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Monday football
17 September 2007
by Jerrad Peters

TOTTENHAM Hotspur teased and deceived for more than an hour on Saturday afternoon. Gareth Bale's opener in the 15th-minute lended false hope to the dream that Spurs could indeed turn their season around against their arch-rivals in the north London derby. And until midway through the second half, they must almost have believed it themselves. Such has been the inflated build-up among insiders and pundits alike regarding Tottenham's fortunes this season. In truth, there has been nothing fortunate about the campaign thus far at White Hart Lane. Fateful, perhaps -- Spurs being made out as some sort of footballing Titanic, out to take the field by storm and power their way into English football's top echelon of clubs. Martin Jol bought into the dream as much as anyone. He certainly bought enough elite-level football talent to justify the forecasts. And with his job now hanging by a threat, the manager has seemed just as baffled as everyone else by his club's performance. Saturday was case-in-point. Spurs' 1-0 lead was never going to be held. Indeed, Emmanuel Adebayor, the showman with the poetic name, scored two spectacular goals -- exceeded in beauty only by the great lash of Cesc Fabregas on 80-minutes. The result has piled the pressure on Jol. Not that he's unused to it by now. Tottenham legend Jurgen Klinsmann is just the latest focus of chairman Daniel Levy's well-publicized job-hunt. Sevilla boss Juande Ramos and Italian World Cup-winning coach Marcello Lippi have also been contacted by the Spurs board. Word is that unless Jol can right the ship by the next international break in October, he will get the axe. The past week's dressing-room dressing-down of Jermaine Defoe did nothing to help his cause. Defoe, the ill-used striker who is under contract until 2009, was the subject of a verbal tirade from Jol in advance of the Arsenal clash. Jol, who is hopeful that the 24-year-old England international will extend his contract an extra two years, apparently assumed that he could convince Defoe by tearing a strip off of him and benching him for another match. Defoe has yet to be named among Jol's starting XI this season.
Wayne Rooney will be named to Manchester United's squad for Wednesday's Champions' League match against Sporting Lisbon. Rooney, who has missed five weeks with a broken metatarsal, will travel to Portugal with his teammates and is expected to start alongside Carlos Tevez in attack. United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is optimistic that Rooney can make a positive contribution to the club's scoring woes. Although the 21-year-old was hoping to play against Everton on Saturday, Ferguson opted for a more cautious approach with his star striker. "We took medical advice on Wayne," stated Ferguson. "And as he had only started training on Monday, we felt that five days' training was maybe a bit short. He will definitely be available for the match against Sporting Lisbon." Louis Saha, out since last winter, is also approaching full match fitness. He has featured as a substitute in each of United's last two league matches. Owen Hargreaves, having sustained a knee injury while on England duty in early September, remains questionable ahead of United's trip to the Stadio da Luz.
Jesualdo Ferreira is taking a page out of Jose Mourinho's bag of tricks. The Porto manager is trying to get Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez riled-up ahead of their Champions' League clash tomorrow. "I don't know if we will have to raise our game too much to win," taunted Ferreira over the weekend. He also predicted that Porto forward Ricardo Quaresma would be a nightmare for the Liverpool defenders throughout the 90-minutes at the Dragao.
Emile Heskey is set to miss the next round of EURO 2008 qualifiers. The Wigan and England striker sustained a broken toe in Wednesday's match against Fulham and faces up to six weeks on the sidelines. Ironically, the injury may come as a blessing in disguise for England manager Steve McClaren. Given England's superb pair of performances in qualifying this month, McClaren would have had difficulty re-insterting Wayne Rooney into the squad. The loss of Heskey will force the decision -- just the latest in a series of squad decisions made by fitness rather than the manger.
Mikael Silvestre has been lost to Manchester United for the remainder of the season. The 30-year-old French defender tore the ligaments in his knee during United's 1-0 win over Everton at Goodison Park, Saturday. The loss leaves United rather shallow behind Patrice Evra at the left-back position. Gabriel Heinze bolted Old Trafford for Real Madrid in August.