Spurs find their backbone (Sam Wallace), Roma offer Ancelotti a Chelsea escape route & Liverpool want Elmander

Comment & analysis round-up

Quote of the day: These are definitely the two best teams in the world I like games that are decisive. We might play Barcelona in the Champions League, but in La Liga its a different way of understanding. After this game, no one will go home with the frustration of having lost the chance to win a big competition. There are so many matches left, but this is still a big game. I like that added pressure. I hope its not the last time I play against Barcelona. I hope to play more real Clasicos, for lots of years I know Ill get a hostile reception. Thats just football. I beat them with Chelsea and Inter and now Im coaching their rivals. Thats too much. But its the way it works. It will still be Tuesday the next day. There are all the conditions to be a great game and that is what I want. I am worried about the team as always. I dont change my way of working because its Barcelona or any other team. Barcelona are better than the others in the Spanish championship but we have to discover a solution to their great qualities. Jose Mourinho.

Runner-up: We think its a dislocated shoulder. I dont know how long hell be out, but its a serious injury. Obviously, well miss his leadership skills, and weve also got [Daniel] Agger still injured and were not overly blessed with centre-halves. Theyre two big losses, Jamie and Steve. But its happened. Theres nothing I can say that will change matters. Steven is making big strides. With Jamie well have to wait and see. It was cruel to come away with nothing having lost our talismanic centre-half, and then paid the price for not dealing with a routine long ball. Im finding it hard at the moment to come to terms that we have to go away with no points. Roy Hodgson.

Cristiano Ronaldo on El Clasico: A! nyone wh o doesnt like me can either shut their eyes, shut their mouths or sit at home and turn off the TV because we are coming to Barcelona to win. It will probably be Mourinho, not me, they abuse most because of all the things he has done to them with Chelsea and Inter. They can boo or whistle us as much as they want because none of us care a jot.

Understatement of the day: Everybody makes mistakes. Marlon King.

Todays overview: The fifth estate seem split this Monday over how Spurs beat Liverpool. David Hytner called out the Scouse culprits, David Pleat countered by claiming the Reds are moving in the right direction, while Jason Burt and Sam Wallace preferred to flag up Tottenham new-found comebackability.

Chelseas stalemate at Newcastle is the next topic up for dissection, with the Blues finding themselves patronised by Kevin McCarra and Louise Taylor who both portrayed the draw a good result for the Pensioners. Away from the football Chelseas management also focus attention this Monday as Sid Lowe blows a hole in the west Londoners pursuit of am ex-Barca director while Mark Fleming offers coach Carlo a parachute out of Stamford Bridge.

With the BBC set to screen that Panorama show tonight, the fifth estate contemplate the impact on England bid to host the 2018 World Cup. Owen Gibson and Sam Wallace write off Englands chances, Jonathan Liew asks for some perspective to be injected into the conversation while Martin Samuel blasts the Portugal-Spain bid.

Wrapping up todays column inches are several article looking ahead to El Clasico, a few, unlikely transfer tales and a gossipy insight into what Luis Nani has in his house.

Spurs Sink Scousers: How Tottenham walked away with the three points over Liverpool was astounding. The Merseysiders could, and should, have got ! somethin g out the game. But they didnt.

David Hytner examines how exactly Spurs performed the daylight robbery. Maxi Rodrguez and Fernando Torres were Liverpools chief culprits in front of goal, both of them losing their composure when one on one with the Tottenham goalkeeper, Heurelho Gomes. The sight of Torres bearing down on goal only for his touch to take him wide and the chance to go begging was the first extraordinary moment of the second half Tottenham simply do not know when they are beaten and it was Luka Modric, through the sheer force of his will, who ignited the revival.

Liverpool received mixed praise from David Pleat. With Torres struggling for good form and short of a top-class partner, Liverpools counterattacks faded in the second half, but Hodgson would have been pleased with his team, who attacked when opportunities came and played with far more positivity than in recent weeks Liverpool look as if they are moving in the right direction.

