the last thing I wanted was extra time, so Boro went gung-ho looking for the winner. But after one attack Newcastle broke, Ciurlizza (90) heading home the winner.

League Game 6: Spurs 2-2 Boro

This was always going to be a tough game, but it was made harder with 7 first teamers out through injury/suspension. This meant that youngsters James Morrison and Mark Middleton were thrust into the first team in the AMC slots. Bouchard has an excellent team at his disposal, and went into the game as firm favourite.

Given the selection dilemma, I started the game defensively, but already had an idea of the way I'd change it if need be. I was expecting a hard game against a good side, but I had no idea that Bouchard's idea of hard was to kick anything that moved that was wearing red. Despite this over-aggressive attitude, Spurs were far the better footballing side, and should've been 4 up at the break, but only had one goal to show for their efforts, Defoe (42) with the goal. Immediately changes were made, the battered and bruised Middleton and Morrison were replaced by Dorsin and Butt. This may have been seen as a defensive change, two AMC's replaced by a LB and DMC, but it was a piece of tactical genius.

The 2nd half saw Boro on top; Dede and Mendieta, now playing in the AMC roles, were causing havoc, Dede in particular looking unstoppable. But it took until the final 20 minutes for the equaliser to arrive, another marauding run by Dede was finished by Yakin (72), whose shot took a slight deflection on its way into the net.

Boro could now sense victory, but were still feeling the effects of Spurs' bully-boy tactics. Hasslebaink was forced off injured, and Pope, Dede, Boateng and Rensing were all carrying knocks. Yakin saw a shot turned over the bar as Boro turned the screw, but from the resulting corner Spurs broke, Kanoute (85) providing the sucker punch. But Boro weren't to be denied a point their second half display deserved, Boateng (90) firing in from 30 yards, his shot deflecting off a cowering Kompany past Robinson.

Bouchard's tactics, which have no place on a football field, had failed.

The unbeaten record was still intact, although only just.

UEFA Cup 1st round 2nd leg: Austria Vienna 2-3 Boro

The same team that had lost to Newcastle in the league cup faired far better here. Rushfeltd (45) & Vachousek (64) got the goals for the home side, Butt (50), Matusovic (54) & Maccarone (73) for Boro, in what was a more comfortable win than the scoreline suggested.

League game 7: Boro 3-1 Liverpool

After the close games in the league and UEFA Cup quarter finals of last season, this was a far more open yet one-sided affair than anyone was expecting. Hasselbaink (18) settled the early nerves for Boro, but the same man cost his sid the lead when his penalty was saved by Dudek, Liverpool broke up the other end and Luis Garcia (31) put them level, just 15 seconds after his keeper had saved a penalty.

Boro upped the tempo in the second half, and had too much skill for Liverpool: Boateng (64) grabbed his 4th goal in 7 games, before Hasselbaink (pen 81) didi manage to beat Dudek from 12 yards to wrap up the points.

League game 8: Wolves 0-2 Boro

A comfortable away win for Boro, who scored both goals in the first half, Butt (3) rounding off alovely passing move before he turned provider, whipping in a beautiful cross for Yakin (39) to head home. Boro could, and really should have added to their tally in the second half, but failed to take their chances.

Well, 8 games gone, Boro remain the only team in the league with an unbeaten record, and also the only team with a 100% home record. If the game in hand is won, we'll go 1 point behind Chelsea but more importantly 4 points ahead of 3rd. It's been a good start, but it's important that this basis is not wasted.

In the UEFA Cup, the holders were drawn against Kiev, Besiktas, Panionios and Zeleznik in the pesky group stage, meaning 2 long away trips top Eastern Europe to contend with. Better get our thermals out

Up the Boro

[BelfastNiall]

Ok guys, with the patch out tomorrow including a data update this could potentially cause the score changing bug to reappear if we end up with a few differing databases in the game.

Obviously some of you will want to d/l the data update for your own games but as we will be patching over the EPL game, we need to take the following steps to ensure no one ends up having to reinstall the old data.

1. Rename your current FM folder to something like Football ManagerEPL

2. Create a new folder called Football Manager 2005 (I forget what the defaults are as I'm typing this at work)

3. Copy all the contents of your FootballMangerEPL folder into your new Football Manager folder.

4. Download patch & data update

5. Apply patch and data update to the new football manager folder which will become your up to date version.

6. Rename Football Manager 2005 to FMUpdated and then rename Football ManagerEPL back to Football Manager 2005.

7. Apply patch only to this file, keeping the data the same.

8. Therefore when you want to play a new game on your own, you just switch the folder names to Football Manager 2005 depending on whether we are playing the clan game or a game on your own.

Hope that's as clear as day for everyone.

Everyone will need the new patch installed for Thursday's session.

Also remember that the following options will need to remain unticked in preferences as 5.03 is regretably not a complete fix to online issues.

show player pics,

show badges/logos

show background pics,

show unique ids.

Sound Cache All or None.

[EmmYouEffSee]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> Posted By Sam Bouchard - 18 November 2004 23:10

Quality report there Niall, one thing.....bit optomistic saying that Jay's going to come 7th...maybe pushing West Brom for the 17th spot could be more likely. The team can always be there....but the managers influence.....we shall wait and see! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Right then.....who wants a look into my crystal balls this year?!

[Pipson]

Good to see your clan is going well Niall.

Enjoy Pip.

[Deaves]

any place i would really love to join this. i have filled in an apllication but no feed back plz could i play im available most times

[skintsaint]

BORING BORING SAINTS!

Ten games to catch up on, saints winning only 3 of them but only losing 1!!

Southampton 1-1 Birmingham

Bolton 0-0 Southampton

Southampton 2-1 Leeds Utd

Luton Town 0-0 Southampton (3-1 to saints on pens) League Cup

Portsmouth 0-2 Southampton

Southampton 1-1 Leicester

Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 Southampton

Southampton 1-1 Liverpool

Wolves 0-0 Southampton

Burnley 0-1 Southampton

Southampton 0-0 Man City

[ligs]

UEFA Cup Group stage game 1: Zeleznik 0-3 Boro

Important to get off to a good start, leave the others playing catch-up, but a weakened team was nevertheless put out. After an goal-less 1st half, Morrison (48) gave Boro the perfect start to the 2nd half following Maccarone's pass. Arteta (78, 90) wrapped up the tie, his second a cracking 30 yard strike, after only coming off the bench for the last 15 minutes.

A comfortable victory.

League game 9: Fulham 0-4 Boro

Craven Cottage has proven a difficult place to visit (hey Leo? ) but this was a fantastic performance, a display of clinical finishing. The first half was very even, yet Boro found themselves 3-0 up at the break, Downing (14) and Arteta (26, 39) the goalscorers, much to bemusement Fulham.

The second half was a bit of a damp squib, Matusovic (76) rubbing salt in the Cottager's wounds, who had Collins John sent off with 10 minutes left.

League game 10: Boro 3-1 Villa

Despite the support of Everton manager Niall Murphy, Villa couldn't get anything from fortress Riverside. Mellberg hit the bar after only 11 minutes, and that was the closest the home side came to breaking the deadlock in the first half, Villa couldn't even muster 1 attack such was Boro's dominance.

The second half saw Boro continue with their dominance, but Yakin (48) eased the tension with an early goal. Arteta (56) got his 5th goal in his last 3 games with a neat finish, before Boateng (71) smashed one in from 30 yards against his former club to get his 5th of the season and make the result safe. Villa's only consolation came when Vassell (90) tapped home from Angel's cross.

Still 2nd in the league, still unbeaten, 2 games in hand as well, things are going well at the moment. Long may that continue

[BelfastNiall]

Everton march up the table

Everton have put in a good run of recent results to climb up the table into 5th spot, as Murphy's side continues to gel into an impressive outfit. Coupled with this, the club have also progressed to the 4th Round of the Carling Cup where we face Championship outfit Reading at Goodison Park. So, all continues to progress well. The first team is looking good with my main concern continuing to be a lack of depth in key positions being a possible hindrace to success if injury problems hit me to the extent they did in my first season on Merseyside.

FA Barclaycard Premiership

Everton 2 - 0 Leicester City

With Leicester surprising everyone by sitting comfortably in the top half of the Premiership and boasting one of the best defences in the Premiership, this was always going to be an interesting game. The Toffees had their first choice line up available and lined up with - Green; Reither; Bernard; Yobo; Boumsong; Flamini; Sivok; Selakovic; Hysen; Zurawsi and Calaio in 4-4-2 formation.

For 20 minutes, Everton pulversied the Leicester goal with Ian Walker reliving his old England form keeping us at bay. Finally on 27 minutes the inevitable breakthrough arrived. A neat interchange of play between Bernard, Calaio and Hysen saw the Swede play a superb crossfield pass right into the patch of fellow countryman Stefan Selakovic. As Walker approched, Selakovic took aim and fired comfortably past the keeper into the net. After this the pressure continued, with Walker pulling off save after save and Danny Mills clearing off the line from Calaio, until the 43rd minute when the game was finally won. A lovely cross from Selakovic finding Calaio in space to ntoch his 5th goal of the season.

Tottenham Hotspur 1 - 2 Everton

Up next was Sam Bourchard's European Cup outfit, Tottenham Hotspur. I travelled to White hart Lane looking to extend my unbeaten record against Sam to three games, but was expecting a tough game as Spurs are a quality side at home.

Everton started the game on fire, Zurawski forcing Robinson into a save as early as the 43rd second. for 20 minutes Everton took the game to Spurs so it was a shock when Spurs winger Mark Wilson beat Green to a hopeful Ricketts punt into the box to give Spurs the lead with their first serious attack. Not to be discouraged though, Everton decided it was time their determination was brought into evidence and began the fightback against Sam's Southern Softies. On 37 minutes the equaliser arrived and what a goal it was. Sivok playing the ball into Zurawski, who threaded it through to Caliao. From just outside the D - dead central - Calaio unleashed a rocket past Robinson and Bouchard was brought down to earth with a big nasty bump. Ouch.

Into the second half and Spurs were at sixes and sevens now, with even players of the calibre of Van Den Borre making unforced errors. It was surely only a matter of time, but the referee soon made sure it would be very very difficult for Spurs to get anything. On the hour, King was dismissed for a terrible challenge as Bouchard's men lived up to their pre-match billing of a pack of dirty barstewards. With time running out, on came Selakovic for the more defensive Holneak. Hysen was becoming more of an influence on the game and with Ricketts also dismissed in the 89th minute, it was surely too late for Everton to take full advantage of Bouchard's woes. Not a chance!! On 91 minutes, Calaio broke away feeding the ball to Hysen. With Spurs keeping a bank of 4 at the back, it was going to take something special and Hysen's through ball to the onrushing Selakovic was just that. Inch perfect. Selakovic 2-1!! 3 points to the Toffees and Murphy was a happy man.

Carling Cup 3rd Round

Tottenham 1 - 2 Everton

Again Murphy got one over Bouchard in this Carling Cup tie of the round. To be fair to Sam, his side was not his strongest whereas Everton were at full strength in this match. The Spurs team sheet was still very impressive regardless. This game was almost a carbon copy of the league match, as Kanoute scored an excellent opener for Tottenham to put them one up. However having come from behind three days earlier, I was confident we could do it again, with the next goal being vital to the outcome of the match. On 31 minutes that goal arrived from a Hysen corner that landed at the feet of Flamini. 1-1. After this the game was tight, until the last 20 minutes when Everton became the stronger side. And on 85 minutes another late goal from Calaio won the game for Everton and avoided extra time for both clubs. An excellent comeback once again.

Barclaycard Premiership

Everton 0 - 0 Liverpool

Still to record a win in a Merseyside derby, but we played well dominating the game and forcing Liverpool to play very defensively for the majority of the match. At the end of the day, this was a good point, for Liverpool.

So up to 5th all looks good, with Liggin's Middlesbrough playing the 4-2-3-1 tactic, it will remain to see if any of my fellow managers are clever enough to invent a tactic that will put a spanner in the works at the Riverside. Chelsea remain my tip for the top.

[BelfastNiall]

Tables

[Dunga99]

Slow start for Birmingham City in the league

League Cup 2nd Rd

Coventry 2

Donaldson 20 Dublin pen 44

Birmingham City 3

Dunn 23, 90 Christie pen 40

Man of the Match: Dunn 10/10 Birmingham City

Attendance-40247

Refereed by Keith Hill

Well with the league form being so bad this was a must win game to keep the fans happy. I gave Forssell a break as his fitness level hasn't been right since he joined us. Up front we had Heskey and Christie playing and I stuck with a 5 man defence. As the game started Birmingham City was all over Coventry but with the luck I have been having Coventry scored on there first attack from a corner via Donaldson. Dunn done alot of running in the middle of the park which paid off with a sweet shot on goal which drew the game level 1-1, then Christie put away a pen after Heskey was fouled in the box to give us a 2-1 lead. straight after that the ref gave Coventry a pen which Dublin put away too. With the game heading for extra time man of the the match Dunn scored his second to give us a 3-2 Win

3rd Rd draw: Birmingham City V Arsenal

Premiership Game 7

Birmingham City 2

Forssell 39 Koubsky og 61

WBA 2

Carretto 11 Gaurancic 53

Man of the Match: Albrechtsen 8/10 WBA

Attendance-29983

Refereed by Martin Reid

I had Forssell back for this game against a fellow human manager who was on holiday duty at the time. Again stuck with a 5 man defence and gave new boy Buxon a game. Carretto scored with WBA first attack on goal as usual Forssell pulled us back into the game with a well work goal with Dunn. Second half Gaurancic scores a sweet goal with only there second shot on target, then Robbie Savage breaks free and hit a long ranage shot that is heading goal bound but comes off Koubsky for an own goal to give Birmingham City a 2-2 Draw

Premiership Game 8

Manchester Utd 0

Birmingham City 1

Dunn 33

Man of the Match: Melchiot 10/10 Birmingham City

Attendance-67842

Refereed by Graham Poll

My finest 94 minutes so far as Birmingham City manager. With the way I have been playing I didn't hold out much hope of going to Old Trafford and getting any points out of the game. I had a full team to pick from and I went for Taylor in goal as Richard Wright shot stopping this season has been awful. To be honest Manchester Utd was all over me and had most of the play and chances on goal but with all the bad luck that I have had so far it was about time that I had some good luck. David Dunn scored a great low drive into the bottom corner to give us a 1-0 Win

Premiership Game 9

Birmingham City 1

Izzet 5

Chelsea 2

Duff 16 Lampard 29

Man of the Match: Gallas 8/10 Chelsea

Attendance-30007

Refereed by Mark Clattenburg

Another hard game against the premiership leaders and the only team news coming from Birmingham City was the goalkeeper Taylor was out injured for the next 3 weeks so the donkey Richard Wright had to take his place, other than that it was an unchanged team to the one that had faced Manchester Utd. I was in dream land after 5 minutes when Muzzy Izzet put us 1-0 up but that didn't last when Chelsea hit back with two quick goals via Duff and Lampard but I blame more bad goalkeeping from the Donkey. I played well the second half and in the last 20 mins played with 3 up front to try and get us back into the game but it didn't work. In the end the game finished 2-1 Defeat

More to follow soon

[ligs]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by BelfastNiall:...with Liggin's Middlesbrough playing the 4-2-3-1 tactic... </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I don't like the use of the word "the" there, Mr Murphy. Your scurrilous attempts to usurp Boro's march to dominance wont work!

