Spurs: 'top 4' side, top 4 decisions
Sunday, October 17, 2010 at 10:59PM Fulham 1 Spurs 2
I've had pockets of time since the final whistle on Saturday afternoon to attempt to write up a structured match report of our splendid away win (and second successive three point come from behind reward), but alas, no such luck. I'm still sick. Epically tired and somewhat detached from creativity, but still I'm managed to muster up some tweets today whilst laying across the sofa watching the continued demise of Liverpool FC and then Man City trying to do their best impersonation of the Jose version of Chelsea by spending the vast majority of their game against Blackpool boring the very essence of my soul from my fever stricken body. I still don't rate them. Yes, they are lucky, yes, they don't lose often, but something about them just screams out 'CHOKE'. I guess with Man Utd doing their very best to tread the line of ordinary, this season could see a further shake-up to the one we introduced last time round. So perhaps discounting the billionaires from Eastlands would be a tad dangerous.
Okay, so Fulham v Spurs, I'm going to free-style it. Then just hit the publish button.
Saturday and Fortress Fulham. In yer face Mark Hughes. And Lily Allen. In the context of the game, we deserved to win. Some of our defending at times was not best and against better players (Eto'o) we might be left scratching our heads. But that's out of context. Which is not a concern, not until Wednesday.
First half, opening exchanges, thought we played very well. Slowly and obviously, Fulham got themselves back into the possession game. Sandro put himself about. Bit too eager, I guess he still has to get to grips with the pace of the game and the fact that clumsy challenging won't warrant too much other than a yellow card.
Was very content with Harry's selection. Strongest side, be it with one or two minor tweaks, but this games was vital in terms of needing to win - whereas the CL game on Wed isn't. Because we get to play Inter again, at the Lane. Which will be important. I'll talk more about the CL game in a later blog.
Fulham took the lead, Kamara scoring. Bit of a mess from all concerned in terms of positioning for this one. It's easy to point and shout at Gallas who showed a lack of awareness of where the Fulham forward was (behind you!) but you could also lay scorn on Hutton who run into a central position, practically clashing with Kings space and the cross/ball going through the both of them into the path of Kamara who tapped it home.
Did Gallas think someone (in Spurs colours) was tracking the forward? No matter, organisation here was left wanting. All too easy. Needs to be worked on in training. School-boy mistake tbh.
But this is brand new Spurs, feasting on Dutch cake, of the Amsterdam variety. Relaxed and giddy, as you were. We go down the other end and equalise. From the kick-off. Brilliant skill from vdV to turn and chip onto the bar, ball falling down to Pav who had a simple tap in, but made sure he pointed out his name on the back of his shirt just in case anyone was in doubt of the clinical polished ball-pushing over the line touch off his boot.
Have to say, I'm still lol'ing at the Fulham fans (bless 'em) who didn't even had enough time to finish their rendition of 'you're not singing any more'. So the Spurs away support did the polite thing and finished the song off for them.
Other mentions. Gomes pulled off a save or two. King went off injured, Bassong replaced him. I know that with Ledders, I sort of half expected him not to play and be rested for Inter, in what many expected him to play a damage limitation role. I'm glad Harry started him, it's a shame he limped off and won't be available for the Everton game next weekend (as well as no Italian away day). But it's a statement made. We didn't take the game for granted or displayed signs of looking ahead to mid-week.
It's part and parcel of the risk we take with King. Get well soon. Once more, we re-visit the age old conundrum of the centre-back pairing and what we need to be doing in terms of looking ahead for the future. Once Dawson is back, we might place said conundrum back onto the back-burner again. Which isn't ideal, what with us still not knowing for sure if Woody is going to be 100% again.
Second half, Sandro off. Subbed, not sent off, which he might have been not out of malicious play but from untidy tackling. Azza replacing him before the kick-off. Lennon was good. Again. Off the bench appears to have given him a gentle kick up the bum in terms of desire to impress. Cracking
movement with BAE finding Pav who played the ball inside to Lennon - weak shot, but good to see all round. He seems to have direction rather than losing himself cutting into central midfield positions or running out of steam down the flanks.
