Tottenham Hotspur 08/09 season

[ramosrules]

I would say to the Arsenal supporters to F off but i dont think they are actually Arsenal supporters, Arsenal are just thier bandwagon 2nd team. It sez a lot really.

[ramosrules]

Spurs heading to Spain

Tottenham head coach Juande Ramos will start shaping his first team plans for the next campaign at a pre-season camp in Spain later this month.

New signing Luka Modric, the £16.5million Croatia midfielder, is scheduled to arrive later than the rest of the squad as he recovers from Euro 2008.

Ramos will return to his native Spain looking to finalise his midfield formation, with Modric and Giovani dos Santos bolstering his options. He also has young English players Aaron Lennon, Jermaine Jenas, Tom Huddlestone and Jamie O'Hara, in his squad.

Lennon has been subject to speculation regarding his future at White Hart Lane but it is understood the club are not willing to sell or include him in any deal.

Spurs have stressed that Lennon recently signed a long-term contract and is not a player they are looking to sell.

Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane, who scored more than 40 goals between them last season, returned to pre-season training this week. Both have been linked with moves- Keane to Liverpool and Berbatov to Manchester United and Barcelona.

Darren Bent, who has been suggested as a target for Sunderland, was also in training with the rest of the squad.

[ramosrules]

Poyet: We can't afford to lose Keane

Tottenham assistant manager Gus Poyet has admitted that the club 'can't afford' to lose Robbie Keane who is a transfer target for Liverpool.

The striker has been linked with a move to Anfield, with reports claiming Rafa Benitez wants to pair the Irishman with Fernando Torres.

Having sold Jermain Defoe to Portsmouth in January, Poyet is aware the club can not risk depleting their attacking options any further.

And Poyet admits it is vital that Keane is at White Hart Lane next season to continue his profitable partnership with Dimitar Berbatov.

Shocked

"I was shocked when I heard him being linked with Liverpool - he's a very important player for us," Poyet told the Daily Star Sunday.

"We can't afford to let Robbie go.

"We have lost Jermain Defoe and, hopefully, Dimitar Berbatov will stay.

"If we lost Robbie it would be too much."

[ramosrules]

Report: Kaboul poised for Pompey

Tottenham defender Younes Kaboul is on the verge of a £6million move to Portsmouth, according to reports in the French media.

Juventus, Fiorentina, Hamburg and two more Premier League clubs are believed to be keen on signing Kaboul this summer but the Frenchman is desperate to join Pompey and now looks set to get his wish.

Kaboul got off to a good start at Tottenham following an £8.2million move from Auxerre last summer but a series of poor performances saw him lose his place and he made just two league starts in 2008.

Juande Ramos wants to move him on from White Hart Lane before the new season but is aware he will have to accept considerably less than what Spurs paid just over 12 months ago.

Harry Redknapp is willing to pay £6million, though, according to Footmercato, and that should see Kaboul pen a four-year deal at Fratton Park this week.

A source 'close to the player' told The News of Pompey's interest: "He is not interested in joining anyone else and has made that clear to Tottenham.

"He wants to play for Harry. He is the one who has made the greatest effort to sign him. 'Something is very, very close to happening."

I think he has got a lot of potential, but he obviously wants first team football, he wont get it at Spurs and with Campbell and Distin I dont think he will get it at Portsmouth either.

[SPURS18]

Yeah Kaboul was one for the future but made alot of stupid mistakes which cost us im not sure if he thought he was too good but he crashed.

Please fuck off if you have got nothing positive to say about this topic

[ramosrules]

TOTTENHAM have sounded out Milton Keynes about setting up a temporary home 45 miles up the M1.

Spurs approached Dons about the possibility of using their new stadium if they revamp White Hart Lane.

And MK owner Pete Winkelman said: “If Tottenham decide to redevelop on site it seems they will need temporary accommodation and they have had a chat with us about using our stadium.

“They haven’t come back yet but their interest shows the progress we’re making.”

Spurs chairman Daniel Levy is still to announce whether the north London club intend to continue the battle to find a brand new home or stay where they are and up the Lane’s capacity from 36,000 to 50,000.

But a club source indicated staying put is the ‘preferred option’ — so the hunt is on for a tenancy agreement.

Rebuilding White Hart Lane, far cheaper than the £300million a new ground would cost, could mean playing ‘away’ for up to two years.

Dons have a 22,000 capacity, enough to house Spurs’ season-ticket holders.

Other tenancy options are limited with Wembley out and Upton Park and the Emirates both non-starters.

