Spurs win again
Sunday, March 28, 2010 at 2:23AM Uninspiring 90 (and some) minutes of football at the Lane. Said in my match preview all we had to do in-order to dismantle Pompey was to turn up. We hardly even did that. I didn't expect our lot to take it so literally. That's not a criticism, in fact to play without ever truly (having the need to) shift out of first gear and win against anyone is testament to the players. Patient play rather than panic mode.
We did enough and it was more than enough, if nowhere near exceptional. DVD on ice. Portsmouth were fairly woeful (and that's being kind). They had a couple of moments, nothing more. Didn't exactly dismantle them. Sort of just quietly gave them a dusting and placed them a box, pushing it under the bed for safe-keeping, tip-toeing away.
You'd think they'd give a better impression in the FA Cup semi-final, you'd hope at the very least if you're a neutral or one of their fans. But judging by this performance and the injury to Hreidarsson (not great to see), I think we can be quietly confident of safe passage to the final. Monumental if they managed to beat us in that. But as ever - let's not take anything for granted.
Back to Saturday - and no complaints. No point going overboard with match analysis either. It was all a bit damp out there. We won, nothing else matters at this stage. No rampant football, I need to stop expecting it when its most expected.
Palacios benched, midfield comfortable with Huddlestone continuing his return to first team action. Bentley also starting. BAE joining Wilson on the sidelines. Walker put on a decent showing, lots to learn but it's good to see we have another kid with bags of potential. Hopefully we can take better care of this one as he develops. Good game to début in too. Bale (that other kid who we almost failed) just continues to go from strength to strength.
Players doubling up on him is something that's becoming common practice as of late, but he just gets on with it. Love watching him, every time he charges and surges forward he looks like crafting some form of havoc for the opposing players. Wonderful pass to Crouchies head for 1-0. Walker involved in the second, cutting back for Modric who didn't quite connect but Niko was there to flick it in with his foot. Couple of wood-work bound efforts before that second goal and a few chances in a very low-key second half. Much ado about nothing tbh. And Pompey's moments served a purpose only to remind the players to present some quality to cement the victory. Which we did.
Second half really was that sleepy. Kaboul (on for Daws) tackle on Brown (who was lively) in the penalty area one of the highlights. Just for the sheer shock-value. Kanu could have done better with a chance but didn't. Pompey losing a couple more players to injury (including David James) to further compound their misery. Crouch (from another Bale supa-run) shooting just wide of the far post deep into extended injury time.
Comfortable sleepy comfortable stuff.
Dawson going off? Hopefully precautionary rather than another sodding hamstring.
Five wins in a row now for us. Dizzying stuff. We just don't want to let go of 4th. 7 games left.
Reader Comments (55)
hahaha spooky! the moment arsenal drop point, you start to daydream finishing above us!
we will get these two points back at WHL!
its not everyday that you have multiple starters returning from injury in the midst of an impressive winning streak....in couple weeks we could go from worrying about our depth to having a plethora of it...man, if we can rattle off 4 points in the Ars-Che-ManU run, you gotta think we can really pull this thing off...maybe its just me but I have a feeling Man City is really falling into a funk and i don't know if Villa can recover from what happened today...we're starting to peak at the perfect time.....let's keep it up...COYS!
Brook, the clue is in this ;)
Sunderland away is going to be touch. Score draw for me that one.
Villa have well and truly blown it today; forget them. City have tough games and will drop points (against us, the most telling). I'll tell you now, the scouse dirt bag bin dipping scum is our real threat, but we will succeed.
i wish the lads had looked at the score line (it was -2) could have doubled my money instead i pushed.
also i feel bale should have a goal or 5 to go along with his runs... so 'ave a few Gareth. Oh man does he make dominating runs... just think it would be nice to have a few shots and goals at the end. i think gareth could run through the whole team if he wanted and i wouldnt mind seeing him try.
Luka looking more comfortable in the middle... dont think it the best use of him. when everybody is healthy i think a 5 man midfield might be something we should seriously consider. may have to do with the fact that everybody--really--- seems to be playing well given the opportunity.
Tot ManC Liv AstV
Points 58 53 51 51
G R 7 8 7 7
h&a 3&4 5&3 4&3 3&4
Cups (g) 1(1+) 0(0) 1(1+) 0(0)
g 20-14 2 3 3 3
g 13-8 1 1 3 2
g 7-1 4 4 1 1
sky 4 3 2 1 0
With a couple of decent signings and a (no lose) 4-2-3-1 formation away from home next season, we'll lose next to no games and could challenge.
