Inter 4 Spurs 3: Astonishing Bale (Part II)
Thursday, October 21, 2010 at 2:02PM Read Part I here.
Part II
Wasn't that long ago that the rumours told us that Bale was Birmingham/Forest bound. For about £3M. I'd rather have him bound to my bed, with me throwing rose petals over his lush bronzed body. I'm not that way inclined, I promise, but I'm willing to bestow this young Welsh stud with my undying love. Whether he wants it or not.
I heart you Gareth. We all do.
The baiting world expected more humiliation but the side attempted to reclaim some of that hurting pride. I wont dwell on other individuals. I'll let the gaffer re-watch and make notes and spit home truths in their faces in terms of lack of organisation and communication and leadership and other fundamentals. Eye of the tiger next time please. Okay, I'll say one word. Gallas. There, said it.
I'll also give a special mention to Jenas (J-E-N-A-S) and Lennon. JJ for improving in the second half, although that wasn't tricky considering his first half performance. Lennon for making things happen. Jenas was also instrumental in the goals. Ooh. Shocker. Hate on him if you dare. What's that? The first half? Oh yeah...sigh.
Keane, BAE, Captain Hudd, Hutton, Gallas, etc etc - is it worth commenting? Of course not. Mark them out of 10, between 2 and 5.
But it's all about the one man for me. But yes, well done to the collective for keeping a clean sheet as a unit, one that resembled a team, and never giving up in the quest for redemption.
Back to Bale.
1 - 50 yard storming run. He would have smashed through Gandalf had he been standing in the Inter penalty area with staff. Brilliant angled effort, tucked into the right-hand corner of the net.
2 - Practically identical to the first, same pulsating run into the box, same corner.
3 - Excellent run from the excellent Lennon, laying the ball off, arguably almost selling Bale short, and yet…smack, that same ruined abused corner, once more.
Pick'em out the back of the net Julio 'best keeper in the world' Cesar.
Okay, so the final two goals came in the final two minutes, but we've been here before haven't we? 4-3 is infinitely better than 4-0 or worse. It’s a 1-0 loss in terms of goal difference. With ten men, ffs. And qualification is not beyond the realms of impossibility, in fact, it’s in our hands.
Suddenly it's not so bad. Sure, we've glossed over problems what with Bale Bale Bale getting all the acclaim for such a determined, willing, simply refusing to roll over and die performance, but why not? We played into their hands and then we dug deep and clawed our way back into it. Another minute of injury time and Bale probably would have notched a fourth. He was that imperious to his surroundings.
Majestic, beastly, marauding, locomotive….Bale. He has completely turned his world and ours upside down. Who needs a striker when we've got this extraordinary machine?
Well actually, we could do with a striker. One that scores. Because if you add that to this team, get vdV back in there, stick with eleven men on the pitch and organise the defence to an advanced level of competency…ah, let's not tease. Let's just cross those fingers that this club of ours never fails to stop entertaining us. Even if it's the type of entertainment that involves Hannibal Lector removing parts of your brain and eating them in front of you.
4-3. Almost, but not quite. And not wholly acceptable but in terms of being able to show my face at work? Great.
Hat-trick. Away to Inter. Four goals and seven assists (correct me if my numbers are wrong) overall. And all this without King, Dawson, Defoe and van der Vaart. You could even throw Woodgate in there. And Modric didn’t play a part after the red card.
Some recovery.
This bi-polar club of ours with it's inherent twitches and panic attacks.
Rather than remain spanked, we learnt our lesson and reacted to it there and then. And thus avoided that potentially damaging hangover (although quite how we've been pencilled in for an early Saturday kick-off is beyond me).
It's an adventure. We're never going to win it and in terms of edge of seat football, we are making our mark in Europe. It's all very refreshing, so I'm told.
When the ps3 over-heated and I was unstrapped from my chair, I knew, deep down, that if we iron out the reoccurring problems and tweak mental strength along with backbone set-up (moon on a stick) - we are not far off. Not far off from more balanced and consistent swagger than the schizophrenic screams. Would also help in abundance if Hutton understood the concept of positioning.