More assured second half from start to finish I thought from us. Not perfect, Kamara spoiling chances which I was happy to see spurned. Wasn't so much about individuals today, but more about the unit. vdV, Bale, Modric...all relatively quiet. vdV had his moment with the first goal. Moddle is still slightly off the pace, his touch not Lukaesque just yet, but he's made it clear he knows he's struggling a little. He'll get there. Bale was definitely quiet compared to the beastly performances he usually produces. Did pulsate forward creating a vdV chance. But as a unit, the lads did enough, which was worthy of three points. So no shrugs of despondency from me.
Other bits and pieces off the top of my head. Hutton and Gomes getting in each others way, a Hutton effort on goal, Crouch on for Pav. Oh yeah, almost forgot. The goal for 2-1.
First time in history I've ever agreed with Alan Shearer (with his MotD assessment). Hansen obviously disagreeing with him and baiting Lineker. So very very bitter. Always let you down the Spurs don't you know.
If you want to start playing the game by the letter of the law - at the time of the Hudd shot, their keeper was in sight of the ball leaving the boot. Gallas, offside position, not interfering with play. Ball takes a deflection, still not interfering. Gallas tries his best to put any doubt in the refs mind about disallowing a potential goal by attempting to kick the ball, still not interfering because he didn't touch the ball.
Ball crosses the line. 1-2 Tottenham.
Lino however decides to flag, so good on Hudd for making sure the ref took note of the journey taken by the ball into the Fulham goal. Mike Dean, giving us the decision. I'm sure I would have complained about it if it was the other way round, but deep down, even though you could argue it is interfering because the player was trying to become active - he wasn't active because he didn't change anything (i.e. the ball was still on course with going in after the deflection, so Gallas could have stripped naked and slapped a haddock on his backside, it would not have made a blind bit of difference - although no doubt it might have made it onto Soccer AM's third eye).
Active, not active...ambiguous, no? The authorities would not have it any other way.
Good performance. We're 5th. 14 points. A few off the top, and obviously regretful of the points dropped against a couple of sides this season which might have had has even higher. But this season will be more open and closer than the last, so it's a case of staying in amongst it again - and aiming for bigger scalps in the way of our 'Top 4' opposition and doing something about the lack of wins away to them in 60+ games. Also feel we need to start to destroy sides at the Lane again.
Mentality should be about maximising our potential against the supposed weaker sides at home and continuing to dig deep away. Stick the pressure on the other contenders by pulling away. At the minute, everyone appears to be very evenly matched (there's four or so tiers in the Prem itself).
Momentum = confidence = belief = success.
Simply put, get through to the Jan window in a top 5 position. Then consolidate the f**k out of it.
Back to bed I go.
Reader Comments (42)
Get well soon Ledders. You too Spooks. Onwards and upwards to the San Siro we go. We haven't embarrassed ourselves in the CL yet (although we had a bloody good go in the first leg against YB ), let's not start now.
I think we need to give Niko a chance on Wednesday playing behind Crouch. Although I doubt we'll see it!
well-written, i agree totally with what you're saying. Looking forward to a sensational mid-week game! I'll catch it live on telly, can't make it to Milan!
I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight with the image of a naked, fish-wielding Gallas going through my head. Cheers.
Great as always, Spooky. Especially considering the previous post, which in terms of life-questioning-angst gave you some mountain to climb in order to make this particular post a success or even coherent. I should say it’s beyond my perspective to know if you broke down in tears halfway through the writing of this latest piece. The text at least does not reflect the scars of a self-doubting man.
