If football matches ended at 80 mins we'd be laughing
Monday, February 1, 2010 at 11:25AM Happy with the point? I got told I should be content because Birmingham are a decent side who have lost only once in the Prem recently and are very difficult to break down at home. In what was a horrible match (let's face it) they never looked all that and if it wasn't for yet another illustration of some textbook imperfections in our team we would have won. Instead, at the final whistle, we had made it to 5 points lost (in the final 10 minutes of a game). Five points that would have us in a far more comfortable position currently, with City's games in hand to come.
Instead, we are clinging on (4th) for dear life. Crisis in N17!!
Let's review.
First Half
Huddlestone and Palacios doing okay and Bale continuing his good form. There was balance through-out the side and shockingly, David Bentley was doing the simple things and doing them well. Nothing extraordinary but considering his troubles, this was assured from the almost forgotten man. Defensively, fine. Although there was the odd early scare and Gomes was also tested. The imperfections were in the final third of the pitch. One massive chance, Modric shooting wide. Not enough in front of goal. Wasn't a sexy opening 45 minutes and even though we've played 100 times better, you sensed we were on top of it. Slowly gyrating and fumbling in the dark, rather than going at it hammer and tongs with the lights on.
Second Half
Plenty more possession. Around the 60th minute mark I found myself hoping for some sort of shift in gear. A change of tempo. It's part of our footballing make-up that isn't quite right. Plenty of foundation, not enough glitter. Birmingham had shown very little in response so the game was there for the taking. So when we went 1-0 up, that was it. Or at least, it should have been. Instead the game opened up more, end to end, and that ominous smell of disappointment began to drift in, with nose-pegs kept handy for the inevitable.
We failed to slow the game down, take the zing out of it. Control it by retaining possession and dictating the pace. We always seem to lack the right level of leadership here. A Tottenham stamp of authority imprinted onto the game.
We then went from a period of sustained possession to allowing them to hold onto the ball and play it forward. And once more, with the ball back with us, we opted to rush forward for a 2nd when time wasting or retention was the better option. They attack, Corluka MIA and its 1-1.
Reaction to draw
Not disappointed. Angry. I don't care for their home record against top sides. We lost because we switched off. I blame Kaboul. We officially signed him just before the Brummies scored. You maniac! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you to hell!
Yet another late goal. We need to be turning early possession into goals.
We didn't test their keeper enough.
There's not enough creative juice up front.
And we don't seem to know what it is we are meant to be doing in the final quarter.
Hold onto the ball, defend deep and ball win or attack attack attack and seek out a second with the risk of conceding an equaliser?
Defoe and Crouch
Becoming one dimensional. Ball to Crouch, flick on, Defoe unaware of position to receive ball, opportunity wasted.
Although the one time it did work was when Crouch dived low to back-flick header the ball into Defoe's path, who lashed it past Joe Hart from about eight yards out. Genius assist, right?
If we had Berbatov and Keane (circa you know when) we'd be top.
Glug glug.
Substitutions
Not sure why we had to make them. If it was to perhaps add some inventiveness into the side, craft something out and make Birmingham chase us, it didn't quite work. But then again what do you expect when the two players are Keane and Jenas? Harry should have kept it tight. Although to be fair to Keane, he did alright in keeping the ball. JJ has now gone beyond the point of no return. He's obviously a decent lad but he's painfully annoying to watch as a footballer.
I've often commented that if Dave Mackay turned up and found himself locked out of his home he'd take a step back and then rush forward with menace, shoulder barging his way through the door before using body parts pulled off Chuck Norris to repair the damage and then sleeping on top of a harem of women.
Jenas would search for a spare key under the door mat and upon failing to find one proceed to ride various London night bus routes until well past dawn before returning to his home to call a locksmith.
Subs in games such as this, at 1-0, need to be match-defining.
The 80th Minute Curse
If we are 1-0 up with 10 minutes to go, expect to drop two points. Yes, we should have won, but this season is jam-packed with 'shoulds'. We still lack the ability to kill teams off and then kill the game off. It's actually a nice problem to have. Honestly. Think about it. If Harry works out the solution and the players work that harder to make sure we keep it together as a unit, then we'll be laughing rather than wiping away the tears. Sadly, the one player we need - a midfield uber-leader - is the one player we won't be signing this Jan window. The problem being, there is no such player in our radar.
