Down to the wire
Sunday, March 21, 2010 at 10:25PM Three points away to Stoke. With Kaboul in midfield. And Pav off injured.
Sheeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiit.
Now that’s what I call digging deep. Was not a perfect performance by any stretch of the imagination. And even though we lived dangerously at times, we deserved it in the end. Crawl, walk and then run.
Massive selection gamble but one that Harry was forced into thanks to Wilson Palacios and his collection of yellow cards. Younes Kaboul slotting into central midfield. And it worked. Wouldn’t want to see it that often but with no other obvious options, YK did a job and did it just better than okay without it being exceptional. Less said about his shooting boots the better.
With each game, we seem to lose a player and yet we continue to overcome.
Losing Pav early on (having lost Defoe to injury in the week) has me thinking that somewhere in the upper regions of the stands hides a sniper, with a rifle armed with bullets forged with disdain for our beloved club. Fired by a crack marksman from a clandestine organisation. His mission objective? To shot down Tottenham players to aid the retention of the Sky Sports Four. So enter the Iceman, Eidur Gudjohnsen. Bullet-proof. And once more, we overcome.
First half was a little non-descript. Delap throwing the ball in from distance. Gomes dealing with most of them by scrambling them away (cue missed heart-beats) which made the game a tad more exciting - although quite clearly the wrong type of excitement. Bale had a decent run at goal, defended well by Stoke (Faye getting the tackle in). I can’t say I remember any other worthy goal mouth incident for us. It was crying out for some sort of breakthrough to kick-start the game. It was physical, as expected. Just needed to see us do more than what we were doing. Which at half-time was simply dealing with the home side. Stoke were textbook, set pieces their main weapon.
Second half, different story. 20 seconds in and Eidur thumps the ball in having received it from a Crouch assist (yes, Peter Crouch, don't playa hate) showing strength to make it 1-0. Fantastic effort. That was the breakthrough moment.
Inspired we changed gear and tormented Stoke, piling on the pressure. Whitehead goes off for a second yellow and we continue to dominate play. This is more like it. Playing the game to OUR tempo. Eidur in the hole, looking the part. Modric showing similar guile and influence in the middle that we are usually accustomed to seeing from the left. It was now quality V effort and we were destroying them.
Then a commercial break interrupted proceedings.
Corluka has words with BAE, something about leaving his defensive duties behind whilst going forward. There’s a few expletives exchanged, and Benny pushes Charlie in the stomach. Obviously not accepting the criticism/advice from the Croatian. A man must have a code. Assou-Ekotto’s is ‘don’t mess with me’.
Thankfully it ended there. Well actually no. Seems it was still playing out in Bennys head. Having failed to take down Corluka, BAE decides to go one better soon after, giving away a clumsy penalty by climbing all over Kitson. Obviously our left-back was in need for more touchy-feely action. The ref points to the spot. It's a balls-up, Spurs style.
Up steps Etherington (the git), and it’s 1-1. Having absolutely battered them since going one up we're pegged back. ‘We’re gonna throw this away’, the collective thought of thousands of Spurs fans no doubt. I had such fuckin’ hopes for us.
'It's all in the game'
Here is where there is still room for improvement. Call it a crisis of leadership. We – the fans – can see the quality of the players we possess in the side, injuries or no injuries. Add to it the fact that even at 1-1 we were the better team, so composure was required. Take the ball back and control the game. I just think we're still missing a player of the ilk of a true captain. Someone to just shake the players up a bit and get them to react instantly, rather than perhaps live on the edge for a bit before finally (sometimes) rediscovering the stamp of authority to win through.
Better than Stoke and yet it could have been 2-1 to them had Ricardo Fuller scored. Don’t care how he managed to spoon the ball over from six yards out, but well done that man. The 10 men started to look the ones more likely to edge ahead. So much for that extra bit of quality in our side, another obvious collective thought shared amongst plenty.
And then, as if by magic. 2-1 Spurs. And the game changes again. BAE released by Bale, crossing it in and the superb Gudjonsen, full of Viking strength and smarts, steps over the ball allowing Niko Kranjcar to smash it into the goal. Happy now, bitch? No idea if Benny shared a smile with his team-mates, but I wasn’t alone in punching the air and grinning from ear to ear. Don’t matter how many times you get burnt, you just keep doin’ the same. Faith, patience. It pays off in the end. Right?
So into the final 10 minutes we go. Tuncay on for the home side. And I’m begging Spurs to play intelligent keep-the-ball football. Instead we give free-kicks away in and around the box. Defended well – how great was Crouch in stopping the bombardment through-out the game? – but we still managed to almost fuck it up again. Sidibe failing to get to the ball before Gomes, Dawson and Bassong the culprits who seemed to forget the art of defending in what could have been a soul-destroying few seconds. The Gods will not save you. But at least on Saturday they smiled in our direction.
2-1, full time. Three points. GTFI.
There was character and heart and some tasty football – as a unit of players and from individuals. And we rode our luck, as you need to on occasions. That’s now four wins on the trot with around five or so guaranteed first team players out. Credit where it’s due. Well done to Harry and the players. I’m proud and you should be too. If I hear music, I’m gonna dance.
I did enjoy seeing the players celebrate at the end. They knew how important it was and how tricky the Stoke away fixture is. The big plus was Gudjohnsen. We finally got to see why he was signed. And just how effective he can be, dropping back and allowing the midfield to push forward. The clever interchanging of passes between Eidur and the midfield adds an important dimension to our play. He's like a refined version of Robbie Keane without the countless boyhood clubs and pointy shouty antics.