The same cannot be said of Modric's contribution to the game. His mistake in the box in the first-half was diabolical. In my opinion he was lucky that Hughes did not have the good sense to aim the ball downwards instead of at the floodlights. To be honest I didn't think he was playing too badly in the lead-up to the int. break. Against Villa I thought he kept the midfield ticking-over quite nicely. But whatever. I can't argue with Modric about the quality of his own form on-the-park. Van Der Vaart I thought, while quiet, had his world-class moment, just as you said. World-class players will always have at least one match-defining moment of world-class skill. And VdV is most definitely studying in that class of world. In fact he's probably good enough to study honours, and maybe graduate with majors in Latin and horticulture.
That should set him up nicely for post-football employment. We here in Australia tend to neglect Latin. A shame.
Well chuffed at the last 2 results. Not easy games - which have cancelled out losses to Wigan and West Ham. It is beginning to look like Pav is the man in the League, and Crouch is for the Champions League. Sandro looked ok, and with a bit more exposure he could do a good job for us. Ekotto played well - despite some heart in mouth moments, he was getting forward and combining with Bale. Gomes looking more solid again - could this be as a result of pressure from 2 back-up keepers? Nice to see Bale varying the corner - which lead to our winner. You have got to keep them guessing - especially at set peices. Would like to see Hudd take more shots from set pieces like that.
Harry on Ledley
"He's going to be (out) a while,the problem he has, he doesn't train, and when you don't train, you pick up injuries.
"It's such a shame for him; he's such a great player.
"If I go out and start trying to sprint up that pitch now without training, I'm going to go and tear a hamstring, or do a groin, or do a calf or something.
"And that's his problem; he can't train. He's been doing that for several years. But I think, now, he's picking up one or two more injuries."
Have to say I was encouraged by signs of an understanding between Sandro and Hudd - who was himself raw and off the pace for his first few 1st team appearances. Think we're seeing the emergence here of Tottenham's heart for many seasons to come.
Off-topic I know, but is anyone here truly saddened by Liverpool's implosion ? I'm not. Fuck'em. I hope they go down and want to see Hansen/Lawro squirm. Not that I'm vindictive or anything.
Oldspur, I'm actually gutted they didn't go in to administration...
Oldspur , I very much enjoyed watching Everton beat the pool ... and the going down chants :-)
For a dying man, a very coherent post. Did it for the team.
Weird thing is that I'm already thinking ahead to the Everton game. Out of the next two, that's the must win. Of course it would be great to pick up something in Italy other than a pizza and peroni, but I'm not counting on it. Just want to come through that unscathed, both mentally and physically. Glad VDV isn't playing on reflection and just hope no one else gets injured.
Also pleased we are not moaning (yet!) about a 12.45 kick-off following an away Wednesday evening fixture.
Well., I didnt think we played well at Fulham, and dont really think we've played well all season. Certainly compared to the free flowing briliance of the start of last season, where we were destroying teams at times. Of course Defoe's injury and lack of form before that, along with Lennon's painfuly slow recovery from his groin injury (he's still feeling it - note the reluctance to accelerate down the line), and Modric's complete collapse in form are largely to blame, and hopefully will all be rectified before too long. On the plus side, well there is realy only one, but what a plus. It is of course the entrance of the devine Rafael. What a player, what an impact. Its a cliche of course, but the really big thing is that we are picking up points while playing pretty poorly. No point fooling ourselves - we aint good at the moment, but we're still just good enough to see off the likes of Fulham, Villa, Stoke and Wolves (every one of those games could have gone the other way). The form and players will return, hopefully soon, and then things could get fun.
As for Sat, someone above claimed BAE played well? Not sure what match they were at. Defensively he was apalling. I was sat very close to the benches and the comments coming at him from the spurs bench in the first half were, shall we say, fruity. They guy is useless, he is incapable of doing the simple things. There was one comedy moment towards the end of the game where he fluffed 3 chances to clear with his daft turns and twists, got the ball luckily deflected back to him, only to boot it about 20 metres straight to Davies. Luckily Fulham had lost all momentum by then, and Davies is 10 years past is best. Repeat that against Inter and it'll be a goal. BAE is clueless and, thankfully, with a full sqaud, he is now the only real guy in need of upgrading. I think we could have done worse than Salciedo to be honest
Could have done with resting King at Fulham. Just my opinion.