We are not a bad side. The hope is that the players have it in them. Might have been a last minute goal, but the game was lost in the prior 89 minutes.
Form wise - at the moment - we are not clinical enough to make something out of all the possession we have. There is no ruthlessness. But let's not pretend it wasn't there earlier in the season.
We seem to be naïve. Corluka rushing forward, losing the ball, not getting back in time to have a clue who to cover.
All eyes on Harry.
Positives
One defeat in twelve games (edit: It's two apparently). We're not getting out played. Bale is in superb form. Bentley is taking his chance and doing pretty okay with it. No showboating. Just hard work. With consistency and confidence, more might came. But everyone knows he'll be dropped the second Lennon is fit.
Player Ratings
Mainly 7/10 for all players. Bentley scores 7.7 and Crouch around 6. Poor, boring game with both keepers hardly with much to do. We miss Lennon and the out-let he provides along with the fact that he is the type of player that the opposing team have to work out a plan to attempt to stop him. We did enough to win the game, the very minimal requirement and then did enough to give it away.
Irony
We mugged them at WHL. They mugged us on Saturday.
Don't say it's true
We dropped plenty of points in 2006 which cost us 4th long before that fateful last day of the season. That year we were comfortable until the very end and only the one team was chasing us. This season, its altogether different.
Us, City, Villa, Liverpool and Everton (slowly creeping back into it) are wanting it. For me, it's Villa who look the strongest. City second. Not convinced by Liverpool. The gap between this group and Utd/Chelsea is closing but its still miles and miles apart. As seen by how United out-classed Arsenal. We have to be better than this group before worrying about the top 2. And at the moment I'd say we're ahead of Liverpool and Everton. We'll find out more when we play in the...
Cup Final
At home. To Villa. We could pretend we're playing West Ham and wipe the floor with them. Huge game this. Test of character, belief. Test of Harry's tactics and one that will either signal yet another assault on retaining 4th spot or the realisation that the season will be lost if the players continue to fail digging deep.
Leeds Away
Can we just stick three past them and be done with it?
COYS
Reader Comments (33)
what? we didn't win? Hang on. I know I left a few minutes early to miss the traffic leaving what was the worse set of home fans I've ever seen but surely we didn't concede when I left?
I won't believe it. As far as I'm concerned we won 1-0. Good solid performance and keeping up with the other 4th place contenders. Stuff you and you're made up last minute equalisers. If I didn't see it, it didn't happen.
We might be better off believing Villa are Burnley or even Scunthorpe!
I'm still undecdied about the 1 point at B'ham. Yes, we should have won but they have only lost 1 in 15 and hardly conceded any goals. Is a draw at their place a good result? Only time will tell at the end of the season as to whether it was 2 points dropped or 1 point gained. Games against Villa and Citeh are now 6-pointers - if can;t beat them, we really don't deserve to finish above them. Our run-in is a joke; can only hope that ManUre, Arse and Chelski are all involved in CL still or have given up hope of the title. I fear that we've dropped too many points already to have 4th place in our destiny.
If it had been JJ for THudd, I think we'd gotten away with it. Bentley was actually keeping the ball so no idea why Harry decided to sub him instead of Big Tom who was completely worn out.
We've lost 4th. Is best to just admit this and move on. We would have all been content with 5th or 6th at the start of the season. Anything more than that would be exceptional.
Draw at Birmingham a good result? Have you all gone mad? Of course it isn't and it is that silly attitude that causes us to drop points in games like these. If we had tunrned up and played anywhere near our best (which we haven't for many weeks now) we would have won the game comfortably. We are stagnating, Defoe could do with being dropped as he really needs a rocket up his ar*e, as usual, thinks he has made it before he actually has. We are clueless without Lennon, Adam Johnson anyone???? Happy with a draw to crap teams mentatlity of the fans is exactly the same attitude the players have had for a long time and the very reason we fail to deliver. Ask yourself this, would Fergie, Wenger,Ancelotti or even Mancini be haapy with a draw? Plain answer is not on your nelly!
