I must admit, I’ve grown quite fond of Mitchell and Webb. Not only is David Mitchell intelligent, articulate and funny, despite having a voice that makes him sound like an Oxbridge educated Duck and I’ve never seen a better Flashdance than that which Robert Webb did. Even better is when they are taking the michael out of Sky Sports and their hype machine as they did here;
At this time of the year in particular, it does seem very appropriate.
What is it with Tottenham and strikers from what was the old U.S.S.R? If the whole Sergei Rebrov saga wasn’t a big enough disaster for the club and player, it seems that Harry Redknapp is destined to make the same mistake all over again with another Eastern bloc star, Russian international striker Roman Pavlyuchenko.
Pavlyuchenko first came to wider attention in England in late 2007 when the Russian star grabbed two second half goals against England to fire Russia to a 2-1 victory over Steve McLaren’s men in Moscow. The tall striker drew comparisons with Andrii Shevchenko with his lethal finishing, movement and tall, elegant grace on the ball. No doubt more than a few Premier league sides dispatched scouts to Moscow to watch the striker and what they found was a striker who averaged around a goal every other game during his ten year spell in Russia with Dynamo Stavropol, Rotor Volgograd and Spartak Moscow and who had a fine all round game, as shown in these videos.
Hunted by several clubs following an impressive Euro 2008 tournament, it was Tottenham that finally clinched a deal with Spartak Moscow in September 2008 to bring the Russian to White Hart Lane in a £14m deal. Although he took a little time to settle in to life in England, Pavlyuchenko showed glimpses of his quality and while he only scored five league goals in his 28 appearances, he was far more prolific in the cup competitions, scoring nine goals in just eight games, giving Spurs fans some hope that 2009-2010 would see the best of Pavlyuchenko displayed at White Hart Lane on a far more consistent basis.
However sadly this season hasn’t worked out like that. Since Pavlyuchenko was signed, manager Harry Redknapp has signed Robbie Keane, Jermaine Defoe and Peter Crouch andat the start of the season, all three of Redknapp’s signings seemed ahead of Pavlyuchenko in Harry’s first team plans. This didn’t go down too well with the Russian who earlier this season claimed that being continually overlooked by Redknapp was causing him to have a mental breakdown.
The Russian then furthe blotted his copybook, along with winger David Bentley, when selected for a Tottenham reserve team game and reportedly, according to Harry Redknapp’s version of events, simply going through the motions whilst playing, rather than trying to impress. A performance which so incensed Redknapp that both Bentley and Pavluchenko were omitted from his next matchday squad completely.
Over the past few months, Pavlyuchenko has been linked with moves away to Tottenham with Liverpool, Arsenal, Roma, Spartak Moscow, Valencia and most recently Sporting Lisbon all mooted to be potential destinations in January.
These transfer rumours could well become fact after Pavlyuchenko’s outburst in the Russian press where he felt that Redknapp was “mocking” him by not selecting him in games. Pavlyuchenko stating;
“You cannot even imagine how tired I am of sitting on the bench,
“Do you want to hear the most recent joke in London? It goes: Harry Redknapp put Roman Pavlyuchenko in the starting line-up.
“For me it would be funny if it was not so painful. I have a feeling that our manager is mocking me.”
Why has it gone wrong? Simple really. Pavlyuchenko was never a Redknapp signing and his performances convinced the Spurs boss that he wasn’t likely to fit into his plans long term. It isn’t a case of Pavlyuchenko being a bad player, more that he didn’t fit in with Harry’s plans for Spurs, which have proven to be rather successful. His subsequent attitude since and his continual snipings, only have proven Redknapp’s assertions quite right.
So Roman, Harry may not be mocking you in January, but I have the distinct feeling that he will be selling you.
Liverpool’s season hasn’t exactly gone to plan so far, but there is still plenty that manager Rafa Benitez can salvage and a top four Premier League finish isn’t out of the question. However, to achieve that Champions League qualification Liverpool are likely to need reinforcements in January, which means that players will have to be sold to give Benitez money to spend. Given Liverpool’s performances thus …
Remember Jesper Blomqvist? The Manchester United babyfaced Swedish winger who was supposedly the second Ryan Giggs or third George Best? Well, we have video evidence that he was once better than Pele.
