The Spurs Blog

Wolverhampton are hoping to tie former Spurs winger Rohan Ricketts to a longer deal after reports suggested Sheffield United were interested in the player.

Wolves boss Mick McCarthy said: “Initially I wasn’t aware of the extra option because I wasn’t here when Rohan signed his contract, but I have spoken to him and said I would like him to re-sign for at least another season,”

Inspirational skipper Ledley King says the long standing record against Chelsea was not a factor in the hard fought 2-1 victory over London rivals Chelsea.

“With not having beaten them for so long it is nice to get it out of the way, but it was not really about that for a lot of the players we have got at the club,” said King.

“A lot of them were not familiar with the record and we saw it as another game against probably the best team in the league at the moment.

“It was always going to be difficult, you could see that we were up for it and it was a great all-round performance.

“For us it was another game, we take one game at a time and we happened to be playing Chelsea.

“We wanted the points as much as we will in our next league game. There was extra spice because they are champions and a lot of the players have not even played Chelsea before for Tottenham.

“We are aware of their qualities and we just wanted to put ourselves up against them.”

Martin Jol hailed the performance of his stars following the impressive come from behind 2-1 win over Chelsea at White Hart Lane yesterday.

“After 1-0 you saw some guys like Robbie Keane standing up,” said Jol.
 
“He played two games before, this was his third game. It was probably the first time I played the same strikers three times in a week.

“In my midfield Hossam Ghaly was new to The Premiership had an outstanding performance.

“After the goal they scored, maybe we were a still bit lost after Thursday and then we started playing and then I thought we had the upper hand to the first half.”

He continued: “We were complaining a bit about Lennon because when he was on the left he had seven or eight chances in two matches,”

“I said if you go to the right again you have to give service and assist the other players, and he kept his head cool.

“I’ve not seen him doing this before. He plays the ball into the left corner and that is exactly what you want so he’s top quality talent.”

Jol added: “We wanted to go places in the league because we needed the points,”

“If you are in the bottom half of the table you know, although we do well in the cup and we do well in Europe, it still gives you that feeling.

“Now we are in the top half of the table and nobody can take it away from us - we had a win against the champions, they are very strong and they showed that in Barcelona and we were stronger than them today so it was a great game.

“The fans are always great, they have waited for this. We haven’t won a top game against Man United or Arsenal, we had good results but we never had a win and today we had our first win so that’s great.”

Martin Jol thinks 17-year old signing Dag Alexander Olsen has a big future at the club.

He said: “He came over, we invited him,”

“We knew he was a prospect and that other clubs were looking as well.

“Our advantage was that I invited him to train with us, with the first team - the younger kids always like that.

“We made a bit of an impression on him and, of course, Spurs has got a bit of charisma in Scandinavia as well. He decided to come to Spurs, so that’s the story.

“He’s a good-looking player, the first thing that came to my mind was Elvis Presley.

“He’s speedy, good quality, can score goals, is ambitious. He has all the ingredients to be a very good player.”

Jol concluded: “We hope he will play his first match on Monday with the reserves and he will probably be involved the week after that.”

Uefa Cup hero Dimitar Berbatov says Champions Chelsea are just another team.

He said: “I do not worry also because in the game on Sunday we will play against 11 men no matter who they are,”

“It doesn’t matter that they are Chelsea - they have not got three legs.

“We will go, we will play and hopefully we will win.

“I am trying to show the Tottenham fans why the club bought me, to score goals.

“Hopefully in the future I can do the same.

“It will be a very different game against Chelsea but if we play as we did against Brugge, if we play like a team, then we have a good chance to win.

“We showed great spirit after they took the lead. Brugge are a very good team but we showed that we are better.

“We scored two magnificent goals and now we are thinking about Chelsea.

“It will be a difficult game but I am optimistic.”

Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov stared for Tottenham Hotspur as we came from a goal behind to defeat Club Brugge 3-1 in the UEFA Cup.

Berbatov scored two goals and set up a third for team-mate Robbie Keane as we made two from two in the group stages of the competition.

Pascal Chimbonda has revealed that he watches Mike Tyson videos to gain inspiration.

He said: “I love boxing.

“My favourite era was when Mike Tyson was in his prime.

“When I was growinga up in Guadeloupe, I used to get up at 4am to watch him on TV, and his bouts only lasted a minute.

“Present-day fighters are not such a pleasure to watch. But I’d love to meet guys like Tyson and Muhammad Ali.

“I’m a big fan of basketball’s Michael Jordan and Allen Iverson as well.

“Playing in England is ideal for me, with the fighting spirit in the game.

“I have been left out of the France team recently, in favour of Lyon defender Francois Clerc, and that is disappointing.

“But I am playing European football as well as him, with Spurs in the UEFA Cup.

“And the Premiership is of a higher standard.

“I am so eager to do well, I finish some matches burnt out.”

Didier Zokora is back in full training and eager to make his return to first team action following his malaria scare.

“I am very good now and want to play soon,” said Zokora.

“I don’t like missing games because football is my passion and I am back training with the group, no problem.”

We have officially completed a deal for Norwegian starlet Alexander Olsen after he impressed Martin Jol during his trial at Spurs.

SK Gjovik Lyn chairman Arve Hansen confirmed: “The deal was done on Saturday,”

“We received a fax from Chelsea, Barcelona and Bayern Munich as well.”

Reports are suggesting that Tottenham are looking at Wigan Athletic defender Leighton Baines.

It is believed that manager Martin Jol would have to table a bid near £5 million to snare the promising fullback.