Category: News

LENNON RETURNS

Tottenham have received a big boost with the news that midfielder Aaron Lennon will be back to full training in the next few days. The winger has been missing from the Tottenham squad since the Crystal Palace match due to a foot injury. Since winning the opening league match, Tottenham have found it difficult to score a lot of goals in the Premier league and this has been much attributed to the absence of Lennon. After the departure of Gareth Bale, Lennon is probably one of the few players in the squad who can provide a lot of pace to the team.

In his absence, Villas-Boas has used Townsend as his replacement and he has so far been doing good. Yet, the consensus is that Lennon will be a much better player in this position since he is used to Premier league for a long time. The 26-year-old will now resume full training according to Villas-Boas. The player made 44 appearances for Tottenham in all competitions and scored four goals last season. Majority of his contribution came in the form of assists to the likes of Defoe and Gareth Bale. Tottenham have a tough run of fixtures in the next few weeks starting with the West London Derby against West Ham United this weekend.

“He is due to come back hopefully tomorrow [Friday] to training. He is making great progress and we should see him back to first team training next week,” Villas-Boas told reporters. The 1-1 draw with Chelsea last weekend is the first time Spurs have dropped points in the Premier league since the 1-0 defeat against Arsenal. This impressive run of form has put them just two points behind the North London rivals Arsenal in the table. There are currently third in the table with a two-point advantage over Chelsea.

Soccer Safari

Soccer Safari, a five-reel video slots game, is one of the sporting themed online casino games which has been around for quite a while. The game was originally devised to be a kind of spin-off from the World Cup allowing those football fans interested in both the tournament itself and placing bets on the outcomes, to have another way of combining these interests in football and gambling. However more football themed slots games are springing up all the time. So does Soccer Safari have what it takes to keep casino and football betting fans interested?

It certainly offers a unique spin on the typical football slots scenario, revolving around the concept of animals competing in a World Cup and based in a jungle football stadium. The stadium makes up the background, while the animals, including the likes of warthogs,

buffalo, lions and cheetahs, are on the reels. The standard of the animated graphics used to depict this set-up is very impressive. There are plenty of funny touches too for example: the notable resemblance that the elephant commentator has to a certain Mr Gary Lineker! This should amuse anyone with the slightest knowledge of, or interest in football. Continue reading “Soccer Safari” →

ABBOTT IMPRESSED

The Carlisle United manager Greg Abbott has praised the Tottenham midfielder Aaron Lennon by saying that he is proving to be one of the best buys for Tottenham. The 25-year-old has been having one of his best seasons in English football. Even though he was overshadowed by the Welsh winger Gareth Bale last season, he has managed to perform toe-to-toe with the Welsh winger this season. It has resulted in lavish praise on the midfielder, who was first spotted by the current Carlisle United manager he was the Leeds United youth team coach several seasons ago.

Abbott has said that it did not take more than three seconds for him to see the immense talent within Lennon. However, in the last few years Lennon has been criticised for not being a 90 min player. Abbott, though, is extremely happy to see him become exactly the same this season. The former Tottenham sporting director Frank Arnesen has also spoken in glowing tribute to the player by saying that he has been involved in deals to bring the likes of Ronaldo and Arjen Robben, but Lennon has to be alongside them. Lennon was brought to White Hart Lane for a fee of £ 500,000, which increased to up to £ 1 million depending upon his performances.

“Planting him in London was probably done a year too early. Manchester United and Liverpool wanted him and they are much closer to his family in Leeds. I believe he found it hard work in London because Aaron is a family boy but he got over it. At Leeds I made sure I was always there for Aaron and his family if there were any issues,” said Abbott. “We paid about £500,000 for Aaron. To sign him for that amount was a no-brainer,” said Frank Arnesen.

SPURS THROUGH IN CUP

Tottenham Hotspur has defeated Carlisle United quite comfortably by 3-0 in a Capital One Cup match played at Brunton Park on Wednesday. With this victory, the Spurs have made their way into the final 16 of the competition, reports Tottenham FC news.

As expected, Andre Villas Boas made a number of changes in the first XI that has played against QPR. A total of eight changes were made and many reserves players were given the starting chances. The most surprising of them all was the inclusion of the third choice goal keeper Carlo Cudicini in the first XI.