Get a world class striker in and we're set to go.
In the mean time, let's finish 4th and win The Cup.
that didnt come out right. but its a little spread sheet i have been doing for the last month or so. pool will have a tough time but them and Villa have very simple run ins. we have the advantage but probably the hardest run in.
the only thing this had really told me is that it is up to us (which is nice) to perform.
COYS
With a 7 pt lead, if we take 12 pts from our last 7 games, we will be 19pts above Villa and Pool. That means they need to win EVERY game to finish above us. I just don't see the maths adding up for either of them. Sunderland game is going to be very difficult but if we want to be top 4, anything less than 3pts would be devastating. We are THE team in form now in the league having won 5 on the trot. Confidence boys! COYS!
It can all go pear shaped at a drop of a hat and leave us all as sick as parrot.
Let's say we lose the 3 big games in April, that's plenty of room for the likes of 'pool or City to make up the ground. Beat Sunderland and if the teams below drops points again then perhaps losing 1 or 2 of the 3 big games wont matter as much.
I just think that it is all on the Citeh game, beat them and we are in irrespective of what Vanilla and the Bindippers do!
COYS.
Like you said, it is nice for us to win a match that made even the most vibrant of supporter like me to fall asleep in front of my computer showing the match through a dodgy feed. I honestly believe 'Arry gave the team a special instruction to not go out and produce a performance that is worthy of a DVD. Damn you 'Arry. Plus the fact our GD is greater than the chasing pack, the additional 2 goal cushion was more than enough to pile more pressure on them.
Now that we are down to the last 7 games of the season, we need to find 10 more points which 'Arry thinks is sufficient to secure CL spot. All attention has to be paid to Saturday's match against Sunderland. That is the match holds a lot of significance for us:
a) We win then we break the 60 point bar;
b) We win it means we don't have to worry about beating any of the Sky 3 to reach the magic target of 68 as a draw with any of them will get us there as long as we beat Bolton and Burnley;
c) Beating Sunderland will be psychologically damaging to chasing pack as they will find that not only are we not dropping points, the harder they try, the less they seem able to catch up;
d) By winning away, it will let the Les Pussies sit up and realize we have gotten over our psychological self doubt that makes us lose must-win matches, when we meet on the 14th.
For this all important match, we have to bring Palacious back into the team to beef up the midfield. Today's midfield felt weak as Pompey kept dominating and bossing affairs for far too long in the second half. We seemed content to let them have the ball. Against a more resolute Sunderland, we will get punished severely for such generosity. Wilson should be partnered with THudd as that combination has proven to be effective in the past. With CM roles gone, that means Modric will have to drift back to the left, Bale will move back to LB while BAE will have to ride the bench. I will give Bentley another chance to start on right even Lennon is fit to play. Kyle had a good debut and I will stick with him unless Charlie is back. To lead the attack I will go with Defoe if he is fit, and partnered by Pav. No Defoe, then Gudjohnson.
Overall, we have to knuckle down big time and treat that match as our final cup final.
I'm disappointed we didnt up the tempo and be ambitious with the goal-scoring, we could have gotten another 2 or 3. we should go for broke in the sunderland game - they can be vulnerable and we should hit them on the break with two goals, we need another 3 points. hope wigan turn up and give manchester abu-dhabi a game tmr.
Second half was flat in the extreme but the disruptions caused by pompey injuries didnt help and you sense that players may have felt uncomfortable against their old club. Perhaps Harry also said to try to avoid bookings/injuries. A few comments - 1) we really could have done with an injection of pace in the second half, Lennon would have run riot; 2) Crouch played well but why on earth did we spend the first 20 minutes booting long balls to him (most of which he won to be fair, but none of which resulted in chances); 3) Liked the look of Walker - he is quick and likes to get forward; 4) a Bentley whinge - he displayed his tendency to overcomplicate and slow things down - also Walker made some great overlapping runs but Bentley hardly used him. Anyway, even though it wasnt great, every three points we get puts more pressure on the scousers and dubai and gives them less games to overhaul us. Our biggest reason for celebration was the results of Villa, the goons and Everton (until yesterday I felt that Everton had an outside chance). Agree with everyone else who thinks Sunderland is massive. A win there would really take the pressure off us and make us favourites in my opinion as with the two easier final games that would give us 67, so anything from the four 'big games' would be a bonus. A draw there is probably more realistic - lets hope they use up all their good form against the scousers today.
