Mido. Sounds like a continental supermarket chain. Or maybe Sweden's entry in this year's Eurovision Song Contest. But no, Mido is neither of things. In fact, Mido is Spurs' new Egyptian striker (The Sun headline writers must be rubbing their hands with glee...), a player who has just arrived in Edmonton on loan from Roma and who crash-landed in the Premiership on Saturday with a brace of goals and some nice touches of skill. Welcome then, Mido.
So things are looking good for Spurs then, yes? A confidence boosting 3-1 victory over Portsmouth, the hunt for a place in Europe back on and Andy Reid and Michael Dawson captured from Forest on transfer deadline day. A rosy picture indeed. Tottenham's much derided 'continental' structure of coach working under director of football, seems to be working quite harmoniously at the moment, with Martin Jol providing the kind of attacking football that Spurs fans see as their right and Frank Arnesen building a squad that is bursting at the seams with young talent (Robinson, King, Ziegler, Carrick, Davies, Keane, Defoe et al).
Still feeling unimpressed? Underwhelmed? You are probably not alone. Youthful promise alone cannot guarantee trophies (just look at what happened to Leeds) and Spurs have, so far this season, completely failed to show the kind of consistency that would see them overtake the likes of Liverpool, Boro and Bolton for the title of 'best of the rest'. If they can hang onto the likes of Defoe and King, they might well be going places, but if the rumours of Mourinho already making eyes at little Jermain are true, then this is going to be no easy task. On a cautionary note, many journos have been pointing out that it was Arnesen who brought the likes of Romario, Ronaldo and Ruud van Horseface to PSV Eindhoven. Now they are pointing out that he also saw them leave for the likes of Barcelona and Manchester United.
Elsewhere in the Premiership, in what seems like the first time in ages, Arsenal made up some ground on Chelsea. Looking a little more like the Gooners of old, they got THAT defeat out of their system with a pulsating 3-1 win at Villa. Jens Lehmann, that little ray of sunshine, was back in goal (a shame for Manuel Alumina, seems like a nice guy) and Ashley Cole scored a belter. Speaking of Cheryl Tweedy's latest beau, the storm surrounding his meeting with Jose and Peter Kenyon hung low over Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon. Chelsea could not find a way past an inspired David James and were only good for a point in a 0-0 draw with Man Citeh. More importantly perhaps, the news on talisman Arjen Robben's injured foot is not looking good and suddenly there is a gleam back in the eyes of Arsene and Sir Alex.
Fulham's eight match unbeaten run was ended at Anfield, where they were beaten 3-1 by a Morientes-inspired Liverpool and Charlton forced Newcastle into hanging onto a 1-1 draw at St James Park. Poor old Palace had chance after chance at home to Bolton, but could not make any of them count, with the visitors adding insult to injury by claiming all three points with a disputed goal from Kevin Nolan. They are now just two points clear of Norwich City and the relegation places.
In the first division, QPR had the better of things against Millwall at the Den but had to settle for 0-0 and West Ham kept Alan Pardew in his job for another week with a 1-0 win over Cardiff. Brentford strengthened their position in the top six of Division 2 with a 1-0 win against Franchise FC and in Division 3, Orient were hammered 4-1, away to Shrewsbury. Oh dear.