The best action of the game was how vdV deliberately aimed his chip at the bar, so that the ball would bounce off it and fall at Pav's feet.
I knew the guy was skilful, but it's the first time I've ever seen a player intentionally use the woodwork as an aid to passing the ball.
Most people still believe he was aiming for the net, and the fact he hasn't come out and revealed the truth only proves that he's not just a prodigal talent, he's modest, too.
BAE does what he does. He appears to play well on the surface but if you delve deeper his positioning is always all over the place. We just don't have any other option for left back.
Desktop on the money.
winning fugly... only the top teams do it apparently...
Very true Desktop
BAE does what he does. He appears to play well on the surface but if you delve deeper his positioning is always all over the place. We just don't have any other option for left back.
- - - - - -
BAE was not at fault for the goal, and was pretty solid for most of the game. I think your assessment is harsh.
Pav's finish made vdv's chip look good.
BAE
Dunno he does seem to be a bit all over the place in most games but most of the time gets himself out of a hole.
Harry said near the start of last season...might have been 8/10 games in that he was the best LB in the country yet in those games I remember going back and counting up mistakes and think he averaged close to 2 show stoppers per game.
Was he not lucky to not give away a pen at WHL during the 1st game of the season. Think he made a rather bad error before that too. I'm not sure.
Is harry playing him because he thinks he's good enough or because he thinks bale is better suited at LW?
I dont know. I think most teams would actually pick BAE as a 1st choice LB. Again I might be wrong. But I like the guy so would like to cut him a little slack. When he makes a serious blunder and costs us then he'll come under greater scruitiny. Its how he deals with it then is what will define him.
I think he could be ok. LB is not where we need to invest in Jan/next summer.
Anyway said a lot there without saying very much really. Sorry
BAE is a very capable left back, we should be careful what we wish for. He's better than Charlie on the other side. He has an excellent first touch, passing is decent and he knows how to trick a player in order to clear ranks (ok it looks annoying when he does his ole ole dummy routine to his opponent, but it works). He combines well with Bale and knows exactly what ball to play to release the Beast.
His negative point is he is a maverick type who is probably difficult to manage, I doubt he listens to Harry's instructions and does have the odd moment of madness. I saw at Fulham when he made a mistake the bench were screaming at him and even Bale was tyring to get his attention, BAE turned his back.
What we need is another decent left back in the squad, cos if BAE gets injured were knackered, Bale is poor defensively and is often caught out of position. A beast at left midfield of course.
Still not completely sold on Bale at left-back. Yes I get it he can be trained and developed to be more positionally aware and the system we play can protect him further when he goes forwards, but in terms of impact he is far more suited for left wing. He can do more damage there and it's a waste to keep him locked up in defence.
I think the "dominant Tottenham" will only come into play once we are solid at the back. We have been quite inconsistent in defence which is worrying.
Disagree with Paulieboy. Thought it was a good performance against a team that usually gives us a tough game. Whilst there were no stand out performances, I'd say it was a good TEAM performance - this is what I find the most pleasing about it. No one played a stinker either. To me it is a sign of improving. May I remind that whilst season we had a bit of swagger about us, it wasn't consistently thoughout the season - and we played Fulham away twice drawing both 0-0 last season in quite dull games. In fact, it was the first league win at Craven cottage since 2002. BAE did play well - whilst enduring a couple of "heart in mouth" moments. BAE was attacking with more thought and application. Whilst playing well is important, may I also remind that we have 3 tough games in 8 days - so we are spreading ourselves a bit. So this level of performance is even more pleasing. I agree with trying to get King to play at Fulham with a view to pay the following weekend. League is priority, and from the line-up last Saturday, that was quite clear.