"a Bentley whinge - he displayed his tendency to overcomplicate and slow things down - also Walker made some great overlapping runs but Bentley hardly used him".
right on money, leo
Right!! Everyone listen up. Spooky, you need to double check all this, but I've been wracking my shrunken dehydrated (hungover) brain this morning, and have devised a CL Qualification plan for the lads. Have a look and see what you think.
Spurs - 58
12 points from 21 available means winning 4 of our remaining 7 games. This would give us 70 points.
Man City - 53
Man City have 8 games left.
If one of our 4 wins was aginst them, they would need to find 18 points from the other 7 games to give them 71.
So assuming they were to lose to us, they would have to win 6 of their last 7 games (they could afford to lose to
Man Utd).
If we keep up our end of the bargain by winning 4 (Sunderland, Bolton, Man City & Burnley) means we could afford to lose to the top three. Any bonus points from our 'top three' matches or Man City dropping two points in a match (Villa!?!) should make it almost impossible for Man City to qualify for CL.
Bear in mind Liverpool are a further 2 points behind City with a game less means their qualification is that much
more difficult.
Is this now realistically a two horse race for fourth?? The telling point will be our next match away to Sunderland.
Winning that and our Semi-final should give the lads the confidence to go to Eastlands and turn them over.
The other plus point, of course, is that knowing that as long as we beat Man City as part of our final four wins, we can go into the games against Arsenal, Chelsea and Man Utd with a nothing to lose attitude and really push them, whereas they will be a bit nervous due to the tightness at the top of the table in the title race.
I'm really confident here guys, but it relies on the lads making two crucial wins, first Sunderland and then Man
City. Win those two and Bolton & Burnley should really be a formality.
If City were to get the necessary 18 points having lost to us and Utd, then you'd just have to hold up your hands
and say 'fair play', as City would have deserved it.
What say you guys?? COYS
Did the managers meet at half-time and agree to just play out the match keeping the score 2-0? Felt like it!
King yid pretty sure we play city AFTER the big 3? I like your work though. The time between games is getting more excrutiating by the week. Can't we play Sunderland tomorrow?
It's all well and good being in with a shout of getting something from the league this season but the cup is preferable as there is less mathmatics invlolved....
King Yid, I'm with you here. We need the Sunderland win massively. It would mean that anything we get from the big 3 would be gravy. I don't know why everyone is doubting our ability to go up there and do them. It's a must win and it would set up an absolute stonking match with the scum..... 1. Put both hands around 4th place. 2. Move on to the FA Cup Final 3. Bury the scum. .... COYS! COYS! COYS!
fa cup win would be nice and 4th spot would be fantastic but for me it would be a dream to see us kick arse/chels/manu in the bollocks........so far we have been fantastic and redknapp and the players have done wonders for tottenham hotspur football club...but another big test for us is arse/chels/manu aint it? 2 wins and a draw for me is the minimun for me from that lot....coz arse/chels/manu are the teams in champ league and playing them in a row is the english champions league......coys,,,,
Sunderland is resurging. We have 3 consecutive matches against the top 3 teams. Injuries galore. Exciting times at Tottenham.
I am just glad we did not get relegated this season. Apparently Harry is a terrible manager who would lead us to oblivion - I read it on the interwebs in black and white so it must be true - the author of this dire warning definitely knows what he is talking about as he is a expert at the Football Manager computer game. Say no more. He has not posted for a while though. He must be busy with important football business. But I am sure he would have a fascinating take on this can Spurs make fourth place discussion.
I think spooky is right. Bollocks to looking at city and villa, the team should be looking up at Arsenal and saying to themselves "10 points behind, game in hand and we play them". That is a winning mentality. I'm not suggesting for a moment we will finish 3rd, but as professionals they should be challenging themselves.
I'm also wondering what we'd be talking about now if Defoe scored that pen @ everton and the wolves/stoke games had gone to plan...add 9 points onto our total...
