Michael Dawson

Tottenham bounced back from their 1-0 defeat against Arsenal by edging out a hard fought triumph against Southampton and they still remain within grabbing distance from the Champions League qualification spots.

It seems a bit far-fetched to believe that Tottenham are genuine candidates for taking the Premier League title this season as Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City are the top dogs on winning the silverware in this season but Tim Sherwood and his men can still dream and fight for a spot which can allow them on getting into the Champions League for the upcoming season and the captain of the club, Michael Dawson has revealed that a spot in the top 4 spots is what they are aiming for.

“The top four is our aim. At the start of the season we set out our goals; to win a trophy, to be in the top four. We are still in with a great shout of doing that.”

Michael Dawson also went on talking about the Tottenham University Technical College which is being built next to White Hart Lane and is expected to be opened in September.
“Looking at it, it’s unbelievable,” he added. “I’ve had a little tour to see and the work that has gone in and it is quite incredible. For the club to be involved in a development like this and to put something back in the community is fantastic.”

A few days ago Tottenham was knocked out of the Europa League after playing against Benfica and an aggregate score of 5-3 saw the Premier League team being eliminated from the European tournament which means that Tottenham will be fighting to get a spot in the top 4 of the Premier League just as their captain Michael Dawson revealed.

After the manager upheaval at Tottenham Hotspur the skipper Michael Dawson still believes that they are the hot favorites to finish in the top 4 at the end of this season. the Spurs have got big defeats this year especially the two thrashings from Manchester City at the Etihad where they lost 6-0 and then in their home ground where Liverpool managed to win 5-0.

Despite these ugly results Spurs have tried to stick together as a team and the new managerial change might just be the correct decision for them. André Villas-Boas was replaced by Tim Sherwood and the new manager has tried to reinvigorate the team pretty well.

They are now three points less from Liverpool who is holding the fourth place currently. In an interview Dawson said that they would do whatever it takes to achieve that number four spot and if they do then it would be a fantastic season for them. He also said that their main aim at the start of the season was to get in the top four spot and they are really close to doing that with only twelve games to play in the Premiere League.

Spurs have done really well recently and have made a proper comeback as they managed to defeat Everton in a close contested match at the White Hart Lane. They are also looking to win the Europa League which would again be a big boost to them. The Spurs captain went on to say that Tim Sherwood has been a boon to them for this season and he hopes that the next season would be even better for them.

The 30 year old who has been with Spurs since 2005 told the team members to fight till the last game because there are chances that Liverpool might lose some points here and there which is what they would have to capitalize on. Tottenham has already played in the Champions League two seasons ago but they could not make it to the knockout stages.

Michael Dawson looks forward to his team’s upcoming match against the arch rivals Arsenal which will get underway at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday. That will be a cup encounter and the Spurs will enter it with a lot of self confidence. Their performance since the arrival of the new manager has been first class.

In their last outing against the defending league champions Manchester United, the Spurs had won by 2-1.
Although Arsenal’s form at the moment is much better than that of the Red Devils but, they are not an unbeatable side by any means. Also, in recent times, they have been hit by some injuries. So, it’s certainly not impossible for Tottenham to get better of them and Dawson knows that.

Talking to the reporters yesterday, the veteran defender said, “We have played fearlessly of late and we will continue playing the same way against Arsenal too. It’s a clash between the two north London clubs and winning it would be quite sweet.”

“Whenever we go onto the field with our Tottenham jersey on, we try to give our 100% and we would do exactly the same this weekend too. We take pride in winning matches for the club.”

“There are times when you don’t manage to stick to your plans and get undesired results. It happened with us, but, we stood together and as a result, things have now started to go in our favour.”

Dawson is one of the veteran players of Tottenham. This is his 9th year at White Hart Lane. He has played a total of 220 league matches for the Lilywhites so far and 7 times, he has managed to find the net.

His form is going to be crucial for the Spurs as he is a key part of their defence.

Tottenham defender Michael Dawson has said that the club are extremely wary of the threat posed by Liverpool as they go into the match hoping to maintain their top four ambitions prior to Christmas.

There is a lot of pressure on manager Andre Villas-Boas after the recent run of results, which included a 6-0 drubbing at the hands of title challengers Manchester City. Dawson has accepted that it has been a poor spell for the club, but he is confident that things will soon turn for the better.