Shame about Ledders, but I seriously think its time for him to step aside. We can’t keep changing a side to accomodate him whilst at the same time forfeit an opportunity to change a game late on if needs be due to him limping off before half time and having already used a sub.
Looking forward to seeing Kaboul return from injury as he’s really improved as a player and looks an absolute beast.
I also think BAE is a half decent LB. Not amazing but solid and there really aren't many better in the Prem. He's strong and quick, and whilst being caught out of position a few times he usually gets the situation back under control. I'm much more concerned about Charlie on the other side who makes my heart stop every time he gets the ball. He just seems to panic with the ball at his feet and looks like he's running through treacle.
I would like to try Bale at LB with Nico infront of him. Attacking I know but Nico cutting in would create space for Bale to run onto. Also with Modric, Hudd, VDV and Lennon also in midfield that would open up most defences. Away you could drop one of Nico/Modric and put in Sandro to steady things abit.
I've always believed that the best teams are the ones with the best full backs that bomb on and get forward. In Bale and Hutton we finally could have that.
hap·less [hap-lis]
–adjective
unlucky; luckless; unfortunate.
Does this really sum up Sandro' performance on saturday? According to the fucking daily mirror sandro was villain of the day 'hapless day for the Brazilian new boy. Subbed in 46th minute'
seriously WTF. I'd heard he was allright. I'm also assuming the mirror don't know the meaning of the word hapless I'm assuming they mean he was crap. Because if he was unfortunate he hardly be the villain of the match?
And on 2 seperate occasions they failed to mentionthe fact that gallas was inactive. Or for that matter that the last touch was off a fulham player.
BAE does make the occasional horror-mistake but I think he's solid over all and especially links with Bale well. It's certainly not an area I'm worried about but I do think we need a second player in there to give competition and leave Bale to work the wing.
Looking at the rest of the PL who else is better than BAE at left back? Cole and Evra both are, obviously. Then perhaps Baines and maybe even Clichy, but I would almost put BAE on a par with him. There's no-one after that could do the job as well I reckon. I know it's a little short sighted to just look at the PL, but it's a good starting place.
Did you SEE the MOTD highilghts??? Edited by a Cottager., I swear. Lennon was great in the second half, but if you believe the highlights he didn't even come on. We saw his name as sub and then no more! No sign of Pav's early header either. The highlights looked like Fulham pounded us and we nicked a win, which is not the case. Even Alan ZZZZzzzzzz said we deserved the win. I haven't bothered to watch MOTD so far this season untl Saturday, and now I remember why!
Tom, Sandro did ok I thought, a bit eager and impulsive but what the hell do people expect? He has tons of mobility and played the easy ball rather than try something silly. I've seen more in him than say the few appearances Boateng made for us (albeit he looks decent now). I think Sandro will be a very good player for us.
I also read a load of crap in the NOTW (i know, i know) whoever wrote it said Tom's goal shouldn't have stood where as every tv show i have seen have proved it was the right decision.
It's funny cos the Lino, Martin Yerby, used to work in the same office as me around the time when he gave us a pen in the league cup final against the blue chelsea scum, I never got round to thanking him then. I knew he'd give us the goal once the ref had a word !
Sandro did ok, confident and looked good going forward.
He's in the Palacios mould and needs to curb his enthusiasm a little.
Hope he doesn't drown in the Palacios type hype and expectation.
Strong away performance, key was equalising within a minute of their goal.
Winning when you aint playing that well makes up for last season when we lost when outplaying teams.
Mark of a good team so they say.
City were poor on Sunday but won. So that's another good team then.
Rooney?
Torres?
Maradona?
Michael Ricketts.
Chewbacca!
Hodgson?!?!?
PSB !
Van der Vaart? no wait...
Mats Hummels
'Enter Milan with no fear'
Rooney entered me nan with no fear...
The swine.