Remember when Pele did this and made Hugh Johns, the ITV commentator almost burst into tears?
Well look what Jesper managed when he was playing for IFK Gothenburg
Ladies and Gents, I give you Jesper Blomqvist, football genius.
Reyes was just 20 when he joined Arsenal
Its common knowledge that when a player comes with a hefty price tag the weight of expectation becomes just that little bit more.
Numerous players have signed to great fanfare and have gone on to produce the goods but an equal amount have done the opposite. One such player being Spaniard Jose Antonio Reyes.
Many will argue that he is not a flop as he ended his …
At just 19 years of age Alex Smithies has been linked with almost a quarter of the clubs in the Premiership – West Ham, Stoke, Everton and Tottenham have all been said to be interested in the Huddersfield goalkeeper whilst fans of even bigger clubs have eyed him up as a possibility for their futures. Smithies is still so young but the expectations are that he will be a future England goalkeeper despite the fact that he only has League One football to his name so far.
Smithies is from Huddersfield and signed for his local club when he was very young and worked his way through the ranks at the club. Then in 2007 Smithies was given a shock chance in the first team as a seventeen year old as injuries and suspensions to Huddersfield’s first choice and backup goalkeepers left them in need of someone else to step in. Denied an emergency loan signing Huddersfield turned to the teenager who, despite conceding six goals in his first game and a half, didn’t lose confidence in his abilites.
Goalkeeper Matt Glennon was soon restored to first choice goalkeeper but poor form led to caretaker manager Gerry Murphy dropping him in December 2008 in favour of Smithies. The youngster did not disappoint as he quickly began to shine for the club, making remarkable saves and even stopping penalties. He quickly gained a reputation as a top shot stopper and has been first choice custodian at the club since where plaudits have started coming his way after his consistently good performances alerted both Championship and Premiership clubs. Also alerted were England’s youth teams and Smithies has represented England all the way to Under 19 level.
At an imposing 6’3” in height Smithies is capable of flying across his goal acrobatically to keep the ball safe from the net and his command of his area and distribution which helps the club swiftly counter-attack which is reminiscent of Manchester United legend Peter Schmeichel. By the time Smithies reaches 21 he will have plenty of first team experience to his name and his development will continue to impress – it will be very interesting to see where the youngster ends up but if his young appearances are anything to go by then he will be a Premiership star of the future.
Lorena Bernal is a 32 year-old actress originally from Argentina, but moved to Spain when she was only one year old. In 1999, at the age of 21, she became Miss Spain, and was also voted 5th Nuts Magazine’s prestigious ‘100 Sexiest Footballer’s Wives’ poll
She has appeared in television show Chuck as well as CSI Miami.
She is currently dating Everton crock Mikel Arteta, who is one lucky injury prone midfielder, all that time off the pitch is surely being used …
Phil Brown will try and loan Man City forward Banjani Mwaruwari to help his Hull side avoid relegation. Brown has tried to sign the Zimbabwean striker before but failed last summer.
Now with offer of paying half of the striker’s £50,000 a week wages he hopes to finally get his man.
Benjani is way down the pecking order at Eastlands with Tevez, Bellamy, Santa Cruz and Adebayor all ahead of him and since …
With Zenit St Petersburg, Lokomotiv Moscow, Spartak Moscow and Sporting Lisbon showing an interest in him, Roman Pavlyuchenko has unleashed a stinging attack on Tottenham in an effort to leave the club in January.
The Russian striker, who has scored 15 goals in 42 Spurs appearances, has described his situation at the club as painful having not started a game in the Premier League all season with Defoe, Crouch and Keane all …
The Mirror reports that Jermaine Beckford will join Newcastle United. But not until after Leeds have played Manchester United in the FA Cup on Sunday as the League One leaders attempt to cause a massive cup shock at Old Trafford.
Beckford has been widely tipped to make the step up to the Championship with a £2 million fee reported to have been agreed between the two clubs and the expectation was that …
Escapini, LOL! Point taken! Got a little carried away (removing bug from ze a**)! Craig, mate, no offense!
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