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Sir Alex Ferguson plans to have Fraizer Campbell back at Old Trafford next season.

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divimg alt=”" src=”http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/93565?ns=guardianpageName=Football%3A+NEC+Nijmegen+v+Tottenham+-+as+it+happenedch=Footballc3=guardian.co.ukc4=Uefa+Cup%2CNEC+Nijmegen%2CTottenham+Hotspur+%28Football%29%2CEredivisie%2CPremier+League+%28Football%29%2CFootball%2CSportc5=Euro+2008+Football%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CChampions+League%2CPremier+Leaguec6=Minute-by-minute+report%2CPaolo+Bandinic7=2008_11_27c8=1125158c9=articlec10=GUc11=Footballc12=Uefa+Cupc13=c14=h2=GU%2FFootball%2FUefa+Cup” width=”1″ height=”1″ //div!– Block 1 –pstrongPreamble:/strong That’s right boys and girls, it’s time for another Uefa Cup double-header and you can follow it all from the comfort of your own sofa/office/wireless-enabled toilet with the help of guardian.co.uk’s super minute-by-minute service*. I’ll be guiding you through NEC Nijmegen v Tottenham, and in a couple of hours time Paul Doyle will be here to provide a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/nov/27/uefa-portsmouth”live coverage of Portsmouth v Milan/a/pp* Service not guaranteed to be super./p!– Block 2 –pstrongTeam news:/strong Alan Hutton, Vedran Corluka, Roman Pavlyuchenko, Ledley King and Luka Modric are all out for Tottenham, and Fraizer Campbell gets a start up front. NEC, meanwhile welcome back striker Jhon van Beukering, who had been dropped for being too fat. /ppstrongNEC:/strong Babos, Dani Fernandez, Wisgerhof, Zomer, El Akchaoui,br /Radomski, Sibum, Davids, Schone, Van Beukering, Kabir. Subs:br /Baart, Kivuvu, Pothuizen, Otten, Bouaouzan, Janssen, Tshibamba .br /strongTottenham:/strong Gomes, Gunter, Dawson, Woodgate, Bale, Bentley,br /Zokora, Huddlestone, O’Hara, Bent, Campbell. Subs: Cesar,br /Lennon, Assou-Ekotto, Bostock, Smith, Mason, Obika.br /strongReferee:/strong Cesar Muniz Fernandez (Spain)/p!– Block 3 –pstrongOK, let’s be honest here …/strong I don’t get to watch a lot of Dutch football on a weekly basis. But I’ve been speaking to guardian.co.uk’s Eredivisie correspondent a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/leanderschaerlaeckens”Leander Schaerlaeckens/a, and he reckons Tottenham should win handily. NEC are eighth in the league, and have dropped off a little lately after a strong start. Full-backs Dani Fernandez and Youssef El Akchaoui aren’t up to much, apparently, so expect Tottenham to have some joy down the flanks./p!– Block 4 –pstrongIn case you were wondering/strong Yes, that ‘Davids’ lining up in central midfield for NEC is related to former Tottenham midfielder Edgar. In fact it’s his 22-year-old cousin. He’s a similar player, only a little worse in all departments apparently. Should still wind up on a bigger team sooner or later, according to Leander, but won’t necessarily ever make it as a Holland international./p!– Block 5 –pstrongWhat does it all mean?/strong Well, if Tottenham win, they’re as good as through on six points. If they don’t, then they’ll still probably get through, because these Uefa Cup group stages are faintly preposterous and Tottenham’s last group game is against Spartak Moscow at home./p!– Block 6 –pstrong1 min/strong And NEC get us underway. Cesar Muniz Fernandez is wearing a emlot/em of hair gel. “Today is a national holiday in the US,” writes Randy in Texas. “We celebrate triumph over the American wilderness and the continuation of the Spurs’ revival against an unpronounceable Dutch side./p!– Block 7 –pstrong2 min/strong Huddlestone barges Davids off the ball fairly, then treads on Radomski’s foot unfairly. NEC win the free-kick deep in their own half. David Bentley, incidentally, may be the only man in Holland wearing more hair gel than Mr Fernandez./p!– Block 8 –pstrong4 mins/strong NEC seem happy to roll the ball about in midfield without going anywhere too fast at the minute. Leander told me they’re a “pragmatic” team by Dutch standards, but that still means “quite attacking” in anyone else’s language./p!– Block 9 –pstrong6 mins/strong David Pleat just wondered aloud whether NEC full-back Dani Fernandez was any relation to the referee. Oh dear. O’Hara slips the ball to Huddlestone about 25 yards out and the midfielder lumps it some way over the bar./p!– Block 10 –pstrong9 mins/strong Gareth Bale comes flying down the left flank and whips a ball into the middle of the area but there are only NEC players waiting to meet it. Not a blistering start here, if I’m being absolutely honest./p!– Block 11 –pstrong11 mins/strong Hmm, I’m not convinced David Pleat and Jonathan Legard are getting on too well in the commentary box. “Not a particularly interesting city,” opines John. “What’s your definition of interesting,” demands David as Huddlestone gives the ball away in midfield./p!– Block 12 –pstrong13 mins/strong Davids twists this way and that down by the right-hand corner flag before whipping over a cross that Tottenham head clear. Bent is onto the ball quickly, dashing half the length of the pitch before skewing a shot wide from the edge of the D./p!– Block 13 –pstrongGOAL! NEC 0-1 Tottenham (O’Hara - 14 mins)/strong Bale breaks free down the left hand side again - what did I tell you about those full-backs? - and slides the ball in to Campbell on the edge of the six-yard box. His shot cannons back off the underside of the bar, but the keeper had already dived at his feet, and O’Hara is on hand to bundle home the rebound./p!– Block 14 –pstrong17 mins/strong It’s all gone a bit quiet at the McDOS Goffertstadion, which, I’m not going to lie to you, is already one of my favourite stadium names. Tottenham are now the ones happy enough to roll the ball around aimlessly./p!– Block 15 –pstrong19 mins/strong NEC win possession and begin probing on the edge of the Tottenham area, but some excellent pressing by the visitors eventually forces them all the way back to the edge of their own area./p!