Yiddogray:
"Arsenal are favourites [for third place] but it is not impossible for anyone to catch them, there could be a five- or six-point turnaround. We thought that Chelsea were running away with it, but now look at it – wide open again.
It is going to be tight. If we would have beaten Birmingham last week when leading 1-0, then we are suddenly not so far away from Arsenal. Someone could get third spot. Manchester City could, we could, Liverpool could; Anyone is capable with a run. Arsenal are not 100% sure to be there if they get beaten by Chelsea and other teams pick up good results."
Harry Redknapp, speaking on Friday 5th February, 2010.
You want ambition?! We got ambition.
Premier league form guide, over last five games:
1) Tottenham, 15 points
2) Man Utd, 15 points
3) Arsenal, 13 points
4) Everton,11 points
5) Chelsea, 10 points
6) Sunderland, 9 points
7) Man City, 8 points
8) Wolves, 8 points
9) Liverpool, 7 points
10) Aston Villa, 6 points
All of which means, for office bragging rights, that we've taken twice as many points as Liverpool have, nearly three times as many as Villa and nearly twice that of Man C.
Last season's results:
Chelsea away 1-1 DRAW
Arsenal away 4-4 DRAW
Manchester City away 2-1 WIN
Manchester United home 0-0 DRAW
Arsenal home 0-0 DRAW
Chelsea home 1-0 WIN
Manchester United away 2-5 LOSS
Manchester City home 2-1 WIN
8 games played, 13 points gained; that's 1.625 points per game on average.
So, according to the laws of average, with four to play, thats 6.5 points heading our way. Lets round down and call it 6. Add that to the 58 points we've already got, we'd be on 64 with Sunderland, Bolton and Burnley still to consider. We'll need 70 points to finish fourth; so two wins from those three games should do it.
Cleary I'm posting far too much about this.
must get on with life....
Dont fall for this dribble that we have the hardest run in our problem has been the stokes and wolves type teams .Ino we have got beat by Chelsea Man Utd Arsenal but in two of those games 6ft Cuddicini wasin goals and conceded 3- in both the Arsenal factor was Ledley had not played for two games is best games where when he played once every week 2 OF uTD Goals could have inmy opinion bean saved by Gomes Giggs free kick and Andersons dazy cutter Chelseas game was also down to a penaly not given having no wing backs to stop Boswinga C
If it all comes down to the last game (as it probably will) beware the team in Claret and Blue, don't let the team eat any dodgy lasagne or meet-up until 1 hour before kick-off to avoid spreading any bugs otherwise we're all doomed, doomed I say!
Point is, we can analyse it up our backsides, but the bottom line is we just need to win all our games...simples!
Lads if i stay silent about you no what then in about a moth or so we should be singing at Wembley and in the champs league cant wait to watch the reds and red stripes playing quick quick quick quick i think a narrow win for Bruces new Bunnies or a hard fast Tempo draw oyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyes or god forbid a rampant red faced Duracell hammering by the American Redskin's onnnnnnnnnnnnno.COYS.
We need our best players back for the final run-in with sky3.. On our day, and our new found confidence and steel, I fancy us matching up with the scums.. Happy days..
Sunderland just got thumped - so I hope we won't get a backlash in any way next week. Steve Bruce will want his side to respond positively, so if we could score early next week then it will really create doubts. I can't wait!
Just one other factor to consider in the race for 4th. The scousers are still involved in the europa two bob.
The extra games aren't going to help their cause.
Good point Misspent.
Some great stattage posted, nice work guys.
Another thing to note is Man City's run before they face us. We have the top three, however, they have Man Utd, Arsenal and Villa. A win at Sunderland is critical - it gives us a running start into the top three matches and then City. If we beat Sunderland and maybe get a win and a draw against the top three, we could be heading to Manchester with a point gap still in place, and facing a team hopefully demoralised by results (against Utd,Arsenal,Villa that may or may not be worse than ours against the top three) that have meant they've still not closed on us. Their Gooner game is at the Emirates, the Villa one at home, which both prob suit us as you could reasonably expect an Arsenal win and a draw with Villa.
God, I hope we beat Sunderland.
My mind is a mess just now with nerves, I tend to deliberately radiate pessimism as a way of warding off unexpected catastrophes, however, my soul is filled with an unnerving calm and optimism about the whole thing, causing my brain to fold in on itself and create some kind of blackhole that gives me delusional visions of Lennon and Bale terrorizing a shaky Madridista defence !
