Spurs: Time to rule London

Spurs appoint Toon as manager

Tottenham Hotspur have confirmed that former England international Craborum Toon will take the reigns for the up and coming 2011/12 season.

Start of season expectations

I have agreed with the board that we should be aiming to finish in the Top 4 in the English Premier League. Therefore Daniel Levy has given me an 14.5m Transfer budget and a wage budget of 1.2m.

Transfer Targets

I have 3 main transfer targets during the summer window: Right back Mathieu Debuchy, Striker Yaya Sanogo and Forward Lucas Moura. I am confident that I will land at least 2 of these players.

I will keep you updated with my progress.

Spurs land Sanogo and Moura

I am delighted to confirm the signings of forwards Yaya Sanogo from Auxerre for 2.2m and Lucas Moura from Sao Paulo for 44.5m having interacted with the board for sufficient funds for the Brazilian wonder kid. Both have signed contracts till June 2016.

It seems prudent not to indulge in the transfer market anymore due to the 46.7m outlay spent on Sanogo and Moura. However if I am able to, I will most certainly add to the squad.

Pre-Season

Leyton Orient 1-1 Spurs
San Jose 1-0 Spurs
FC Lorient 0-4 Spurs
Real Union 0-4 Spurs
Elche 2-2 Spurs
Albacete 0-2 Spurs
Spurs 1-0 Fiorentina

So, all in all a positive pre-season campaign. Once we got our shape and got more used to the tactics being employed we played some really good stuff. Both Summer signings are looking very good and have had their fair share of the goals too.

We are all in great shape and are raring to go for the 2011/12 season.

August

Spurs 4-0 Sherriff - Euro Cup 4th qual. Rnd leg 1

What a performance this was! I started Lucas Moura and he put in an unforgettable performance bagging his 1st goal for the club and having 2 assists to his name. This put us in a great position for the second leg.

Spurs 2-1 Swansea - PRM

This was a solid way to get our Premier League campaign underway. Kaboul and Modric scored the goals as we managed to hold on to our lead despite being down to 10 men for most of the match due to Adebayor's lack of self control.

Sheriff 0-1 Spurs - Euro cup qual. Rnd leg 2.

Despite fielding a slightly weaker team for the second leg due to our dominant position I would have liked us to have won be a larger margin than we did. Anyway, a 5-0 aggregate win is very pleasing and puts us through to the group stages.

Bolton 2-3 Spurs - PRM

The scoreline might suggest that this was pretty close but we dominated this match. Their goals just came from defensive lapses on our part. Modric was outstanding and Yaya Sanogo put in a solid display on his first appearance for the club.

So, a very good start to my carrer as Tottenham manager. We sit in seventh with six points on the league in spite of playing one less game than every other team due to our Stoke game being rearranged.

Anyway, I will keep you updated.

Europa League Draw for Group Stages

This is our group for the Europa League group Stages:

Group J

Tottenham
Athletic Bilbao
FC Sochaux-Montbe
FC Vaslui

This group is slightly easier group than I anticipated and I am very confident that we can get past these Group Stages with realative ease.

League cup draws Tottenham against Championship side Leeds

Spurs will play Leeds United in the League Cup 3rd round at White Hart Lane. We are favorites for this clash and I am determined to live up to our status as favorites.

Tactics

For those of you who are wondering these are the tactics I employ.

I thought I would show you the profiles of my 2 new signings Lucas Moura and Yaya Sanogo.

Hope you have better luck than I did in my 1st spell at Spurs I finished 4th and got into the Champions League but finished bottom of my group that was followed by a lot of draws and bad results which ended in me being sacked. From there I was offered the Fulham job and was eventually sacked from them after just one season but Tottenham have offered me the chance to return with a hefty transfer budget so hopefully second time around I can achieve what I set out to do.

September

Spurs 1-3 Aston Villa PRM

This was an appalling result for us - their goal were all flukey plus we played the better football but we can make no excuses for this as we didn't play to our full ability at all.

Spurs 3-1 Athletic Bilbao Euro Cup group stages

A vintage display here ensured 3 points in our first game of the group. The stand out performer was Emmanuel Adebayor who bagged a brace and was a constant threat to the Spaniards defence.

Spurs 2-0 Wolves PRM

Another dominating display from the lads ensured 3 points with Adebayor and Kaboul contributing the goals. We rarely looked under threat at all which showed the mediocrity of this Wolves side.

Spurs 3-0 Leeds Utd League Cup 3rd round

I played a much weaker squad in this match to give some key players a rest but this certainly had no impact on the teams performance. Th Man of The Mathc was Yaya Sanogo who bagged his first 2 goals for the club.

Sunderland 2-2 Spurs PRM

This was 3 points dropped and that is an understatement due to the circumstances of the match. We were 2-0 up after 85 minutes thanks to goals from Rafael Van der Vaart and promising youngster Giovanni dos Santos and cruising to victory. However after 2 Sunderland corners we found ourselves back to square 1 after 90 minutes. Hopefully we can bounce back with a win vs Man United scum in our next league outing.

Sochaux 3-2 Spurs Euro Cup group stages

I very much regret being complacent in the this match after fielding a much weaker team. Having said that we did put in a decent performance with Danny Rose being our best performer. This puts us second in our group behind Sochaux.

So, a mixed month but I'm sure when the Injured duo Lucas Moura and Gareth Bale return it will really boost the team to put in some outstanding performances in October.

We currently sit in second in the EPL with 10 points but having played 2 less games than our rivals.