I read something about this about two weeks ago although it was a little different those differences were
1- Dons increasing their capacity to 30k anyway so the capacity bit at the bottom of the story is a bit wrong
2- As for the new stadium taking 2 years thats correct but i read that the new stadium will be rotated meaning that 1/2 stadium could be completed before we have to move for building work.
I think this is the ideal option for Spurs, most ppl would want to stay at WHL rather than uprooting to somewhere else. As for ground sharing we could never have the spammers or scum ground to play in (imagine the damage every home game ) and i think Wembley is off limits because of cost/local government not wanting it used every other week.
I just hope they improve the public transport cause as most of you Spurs fans would know its not the best stadium in the world to get to and away from on match day.

[Judge Judy]

don't know why this was stickied but i removed it. can't have a sticky for 1 club and i'm not doing it for all clubs.

[King Ledley]

don't know why this was stickied but i removed it. can't have a sticky for 1 club and i'm not doing it for all clubs.

what are you doing??????? :? :? :? :? :?

Did i ask you sticky it??? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

You should have left it how it was

[King Ledley]

don't know why this was stickied but i removed it. can't have a sticky for 1 club and i'm not doing it for all clubs.

I was the first one to ask to get it stickied...then everybody else wanted it too, should've just kept mine

[ramosrules]

Im not sure how positive you other Spurs fans are for this season, we been given a lot of shit for last season but heres a little bit of info that should get you a little up beat.
Possible line up for the first game against Middlesborough away
Gomes
Hutton King Woodgate Bale
Lennon Jenas Modric Dos-Santos
Keane
Berbatov

and heres the line up for the first game last season...
Robinson
Chimbonda Gardner Kaboul Stalteri
Tanio Jenas Zokora Malbranque
Keane
Berbatov


While we will probably see more ins/outs before the start of the season that back 5 change is immense. We just need King to stay fit for 40 games and.........

[King Ledley]

Im not sure how positive you other Spurs fans are for this season, we been given a lot of cabernet for last season but heres a little bit of info that should get you a little up beat.
Possible line up for the first game against Middlesborough away
Gomes
Hutton King Woodgate Bale
Lennon Jenas Modric Dos-Santos
Keane
Berbatov

and heres the line up for the first game last season...
Robinson
Chimbonda Gardner Kaboul Stalteri
Tanio Jenas Zokora Malbranque
Keane
Berbatov


While we will probably see more ins/outs before the start of the season that back 5 change is immense. We just need King to stay fit for 40 games and.........

The squad has improved alot...we had alot of players out with injury at the start of the season and is the reason why we got off to such a bad start....That starting 11 looks pretty good but I'm unsure if King will start, hopefully he does

[Judge Judy]

just keep posting info and it'll be near the top

[King Ledley]

just keep posting info and it'll be near the top

could have just kept it sticky, no-one was complaining

[Judge Judy]

just keep posting info and it'll be near the top

could have just kept it sticky, no-one was complaining

apart from the people PMing asking why they can't have a topic stickied

it makes no difference whether it's stuck at the top or floating around the page, it's still tottenham and people still won't care ;)

[King Ledley]

just keep posting info and it'll be near the top

could have just kept it sticky, no-one was complaining

apart from the people PMing asking why they can't have a topic stickied

it makes no difference whether it's stuck at the top or floating around the page, it's still tottenham and people still won't care ;)

I didn't ask you to make it a sticky, don't see why you had to unsticky it..basically none of your business

[Judge Judy]

are you done?

[Piola]

he wants in stickied now but when the season gets underway and Spurs are nowhere with their mid table mediocrity (not that there's anything wrong with that), King will be happy that this topic isnt at the top reminding everyone of spurs ambitions of cracking the top 4 are shattered for another season

just let this disappointment prepare you from the real disappointment that will be coming when the season starts

lazio > spurs

[King Ledley]

Dos Santos >>>>>>>> any Lazio player

Modric >>>>>>> any Lazio player

come talk when you can attract wonder kids like these two

[Piola]

Mauro Zarate

and if we want to go back through recent years
Goran Pandev, Valon Behrami,

and producing our own talent
Alesssandro Tuia, De Silvestri

did you actually think before you wrote that??

[King Ledley]

Mauro Zarate

and if we want to go back through recent years
Goran Pandev, Valon Behrami,

and producing our own talent
Alesssandro Tuia, De Silvestri

did you actually think before you wrote that??