Third best defensive record domestically, but much more is needed on this particular level to survive and bully our way to a respectable stature in this playground of giants. We don't do badly all things considering, what with our musical chairs at the back. But it's got to be tight(er) at the back. Chastity belt tight.
We have enough about us to avoid collapse in the manner we did, even though we've now experienced three variants of said collapse on our travels. Perhaps it is just a learning curve.
I'd say plenty of it is about intensity. It will come in time. Gritted leadership and intensity, it will come in the form of vdV. And hopefully some of our other players grow into brave and bold men who do not welcome fear. Having van der Vaart - a genuine world class player - is something we should embrace.
Roll on the return leg.
In the mean time, don't fret about the live brokering of Gareth by ITV who seemed obsessed with selling him on before their coverage ended.
He's not world class yet. He has world class performances in him. And United fans can pretend he's going to sign for them with the loose change they have left over from plucking Modric and vdV up to Old Trafford.
He's our left-wing. And let us rejoice in the fact that he should now never frequent the left-back position again.
Just enjoy it. This, this beautiful defeat. Not quite worthy of a dvd as a whole, but the hat-trick is more than worthy of countless repeated You Tube play-back.
My special chair is back in the basement. I'm cleansed, like clockwork. Not orange. Just lilywhite.
Two weeks before I strap myself back in.
Reader Comments (58)
Just want to throw in here that Jenas was involved in all 3 goals... ended up playing further up the pitch than Keane.
Ok, he was probably 'involved' in 3 of theirs too.
But generally, Typical Tottenham.
Was it here yesterday Spooks that I said win, lose or draw, I didn't want to be humbled? I think we got close to it. After 20 minutes I was wishing it would end there and then. Second half gave me something, a crumb of comfort and the knowledge that they will be frightened of at least GB in the return match. Inter will come and play tight, retain the ball and it will be equally as difficult. No need for them to be all gung-ho, a point will do nicely Rafa. Totally different game and it'll be very tricky. Crowd needs to be loud, but they'll knock the ball around for 20 minutes to try and silence us lambs. Good news about the other result. Could do with the same again for them also.
BALE, BALE, BALE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Can anyone tell me if Man Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool or those wankers up the road have conceded a goal in the first 68 seconds of a CL game? If they have I will feel a lot better. That first few minutes was as if someone had said to them "they play a much slower game in Europe, they just stroke it around so that's what you should do" before sitting back and watching themselves be humiliated. As others have said, pure Tottenham. And as for the sending off, it basically ruined what should have been a great match-up.
I had a feeling we were going to ship a few and find ourselves battling back to respectability, but didn't say so as I was enjoying the rare feeling of optimism. Having seen what I've seen, though, I still fancy us at WHL with VDV in there and something approaching a working defensive unit. We will qualify from this group. I just hope Bale hasn't exhausted his tekkers for Everton.
Robbed by the ref! 2 mins of added time? After 3 goals and 5 subs? Disgraceful!!!
I say we opt for the tried and tested 4-4-1 formation for the return leg. We'll be stronger at home.
I always enjoy these letterrs BUT they seem to have become rather too long, in recent weeks.
i actually love Bale, i might tattoo his monkey face on my face
Good comment above. Ref's injury time was a bit strange I thought. Even first half he hardly played any.
Inter at the lane. If he plays well it could well be a VDV DVD.
The ref rescued us by not giving much extra time at the end of the first 45 minutes, though. ;)
I love it spooky ! Your article are as immense as Bale was yesterday ! Cheer !
Too long? I've split the article in two because I know some people turn away if the post isn't a paragraph long ;)
If you think this is long you should see me in the shower.
Er no, let me try that again.
If you think this is long then you have probably missed out on prior season blog articles.
Bale was excellent. The rest (including “the same old” play tactics) were ridiculous. Unhappily we have too many slow players in our squad. Today's football is based to a great extend to quickness (speed, quick reaction, play development etc), intelligence and a high level combination of technique+physical strength. How many of our players have all these qualities?
