Wigan 0 Spurs 3: From Russia with a smile
Monday, February 22, 2010 at 12:01PM It was no majestic execution of total football so don't expect a club dvd release of our 3-0 away day win in the marsh lands of Wigan. However, don't be dismissing the performance completley out of hand. Take some pride from the professional taking of three points, even if it took a couple of cameos to conslidate the victory.
That Harry sure knows how to make subsititions, hey?
Okay, so for long periods of the match there wasn't too much going on and even the goal scored by Defoe to stick us 1-0 up was blatantly offside, even if the build up play (Niko and Bale involved) was deserving of a more pure finish. Many thanks to the assistant referee and his reluctance to lift his flag for that piece of good fortune. If he had eyes we'd be all busy slating JD for getting a light year ahead of the last defender before the ball was crossed.
What we got out of this incident was the lead in a game we were comfortable in, which was great because we weren't exactly having many shots on goal. I'm not about to drum up the olde 'cutting edge and lack of' discussion because the pitch was a travesty. It's hard enough for us to create chances on a decent one so no shocker we muddled through this. We mixed it up a little, tried to pass it around and had Crouch as the option if we required a long punt forwards with accompanying knock-down 3 feet away from the feet of Defoe.
Game for me changed when Modric came on.
At the start of the afternoon I found myself nodding in agreement that the lickle Croatian was on the bench. Wasn't just about the state of the pitch either. He's been a little off-key so allowing him to come on and make an impact if need be suited me just fine. Because you could see early on it was going to be one of those games we'd have to bide our time with.
Ref was inconsistent, Defoe lucky (not just with the goal but with one or two tackles and a card - thankfully just yellow). It was fragmented and untidy. King leaving the pitch just after 50 minutes was no shocker. Surprised he was risked in this game considering (no offence) that Wigan are not exactly going to pose the type of threat Everton will this weekend. We could have easily gone missing, but thanks to Wigan's reluctance to play long balls it was a game where both sides tried - as much as possible - to play football. And as for the physicality, Wilson handled it along with the rest of our players. There was no pushing powder-puff Tottenham off the ball in this game (Wigan simply not strong enough to do so).
We had the best of it in the first half, went a bit quiet and then in came Modric (for Niko) and we looked good for a second goal. Because we all know we can't rest unless we get a second.
Crouch should have scored. He didn't. Failed to lift it over the keeper. Modric unlucky with his shot coming off the post and into Kirkland's hands. When Pav entered the field of play I had a gut feeling he would get onto the score-sheet.
Scoring twice was a bit lovely considering how he's not even meant to be in a Spurs shirt. Took his first goal with ease (Modric at the heart of it, threading the ball through to him after a determined run) and then his second (from a free-kick) coming after a save from his initial header, casually slotted in through a tight gap, again with ease and a smile.
It was almost like Roman was mucking about in the playground with his mates during lunch break. Compare his efforts to the over zealous efforts witnessed in recent games. Pav was cool and calm, a refreshing alternative that we've almost forgotten about devoid of any misplaced urgency or lack of confidence. I like this Pav, much more than the one that moans in the papers, but then you can understand why he moans when he's never played. Harry, bless him, scratching the back of his neck and shifting uncomfortably couldn't quite muster up a heartily pat on the back for the Russian. You'd have noticed his comment post-match was underlined with the suggestion that Pav is a good player when he can be bothered. Yes, Harry gave him a chance because he trained well (for once). Unlike all those other times when he didn't.
"He's fantastic, trffic, quality player, top class, blah blah"
Yes, yes, if you believed any of that he'd have played a ton more games than he has. If Pav is not training well then it's probably because he's a tad disillusioned. Stick him up front against Bolton and let's see if he can do the business again. Leave the favouritism alone for once. Suck it up and just give us what we want.
Yeah, I know, I've written off Pav plenty of times in the past. Let's face it, his first season was a mess and he'd not had a chance since. Most Spurs fans would agree, so call me a soppy romantic but my heart melted for the lad when he celebrated and more so when seeing the united front all his team-mates put up for him during and after the game. He's well liked. Which is a great achievement for someone who can't speak English.
So in the end we didn't suffer the usual indignity of a last minute equaliser thanks to the magic of Modic who glided around the mud pitch like a skater on ice and Roman's clinical finishing.
We dug deep, got lucky with an offside, still pretty much dominated the game and did our goal difference a world of good along with pushing ourselves up from 7th into 4th. Again.
Happy days.
Reader Comments (66)
hmm yes Harry can be a bit too stubborn. Fergie sometimes gives the impression of a schizophrenic with alzheimers he changes his tune on players so much. But that's his genius. He isn't at all precious about his own judgements and opinions. If it suits the team, and helps the team win, then he will have no problems tacitly admitting he is wrong. Look at Nani. You get the impression that it's waaaay more important to Harry that he's right. Why is this? It's because, at the end of the day, Fergie has literally millions of trophies and awards that say he is right. Harry has nothing. In the words of Tony, all he has is his balls and his word, and he wont break em for no one. And look how he ended up!
