Source: Daily_Mail
MICHAEL DAWSON SPECIAL: Straining at the leash to face Arsenal after a ruff Spurs spell under Ramos
The last time his team-mates were busy engineering a dramatic, confidence-inspiring comeback against Arsenal[LNB], Tottenham [LNB]defender Michael Dawson was at home scaring his cocker spaniels.[LNB]No, that is not a euphemism for anything untoward and no, there is no need to call the RSPCA. 'I was suspended at the time,' explains Dawson. 'I can only imagine what it was like being there and playing. I was at home jumping up and down in front of the television. My cocker spaniels got a bit excited.'[LNB]Dawson's absence for the 4-4 thriller was due to a red card picked up in Juande Ramos' final League game in charge of Spurs, a 2-1 defeat away to Stoke last October. Brought on with 15 minutes remaining after Heurelho Gomes had laid-out team-mate Vedran Corluka, Dawson was sent off in the 90th minute for a tackle on Mamady Sidibe.[LNB] Start of a classic: David Bentley scores a sublime long-range goal - first blood in October's 4-4 draw at Arsenal in October[LNB]At the time Dawson's Tottenham prospects under Ramos looked as bleak as those of his club. The youthful promise that had seen him invited to train with the senior England squad as a 19-year-old seemed a very long time ago.[LNB] 'Last season I got a lot of criticism and believe me it hurts. It is how you deal with it and bounce back' Even for a resilient North Yorkshire lad, the criticism Dawson endured in the months preceding his calamitous final game for the now Real Madrid coach had hit home.[LNB]'Obviously I didn't play as many games I would have liked to under the previous manager,' he admits. 'It is as clear as it can be. I am a footballer and I want to play, that is what it boils down to. [LNB]'Last season I got a lot of criticism and believe me it hurts, no matter how thick-skinned you are. It is how you deal with it and bounce back. You have got to do that and try and cut everything out.'[LNB] Spurs defender Chimbonda determined to dent Arsenal's Champions League hopes[LNB]Starlet O'Hara makes swift recovery to line up for Spurs against Arsenal[LNB]I wanted to join Spurs but now I'll stay and help Middlesbrough avoid the drop, says Downing[LNB]TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR FC NEWS FROM ACROSS THE NET[LNB][LNB] Punishment: Michael Dawson is sent off at Stoke in October[LNB] The good news for Dawson is that at White Hart Lane, they change their manager almost as frequently as they change their playing staff. And the arrival of Harry Redknapp has seen Dawson welcomed back into the fold.[LNB]A good old fashioned centre-half, Redknapp had no hesitation in describing Dawson as a player who 'you'd put your life on' and in the absence of Ledley King he has assumed the role of Jonathan Woodgate's regular playing partner. [LNB]Dawson is certainly grateful for his manager's faith after having had his confidence sapped by Ramos' selection policy, although he insists thoughts of leaving White Hart lane never crossed his mind.[LNB]'I am not one to give up lightly,' says Dawson. 'It is no good going in and strolling around on the training field hoping you will be in the team on Saturday. [LNB]'If I am not playing then I work that little bit harder in training. When the gaffer came in I did the same and eventually I got the chance.'[LNB]Dawson may have benefited greatly from Redknapp's 'arm round the shoulder' skills upon his arrival from Portsmouth. But with just one win from their past eight League games, Redknapp has not been averse to pointing out a few home truths about his underperforming squad either.[LNB] [LNB] 'Robbie is a great signing and a great, great boost for everyone. How can you not improve when you sign players like that?' Fair enough, is Dawson's typically down to earth response. 'It's football, it's how it is,' he says. 'Take Darren Bent for example. Harry said what he said and he responded at the weekend by scoring two great goals. We are adults and we have got to take the rough with the smooth.[LNB]'It is always nice when the manager believes in you as a player but you know that you have got to go out here and try and prove that what he is saying about you is not just words. You have to actually back it up.'[LNB] Head boy: Dawson scores against Stoke at the weekend[LNB]Jermain Defoe had been busy backing up Redknapp's decision to bring him back to White Hart Lane before a foot injury cut short his season while Pascal Chimbonda made a decent fist of doing just that in his first appearance off the substitutes' bench against Bolton since returning from a six-month spell at Sunderland.[LNB]Now the stage is set on Sunday for Robbie Keane to silence any lingering doubts brought on by his troubled 189 days with Liverpool, not that anyone on the Tottenham dressing room has any concerns about their new skipper's class.[LNB]'Robbie is a character and a confident guy and he comes in and it seems like he hasn't been away, he went back to his old peg,' says Dawson. 'It was a surprise, but its great signing and a great, great boost for everyone. How can you not improve when you sign players like that?'[LNB] Enlarge [LNB]Top of the class: Dawson with pupils at the St Francis de Sales school in Tottenham[LNB]'It was interesting on Monday, not training because of the snow and watching all the moves on the telly, it was unbelievable. Watching the Andrei Arshavin deal go ahead, when it was on-off, and then the Robbie deal.'[LNB]Dawson, like Keane, is once again an integral part of the set-up at White Hart Lane, meaning the time has come for him to reach for the remote. [LNB]Far from being glued to the goggle box on Sunday, Dawson will be in the thick of the action in a crucial north London derby, nipping at the ankles of the likes of Emmanuel Adebayor and Robin van Persie. [LNB]No doubt the cocker spaniels would approve.[LNB]Dawson was speaking during a visit to a school in Tottenham, where he assisted Tottenham Hotspur Foundation coaches in delivering a South African themed education programme, part of the Club's support for SOS Children's Villages World Orphan Week. Spurs will officially kick off World Orphan Week (WOW) at the North London derby on Sunday. Spurs defender Chimbonda determined to dent Arsenal's Champions League hopes[LNB]Starlet O'Hara makes swift recovery to line up for Spurs against Arsenal[LNB]I wanted to join Spurs but now I'll stay and help Middlesbrough avoid the drop, says Downing[LNB]TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR FC NEWS FROM ACROSS THE NET[LNB] [LNB]