Face it Spooky, with Levy's transfer restrictions and Harry's penchant for signing not really good enough players for some reason (can't be finance related surely!) the season is over regards CL qualification. We couldn't beat a crap Liverpool side or for that matter Hull, Stoke, Woves, Villa or Everton and nothing is going to change before the end of this season.
With Little and Large up-front (only not as funny...and that's saying a lot) it took a well-rehearsed comedy routine to score on Saturday. If Large had done what he intended then we wouldn't even have scored and probably lost the game. Without Lennon we are toothless as an attacking force. Modric runs all over the place biut can't shoot, Huddlestone sprays predictable, elegant 30-yard passes to wide players but can't score to save his life, Palacios has become the veritable bull in a china shop and we have 2 dodgy centre-backs (make that 4 now with Kaboul).
We desperately needed a mid-field general (preferably to be captain), a striker who knows how to work to create chances and then convert them rather than making opposition goalkeepers look good and some tactical coaches who can produce game plans that work.
As we have recruited none of the above I predict that this will be another season of "consolidation" with a 7th or maybe 8th place finish, as I predicetd at the start of the season. I understand the need for financial caution but question the wisdom of commitiing millions to a new stadium (at least in theory...I'm not sure I believe Levy really intends to build it) when we don't have a team that will attract enough people to watch it.
I will support Spurs to the end but as the end gets closer every season I'm really P****d-off that when the opportunity to move to a different level presnts itself, Levy is too stingy to make it happen.
'One defeat in twelve games. We're not getting out played.'
It's two losses in twelve; crisis? Of course not, as you say, we're not getting out played. If anything, it's us that are doing the outplaying, but four of the draws in those 12 games should have definitely been wins.
That's 8 points thrown away. The reason? Not enough quality up top.
Redknapp has bought poorly upfront and it will (has) cost us fourth place.
Author of comment - defeatism won't get you anywhere fast.
I did a quick fag packet calc a week or so ago and calculated our points per game, multiplying it up by 38 to see what the end total would be (flawed I know but was curious). The answer would have got us 5th place in the last three seasons. Given current form I think that would be both fair and a good achievement. Time to kiss off 4th unless we suddenly become as good without Lennon as we are with him.
Keane is still with us. Pav is still with us. For all the talk about new forwards and DM's we've gone for the wrong options. Spooky - this is 2006 all over again.
This is only me jesting but could somebody hit the man who puts the overtime board up with a few coins because we seem to panic like the Zulus are coming and retreat the whole team not just one or two and i blame Dawson and King..They are senior players who hold the record for late goals conceded under Robertsons i am a shot stpopprer only rein ,remember West Ham at home leaading one nil overtime finished m.Dawson back heads the ball for a corner surly the ref would blow its well over no he gave it over comes the ball Robbo trip Dawson and King and up pops Ferdinand for is firsts goal 1-1 and there was plenty more .These two dont work well together because Dawson seems to make mistakes Fulham in Midweek he made a couple with Bassong and the Captains arm band he shouted pointed brought Gomes of his line and scored a few. King has lost is presence and is just glad to be playing and at the end of games he cant spring on his bad knee and was way below there center forwards Jerome .These late goals killed us under Jol we concede a record eight times in overtime and four times under Harry till Gomes got is act together and punched caught crosses but what has happened to him is the same problem injuring himself if you watch the game he was still whincing when he dived and for the goal he went to come for Mcfaddens cross and then done a robbo followed the ball accross goal till he couldn't get back in front of Rrdgwell to block the shot . Three players contributed to the goal Bale not closing down Carr's cross Dawson for not heading ball away from danger King for not being able to Jump with is bad knee.A heartbreak point that feels like a loss get rid of the board and give time keepers the job then we wont panic when the dreaded board goes up.Lets hope this point wins us top four then it wont feel has bad .COYSTFAFAC
Davspurs,
We make mistakes, who doesn't? You're barking at the wrong end of the tree.
Do you think Manure's message boards will full of comments moaning that they let a goal in or who was to blame for it?
We're not scoring enough goals.