"No-one likes us, we don't care."

[Dunga99]

Birmingham City Results..

Premiership Game 10

Charlton 1

Holland 49

Birmingham City 0

Man of the Match: Carter 8/10 Birmingham City

Attendance-27095

Refereed by Graham Poll

With Charlton on a bad run as well I was hopeful of a good result. I Went with my 5 man defence again with Carter and Savage in middle of the park and Forssell and Christie up front. First half offered little in the way of highlights. Second half early on Matt Holland broke free and hit a sweet 20 yard effort which sailed past Richard Wright to give Charlton the lead. Birmingham City pushed for the goal but it finished with a 1-0 Defeat

Premiership Game 11

Bolton 1

Mansiz pen 87

Birmingham City 0

Man of the Match: Jaaskelenen 8/10 Bolton

Attendance-27472

Refereed by Neale Barry

Bolton was just finding some form under there manager Pagi 2 and with Richard Wright still in goal due to the injury of Taylor I wasn't hopeful. Again little to offer in the way of highlights in the first half but what there was Bolton had the better of the play without having a shot on target. Second half I changed things around and we had the better of the half with shots coming from both Forssell and Dunn which Jaaskelenen saved well. It looked only a matter of time for Birmingham City to take the lead but Bolton hit us on the break and sent the ball up field, with Richard Wright looking favorite to reach the ball first he completely missed it and takes down the Bolton forward to give them a pen. Mansiz puts the ball away to given Bolton the win with there 1st and only shot on target in the whole game 1-0 Defeat

League Cup 3rd Rd

Birmingham City 0

Arsenal 1

Man of the Match: Edu 8/10 Arsenal

Attendance-29922

Refereed by Neale Barry

With Arsenal resting some of there big guns and me being at home I was hopeful, but they still had players like Robbie Keane, Craig Bellamy and Edu in there team. I good cup run is what the fans need to take there mind off our poor league form.

First half Birmingham City made a good start with a few efforts on goal which was saved and a few wayward shot. Second half the Arsenal class begun to tell and they were passing the ball all over the park but my team was still sticking in there until Edu picked the ball up, went pass on player a hit a 30 yard shot to score a wonder goal to give Arsenal the lead and thats the way the game ended. 1-0 Defeat

Premiership Game 11

Birmingham City 3

Savage 2 Carter 24 Christie

Leeds 1

Ricketts

Man of the Match: Savage 9/10 Birmingham City

Attendance-29190

Refereed by Uriah Rennie

3 goals in a league match I must be dreaming. The game couldn't have started any better for us with our player of the season so far Robbie Savage getting us of to a great start within 2 minutes scoring out first goal. Then on 24 minutes Carter runs from the midfield to connect to a savage cross to give us a 2 goal advantage and to give the Birmingham City fans something to shout about, well until Ricketts pulled Leeds back into the game after he flew past Welsh in defence to score a good goal. With the Birmingham City fans getting nervous and the ref playing alot of injury time Christie sealed the win for us in the dieing seconds to give us a 3-1 Win

More to follow

[BelfastNiall]

Latest Tables - look at the Toffees go

[BelfastNiall]

Deary me, is that Murphy in 4th?

It is indeed. The lads continue to amaze football pundits and fellow managers by sitting comfortably in the Champions League spots after 15 games and now only five points behind Champions Chelsea.

With that tight arse defence coming into fruition and with the team boasting some excellent midfielders and attackers, who knows just how far we can go this season. The manager however is playing it very coyly, aware that his side are only a few injuries away from it becoming very difficult.

Of course, when I took control at Everton they had one of the smallest squads in the Premiership. I have managed to turn that around in some positions but up front we lack depth. With not much money available it is unlikely this will change between now and the end of the transfer window.

Wolves 0 - 1 Everton

An inspired substitution got Everton out of a hole here as this game had 0-0 written all over it. For a team near the bottom of the Premiership, Wolves provided spirited opposition and in the first half caused Murphy to have a few squeaky bum moments on the bench. Despite the smell, Murphy managed one moment of genius to win the match.

Substituting the tiring Zurawski for Jermaine Aliadiere, the young Frenchman was instructed to go out there and grab the winner. That he did with a composed finish 10 minutes from the end. Unfortunately, it was also the last time he was available as his injury proneness struck again - sidelining him for a few weeks.

Everton 1 - 0 Manchester City

With Leo Hardy having gone AWOL for the session, it was up to the Man City assistant to try and stop an impressive Everton. In a game that Everton dominated from start to finish, Murphy was growing extremely irritated as Man City were managing to hold onto a 0-0 scoreline for the majority of the game. That was until Slovakian international midfielder Robert Koren stepped up with what would become the goal of the month winner. From 25 yards out, Koren took a short pass and hit a curling 25 yard blaster into the bottom corner beating David James all ends up. It was just a shame that Leo missed such a moment of high quality - from Everton.

Carling Cup 4th Round

Everton 3 - 0 Reading

Easy win over the Championship team, with the highlight being Marchisio coming in as substitute to replace Hysen and scoring an excellent goal again. The young Italian is starting to make me consider his talents and chances for a first team place. Next up would be Rob Steel's Southampton.

Fulham 0 - 2 Everton

Fulham appear to have lost a crucial element of their success last season, in that they are no longer a side that is very hard to beat, although on their day with players like Boa Morte and Malbranque they still have enough in their locker to cause problems. However, Andy Cole is no longer the force he was last season and this helped Everton to keep another clean sheet despite the pace of Radzinski. With Fulham struggling to create clear cut chances, they were reduced to peppering the Everton goal from distances (a lot like Pompey did - expect these were mainly on target.). A very pleasing win, our fifth away from Goodison in the Premiership this season.

Carling Cup Quarter Final

Everton 2 - 0 Southampton

For the second successive season, the Carling Cup Quarter Finals drew Murphy and Steel together, with Everton hoping to dump the Saints out of the cup for the second year in a row. Having watched Southampton lose very unluckily to Middlesbrough the previous week (naughty me) at the Riverside, I was anticipating a tough evening against Southampton's three pronged attack.

With Steel busy in the press before the game slamming the Carling Cup as a waste of time, it was quite a surprise to see a full strength Southampton team sheet. Clearly, I'll have to stop buying the Sun.

As for the game, in the end it was an extremely one sided affair, which surprised me given that Saints are a hard side to beat in the Premiership, even if they are the epitome of mid table blandness as Rob's last report illustrated so well .

After missing several chances early on, Zurawski finally netted the opener around the 20 minute mark. Everton continued to dominate despite Steel moving to a five man midfield during the game, but having spurned many chances and seen Niemi have an excellent game, I was always worried Saints would put a move together that would lead to a goal. In the end though, Piovaccari on for Zurawski scored the second goal late on, allowing Everton to advance to the semi finals where we now face Manchester United over two legs. With Arsenal and Chelsea also in the last four it will be very tough to win this trophy now even if, as Murphy quipped after the game, the semi final line up contains England's top four teams.

[Guest]

This clan looks great, keep up the great work

[ligs]

UEFA Cup Group Stage game 2: Boro 2-0 Besiktas

Besiktas came as close as anyone to knocking Boro out of last season's UEFA Cup, grabbing a 1-0 win at the Riverside. But this season they didn't get a look in, Boateng (14) and Arteta (73) hitting the net for the home side.

League game 11: Boro 3-0 Charlton

Another comfortable win, Yakin (20), Hasselbaink (66) and Boateng (73) with the goals.

League game 12: Blackburn 2-1 Boro

The unbeaten run finally came to an end, but it certainly shouldn't have done. Blackburn, without manager Boult, didn't play all that well, it was a case of Boro defending appalingly for the first 30 minutes. Thompson (9) was left unmarked in the box to fire the home side ahead, before Drulic (28) finished off a counter attack. Yakin (45) got a goal back before the break, to give Boro a foothold in the game, and set up a second half assault on the Rovers goal.

As Blackburn put 9 men behind the ball, the assault came. But a mixture of poor finishing and Friedel heroics kept Boro at bay.

Afterwards, Liggins had the following to say:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> We should never have gone out so attacking away from home from the off, our defence was exposed and punished. I have to take responsibility for this one, we didn't give Blackburn any respect. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

League game 13: Boro 0-1 Leicester

A disasterous result, Ventola (29) grabbing the only goal. Despite Boro's dominance, the Foxes somehow held onto a point.

Continuing his splurge of honesty, Liggins spoke again:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> I take full responsibility for this one as well, I put out a severly weakened team expecting the 3 points, showing Leicester no respect whatsoever. We still did enough to win, but perhaps my arrogance was punished. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

League game 14: Boro 3-2 Southampton

Rob Steel brought his Saints to the Riverside with Boro reeling from 2 consecutive defeats, and it looked like getting worse, Beattie (17) and Munitis (37) twice catching Boro on the break, putting the visitors into a 2 goal lead. Luckily Boro showed a good deal of bouncebackability, that man Boateng (39, 44) grabbing two more goals to send the sides in level at the break.

The first half had been even, but Boro took the upper hand after the break, Matusovic (59) striking what turned out to be the winner.

A crucial win to get the lads back on track.

UEFA Cup Group stage game 3: Panionios 0-3 Boro

Another comfortable European win, Boateng (4) with his 10th goal in only 16 games so far this season, Yakin (32) and Arteta (37) wrapping things up before the break.

Next game is the Euro/Asia Cup final, another chance to add some silverware to the trophy cabinet, although an understrangth team will be played, as there's a league game just 3 days afterwards.

The slip up in the league was bloody annoying, as it was all my own fault. 2 easily win-able games that, if they had been won, would see us top of the league at the moment. But the win against the Saints was important to put us back on track.

Next up, 3 days after the cup final, Niall Murphy brings his Everton side (and ever-increasing ego ) to the Riverside. 2nd vs 4th, this really is the biggest Liggins v Murphy encounter to date. My scouts have reported that Everton have been picking up some jammy wins lately, sitting back and scoring on the break. In some ways the Blackburn and Leicester defeats might be a blessing in disguise, lessons have been learned. Bring on those Toffees!

[BelfastNiall]

Speaking exclusively to Sky Sports, Everton boss Niall Murphy assesses his teams chances ahead of a massive meeting at the Riverside against Liggins' Middlesbrough.

Q. Everton have surprised a lot of people this season with their impressive form. What do you think is the difference between your team this season and last?

Well, when I first took the job at Goodison Park the club were in severe financial trouble. A lot of ageing, overpaid footballers were at the club and that offered nothing for the future. I'll not mention any names but everyone knows who they were - Big Dunc cough splutter cough.

Q.Are you ok, would you like a freshmint?

No it's ok, mentioning Big Dunc always has this effect on me. Anyway, Kevin Campbell didn't last too long at Hardy's Manchester City either did he? I must remember to thank Leo again for that deal!!

We also had the smallest professional squad in the Premiership. So basically, my job last season was really all about steadying the ship and rebuilding for the future. I think we achieved that ambition. If you look at our line up now, only Joseph Yobo remains a first team player from the Moyes era.

Q. In pre-season then, what were your ambitions?

Despite the fact we were involved in a relegation scare up until the penultimate weekend, I was always confident we would survive as we were and remain a much better side than the likes of Portsmouth. Once that threat was out of the way, I knew that if we could bring in an exceptional goalkeeper and find a quality defensive partner for Yobo, we would have a chance to be in the top half of the table. And in Robert Green and Jean Alain Boumsong I have found those players. With Ahmed Moudini there as well, and Bernard settling in well, a defence which was leaky last season has become quite tight, I reckon one of the best in the Premiership without a doubt.

Q. Though even you must be surprised at how well the side has done?

Well, yes I am surprised we are in such a good position at the moment. I knew the team had quality but I didn't expect us to only be 5 points behind Chelsea at this stage!! However, there is a long way to go, our squad is not the strongest in depth and at the minute we could either continue to progress or fall backwards. That's football, you just never know when it will kick you in the nads.

Q. So your match against Liggins is approaching. Describe for the viewers just how much this game means to you.

Yes, Richard Liggins is one of those managers who I just love to beat. Despite there being little historical rivalry between Everton and Middlesbrough, Liggins and I personally approach this fixture as one of the most want to win games of the football calendar. When I see Liggins talking garbage in the press on a regular basis, I do chuckle myself. However, what it does show is that Liggins and have share two similar characteristics. Desire and ambition to be the best.

Q. Liggins has already fired the first shots in the press, describing you as egotistical, how do you respond to that?

Listen, I don't pay too much heed to the comments of fellow managers in the press. I look after Everton's affairs and leave the rest to admire the progress that is being made.

Q. Well some would say you are fond of utilising the press to air your views yourself?

Of course, its all part and parcel of football. I think Liggins is trying to set himself up as the martyr here. If Middlesbrough win then he will take the moral high ground having beaten egoistical Murphy. He knows the press will have a field day with that story. However, he admits he has made mistakes in the past few weeks. It would be foolish of him to confuse confidence with arrogance. I like to leave the arrogance to Nilsen and Mourinho. Now there are two peas in a pod except Mourinho has delivered.