:? pretty sure Modric and Dos Santos are better then all those players you named and will be even better in a couple of seasons....Pandev is the only player to come close but what's he like 25?

[Piola]

Dos Santos and Modric haven't actually played for you yet lol

Pandev has played at Lazio for a while now and produced the goods. He's 24 btw, but when we signed him he was as old as Modric. The bloke has played CL and scored twice against Real.

If he actually played in a decent national side he'd have a much bigger rep, too bad the Macos wont be playing at a WC any time soon.

Behrami will likely be heading to West Ham before the season starts if you believe rumours. as far as I'm concerned, he is going to be a class footballer. Maybe not as good as Modric, but class all the same.

Zarate, no idea, but he is promising talent. You said we cant attract promising talent. If we had the money that Spurs have, i could guarantee half of Argentina would be lining up to sign a Lazio contract.

[King Ledley]

Behrami off to West ham??? really could be playing for a much better club

[Piola]

as for de Silvestri, while you Spurs fans were creaming yourselves over the signing of Gareth Bale, we produced our own terzino, who at 19 was already playing CL football and never looked out of place.

he's 20 now with a full season of Serie A under his belt + CL experience, future captain of Lazio. already playing with the Azzurrini considered a star man, on his way to beijing.

Ale Tuia is 18, couple years and he'll be in the same boat.

[Piola]

Behrami off to West ham??? really could be playing for a much better club

he already is

[# 9]

from 2 seasons ago and into the future, spurs are beyond lazio. last season is pretty much exempt bacause of martin jol's stuff up, spurs picked the right coach, and got some silverware to boot in the process. tottenham have by far the better players in all areas of the pitch, but lil juice is right in one aspect, lazio av created 'their own' first team talent.

[Piola]

from 2 seasons ago and into the future, spurs are beyond lazio. last season is pretty much exempt bacause of martin jol's stuff up, spurs picked the right coach, and got some silverware to boot in the process. tottenham have by far the better players in all areas of the pitch, but lil juice is right in one aspect, lazio av created 'their own' first team talent.

are you serious???? 2 seasons ago we finished 3rd in Serie A.

Spurs have better players in all positions hey?? Im quite sure Juan Pablo Carrizo is better than the Spurs keeper.. Pandev is IMO just as good as Berbatov, Rocchi better than Keane.

and all this Lazio revival has come after we nearly went bankrupt and were facing Serie C like Napoli..

i think you need to read this, some of it is wrong, but for the most part it tells the story of the problems Lazio have

Calcio Debate: Lazio - Will The Sleeping Giant Reawaken?

In the last 15 years we have witnessed the rise and then the fall of Lazio. Just as things looked to be on the up again, the Biancocelesti had a desperately disappointing 2007/08 season, finishing 12th in Serie A. Are the sleeping giants going to reawaken? Stephen Donaldson investigates…

Prosperous times

The tale begins in 1992 with a 51% stake in a club, a food company (Cirio), and an entrepreneur named Sergio Cragnotti. Mr. Cragnotti’s era at Lazio lasted for over a decade, and it is arguably the most successful period Lazio experienced domestically, and on the European frontier.

Under Cragnotti’s ownership, Lazio were painstakingly close to winning the domestic title in 1995, 96, and 99. A year earlier, in 1998, and then in 2000, Lazio prevailed in the Coppa Italia under Sven-Goran Eriksson’s guidance. The same year (2000) they finally won their second Scudetto, claiming ‘the double’.

Indeed, by the millennium Lazio were beginning to ripen as a side. Heavy investment from Cragnotti saw the likes of Gaizka Mendieta (£28 million); Juan Sebastian Veron (£18.1 million) and Christian Vieri (£17 million) grace the Stadio Olimpico up until 2001. These investments, plus Alessandro Nesta, a gem from the primavera squad, and Sinisa Mihajlovic, Pavel Nedved, Diego Simeone, Hernan Crespo, among others, saw them as a potent title chaser in Serie A and abroad.

Dark days

Following the jubilation at winning the Scudetto, and the UEFA Cup Winners Cup (1999), joy eventually turned into misery. The club began to decline, with the departure of coach Eriksson, and with funds beginning to dry up.

