Michael Dawson

Former Tottenham defender Michael Dawson experienced the second relegation in his career just 12 months after his move to Hull City.

The England international had previously been relegated with his first team – Nottingham Forest. However, he has since been competing for a position near the Champions League spots for much of his reign at Tottenham. He spent nine years at the club before moving to Hull City in the summer for around £ 3.5 million. After flirting with relegation for much of the campaign, it was always held that Steve Bruce had assembled a team that was too good to go down.

However, pundits were once again proved wrong after Hull failed to secure a couple of wins in the final weeks of the campaign. It would have secured their Premier League status. However, a 2-0 win for Newcastle against West Ham on the final day meant that Hull City were going down into the Championship irrespective of their result against Manchester United. A tough season beckons for Hull, whose future remains unclear since only a handful of clubs have managed to win promotion straightaway. Dawson, though, says that he remains committed to his contract at the KC stadium. It will come as a surprise for the supporters, who have expecting several offers for their star defender.

“It is going to be a slog in the Championship.I said when I signed for the club that I would give everything and I will keep doing that.It wasn’t Sunday that sent us down.We huffed and puffed and maybe it has been like that all season.We created chances and couldn’t get the ball in the net.That has happened too many times this season.We have had games we should have won and when we’ve been ahead we have drawn,” said Dawson.

The 31 year old defender Michael Dawson has only spent 1 season with Hull City as he made his way from Tottenham Hotspur to Hull City on August of 2014 for a transfer fee in the region of €3.5 million.
Even though Michael Dawson is only going through his first season as a player of Hull City, the veteran defender has made an impact in the Premier League as he has even become the vice-captain of the team and he is one of the contenders on being awarded as the Hull City player of the season.
Hull City are fighting just to survive in the Premier League for another season but things aren’t going well for the team of Steve Bruce as the club sustained their 3rd successive defeat after losing against Southampton on April 11.
The Premier League is reaching it’s few weeks and if Hull City wants to survive for another season in the top tier English league, some victories or points have to be secured but after taking a look at the upcoming league matches of Hull City it seems like getting a few more triumphs will be extremely difficult.
Crystal Palace, Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United are the remaining opponents that Hull City has to face off with in this season.

Michael Dawson is well aware of the position that Hull City is located and even though their upcoming matches will be tough, Dawson wants his team to keep on going and stick together in search for positive results. The 31 year old defender said: “When you’re losing football matches and you’re in our position then you’re down in the dumps.But we have to pick ourselves up quickly. We can’t afford to feel sorry for ourselves because there’s some big games coming up against big teams.’’

“We’ve got an awful lot of games at home now and we’re going to have to pick up points. Teams around us are winning as well. We keep going and we stick together. We live to fight another day.”

Almost all of Hull City’s upcoming matches will be played at home and Dawson is hoping that this can help the team in their quest of avoiding the bottom relegation zone.

After managing to win some last five matches, the prospects of Hull City managing to avoid relegation appear to be bright.

Manager Steve Bruce seemed to be on the verge of losing his job only a few months ago, but he has signed a new contract extension that will see him stay at the club for another 12 months. Unlike some of the other managers, Bruce has signed a rolling contract which he sees is the perfect way to be clear of any trouble. Hull have already established a five-point buffer between QPR in the final relegation spot. They will be looking for more advantage in the coming weeks.

An away match against Leicester City appears to be the perfect solution for this, as Nigel Pearson’s team have gone off the boil since the first few months of the season. Leicester are almost certainties to get relegated this season after losing five out of the last six matches. The club appeared to have a mini revival during the early part of 2015, but even that has disappeared under the radar. The only threat for Hull, at the moment, appears to be the home support for Leicester, but defender Michael Dawson is confident that his club can take three points.

“We’ve got a little break in the fixture list this weekend. Of course we were disappointed after the Sunderland game and it took a couple of days to get over that.But all you can do is dust yourselves off, get back to training and we’re working towards Leicester now which is another big, vital game. We want to beat the teams that are in and around us,” said Michael Dawson. Hull could only manage a 1-1 draw against relegation rivals Sunderland in their previous league match at the KC stadium.

Aaron Lennon continues to be a major injury worry for Tottenham after the 27-year-old has featured rarely in the last 12 months.

He was recently seen in the League Cup match against Brighton and Hove Albion. Tottenham secured a victory, but they had to do without Lennon in the second half. The England international was replaced after suffering a hamstring injury. This has increased fears that Lennon could spend more time on the sidelines, but the winger has taken to twitter to explain that the injury situation is not serious as initially thought.