Q. The bookies have installed Everton as pre-game favourites despite the fact the game is at the Riverside. Does this make you even more confident you can go and win?

Yes and I know Liggins, being an avid gambler was not a happy camper when he saw that Everton had been installed as favourites. I'm not surprised. After all his side is in second place and have been flying for most of the season, but recent defeats to Leicester and Blackburn show that there are weaknesses in the Boro side that we can only hope to exploit. I thought as well that Southampton deserved something out of their recent trip to the Riverside. I'm confident in our teams ability to win the game but in all honesty, I'm expecting a tight tough game.

Q. Who are the Boro dangermen?

Liggins has bought a few good players in the summer and Middlesbrough are a threat from all over the pitch. Their left back Dede is an exceptional player in particular. I think he is a key member of their system. In midfield, George Boateng has been prolific this season and no one knows why, including Liggins I suspect. Certainly we saw this draw surprise from Bolton's Pagi, who is clearly not a Boateng admirer. However, Matusovic, Downing, Arteta and off course the excellent but ageing Hasselbaink remain a threat. We will have to watch them closely.

And for Everton?

Well I know for a fact that Liggins has watched us enough this season that I don't need to remind him of our key men. Liggins himself did try to entice Zurawski to the Riverside with a £7.5m bid in the summer. Obviously he is aware of just how good our Polish forward is. But we are far from a one man team. Calaio, Flamini, Koren and Hysen have shown this season that they can be match winners.

You lost at the Riverside last season, will it be different this time?

Of course, the entire world knows that Liggins enjoyed a huge dose of luck that day and that Everton were the better side. This year, we have Boumsong and Yobo at the back. We are more solid but the emphasis is on Middlesbrough to take the game to us as the home side. We are ready for the challenge.

And with that Murphy disappeared off to the training ground. Murphy is filled with determination for this top of the table clash and the Everton fans are confident that they have the right man in place to take them forward. How will Liggins respond to Murphy's comments? Will we see an interview from him, or will he leave the talking to the pitch? We will see this afternoon I guess.

[Guest]

Nice update mate

[EmmYouEffSee]

Stevie Wonder....A legendary Singer....and a Spurs fan!

It's official, Stevie Wonder loves Sam Bouchard's side's verbal authority off the pitch so much that he's forked out for a seat to be made on the bench at Spurs for himself.

The Motown singer visited the capital for his stop at Wembley when he overheard on the news that Sam Bouchard was teaching the supporters of Tottenham Hotspur to sing. Inspired by this, Wonder then set it upon himself to meet the man himself and overnight a deal was done. A seat on the bench next to Bouchard right in the heart of the atmospheric middle of White Hart Lane in exchange for Stevie's singing tips.

This report has been written as a special edition, dedicating Stevie Wonder tracks to the season so far.

Saturday 24th September 2005

Tottenham Hotspur [2]: Defoe(42), Kanoute(85)

Middlesbrough [2]: Yakin(72), Boateng(90)

The Uefa Cup winners appeared to turn up in defensive spirits as they set their stool out early deep deep into their own half. A Tottenham side that was expecting an onslaught of attacking play was met with that of a midfield battle. With 'Boro flighing high under Ligs' management, could Bouchard match up to his opponent.

A slow start to the match meant it would be a while before the first goal came, with defences for both sides playing well. A Clinical piece of finishing from Jermain Defoe on the edge of the box just before the break was what Tottenham deserved through their hardwork in gradually breaking the away side down. 'Boro came more attacking in the second half, but only just, with Hasselbaink upfront on his own with only some attacking play from Dede and Mendieta for him to get his teeth into. On the 72nd minute Yakin turned up on the edge of the box and clipped the ball which looked to be heading towards Robinson's Fingertips and into his arms, but the Vanden Borre thought otherwise and clocked the ball into the other corner, foxing Robbo completly.

The score was back on level terms late on as a smooth counter attack from a 'Boro corner lead Kanoute to the opposite end to slot the ball home. The game looked wrapped up by this point, with only a couple of minutes to go before the final whistle, but deep into injury time George Boateng shot with pace at Paul Robinson's goal before defender Vincent Kompany saw fit to throw himself in the way of the ball, guiding it into the opposite corner of Robinson's dived side. The game finished 2-2 but hmmm....Superstition.

Tuesday 27th September 2005

Tottenham Hotspur [4]: Davies(30), Guarin(34), Moore(85,87)

FC Porto [2]: Leal(45), Maciel(55)

Champions League Group F pitted Tottenham against Porto in this the second game of the group stage. After a convincing performance away against Flora earlier in the month the team were determined to pull off a victory against the Champions League winners of 2004.

The domination of Porto showed on and off the pitch as Stevie Wonder and Simon Davies combined to produce a lead. Freddy Guarin forced save after save for the Porto 'keeper, but one shot too many came in and Guarin found the top corner in the 34th minute. Leal scored for the away side late into stoppage time at the end of the half to pull one back for Porto. Maciel scored in the 55th minute to level it up before Freddy Guarin was once again centre of attention but this time for the wrong reason. Diving Leal conned the refaree into giving Guarin a second yellow, forcing him to leave the field of play. This only forced the Tottenham side to re-shuffle, offering substitute's Robin van Persie and Luke Moore a chance to shine. That they did with van Persie assisting to one of Luke Moore's late goals. 4-2 the final score, Spurs really are looking good in Europe, certainly Living For The City.

Saturday 1st October 2005

Blackburn Rovers [1]: Thompson(71)

Tottenham Hotspur [1]: Defoe(51)

Two days after Sam Bouchard's birthday, Tottenham visited Blackburn to where the previous season the incident dubbed "The Goat And His Sheep" took place on route.

The team stayed the same of that the previous, excluding Van Persie and Moore on the bench as they'd picked up nocks in training. With Vanden Borre going off early on injured, the task against a hard working Blackburn side was never going to be easy. A Defoe goal was cancelled out late on by one of Thompson for the Blues late on in a match that was less than inspiring for the fans to watch. A few great Paul Robinson saves frustrated Blackburn but the same could be said of Brad Friedel at the opposite end. All in all not a very Happy Birthday for Spurs boss Sam Bouchard.

Wednesday 5th October 2005

Tottenham Hotspur [2]: Guarin(5), Defoe(52)

Southampton [0]:

Rob Steel was next to take his side to White Hart Lane where last season they pulled off a 3-1 win against Bouchard's men. This season however Steel wasn't as fortunate. A solid performance from the home side with many attempts on goal offered little in the form of compensation for their opponents, and it took 75 minutes for the team from the coast to get into gear. A much more confident side took on Spurs towards the latter end of the game, one that took chances and played the ball about as if they were 4-0 up. Bouchard was said to beOverjoyed with the result, highlighting the performances of the young duo of signings Freddy Guarin and Mark Wilson.

Saturday 15th October 2005

Arsenal [4]: Reyes(18,30,51), Vieira(49)

Tottenham Hotspur [0]:

Arsene Wenger played up to the fixture in the media grately this week, having articles all over the shop and daily having A Place In The Sun for his own thoughts. With 4 injury's in the Spurs ranks and two suspensions being played out, Arsenal had the advantage from the word go. The attacking force was taken out through injury, and the rock that is Guarin was suspended along with James McFadden which really didn't help looking at the line ups.

An on fire Reyes did nothing to stop Arsenal, and with Edman playing the ball straight into Vieira's path no more than 4 times, the goals were destined to come, and they did. A very dissapointing away game for all involved with the club, especially against their bitter rivals.

Tuesday 18th October 2005

Werder Bremen [6]: Fahenhorst(45), Klose(49), Klasnic(50,52), Ernst(61), Jensen(68)

Tottenham Hotspur [2]: Kompany(6), Moore(26)

Full marks so far in the Champions League after wins against Flora and FC Porto the previous month meant that Tottenham had a slight edge over their European counterparts.

This week Trainers walked out at Tottenham Hotspur's training ground in a dispute over the last jam doughnut. Martin Jol took it and shouted something in dutch at the other coaches and they walked out on the club. Although Bouchard tried to sort out a training schedule for the team with Jol, tnhey just couldn't handle all the players on their own. When asked about the situation the consencus was that they were trying to reach a Higher Ground over the doughnut situation in future.

Due to the lack of training going on the team were knackered after half an hour. So at 2-0 surely they could hold on......well....they didn't. Bremen attacked in force, with anything they threw at the goalkeeper was seen flying into the top of the net. 6 goals in total rattled the goal and the away supporters as Spurs players and fans alike came home with tails between their legs to which only Luke Moore managed to turn the tail into something else and intregue flight attendants on the plane back.

Saturday 22nd October 2005

Tottenham Hotspur [1]: Wilson(20)

Everton [2]: Calaio(38), Selkovic(90)

Everton were to visit White Hart Lane twice in four days as matches in the Premier League and the League Cup panned out. This match was that of League business in which Everton scraped through with all three points.

Wilson's hardworked goal on 20 minutes kickstarted Spurs, but once again it was only a short term lead as the lack of training was still being felt throughout the team. A cool worked Calaio goal before the break gave Niall Murphy's team the lifeline they so badly needed.

The second half did nothing to motivate Spurs, and even the Jaffa Cakes and Blackcurrent Juice during the interval couldn't stur the team to a heart warming performance. Everton's defence were Uptight and very hard to break down as once again the job was done, and done to a high standard it must be said. Sendings off late on to King and Rickets did nothing to aid the cause for the home side as Selakovic clinched all three points in the dying seconds.

Saturday 22nd October 2005

Tottenham Hotspur [1]: Kanoute(26)

Everton [2]: Flamini(32), Calaio(86)

Pretty much the same as the previous match with only a few team changes. Kanoute, Guarin and Van Persie back from injury came into the starting line up along side Carson in goal, Welsh in the centre of defence and Gama on the right wing all young professionals making their full debuts for the club. Van Persie was highlighted as the worst player on the field from a Spurs point of view, with fans casting him a Part-Time Lover to the Tottenham Hotspur cause.

A Great chip from Kanoute showed the class the player has in him, but unfortunatly for the rest of the Spurs side their counterparts on the day had so much more. The fitness of the side showed through, and for the second time in 4 days Bouchard shook Murphy's hand in defeat.

Saturday 29th October 2005

West Brom [1]: Koumas(14), King(og 77)

Tottenham Hotspur [2]: Kanoute(3)

A trip through the spaghetti junction in the centre of Birmingham to West Bromwich Albian was next up as Sam Bouchard took his unfit Spurs side to pit their wits against Chris Morris'.

A close game was played out at The Hawthorns as Spurs and the Baggies met eachother fist for fist, or goal for goal as it were, in the first half. Kanoute's opener on 3 minutes kick started the home team's game as Jason Koumas levelled it 11 minutes later. It wasn't until the 77th minute till the draw would be taken apart once more, as Leadly King had the misfortune to connect with the ball on it's way towards the goal. A slight deflection was made and it went in the back of the net...2-1.

Lately things just havn't been going Sam Bouchard's way, hopfully it'll change from now on as the dispute over the doughnuts has been ended, with penny sweets being brought in instead for the future, offering a nice unhealthy offering to all.

Stevie Wonder....A legendary Singer....and a Spurs fan!

It's official, Stevie Wonder loves Sam Bouchard's side's verbal authority off the pitch so much that he's forked out for a seat to be made on the bench at Spurs for himself.

The Motown singer visited the capital for his stop at Wembley when he overheard on the news that Sam Bouchard was teaching the supporters of Tottenham Hotspur to sing. Inspired by this, Wonder then set it upon himself to meet the man himself and overnight a deal was done. A seat on the bench next to Bouchard right in the heart of the atmospheric middle of White Hart Lane in exchange for Stevie's singing tips.

This report has been written as a special edition, dedicating Stevie Wonder tracks to the season so far.

Saturday 24th September 2005

Tottenham Hotspur [2]: Defoe(42), Kanoute(85)

Middlesbrough [2]: Yakin(72), Boateng(90)

The Uefa Cup winners appeared to turn up in defensive spirits as they set their stool out early deep deep into their own half. A Tottenham side that was expecting an onslaught of attacking play was met with that of a midfield battle. With 'Boro flighing high under Ligs' management, could Bouchard match up to his opponent.

A slow start to the match meant it would be a while before the first goal came, with defences for both sides playing well. A Clinical piece of finishing from Jermain Defoe on the edge of the box just before the break was what Tottenham deserved through their hardwork in gradually breaking the away side down. 'Boro came more attacking in the second half, but only just, with Hasselbaink upfront on his own with only some attacking play from Dede and Mendieta for him to get his teeth into. On the 72nd minute Yakin turned up on the edge of the box and clipped the ball which looked to be heading towards Robinson's Fingertips and into his arms, but the Vanden Borre thought otherwise and clocked the ball into the other corner, foxing Robbo completly.

The score was back on level terms late on as a smooth counter attack from a 'Boro corner lead Kanoute to the opposite end to slot the ball home. The game looked wrapped up by this point, with only a couple of minutes to go before the final whistle, but deep into injury time George Boateng shot with pace at Paul Robinson's goal before defender Vincent Kompany saw fit to throw himself in the way of the ball, guiding it into the opposite corner of Robinson's dived side. The game finished 2-2 but hmmm....Superstition.

Tuesday 27th September 2005

Tottenham Hotspur [4]: Davies(30), Guarin(34), Moore(85,87)

FC Porto [2]: Leal(45), Maciel(55)

Champions League Group F pitted Tottenham against Porto in this the second game of the group stage. After a convincing performance away against Flora earlier in the month the team were determined to pull off a victory against the Champions League winners of 2004.

The domination of Porto showed on and off the pitch as Stevie Wonder and Simon Davies combined to produce a lead. Freddy Guarin forced save after save for the Porto 'keeper, but one shot too many came in and Guarin found the top corner in the 34th minute. Leal scored for the away side late into stoppage time at the end of the half to pull one back for Porto. Maciel scored in the 55th minute to level it up before Freddy Guarin was once again centre of attention but this time for the wrong reason. Diving Leal conned the refaree into giving Guarin a second yellow, forcing him to leave the field of play. This only forced the Tottenham side to re-shuffle, offering substitute's Robin van Persie and Luke Moore a chance to shine. That they did with van Persie assisting to one of Luke Moore's late goals. 4-2 the final score, Spurs really are looking good in Europe, certainly Living For The City.