– Block 16 –pstrong21 mins/strong El Akchaoui has a dig for NEC from about 25 yards which looks set to go some way wide of Gomes’ goal before Dawson throws himself in front of it and deflects it out for a corner. Lacking faith in your goalkeeper there Michael?/p!– Block 17 –pstrong22 mins/strong The first corner is put behind for another and the second is easily cleared./p!– Block 18 –pstrong23 mins/strong A long ball angled forward from El Akchaoui finds El Kabir in rather more space than you would expect him to have in the Tottenham area, and Gomes does well to get down sharply and save. Once again Tottenham break fast, but Campbell can’t get any power behind his header from a Bale cross and Babos saves comfortably enough./p!– Block 19 –pstrong25 mins/strong Tottenham’s bench are complaining that the referee’s kit looks too much like NEC’s, which is odd, given that he’s wearing what looks like grey from here, whereas NEC are wearing a slightly dodgy combination of green, red and black. You can see it for yourself a href=”http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa94/Martins91/necmini-1.png”here/a./p!– Block 20 –pstrong28 mins/strong Josh in Stoke has a theory. “I think i know why Gomes has been so bad this season for Spurs,” he muses. “Because it’s not really him. Looking at the picture you have up, it looks like the real Gomes is sitting in the front row, just by the fake Gomes’ knee.”/p!– Block 21 –pstrong30 mins/strong El Akchaoui tries another long, angled ball into the area from just inside the half-way line, but this time Gomes is able to claim it under no pressure whatsoever./p!– Block 22 –pstrong32 mins/strong “Bale’s having a good game so far,” opines Jerry Thomas. “I know the opposition aren’t the best but his attacking and defending is the best I’ve seen from him this season.” He’s certainly looked tidy enough going forward, Jerry - though as I type that he’s just given the ball away softly - but I don’t think you could divine too much about his defending from what’s happened so far - NEC have barely had an attack worthy of the name./p!– Block 23 –pstrong35 mins/strong Campbell seizes on a loose pass from an NEC defender near the edge of the D, but Zomer is in quickly to win it back before he can get a shot off./p!– Block 24 –pstrong36 mins/strong Schone finds a yard of space just outside the Tottenham area but his shot is off target once again./p!– Block 25 –pstrong38 mins/strong NEC’s build-up play has been far too predictable for most of this match but they may finally be waking up now. First Davids surges through the Tottenham midfield but his pass to El Kabir is over-hit and runs to Gomes. Moments later, though, the striker is running on to another pass into the Tottenham area and screwing a shot into the side netting from a tight angle./p!– Block 26 –pstrong41 mins/strong NEC coach Mario Been may have slated Tottenham for playing so many long balls into the build-up to this game but El Akchaoui certainly doesn’t seem afraid to lump it long at every opportunity./p!– Block 27 –pstrong43 mins/strong Tottenham really haven’t shown much attacking intent since going ahead, but when they do they instantly look more threatening than their hosts. O’Hara’s drive from 25-yards is well hit, and Babos can only parry it to the far corner of his six-yard box. Bentley pings the ball back across the face of goal but an NEC defender just about gets himself in front of the onrushing Darren Bent to knock the ball clear./p!– Block 28 –pstrong45 mins/strong We’re going to have one minute of injury time …/p!– Block 29 –pstrongPeepety-Peep!/strong … in which very little happens. Back in a tick for some half-time thoughts./p!– Block 30 –pstrong”It’s been decent, without ever catching fire …”/strong is the verdict from the ITV4 studio, and it’s hard to disagree. Tottenham look like a team who have come here expecting an easy ride and, having got the early goal they wanted, generally been proven right. Redknapp was getting mighty animated at one point on the sideline, encouraging Bentley to get more involved, but his players largely look happy to conserve their energy for the game against Everton at the weekend./p!– Block 31 –pstrongElsewhere/strong Manchester City are winning 1-0 at Schalke in the only other 6pm kick-off featuring a British side. You can keep up with all tonight’s other scores with our swanky a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/matches”live scoreboard/a./p!– Block 32 –pstrong46 mins/strong We’re off again, and Fernandez’s hair is still holding its shape admirably. NEC have brought on Dominique Kivuvu for Radomski./p!– Block 33 –pstrong47 mins/strong Bentley, clearly stung by my half-time criticism, wins possession 25 yards from goal and hammers a dipping effort just high and wide of the NEC goal./p!– Block 34 –pstrong48 mins/strong Tottenham have actually changed things up at half-time - moving Bentley, who had been playing in the hole behind the two strikers, out to the right and O’Hara out to the left. Bentley responds by putting a good cross in from the right that Bent meets with a firm header goalwards, but it’s saved by Babos./p!– Block 35 –pstrong50 mins/strong Credit to Redknapp, the change does seem to have woken Tottenham up a touch, and now O’Hara lofts a cross in towards the penalty area, but Babos claims./p!– Block 36 –pstrong52 mins/strong NEC win a corner, but Gomes comes off his line confidently to pluck it out of the air. Spurs fans could get used to hearing that sentence a little more often./p!– Block 37 –pstrong54 mins/strong El Kabir continues to take optimistic pot-shots from outside Spurs’ area and his latest would have been going well wide, were it not for a deflection off a Tottenham defender. Instead it floats harmlessly into the hands of Gomes./p!– Block 38 –pstrong56 mins/strong El Kabir threads a pass inside Bale for Fernandez to chase down the right, but it’s overhit./p!