Thierry Henry: Switching Sides

Tottenham wrap up defender deals

Tottenham have successfully completed a 13 million deal for Palmeiras' 21-year-old Brazilian left-back Juninho. The former Figueirense man started his career at Audax Sao Paulo and only moved to Palmeiras last year. With Gareth Bale switching to No 11, Juninho will wear Bale's old No 3 at White Hart Lane.



Aside from Juninho, Spurs manager Henry has also overseen the completion of a 10 million deal for Juventus' Italian defender Leonardo Bonucci. The 24-year-old Italian international has 11 caps to his name and joined Juve only last year as well from then fellow Serie A side Bari, now in Serie B. Bonucci will wear the No 4 for Tottenham, formerly worn by Younes Kaboul who left on loan to Atletico Madrid last month.



While Juninho is expected to play back-up to Benoit Assou-Ekotto, it is reported that Leonardo Bonucci comes in as a direct replacement for Michael Dawson, made captain after the departure of Luka Modric to Real Madrid early this season. Spurs manager Thierry Henry is believed to be dissatisfied and unsure of Dawson's abilities, and is prepared to let the long-serving defender leave the club.

Breaking: Dawson relieved of short-lived captaincy

A Spurs spokesman has confirmed that Thierry Henry has made the decision to strip Michael Dawson of the captain's armband after just two months, fueling further media speculation that the English international could be gone by the end of the transfer window. This has prompted many Spurs fans to question Henry's club decisions, especially after the departures of fan favorites Younes Kaboul and Aaron Lennon. The new captain is announced to be Scott Parker with vice-captain being Jermain Defoe. Henry's fellow Frenchman William Gallas will serve as second vice-captain.

Friendlies
Pre-season went really well, with us winning all of our matches with three goals or more.











It was extremely special to win 5-1 against Real Madrid. Former Spurs boy Luka Modric scored first but we hit back through Gareth Bale and Emmanuel Adebayor, coupled with a goal from Jan Vertonghen, to win 5-1. A really tough match before the first half, but in the second half I switched from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2 and the move worked wonders, along with some motivational talk from me and Jair to the players.

After spending a long hour in my office, I came up with an assessment of the pre-season friendlies and the different traits of my squad.

1. Brad Friedel is way more consistent than Hugo Lloris. In the games Brad played, he kept clean sheets, but when Hugo played he couldn't keep clean sheets. Hugo remains my first-choice, he's the France national team captain after all, but if his form starts to dip, he knows what will happen.

2. Tottenham can score goals. With Emmanuel Adebayor and Jermain Defoe up front, I don't really have to worry about goals. Souleymane Coulibaly can also score very very well. My wingers also put balls into the net for fun, players like Clint Dempsey, Gareth Bale and Moussa Dembele are as clinical in front of goal as Emmuanel and Jermain.

3. My wingers are world class. True story. All the five goals against Real came from crosses from either Clint or Gareth. Gareth is being monitored by Manchester City, but fortunately I'm very certain that he wants to stay at Tottenham.

4. I will not bring in anymore players. I think I have enough.

My XI for the season now:

4-4-2
Lloris; Zabaleta, Gallas, Bonucci, Assou-Ekotto; Sigurdsson, Parker, Dempsey, Bale; Adebayor, Defoe

4-3-3
Lloris; Zabaleta, Gallas, Bonucci, Assou-Ekotto; Vertonghen, Sandro, Sigurdsson; Dempsey, Adebayor, Bale

4-2-3-1
Lloris; Zabaleta, Gallas, Bonucci, Assou-Ekotto; Sigurdsson, Parker; Bale, Willian, Dempsey; Adebayor

I'm doing good at this manager thing.

Henry's first game

Thierry Henry made his way to the dugout, along with number two Jair Ventura. The new Tottenham boss shook hands with Sunderland boss Martin O'Neill, and both took their respective seats on the touchline. Henry felt anxious. What would his first game be like?

Just 3 minutes in, and the Frenchman had a clue. The Tottenham players were bullying, dominating the Sunderland players. Henry's insistence on playing the possession game had worked. Anywhere you looked, the Sunderland players could only hold the ball for a mere two seconds. Men in Spurs kits were running all over the field, outshining the men in red and white. Henry wanted so, so much to put on a Tottenham jersey, although he swore never to do that, and go onto the field, receiving the ball from Bale and Dempsey, and scoring a goal.