Hugo Lloris was supposed to be handed over the opportunity on the place of Brad Friedel, but, Villas Boas surprised everyone by sidelining Lloris. The promising youngsters Ryan Mason and Adam Smith were also included in the first XI.

The Carlisle team made a good start to the match and played well for the first half an hour. But, as the match progressed, their game deteriorated a bit. Tottenham took the lead in the 37th minute of the match. It was a coordinated effort by the two new signings of Tottenham. Gylfi Sigurdsson gave a brilliant cross to Vertonghen who was too good to miss the opportunity. The Belgian defender had no problems whatsoever in finding the back of the net and the Spurs got ahead in the match.

Carlisle got deeper into trouble when Andros Townsend beat a couple of defenders to enter the box and then, got past the goalie with a low shot. It was a big blow for Carlisle.

The performance of Tottenham defenders was quite impressive in the match. They hardly gave any opportunity to the Carlisle team. Sigurdsson secured the victory of the Spurs with a goal in the 89th minute.

Tottenham Hotspur will play its next match against Manchester United on 29th of September at Old Trafford.

 

Lennon eager to impress

Although he missed a large chunk of the last season due to injury, only returning to the Tottenham squad for the final few games, Aaron Lennon will undoubtedly have been very disappointed to miss the cut for Roy Hodgson’s Euro 2012 squad.

This disappointment will have been compounded by the knowledge that although injury limited him to only 23 league appearances, he did manage more Premier League minutes than James Milner, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ashley Young and Adam Johnson, all of whom were included in the squad.

Furthermore his statistical record of creating a chance every 41 minutes of Premier League football was bettered only by Young and Johnson making his omission all the more surprising.

Indeed, Tottenham’s finest form of last season was during the period where Lennon was available, starting on the right wing opposite Gareth Bale, with Scott Parker and Luka Modric in the centre between them. Lennon’s pace and trickery were as dangerous a weapon as any as Tottenham made a serious challenge for the Premier League title.

It is no coincidence that the marked drop in form towards the end of the season coincided with a period on the sidelines for Lennon, forcing Modric out to the right wing and thereby disrupting the balance of a midfield which had been so successful.

The 25 year old will however be keen to move on from both the disappointment of missing his country’s trip to Poland and Ukraine and that of losing out on Champions League football to rivals Chelsea despite his side’s fourth place finish last term.

The diminutive winger has so far featured several times in his club’s pre season tour of America, narrowly missing an opportunity to score the winning goal as his side drew 0-0 with Premier League rivals Liverpool in Baltimore.

Nevertheless, Lennon will be relieved to return to the starting line up for his club and will be hoping for a season without any further injury worries during which he can make an impact on both the Premier League and the national side once again.

REDKNAPP UNSURE ONLENNON

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp has said that he will make a late decision regarding the participation of winger Aaron Lennon in the match against Bolton on Wednesday night. The loss of Aaron Lennon from the first team action has been viewed as one of the reasons for Tottenham’s serious dip in form over the last couple of weeks. However, the England winger has returned to first team action only recently, which has put his participation in the match against Bolton in doubt. Following the 4-0 defeat of Newcastle during the weekend, Tottenham can move into pole position with a win over Bolton.

Along with Aaron Lennon, players like Scott Parker and Louis Saha are also struggling to make it to the game. However, Harry Redknapp will be satisfied with the performances of his players away from home. Due to the increased space away from home, Tottenham find it extremely easy to hit teams on the counter-attack. Due to the presence of Gareth Bale, there are likely to miss the services of Aaron Lennon, who is one of the fastest players in the Premier league. Tottenham will have only two matches following the Bolton encounter. Hence, Redknapp will be aware of the fact that any dropped points will be extremely costly.

“Bolton away is always tough. We’ve been there enough times over the years and it’s always a difficult place to go. They are playing well, Owen (Coyle, manager) has got them going at the moment. It will be a hard game but we’ve got to go there and be positive. You can’t predict results. Manchester United had an eight-point lead after (Manchester) City got beat at Arsenal, you thought that was the end of them, you thought it was all over. You just can’t tell,” Redknapp said about the Bolton game.

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