Thread: Dawson's Diary

Monday, February 6

Hi everyone. It's been a while since my last diary entry, in fact back to the FA Cup tie at Watford. That was a tough night and they deserve credit for that.

We went to City and it was heartbreaking to lose the way we did. We then went to Vicarage Road and Watford put us under all sorts of pressure. We managed to get away with a 1-0 win and we now travel to Stevenage, another tie we'll have to be ready for.

I thought the lads were nice and bright against Wigan. We started well, which was all-important on the night, got ourselves 2-0 up and then 3-0 up in the second half. They came back into it, scored a goal and had a couple of chances but overall, a good job done.

The transfer deadline day saw Louis Saha and Ryan Nelsen come into the squad.

I've played against Louis many times and he's a great player, a top professional. Ryan is another experienced defender who has been around the Premier League a long time now. They will both bring more experience to the squad and will be great signings for us, I'm sure.

A few lads went out, Seb Bassong, Charlie (Vedran Corluka) Steven Pienaar, Pav. I've played a number of times with 'Bass' and I'm sure he'll do well at Wolves. I wish them all the best. The fans loved Pav and so did the lads, a greay guy, and we all wish him well.

Now it's all about Liverpool. It's always a special trip for me because I made my debut at Anfield back in April, 2005. That seems like a long time ago now!

We managed a fine 2-0 win there at the end of last season and I'm sure this will be a great game, as both teams are playing well. We go there confident and we'll give everything to get the right result.

Until next time!

Michael warming-up at Stevenage

DAWSON'S DIARY

Posted 21 February 2012 11:43am
LAMEX STADIUM, STEVENAGE
Sunday, February 20 - just after 0-0 draw with Stevenage in the FA Cup

I watched the draw for the fifth round of the FA Cup and the second it came out Stevenage away, I knew it would be tough and that certainly proved the case.

They are a big, strong team, physical and get the ball forward but we stood strong and we have to take the positives out of the game.

There are upsets in the FA Cup, there wasn’t one here, of course we wanted to win but now we have the replay to look forward to in a couple of weeks.

It was one of those games where you have to show a different side, just like we did at Anfield.

You can’t always go out and play the way we do at White Hart Lane, get the ball down and knock it about. The playing surface is like a carpet there.

You come to Stevenage, it was a little bobbly and things didn’t go how we wanted them to. We had to dig deep and we’re still in the cup, that's what matters.

We’ve now got Arsenal and United, huge games in the Premier League and we’ll look forward to the FA Cup again when it comes along.

Until next time!

Lads celebrate at Arsenal last season

SPURS LODGE
Wednesday, February 22
If I was to sum-up how everyone's feeling ahead of Sunday, I'd say 'excited'!

It's such a special match for players, staff, fans and the football club as a whole.

It always seems to be a cracking game at the Emirates as well, just go back to the 4-4 and then last season's 3-2, when we were 2-0 down at half-time but managed to come back and win 3-2. That was fantastic.

I missed that game. I was at home, recovering from injury, watching it all unfold on TV.

At 2-0 down, I was thinking ‘this isn’t good’, certainly away from home. To come back at their place made it all the more special.

Every game against Arsenal is tough. This is the North London derby and we know what it means to everyone involved.

They will say the same thing. It’s a special game and certainly one both teams will be determined to win.

They had a disappointing result in the Champions League and then the FA Cup. They will want to put things right.

This isn’t about them, though, it’s about us, going there and playing like we always try to do, to get the ball down and play. We’ve got the players who can cause problems for any team.

One thing's for sure - we go there full of confidence.

We've done so well in the Premier League, played some fantastic football, been consistent and let's just hope we can go there and get another three points for everyone.

Until next time!

https://tottenhamhotspur.com/spurs/N...y-020312.page?


Daws with the special-edition shirt for THF's 5th anniversary

Posted 02 March 2012 6:05pm
SPURS LODGE
Friday, March 2

There’s no hiding that’s it’s been a hard week after what happened at Arsenal.

It was a strange game. After going 2-0 up and feeling in control - although they were playing well, to be fair, and had chances - you couldn’t see anything else but us winning.

The header to bring them back into it at 2-1 gave them a massive lift. It gave the fans a lift as well. To then concede the second straight away and go in at 2-2 was a huge blow.

We tried to rally around at half-time, tried to get the lads back on track because Arsenal had the momentum. But they came out and played really well.

To concede five was really hard to take.

We’ve another huge game on Sunday against United.

We were beaten 5-1 by City and managed to bounce back. Okay, that game wasn’t against our local rivals, but it hurt all the same.

We’ve had a fantastic season and we can’t let one game change that mentality.

The lads always want to put on a performance after losing any game, but we realise losing to Arsenal hurts all the more.

All I’ll say is that we’ll be determined to put it right against United on Sunday.

In the photograph at the top of the page you'll see me with the special-edition shirt that the team will wear on Sunday as we celebrate five years of the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation.

Everyone can be proud of the work the Club does in the community.

One player a week goes out to a Foundation project and when you go to a school or a community centre and see the smiles on kids' faces, that's something special.

If we can help in any way by going out and being in the community, then that's fantastic. We're all right behind it.

Until next time!