And just when the match was 12 minutes old, there was a goal. Good passing football by the Tottenham players saw Dempsey find the unmarked Adebayor, and the Togolese struck a ferocious one past Sunderland keeper Westwood. The Tottenham fans at the Stadium of Light erupted into cheers. "Get in!" They screamed.

A goal kick from Lloris saw the ball go to Tottenham new boy Juninho, who was eager to impress. He and Bale showed chemistry immediately as the two played one-twos on the left of Tottenham's midfield. Bale hit the ball to Sandro and the Brazilian midfielder found Adebayor, unmarked again, for him to bag a brace. As Adebayor celebrated his goal with Sandro, Dempsey, and Bale, Henry was breathing a sigh of relief. At least his first game wouldn't be a horror show. The groans of the Sunderland fans made him delighted.

Spurs' third goal came from a combination of Vertonghen and Zabaleta playing a one-two and then Vertonghen hoofing the ball to Adebayor, who shook off his marker John O'Shea easily, to complete his hat trick. A stunning performance from the striker. He sprinted over to the Tottenham fans and slid to the ground, as all of his teammates ran over to congratulate him. 3-0.

The next goal came from... who else? Just before the stroke of half-time, Sandro's through ball found Adebayor, whom all the Sunderland defenders were marking tightly now. Miraculously, Adebayor still managed to get free of three of his markers, and with Wes Brown, Carlos Cuellar and Craig Gardner chasing after him, Adebayor slotted the ball coolly into the back of the net, and ran around the field arms open to celebrate. No way back for Sunderland.

After half-time saw Tottenham relax a little. Sunderland found no way to attack. At least eight of their players were at the back, trying to keep Tottenham and the monster that is Adebayor as far away from their goal as possible. No chance. Good footwork between Bale and Sandro on the left saw Bale run into the box, and when he saw four Sunderland players running his way to mark him, Bale crossed a high one to Adebayor, marked by Carlos Cuellar. This time, Cuellar managed to get the ball, but the Spaniard's slow reaction allowed Adebayor to knock the ball into the net past the unsuspecting Westwood, who has had a miserable time in goal.

Thierry Henry's first game in charge. 5-0, all goals scored by Adebayor. Henry thanked his lucky stars that Harry Redknapp had sanctioned the transfer of Adebayor. What a player. Immediately after the match, Henry shook hands with O'Neill, and was pleased to hear from his Northern Irish counterpart how shrewd his tactics were and how beautiful Tottenham played. Adebayor was also congratulated as all of his teammates romped him after the match. A great way to kick off his managerial career.

European Debut

Henry made his way to the dugout. This time it was a Cyprian club the team were facing, their Europa League debut this season, after Chelsea beat them to the last spot of the Champions' League qualification through winning against Bayern Munich. As this should be no test for his lads, Henry chose to field a different side, just to give the first-team boys rest ahead of Liverpool's visit to White Hart Lane a few days later. Striker Jermain Defoe, playing on his own up front supported by Willian, would captain the side today.

Just 10 minutes in and Gareth Bale already had the Cyprian crowd groaning. Henry was up on his feet along with Jair Ventura on the sideline cheering though. Defoe whizzed past AEL players with ease and supplied the ball to Gareth Bale, who slotted in coolly past the keeper to make it 1-0 for the visitors.

Unbelievably, the Cyprian side held Tottenham easily. With even their attackers roaming back to assist the defenders in containing an eager Tottenham side, Spurs attackers found it hard to even test the keeper. Corners were headed away by AEL defenders, and unlike Sunderland, AEL took their marking seriously. Either that, or Adebayor was just a different class from Defoe.

The captain-for-the-day rushed forward on the half hour mark, eager to extend their one goal lead, whizzing past defenders like how he had done when setting up Gareth Bale for the first goal. Spectacular play, but the English international was unable to keep the ball down when he shot ferociously at the keeper.

Seven minutes later, Bale came forward, fed by a clever through ball from Dempsey taking advantage of the slow reaction of the opposition defenders. With all four of the defenders chasing him Bale rushed for glory, but like Defoe he was unable to keep the ball down and it flew over the post. The Welshman clearly looked frustrated with himself.

