Spurs have announced that negotiations with Danny Murphy over a £3m move from Liverpool have broken down as the 3 Amigos wouldn't guarantee him a 1st team place. Well done to the new management team for sticking to their guns and being straight up with potential signings rather than have them become discontented when they end up warming the bench.

Murphy's a good player but there are already plenty of central midfielders in the squad and I'd rather see the money we have being spent elsewhere. Some has been spent on Timothee Atouba, a Cameroon international from FC Basle, who will be another option on the left hand side.

Stevie Carr's impending, long awaited move to Newcastle and Kelly's injury means Taricco will need to play right back for a while unless Arnesen has got a swift replacement lined up or they rate Phil Ifil enough to throw him in at the deep end which seems unlikely despite his good pre-season showings. The Carr deal seems to be a good bit of business for Spurs. He'd never really recaptured his pre-injury form and had been making noises about moving on ever since his mate Campbell joined the Dark Side. If we'd held on to him until January he'd have been worthless and would have picked up his wages as he counted down the days to his Bosman.

The pre-season results haven't been too promising so far as Santini tries to work out which players are worth a place in the team. Injuries haven't helped - but we should be used to a lengthy queue for the treatment table by now even if Sicknote is no longer around.

I've got a feeling that the incoming transfer activity isn't quite finished yet as the rigt side of midfield and the centre of defence must be areas that Frank and Jaques see as being weak.

Spurs have completed a deal to bring Nourredine Naybet to the club from Deportivo La Coruna.

The experienced centre back - with over 100 caps for his country - has signed a 2 year deal, subject to receiving a work permit, which hopefully should be just a formality. Whether or not it'll be sorted out in time for the season opener at home to Liverpool is hard to tell.

This signing is the centre back we've all been crying out for. His experience means that Ledley King should be able to concentrate on improving his own game rather than waiting for his fellow centre back, be it Gardner, the Ginger Pele or Bunje, to make a pig's ear of it.

The sale of Stevie Carr to Newcastle has led to us being linked to Liverpool's Steve Finnan who can play at either right back or right midfield. The latest transfer rumours involve Man Citeh's Shaun Wright-Phillips, although Kevin Keegan is adamant he won't be sold, and Owen Hargreaves of Bayern Munich, who has been told he can go but only at the right price. Whether Spurs are willing to meet that price and beat off competition for the England midfielder remains to be seen, especially if the Scum see him as a potential replacement for Paddy if he does go to Real.

The points were shared at White Hart Lane as Jermain Defoe cancelled out Djibril Cisse's 1st half opener. Santini handed debuts to new signings Paul Robinson, Nourredine Naybet, Erik Edman, Pedro Mendes and Sean Davis as well as Academy player Phil Ifil while Liverpool started to adjust to life without Michael Owen.

The Reds started the brighter of the two teams with chances for Gerrard, Baros, Hyppia and two for Cisse in the first quarter of an hour but none of them caused any real problem for Robinson, who had a very competent debut in goal. His shot stopping was on a par with Keller's usual standards but his all round game was so much better than we saw from Kasey last season.

Naybet then showed what a good acquisition he should be when he threw himself at Baros's close range shot, deflecting it over for a corner. Spurs started to come into the game more as Davis headed well wide from Jackson's cross. Jackson and Redknapp then had shots but failed to trouble Dudek.

Naybet deflected a dangerous Kewell cross behind for a corner. From that corner, Finnan crossed, Carragher flicked on and Cisse made no mistake with the ball at his feet. It looks like Liverpool have got a natural finisher in the Frenchman. Gerrard's extravagant volley which flew over was the only remaining noteworthy action before the interval.

Spurs came out in determined mood after the break. King almost played Defoe in but Gerrard cleared the danger before Ifil's long ball was nodded down by Defoe but Jackson couldn't keep his shot down. Kanoute then failed to get any power on a header from Jackson's cross. Defoe and Mendes shot wide before the turning point of the game. Naybet and Jackson were replaced by Doherty and another debutant in the shape of Timothee Atouba.

Neither of them had a chance to make an impact before the equaliser came. The ball fell to Defoe after Kanoute got a head to a free kick. He burst past Carragher and drilled the ball past Dudek at his near post. Robinson ensured the score stayed even when he tipped over Carragher's header from a Finnan corner.

Atouba showed his delivery was just as good as Jackson's had been but Hyppia managed to intercept the cross with white shirts lurking. Michael Brown replaced Redknapp who passed the skipper's armband to Ledley King - a move greeted with rapturous approval by the White Hart Lane crowd. Atouba tried to sidefoot home from a good 20 yards out but his shot trickled wide before Robinson got his body behind Biscan's drive.

Referee Dermot Gallagher was his usual inconsistent self as he firstly failed to see Ifil pull at Gerrard's shirt in the box then in the second half he gave Liverpool a free kick just outside the box when Ifil pulled down Gerrard. The second offence looked as if it had been well inside the box but there were few complaints from the Spurs players and fans. These fouls were among the few errors that Ifil made and while he may not be ready to play week in, week out he does look like he'll be a regular feature in the squad on today's showing.