Dawson came close to leaving the club last summer, but he has now regained his importance within the team as the club captain following the departure of William Gallas.

He has identified Luis Suarez as the major threat ahead of the match. The Uruguayan was subjected to much transfer rumours in the summer, but he has put behind all of them to focus on doing extremely well for the club. He is the top scorer in the Premier league and he is set to overtake the likes of Sergio Aguero and Daniel Sturridge with ease.

“He is so direct. He faces you up and he works to get his shots off. His control his excellent and he scores goals from anywhere. You have to watch him all the time. You dare not lose your concentration because you can get punished. He is certainly full of confidence. In many ways he is like Sergio Aguero at Manchester City. I have never been beaten that heavily before. The week after that was a long week,” said Dawson ahead of the Liverpool encounter.

Dawson has revealed that the 6-0 defeat against City was one of the worst defeats in his career. Prior to this match, Tottenham had one of the best defensive records in the league.

Michael Dawson had a difficult first season under Villas-Boas because the club were prepared to sell him despite being the club captain and one of the important defenders.

He came extremely close to leaving the club for QPR at the end of last summer’s transfer window. However, he ended up staying at White Hart Lane and Villas-Boas admitted that he was wrong to think about selling Dawson. The England international has proven to be an inspirational player for the club at the start of this season. After spending in excess of £ 100 million in the summer, Tottenham have made a great start to the league campaign.

They are fifth in the table after having suffered just two defeats in the opening league matches. They also have one of the meanest defences in the league after having conceded just five goals. A major part of this success has to be attributed towards Dawson, who has been an ever present in the Tottenham defence. He has said that life at White Hart Lane couldn’t be happier at this moment. He has recalled the numerous ups and downs he has had in his career and he has never allowed them to affect his football.

Dawson has also said that the club trying to sell him last summer was also part of football.

“It’s football. I’ve had so many ups, so many downs, that’s what football can bring. It’s a sport that everyone loves. A year ago I wasn’t in the team. This time last year I’d hardly played two games. But I kept my head down and worked hard. Belief – that’s what you’ve got to have inside. Everyone has knock-backs and it’s how you bounce back and thankfully, once November came I got in the team and never looked back,” said Dawson.

Tottenham captain Michael Dawson has said that it is imperative that the club finish in the top four this season. Tottenham will be able to enjoy Europa league football this season as a result of finishing fifth in the league last season.

However, the club are not satisfied with the second rated European competition according to Dawson. He wants Tottenham to play in the Champions league on a regular basis. There have been suggestions that Tottenham will be able to take advantage of the managerial changes at top clubs.

Three out of the top four clubs last season have brought in new managers and it is likely to have some effect on the table. Even though Dawson does not believe that theory, he thinks that if the top clubs slip up, they should be ready to take advantage of it. Finishing in the top four is a priority for Tottenham this season if they are to retain star players like Gareth Bale. Once the players become good, they want to test themselves at the top levels. In order to do that, the club needs to be playing in the Champions league on a regular basis.
After coming close to leaving Tottenham recently, Dawson has been once again installed as the captain of the club.

“We missed out on the Champions League last season so our aim at the start of this campaign is to make sure we are in it next year. We have to fight for that. You could say there was uncertainty before any season. You have to earn the right to win the Premier League. Manchester United did it last season and they will no doubt want to do it again,” said the defender. Tottenham start the new Premier league campaign with a home match against Crystal Palace.

The fixtures for the Premier league 2013-14 season revealed that the much anticipated in North London Derby will be coming earlier in the season.

Spurs will be travelling to the Emirates stadium hoping to reverse their poor run of form in recent years. The team has suffered embarrassing defeats in the last two matches at the Emirates stadium. Successive 5-2 victories meant that spurs will be the underdogs going into this match, but defender Michael Dawson is least worried about it because he sees this match as a great opportunity to reverse that trend.

After coming extremely close to leaving Tottenham last summer, Dawson has once again established himself as an important player within the Tottenham squad. Even though Tottenham have had a better record when it comes to the home matches at White Hart Lane, they have struggled at the Emirates stadium. They will be going into this match after a fifth place finish last season, which almost handed them a Champions League spot. Andre Villas-Boas’ men are still hurting from the disappointment of missing out on the top four despite being in a strong position going into the New Year.