Does immodium work if the diarrhoea is coming out of the other end? Hope so mate
Davspurs- I think corluka had to be to blame more than any of them for letting ridgewell get in behind him. He turned on the spot and didn't move. I like corluka he has a good head on his shoulders but he is too slow for the premiership, both mentally but mainly physically. If we could merge hutton's speed with corluka's defensive knowledge we'd have the best right back in the world! .....I think.
I've said all along I don't think we will get 4th, 5th is more likely. I disagree with you about villa being the biggest threat spooks. I think Man City are by far the biggest threat since mancini took over, although I'm still wondering when the honeymoon period will wear off. Liverpool are looking shakey still and villa have been dropping points here and there also. I just feel that we are more likely to take points off the other contenders than villa are.....but I may have just jinxed us!
I must say i'm looking forward to wednesday night. I've not been to elland road before. Hopefully it will be a good night.
Losing late goals is classic spurs, as scoring them is for man u. Man U love winning hate defeat, really hate it, especially now at the business end of the season. Our players / club's attitude is "just enough will do", when in fact we don't have the concentration / desire to see the game out and win. I really think the players dislike losing, but they don't hate it.
Jenas on 89 minutes, Birmingham score on 90th minute? coincidence?
Very frustrating.....one minute we are in total control, the next (in injury time) we are conceding a very poor goal. That ruthlessness is what we miss. In front of goal, pressing home our advantafe and seeing out tight games.
It does not help that we don't have an inform striker to bring in for Defoe. He looks a bit jaded to me. A rest would do him good, but Keane's legs look to have gone and Pav is, at best, totally unpredictable and injured anyway. The same goes for Crouch...if long ball is failing why bring on Keane or Pav who are probably no better. At least Gudjohnsen soles that problem a bit, assuning he comes to us with some form.
Massive series of games coming up - Villa (h) Wolves (a) Wigan (a) Everton (h). Really, we should be winning all of those. That would have the double affect of boosting our confidence (and obviously keeping in or about 4th) while beating rivals to keep them at arms length. Anything less than 10 points would be a poor return and will see us start to fall back, IMO.
As many others have said one problem.....one word.......Jenas
1-1 at Birmingham would actually have been an okay result in isolation. However, on top of the squandered points at Everton (still gives me nightmares) and Villa as well as silly points dropped at home, it is becoming something of a mini crisis Champions league teams simply do not throw these sort of points away (certainly not as consistantly as we do). Even though we still inhabit 4th, i would say of the 4 chasing it we are at third favourites behind City and Liverpool(falling to rank outsiders if we lose to Villa)
"Three players contributed to the goal Bale not closing down Carr's cross Dawson for not heading ball away from danger King for not being able to Jump with is bad knee"
What about sleeping Charlie? Corluka was supposed to be picking up the man at the far post yet in strolls Ridgewell, goal side of the defender and gets a free shot. What about the Spurs player who played the ball from their half all the way back to their striker in our half? ...you know who he is, the man we no longer call the enigma, the man who for so long divided opinion who has now brought about a commom consensus with almost all Spurs fans that he really is shit... we call him (amoung other things) JJ!
erm....I think we're doing OK really.
Considering we've got a manager who's record of achievement is pretty flimsy, a 'lttle' ground with Championship capacity and a salary cap that puts the 'Big' named players looking at other options like Wolves and Burnley rather than us....
I think we're doing OK.
We need to win 10 more games.
Anything less, kiss it goodbye.
Consider it kissed.
Harry's fault. Wrong tactic trying to defend a 1 nil lead camped in your penalty box. Substitutions, in what turned out to be the final 15 minutes, were piss poor in that they conveyed a positive "go get 'em" message to the opposition. With Defoe and Bentley off, their back four could comfortably push upfield. It also conveyed a defensive "sit tight boys" message to our lot. If that wasn't Harry's intention, then he should have been screaming at the touchline as soon as he saw our lot circle the wagons, hoof the ball anywhere and wait for the next assault. Man management and an arm round the shoulder are well and good but a firecracker up the rear especially towards the end when players are tiring, losing concentration and just going through the motions works wonders. Just ask Old Red-Nose or Arse'n. Com'on Harry. Com'on Spurs.
