Sky Sports 3 Tottenham Hotspur 0
Monday, September 21, 2009 at 8:38AM Has anyone picked up and read today's copy of The Sun, that bastion of impartial reporting? No? Ok, no worries. Let me share with you some key moments from the match report from the Chelsea v Spurs game.
And despite Harry Redknapp's side having tested Chelsea in all areas until then, the contest was over.
- Was it really? How so? Do games end when one the home team takes a 1-0 lead? Was it that one-sided that the white towels were raining down on Stamford Bridge?
Redknapp complained bitterly that Robbie Keane should have had a penalty nine minutes into the second half but the claim was more doubtful than the outcome.
- Are you blind? I guess you would be down there on your knees taking it. Learn to close your eyes. It's what all the best starlets do.
The same cannot be said of Ricardo Carvalho's on Keane but the reaction of the Spurs skipper led to justice, regardless of the claims. Carvalho did make contact but Keane initially stayed on his feet before tumbling like a stuntman. Ref Howard Webb waved away the appeals and even refused to book Keane for diving - despite his insistence he should get one if there was no foul. All of this, however, was an example of wasted energy from Spurs.
- Possibly one of the most ludicrous statements made in any match report. Ever. Well, this weekend at the very least. But this is The Sun we're talking about. Ironically a paper Harry writes for - so should be interesting to see how he plans to use his column in this losing war of propaganda and distortion to fight the fight. Tumbling like a stuntman? Yes, we beat you 2-1 at Upton Park. Dry them. Wasted energy? What like the Top 4 clubs waste energy chasing down and attempting to influence the ref, week in week out? Or are you too busy begging for another moneyshot in the face to notice?
Chelsea are top of the league, a 100 per cent record and playing well - who could ask for more?
- Whoop-de-do. What more could any of us possibly ask for? I'm sitting stroking myself I'm so happy that no boat has been rocked and that the status quo is still in it's divine place, up there in the Gods. You absolute wound of a journalist.
There you go. Fact turned to fiction in one simplistic match report. I guess asking a West Ham fan (Ian McGarry) to report on a Spurs game will always result with this type of bullshit, appeasing the untouchable aura of a Top 4 club. Shame on anyone who though it was a pen, right? Even though it was, it wasn't actually a penalty because saying that Spurs could have had a way back into the game would be stating that Chelsea could have possibly suffered for it. The very thought is blasphemy.
Ok, look. I'm not going to start throwing conspiracy theories all over the place about how ref's consciously or subconsciously protect the members of the Sky Sports Super league, making sure that key decisions at key moments always go their way. You can argue that its just coincidental in that the standard of referring isn't particularly good and that these types of decisions can go either way. Except if you add them up you'll find them stacked up against us. Although I've heard plenty of Man Utd fans say the same thing about ref's and their side, so it's all in the eye of the beholder.
However, how can you not be bitter when the same incompetent clown - who gave Utd a pen last season at OT when we were 2-0 up - decides that Keane wasn't fouled on Sunday afternoon? Did he not see it clearly? Did he think Keane dived? If so where was the yellow card? And if he believed Robbie lost his balance, logically, would that not have been because he was tripped? Key decision, key moment. And then we're 2-0 down within two minutes.
There were other moments in the game that had me in facepalm mode. Defoe brought down just outside the area was one example. God forbid we get a freekick just outside the box. Damn it, I want to see Huddlestone smack the ball into the wall…do not deny me this!
Webb's lack of performance aside, we didn't look too bad in the first half. Second half, it all went wrong. From the no-penalty to King going off injured (game over for certain at this point) and then Bassong off on a stretcher. We lost shape. We lost hope. It was comfortable for them. It was lucky it stayed at 3-0.
We are desperately missing Modric and having Utd and Chelsea in the first two games without him have not helped as Harry has looked at shaping the team in a certain why to live with the both of them and it hasn't worked. On Sunday, their fullbacks enjoyed plenty of success. And yes, it would be nice to one day see us take moments of injustice and truly take the game by the scruff rather than heads dropping downwards. Are we a one-man team? Nope. But we could have done with far more comfortable fixtures.
But that's neither here or there. We lacked full pelt effort at home to United and no luck at Chelsea. The harsh reality is we are some way off from the Top 4. We knew that before both of these games. What we need, now and again, is for people like Webb to avoid blatant fuck-ups and award decisions our way. Because that sort of decision can possibly aid us in producing one of those type of upsets that people like Richard Keyes have nightmares about. It seems that the difference between us and sides like Chelsea sometimes come down to the ref rather than the players on the pitch.