The 27-year-old has had just 120 minutes of action in the Premier League this season. The lack of space has been one of the reasons behind Tottenham struggling to open up the opposition. Tottenham have struggled for consistency this season and it has led to manager Mauricio Pochettino blaming the size of the pitch at White Hart Lane. Even though the team remain only a couple of points away from the top four places, it is looking highly unlikely that will be able to sustain this challenge through the entire campaign with this up-and-down form. Harry Kane and Erik Lamela were the scorers for Tottenham on the night as they comfortably went past Brighton to face Newcastle in the next round.

“Gutted to come off with slight hammy but should be OK in no time.Buzzing to lead the team out and go through to the next round #COYS,” said the midfielder. He is yet to score a goal or create an assist this campaign, but there is little doubt that the 27-year-old could play a key role in the season. Last season, he made 26 starts in the league and scored one goal. Yet, he was one of their better players. Tottenham are level on points with Liverpool in the eighth place.

Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino claims that he has no problems in seeing Michael Dawson move to Hull City in the summer.

The former Tottenham captain ended his long spell with the London club by moving to Hull. Even though his presence has not exactly helped Hull keep clean sheets, Steve Bruce is confident that they can start going on a run of victories starting with the match against Tottenham. Spurs are the visitors against Hull and Bruce will be looking to take advantage of their opposition’s poor form.

Pochettino is a man under pressure after managing only one win in the last three league matches. Tottenham have also suffered two defeats in this run. Poor defending has cost the club on several occasions and there is a feeling that the club made a mistake with regards to selling Dawson. Pochettino, though, has revealed that he held talks with the England international before considering that a move was the right decision for all parties. Dawson did not appear to figure in the first-team plans of Pochettino. The 31-year-old, though, wanted to play regularly since he did not have a lot of time left in the game.

Hull have managed only two wins throughout this campaign and only one of them at home.”It was not only my decision – we had a chat with Michael about the situation and we agreed the best thing for him was to join Hull. We were transparent with him all the way and we had a very good relationship – we always talked face-to-face, but I don’t (regret letting him go) because it wasn’t only down to me.It was a shared decision – between me, Michael, the club, and we decided the best thing was for him to join Hull,” said the Tottenham manager ahead of the league meeting with Hull.

Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino has confirmed that Michael Dawson will retain the captaincy amidst rumours that he may be stripped of the same and sold before the end of this transfer window. Dawson came close to leaving Tottenham last summer after not being perceived as part of the plans by then manager Andre Villas-Boas. However, Dawson ended up staying at White Hart Lane and even made 41 appearances in all competitions.

At 30 years of age, the defender offers a lot of experience to the Tottenham back four. It appears to be a major reason behind Pochettino considering to keep the player and even retain his captaincy. There were even rumours that Dawson could be joining Hull City this summer with Steve Bruce very much interested in securing the services of the former England international. Pochettino, though, will now be concentrating on matters like reducing the size of the squad.

The manager, who has come from Southampton, has revealed that he would not like to work with squads bigger than 25 players. Currently, Tottenham have one of the bigger squads in the Premier League, as many of the players signed last summer add to the numbers. A number of last summer’s signings were disappointing and they are expected to be sent out on loan or sold before the end of this transfer window.

“Still Michael Dawson is here and he is our captain. For me it is not a problem to choose the captain. For me, Michael Dawson is here and while still here is the captain. It is nothing to talk about,” said the new Spurs manager. Tottenham’s former captain Ledley King recently said that he was confident that Pochettino will be able to get to the club back into the Champions League. The club managed a 1-0 win over West Ham on opening day.

Michael Dawson recently rebuffed transfer rumours linking him with an exit from Tottenham, but it appears that he will be set for a move after all. FA Cup finalists of 2014, Hull City, are reportedly interested in his services. This has been confirmed by Hull manager Steve Bruce. After making a lot of crucial signings last season, the club not only managed to stay in the Premier League but also get bonuses by reaching the FA Cup final. Bruce, though, will be aware that the second season will be even harder.

Hull City want to be prepared in the best possible manner and they have identified Dawson as a crucial element to improve the squad. They already have a good centre back in the form of Curtis Davies. If signed by Hull, Dawson can be expected to partner Davies at the back. Dawson came close to leaving Tottenham last summer when the club received an offer from QPR. However, the player decided to stay at White Hart Lane. This summer, though, things may be different after the arrival of new manager Mauricio Pochettino. It remains to be seen if the South American will prefer the ‘slow’ Dawson in order to part of the high pressing and high tempo game that his teams usually play.