No offence intended. Was trying to be constructive.
tremendous writing, this is a great website.
Without a doubt the best spurs blog on the net, followed by whoframedruelfox.com.
I only have two subjects to raise about last night:
1) Bale - wow
2) When is Woody going to be fully recovered!?!?!
spooky, thanks again for the article, great read!!!!
3/4/5 choice centre backs and 10 men to the European Champs with 80 mins of football left to play.... could have been a lot worse. Everyone was cac in the first half.... lost little boys chasing shadows. Second half we resuced some pride and made it possible to come in to work today with heads not hung so low. We have what it takes.... we just need some stability in the centre of defence and a striker who isn't peter crouch....or robbie keane
I honestly contemplated killing myself after 10 minutes. So close. Just couldn't pull the trigger.
Bale is something else. He just gets better and better. Has a strong head on him. Feet firmly on ground too. Anyone care to remember the 2-2 game v Everton away last season? That seems like a different lifetime now.
Can't wait for the return game.
I think that you have spoken for all of us. Its very strange, that even after my pops press-ganged me towards the russian chavs from an early age, (his brother having been an acadamy player there until retiring with a career ending injury) then I had my mother's step brother (season ticket hammer) buying me bath towels and the likes at the age of 7 but there was no way, I couldn't swap spurs for anything, anyone, or any team, I loved our swagger. Clever is the woman that checks on our results before deciding how she should speak to me, how often she should cuddle me and how often to grind up some herbs for me in the special way I like.
I really thought that we would get a result here. Fact is that we have. We won the 2nd half 3-0, or sorry Gareth did.
We have the momentum, they will be crapping it, VDV will make them pay.#
(And that's all it was by the way, (your handgrenade would have been left on the bus should Van the Man been therre to help settle the nerves)
We fluffed our lines anfd then beat them 3-0 nil with ten men and shit strikers.
We are tottenham. The reason why the love is so strong is that we have these moments. 4-1 down against villa at home? The scum anyone with Bentley's 45 yarder anyone? I always refer to that result as a 4-4 win for Spurs as they certainly lost the win. Chelski? 4-4 and Berba should have made it 5.
Come on hARRY.
Get Jordan on that back line and for Christ's sake please spend 30mil on two centre halvss in January.
Good article, let me know where to get one of those chairs. I bet you are glad you got that off your chest. Somewhat like myself now
Oh Tottenham.................I think of you more than any woman!
Great set of articles... At half time last night sitting in the bit above the corner post I thought that we were absolutely stuffed. Praying for a miracle that came in beastly monkey form.... The most disheartening thing was seeing a load of Yids arguing with the Stewards to be let out at half time. I know we were bad but FFS - can you imagine how you wouldve felt if youd missed the second half?
also aside from the game, what were all the rubbish banners in the Ultra (quiet) Curva Nord about Liverpool (Rafa a true Gent, Free the Liverpool 9) about?
Cant get away from the Mickeys can you.....
Ultimately, awesome to see players like Sneider, ETO'O etc they played some stunning football with amazing movement. Looking forward to the return... COYS!
Dunno what it is, but since the seville match, young boys match, burnley in the cup maybe a full frontal collapse with a monumental final 5 minute effort has become the norm, so much so that my feelings through the game can be bulleted as so: 1:0 - here we go again. 2:0 and a man down - yep, lads look totally overwhelmed by the occaision. 3:0 - their lads look pretty good to be fair, still, something missing. 4:0 - that's it, Game On mother feathers, Game On. open up the pringles missus, i got some long range supportin' to do.
My one hope is that we take the experience in the same way we took the arse handing that barcelona schoolboys gave us last year, it seemed to be a jolt to the comfort zone we needed. Also, anyone else watch Keane body check Jenas on the break?
Ole, ole, ole.
Let's not write off the team. Jenas included. Second half we were just about great, with ten men. Passing the ball about and looking to get forward. Shame really, would have been a contest if it wasn't for the silly defending and the switching off first half.