Eriksson’s exit signaled the beginning of an exodus at Lazio. Money was wasted on flops such as Mendieta, while the failure in the 2001-2002 season to qualify for the UEFA Champions League meant limited revenue. Stars had to be sold in order to restore lost income. Players who were purchased in the more successful times were shipped out, such as Christian Vieri who moved on a year after his arrival, to Inter, making Cragnotti a whopping €48 million. Pavel Nedved (€ 46.2 million to Juventus), Juan “Seba” Veron (€42.4 million to Man Utd), Hernan Crespo (€20 million to Inter) and Alessandro Nesta (€30 million to AC Milan) all followed suit and jumped ship, avoiding the financial debacle.

In all, Sergio Cragnotti’s club was a sinking ship. Due to his personal food company-Cirio-sinking, his hobby, Lazio, went down with it. The tycoon was forced to leave the Eternal City in 2002, leaving the Biancocelesti at the mercy of the Italian bank and a bunch of private financial managers.

Henceforth, the bank forced Lazio to sell their jewels. With the club’s future ambitions in tatters, and their idols sold to rivals, they once again began at square one. Ironically, Lazio found themselves in a similar position to that in 1980. Albeit, in 1980 they were relegated to Serie B following an illegal gambling scandal, nevertheless this time around they were financially crippled. On a more humorous note, I suppose for a fan of the Biancocelesti it would appear a difficult option to choose, would they rather be known as sleazy cheating gamblers, or have their squad ripped apart due to a financial scandal? Cragnotti eventually served a six-month sentence in prison.

A new dawn

By July 2004 Lazio had been bought by Italian entrepreneur Claudio Lotito. He took up the apparent debt of €140 million, and struck a deal with the banks to pay this outstanding amount over a 23-year period.

Lotito adopted a far more ruthless, nevertheless necessary approach, to Lazio’s predicament. He set a salary cap for the club at €500.000 and slashed the size of his squad, deeming long standing servant Paulo Negro, the veteran Fernando Couto, Giuliano Giannichedda and Matteo Sereni as surplus to requirements.

A new season followed (2005-2006), and after Giuseppe Papodopulo’s brief spell bossing Lazio, Delio Rossi was installed as the new coach. Rossi’s three years at the Olimpico so far have actually exceeded expectations. In his first campaign he guided the club to a UEFA cup spot, yet this was taken away due to the Calciopoli scandal in the summer of 2006. Nevertheless, Lazio started the next campaign with an 11 point deduction, yet by the following May, the tactician had masterminded a magnificent third place finish.

However, disregarding Rossi’s first two seasons bossing Lazio, the most recent campaign of 07-08 was something of a disaster. His men concluded the season in 12th place, winning only 11 of the 38 games played. Indeed, up until Christmas Lazio were engaged in a relegation battle. They struggled all term to find any consistency, were knocked out of the Champions League before the winter break, and suffered a few humiliating defeats, namely the 5-1 drubbing by Milan.

Age vs. inexperience

Delio Rossi recently commented on his squad explaining that “there are only five teams stronger then us” in Italy’s top flight division, and that his current objective is to “valorise the players and create the basis of an important team for the future”. With this said, Rossi believes that he has assembled a squad of talent, only falling short of both the Milan clubs, Juventus, Fiorentina and their arch enemies Roma. These are strong words, considering his squad finished 11 points adrift of Udinese, who occupied the remaining UEFA Cup spot in seventh position.

On closer inspection, it is understandable to see Rossi’s air of expectation for the coming campaign. His squad, featuring dogged performers such as Tommaso Rocchi, Christian Ledesma, Stefano Mauri and Massimo Mutarelli, combine sufficiently with potentially gifted players such as Valon Behrami, Lorenzo De Silvestri as well as the re-addition of Pasquale Foggia from Cagliari. It appears obvious to most that a concern for Rossi should be his goalkeeper. Marco Balotta was first choice for much of the campaign last season, a startling thought considering he is 44-years-old. In the process he became the oldest player to play in the Champions League, beating Alessandro Costacurta’s record by four years.

His age begs the question, is Balotta in fact far too old to be playing top flight football in Italy, when Rossi has aspirations of a European spot next year? Is Rossi’s back-up goalkeeper, Fernando Muslera who was dropped after conceding five goals against Milan good enough to step in? Nonetheless, Lazio have brought in the promising Argentine, Juan Pablo Carizzo, yet he and Muslera are only 24 and 22 respectively. There appears to be no in-between in Lazio’s ranks and at the moment Rossi favors vast experience over the vibrancy of youth.

In fact, when looking at Rossi’s squad we see this plan of youth merged with experience all over the pitch. At the back there is Sebastiano Siviglia (35) paired next to the pacey full-back Lorenzo De Silvestri (20), and the quality of Goran Pandev (24) up front combined with the experienced Tommaso Rocchi (30). Indeed, age appears to be pivotal in this squad just like in any, but a balance needs to be obtained which Lazio appear not to have found yet.