Turning to the Lilywhites, Jason Burt was in celebratory mood. Spurs confirmed their status as the Premier League comeback kings with 16 points now earned from losing positions during this roller-coaster campaign and in a roller-coaster of a match which ended an week in which Arsenal have been beaten and qualification for the last 16 of the Champions League secured. The good times roll.

Sam Wallace noted how Tottenham did a Liverpool. Spurs came from behind to win in the kind of tradition that Liverpool fans would have recognised from their own club Liverpool teams of past eras would close out games with a combination of superior talent and dogged determination to battle until the final whistle. Now it is Spurs who, from somewhere, have acquired a backbone and a sense of purpose for the first time in years.

Toon Tie: Following Chelseas 1-all draw at Newcastle, Kevin McCarra poked fun at the Londoners calling the result an improvement. This outcome was an improvement of sorts in the League. At ! least th e side had a reply after being unable to come up with a goal in losses to Sunderland and Birmingham City. The latter case has turned out to be misleading because it had looked at St Andrews, where the display was largely convincing, as if all that they lacked was a break.

The sense that Chelsea got away with it was also made plain by Louise Taylor. Chelsea are rarely content to count small mercies but Carlo Ancelottis side reached the final whistle looking almost as relieved as a car driver who had just negotiated Tynesides wintry streets without crashing on the ice Ancelotti may feel this campaign has hit a similar impasse but at least he avoided a defeat which would have had the headline writers deeming his club in crisis and his future uncertain.

Henry Winter made the backhanded point that the current Chelsea squad arent really good enough by continually talking up the return of the Pensioners walking wounded. Chelsea remain trapped in a cold snap. Locked in winters icy embrace, the champions have struggled to four points out of 15 and cannot wait for the warming return of John Terrys leadership, Frank Lampards goals, Michael Essiens drive and for their attackers to take their chances They patently need the reassuring presence of Terry, Lampard and Essien to restore belief. Essien should be back to face Everton next weekend, Terry is a possible but Lampard is deemed unlikely. Nerves are Chelseas new match day companions, a surprise given the experience of so many of their players and the usually positive nature of their manager.

Switching the focus, Thomas Keppell observed how Newcastle earned a draw whilst dealing with their own injury setbacks. Newcastle certainly deserved this point. Shorn of five first-team regulars and fielding a centre-half partnership made up of two players making their first Premier League appearances of the season, they were lively, spirited and inventive. Coming off their own nadir a 5-1 defeat at Bolton they looked keen to atone fro! m the s tart.

A Bridge Too Far: Bad news for Chelseas management recruitment policy.

Top Spanish journalist Sid Lowe claims that Chelseas pursuit of a much-vaunted Barcelona director has stalled as the feelings of you dont know what youre doing swell. Chelseas pursuit of Txiki Beguiristain has ground to a halt amid uncertainty over the role that the former Barcelona sporting director would be expected to fulfil at Stamford Bridge in the wake of the departure of Frank Arnesen Sources close to Guardiola have dismissed suggestions that he will leave for Chelsea in the summer. Although he is yet to sign a new deal with Bara and there have been some minor disagreements with the new regime at the club, that should not be interpreted as a falling out or a prelude to a departure.

The Independent throw an extra spanner in the Chelsea works by announcing that Carlo Ancelotti is being courted elsewhere. According to Mark Fleming, Carlo Ancelotti has been offered a way out of Stamford Bridge by Roma, one of the clubs he used to play for.

The Panorama Problem: Tonight is the night when the BBC release their Panorama programme aimed at exposing the voting problems in the Fifa World Cup set-up. And the backlash towards the England 2018 campaign is said to be just around the corner.

Owen Gibson whittles down Englands hosting chances to the decision of one man. If England is to progress, the support of the three votes controlled by the Concacaf president, Jack Warner, is seen as crucial. The controversial Warner has been vitriolic in his criticism of the BBC for pressing ahead with the Panorama film.