Would've thought that now we could come up with a better song for him?? - e.g. Gareth Bale, Superstar, He looks like a chimp, but he's our best by far...
OK - let's stick to BALE - BALE - BALE...
I read three of the quality newspaper match reports online. They seemed to be saying "Spurs were never going to be any good at this level, you heard it here first". They mention the fact that we played most of the match with ten men only in passing, and do not think us having eleven would have altered things somewhat. No credit at all for a fightback, although had it been MU or the Arse....
All this from the same great journalists ( I use the word loosely ), who blithely went along with the Arsenal official line that they had the money to buy players, they just didn't want to. Oh for an investigative journalist.
I honestly reckon if we make it out of the groups, which would be bucking the trend then we'll make it into the QFs'. First time in the CL, and we are making it one not to forget.
Ha ha Spooky,that first paragraph made me "larf" a goodun...!! Look chaps,the facts are that Bale is a very level headed young man with parents that care about his football career.Remember how they stopped him from joining Manyoo.??I think we"ll have this "Ryan Giggs Clone" at THFC for at least 18 months so i wouldnt worry about what the West Ham ifluenced London media write/say....COYS
How long is it since we were all debating who should play on the left for Spurs. Downing, Diego Capel, Bastos and about 100 others. All Hail Bale. KING of the WING.
Spurs is as much about heroes as it is football, we've had a long list of heroes to adore, in this current squad we have King, and potentially Bale and VDV. It's great being a Spur.
Must say though that in the last 20mins Hudd started to spray some vintage long range passes about the park.Also Bassong looks lost at this level.....COYS
too long? Peter Jackson is on the phone already for the film rights. Then we'll see about too long.
Last night was epic, in many different proportions, epically shit and epically reassuringly beautiful.
To love, to hate, to feel pain, and joy. That is the glory of THFC, and I wouldn't have them any other way.
Oh yeah, and gareth 'I used to be a manager of a shit club once' southgate can royally do one as well.
Brilliant blog, spot on how i'm feeling today. Am well proud of the lads. Its also refreshing to hear so many supportive comments, finally i know Im not the only level headed spurs fan out there !! amazingly some fans are actually angry about last nights performance, expecting far better ............ what planet do these people exist on !?!?!
We are new to all of this, we should learn and enjoy every minute of it. COYS !!!
Let's be honest, the back-line last night was atrocious. But it was patched up. If we could have any two of Ledders, Daws and Woody fit then neither Gallas or Bassong would be in the side. And the choice of Hutton or Lost-his-mojo-Charlie at RB isn't exactly inspiring. Only BAE would get the nod if we had the choice.
Bring on 2 weeks time at the Lane. If we can get a defender or two fit, and keep 11 on the pitch, the combination of Boom-Boom, Azza, Modders and RDV should scare the crap out of 'em. Shame our Defoe-less strikeforce is firing more blanks than the Vasectomy Society playing Soggy Biscuit.
We might as well be playing 0-5-0 at the moment.
I gave up reading press reports on us two years ago when I found DML.
You put a considered, funny and yet accurate assessment of each facet of the Spurs rollercoaster that I love.
I hated last night and yet loved it as well.
Like getting a tattoo, it hurts but after a while the pain gets.......nice.
Defence, what defence!! Jesus on a bike. Who's in charge of training our back line? I bet it's Harry. I remember him trying to defend back in the day. hahahahahah
Thanks Spooky again.
Hutton's gotta go. I think he played the entire game out of position, and they exploited that. As Yankee Yiddos (a blog (for which I don't write, so I'm not shilling) for those of us who are happily both Yanks and Yiddos, or at least happily Yiddos) said, "That Alan Hutton is a pile of pants in a pants factory surrounded by pastoral scenery constructed entirely from pants whose pants are pants pants pants." Indeed. Charlie may be slow and ponderous, but he's slow and ponderous in his position. Which is no small feat for a defender, I guess.
BAE has also been getting progressively worse as the season wears on, which is rather worrying. Maybe we need to be thinking about acquiring a LB in January. Bale cannot, cannot return to LB. Bale as LW or bust.