“Michael I’ve always liked, there’s no disputing that. But at the end of the day, he’s Tottenham captain with time left on his contract. It’s difficult but it’s something we’ve had a nibble at. We’ll see if it happens. A manager is always greedy. Ideally we’d still like another two or three in, especially with what we’ve got ahead in Europe. To have secured Jake [Livermore] and brought in Tom Ince and Robert Snodgrass, that shows how far we’re progressing as a club,” said manager Steve Bruce.

After coming close to leaving Tottenham a couple of seasons ago, captain Michael Dawson has revealed that he has no intention of leaving White Hart Lane for the time being. Dawson was close to being sold to QPR during the regime of Andre Villas-Boas. However, he stayed on and captained the team to a sixth place finish last season. For much of the campaign, they were in contention for a top four spot before eventually suffering from poor form towards the end of the campaign. Dawson was an ever present with the team, but there have recently been transfer rumours linking him with the likes of Crystal Palace.

Hull City are also interested in the former England international, but it seems that the 30-year-old does not want to make a move away from the club. After having made 41 appearances in all competitions last season, he has been linked primarily because of his contract situation. The player has only one year left on his deal. He has been at Tottenham for almost a decade and will be eligible for a testimonial match next summer. He says that he has been at Tottenham for all this period because of his love for the club. This is unlikely to prevent from playing for another Premier league outfit in the near future.

“I’ve been at Tottenham for nine-and-a-half years. It’s a great football club and I’ve loved every minute of it while I’ve been here. The fans have been superb to me since day one because I’ve had some ups and downs like everyone does. The expectations are high and the players want to achieve them. We want to be in the top four and hopefully next year we’ll have another push,” said the player, who was signed from Nottingham Forest in 2005.

Tottenham managed to stay in the race for the Europa league spot after managing your 1-0 win over Stoke city during the weekend. After the match, captain Michael Dawson praised the character of his teammates to prevent a comeback from the opposition. Tottenham have all but given up hope of finishing in the top four this season. Poor form against bigger opposition like Chelsea and Liverpool have cost them this place. However, the club can still finish in a much better position and even qualify for the Europa league ahead of Manchester United.

They have managed to do this after getting a 1-0 victory over Stoke, who have been on a roll in the last few weeks. Dawson just recently returned to first team training and the start against Stoke was his first since March. Despite this, he was not showing any signs of weakness and kept tight for a clean sheet. Clean sheets have become a rarity at Tottenham in recent months. The club has conceded a lot of goals especially against the likes of Liverpool. In the two matches against Brendan Rodgers’ men, Tottenham have conceded nine goals and scored just one in reply.

With two matches still left in the competition, Tottenham will be hoping to finish the job in the remainder of the matches.

“I thought we dominated in the first half and played very well. In the second half when they went down to 10 men, you’d like to think we’d dominate again, but it doesn’t work that way at Stoke. We didn’t pass it like we normally do and they pushed on. They had the momentum but we dug deep and showed another side (to our game). You have to do that at Stoke. They don’t give up. I thought they had a real go at the end of the game which was always going to happen,” said Dawson.

Tottenham manager Tim Sherwood has confirmed that defender and captain Michael Dawson is set to return to the starting line-up for the crucial match against Liverpool during the weekend.

Tottenham will be the visitors to Anfield this weekend looking to avenge the 5-0 defeat they suffered at White Hart Lane earlier in the season. However, they will be going into the match knowing that they have suffered some heavy defeats against top opposition. The most recent 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Chelsea will still be fresh in the memories of Tottenham players.

Dawson has missed the last few matches due to an injury, but he is set to return to the back four to provide much needed experience. Even though he has missed the last four matches, Dawson is expected to be match fit in time for this encounter. Likewise, Sherwood will also welcome Vlad Chiriches back into the squad. The defender has not been part of the team since January due to a back injury. Even though he has returned to the squad, it is looking highly unlikely that he will make it into the starting line-up. As a result, Dawson will be partnered by Kaboul.
Tottenham have managed just one win at Anfield for the last 16 years.

“Vlad has been out for a while and we have to make sure we take our time with him. He’s trained well and he hasn’t felt any reaction to his back. We’re pleased to see him back and we’re looking to drop him back into Friday’s Under-21 game against Arsenal at White Hart Lane. Michael trained at the end of last week as well, we’re pleased with his progress and most of all, delighted we’ve more players from to select from,” said Sherwood, who is widely believed to leave Tottenham in the end of the season.