Reading Sam Wallace it would seem as if England has already lost the World Cup bid. Perhaps we also have to accept that we are not well liked. That, for all our attempts to drop the embarrassing footballs coming home schtick, we have made inadequate efforts to establish a ma! jor voic e among Fifa and Uefa unless you count the inaudible Geoff Thompson, our one underwhelming representative on the ExCo. We are not very good at the deal-making such as the alleged collusion of Spain and Qatar. We do not have the deep pockets of Russia and Qatar. We have on our side David Beckham and one jolly royal but we do not have the benefit, Thompson aside, of a veteran of the politicking that is crucial to the lifeblood of Fifa and the ExCo. So we lose.

Bucking the trend of fearing the Panorama programmer, Jonathan Liew urges people to have a sense of perspective. All perspective has been lost. When did it become a condition of hosting a World Cup that all criticism of Fifa be suppressed? Theres a term for that. Its called bending over. Whatever happened to the idea of World Cup hosts being decided on the basis of stadiums and transport and Nelson Mandela? Its only a TV programme, for heavens sake. If Fifa is going to form a negative view of this country as a result of a TV programme, surely that programme should be The Alan Titchmarsh Show?

Martin Samuel however comes out swinging this Monday as the scribe links real world politics with the football fantasy-land to explain why the bid cannot go Spain-Portugal. The good news is that, if Spain and Portugal can afford to host the World Cup, then they will certainly not be requiring any money from the people of this country to help fund a future bail-out. The 14billion exposure of British banks in Portugal, plus the 68bn in Spain, must be secure There is a global recession and it is being felt everywhere but the offices of FIFA. The peasants have no bread? Let them eat concrete.

El Clasico: The weekend may be over but the big match has yet to be played. All eyes now shift to Spain and the super-duper massive meeting between Barcelona and! Real Ma drid.

The Guardian give some basic team news for Real saying Mourinho can count on the return of the striker Gonzalo Higuan, the midfielder Sami Khedira and the defender Ricardo Carvalho for the La Liga game at Camp Nou after they missed Tuesdays 4-0 win over Ajax due to injury.

Pete Jensen fleshed out the presumed teams further. Both coaches are unlikely to make changes to their now familiar first XIs. The Real coach has been tempted to introduce Lassana Diarra to toughen up his midfield, but will ultimately stay with just Xabi Alonso and Sami Khedira behind Angel di Maria, Mesut Ozil, Ronaldo and Gonzalo Higuain. Guardiola has also flirted with the idea of bolstering his engine room by recalling Seydou Keita but the problem of who to leave out will mean he continues with five of Spains World Cup-winning squad: Sergio Busquets, Andres Iniesta, Xavi, Pedro and David Villa, joined by Lionel Messi, in attack.

Ditching dry facts for hype though was Oliver Brown. Just name your sub-plot: Cristiano Ronaldo versus Lionel Messi, Mesut Ozil versus Andres Iniesta, Iker Casillas versus Victor Valdes. Mourinho could plausibly claim that the battle, which should define the Spanish season, is not about him. Of course, though, it is; indeed, the one-on-one that dominated conversation here was himself versus Barcelona, the club he nurtured and then, in Catalan eyes, betrayed.

The Transfers: For the second day running we read that Aston Villa are chasing Rangers keeper Allan McGregor, while the Mirror spin the truly unlikely story that Liverpool are sniffing around Bolton forward Johan Elamnder. Also in the Mirror were told that Wolves want Nice striker Mamadou Bagayoko.

The Smut: The Sun win todays award for delivering an article that claims that Nani has a life-size marble statue of HIMSELF in his lounge. Visitors to the Manchester United wingers mansion are amazed to see the carved figure dressed in his red shirt and w! hite sho rts with his football medals around its neck. The bizarre statue of Portuguese ace Nani, 24, is topped off with a jester-style hat given by a fan.

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