Dawson has said that consistency is the key for Tottenham to finish in the top four and he is confident that they will be able to achieve it this season.

“We know what that game means to everyone. The Emirates hasn’t been great for us recently but that’s history now, hopefully we’ll go there early in the season and get a positive result,” said the defender. Tottenham will be facing Crystal Palace in the opening match of the Premier league. This London Derby will be yet another difficult match for the team according to Dawson, who has emerged as one of the consistent defenders in the Premier league.

Tottenham came extremely close to selling the defender Michael Dawson during the summer after he accepted a bid from the Premier league club QPR, but the player was unable to come to an agreement with the Premier league strugglers.

As a result, he ended up staying at White Hart Lane in a decision that was questioned by many since he did not appear to have any future under the new regime of Andre Villas-Boas. However, Dawson has been one of the impressive players for Tottenham in the last few months, as he has forced himself back into the first-team reckoning.

The defender has credited the manager Villas-Boas as the reason for this current form because he has been extremely honest with him. Dawson has revealed that the manager spoke with him during pre-season about the limited opportunities he will be getting this season.

It was the player rather than the manager who decided to stay at the club and fight for his place. Tottenham have five quality central defenders competing for just two places, and the manager recently said that they will be selling a couple of defenders in the summer. Dawson’s incredible form over the last few months has led to him being talked about the in the England setup.

“The gaffer has been very honest with me from day one. I spoke to him after pre-season and he told me there might not be as many opportunities as I would have liked. It was my decision to stay and fight for my position. I was out there every day training hard and thankfully the manager has seen that and he has put me back in. As a player you can only ask for honesty. The manager has been great. I’m glad to be back playing,” said the 29-year-old.

The Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas has said that the QPR manager Harry Redknapp should not be wasting his time chasing players like Michael Dawson and Scott Parker, who have been linked with a move away from White Hart Lane in the January transfer window.

Scott Parker has not been a first-team regular for Tottenham this season, as he has been on the injury table for most of the season. Meanwhile, Michael Dawson has been unable to get back into the first-team due to the impressive partnership that has been struck between William Gallas and Caulker. Dawson came extremely close to leaving Tottenham in the summer only to reject a move from QPR.

However, it is thought that the defender will probably now consider moving to the West London club due to the presence of the former Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp under whom he was a regular at White Hart Lane. Scott Parker was also brought to the club by the former manager Redknapp, which has started rumours that the two players will be subject to bids from QPR in January. Villas-Boas, though, ruled out the possibility of selling both the players by saying that they still remain extremely crucial to the Tottenham plans. The 32-year-old Parker has struggled with an Achilles injury for a long time.

“Harry knows these players very well but they won’t be leaving. We need cover in defence and Scott will be a key player for us when he is fit, so we won’t be letting either of them go. He will be playing regularly. He takes us to another level. I am pleased he is back,” said the Tottenham manager, who has been able to oversee an impressive run of results in recent weeks. Tottenham’s four match consecutive winning run came to an end in the 0-0 draw at Stoke.

Anybody that saw Tottenham’s loss against Chelsea at the weekend will have been amazed at how differently the team played over various stages of the match. Defender Jan Vertonghen is incredibly frustrated with Spurs’ inconsistency through the course of a fixture and has called on his teammates to perform well for ninety minutes.

While the 4-2 score line indicates that Spurs were well and truly beaten on Saturday, those that saw the game will recall a completely different story after the team managed to nudge themselves 2-1 ahead in the second half. Of course, it cannot be disputed that Chelsea played exceptionally well and would have been more than a match for anyone, yet Tottenham’s performance differed at so many points through the game that it was simply frightening to watch.

Bearing in mind the above, Vertonghen has moved to provide his assessment on the game. Speaking to the press the Belgium international said, “At home we seem to play better after half-time. We need to think about how to put two strong halves together.”

As well as speaking about the whole team, Vertonghen also moved onto William Gallas. It would be fair to say there has been a lot of attention focussed on the former Arsenal defender over recent days, after he was made to look foolish on a number of occasions to the hands of Chelsea’s flair players. However, Vertonghen remains defiant on his teammate and insists that he is still a very good player for the club. He said, “William is our captain and an important player. He always wants the best for me, even though we are both centre-backs. I really appreciate him.”

Following on from the above, Spurs are still in the top cluster of teams yet a gap is slowly starting to appear between them and the top three sides.