– Block 39 –pstrong58 mins/strong Woodgate is rather too nonchalant as he watches a long ball forward bounce into the arms of Gomes, and El Kabir comes flying in to try to nick possession. In the event he gets there a moment too late, and simply winds up hurting himself clattering into Gomes./p!– Block 40 –pstrong61 mins/strong The NEC fans are beginning to get anxious as Davids dawdles on the ball near the half-way line. With no runners either side of him he ends up hoofing the ball hopefully in the direction of El Kabir, but Spurs clear without any trouble./p!– Block 41 –pstrong62 mins/strong El Kabir has definitely been NEC’s liveliest player, and he gets the better of Bale down the right but there’s nobody on hand to meet his subsequent cross as it flies across Tottenham’s six-yard box. Van Beukering may have lost seven pounds in a week to put himself in contention to lead the line here, but he’s made no impact whatsoever./p!– Block 42 –pstrong65 mins/strong “Josh in Stoke (28 mins) is completely wrong about the guy in the front row being the real Gomes,” pipes up Gary Naylor as O’Hara cuts in from the right and unleashes a drive that Babos saves and holds comfortably enough. “Anyone can see that it’s Essex and England cricketer, Ravi Bopara.”/p!– Block 43 –pstrong67 mins/strong Bouaouzan (or Boobazan, to Mr Pleat) is on in place of Sibum for NEC and makes his arrival felt by hammering a shot straight at Gomes from the edge of the box. NEC’s fans are unhappy that the referee didn’t give them a free-kick for a foul moments earlier, but the advantage was a decent one./p!– Block 44 –pstrong70 mins/strong Aaron Lennon is coming on for Bent, which makes sense at this stage. Leander was actually telling me beforehand that he thought Lennon, in particular, would be able to get some change out of NEC’s full-backs, so he should be dangerous at this stage with a fresh pair of legs./p!– Block 45 –pstrong72 mins/strong Bentley loses possession trying to juke his way past two defenders inside the NEC box when passing the ball looked a better option./p!– Block 46 –pstrong74 mins/strong Best move of the match perhaps from NEC there, as Davids lays the ball off to El Kabir on the right with his first touch and the forward promptly cuts the ball back to another forward near the penalty spot, who has his shot charged down./p!– Block 47 –pstrong75 mins/strong The game is beginning to get a little bit stretched now as NEC go in pursuit of an equaliser, and Campbell looks angry to be denied a penalty as both he and the defender in attendance go tumbling as they chase a ball into the NEC area. In the end the foul goes against him, and that looks like the right decision./p!– Block 48 –pstrong77 mins/strong Bentley tries to chip the keeper from a couple of yards outside the area, despite the keeper being well-positioned on the line. He really hasn’t had a great game./p!– Block 49 –pstrong78 mins/strong Well, well - Woodgate may have just saved this result for Spurs with an absolutely impeccably-timed sliding challenge on El-Kabir, just as he appeared to have got goalside of the defender chasing a through-ball into the area./p!– Block 50 –pstrong80 mins/strong Manchester City are 2-0 up now, for those who interested. I’ve also just interested that NEC’s dug-out appears to have a banner reading ‘Arsenaal’ on the back of it. Obscure, misspelt motivational ruse from Redknapp, perhaps?/p!– Block 51 –pstrong80 mins/strong Davids picks up a booking, the first of the game by my reckoning, for an over-zealous challenge near midfield./p!– Block 52 –pstrong83 mins/strong Jonathan Obika, an 18-year-old striker fresh from the Spurs youth system, is on to replace Campbell. If the fact that he’s wearing the No80 shirt isn’t exciting enough for you, then perhaps the fact that one of his cousins is Lemar (you know, the one who got famous after winning the rubbish BBC version of Pop Idol) will be. NEC have brought on Tshimbamba for Dani Fernandez./p!– Block 53 –pstrong86 mins/strong “Hate to be a spoilsport,” chirrups Robert Kimmel, who emphatically does not hate to be a spoilsport. “But the Arsenaal banner is very likely just some sort of publicity for a bar in Nijmgen which goes by the name ‘Vlaams Arsenaal’.”/p!– Block 54 –pstrong89 mins/strong It’s actually quite startling how little NEC have produced in these last 10 minutes. Credit to Tottenham, they’ve come here and done the job they needed to do, but NEC have really not been up to much./p!– Block 55 –pstrong90 mins (+1)/strong Tshimbamba hammers a volley wide from a few yards outside the Tottenham area./p!– Block 56 –pstrongPeep! Peep! Peeeeeeep!/strong Referee Fernandez puts us out of our misery after one last half-hearted attack breaks on the first line of Tottenham’s defence. Job done for Spurs - they’re not technically through yet, but only one team has ever failed to make it out of the groups after picking up six points. /ppLast word goes to Katrina Troy. “Lemar didn’t win fame academy, it was David Sneddon,” she points out. “I am suitably ashamed for knowing this.”/ppThanks for all your emails./pdiv style=”float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;”ullia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/uefa”Uefa Cup/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/nec-nijmegen”NEC Nijmegen/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/tottenham-hotspur”Tottenham Hotspur/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/eredivisie”Eredivisie/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/premierleague”Premier League/a/li/ul/diva href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk”guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href=”http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html”Terms Conditions/a | a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html”More Feeds/a
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Original post by Minute-by-minute report, Paolo Bandini