Also, what has happened to Niko Krancjar? I thought surely he'd see some playing time after his successes over the international break. FREE NIKO!
Oh, and lest I be thought of as nothing but a whinger, I assure you, I get stiff in the pants at the thought of our CBs getting healthy, a healthy Defoe up top, and VdV and Bale and Modric and... I just came.
When i seen the Draw for the champions league i had a sick smile to myself and a few fuckin hells not because we drew Inter but the man who manages them This may sound daft but our teams performance the fact we only had ten men a goalkeeper who cant catch the ball and thinks he his playing volley ball he reminds me of the film white men cant jump. The reason for my thinking was because Inter had scored four goals meant they never had to top up there Tempo and the real Inter would start to slow after about 70 mins and this is why we came back with a Bale treble . Let me tell you why Benitez his confident his team will not slow at Whit hart lane because his medical staff wont allow this to happen again. Harry needs to pick a defence who work has a unit and not four strangers . Crouch works great when he has someone feeding of him i said before the game on here to play Bale in the Vans place Crouch needs time to get the ball under control so he knocks it down to Defoe or Van . Modric was doing this job and he got sacrificed . This left Crouch isolated because our midfield was three against five Harry should have Taken Ekotto of and put Corluka or Palacios in midfield we can beat Inter but it will still be hard and they wont be slowing down at the lane . The new Football is attack and defend in the same numbers with high tempo Speed when i see Spurs players hunting in packs and chasing the ball dominating it for both half's my blogs messages will change or this new way of playing should be stopped and Sat will be no different to Inter they showed against Liverpool there Tempo his now at very High just like last year the more players they lost the better they played Remarkable because we play rubbish work that out and you will no why Wigan beat Spurs one nil.. its no longer a funny old game but deadly serious. Coys
Still sinking in. Spurs in the San Siro. Hedonistic days we live in.
I'm actually thinking the Twente game will be more of a challenge than the Inter one. I think Inter will play to defend and steal a goal. Twente will come at us like possessed dogs. Can't afford another Young Boys / Inter first 10 minutes performance again.
Outside of the obvious, one of the highlights for me was when we cheered every pass in a 20-30 pass string of ours in their half of the pitch. I think we were 4-1 down at the time and the irony of our cheers put a huge smile on my face.
Only at Spurs.
What DAVSPURS said.
@Canada Yid: Yes! It was also heartening that you could hear the away section singing at the beginning of the second half, even though it looked like we might be in for 45 more minutes of hell, while the rest of the San Siro was crickets and silence.
We'll finish top of the group. Wait and see.
Easy there Killjoy, let's not get ahead of ourselves.
Spooky, you pinned the tail on the monkey once again!
When the match was over, I kept forgetting we didn't actually win! And the funny thing is, no one could understand the joy I felt or why I was buzzing so hard after the match, the lads surely thought I went off mi bleeding trolley.
Lennon I think may be showing signs that he's ready to get back in the game again....I still hope for the day where Bale and Lennon consistently confuse and agitate defenses.
I thought that between the 68th second and the moment BAE started his sprint backwards for the second goal that we looked decent. Thud was getting plenty of space and if we had Pav on instead of Crouch (yes yes the zonal marking piece I know) and didnt concede the second when we did then we would have gained a decent foothold in the match. Would have been a totally different story.
Inter are good. Very good. But...they were not 4 goals better than us by HT. One of the few things I agreed with during the ITV commentary was that you couldnt judge/compare either team last night because of what happened in the first 10 mins. 2-0 down and with 10men...second choice keeper...playmaker sacrificed......shellshocked.
We, despite everything that has been said, were not 3 goals better than inter in the second half. They slowed down. If it had gotten to 4-3 by 80mins they would have stepped it up again. It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if we both had 11 men and we started properly.
We might have matched them. Anyway that doesn't matter now...its done...well done everyone for not crawling into a hole and shipping 6 or 7...and Baler...I fucking love you too.