I knew JJ would get the blame. He gets slagged off when he doesn't play so he's bound to be at the heart of it when he comes on after 89mins.
And then you people expect someone to take your other comments seriously.
Substitutuions shoudl not be allowed in the final ten minutes. They are oure timewasting gamesmanship and therfore ungentlemanly conduct.
At the time of posting Harry now has five strikers to manage having admitted he couldn't handle four. I know a story about that.
Lads, a question (or two) on performance so far this season. How many times have we "lost" and how many times have we been "beaten"?
In my opinion, we've been beaten twice!!
the marsh-dwellers got lucky.
'We could pretend we're playing West Ham and wipe the floor with them'
A tactical masterstroke if ever I heard one.
To the person/s who still defend JJ:
Why?
I'm sure the ribbing (by Spooky) is in jest but the lad (JJ not Spooky) does nothing to warrant any positives. He is dysfunctional (still referring to JJ) and limp in effort.
If I'm missing something please point it out.
Jimmy G2. I would love to not blame Jenas, BUT, he did give the ball away outside their box (quite cheaply), then after motoring back to defend he played off his man and let the cross get in to the far post. Now we can all say Bale should have done better, and that Dawson or Corluka should have done better, but it would all be a moot point if the cross were choked out in the first place. As to the 5 strikers, I think 'Arry has a plan. He'll play Crouch and Defoe and since we now reportedly only have one RB we'll play Keane or Jenas there. It was always the plan. Short of winning the rest of our games til April, 4th is done like last night's meatloaf.
I have been saying this for a long time now - we needed to Beat liverpool at Anfield, Villa at home and City away to have any chance of finishing 4th. We lost to Liverpool, so we need to beat Villa, City and I guess Arsenal at home or Chelsea to be in with a shout, along with picking up the other points at our current rate and yes that includes beating Everton at home also.
COYS
Seemed like, once again, we were the better side away from home against another fairly decent side. This team seems to not quite believe the evidence that they produce. They are good enough to beat most of the teams around them, home and away, but they, in the style of Danny Dyer, 'can't get their faackin nut raaand it'.
The team is fine, but when they needed the steadying hand of their manager late on, with a couple of key subs/tactical directions, all they get is Harry's pathetic minions (Keane and JJ) coming on to do precisely fuck all. JJ is the worst tracking midfielder in the known galaxy. He's got the energy in abundace, but is so fucking thick that he will track back but forget to actually fucking do anything once he has got back. You could count the amount of tackles he makes in a season on one hand. He just stands their like he's waiting for someone to tell him what do do. As for Keane, he looks like hes running around in his fucking pants and vest like some 7 year old.
Harry, show your team how to close out a game. Clearly the lessons of everton were not learned. Its no fucking use plying well for 60, 70, 80 or even 90 mins. 95 mins all the way, with substitutes who will helpp achive this late in the game. To go one or two up away from home, then switch off, is pointless. The team seemed clueless as to what they were doin gin the last 10 mins. They were seemingly intent on playing it into the corners from 80 mins onwards, a tactic bound for failure if ever ive seen one. How about this harry - play the same way for the last 20 mins as you have for the first 75, in which you have dominated and are winningt he game!! Its not fucking rocket science is it. The fact is if you put on 2 shit players, who are playing shit, then your team is going to be shitter than it was before. So stop it before you fuck things up irretreivably.
Well done Bentley btw, you have showed a lot of heart, and skill. We cant blame defeats/poor results on losing lennon. blame this one on tactical naivety, poor subs, and also the inability of our strikers to create anything of note.
and one more thing - if keanes 20mil transfer to liverpool was arguably the biggest megaflop deal of all time, then his 15 mil move back to spurs has to be in the top 5. Maybe number 1, because at least liverpool brought him on the back of some good form. The 15 mil we spent on him bakes 16 mil for darren bent look like a bargain. I honestly 'caant get me faaackin nat raaand it'. We paid 15 mil for Robbie keane. Now we are about to get rid of him for free!!! That makes harry the worst transfer wheeler dealer ever.
chrisman..... gooo on my sonnnnnnnnnn! loved it! nailed on! How often have we bottled it in the last 15 minutes of a game? 10 points often... that's how often.