 Friday, 8th Feb 2008 10:57 Any chance of the South-East corner not booing Tom Huddlestone? Derby County v Tottenham Hotspur I’d say none whatsoever. William Hill certainly isn’t quoting. Yet if you ask someone why they’re booing him they won’t have an answer. It doesn’t put him off. If anything it makes him more determined to play well. There’s no arguing with football fans though. Tom seems to be developing well as a player. Playing centre-half in a struggling Championship side probably wasn’t the best development plan that you could write for Tom, but if recent televised matches are anything to go on, he’s lost the hesitancy he had with us. What is most annoying as far as Rams fans are concerned, is the paltry price Spurs got him for. £600,000 wouldn’t even buy his left boot now. Tottenham away was our first thrashing of the season. We were three down within a quarter of an hour and there was no way back. This was a Spurs team in crisis – despite losing their first two games and being bottom of the table, they were far too good for the Rams on the day and any early season optimism soon evaporated. Spurs crisis soon came back and Martin Jol paid the price. Actually the situation got completely ridiculous; culminating in Jol’s sacking being announced live during a UEFA game. Spurs then made a complete mess of signing Juande Ramos as head coach – especially seeing as he’d already signed a contract with Sevilla. There's been steady progress from Spurs since Ramos took over. Spurs are now 11th and have been moving up the league. They are also in the final of the Coca Cola Cup after defeating their great rivals, Arsenal by 5-1. They also face Slavia Prague in the UEFA Cup next week. Spurs were fairly busy during the transfer window bringing in Jonathan Woodgate for £7m. Alan Hutton form Rangers and Gilberto - the first Brazilian to play for the club. Surprisingly, Jermaine Defoe was allowed to go to Portsmouth while Wayne Routledge was sold to Villa. Current Spurs Squad No. Position Player Last 5 games Tottenham 2-0 Sunderland Danger Men Dimitar Berbatov has scored 14 goals for Spurs so far this term - 9 of them in the league. It's fair to say that if it wasn't for the midfield exploits of Ronaldo at Manchester United, Berbatov would be attracting a lot more attention. The Bulgarian was linked with a move away from White Hart Lane during the transfer window but it never materialized. Spurs probably realized that they would effectively finish their season by such a move - and Berbatov was more than happy to stay. Leading scorer Robbie Keane is probably happy he's staying as well. Keane has scored 18 goals in all competitions this season and the freedom he's experienced on the pitch is probably down to the fact that Berbatov worries defenders so much. Ominously, Darren Bent is a hat-trick shy of 100 club career goals At the time of writing, the only injury report from Spurs is Gareth Bale who is likely to miss the rest of the season. The Rams Two games without defeat. If we manage another that will be a first since 2001. If we do it will be with a seriously patched up defence. Darren Moore and Andy Todd are both rated doubtful while Claude Davis looks to have played his last Premiership game for the Rams. That leaves Alan Stubbs, Dean Leacock & Michael Johnson as recognised centre halves. Maybe Marc Edworthy at a push. Seeing as Michael Johnson was never going to be good enough this season, it makes you wonder why Lewin Nyatanga was allowed out on loan? Better news is that Jay McEveley may be fit for the Wigan game. It was feared he would be out for the rest of the season but he's been back running for some time and Paul Jewell is hopeful. A big factor in our 'run' has been the form of Hossam Ghaly - on loan from Spurs. Ghaly will not be allowed to play in this game which is probably a killer blow for the Rams. David Jones is now finally fit to replace him but so far this season he's shown little of the form that had Billy Davies crowing that he's robbed Alex Ferguson. Robbie Savage is likely to be the lynchpin of our midfield. So far he's been disappointing to those Rams fans who thought he'd be a big addition to the midfield and has drawn "told you so's" from his many detractors. Paul Jewell isn't one of them however. He told the DET; "I think Sav is trying to please everybody. He is probably trying too hard and just needs to do his own job, rather than everybody else's - but he will get there. There is a lot more to come from him. I don't think he has been anywhere near his best." New signing Mile Sterjovski may make his debut tomorrow. Some may say it's too soon but let’s at least have a look. Caution at this stage of the season would be prudent if a few points would keep us up but it would take a miracle of biblical proportions to keep us up now. Sterjovski can play on either wing and in attack so he does add an option to our attack. Attack is one of the few places we have the luxury of choice. Miller, Villa or Earnshaw? Tito came off the bench to gain an equalizer last week and I think I would start with him. That's harsh on Rob Earnshaw who has looked belatedly like he actually wants to be a Ram, but we need goals more than anything. Mick's Team: Carroll, Edworthy, Leacock, Stubbs, Moore, Sterjovski, Barnes, Savage, Jones, Miller, Villa. What the Bookies think The Bookies don’t think our two draws are anything to shout about. We’re at 5/1 to win. Some of the odds this season have been ridiculous but I suppose the Bookies haven’t lost any money on us yet. Spurs are 1/2 on while the draw is at 12/5. All three of our main strikers are at 4/1 to score while Dimitar Berbatov only seems to need to turn up to score at 6/5. Robbie Keane is at 6/4 while Tom Huddlestone is at 6/1. Mick’s Prediction I’d be very surprised if Paul Jewell’s first win came against a resurgent Spurs team but stranger things have happened. My first game was a 5-0 thrashing of Spurs including Greaves et al so there is precedent.
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