At the lane it will be a very different story. Inter wont sit back...Rafa will want to shut the crowd up by going at us from the off...this time though .... at the lane....the lads will have no excuses for a performance like the first half last night. We'll be 1 up inside 8 minutes.
I also think that Bale's performance will be a bloody monkey on his back now.....he's a fucking beast....the most exciting player we've had for a long time..possibly since Ginola (obviously more consistent). I really hope Defoe returns soon and hits the ground running and that vdV keeps playing well to keep some of the pressure off Bale.
Let's not forget he's young and has only been in this form for a relatively short time... I hope Harry does the arm around the shoulder trick because after last night he's gonna be more of a target than ever...for other players/managers and the fucking press selling him to every club in Europe.
Tottenham. Cant smile without you......
(even the wife was gripped ...she came into the kitchen to tell me what was happenin in The Apprentice just as Bale slammed in the second and I nearly crashed through the table!...she didn't leave till FT but was screaming at the telly when we had the ball at 4-3 "give it to Bale" - she's not much of a footy fan but knew to leave me alone during the first half...she didnt really know who bale was until last night either....but she got a quick infofile after he hit the 3rd ...then at FT asked me to compare him to Giggs ...I love her I really do!!!)
Gc . what Davspurs says mean fuck all in English i have written my Blog in Latin so the Spanish one cant sue me for talking like therumourman he has discovered what Benitez meant when he said on sky sport in Spain they have a saying white liquid in a bottle is milk Fergie said sometimes you look at a cow in the field and you think its better than your cows this his not always the case and your own cows are just has good. and you GC are asking what Davspurs his saying/ I will translate from Latin into English Tempoara isa oat of the whitea batatle and in Latern it means Benitz white liquid in the Bottle his not Milk ; Fergie means UTD are in so much dept they are looking at cows because they lie down when it rains and protect the pitch and you guessed it you get white liquid in a bottle. Hope that helps Gc LOVE AND ALWAYS A SPURS EVEN 4-0 DOWN DAVSPURS
just got back from what turned in to be sort of a great night , all thanks to Bale, first half was shocking and the Italians were mocking me but after the game they were awfully quiet and wondering how much that Bale character would set em back on the market ...
JJ bad first half , good second. Defence , shocking and Crouch , well he had a rough night
1. Great pun headline.10/10
2. Defensively embarrassing. Thank God we don't play this mob every week.
3. Don't get carried away by the utterly brilliant and faultless Bale. There is so much work to do in the return game - and we're so short of genuine top class in key areas.
4. In a mixture of pessimism and optimism, think we can lose at the Lane and still qualify, as Inter have yet to play Bremen. Don;t doubt we'll beat Bremen at home...and look good for at least a point in Holland. Bremen 1-1 v Twente last night a kind result for us.
Unless I have missed it in all these wonderful blogs, how disgraceful in this era of "respect" to see the fat Spanish waiter brandishing the imaginary red card after the Gomes debacle. I truly hope that Benitez gets his just desserts on 2nd November. Can't wait !!
I went around to my mate Joes house who is also a spurs fan. I was just taking my coat off when it was 1-0. I had just been handed the first beer when it was 2-0 and was reaching for the bombay mix when it was 3-0. At 4-0 I was going to go home to watch the apprentice. The kids went out the back in the dark to play real football. We stuck in there and had a few more beers and remained fully on the tottenham rollercoaster. Great second half performance from almost everyone bar keane. The fact remains though none of our defenders are good enough. We will not progress without a proper defensive platform. We cannot rely on king anymore - too much disruption. the best pairing for me would be kaboul and dawson. Woodgate will not be back in any capacity and Gallas is past it. We will qualify from this group and then you never know - it is knockout. I fully agree that we are almost 1 0 5 0 at the moment.
To blame Jeans for the first goal is delusional after seeing Hutton run out of position like a buffoon.
And to think I predicted a 0-0 result. Haha!
Hutton and Modric should never have started this game. Kranjcar must be REALLY pissing Harry off somehow.
got some respect from this at the end of the day. will need to go and buy= resurrect a working back line as once the bale giddiness has worn off
they were not top table