Saturday 1st October 2005

Blackburn Rovers [1]: Thompson(71)

Tottenham Hotspur [1]: Defoe(51)

Two days after Sam Bouchard's birthday, Tottenham visited Blackburn to where the previous season the incident dubbed "The Goat And His Sheep" took place on route.

The team stayed the same of that the previous, excluding Van Persie and Moore on the bench as they'd picked up nocks in training. With Vanden Borre going off early on injured, the task against a hard working Blackburn side was never going to be easy. A Defoe goal was cancelled out late on by one of Thompson for the Blues late on in a match that was less than inspiring for the fans to watch. A few great Paul Robinson saves frustrated Blackburn but the same could be said of Brad Friedel at the opposite end. All in all not a very Happy Birthday for Spurs boss Sam Bouchard.

Wednesday 5th October 2005

Tottenham Hotspur [2]: Guarin(5), Defoe(52)

Southampton [0]:

Rob Steel was next to take his side to White Hart Lane where last season they pulled off a 3-1 win against Bouchard's men. This season however Steel wasn't as fortunate. A solid performance from the home side with many attempts on goal offered little in the form of compensation for their opponents, and it took 75 minutes for the team from the coast to get into gear. A much more confident side took on Spurs towards the latter end of the game, one that took chances and played the ball about as if they were 4-0 up. Bouchard was said to beOverjoyed with the result, highlighting the performances of the young duo of signings Freddy Guarin and Mark Wilson.

Saturday 15th October 2005

Arsenal [4]: Reyes(18,30,51), Vieira(49)

Tottenham Hotspur [0]:

Arsene Wenger played up to the fixture in the media grately this week, having articles all over the shop and daily having A Place In The Sun for his own thoughts. With 4 injury's in the Spurs ranks and two suspensions being played out, Arsenal had the advantage from the word go. The attacking force was taken out through injury, and the rock that is Guarin was suspended along with James McFadden which really didn't help looking at the line ups.

An on fire Reyes did nothing to stop Arsenal, and with Edman playing the ball straight into Vieira's path no more than 4 times, the goals were destined to come, and they did. A very dissapointing away game for all involved with the club, especially against their bitter rivals.

Tuesday 18th October 2005

Werder Bremen [6]: Fahenhorst(45), Klose(49), Klasnic(50,52), Ernst(61), Jensen(68)

Tottenham Hotspur [2]: Kompany(6), Moore(26)

Full marks so far in the Champions League after wins against Flora and FC Porto the previous month meant that Tottenham had a slight edge over their European counterparts.

This week Trainers walked out at Tottenham Hotspur's training ground in a dispute over the last jam doughnut. Martin Jol took it and shouted something in dutch at the other coaches and they walked out on the club. Although Bouchard tried to sort out a training schedule for the team with Jol, tnhey just couldn't handle all the players on their own. When asked about the situation the consencus was that they were trying to reach a Higher Ground over the doughnut situation in future.

Due to the lack of training going on the team were knackered after half an hour. So at 2-0 surely they could hold on......well....they didn't. Bremen attacked in force, with anything they threw at the goalkeeper was seen flying into the top of the net. 6 goals in total rattled the goal and the away supporters as Spurs players and fans alike came home with tails between their legs to which only Luke Moore managed to turn the tail into something else and intregue flight attendants on the plane back.

Saturday 22nd October 2005

Tottenham Hotspur [1]: Wilson(20)

Everton [2]: Calaio(38), Selkovic(90)

Everton were to visit White Hart Lane twice in four days as matches in the Premier League and the League Cup panned out. This match was that of League business in which Everton scraped through with all three points.

Wilson's hardworked goal on 20 minutes kickstarted Spurs, but once again it was only a short term lead as the lack of training was still being felt throughout the team. A cool worked Calaio goal before the break gave Niall Murphy's team the lifeline they so badly needed.

The second half did nothing to motivate Spurs, and even the Jaffa Cakes and Blackcurrent Juice during the interval couldn't stur the team to a heart warming performance. Everton's defence were Uptight and very hard to break down as once again the job was done, and done to a high standard it must be said. Sendings off late on to King and Rickets did nothing to aid the cause for the home side as Selakovic clinched all three points in the dying seconds.

Saturday 22nd October 2005

Tottenham Hotspur [1]: Kanoute(26)

Everton [2]: Flamini(32), Calaio(86)

Pretty much the same as the previous match with only a few team changes. Kanoute, Guarin and Van Persie back from injury came into the starting line up along side Carson in goal, Welsh in the centre of defence and Gama on the right wing all young professionals making their full debuts for the club.

A Great chip from Kanoute showed the class the player has in him, but unfortunatly for the rest of the Spurs side their counterparts on the day had so much more. The fitness of the side showed through, and for the second time in 4 days Bouchard shook Murphy's hand in defeat.

Saturday 29th October 2005

West Brom [1]: Koumas(14), King(og 77)

Tottenham Hotspur [2]: Kanoute(3)

A trip to Chris Morris' Baggies next was for Bouchard's tired squad. After managing to manouver the spaghetti junction on the M6, Spurs failed to continue doing well when it came to the pitch. Morris' well managed side stuck at the cause and at times played Spurs off the pitch, and after equalising through Koumas against Kanoute's early goal, Brom looked good enough to take the game and all three points. It took a King deflected own goal late on to seal the points, but to be fair, the result was fair.

Sam Bouchard's side have now lost a record 5 games in a row, in a spell which can be classified as one of his worst. With two wins from 10 games in all competitions Lately things havn't been going well, but with the re-introduction of the coaches this coming week, Spurs have a chance to get their season back on track.

Wednesday 2nd November 2005

Tottenham Hotspur [4]: Davies(10), Kanoute(15,17), Defoe(27)

Werder Bremen [0]:

Well....what a way to end a run of defeats! Four goals in the opening 27 minutes as the Spurs team finally looked as if they were singing from the same songsheet, as they vocalized the Redemption Song against the team that scored 6 last time round.

The team was very strong, full to the brim with class and flair and it showed as Bremen were forced to have 10 men behind the ball at all times. Appearances for Fredy William Thompson, Robin van Persie and George Junior Weah in the second half offered the team to show it's depth. Dispite missing a handful of chances, Weah looked bright upfront, a place that would usually be filled by the ever clinical Luke Moore, but due to injury it wasn't possible.

Saturday 5th November 2005

Tottenham Hotspur [4]: Defoe(12,52), Kanoute(17), Guarin(81)

Man Utd [2]: Rooney(pen59,85)

With a schedule in place on the training ground and most of the team back to full fitness things were finally looking up for Tottenham. Man United were up next to play and to be honest i dont think anybody felt before the game that Spurs would take a 3-0 lead.

Excelent Defoe and Kanoute goals upfront offered an outlet for the hardworking midfielders whilst Freddy Guarin once again hot a screamer from the edge of the box. Isn't (S)he Lovely was John Motson's comment after Guarin went and danced with Stevie Wonder's grandkids after scoring, on the sidelines.

A Kanoute injury into the second half slowed the game down a bit and enabled United to get back into things and through Rooney they did. A Penalty and a mix up with Robinson and Gardner at the near post gave the away side their goals.

After Chelsea's league fixture was postponed for television purposes the next Spurs game would be 17 days later than this one, at home against Flora in the Champions League.

Tuesday 22nd November 2005

Tottenham Hotspur [12]: Kanoute(1,26,38,65), Guarin(3,68), McFadden(6,61), Defoe(52,87), Mendes(pen 89), v.Persie(90)

Flora [0]:

Take another look at the scoreline and you'll see that Flora gave a somewhat...poor account of themselves in this Champions League match. To be honest they weren't that bad, it was that Tottenham were that much better. 12 Goals, 6 goalscorers, 1 hat-trick and Champions League Qualification for the next round wasn't bad at the end of the game, as Bouchard saw his fortunes turned upside down in 90 minutes!

Kanoute, Guarin and McFadden all netted within 6 minutes which not only threw the away side, their fans and the pundits in the studio, it also threw Jeff Stelling at Sky Sports. Stelling had a bet with Chris Kamara before the game kicked off stating that he would...

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">...eat a shoe live on air if Spurs were to pull off the victory by more than Manchester United did against Ipswich in 1995. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

That number was of course 9, and after thinking about the challenge, Kamara accepted the bet with a shoe set to go down one way or another. Stelling was thrown into shock when Spurs scored 3, to which grew to 6 and then 9 before Defoe, Mendes and Van Persie added 3 more late on to make it 12.

Kanoute's second and Spurs' 4th is surely a contestant for goal of the season, due to a thirty yard strike from the right hand side finding it's way over the goalkeeper and into the top left hand corner like a rocket.

Spurs had 8 players rated 10 on the Opta Index of Sky Sports, to which broke records, as well did the scoreline.

After the game ended Stelling announced that he would be at Spurs' next home game to partake in the 'activity' infront of the Spurs fans.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Jeff Stelling

That lad Kamara...*laughs*...i'll swing for him one of these days! If there's one thing to be taken from this, apart from a shoe, will be a warning to any gamblers or doubts over Chris Kamara's optomistic aproach to the game of football, because when it's all said and done He's Mistra Know It All *laughs*...ahhh Kammy' </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Saturday 26th November 2005

Tottenham Hotspur [2]: Defoe(54), Kranjcar(89)

Birmingham City [1]: Christie(27)

The game began with Sam Bouchard facing Danny King for the first time in a match for 3 Premier League points that both teams and managers so badly want.

The game began with an almost trademark injury for Tottenham, with Carrick going down, Mendes was brough on in his place. Christie scored a good opener for Brum' half way through the first half, and it wasn't until the second half that a reply was made through Defoe with his 15th of the season. Kranjcar made an appearance with 5 minutes to go, to add more attacking flair into the team even though earlier in the day he was taken down with concussion. He duly finished off a well worked move almost on the full time whistle to frustrate the traveling fans. Dont You Worry 'Bout A Thing was the message to the players at half time in the Spurs dressing room and that they didn't, as Bouchard unfolded his tactics second half to get the three points desired.

At half time Jeff Stelling and Chris Kamara were introduced and taken to the centre of the pitch. Whilst Kamara did the 50/50 draw with one hand, he also pushed a shoe into Stellings mouth to which he duly 'polished off'. The puns didn't stop there as stelling took the microphone, and although with polish around his mouth, he had a smile on his face.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">I've had the ability to do that since i was a little boy. It'll hit home in a couple of days what i've eaten....for various reasons, but by heck...did you see how fast i did that! *Laughs* It was at such a 'lace' it was untrue! Quicker than you could run that Kammy eh! Oh Balls....can you give me a piggie back to the sidelines....i seem to have one shoe.

Chris.....

Kammy.....

Dont Leave Me!

*hops off the field as the players re-emerge from the tunnel for the second half* </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Saturday 3rd December 2005

Bolton [0]:

Tottenham Hotspur [2]: Defoe(26), Guarin(32)

David Pagi's Bolton were the next challengers for Sam Bouchard's men as their curent form put them in good shape against a team that lie 7th in the league table, 4 places higher than Spurs.

Bolton were out the traps fast, as the ball sped about the pitch with players chasing it quite alike a rabbit and a greyhound. It took a near post header from Jermain Defoe on the 26th minute to give Spurs the lead from Simon Davies' corner.

Bolton held the ball well after the goal, and had many a chance of their own, but when Freddy Guarin took the ball on the edge of the box and planted it top corner once more, the wind was taken out of the Bolton sails.

Dispite the upmost efforts from Pagi's men, Spurs held on to register their first League win away from home this season. I'm Wondering how long the run can go on for with Bouchard's men seemingly getting stuck in to the training as well as the doughnuts, the team look in good shape.

The word around White Hart Lane is that Sam Bouchard is well regarded by the fans, and with his Continental Reputation growing, he's certainly Signed, Sealed and Delivered.

[EmmYouEffSee]

Stevie Wonder....A legendary Singer....and a Spurs fan!

It's official, Stevie Wonder loves Sam Bouchard's side's verbal authority off the pitch so much that he's forked out for a seat to be made on the bench at Spurs for himself.

The Motown singer visited the capital for his stop at Wembley when he overheard on the news that Sam Bouchard was teaching the supporters of Tottenham Hotspur to sing. Inspired by this, Wonder then set it upon himself to meet the man himself and overnight a deal was done. A seat on the bench next to Bouchard right in the heart of the atmospheric middle of White Hart Lane in exchange for Stevie's singing tips.

This report has been written as a special edition, dedicating Stevie Wonder tracks to the season so far.

Saturday 24th September 2005

Tottenham Hotspur [2]: Defoe(42), Kanoute(85)

Middlesbrough [2]: Yakin(72), Boateng(90)

The Uefa Cup winners appeared to turn up in defensive spirits as they set their stool out early deep deep into their own half. A Tottenham side that was expecting an onslaught of attacking play was met with that of a midfield battle. With 'Boro flighing high under Ligs' management, could Bouchard match up to his opponent.

A slow start to the match meant it would be a while before the first goal came, with defences for both sides playing well. A Clinical piece of finishing from Jermain Defoe on the edge of the box just before the break was what Tottenham deserved through their hardwork in gradually breaking the away side down. 'Boro came more attacking in the second half, but only just, with Hasselbaink upfront on his own with only some attacking play from Dede and Mendieta for him to get his teeth into. On the 72nd minute Yakin turned up on the edge of the box and clipped the ball which looked to be heading towards Robinson's Fingertips and into his arms, but the Vanden Borre thought otherwise and clocked the ball into the other corner, foxing Robbo completly.

The score was back on level terms late on as a smooth counter attack from a 'Boro corner lead Kanoute to the opposite end to slot the ball home. The game looked wrapped up by this point, with only a couple of minutes to go before the final whistle, but deep into injury time George Boateng shot with pace at Paul Robinson's goal before defender Vincent Kompany saw fit to throw himself in the way of the ball, guiding it into the opposite corner of Robinson's dived side. The game finished 2-2 but hmmm....Superstition.