Didn't I see somewhere that if the scousers win the Europa league they get the fourth champs league spot regardless of who finishes 4th in the prem? Or are we just not thinking about how godawful that would be?
2P8G - Nope. That's a crocodile a shit, never would it happen.
Only Man U have conceded less goals than us this year. That's a remarkable change from the last few years.
We can do this.
No fears. We should just go out and play to win.
One game at a time. Minimal mistakes. Play it smart and safe. Aim to beat Sunderland, Burnley and Bolton. Aim to beat L'arse and Chelski. Aim not to lose to Man U.
If Wolves and Stoke can break decades-long no-win records at WHL, why can we do the same to L'Arse, and at OT?
If other results go our way, we might even be challenging together with Man City for 3rd spot:-)
Oh yes, forgot about the FA Semi. Play it simple and safe. A 1-0 win with no injuries or exhausted players will be sufficient. Then focus on the NLD.
I was impressed with Walker on saturday, it was good to finally see him get a chance. Now I can see why all the sheffield united fans I know were raving about him! This one has a bright future me thinks and he is much taller than I thought he'd be lol.
Like most here i think the Sunderland is massive....almost bigger than the Sky 3 games. If we win that game, and then beat Bolton(h) and Burnley(a) (if we cannot beat these 2 we do not deserve top 4) then that is 67 points with the big games left. Whatever the other scores, we have to avoid defeat at Man City, so that is 68 points.
To be certain, i think we need 70 points. This will allow for Liverpool winning 5 and drawing at Anfield to Chelsea. That puts us ahead on GD only (that is why i was a bit disappointed we were less than ruthless vs Pompey, a 4 or 5 goal win would mean our GD was almost uncatchable. LFC are only 4 goals worse off and have some easy games with Torres on fire, and any defeat to the SKy 3 will not help our GD).
So with 70 points, Man city can get 77, but drop 2 against us, we have to hope they drop 5 more vs Arsenal(a) Utd (h) Villa (h) and even WHU (a) last game of the season, WHU could be (even more) desperate for points by then.
I think if we lose to Man City, we will be out of the box seat.
So to achieve 70, we need those 3 wins and a draw and then 2 points from the big 3, so 2 draws! BUT if we fail to beat Sunderland, say 1 point, we need 4 from the big 3 - a win and a draw. Now that is a big ask.
That is why the Sunderland game is a MASSIVE must win game. Liverpool play Brum away that day so fingers crossed for that one too.
sorry, mistake in my mail above - Liverpool are 7 worse off in goal difference than us...phew. That makes it a bit better.
I agree with much of what King Yid wrote.
I would hope we get at least two points from the arse and chelsea games which I think means we could draw at Man City and get at least 70 points, my predictions are
Sunderland 3 points
Arsenal 1 point
Chelsea 1 point
Man U 0 points
Bolton 3 points
Man City 1 point
Burnley 3 points
Semi final tickets..............how is everyone getting on with this?
The only thing conclusive about all the stats is that Spurs have 4th spot in their own hands, if we win the remaining games then no one can catch us. We need to forget about the others run-ins, and also forget about the Scum, Chelsea and Man U games coming up... it's all about taking maximum points one step at a time, so all that matters here and now is beating Sunderland this weekend.
Read this blog spooky and the rest of you spuds.
http://arsenalarsenal.wordpress.com/2010/03/29/support-the-enemy-come-on-you-spurs/
How many gooners does it take to write one blog article........
CEJ, I got mine earlier without any hassle through the ticketing website, it took 30 mins in the queue system to get me there but that was from 9:20am. I went for block 501, its next to the away fans (which should be interesting), but its sort of where I sit at the lane and I like that view! =)
Brook, I read it (and the subsequent comments) for hte sake of "balance", and to save time for any other fellow spurs curious about the title, I'll save them time by condensing it to three words:
'jeremy', 'show' and 'kyle' (thought not in that order necessarily)
Thanks Brok, that was a great read.
I was impressed that it only took two goon mong "co-writers" to come to the conclusion that if Spurs beat Man U and Chelsea, it would help Woolwich and if Spurs lose to Man U and Chelsea it wouldn't.
Now fuck off back to Woolwich Special School and study for your upcoming GCSE in Stating the Bleeding Obvious.