If Harry wants to have any chance of being a proper top 4 success, he needs to drop the 'principles' and outdated ideas on how players will behave. Yeah Keane was like a magical rainbow on the training ground. Pavlyuchenko was like the norovirus. So fucking what Harry? Honestly, apart from you, who gives a fuck? Meanwhile, Fergie is polishing his trophies and chuckling to himself at harry's prohibitive 'principles' while he flip flops on Nani for the millionth time (and nani inevitably plays brilliantly after he and Fegie have another public slanging match).
And as for the Pav poor form debate, never, EVER underestimate the power of the preseason!!! I'm willing to bet that the Pav we would have seen at the start of this season (and may well still see at some point) would have been a fitter, fresher, sharper and more PL savvy to the one we saw last season. So ok, last season he was....average, with flashes of real quality, but generally average...no better, no worse. Then consider the fact that he was probaly playing at about 60-70 percent capacity. Then consider whether it was really a good idea to consign him to the scrapheap of mediocrity. Then consider how good a fresh, fully rested, PL savvy Pav looked yesterday....It's a test of managerial skills how well you handle players, and usually the better a player is, the more difficult he is to handle. It's sad to say, but when you look at all the arrogant egos and prima donnas at Arsenal, Man U, Chelsea, you have to admit that if Harry was in charge of these squads he would have embarrased himself. He has already embarrased himself with Pav. Did you see the mug on it when Pav scored? Get over yrself dear.
"It was almost like Roman was mucking about in the playground... cool and calm, a refreshing alternative that we've almost forgotten about devoid of any misplaced urgency or lack of confidence" - spot on spooky. You dont need to be madly running about the pitch like crazy lunatic to score goals. pav is a smart player who knows when to switch gears. he didn't look lazy to me when he got the ball from modrich and slotted it into the net.
3 goals in less then 30 minutes of action (leeds + bolton), what a shame our manager is such an egomaniac.
Without a doubt we have the deepest team in the PL (at least midfields and strikers). As a monday-morning-quarterback, my only occasional frustrations with Harry are that he’s not using this luxury as often as he should. This time he did (Luka for Niko and Pav for JD) and the move paid off. Hope he’ll continue to mix it up and frustrate other teams instead of us.
Well deserved Pav! A start against Bolton is a must.
Tricky Bobby Zamora doesent look like a 5 millon pound player or damien Dunne this is the funny old game once said by that famous Russian player Greavosky
As usual a lot of slating about Harry. I'm not convinced his subs were that tactical. Ledders' knee was falling off again and JD was a decent chance to be sent off. But in Harry's defence, I've seen a lot less of jenas lately, which can only be a good thing.
I could not believe it when Pav came on for Defoe rather than Crouch.
Fifteen minutes later, I was happy to accept I was wrong.
Despite this, would still like to see Pav and Defoe starting.
Love the Russian thought of the week Spooky. Nice to see Pav produce the goods. Still unsure about his strength against some of the more bruising full backs in the PL but a bit of subtlety and creativity is probably what we need to break down 10 man defences because the alternatives aren't working. Modric was more like his old self too. So well done to Harry for some inspired subs for a change that turned what looked like another dire performance into something worth getting excited about again.
Супер, супер Пав.
Супер, супер Пав.
Супер, супер Пав.
Супер Павлюченко.
I think Harry took Defoe of before he got sent off jermain needs to calm down a bit he is very angry and could be over is poor brothers death and he needs to have some therapy it was not just the Wigan game but in other games.We fans need to understand this to be a manager is a lot harder than just picking a team on different blogs you can only play 14 players with subs we had two many players and not enough games. How do you keep every player happy the answer you cant and every time harry has tried he has faled and the fans have savaged him . The one place i wont stand up for Harry his is lack of media skills and sometimes i feel like our club is on big brother. Harry has worrying court proceedings to deal with over tax avoidance and judging by todays papers a lot of Footballer.So if we want to have a great season then we need to stand has one voice behind all our players and Harry and we will in his twilight years win the Cup and the fourth spot and that great chant from our great supporters will be heard at Wembley and all over Europe in the champions league GLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRYYYYYYYY TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR ONCE AGAIN. COYSSTAYLOYALTOALL
i have to admit that i missed the game on sunday! my 4 mth old grandson being somewhat attention grabbing., but i cannot see whtat the argument is over pav. he has come on twice and scored 3 goals in 30 mins play. he is either very lucky or quite good, and i dont really care which - if we have been suffering from a goal drought recently (a pity that we have had absolutely nothing contributed from midfield if the forwards have dried up for a while) then we need any help we can get, and pav would seem to offer that.
i respect harry for the progress we have made under his leadership, but he does have to be able to eat shit once in a while. we are not manure or chelski yet, and have a way to go, so we really really need to take every opportunity we get. PLEASE!. cant he get the whole squad working together (but not against him) and try to finish the season as we started it, with harry, the players and the fans all going in the same direction - UP!
"In the words of Tony, all he has is his balls and his word, and he wont break em for no one. And look how he ended up!"......
chrisman, I presume you mean Tony Soprano..... How did he end up????????
Fingers crossed for lennon today!
DAV, you off your medication? ;-)
we can't spell his name. We can't spell his name. Pavlyuchenko pavlychenko we can't spell his name
ha tonyblue....no not Tony Soprano...but Tony Montana.
chrisman:.
Ah, that Tony!!!!!