Tuesday 27th September 2005

Tottenham Hotspur [4]: Davies(30), Guarin(34), Moore(85,87)

FC Porto [2]: Leal(45), Maciel(55)

Champions League Group F pitted Tottenham against Porto in this the second game of the group stage. After a convincing performance away against Flora earlier in the month the team were determined to pull off a victory against the Champions League winners of 2004.

The domination of Porto showed on and off the pitch as Stevie Wonder and Simon Davies combined to produce a lead. Freddy Guarin forced save after save for the Porto 'keeper, but one shot too many came in and Guarin found the top corner in the 34th minute. Leal scored for the away side late into stoppage time at the end of the half to pull one back for Porto. Maciel scored in the 55th minute to level it up before Freddy Guarin was once again centre of attention but this time for the wrong reason. Diving Leal conned the refaree into giving Guarin a second yellow, forcing him to leave the field of play. This only forced the Tottenham side to re-shuffle, offering substitute's Robin van Persie and Luke Moore a chance to shine. That they did with van Persie assisting to one of Luke Moore's late goals. 4-2 the final score, Spurs really are looking good in Europe, certainly Living For The City.

Saturday 1st October 2005

Blackburn Rovers [1]: Thompson(71)

Tottenham Hotspur [1]: Defoe(51)

Two days after Sam Bouchard's birthday, Tottenham visited Blackburn to where the previous season the incident dubbed "The Goat And His Sheep" took place on route.

The team stayed the same of that the previous, excluding Van Persie and Moore on the bench as they'd picked up nocks in training. With Vanden Borre going off early on injured, the task against a hard working Blackburn side was never going to be easy. A Defoe goal was cancelled out late on by one of Thompson for the Blues late on in a match that was less than inspiring for the fans to watch. A few great Paul Robinson saves frustrated Blackburn but the same could be said of Brad Friedel at the opposite end. All in all not a very Happy Birthday for Spurs boss Sam Bouchard.

Wednesday 5th October 2005

Tottenham Hotspur [2]: Guarin(5), Defoe(52)

Southampton [0]:

Rob Steel was next to take his side to White Hart Lane where last season they pulled off a 3-1 win against Bouchard's men. This season however Steel wasn't as fortunate. A solid performance from the home side with many attempts on goal offered little in the form of compensation for their opponents, and it took 75 minutes for the team from the coast to get into gear. A much more confident side took on Spurs towards the latter end of the game, one that took chances and played the ball about as if they were 4-0 up. Bouchard was said to beOverjoyed with the result, highlighting the performances of the young duo of signings Freddy Guarin and Mark Wilson.

Saturday 15th October 2005

Arsenal [4]: Reyes(18,30,51), Vieira(49)

Tottenham Hotspur [0]:

Arsene Wenger played up to the fixture in the media grately this week, having articles all over the shop and daily having A Place In The Sun for his own thoughts. With 4 injury's in the Spurs ranks and two suspensions being played out, Arsenal had the advantage from the word go. The attacking force was taken out through injury, and the rock that is Guarin was suspended along with James McFadden which really didn't help looking at the line ups.

An on fire Reyes did nothing to stop Arsenal, and with Edman playing the ball straight into Vieira's path no more than 4 times, the goals were destined to come, and they did. A very dissapointing away game for all involved with the club, especially against their bitter rivals.

Tuesday 18th October 2005

Werder Bremen [6]: Fahenhorst(45), Klose(49), Klasnic(50,52), Ernst(61), Jensen(68)

Tottenham Hotspur [2]: Kompany(6), Moore(26)

Full marks so far in the Champions League after wins against Flora and FC Porto the previous month meant that Tottenham had a slight edge over their European counterparts.

This week Trainers walked out at Tottenham Hotspur's training ground in a dispute over the last jam doughnut. Martin Jol took it and shouted something in dutch at the other coaches and they walked out on the club. Although Bouchard tried to sort out a training schedule for the team with Jol, tnhey just couldn't handle all the players on their own. When asked about the situation the consencus was that they were trying to reach a Higher Ground over the doughnut situation in future.

Due to the lack of training going on the team were knackered after half an hour. So at 2-0 surely they could hold on......well....they didn't. Bremen attacked in force, with anything they threw at the goalkeeper was seen flying into the top of the net. 6 goals in total rattled the goal and the away supporters as Spurs players and fans alike came home with tails between their legs to which only Luke Moore managed to turn the tail into something else and intregue flight attendants on the plane back.

Saturday 22nd October 2005

Tottenham Hotspur [1]: Wilson(20)

Everton [2]: Calaio(38), Selkovic(90)

Everton were to visit White Hart Lane twice in four days as matches in the Premier League and the League Cup panned out. This match was that of League business in which Everton scraped through with all three points.

Wilson's hardworked goal on 20 minutes kickstarted Spurs, but once again it was only a short term lead as the lack of training was still being felt throughout the team. A cool worked Calaio goal before the break gave Niall Murphy's team the lifeline they so badly needed.

The second half did nothing to motivate Spurs, and even the Jaffa Cakes and Blackcurrent Juice during the interval couldn't stur the team to a heart warming performance. Everton's defence were Uptight and very hard to break down as once again the job was done, and done to a high standard it must be said. Sendings off late on to King and Rickets did nothing to aid the cause for the home side as Selakovic clinched all three points in the dying seconds.

Saturday 22nd October 2005

Tottenham Hotspur [1]: Kanoute(26)

Everton [2]: Flamini(32), Calaio(86)

Pretty much the same as the previous match with only a few team changes. Kanoute, Guarin and Van Persie back from injury came into the starting line up along side Carson in goal, Welsh in the centre of defence and Gama on the right wing all young professionals making their full debuts for the club.

A Great chip from Kanoute showed the class the player has in him, but unfortunatly for the rest of the Spurs side their counterparts on the day had so much more. The fitness of the side showed through, and for the second time in 4 days Bouchard shook Murphy's hand in defeat.

Saturday 29th October 2005

West Brom [1]: Koumas(14), King(og 77)

Tottenham Hotspur [2]: Kanoute(3)

A trip to Chris Morris' Baggies next was for Bouchard's tired squad. After managing to manouver the spaghetti junction on the M6, Spurs failed to continue doing well when it came to the pitch. Morris' well managed side stuck at the cause and at times played Spurs off the pitch, and after equalising through Koumas against Kanoute's early goal, Brom looked good enough to take the game and all three points. It took a King deflected own goal late on to seal the points, but to be fair, the result was fair.

Sam Bouchard's side have now lost a record 5 games in a row, in a spell which can be classified as one of his worst. With two wins from 10 games in all competitions Lately things havn't been going well, but with the re-introduction of the coaches this coming week, Spurs have a chance to get their season back on track.

Wednesday 2nd November 2005

Tottenham Hotspur [4]: Davies(10), Kanoute(15,17), Defoe(27)

Werder Bremen [0]:

Well....what a way to end a run of defeats! Four goals in the opening 27 minutes as the Spurs team finally looked as if they were singing from the same songsheet, as they vocalized the Redemption Song against the team that scored 6 last time round.

The team was very strong, full to the brim with class and flair and it showed as Bremen were forced to have 10 men behind the ball at all times. Appearances for Fredy William Thompson, Robin van Persie and George Junior Weah in the second half offered the team to show it's depth. Dispite missing a handful of chances, Weah looked bright upfront, a place that would usually be filled by the ever clinical Luke Moore, but due to injury it wasn't possible.

Saturday 5th November 2005

Tottenham Hotspur [4]: Defoe(12,52), Kanoute(17), Guarin(81)

Man Utd [2]: Rooney(pen59,85)

With a schedule in place on the training ground and most of the team back to full fitness things were finally looking up for Tottenham. Man United were up next to play and to be honest i dont think anybody felt before the game that Spurs would take a 3-0 lead.

Excelent Defoe and Kanoute goals upfront offered an outlet for the hardworking midfielders whilst Freddy Guarin once again hot a screamer from the edge of the box. Isn't (S)he Lovely was John Motson's comment after Guarin went and danced with Stevie Wonder's grandkids after scoring, on the sidelines.

A Kanoute injury into the second half slowed the game down a bit and enabled United to get back into things and through Rooney they did. A Penalty and a mix up with Robinson and Gardner at the near post gave the away side their goals.

After Chelsea's league fixture was postponed for television purposes the next Spurs game would be 17 days later than this one, at home against Flora in the Champions League.

Tuesday 22nd November 2005

Tottenham Hotspur [12]: Kanoute(1,26,38,65), Guarin(3,68), McFadden(6,61), Defoe(52,87), Mendes(pen 89), v.Persie(90)

Flora [0]:

Take another look at the scoreline and you'll see that Flora gave a somewhat...poor account of themselves in this Champions League match. To be honest they weren't that bad, it was that Tottenham were that much better. 12 Goals, 6 goalscorers, 1 hat-trick and Champions League Qualification for the next round wasn't bad at the end of the game, as Bouchard saw his fortunes turned upside down in 90 minutes!

Kanoute, Guarin and McFadden all netted within 6 minutes which not only threw the away side, their fans and the pundits in the studio, it also threw Jeff Stelling at Sky Sports. Stelling had a bet with Chris Kamara before the game kicked off stating that he would...

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">...eat a shoe live on air if Spurs were to pull off the victory by more than Manchester United did against Ipswich in 1995. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

That number was of course 9, and after thinking about the challenge, Kamara accepted the bet with a shoe set to go down one way or another. Stelling was thrown into shock when Spurs scored 3, to which grew to 6 and then 9 before Defoe, Mendes and Van Persie added 3 more late on to make it 12.

Kanoute's second and Spurs' 4th is surely a contestant for goal of the season, due to a thirty yard strike from the right hand side finding it's way over the goalkeeper and into the top left hand corner like a rocket.

Spurs had 8 players rated 10 on the Opta Index of Sky Sports, to which broke records, as well did the scoreline.

After the game ended Stelling announced that he would be at Spurs' next home game to partake in the 'activity' infront of the Spurs fans.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Jeff Stelling

That lad Kamara...*laughs*...i'll swing for him one of these days! If there's one thing to be taken from this, apart from a shoe, will be a warning to any gamblers or doubts over Chris Kamara's optomistic aproach to the game of football, because when it's all said and done He's Mistra Know It All *laughs*...ahhh Kammy' </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Saturday 26th November 2005

Tottenham Hotspur [2]: Defoe(54), Kranjcar(89)

Birmingham City [1]: Christie(27)

The game began with Sam Bouchard facing Danny King for the first time in a match for 3 Premier League points that both teams and managers so badly want.

The game began with an almost trademark injury for Tottenham, with Carrick going down, Mendes was brough on in his place. Christie scored a good opener for Brum' half way through the first half, and it wasn't until the second half that a reply was made through Defoe with his 15th of the season. Kranjcar made an appearance with 5 minutes to go, to add more attacking flair into the team even though earlier in the day he was taken down with concussion. He duly finished off a well worked move almost on the full time whistle to frustrate the traveling fans. Dont You Worry 'Bout A Thing was the message to the players at half time in the Spurs dressing room and that they didn't, as Bouchard unfolded his tactics second half to get the three points desired.

At half time Jeff Stelling and Chris Kamara were introduced and taken to the centre of the pitch. Whilst Kamara did the 50/50 draw with one hand, he also pushed a shoe into Stellings mouth to which he duly 'polished off'. The puns didn't stop there as stelling took the microphone, and although with polish around his mouth, he had a smile on his face.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">I've had the ability to do that since i was a little boy. It'll hit home in a couple of days what i've eaten....for various reasons, but by heck...did you see how fast i did that! *Laughs* It was at such a 'lace' it was untrue! Quicker than you could run that Kammy eh! Oh Balls....can you give me a piggie back to the sidelines....i seem to have one shoe.

Chris.....

Kammy.....

Dont Leave Me!

*hops off the field as the players re-emerge from the tunnel for the second half* </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Saturday 3rd December 2005

Bolton [0]:

Tottenham Hotspur [2]: Defoe(26), Guarin(32)

David Pagi's Bolton were the next challengers for Sam Bouchard's men as their curent form put them in good shape against a team that lie 7th in the league table, 4 places higher than Spurs.

Bolton were out the traps fast, as the ball sped about the pitch with players chasing it quite alike a rabbit and a greyhound. It took a near post header from Jermain Defoe on the 26th minute to give Spurs the lead from Simon Davies' corner.

Bolton held the ball well after the goal, and had many a chance of their own, but when Freddy Guarin took the ball on the edge of the box and planted it top corner once more, the wind was taken out of the Bolton sails.

Dispite the upmost efforts from Pagi's men, Spurs held on to register their first League win away from home this season. I'm Wondering how long the run can go on for with Bouchard's men seemingly getting stuck in to the training as well as the doughnuts, the team look in good shape.

The word around White Hart Lane is that Sam Bouchard is well regarded by the fans, and with his Continental Reputation growing, he's certainly Signed, Sealed and Delivered.

[BelfastNiall]

With Murphy's ego approaching bursting point according to some of my fellow managers (well Ligs ), perhaps it was just as well that my bubble was burst towards the end of the session last night. However, at one stage, with Everton sitting in second place for the majority of the evening, I was just beginning to wonder if the lads could put up an unexpected title challenge. We were having that little bit of luck that all championship winning sides need. That unfortunately would all change in the final three games.

Everton 0 - 0 Aston Villa

The Villans had the better of this game, with the loss of the unfit Tobias Hysen stunting Everton's attacking potential. In the end I was pleased with a point and left impressed by the Villa team.

Middlesbrough 2 - 2 Everton

It was time for the nights main event, the annual trip to Liggins' Middlesbrough. Team news for the Toffees was that after an injury scare to Selakovic against the Villans, the Swedish international was fit in time to take his place on the right wing against Middlesbrough. I was expecting him to be playing against Dede, but Liggins threw a pre-match surprise by dropping Downing and playing Dede as one of his three attacking midfielders. Everton relied on a deep lying Tomas Sivok, plus the back four to stifle Middlesbrough's attack.

