DEFOE HAILE LENNON

The striker of Tottenham Hotspur, Jermain Defoe, has hailed his teammate Aaron Lennon for performing brilliantly in the last match against Panathinaikos. That was a Europa League match and the Spurs won that match easily by 3-1. Defoe scored the third goal for his team in the 83rd minute of the match. That goal was set up by Aaron Lennon.

Talking to the reporters after the match, Defoe said, “Aaron was fantastic again. This was not the first time in the season that he set up my goal. He has set up quite a few of my goals this season. He has been in phenomenal form since the start of the season.”

Lennon has started each and every Premier League match for Tottenham in the ongoing season. When asked about his understanding with Lennon, Defoe said, “It’s fantastic to play alongside somebody like Aaron. We have very good understanding between us. He is a versatile player and he always creates opportunities.”

Defoe has already scored 13 goals in the ongoing season. When asked about his own form, Defoe said, “It’s great that I have been performing consistently. I put in a lot of hard work during the off season, worked on the weak aspects of my game and that seemed to be paying off.”

“It’s always good to contribute in team’s victory. When you score goals and the team wins, it gives you a lot of satisfaction. It has been a great season for me so far and hopefully, I would continue playing well in the second half of the season as well”

“We have played some cracking football in the last four matches and won them by big margins. It’s really satisfying. The environment in the camp is pretty good and positive.”

Tottenham Hotspur will play its next match against Everton at Goodison Park on Sunday.

 

DEMPSEY LEFT DISAPPOINTED

The new Tottenham signing Clint Dempsey has said that he was extremely disappointed with the way he was handled by Fulham in the final few days of the transfer window. The 29-year-old had already said that he would not like to play for Fulham again, while also handing a transfer request to the club amidst interest from Liverpool. Liverpool were thought to be interested in securing the signature of the player, who had the capability of playing in both midfield and upfront. Liverpool were the favourites for his signature, but Tottenham managed to secure his signature on the final day of the transfer window for around £ 6 million.

Clint Dempsey was one of the outstanding players for Fulham last season after he scored 23 goals in all competitions. Clint Dempsey has now revealed that he almost went into tears at the prospect of not being able to seal a move to another club before the end of the transfer window. The American International was in a precarious position of not being able to play for any other club until January if he had been kept by Fulham beyond the transfer window. As a result, Dempsey has said that became extremely anxious over a move.

“I just remember calling my wife and my mom and almost wanting to break down in tears because it was a tough time. Going into that last day and night there were still a lot of question marks. It wasn’t clear cut this was going to happen. Some other things came up and you are going through that struggle, which was not fun for anybody. It was difficult for Fulham and for me, not knowing how it was going to end,” Dempsey told Sports Illustrated. Dempsey will be hoping to help Tottenham get their first win of the season.

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.

PSG CHASE MODRIC

French club PSG are once again ready to break the bank by signing Tottenham midfielder Luka Modric after they have made an initial bid of £ 40 million for the Croatian midfielder. The 26 year old has been linked with a move from the club for more than a year now, but it seems that this season will finally see his departure from White Hart Lane. New Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas said recently that he wants the future of the star midfielder sorted out as soon as possible. Real Madrid have been the major club to show an interest in the player, but PSG have now emerged as the favourite to secure his signature.

The French club are now backed by the Qatari investors, who have already spent more than £ 50 million in securing the AC Milan duo of Thiago Silva and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The arrival of Luka Modric is likely to take the summer spending to more than £ 100 million. The Croatian midfielder is contract worth around £ 80,000 per week at Tottenham, but he is expected to earn around € 8 million if he does sign a contract with the French club. Villas-Boas has said that the club will allow Luka Modric will leave if the price is right.

“Hopefully the situation can be solved in one of two ways – the two ways being that the clubs interested meet the demands of Tottenham regarding the player’s value, or the player continues and returns to club duty. He’s good, very good. I tried to sign him last summer for Chelsea. He will be a big loss. He’s a player who can make the difference,” said the Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas. Tottenham are currently on a pre-season tour of the United States, but Luka Modric has gone AWOL.