Spyin' Kop: Spurs at home

Posted by Welshred on January 10, 2006, 04:11:20 pm

After last Saturday’s epic 5-3 FA Cup victory over the mighty Luton Town out of the way the Reds turn their attention to the League where we face Tottenham Hotspur in our first home game of the New Year. So far the Reds have played 10 games at home with the return of 8 wins, 1 draw and 1 defeat with 16 goals scored and only 4 conceded (coming in the 4-1 defeat to Chelsea.) A Pepe Reina inspired defence has also kept the most clean sheets so far this season with 14 from just 19 games and the team are also in fine fettle having continued unbeaten for 12 games, which included our magnificent 10 game winning streak that ended at Bolton in our 2-2 draw in our first game of the New Year.

Our opponents Spurs have found themselves hitting some kind of form this season and currently lie fourth, 1 point behind us. We do, however, have two games in hand over them due to our participation in the World Club Championships and Champions League qualifiers earlier in the season. Spurs have lost 2 of their last 10 games, the most recent being the FA Cup loss to Leicester City, and have won 6 and drawn another 2. With both sides in good form so far this season this game should be an absolute cracker, and hopefully a few goals will be scored unlike the previous meeting between the two sides so far this season, a 0-0 draw at White Hart Lane in early September.


Major Honours

Football League Champions 1950-51, 1960-61.
F.A. Cup Winners 1900-01, 1920-21, 1960-61, 1961-62, 1966-67, 1980-81, 1981-82, 1990-91.
Football League Cup Winners 1970-71, 1972-73, 1998-99
European Cup-Winners' Cup Winners 1962-63.
UEFA Cup Winners 1971-72, 1983-84.
Football League Division Two Champions 1919-20, 1949-50.
F.A.Charity Shield Winners 1920-21, 1951-52, 1961-62, 1962-63, 1967-68 (joint), 1981-82 (joint), 1991-92 (joint).

Last 5 Games

W: Birmingham City (H) 2-0
L: West Brom (A) 0-2
W: Newcastle Utd (H) 2-0
W: Manchester City (A) 2-0
L: Leicester City (A) FA Cup 2-3

Spyin’ Kop

For this week’s Spyin’ Kop I donned my best Sherlock Holmes outfit and went on to a Spurs fansite to investigate. I’d like to thank every one at Glory-Glory.net for the helpful (and not so helpful) answers that were given and as there were quite a few I’ll strive to give a variety of answers. Anyway, here goes:

How has the season been shaping up for you?

Ginolius - Its been interesting, one one hand we are in a much better position than most would have expected, the decline of arse and man u has put us in a very favourable position and we are picking up points faster than we would have thought but we dont seem to have progressed much on the footballing side. Players like Davids, Stalteri and Tainio have bought in a winning, hard to beat mentality but we are yet to see a more than effective display this season, comfortably beating teams like we did last season and playing as good football.

Linnet_spur - Better than I could of dreamt, sat 4th 1 point behind your lot, 6 ahead of the arsescum and looking good for a champs league spot.

Billyiddo - without perhaps playing at 100% for most of the season we have still manged to grind out good results and put ourselves in an exciting league position

Who do you think is your most important player(s)?

Garokev - Robinson - If it wasnt for him we'd be way down the league
King - Just immense
Carrick - So bloody calm on the ball, super passer
Mido - We'll miss him badly when he goes to CAN

Barnetspur - Robbo - Had kept us in games, and made saves when needed. You can see that finally the defence has someone behind them that they are happy with and that they trust. Gives the whole defensive unit confidence when you have someone like Robbo between the sticks.

Mr Gogolak - Robinson has been superb all season and he's turned a lot of results in our favour, almost single-handedly. Carrick is also very important to our midfield play.

Your worst player(s)?

Ossie - Gardner or Michael Brown.

Nw7 yid - I think that Lee Y-P is, of those that start regularly, the weakest - although he has shown a lot of improvement lately. Anthony Gardner doesn't inspire confidence either.

S10 Tottenham - Rasiak

Do you have a particular memory of any previous meeting between our clubs?

Count - Our 1 all draw at WHL purely because I was there for the first game of the season. (Boring I know!)

Ross - FA Cup Quarter final 94/95 - Sherringham and Klinsmann and Edman's goal last season.

Burbs - Last year the 2-2, seeing Edman score from 40 yards into the kop was something special. Also the fa cup game with Sheringham & klinsmann scoring was a very good day.

Any young up and coming players in the squad that we might not know about?

Alex Young - Only one I doubt you have heard of it Lee Barnard.

Linnet Spur - Probaly know about him, but got to be Lennon , the lad is majestic and as someone once said "so fast over 5 yards"

Jules - Lennon you will know about. Kelly, Ziegler, Huddlestone probably too. We've got this young kid on the bench called Defoe you should watch out for....

What are your expectations for this season? Have they changed from day one?

Billyiddo - I think we can finish 4th , we have a big squad with good cover for all positions . they havent changed from day one , except back then i thought we'd beat you top 4th , now i think we'll beat Arse***

Ginola99 - Top six I would love but with the team with have that is my expectation for sure but we should make a good challenge for the CL.

Clem - Not realy, still expect to qualify for europe. Just hope we dont put all our hopes on CL, then miss out on europe altogether because we stop looking down at the likes of bolton, wigan et al.

Where do you expect - and Liverpool to finish in the Premier League?

Gavin - top 6 finish, pool to finish 2nd

Mr Gogolak - I can see Spurs finishing 4th. Liverpool should ease past the Mancs and finish second - 20 points behind Chelsea.

Ossie - I think we'll finish 4th or 5th, while Pool should get over Man Yoo to finish second.