I'd like us to work towards a level where our destiny within the 90 minutes is completely in our hands and we win games with football and not the ref's whistle. That way there are no ready-made excuses and what-if's. Because there is nothing worse than the day after being spent thinking about how the game could have turned out differently.
Will blog some more about the game later.
Reader Comments (32)
Morning Spooky. Shit weekend, no? Tactically got it wrong I thought. Stop their width and you have half a chance to frustrate them. Seemed like they got forward far too often. Didn't think they were overly impressive, but after the non-penalty, them the breaks I guess.
King out, Bassong out. Woody not quite match fit. Still no Dawson. As much as I love Corluka, he's no CB.
There maybe trouble ahead?
Webb is a shocking excuse of a ref.
I don't know how the 'conspiracy' is prosecuted to maintain the Sky 4 at the summit. Conscious bias, subconscious bias, cultural bias, fear? Maybe there are many strands to this - some by design and some by default. But can you imagine a Top 4, say, of Stoke, Bolton, Blackburn and Wigan? Not very sexy, is it? I wonder what the international brand values of those clubs are. Hmmmm... Not big enough to generate massive subscription to Sky Sports, I suspect.
We were probably the weaker side in most areas of the park although, for the first half hour, we were a match. Corluka's a fine player but lacks pace. Central defence, so pivotal to a team, is a problem. But it doesn't aid our cause when our matches are overseen by a narcissist.
Could Harry not have simply opted for Niko in for Luka as a straight swap and leave it at that rather than changing things twice in two games? Take the game to the opposition, do not re-invent the wheel to accommodate their strengths. Unless I'm over-rating our chances, man for man. Tactically not quite on the ball in the past two games. Shame. I guess only 2 points lost compared to last season. Might prove to be telling towards the back end of the table.
Roll on 6th spot.
Spot on last para. We have some way to go before we develop the resilience to fight back and hold our destiny in our hands. The pen was a crucial moment because we did not look like scoring from open play and needed a way back into the game. At that point, we weren't playing too badly but that plus King's departure and we fell apart.
Harry has to take some of the blame - poor formation, WP taken from the centre weakened us considerably.
How the Sun can say Keane dived - ridiculous even for them. It's deliberate - I bet they are told to not only sensationalise everything, but also to take a contrary view to any other media outlet.
Bollocks decision from Webb. Again. Its hard not to be bitter when the same ref produces the same type of laughable incompetence twice against us against a precious top four team. I think success does breed influence. Whether its on purpose or otherwise. It sometimes feels like a ref wants to impress the right people and the only people that matter are the ones that sit in those top 4 places. I know City are not everyone's second favs but I hope they break into the top 4 this season and fuck one of the clubs out of their lofty paradise.
Lout - the ironic certain fact is that if Manchester City take a top place position then they will simply inherit all the wealth and luxuries that are bestowed on their counterparts already. And they will be lapped up by manager and fans alike.
Football stinks.
Let's face it, who expected us to come away from a united game followed by an away to the chavs with even a piont. It's not that it is impossible, it's just not allowable in accordance with the sky t's and c's (you'll spot it in the small print of your contracts for thoe who subscribe.
Maybe it is the manner of the win, the old adage that 'the next goal is crucial when at 1-0'. Well it was, and so we move on.
Our season was never really going to be defined by our results against the 'sky 4', it was how we fared against the city / everton / villa / fulham and any given northern clogger type teams away from home.
So have a look back at tehTrunk for episode 2 (cheers spooky - hadn't seen that and it certainly raised a smile, and who does't need one of thoise on a monday morning?) have a giggle and move on, lets not be bitter as that would show some form of expectation beyond realistically what our squad is capable of.
Have to agree. I know in seasons past we have more than matched Top 4 sides in one-on-one encounters, but only ever at the Lane and they usually end up as score-draws or 0-0's. Chelsea and Liverpool have been defeated, but we don't win at Stamford Bridge and we don't tend to win away full stop against these clubs. West Ham have a good home record against them but that doesn't mean a think in comparison to a full season if they can't beat lesser teams. If we beat the lesser teams (which we've done thus far) then 6th spot is a very comfortable target. I'm confident of that.
@West Stand Bagel
I think it's worse than we think considering what Redknapp said about Woodgate:
Redknapp said: "Woodgate's nowhere near playing again. He went to see a specialist again yesterday and he just can't train.
"We haven't got to the bottom of the injury at all, what's causing him discomfort. Dawson has a chance, he's the one."
"Woodgate's nowhere near playing again"
Why does this sound so final?