The game settled with Boro attacking as expected. We were holding out with ease up until George Boateng scored against Everton with the jammiest deflection I have seen, since, er, oh yeah, the last time I visited the Riverside. From 25 yards, Boateng's shot took a huge, and ultimately cruel deflection off Joseph Yobo, wrong footing Robert Green and trickling into the middle of the goal.

However, Everton have a bit of mettle about them this season and don't normally go down without a fight. And this was the case again as a beautiful move through the midfield saw Zurawski played in just before HT. The Polish international doesn't miss from here too often and he didn't today to level the scores, slightly against the run of play.

Into the second half and Everton came into the game a lot more but Middlesbrough were dominating the attacking highlights as I would have expected from such a good team on their home patch. However, Everton were keeping the Boro at bay and Murphy's game plan looked like winning the day.

Again it was Zurawski who went on a mazy dribble from wide right, cutting in and lethally shooting past Rensing into the net. 2-1 to Everton and not that long left to play. Middlesbrough though were not finished. Throwing the kitchen sink at Everton in the last few minutes, both managers were on edge knowing that another Everton breakaway was just as likely as a Middlesbrough equaliser. This time however, Liggins was the happy man as a 90th minute shot from Nicky Butt finally beat Green in the Everton goal to level the scores. 2-2 the final score.

After an exhilarating game Murphy commented,

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> Well, that game was a wonderful advert for football. Liggins has built a very good side here at the Riverside and for us to come away with a point has to be considered a good result. At one stage I thought Zurawski had done enough to break Middlesbrough hearts and take all three back to Goodison, but Liggins made an astute change and his boys had the determination to avoid defeat. Although Liggins would admit that Murphy is a manager he loves to beat as well, this time we'll settle for a share of the spoils. I have a lot of respect for the job Liggins has done here. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Everton 1 - 0 Blackburn

Rick's side is struggling near the foot of the table and visited Goodison Park not feeling confident about the game. On the day though, Everton were extremely lucky to take all three points from this fixture. Rick's side shut us out for almost the entire game and in the last 15 minutes Harbuzi had two excellent chances to win the game for Boult's men. That he missed both would seem to sum up Blackburn's troubles in front of goal because defensively they are excellent.

Everton won the game in the 92nd minute, when substitute Aliadiere scrambled home a corner at the far post. An undeserved win but another three points went to Murphy's men. Sometimes you need a bit of luck and at this stage we were having a fair dose, making me wonder if perhaps this could be our year.

Southampton 1 - 0 Everton

This is where it all changed and I reckon its because I checked how many league games we have gone unbeaten prior to this fixture. It stood at 9 and we didn't make 10 because in the absence of manager Rob Steel Southampton beat us with a solitary goal from Amoroso. Everton threatened an equaliser but this time it didn't materialise. The major disappointment in this game was a dirty "tackle" by Cafu putting Tobias Hysen out for 4 weeks.

Arsenal 6 - 0 Everton

Well amazingly after such a great run, most of my squad went to very poor morale prior to this game, including both my goalkeepers. With Hysen out and the Xmas schedule underway I'm getting my excuses in early for this record defeat. Playing Arsenal at Highbury is hard enough, but when Green booted the ball to Edu who played in Henry for a goal after 53 seconds it gets even harder. Soon it was 2-0. Green taking a wild swing at a back pass from Boumsong, and the ball going into the net. After 22 minutes Sivok was dismissed for his first tackle and after that it just went downhill, Gilberto with 2, Edu and Robbie Keane adding further goals, long after I had stopped watching.

Everton 0 - 0 Charlton

Missed the chance to get back on track with a poor draw against a poor Charlton outfit, Kiely keeping us out on the few occasions we really threatened in this match.

This leaves us 5th after tonight, which I would have taken at the start of the season and would jump at now. The usual suspects are back in the top three so it will be interesting to see where this season goes now.

[Dunga99]

Premiership Game 12

Portsmouth 1

Mascherano pen 34

Birmingham City 0

Man of the Match: Mascherano 8/10 Portsmouth

Attendance-20969

Refereed by Steve Martins

My first game against this year's manager of the year and what a boring game it was. Went with Forssell and Christie in attack with Dunn and Carter just behind them but my guys just didn't get into the game but neither did Portsmouth so a draw would have been a fair result. Portsmouths man of the match Masherano put away the pen to give them the win after Upson had fouled the same player in to the box. 1-0 Defeat

Premiership Game 13

Birmingham City 2

Christie 36 Morrison 58

Leicester 1

Upson og 85

Man of the Match: Robina 9/10 Birmingham

Attendance-29983

Refereed by Chris Foy

The mood around the camp wasn't good so this was a must win game against one of the premiership new boys. Stuck with the same team that played so poorly against Portsmouth expect for Buxton who I gave a place in the heart of the defence and recalled the fit again keeper Taylor for the donkey Richard Wright. This was a much better display for my team with Christie getting a good goal in the first half to give us the lead at half time. Second half more of the same with Christie again playing well and setting up the goal for Morrison to score his first league goal of the season to give us a 2-0 lead before Upson put the ball into his own net from a cross to give Leicester some hope but in the end we Won 2-1

Premiership Game 14

Tottenham 2

Defoe 54 Kranjcar 90

Birmingham City 1

Christie 27

Man of the Match: Mcfadden 10/10 Tottenham

Attendance-36199

Refereed by Neil Moore

Sam's big spending Tottenham team was my next game and after the Leicester result morale was high again within the team so I was hoping for a another good result. Right from the off my team went on the attack and after some good play from Savage and Forssell we found ourselves 1-0 up after a well taken goal from Christie. Second half Sam made a few changes and Tottenham came out playing a lot better and while we was on the attack they hit us with a counter attack and with Defoe pace and skill he put the ball past Taylor to draw the game level. The game was still even and it looked like a draw which would have been a fair result for both managers but Tottenham hit us on the break again but this time they were clearly offside and Kranjcar slotted the ball away to finish of Birmingham City 2-1 Defeat

Premiership Game 15

Birmingham City 2

Carter 7, 69

Liverpool 2

Gerrard 75 Finnan 90

Man of the Match: Carter 8/10 Birmingham

Attendance-29985

Refereed by Mike Riley

Another big game against a top team and my lads were well up for this game. We had a great start to the game with Carter scoring from long range to give the boys in blue a 1-0 lead and that's the way it stayed in the first half. Second half man of the match Carter was at it again but this time from 30 yards out to give up a 2-0 lead and thing were looking sweet for my team. Liverpool started to come at us more and had a few freekicks that went wide until Gerrard hit a good shot that flew past Taylor into the net to pull Liverpool back into the game. Still looking good for the 3 points and the game enters injury time and of course its all highlights now, then in the 94 minute bloody Finnan scores 2-2 Draw

Premiership Game 16

Wolves 1

Miller 38

Birmingham City 0

Man of the Match: Melchiot 8/10 Birmingham

Attendance-28648

Refereed by John Evans

What a poor game to watch and be apart off there was only about 3 highlights all game 2 for Birmingham City attack and 1 for Wolves attack after seeing this match I gave a post match interview 1-0 Defeat

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">I can offer no excuses and I don't want to be associated with a team that plays like that.

"I didn't have any players who were prepared to shed blood and I've just asked a few questions of them.

"In the 6 months here I've never publicly criticized the players but I won't accept that."

Birmingham might have drawn level when Emile Heksey's header hit the post but King said: "That's clutching at straws.

"I look at the bigger picture and from the first to the 90th minute; Wolves were a better team than us in every department.

"I can't and won't offer any excuses.

"four or five weeks ago when we beat Manchester Utd I said that was our best performance since I have been here.

said King who fears his side could be sucked into the relegation fight.

"This result now drags everyone one, including us. We've been on the fringes of the relegation battle all season. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Premiership Game 17

Birmingham City 1

Savage 89

Man City 0

Man of the Match: Mabizela 8/10 Man City

Attendance-30011

Refereed by John Evans

A game against fellow manager Leo who was AWOL at the time and after the result at Wolves morale was at an all time low.

Had a full squad to choose from stuck with Forssell and Christie up front and a new diamond formation in midfield with Savage at the base and Dunn just behind the front two forwards. Birmingham City was the better team in the first half and didn't have anything to show for it. Second half Man City came at us and could have taken the lead but from some good stops by Taylor and for the first time this season it was Birmingham City that scored a last minute goal to win the game thanks to Savage. 1-0 Win

Premiership Game 18

Fulham 1

McBridge 4

Birmingham City 1

Forssell 20

Man of the Match: Forssell 8/10 Birmingham

Attendance-21794

Refereed by Matt Messias

Trying for a second win on the trot for the first time this season and kept my new diamond formation with Forssell and Christie up front and Savage at the base, Dunn just behind the front two forwards, Carter and Izzet in the central mid roles for support. Couldn't have had a worse start with Mcbridge scoring within the first 4 minutes to give Fulham the lead and after that they could have had a couple more. Against the run of play we got our goal via Forssell but Fulham were still all over us and had a few free kicks just outside the box but put them wide and the game finished with a 1-1 Draw

Premiership Game 19

Aston Villa 1

Samuel 84

Birmingham City 1

Christie 28

Man of the Match: Dunn 10/10 Birmingham

Attendance-42547

Refereed by Neale Barry

Looking for some payback against my local rivals who gave me a 1-0 defeat at St Andrews on the first game of the season. Again went with the diamond formation with Forssell and Christie up front and Savage at the base, Dunn just behind the front two forwards, Carter and Izzet in the central mid roles for support. Got off to a good start with lots of attacks against Villa and could have took the lead within 10 minutes but for a bad finish from Carter. Then Christie who is fast becoming a fan's favorite put us 1-0 up with a good header after some fine play from Dunn and that's the way the score stayed in the first half. Second half Birmingham City was playing well and then Big Sam made a few changes and within a few minutes of that Villa was level thanks to Samuels long range effort for a 1-1 Draw

More to follow soon

[ligs]

EURO/ASIA Cup Final: Boro 4-0 Kashiba Stolz

Simple win, Burduli (37), Maccarone (42) and Ambrose (56, 59) got the goals. Which means, regardless of the importance of this competition:

Trophies: LIGGINS 2-0 REST OF EPL CHALLENGE

League Game 15: Boro 2-2 Everton

Regardless of what Mr Murphy may say, this was 2 points dropped, and it could've been worse as Everton almost completed a smash and grab victory.

The 1st half was comfortable, Boro on top, but it took a long range deflected Boateng (13) effort to break the deadlock. This looked like being the half time scoreline until Everton decided to see what Boro's half looked like, venturing out of their own 18 yard box for the first time all game. And, typical of Boro's recent run, their 1st attack resulted in a goal, Zurawski (45) slotting home.

The second half was more of the same but saw Boro actually created more chances, but they found Robert Green in superb form. Zurawski (80) broke away and put Everton in the lead, quite unbelievably, with only Everton's 2nd serious attack on the Boro goal. The home side's response was more attacks, and fortunately Butt (89) got the fully deserved equaliser.

Afterwards Murphy claimed that a draw was a fair result, his good fortune today had obviously gone to his head, making him think he could get away with ridiculous comments like those to the press. We wuz robbed!

UEFA Cup Group stage, game 4: Boro 0-0 Dinamo Kiev

Boro already through, the 2nd team produced little but weren't threatened. Dull match.

League game 16: WBA 1-0 Boro

Chris Mossir has made The Hawthorns is a difficult place to go, as shown today. The Boro performance was decent enough, but in a very even game, a set piece move won the game, Holm (40) getting the goal.

League game 17: Boro 4-0 Man Utd

This game summed up the frustration of current performances, as Boro played their more illustrious opponents off the park for 90 minutes. Despite this, all the goals came in the final 13 minutes, Hasselbaink (77) Dede (80, 88) and Pazienza (90) with the late blitz of goals.

League game 18: Boro 1-1 Chelsea

A second 1-1 draw of the season against the best team around by far, and it possibly could've been more. Boro edged the game but fell behind to a Chelsea counter attack finished off by Gudjohnsen (32), and only got the equaliser with 2 minutes remaining, Matusovic (88) lobbing Cech from 18 yards.

League game 19: Birmingham 3-2 Boro

With the greatest respect to Birmingham and Danny King, this was an abject Boro performance. It all started quite well, Boateng (12) with yet another goal to add to his season's tally, but this was undone in an made 8 minutes, where Forssell (19, 27) and an Umit Davala (20) own goal saw the game turn on it's head. The second half saw Boro push on and improve, Pazienza (68) getting a goal back, but Birmingham held on to get a deserved win.

Frustration

It's annoying how you can go from playing Man U off the park, being the better team against Chelsea, then losing abjectly to the likes of Birmingham and WBA. Concentration needs to be kept, arrogance and complacency needs to be stamped out from certain players.

Bolton (H) and Arsenal (A) next, 2 tough fixtures, before a tricky trip to Selhurst Park to face Palace in the FA Cup., Those 3 games could well shape the remainder of our season

[BelfastNiall]

From potential champs to potential chumps?

Well I'm afraid it has gone tits up for by team in recent weeks. After playing fantastic football for three months which resulted in us sitting in the dizzy heights of second place, we now can't buy a win or a goal. As I thought, my squad is too small to handle a title challenge at this point, as morale plummets, injuries kicked in and the fixtures piled up it has all become a little too much for my boys.

The loss of Tobias Hysen has been critical as since he has been out injured, Everton have scored one goal and that a face saving equaliser at the City Ground in the FA Cup. We need to turn it around quickly before what looked like a certain European Qualifying season, turns into the ultimate nightmare of dreams and hopes dashed.