divimg alt=”" src=”http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/87926?ns=guardianpageName=Football%3A+Campbell+pushes+his+way+into+Pearce%27s+planningch=Footballc3=The+Guardianc4=England+football+team%2CCzech+Republic+football+team%2CFootball%2CSportc5=Football+World+Cup%2CNot+commercially+usefulc6=Stuart+Jamesc7=2008_11_19c8=1120079c9=articlec10=GUc11=Footballc12=Englandc13=c14=h2=GU%2FFootball%2FEngland” width=”1″ height=”1″ //divpThe preparations for next summer’s European Championships started last night, according to Stuart Pearce, and this was a performance that suggested everything is going to plan. Having used the occasion as an opportunity to experiment, the England Under-21 manager had good reason to be satisfied with the result as an under-strength line-up overcame a combative Czech Republic side through goals from the in-form Fraizer Campbell and Aston Villa’s Craig Gardner./ppHow many of these players appear in Sweden in June remains to be seen but Pearce was able to take encouragement from the fact that he has such competition for places. No one was more impressive than Campbell, with the 21-year-old striker, who has scored three times in his last two games on loan at Tottenham Hotspur, registering his first international goal and generally making life as uncomfortable as possible for the Czech Republic./pp”I thought he played well,” said Pearce. “He’s quick, darts in behind and is a constant threat. If he carries on the way he is, Manchester United and Tottenham will have a player on their hands.” Pearce also singled out the contribution of the Wolverhampton Wanderers central defender Richard Stearman, the sole debutant in the England starting line-up on a night when an inexperienced side extended the manager’s run to one defeat in 22 matches./pp”It took us an hour to knock them off,” added Pearce, whose goalkeeper, Peterborough’s Joe Lewis, was taken off on a stretcher in the first half with his ankle heavily strapped. “We probably needed to show a touch more devilment and grab the game by the scruff of the neck early on. But we wanted to get a win, keep a clean sheet and for three or four players to come in and do well and I think I got that out of this performance.”/ppCampbell capitalised on Jan Halama’s weak header before lobbing Jakub Divis, Gardner’s 25-yard free-kick doubled England’s lead and a third should have followed two minutes later but Jamie O’Hara telegraphed his intentions with a weak penalty after Jakub Heidenreich bundled over Campbell. There should have been another England spot-kick within seconds after the same two players clashed but Campbell was harshly booked for diving./pdiv style=”float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;”ullia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/england”England/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/czechrepublic”Czech Republic/a/li/ul/divdiv class=”guRssAdvert”a href=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Footballcountry=nldspacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227057980222111901285839760″img src=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Footballcountry=nldspacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227057980222111901285839760″ border=”0″ //a/diva href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk”guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href=”http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html”Terms Conditions/a | a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html”More Feeds/a