Didn't get to the game so had to endure Sky Sports. Anyone else laugh at the commentating? We out sang them as per usual and yet they mention one Chelsea song as if they're responsible making ears bleed. I did like one thing that was said twice, at the start and end of the game about how this was THE derby game for Chelsea fans. Glad to see some historical perspective get a seconds note.
RIP Woody
Pains me how we can't manage to keep it together squad wise. Not that its our fault. Shit happens. Harry has to man manage and avoid total shutdown.
Same old story same old Spurs.........play well for 30 mins, go down 1-0 bad decison actually TERRIBLE decision against us for no penalty and Ledley goes off......i bet most of us both at the game and watching on the box knew the script from here.......capitulation
No siege mentality, no determination to right the wrongs......
I'm trying not bash Hudd or Jenas but we need two Wilsons in the middle of the park when playing against teams like Chelsea
"No siege mentality, no determination to right the wrongs......"
THIS.
Excellent post mate.
We've limped through the pass two games. Does Harry only know how to work the magic touch when its back against walls or is the fashioned Tottenham mentality one that's hard to improve? We need more mentalist winners in the side. Die hards. More Wilsons. We are still better than most outside the top 4, bar City and Villa and possibly Everton. Seems 6th or 5th at a big push is the most we can hope for until something drastic happens.
We seem to die a death in the final 25 minutes. I think the loss of Modric has had a savage effect on the teams balance, theres no escaping it. Hope we can muster up a good performance against Burnley and retain a top 6 place for the next month. Then we'll settle and modric will be back.
As said previously, the games against ManUre and Chelski are irrelevant - they will finish 1st & 2nd and beat almost everyone. We aren't in competition with them, so if we are to lose points, we may as well lose them against the top 2. The big games, the 6-pointers are the ones against Arse, Liverpool, Citeh, Villa and Everton. We've got a run of 4 very winnable games until we're off to the Library at the end of October. Even if we lose that, a return of 8 wins from 11 games will see as sitting in a very healthy position. United did us a big favour yesterday. I think that everyone should just forget about the previous two games, they won't define our season.
I thought Webb had a nightmare. Absolute stinker and I thought Chelsea were very, very good defensivly. The reporter (can't remember his name) on Sunday supplement said that Chelsea had been working for 2 days on how to stop us offensivly and you have to say that it looked like we ran out of ideas after the first 30 minutes. Might have been a different game had Defoe put his chance away and if we had got it back to 1-1. Its always easy with hindsight to say tactics this and that but I thought we played the right system yesterday - their full backs were better than ours...simples.
I have read the word capitulation on a few comments and although 3-0 gives that impression I have to say that was not what I witnessed. I felt that we kept going forward and tried to get back into the game. Their 3 goal was a massive slice of luck and at that stage I was worried about 4's or 5's but I was reasonably impressed that we kept trying. Next two games are now massive. Win them and the next two away games become very winnable. Lose them and I am not so sure...
No daring ipso facto no doing
Not that impressed with Palacios to be honest. I know, best thing since sliced bread and all that. His passing was awful exept for the ball to Defoe from which we should have scored. Seems off his game since he returned. Thought Palacios, Huddlestone and Jenas had a nice blend of steel and flair which you need, but Kranjcar would have given us a better balance.
Agree with Nayim here. Heck, we can lose all 8 games against the Top 4, win the remaining games and still sneak into the Top 4 on 90 points!
as much as i love what Harry has done so far for us, for the second game in a row he has just stuck to his favourites and completely ignored the fact we’ve got an amazing squad of players who ALL need playing time!
Gomes……been on the bench for two games now, he WOULD have saved Giggs free kick last week and for all the crazy shit that comes with him (tell me a world class keeper ever who wasn’t a little crazy) he certainly wouldn’t have let in 6 goals in 2 games in my opinion.
Gio……now we are a club who have been screaming out for a left winger since Ginola, in him we have a Lennon who’s Mexican and left footed but with a more consistent finished product albeit internationally so far (hat trick for Barca aint bad though), if any of you managed to catch any of his intl appearances the boy took on players with speed and guile, created goals and scored goals….great goals, yet we play Kranjcar, who’s been at the club 2 mins, really is not used to the we play at all and he puts him on as a sub 2 games in a row now and can anyone remember anything of note, ermm bit like the game against England, he was anonymous.