However, before the schedule ahead Murphy had time to respond to Liggins' comments with good grace.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> It's understandably frustrating for Liggins when he fails to beat my side and indeed isn't even the bookies favourites to win on his own patch, especially as he is the Champion of Asia. The facts are that if Yobo had put away his great chance to make it 3-1 late in the game, Boro would have been dead and buried. We were well worth a point. Liggins should be thanking his lucky stars that Boateng's shot deflected into the net and that he managed to score a last minute goal rather than criticising our performance. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

So onto a dire dire display in recent games:

Premiership

Everton 0 - 1 West Brom

Chris Morris' team put in the perfect away performance against us, a ploy that my side has also used to devastating effect on the road this season. In a tight, tense game where many managerial changes were attempted to gain the upper hand, Everton narrowly failed to break down a solid Albion defence, well marshalled by MOM goalkeeper Lobont. Albion took the lead in the first half, scoring from a set piece routine and it was only in the final 20 minutes when Everton took command of the game. The best chance was a Selakovic shot from 6 yards which he managed to hit right at the keeper.

FA Cup 3rd Round

Nottingham Forest 1 - 1 Everton

With our team no where near full strength and trying out young Dutch goalkeeper Van Wegen, this game was always going to be a tricky tie. Forest set out to disrupt Everton's flow with some tasty tackles and with the ref flashing his yellow cards all over the show, Kinnear's men were walking a disciplinary tightrope. Eventually they paid for it and were reduced to 10 men. Despite this, Everton's recent run of form meant that it was only a matter of time before Rory Delap put the Championship side into the lead.

I was sweating on the touchline at the potential embarrassment of going out to 10 men in the 3rd Round and basically threw everyone into attacking mode. It paid off, with Holneak grabbing the equaliser in the 56th minute but we couldn't force a winner and the tie goes to a replay.

Carling Cup Semi Final First Leg[/b]

Manchester United 2 - 0 Everton

Having worked so hard to get to the semi finals I was hoping to contain a not at full strength Man U side to have a chance of beating them at Goodison Park. It didn't work. In a one sided game, Ferguson's recently revitalised side won with relative ease and look like ending Everton's participation in this competition at the semi final stage for the second season running. Oh so near to the Millennium but yet so far away, we need a big performance in the return, which looking at the fact we cannot score a goal at the minute is a remote possibility.

FA Barclaycard Premiership

Manchester United 3 - 0 Everton

Decided to move to a 5-4-1 formation for the second trip to Old Trafford in three days. The one positive to come out of this game was that Murphy has finally realised that Van Wegen is a dodgy keeper - in fact he is bullacks indeed. The tale of the tape here was that the new formation did have some success in that for 70 minutes, United only lead the game due to a goalkeeping mistake. However, the downside was that we didn't look like getting an equaliser at all. With 20 minutes remaining I decided I may as well lose 3-0 as 1-0 and went for the equaliser. The consequence of this decision was - we did lose 3-0 instead of 1-0.....

So there you have it, we have slipped into 8th position after 22 games, are looking unlikely to get to the Millennium Stadium for the Carling Cup Final, are in a tight spot in the FA Cup with a replay to come against a committed Forest side, and we haven't scored a league goal since Aliadiere scrambled one in against Blackburn quite some time ago. On the bright side, this all looks bad because we had done so well up until the beginning of December. Also with the January transfer window open, I have managed to nab a few Bosmans, mainly in the areas we lack depth ie: up front and on the flanks. As expected when I took the job, season three should see a bigger push for success...Possibly.

[ligs]

League Game 20: Boro 2-1 Bolton

This was a must win game, and the team just managed to get the 3 points.

The game started badly, less than 4 minutes had been played when Montero pulled down Guiza in the box, and young Frazer Richardson (pen 5) slammed home the spot kick. The rest of the half saw both teams looking to come forward, Bolton creating the better chances, but Boro equalised just before half time, Burduli robbing Pistone and finding Hasselbaink (44), who finished confidently. 1-1 at the break.

The second half followed a similar pattern, Boro crewating the more chances, but Bolton having the better quality ones. But then referee Halsey, as ever, tried to make sure it was he who the papers talked about the next day, given Bolton there second penalty of the game, when Rensing was adjudged to have pushed someone. A puzzling decision, leaving more questions than answers. Thankfully justice was done, the German keeper saving Richardson's penalty, who missed the chance to double it up to 2. 1 minute later (or 435 minutes past nine o'clock) Boro were in the lead, Downing (72) with a neat finish. Bolton pushed for an equaliser, Leggrotaglie doing his Ronnie Rosenthal impression wasting their best chance - hooooooooorse - as they played their kitchen sink. In the end, Bolton probably deserved a point, but it wasn't to be. Pagi was left to comment that he wished he'd never been to the Riverside, preferring a nice holiday to Boozios.

League game 21: Arsenal 3-0 Boro

Arsenal had hit form, so this was always going to be tough. The task was made far harder when Dede brough down henry in the box, Pires (pen 4) converting it. Keane (24) added a second before the break, Bellamy (67) completed the scoring in the second half. A convincing Arsenal win.

FA CUP 3rd round: Crystal Palace 0-2 Boro

An understrength Boro got the victory, but needed Butt (74) to come off the bench to break the deadlock. Ambrose (79) added the second.

League game 22: Boro 1-1 Man City

City had started falling down the league, Boro had a very impressive home record. Unfortunately this was a dismal Boro performance. Even though they were the better team and should have won, the performance was limp and without spark. Giving away a 4th penalty in 2 and a half league games didn't help, Anelka (pen 45) slotting home after being fouled by Dede. The Brazilian however made up for this by putting in a wonderful cross for Burduli (47) to finish well. Boro should've won, but failed to take any of the few chances they did create.

League game 23: Leeds 0-3 Boro

Well luckily for Boro, Leeds are awful, this was just the game they needed to get right back on track. Matusovic (13, 18) settled any early nerves, Arteta (54) fired in a 35 yard screamer to wrap up the points.

Progress?

It's quite ironic that given the poor recent performances, we've actually closed the gap to the top of the table, although this is due to Chelsea's recent run of 1 point from 4 games. We've slipped down to 5th, but now have a small coushin over 6th, and need to put a run of wins together to get back to the position we were in earlier this season. There's still plenty to play for.

In the cups, a home draw against Spurs in the FA Cup 4th round will be very tough, and should prove to be an interesting game, as Spurs have recently recaptured their form of last season.

The UEFA Cup sees an Anglo-Scottish tie with Hearts taking on the reining champions.

Finally, in response to Murphy's latest waffle regarding a match that took place over a month ago, I'd just like to say that, if it will make you quiet, then yes you deserved a point. In fact you deserved the win, and have been by far the best team the Premiership has ever seen. Happy?

[BelfastNiall]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">

Finally, in response to Murphy's latest waffle regarding a match that took place over a month ago, I'd just like to say that, if it will make you quiet, then yes you deserved a point. In fact you deserved the win, and have been by far the best team the Premiership has ever seen. Happy? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Surely you know by now Irishmen can argue for, well yeah, centuries.

[Dunga99]

Premiership Game 20

Birmingham City 3

Forssell 19, 27 Davala og 24

Middlesbrough 2

Boateng 12 Paziena 68

Man of the Match: Taylor 9/10 Birmingham

Attendance-29682

Refereed by Matt Messias

Hoping for some payback against that lucky Ligs side that managed to beat me early on in the season. Again sticking with my new diamond formation and with a pre game chat with the lads they were well up for this game. Right from the whistle Middlesbrough come on the attack and there goal scoring machine Boateng put them in front but Forssell soon could us back into the game with a well worked goal and then Lucky ligs luck ran out when is own player Davala put the past Rensing to give us the lead. Birmingham City started to turn on the class and within 3 minutes Forssell got his second of the game and thing were looking good for us until Paziena scored for Middlesbrough and from then on Middlesbrough had attack after attack to try and get a point out of the game but my boys held on well for a 3-1 Win

Transfers..

Yes the transfer window opens and it was time for me to done some business in the market and hopefully add a bit of class to my team.

Players In..

Ricardo Gardner from Bolton for 400k

What a good signing at a cheap price and already worth well over 3 million. Gardner hasn't played much under manager Pagi and was looking for first team football which I'm more than happy to give him.

Players Out...

Julian Gray to Sunderland for 2 million

A player who wasn't in my first team and when Sunderland came in with a bid of 2 million he was on his way.

Mika Nurmela to Burnley for free

The last manager gave him a big contact so I needed him of my wage bill.

Mario Melchiot to Manchester Utd for 2.5 million

Mario was a first team player and playing well but we couldn't afford to offer him the money he wanted to sign a new contact and with his contact running out I had to accept Man Utds offer.

Premiership Game 21

Blackburn 0

Birmingham City 0

Man of the Match: Pederson 9/10 Blackburn

Attendance-30672

Refereed by John Evans

I was hoping Rick would be here for this game as his ass manager had been getting some good results but he was AWOL. This was a boring game with little difference between the two teams but again Pederson showed his class in the middle of the park with a few good runs with the ball and crossing to match. In the end the game finished a boring 0-0 Draw

FA Cup 3rd Rd

Birmingham City 3

Dunn 12 Morrison 83 Bellion 86

Cardiff 0

Man of the Match: Izzet 9/10 Birmingham

Attendance-23464

Refereed by Joe Ross

My last chance of a place in Europe next season so I'm hoping for a good cup run and I will be putting a lot of effort into this cup. With that said I rested Forssell as we have alot of fixtures over the new year period and gave Bellion a start up front. We went on the attack right from the off and Dunn scored a good goal after some fine work by Morrison and we could have had a few goals in the first half but for the form of the Cardiff keeper. Second half more of the same but we had to wait for the last 7 mins to finish of the game with goal from Morrison and Bellion for a 3-0 Win

Premiership Game 21

Birmingham City 2

Morrison 12 Savage pen 90

Southampton 0

Man of the Match: Taylor 9/10 Birmingham

Attendance-29985

Refereed by Graham Poll

After the first meeting between me and Rob Steel he had given a post match interview saying that Birmingham City were heading for the championship, so my guys were well up for this game. Morrison got us of to a great start with a header in the first half to give us the lead in what was turning out to be a pretty even match. Second half Birmingham City or Southampton could have scored with both having some good chance's but with the last few seconds on the clock Michael Svensson was penalised for a trip on Christie and Savage scored from the stop to give us a 2-0 Win After the game Rob Steel was unable to give an interview on the game because he had already stormed out of St Andrews and the game for the night.

Players stats so far..

Goals..

1st. Savage 8

2nd. Dunn 7

3rd. Forssell 6

4th= Christie 5

4th= Morrison 5/B]

Average Rating

1st. Gardner 8.33

2nd. Savager 7.67

3rd. Carter 7.48

4th. Dunn 7.45

5th. Izzet 7.41

[BelfastNiall]

webiste updated.

[AsherDSSc]

***Boult Losing The Plot***

At the tender age of 19, rookie manager Rick Boult seems to have lost his way in the past few months. With a very productive first season at Ewood Park only brought to a hault with his absence, it now seems the tide has turned on the Yorkshireman. Having only seen a handful of his teams games this season and only 2 wins coming from them, both the coaching staff and the fans are starting to worry about the clubs future. Loyal Blackburn supporter and major political figure Jack Straw had this to say;

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> We know Rick is a sound manager, you only have to look at his results in the first season. The team were playing some good football and it seemed they had brought it through to this 1. Unfortunately, lady luck has not been shining on us and were in the procarious position of 17th. Both myself and my son have been deliberating over the matter and, although he had a glazed look over his eyes he agreed he was the man to save us from the drop. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

With no major buys brought in over the summer due to lack of funds, the squad as at a bare minimum with very few quality players to choose from. The Janurary transfer window is now due to climax and again no new buys have been brought in. At first, this was thought to be the managers problem due to him ****ing off to America again but we caught up with Boult in his luxury Manchester (i know, luxury in Manchester) mansion.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> **** off </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

After 2 hours sobering up and 8 cups of coffee, he was able to give us this statement.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> The Gods this season have not been very kind to us at Ewood, with almost every team being played off the park, (expecially Everton) yet no results to show for this dominance. The defence has been leaking a few goals from set peices this season so the usual security at the back has been lost. Add this to the bunch of 'Dickovs' we have up front and it was always going to be a tough season. I'd like to appologise to the fans for my recent absences at training, matches and even the christmas party. I'm looking forward to the rest of the season however, with great hope that Blackburn Rovers can survive the drop and push Everton for the 4th Champions League spot. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

[AsherDSSc]

Results will be posted as soon as i do, literally, sober up

[goat261]

Is there such thing as luck?

Well in my case there is but too bad its BAD LUCK!!

We currently are 13th in the league losing 11 (only deserved to lose 3). We have no problem making chances and in most games we take a few but in every game the opposition score from there every attack which is unbelievable and of course because of that the teams morale is very poor .

Here’s results of a few games

Arsenal 4-6 Portsmouth

An away win at Highbury is very rare but even rarer is scoring 6! It was 4-2 to arsenal with them scoring from only 6 shots on target so I brought on Sanctis for Westerveld and also brought on Earnshaw and boy did things change. First of all Sanctis could actually save something unlike Westerveld but the big difference was Earnshaw who came on and scored 4 including a screamer.

Portsmouth 2-1 Everton

A perfect time to put one over the egotistical Murphy with one of our worst performances but still easily coming out on top with Everton hardly getting a touch. Sure some of our shots were from long range but wouldn’t you try your luck when its just like a training session? We also had a lot of chances though and really should have been 3 or 4-0 up by the time Everton scored but Green was too good (the player Murphy poached out of my hands ) picking up the MOTM award and playing a 9 even though he let 2 in which suggests how 1 sided it was.

Portsmouth 1-2 United

This game had everything, goals, red cards, penalties, missed penalties oh and of course my bad luck.

United went 1-0 up after a counter attack and then came our penalty to equali…. O no he didn’t because Mascherano missed ffs. Thankfully 5 minutes later we finally beat the amazing Howard with a wonderful solo goal by Zidan. Then O’Neil gave away a penalty which of course was slotted home and then to make things even worse O’Neil went and got himself a red card which finished the game.

Chelsea 4-2 Portsmouth

The first half was all us taking a 2-0 lead but then just before half time Chelsea had there first shot on target and wouldn’t you believe it, yeas it was deflected in. Sanctis would of saved it but because he was injured Westerveld had to play and he’s even worse than Hislop . So its 2-1 but that goal before half time as not only shocked us but ****ed me right off so lets go and take our frustrations out on them lads.