Going by Harry’s points-required-total, we now need 13 from the remaining 8 games. Four wins and a draw. Let’s just round that off to five wins then.
It’s a thin line between heaven and here. Liverpool lost, Villa stuttered. Tottenham, still 4th. Two points ahead of 5th spot City (winners today at Fulham) who have a game in hand and are probably considered the favourites to claim fourth. No doubt, with each passing week - it will keep on changing. Pressure on them. Pressure on us. Pressure on us all.
Dope on the damn table.
Reader Comments (63)
"He's like a refined version of Robbie Keane without the countless boyhood clubs and pointy shouty antics."
Almost pissed my britches after reading that bit.
I honestly believe our lack of quality cover due to injuries and players on loan is going to catch up with us eventually.
Its one thing beating Stoke and Blackburn but on current form and with our current team/ bench, I think we will struggle against the Sky 3 and Man City.
We need to get a few key players back asap but given the clubs previous hopeless predictions re the recovery from injury by Modric and Lennon, I seriously question whether their current estimates of a couple of weeks out for Defoe, Lennon and Hud are just wishful thinking.
I assume the only loan player we can recall is Naughton and even he might be needed as we seem to have no other cover at rightback. Suspect he could also play right midfield in an emergency, but its far from ideal.
David, I'm as much a realist as you are, but I have to disagree with you; while you're right, beating Blackburn or Stoke is but a part of the puzzle, our form, despite injury, is tremendous: we've put together four wins on the bounce in the league and are unbeaten in 7 in all competitions. Stoke away IS a tricky fixture, and certainly one whereby other "big" clubs have faltered this season. Blackburn and Everton at home were games which in seasons past we could have easily slipped up on, and Wigan, on their donkey muck pitch, presented a challenge many thought we would shirk. In fact, if we were to ignore that one abhorent loss to Wolves for the sake of argument, we'd have to go back to January to find the last time we were significantly beaten by more than a one goal margin, to Liverpool. Having played 30, we've only lost 7 games all season.
Yes, we could do with fewer injuries, but we're not alone in playing some pretty tough fixtures over the next 8 games. The players that have come in have seized their chances- look at Pav, Bale & Bentley. There is a will to win here now that under Ramos and Jol I couldn't see, a cohesion and a belief that if we do our part, there's every chance we could take fourth. And you know what? We could. We really, really could.
COYS!!!!
Matty K, hope you are right, but the teams we have beaten recently are a level below the Sky 3 and there is also the matter of the players apparent lack of confidence/ belief when they come up against those 3 teams.
If we could get our key players back for those games then our chances would improve greatly.
The flip side is what happens if we get none of them back and lose a couple more to injuries/ suspensions ?
Our bench was short of expierience on Saturday and the thought of being forced to blood Parret, Livermore or Townshend against the Sky boys is a worrying one.
There again, even if we struggle to get points against those 3, if we can win most of the other matches we should still make fourth place!
Whatever happens, its been a fantastic season and if we can keep these players together for next season, the future really will be looking bright.
read this comment on another blog:
"Your team of cheating twiglet legged pansies will still be crying over being dumped out of the champions league by barca regardless of which day we play you. And when we beat you your lizard faced whinger of a manager will come up with his usual excuse that it's all a conspiracy to stop
you lot from winning anything. Hopefully he'll choke to death on a snail first and save us the misery of having to listen to his noxcious rubbish."
now the not so tricky but fun part, can anyone name the above team?
Picaso, I wish he chokes on a little penis not a snail. Also where's Chrisman, haven't heard from him since his guest appearance
Just seen a quote from Harry on the weekend that I hadn't seen before. I've heard BAE is a bit of a moody oddball, and Harry confirms it here:
Redknapp said: ‘Charlie (Corluka) was upset that he didn’t come back and do his job. Benoit is a strange boy. He’s a bit highly strung and hardly speaks English. If you say something to him he’s hard work. He hasn’t improved his English in the couple of years he’s been here.’
Asked why the player had walked off on his own, Redknapp replied: ‘He didn’t know the result! He probably thought we’d drawn.
‘He’ll turn up Wednesday and play great, but he won’t know we’re playing Fulham until someone tells him. That’s how he is. He’s unreal. He walks off and he’s thinking about the music he’s going to play when he puts his headphones on.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1259661/Stoke-City-1-Tottenham-2-Ice-cool-Eidur-Gudjohnsen-wont-feel-heat-Spurs.html#ixzz0izkZ04zz
Try this thing fellas:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/predictor/default.stm
You don't need to do all of the results, just Liv, Citeh, Villa and ours.
Try not to be biased.
Can't we get some sort of magic healing into our squad. Surely there must be some herb that Lennon can take to heal his groin - it might even work on the others too. It would be a sin against football for so many of our majestic players to be sidelined for the great matches. We are not being greedy - really wanna see Bale and Lennon being fed by Tom during the April trilogy. I hope Harry is researching every avenue and considering all potions to heal our wounded squad. Eileen Drury even - no stone should be left...
Skysports are reporting that Pav will be back in time for the Pompey game, at least thats a bit of better news - he did not have a hamstring injury after all.
We really need the Hudd & lennon back before the scum bags arrive at the lane on 14th.
COYS.
So happy with Gudjohnsen. He could be our Goose, You know, the ones that lays them golden eggs...
Sandro deal has been confirmed on official website, subject to medical and work permit application.
Guarantee that work permit is turned down....... yet if it was United, Chelsea, Arsenal or Liverpool it wouldn't be an issue!
Nice!
http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/articles/sando-deal-agreed-230310.html