Pavluychenko….rated by Hiddink (you know him, prob one the best managers in world football who’s won I don’t even know, but i’d say at least 3-4 times what Harry has in his career) as one of the best strikers in the world, hasn’t played more than 5 minutes all season for us, goes off with Russia, scores 3 goals in 2 games then comes back to London, in the next 2 games he plays zero minutes, games that we needed goals in and as much as I respect Peter Crouch as a player, yesterday we were 3-0 down, there was no way on god’s green earth we were ever gonna win that game, so what did we do for the last 20 minutes…hooof it Crouch to win a second ball we never could, I really do recall that the first 20 mins we basically out played them on the FLOOR, how does anyone adapt to a league and a style of play if they never get to play?!
I fear that if Harry keeps on sticking to his favourites, not only are we going to lose these players come January, but if we continue to lose and they still don’t play, it will do nothing but start a rot in the dressing room and cause divisions which could be severely detrimental to our beloved club!
COYS
did anyone see sky sports report from jason cundy??? lol it made me laugh......" jason cundy was watching the chelsea vs spurs game as an IMPARTIAL spectator" .....ha ha hah ha,
he said that it was never a penalty, but yet keane didnt dive?????? work that one out lol
McGarry is The Sun's Chelsea man, he prides himself on his relationship with the players, especially Lamps so he isn't going to write anything bad
Have dealt with him a few times< bit of a knob< known as voices on the desk, should tell you all you need to know
Ledley was the big turning point!!!
Cundy is one of the biggest tools I've ever had the misfortune to have to listen to. He played for Chelsea when they were sh*t and is desperate to hang on to there coat tails in a laughable attempt to reflect in there rouble financed "glory".
I enjoyed the comment above about the commentary bias on Sky. I live in Mexico, Spurs through and through, and the commentating on SKY Mexico (via Fox Sports Latin America) is in Spanish delivered by not-so-in-the-know commentators ... I cracked up when the camera zoomed in on Levy who was deep in conversation with his neighbour and the commentator said (In Spánish): "and this is Roman Abramovich's right hand man, the Chelsea vice-president"!! Could it be true?!!!!
Sorry Harry,bad team selection no balance. You should have had Romin Palyechenko & Dio Santos playing. That's three bad games, we want football players not moaners
Spurs need to pass the ball and keep it longer & not give it away. Keep this up and it will be bottom three not top four.
Let's face it, the day Murdoch and Sky took over the English Football Association, was the first nail in the coffin of a once-great sport. Never before have football commentators been so devoid and bereft of the magic of the game as they are now, and I shudder to think of what's become of the Martin Tyler who commentated so well and movingly when Denmark maginificently beat Germany to win the European Championhip because him with the same name is now nothing but a shadow.
If the F.A. could stand pointlessly and meaninglesssly by and let Manchester United opt out of what was once one of the world's great competition's, the F.A. Cup, nothing could make them act for the love of the sport.
It is now a competition of who has the most money and the XXXkers in the media who wax lyrical about these so-called 'top' clubs, must think we all have XXit for brains.
You go ahead, fellas, fiddle while Rome burns.
One time when I saw Bobby Charlton sitting next to Ferguson, I couldn't help wishing I could ask Bobby what it felt like sitting next to a man who had taken United out of the F.A. Cup when the country had so warmed to his club who had achieved wonders in reaching the F.A. Cup final the year after the awful Busby Babes plane crash. You'd have thought United would have had that once-great competition etched on their soul.
And to think, a government actually awards knighthoods to such as these. Whoops, jug, I love thee!
Like all of us, refs want an easy life. They therefore bottle the decisions against the big teams and its obvious why......
Spurs denied a penalty, no one cares except Spurs fans, Sky care only as much as they can get some small headline out of it. Spurs too nice to really kick up a big fuss.
If a penalty that wasn't (ie Keane dived) was given against Chelsea then the headline is 2 or 3 times bigger. Players give the ref a hard time, JT is in the refs face along with his idiot chums, the manager whinges about the ref, the ref looks an even bigger idiot for making a massive cock up on live TV, Sky hype the whole situation, the papers hype the whole situation, its back page headline news.
refs take the route of least resistence, which given the media spot light they are under is not surprising, but that is of no comfort to us.
Fact is it was a wrong decision, made by a ref in a very bad position, a positionwhich by his movement he didn't seek to improve but with every stride in the wrong direction he made it harder and harder to see any incident, . The position he was in when the tackle was made is then churned out as some sort of excuse. He failed to see Gomes make significant contact on the ball in an almost indetical position at OT last April, he got it wrong again at the weekend, we should never have this guy refereeing our games again. Both incidents were crutial in each match. I am still pissed off even now, 40 hours later!
Oh well, our season begins in ernest this weekend - Burnely, Pompey, Bolton and Stoke. 10 points and we're back on track before we go to the Goons.