Rearguard action

Immediate thoughts when analyzing the defence conclude that none of the backline spring to mind as truly “world class”. They are hard workers, the captain Luciano Zauri labors tirelessly and replaced Massimo Oddo after he left for Milan. De Silvestri is still young, and could blossom in to a Lazio “Totti icon”, yet disregarding the club have lacked a quality centre back since the days of Alessandro Nesta, Sinisa Mihajlovic and Fernando Couto.

Woefully, the defence last season conceded 51 goals and only scored 47; which doomed them to fight it out at the foot of the table for the whole of the season. One other point regarding the defence, Guglielmo Stendardo played 20 matches before the winter transfer window opened in January. The same month Lazio announced Stendardo was moving to the Bianconeri on a six month loan deal with an option to buy, after Stendardo fell out with Rossi. Despite his departure and the fundamental role he played in the first half of the season, Rossi never properly replaced him. Rozenhal was called upon to do this, yet he featured only seven times in his loan spell and he was purchased for £2.9million only recently. In any team when a player is sold he must be replaced. Rozenhal was called upon to do this, yet Rossi did not use him as the season ran down. Instead Sebastiano Siviglia was favored over the Czech international.

Pure magic

Lazio appear to have no obvious leader or playmaker. Last season creativity relied heavily upon Christian Ledesma and Goran Pandev. Unfortunately, Ledesma sitting deep, much like an Andrea Pirlo figure, only assisted a measly four goals, and scored three times in 39 games. Alternatively, the Macedonian Pandev had a decent season scoring in total 19 goals in 38 appearances, assisting three in all competitions. Tommaso Rocchi also managed 14 goals in Serie A, yet the problem seems to be that the forward paring of Pandev and Rocchi are heavily relied upon.

If we look at the midfielders Stefano Mauri, Massimo Mutarelli, Christian Ledesma, Christian Manfredini and Gaby Mudigayi’s goal scoring records, between all five of them they managed nine goals last season. Compare this to Inter’s midfield of Esteban Cambiasso, Javier Zanetti, Patrick Viera, Luis Figo and Luis Jimenez, they scored 14 goals between them, also assisting many in the process. Milan’s midfield scored 30 goals, which indeed gave them the late push into the top five.

The Future

Rossoneri Vice President Adriano Galliani has emphasized all summer the fact that “now Italian football is in fourth place in Europe behind England, Spain and Germany” and that it means financially Italian clubs “can no longer compete for certain players.”

Just recently Rossi reiterated this problem, exclaiming “we are not in the economic condition to say, for example, 'we want to spend 20, 30 million euros on a player’” but he believes he can “sell some players and then buy some new ones. Realistically, since the Aquilotti cash crisis in 2002, Lazio have failed to obtain any major purchases. Players decided to move to other Italian clubs for the big-bucks and ultimately to compete for the Scudetto on a regular basis. Nonetheless, Lazio fans can look forward to some new signings this season. Rozenhal has been confirmed as a permanent fixture; making his loan deal permanent, but who else will we see in the blue half of the Italian capital next year?

Secondly, the Argentinean Mauro Zarate appears to be something of a scoop for Rossi’s team. This striker is young and has potential and he could bring the flair that Lazio are looking for up front. He could be an ideal partner for Rocchi, and will sit nicely with Pandev. He arrives with a big price tag, ultimately £13 million, and Lotito will hope that, like Cragnotti, he will not have another Mendieta on his hands.

A lesson from history

All in all, Lazio appear to have, financially, turned another fruitful page in their recent turbulent history. Signs are also beginning to show that they may actually be distancing themselves from the immediate cash crisis they found themselves in four years ago. Another difficult year is expected for the Biancocelest football wise, yet Serie A has blessed the under-dog in recent seasons. If they string a few results together, much like Atalanta, Genoa and Napoli did last season and like Chievo Verona did back in 2001-02, they could be pushing towards a European encounter this time next year.

[ramosrules]

3rd in seria A < 15th in prem league
















Just joking,
but if you want to post about Lazio, do it in the Lazio thread.

[Missing Post Count]

I see this lost its stickyness.

[delfino_1936]

I see this lost its stickyness.

goooood

[Piola]

ill post about Lazio wherever i want thanks

seeing as ledley told me to come back when Lazio are capable of signing promising young talent