Then came controversy as Defoe came running, fed by Willian's through ball, with AEL's men starting to tire. The striker shot it from a tight angle. GOAL FOR TOTTENHAM. 2-0. Defoe rushed towards his teammates to celebrate, only for the referee to blow his whistle. Offside!

Henry was on the touchline, standing up immediately and waving to the referee. "It wasn't offside!" The Spurs manager screamed in his native French.

The players followed their manager. "It wasn't offside!" They screamed.

Brad Friedel, replacing Hugo Lloris in goal, was never tested at all. With AEL on the counter-attack, their Portuguese striker Orlando Sa saw none of the ball, with Spurs' experienced rock of a defender William Gallas cutting off any ball to Sa.

The controversy was not to be stopped, but this time in Tottenham's favor. With Willian rushing through, AEL's Edwin Ouon brought the playmaker down just on the edge of the box. Henry, from his position on the touchline, could see that was a definite free kick, but to his surprise the ref took it even further and he pulled out a red card. Ouon off. No way back for AEL.

Half-time beckoned, and Henry told his players in the dressing room as they rested, frustrated at their limited lack of chances.

"Boys," Henry said in clear English. "You guys played very well. The opposition has spunk. They played splendid to match you lads. But they are starting to tire with every single one of their players rushing all around the place."

From around the room, there were slow nods.

"Take advantage of this. Score two or three more goals. And the day is done." As the players nodded, he announced, "Willian, you come off for Gylfi."

A shrewd move.

5 minutes into the second half, and Tottenham were 2-0 up. Sigurdsson, coming on for Willian, sent in a smashing corner, finding Steven Caulker, who fed Clint Dempsey and the American powered a shot into goal. The keeper was a distance away, and had no chance. His first ever official goal for Tottenham. Henry grinned.

A bore game for 30 minutes, as Tottenham saw no more chances while AEL built up the pressure, with Orlando Sa having three shots at goal, with one of them testing Brad Friedel to the limit as the American dived with all his might to punch away a powerfully accurate shot from the Portuguese.

Then, Henry decided to bring on Juninho for Assou-Ekotto, who was starting to tire, and Dembele coming off for Adebayor as the team switched to a 4-4-2 formation. Another shrewd substitution. Juninho rounded off his side's win as he delivered a wonderful cross to Defoe who powered a header towards goal past the keeper, as his side completed their 0-3 rout.

Chelsea snap up Dawson

Former Tottenham captain Michael Dawson has agreed a loan move from Tottenham to fellow Londoners Chelsea until the end of the season, with Chelsea having the option to purchase Dawson at 4 million at the end of the loan spell.

"I am very happy to be here," Dawson said, on his first interview as a Chelsea player. "Chelsea is a great club. I can't wait to put on a Chelsea jersey and play my first match. This will be a great experience for me and although I don't know where I will be at the end of the season I just want to enjoy this moment. It is a very good opportunity for me. When I heard Chelsea wanted to sign me, it wasn't a hard decision to make."

When asked whether he still had a future at Tottenham, Dawson clearly looked frustrated. "I don't know what happened. One moment the manager is telling me I will captain the side for the season, the next he's telling me he's looking at another defender and hope to move me on to another club so this defender he's looking at can replace me because he doesn't want too many defenders in his team."

Roberto Di Matteo said, "Michael is a good signing for us. He will be successful here, I'm sure. Some people say I only brought him in as backup, no, I think he has a very good chance of being in the first team this season if he works hard."

We recorded three points as we crushed Liverpool 4-1 at White Hart Lane, taking our point tally to six. We welcomed AEL four days later for the second leg of the Europa League Fourth Qualifying Round, crushing them 6-0 through goals from Bale, Adebayor and Zabaleta. This took us into the group stages of the Europa League, where we have an easy group in Group D.


Rosenborg from Norway, and Slask from Poland, don't post much of a threat I think, but we have to look out for Stuttgart. Still, I am confident we can reach the knockout stages very easily and hopefully go all the way to the Final and win a trophy in my first year in charge - that would be good.

Sweet story, ill be checking up on this every so often!:D