Hmmm the speech at half time didn’t have an effect as Chelsea 5 minutes after the restart thanks to Westervled passing the ball straight to Cole made it 2-2 (you should have seen my reaction at this point seeing Westerveld given away another goal disappointing not only me but all the fans to for the 100th time). Ballack then made it 3-2 from 30 Yards after thanks to Westerveld AGAIN!! Letting it go straight though his hands . Chelsea stats were 5 shots 3 goals and all of them were Westervelds fault for being crazy.

Bolton 1-0 Portsmouth

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz is all I gotta say about this one. Bolton would be the most defensive team in the league if it wasn’t for Murphy’s Everton. We still had 4 chance and also hit the bar and boy you guessed it Bolton have 1 counter and score .

Portsmouth 1-2 Tottenham

After the match even Bouchard said that we should have had atleast a point but gain thanks to poor finishing and spurs scoring 2 in the last minute just sums up our campaign this season.

There is one positive though so far and that is the emergence of the new Pele in the form of Chris Clark. He has done well up to now scoring 2 in 2 and ripping teams apart in the process from midfield. Now we just need a quality striker to finish those chances off. There’s been a lot of rumours concerning who the new striker could be, all will be reviled soon so stay tuned to next week Same Nilsen time same Nilsen channel!

[Dunga99]

FA Cup 4th Rd

Stockport 0

Birmingham City 3

Forssell 1 Christie 8, 26

Man of the Match: Gardner 8/10 Birmingham

Attendance-10622

Refereed by Kevin Wright

As the FA cup is my only chance of winning anything and my last route into Europe this year I didn't take any chances against a non league team. I more than happy with my diamond formation so I stuck with that with Christie and Forssell leading the front line, Savage at the base, Dunn just behind the front two forwards, Carter and Izzet in the central mid roles for support. My lads got of to the best start with Forssell putting us 1-0 up inside the first minute after a good pass from Carter, next up was Christie who double our lead in the 8th minute and then again on the 26th minute and that the way the first half finished. Second half a lot more highlights to Birmingham City but Stockport shut up shop and we couldn't find a way past there keep to finish the game with a 3-0 Win

Premiership Game 22

Arsenal 7

Henry 8, 40, 90 Keane 22 Bellamy 75, 79, 86

Birmingham City 1

Dunn 17

Man of the Match: Herny 10/10 Arsenal

Attendance-38414

Refereed by Barry Knight

What can I say about this game? I was outplayed, outclassed and out managed by a better team.

7-1 Defeat

Transfers..

Yup a few more transfers have been done in a beat the deadline deals.

Players In..

Michael Dawson from Newcastle for 725k

Again another player who didn't have the best season last year when Newcastle dropped a division into the Championship and when there new manager came in he found himself playing in the reserve squad. I know he has the skills to make the England team within the next 3 seasons

Tim Janssen from PSV for 2.4 million

The future of Dutch football is he. Tim will be a lethal finisher in the years to come and I know he has all the attributes to make him a world class player under my management. The premiership defenders better watch out with him and Forssell linking up together.

Future Players In..

Hassan Sas from Galatasray for free

Turkey international player who will bring creativity and flair to my midfield.

Nathen Ellington from Wigan for free

A forward who will be used as a backup player for my first team.

Suazo from Cagliari for free

A good forward who will get the chance to prove himself in the Premiership.

Jason Euell from Charlton for free

You can never have two many forwards and with Heskey and Morrison expected to leave at the end of the season he my soon find himself in the first team.

Matteo Brighi from Chievo for free

This is the best of the bunch of my freebies. Already has played for Italy once and will be the long term replacement for Savage.

Players Out..

Martin Taylor to Celtic for 3 million

This was a great offer for Birmingham City and we couldn't turn it down for a bit part player.

Premiership Game 23

Birmingham City 2

Robina 22 Forssell 86

Everton 1

Calaio 77

Man of the Match: Hysen 8/10 Everton

Attendance-29995

Refereed by Keith Reed

After my lucky draw against Niall Murphy Everton earlier in the season and my team on poor morale after my record defeat at the hands of Arsenal I wasn't looking forward to this game. The first chances went to Everton but with some poor finishing and good defending we held strong and then Robina scores he's first ever goal for the club to give Birmingham City a 1-0 lead. After that we was having the better of the game but I know Everton always had a chance to get back into the game with the players they have in there team. Second half Murphy was making a few tactical changes to the team and it started to pay off as Everton got back into the game with more possession and chances, Calaio scored a lovely header after a great pass from man of the match Hysen and the game was heading for a 1-1 draw until Forssell grabs us the 3 points with a well taken goal after a good pass from Robian after some link up play from Janssen for a 2-1 Win

Premiership Game 24

WBA 2

Zonneveld 8 Haestad 66

Birmingham City 3

Forssell 16, 22 Dunn 90

Sent off: Pospech 43 WBA

Man of the Match: Forssell 8/10 Birmingham

Attendance-30472

Refereed by Mark Clattenburg

With still only one away win to my name in the league and West Brom on good form I didn't hold out much hope for my team. I have to admit Chris Morris has signed some great looking unknown players. Zonneveld gave WBA the prefect start was a quick goal in the 8th minute and the feeling of here we go again was running in my mind, well that was until Forssell pops up with a quick double to give us the lead and just before half time then Pospech was sent off for his second his booking of the day. Second half and WBA was still playing some good football and Haestad pulled them level with a well worked goal. Then on the 74 min Navidkia could have scored but some how missed from 5 yards out and WBA was made to pay for that miss when Dunn scores from outside the area on the 90th minute to give us a 3-2 Win

If the turth be told WBA should have won this game but I got lucky with the sending off.

Premiership Game 25

Birmingham City 4

Christie 29 Dunn 45 Janssen 50 Upson 55

Man Utd 0

Man of the Match: Izzet 9/10 Birmingham

Attendance-30002

Refereed by Barry Knight

After my first game with Man Utd I said that was my finest match as manager of Birmingham City but not any more this is. We controlled the game from start to finish scoring 4 goals in the process via Christie, Dunn, Janssen and Upson to seal us the best result so far this season. 4-0 Win

After this game Alex Ferguson was sacked as Manchester United and Sam Bouchard is the bookies favorite to take over the role but only time will tell if he will take over his boyhood club.

Players stats

Goals..

1st= Forssell 10

1st= Dunn 10

3rd= Christie 8

3rd= Savage 8

5th. Morrison 5

Average Rating..

1st. Gardner 8.13

2nd. Savager 7.58

3rd. Carter 7.50

4th. Dunn 7.46

5th. Riggott 7.42

[BelfastNiall]

Last night Everton management was temporarily suspended due to woman issues. That is, I couldn't get the missus off the PC in time for the session start despite proving my gentlemanly qualities by allowing her 24 hour access all weekend up to 7pm. Everton fans, having witnessed their sides recent run were said to be "relieved."

In my absence my assistant did ok though. Safely seeing us through the 3rd Round replay against Forest and a 4th Round victory over Sheffield Wednesday by 4-2 which sets up an exciting tie against Keegan's promotion seeking Newcastle in the 5th Round. Unfortunately, my assistant was unable to turn around our Carling Cup semi final against Manchester United, but given my appalling record vs the Red Devils I could not complain. Again, I could not complain about a 3-2 defeat to Chelsea at Goodison Park as, under my tenure we have yet to score against them previously. My "ego" has been temporarily punctured and this lead me to make a poor decision. To retake control late in the session ather than leaving my assistant to it.

FA Barclaycard Premiership

Birmingham 2 - 1 Everton

Although Danny Kings' side played well and in truth deserved the victory by the odd goal considering his sides morale had plummeted after he beat my record defeat to Arsenal the previous week, the Everton story was just as depressing. I returned to find the heart ripped out of my defence as Yobo and Madouni took part in the African Nations and Jean-Alain Boumsong was suspended. In addition, Zurawski was out of the game so the man who would have presented the most danger to the Brum defence had to watch from the sidelines.

As a consequence, Lewandowski and Stoyvanov (who are both seeking a move to pastures new and on very poor morale) were relied upon to see off Forssell and his partner in crime. We got off to a poor start. Danny's man Robina, playing at the tip of the diamond managing to lose his marker Sivok early on to fire home impressively. Birmingham continued in fairness to have the better of the game, but my lads were slowly getting back into it and with 13 minutes to go, I was sure we had salvaged a point when a fine move saw Hysen's cross headed home emphatically by Emmanuele Calaio.

However, just nine minutes later Birmingham wrapped up the game. One of Kings' first moves in management was to ensure the long term future of Mikael Forssell (a player I had enquired about but had been quoted the ridiculous price of £13m by the Stamford Blues) and he was the man who came up with the winner. When presented with a clear chance he took it clinically. Afterwards Murphy, never one to pass by a microphone without comment praised his opponents:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">I have to congratulate Danny King on the job he has done in recent months turning Birmingham from relegation candidates into one of England's most improving sides. He appears to be buying well and who knows just how far he could take them. On the day, we were suffering from a lack of confidence in our ability and in our own brand of football. Although we could have had a point, we can't complain about the result considering we had some very important players missing. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Everton 1 - 2 Bolton

Well perhaps Pagi will be kind enough to give us all a match description pretty soon instead of leaving others to discuss his season. This result was as clear a case of daylight robbery as you are likely to ever witness. Pagi, is currently being questioned as to his whereabouts on the evening of the Northern Back raid, for which his pending expensive Bosman Buys have made him a key suspect.

Boumsong, Madouni and an unfit Zurawski returned to the side. Zurawski didn't last too long though, cynically kicked off the pitch by the most gamesmanship like team I have faced this season. A good first half had given Bolton a 2-0 advantage through Ilhan and Okacha, with Jaakselianen making a few good saves. Afterwards, Piovaccari pulled us back into the game early in the second half and then it was a case of poor finishing and superb goalkeeping from Bolton's keeper to keep us out, in a one sided contest where the better side clearly lost. That didn't leave it too late for one of Pagi's cheats to take a dive in the box trying to con the referee late in the day for which he was rightly booked.

Afterwards Murphy was drawn to say,

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">That sucks. All I ever hear is Andy Nilsen bemoaning his luck when we all know he always has the Gods on his side. Let me tell you this, that Nilsen has never been as unlucky as I was today. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Leeds United 0 - 3 Everton

Even my old sparring partner Liggins had got in touch telling me that all would come good once Leeds were on the agenda. Leeds are woeful and were just the perfect opponents to restore morale and confidence to the squad. Young Italian, Piovaccari who was in for Zurawski, continued his impressive goalscoring form notching two goals. The third was added by Stefan Selakovic from range, a player who hopefully will soon return to the electric form he was showing early season down the right wing.

[ligs]

FA Cup 4th round: Boro 3-1 Spurs

Boro dominated the 1st hour, Arteta (33) and Beattie (52) putting them in control. But the final half hour belonged to Spurs, and they could've scored a bucketload, Defoe (83) got them back in it, but Matusovic (86) made the victory safe. It was, in the end, a very even game, but Boro just about deserved the victory.

League game 24: Boro 4-0 Portsmouth

A convincing victory over Neilsen's Pompey: the result was never in doubt once Mellberg (4) got his first for the club. Arteta (20) got the second, Tudor (74) tapped home after Downing's free kick rattled back off the post, before Arteta (90) wrapped up great performance.

League game 25: Boro 2-6 Spurs

Absolutely ridiculous game. Like the cup game it was, in the end, quite an even game, although Spurs deserved to win. But 6 goals? Do mne a favour. Spurs were 5-2 up after having only had 4 shots on goal, such was the way things went this afternoon.

Spurs took the lead when Defoe (4) did his best Dalian Atkinson (but unfortunately didn't celebrate with a man with an umbrella), but Downing (6) equalised immediately. Unfortunately, Defoe (8, 39) scored with Spurs' next two chances, and Kranjcar (45) made it 4-1 at the break.

Arteta (75) curled home a free kick, but just when any thought of a revival entered Boro's mind, Defoe (80) got his 4th, before Ricketts (85) completed the scoring. The camera's focused on Liggins in the dugout just in time to see his head explode.

Spurs had 52% possesion and 1 shot more on target than Boro, yet it was the quality of the keepers on the day that proved the difference, Rensing playing a 3, Robinson a 9. A day to forget

League game 26: Liverpool 4-0 Boro

Unfortunately the game couldn't be forgotten, as the same problems occured here. With rensing dropped, Nicola Avitabile came into the team, but proved no more capable at using his hands. Cisse (12) and Kewell (19) out Liverpool ahead with their first two chances, and as Avitabile picked up a knock, Cisse (34) and Kewell (pen 40) scored two more with their next two chances. The camera's focused on Liggins in the dugout, looking a strange shade of Ferguson beetroot.

The second half saw Boro adapt an attacking 4-2-4 formation, which seemed to work as Boro dominated the half, but only had a solitary Butt (68) goal to show for their efforts. Another bad day at the office.

The last 2 games have been very, very annoying, but a 5th round cup tie versus Birmingham, and a game in hand in the league to move us within 9 points of the top means there's still plenty to play for this season. And of course there's the UEFA Cup to defend!

[AsherDSSc]

***Boult's Future Uncertain***

After the recent loss in form at Ewood Park, fans and pundits alike have been putting more and more blame into current manager Rick Boult. Reasons have varied as the why the manager was the problem but 1 of the most spoken reasons was his lack of patriotism towards the Lancashire club. A spokesperson from the club had this to say;

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> We have had many complaints over the past week surrounding the managers decision to not

do the common thing in Blackburn and 'sh*g sheep'. This is seen as a great lack of respect to many supporters and believe Boult should do everything it takes to live and breathe for the club for it to have any chance of staying in the Premiership. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

On hearing the news of the fans discontent, manager Rick Boult nipped down to his local barbers and, on exiting, had this to say;

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> People Of Blackburn, This Is Your Leader !!! I have made mistakes in the past, but i hope we can put this all behind us and carry on through the remainder of the season gaining a few wins and ensuring our premiership suvival. I know in the past few months i've seemed somewhat discontent with life here, with me offering my services to local rivals Manchester City, but hopefully the new haircut will show you fans just what im all about. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

On leaving the scene, Boult took of his MUFC hat to show of his new Blue and White hairdo !