With the Community Shield being battled for this Sunday and just more than two weeks to go before the League kicks off, one would expect most managers to have all their pieces in place and working them as a unit. No surprises. All potholes covered.

Why is it then that those who need to do so much in the transfer window have done so little?

It would appear that both the medal decorated Scots and the well-dressed Italian understood their homework assignment, while the Portuguese man, the Englishman and the Frog have walked into the transfer-isle waiting for discount tags.

Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool have welcomed a fair share of new faces. Sir Alex has continuously proved in the past that early preparation has its benefits. A little more than a week ago he claimed the club had completed their spending spree and whether or not that’s true, it’s a healthy psychological advantage. There is still much speculation around the club’s acquisition of Wesley Sneijder, which would be a fantastic bit of business considering they could do with a top shelf player in a more central role. Then again, great progress was made last season despite an average midfield, and if anyone can squeeze the juice out of a Lemon, it’s Fergie. I expect a solid campaign from the Mancs, as always.

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Manchester City have qualified to play Champions League next year after they beat Tottenham Hotspur 1 – 0 at the City of Manchester Stadium on Tuesday night. This after the owner of City Sheikh Mansour invested more than £1 billion in the club and spent over £350 million on players.

And just to make the night even more sweet for the City owner and manager Roberto Mancini, the goal that sent them there was scored by the same man who denied them last year, Peter Crouch.

The Tottenham forward’s own goal after half an hour was enough to take City nine points clear of the Londoners, and out of Liverpool‘s reach as well with two games to spare.

And, though City fans were watching through splayed fingers at times as their team sat back on their lead and allowed their visitors to attack, they can now look forward to Saturday’s FA Cup final with Stoke knowing an end to their 35-year wait for a trophy will complete a perfect season.

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Tottenham Hotspur’s dreams of their first Champions League semi-final were dashed last night as they were defeated 5 – 0 on aggregate and 1 – 0 on the night by Real Madrid.

Spurs were unable to produce the miracle required to overcome Real as they exited the competition with a quarter-final second leg defeat thanks to Heurelho Gomes’ second-half clanger.

Gomes has been a pillar of the club’s domestic and European campaigns this year, but his failure to hang on to Cristiano Ronaldo‘s routine 30-yard drive ensured that any chance Spurs had of coming back from the four-goal deficit they accrued in the Bernabeu were over in the 50th minute.

Spurs threw everything they had at their highly-decorated opponents in the first half and had two convincing penalty appeals turned down.

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Tottenham Hotspur’s European dreams are in tatters after they were mauled by Real Madrid at the Bernabeu Stadium on Tuesday in their Champions League match.

Former Arsenal man Emmanuel Adebayor took his tally against Spurs to nine in nine matches by heading home either side of half-time to rock the visitors, who had been reduced to 10 men after Peter Crouch’s 15th minute dismissal for two bookings.

Harry Redknapp’s miserable night was completed by second-half strikes from Cristiano Ronaldo and Angel Di Maria, meaning that Tottenham will have to overhaul Real and stop Jose Mourinho’s chances of picking up his third winner’s medal.

Gareth Bale offered brief glimpses of hope for Spurs, but their numerical advantage, and a top-drawer performance from Real’s attack, meant they never really looked like grabbing an away goal that would have given them a fighting chance of staying in the quarter-final tie.

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David Beckham‘s team LA Galaxy and Tottenham Hotspur are planning an alliance that will see players crossing the Atlantic in both directions.

Tim Leiweke, president of the American sports and entertainment giant AEG that owns the Galaxy and is bidding in partnership with Spurs to take over the London 2012 Olympic stadium after the Games, told reporters the two sides were forging a strategic alliance.

“We have an existing relationship now with Tottenham where we are beginning to think outside the box on football and how we do things together on football,” he said in a conference call from Los Angeles.

“Whether that’s David Beckham training (with Spurs) or maybe players from Tottenham coming to the Galaxy, playing games against each other.

“Strategically you’ll see more of an alliance between us and Tottenham long term,” added Leiweke.

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South Africa’s Steven Pienaar rejected a Chelsea offer and joined Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday.

“We are delighted to announce that we have reached agreement with Everton and Steven Pienaar for the player’s transfer to the club,” Tottenham said in a statement on their website (www.tottenhamhotspur.com).

The 28-year-old had also negotiated with Premier League champions Chelsea about a move to Stamford Bridge, but Spurs boss Harry Redknapp confirmed he had chosen to move to White Hart Lane.

“He had talks with Chelsea and he had talks with us and he has decided to come to us,” Redknapp told Sky Sports News.

Pienaar joined Everton from German side Borussia Dortmund in 2007, initially on loan, before making the move permanent a year later.

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The English Premier League approved Rafael van der Vaart’s move to Tottenham from Real Madrid on Wednesday, giving the Netherlands midfielder a chance to revive his club career in England.

The deal was hit by technical difficulties as the transfer window was closing on Tuesday, and the league’s board had to determine whether to sanction the move.

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp claimed he was only alerted to Van der Vaart’s availability for £8m two hours before the transfer deadline.

Details of the contract weren’t revealed by Spurs, but the 27-year-old Van der Vaart announced in Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf that he had signed a four-year deal.

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