Beef Bagel

It’s being widely reported that what JR did at half time was to switch the play to 3-5-2 but I’m not so sure. Under MJ all was clear. One could predict the big guy’s tactical switches before the fourth official flashed up his boards, in fact before MJ thought of them himself. If we needed a goal, the Little Yiddo would come on after 60 or 70 minutes. If we didn’t need a goal, the same move would still be made in order to give Jermain a run out and just enough reason to sign a new contract, Insha Allah. If we really needed a goal Darren Bent would usually come on as a third striker with Steeeeeeeve coming off from the middle and if we were protecting a one goal lead, we’d bring on a defender for a forward and concede from a set piece. You could set your watch by it, brush your teeth with it, put it in your lunchbox and take it to school. Not so with Juande and what he does with his subs is as fascinating as it is unfathomable.

(more…)

When we drew tonight’s opponents a few months ago, I was hoping to for a team that looked a little like this…

…but Aalborg Boldspilklub, as they are officially known, appear to be nothing of the sort. They may not have the same star-studded dressing room as we nor boast a pedigree that goes back further than a two time Grand Champion at Krufts but they do have the one thing that we ourselves are missing right now, confidence.

(more…)

…shame that.

(more…)

It’s very easy to dislike Daniel Levy. It’s easy to dislike most chairman of football clubs. The only likeable one that crosses my mind is Steve Gibson of ‘Boro after last year’s famous correspondence with a football fan. But think of most chairman and you get smarmy business lying through their teeth under the awkward pressure of a television camera and questions they just don’t want to answer…

(more…)

There’s no two ways about it, it’s just plain weird being a Tottenham fan at the moment. Down at my local on Sunday afternoon with my mate Charlie (a Yiddo through and through) at a-little-too-early o’clock, The Bagel was definitely aware that our team are no push-overs but rather blank on who and what we are and do right now. We don’t quite look like MJ’s team but we don’t really look like anyone else’s either.

(more…)

As I got on the tube at LB’s local stop, I must confess I was feeling a little smug. “That’s what you get when you drop Tottenham players, Mr. McClaren,” were my thoughts as I picked up a copy of Metro to bathe in vindication on Robbo’s behalf. But the minute I saw the pictures, I knew I couldn’t do it. Etched on the faces of McClaren, Carson and every player in every photo were the obliterated hopes and shattered dreams I know so well and so personally from the Hand of God to the square shaped posts, from Owen’s wonder goal to Beckham’s red card and every penalty shoot out that England ever lost.

But what really did it for me was a letter I chanced upon amongst the sack-fulls of fan mail waiting for me back at the Bakery and this is how it goes…

(more…)

Doesn’t quite have the same ring to it. I’ve always laughed at the likes of Portsmouth, West Ham and any other club with a half decent, English keeper when they’ve turned up at WHL and sung, “England’s No.1, England’s, England’s No.1″ because their goalie once came on for the second half of international friendly. There can only be one number one and for years now, he’s been ours. With Scott Carson getting the nod in tonight’s crucial game ahead of Paulo Robinsino, it feels like the end of an era. If he can’t be trusted now, will he ever be trusted again? Take one look at David James and your answer has got to be ‘no’. It doesn’t matter how good a couple of seasons the Pompey keeper has, he’ll always be Calamity James and by the same standard, Robbo will always be remembered by ‘that goal’ in Zagreb. Keepers will always be remembered for their mistakes and rarely anything else.

(more…)

England manager, Arsene Wenger, fresh from his decision to take Theo Walcott to Germany 2006, has decided that he’ll be starting Robocrouch up front as a lone striker, with no place for either Sergei Bent or the Little Yiddo. He said:

“In these games when you are a manager you are tempted to play with a bit of security with players who know what it means not to make a mistake.”

Well, if you say so Arsene, you’re the boss. He’s also keeping the faith with Robbo instead of Scott Carson.

“That debate is going on in England and nobody has found an obvious solution apart from Paul Robinson.”

High praise indeed.

(more…)

It’s a curious start to the week as Punchbag Face leaps out of his Birmingham frying pan and into the licking flames of Wigan Athletic Football Club although his actions become a little easier on the aching brain when you take into consideration the £2m a year that he’s going to be earning. Personally, that’d get me about as far as Stoke-on-Trent. The Bagel would require at least double that kind of cash to reside in such northerly reaches of this isle. Does the sun ever shine up there?

(more…)

“I respect the fans, the club and the players at Sevilla and I would only show any interest in a player from Sevilla if he was a free agent.”

So says Juande. But mark those words and mark them well because The Bagel’s had a look at the Sevilla books and out of the overflowing shopping trolley of players that we’ve been linked with since the Man with the Granite Mask arrived, none of them is out of contract. In fact, the nearest has over 18 months still to go, yet at the same time Ramos has said this regarding Alves and Kanoute:

(more…)