A satisfactory result and performance from Santini's new charges. More time together on the training ground should see further improvement. No-one needs to be ashamed of their individual display today, although Jackson may see his place in the starting line up come under threat from Atouba, who looked lively but may prove to be inconsistent. Doherty even managed to play 20 minutes without fouling up.

Santinin's most pressing concern will be how to fit Mendes, Davis and Redknapp into the remaining midfield slots. Simon Davies will also come into the equation once he recovers from surgery. If it looks like Taricco may be out for any length of time he could also need Arnesen to bring in some cover at right back as it would be unfair to expect Ifil to fill in too often depite a bright debut.

MOTM: Defoe - a thorn in the Liverpool defence's side all afternoon and he got the goal his performance deserved. Hopefully he'll get another chance on the international stage against the Ukraine

Sven Goran Eriksson has included 3 of the players who featured in the Spurs side which drew against Liverpool today in his squad to play the Ukraine at St. James Park on Wednesday.

Sven was no doubt impressed by Defoe's goal scoring efforts against the Reds, conjuring an equaliser out of nothing.

Paul Robinson and Ledley King are the other Spurs players involved, having both been in the squad for Euro 2004.

Full Squad:

Goalkeepers: James (Man City), Robinson (Tottenham), Kirkland (Liverpool);

Defenders: G Neville (Man Utd), G Johnson (Chelsea), A Cole (Arsenal), Bridge (Chelsea); Terry (Chelsea), King (Tottenham), Carragher (Liverpool), Upson (Birmingham);

Midfielders: Beckham (Real Madrid), Lampard (Chelsea), Gerrard (Liverpool), Dyer (Newcastle), Hargreaves (Bayern Munich), Butt (Newcastle), Wright-Phillips (Man City), Jenas (Newcastle);

Forwards: Owen (Real Madrid), Heskey (Birmingham), Vassell (Aston Villa), Defoe (Tottenham), Smith (Man Utd).

The club have announced that Michael Carrick has agreed a four year contract.

The fee is likely to be in the region of £3.5m as this is the price Portsmouth had agreed before the Scum poked their noses in and upset Mr Mandaric. The transfer is still subject to a medical but all being well he should be able to join the squad ready for Wednesday's game at The Hawthorns.

Yet another signing from our feeder club/reject bin West Ham, Carrick will be looking to displace the likes of Davis, Mendes and Redknapp from the starting XI.

Frank Arnesen has been busy this week as he's also overseen the sale of Gary Doherty to Norwich. We've probably just about made our money back on the £1m the Ginger Pele cost us from Luton in April 2000 when he was bought in as part of Pleat's policy of snapping up yongsters with potential from the lower leagues.

The Doc's never really lived up to his early potential - not helped by a broken leg courtesy of a Torquay player - and he will be remembered more for his mistakes than any stunning performances despite chipping in with 8 goals in 78 games. A player who always gave 100%, I wish him well at Carrow Road.

but I've just realised how long it has been since I blogged about me - over a month in fact.

Latest developments:

Exchanged contracts for our new house on Friday. Get the keys this Friday. Moving to Ash which is not too far from Aldershot. We're not moving for another month so we've got a chance to do some decorating and get the place looking the way we want it before we shift the furniture. Fortunately this fits in almost perfectly with when our lease finishes on the flat.

Off to Malta for a week next Tuesday. Been invited to a wedding over there.

Had my next placement confirmed for the graduate scheme I'm on at work. In the same department as I expected but doing a slightly different role. Not too sure what it will involve just yet but quite looking forward to a change. Would prefer a rest though.

Once again I'll be getting drunk in Guildford on Friday night as yet another colleague is leaving. My floor at work is beginning to look like the Marie Celeste!

Went and saw The Village last night. Good film, not ridiculously scary but there's plenty of tension and a copule of moments that made the whole cinema leap out of their seats.

Sure there are plenty of other things that have happened since I last wrote but none that spring to mind so I'm going to leave it there.

Failure to drink anything more than a single glass of coke yesterday at work followed by a good night out on the beers has dried out my brain. Not good but there you go. Will be back on the beers later when I head off to the footie.

Got the train over to Guildford as planned last night. Got to the pub - only to find it closed. Hmm, problem. Rang a couple of the people I was supposed to be meeting but they were still on their way so unable to shed any light on the new destination. Finally the lad who was leaving turned up and said everyone was in the bar across the road. No proper beer on tap which is bad so got lumbered with bottles of Stella. They were 2 for 1 and anyway the big boss was paying so musn't grumble. Moved on to Bar Med later on which did real beer so that cheered me up somewhat.

Got the keys to the new house yesterday. Missus went into a panic when she couldn't get the lav to flush and none of the taps worked. Enter me, quick assessment of the situation, easy answer. The previous owners had turned the stopcock off when they left. Found it, turned it on and hey presto, h2o galore!

Only problem to solve now is finding the key to the garage door.