Haer’Dalis - Liverpool 3rd, us hmmm. My heart says 4th. My head says 5th


Martin Jol seems to be doing a very good job with you, what are your views on his management of your club so far?

Forza Huddlestone - Much improved over the past couple years. He's instill confidence not only in the players, but in the supporters as well. Daniel Levy, our chairman, is actually being lauded on our board when that wouldn't have been thought possible two years ago. Now we want to see what can be done to further our club in this window and the next.

Ginolius - Jol is a likable coach, he plays the media well which is very refreshing after the Hoddle years and anything associated with Sugar got blasted by them at every point. He has bought a winning feeling back into the club as well which is something you didnt used to see, loss's used to leave players in a familiar zone, nowdays you can see they are angry and shocked when we dont pick up at least a point.

The only worries with him for me are his line up and substitutions which often seemed dictated by who he wants to keep happy rather than who will win us games, Jenas coming straight into the side at the expense of our formation was a worrying tactic and chopping and changing the team drastically is a trend that hasnt suited us well with below strength and non-sharp teams performing poorly agasint the likes of blackburn and WBA.

ross - I dont think he's done an awful lot wrong in the year and a bit he's been in charge. Calling him a legend is a bit premature but he's doing a good job and long may it continue.

Which Liverpool player will you fear the most?

S10 Tottenham - Gerrard. Crouch to an extent as well.

Dazza London - Gerrard. Take him out of the game and you take out most of Liverpools distribution.

Clem - Crouch, and Garcia


And your feelings on the new ''Spanish flavour'' Liverpool. Senor ''Rafa''

Clem - To be honest I dont like it, would rather have more of your young, british talents that you can produce. Foreigners are fine as short term buys for me, but I dont like clubs buying 16-20 year old foreign kids to bring through later, starving brits of the opportunities.

Gavin - He is doing an excellent job with an "ok" bunch of players IMO

Sheikh Ma Nuggets - It doesn't surprise me. What Benitez did with Valencia is actually something of a miracle. Valencia, for years and years, were not the most glamorous of Spanish teams, not surprising really when you consider the strength and might of Real Madrid and Barcelona. I feel he has injected his winning formula that he KNOWS works, and placed this into the ethos of his Liverpool team. Boring as it may seem to others a tad ignorant, the formula works and success is nigh on guaranteed. Benitez knows this and so, I really don't think he care much about critics, much like our own Martin Jol.

Mr Gogolak - I used to like Liverpool, until Houllier took over. From an outsider's point of view, your "Senor Rafa" is making a mockery of your club's proud traditions and turning it into a Primera Liga XI. Van Gaal tried to turn Barcelona into a Holland XI in his day and failed miserably. Personally, I dislike Benitez's inability to adapt to a new country. Instead of trying to understand the nature of the English game, he just rebuilt another Valencia team with a red shirt.

I suspect that after winning the European Cup, there isn't anyone to complain about his management style. I can't say I'm a fan though. Once, I used to wish every success to Liverpool and now, I just hope that they fail miserably.

Do you have a favourite/best chant(s) and perhaps any that require an explanation?

Ossie - Jol, Jol, Martin Martin Jol, he's got no hair but we don't care, Martin Martin Jol

Nw7 yid - My favourite song is 'SPURS ARE ON THEIR WAY TO WEMBLEY' (Ossie's Dream) although this is obviously a cup song.

In league matches, I enjoy singing 'IT'S A GRAND OLD TEAM' (you might have heard it down the road at Goodison) and any song praising Jol or bashing the Gooners.

Dazza London - Do like the "Sign On" but best one is "Can we have our hubcaps back"


Have you been to Anfield before?
What are your impressions/expectations.
How do you find atmosphere, things like YNWA etc.

Ed Spur - I went up there for the 2-2 draw last season involving Edman's goal.
That was my first time there and I was expecting a good stadium with a good atmosphere and that's what I found.
I noticed the crowd tended to 'sing' (as opposed to chant) more than most other sets of fans. YNWA being the obvious one but the very slow and melodic "LiiiiiiiiVeeeeeeerPoooooooool...." that everyone sang really stuck in my mind. They were still doing that in the Arkles afterwards!
Top work.

Ross - No but I'll be there for this one. Seems a good place to go, really looking forward to visiting one of the most historic grounds in english / world football. Seems good from what i've seen heard on the tv. Especially in the big european nights.

S10 Tottenham - Ozzes character. Restricted views are a real pain though. Must admit YNWA is very special. Overall I don't expect much noise from the home support though.

Burbs - Nice traditional ground although probably needs to be a bit bigger, but as I've been hearing in the press your looking to build a new stadium anyway. To be honest the atmosphere hasnt been great from the home fans on any of the occasions I've been there but then again that could be because I haven't seen you beat us at anfield yet.

What one thing would you change in terms of how away fans are treated here?

S10 Tottenham - Give us a larger allocation. When ours are going out to Season Ticket Holders only whilst your end goes on General Public Sale - things should change. There will be a fair few Tottenham in the home end I should imagine.

Burbs - Couldnt get a beer last year!

Superspurski - Not much – just glad we’re not ManU or Toffee fans

What nicknames do you have for us ?

Dazza London - "Hub Cap Thieves" or "Red Scouse" (as opposed the other side of Stanley Park who are Blue Scouse)

BB - Scousers, Hubcap thieves

Garokeb - Scousers, Red Scousers

and finally

Care to predict the score? Go on!

Gavin - 1-1 I really can't see anyone beating us at the moment. (posted BEFORE the Leicester game)

Danish Spur - Liverpool 2 Spurs 1

Clem - 2-2


So thanks to everyone at Glory-Glory who contributed and gave the decent answers I’ve been able to us in this piece. Here’s to a great game and may the best team win! (I’m sure we will )

© Welshred 2006

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