going to all those games if he doesn’t pay attention.
Off he went to the Valley to see Charlton v Tottenham on Saturday to get a last look at some players before naming the England squad for the final 2 World Cup qualifiers, against Austria on Saturday and Poland the following Wednesday.
We were told by his right hand man Tord Grip (sounds like an Action Man accessory – with eagle eyes and a tord grip) that Charlton’s Danny Murphy had a chance of getting into the squad after two years absence. And rightly so because Murphy has been pretty damn good for them this season helping them to second place in the Premiership through his goals, assists and general running the team.
So this was the perfect opportunity for Sven to see it for himself and this he did, unlike most chances players get like this Murphy did nothing wrong, in fact he had an outstanding game with some cracking through balls that either did or should have ended up with a Charlton goal.
But no Sven didn’t see this, I don’t know what he was thinking, maybe it was the empty seat to his left and the old woman to his right that threw him into a state of confusion but I would have thought no dolly birds around would have concentrated Sven’s mind.
Nope at the same time Sven saw this excellent display by Murphy he saw a typically useless mince round the park by Jenas for Spurs, before he was hooked, and guess who he picked for the England squad ?
Christ he even picked Phil Neville ahead of Murphy, there’s the knee in the head after the kick in the nuts. I also suppose the lazy half arsed approach to defending shown by Rio Ferdinand against Fulham which certainly wasn’t a one off this season will be overlooked, even I want Judas back in Rio’s place along side Terry. Though I’d also still prefer a back 3.
Maybe it was the fact Murphy ended up on the losing side on Saturday after Spurs great comeback from 2-0 down to beat Charlton 3-2 through a nice bit of leg poking from “Deadly Ledley” as Martin Jol called him and two cracking goals from Mido and Robbie Keane. If Keane doesn’t stop doing that he won’t lose the super-sub tag he doesn’t like.
Not that long ago Spurs would have lost a game like that after going down 2-0, in fact these sort of come backs are more associated with teams playing against them. Maybe it was some good positive substitutions from Jol or the fact that Charlton seem to be a bit of a first half team – they do seem to be far better in the first half get a lead then drop off much like their league performances in the last few years, get up in the top half of the table then fade badly once secure from relegation.
Either way who cares it was a good 3 points against a team that are playing very well at the moment with only one loss previously in the league that being to Chelsea and second in the Premiership. And now 2 wins on the trot in London derbies that can’t have happened for a while.
Spurs up to 3rd, yeah I know others have got a game in hand but who knows what they’ll get from them. Next 3 fixtures at home to Everton, away to ManUre and then home to ARSEnal.