Original post by Stuart James

Harry Redknapp emphasised the power of positive thinking after Tottenham Hotspur continued their remarkable transformation under his charge by trouncing Dinamo Zagreb 4-0 in the Uefa Cup. Darren Bent scored his first hat-trick for the club and Tom Huddlestone the other goal in a comprehensive victory which brought Redknapp’s record to three wins and a draw from four matches.

“Confidence is the key,” said the manager. “Winning is a great thing and we have to keep going on this little run to get off the bottom of the league. I believe we have the players to do that and that’s what we all have to believe.”

He suggested it was Bent’s ability to believe, as much as his sharp finishing, which gave the striker his hat-trick. Bent had been criticised by supporters still mourning the loss of Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane but he has now scored nine goals this season, more than the combined total of the departed duo.

“He has a great attitude - he wants to do well and is always willing to work on his game,” said Redknapp. “Nine goals is a terrific return so far and, with [Roman] Pavlyuchenko [who was cup-tied last night] having scored against Liverpool and young Fraizer Campbell impressing when he came on tonight, we had fierce competition for places.”

Redknapp indicated that competition was all the more intense among the strikers because they were competing for just one place, since the skills of Luka Modric effectively force the manager to play with a single front man. Deployed in the free role in which he has revelled since Redknapp took charge, Modric tormented his former club last night and was hailed as “Tottenham’s most creative and dangerous player” by the visiting manager, Branko Ivankovic.

“He’s such a fantastic player, you really need to play him,” said Redknapp. “When I came here people were saying Modric isn’t strong enough to play in England, but he’s not a weakling. He’s a lot stronger than I’d realised and also he has a big heart. He’s been excellent for us and we’ve got to believe in giving him the ball in tight areas because he can receive it there. He’s got that great ability to always know what’s going on.”

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Original post by Paul Doyle