Fulham v Spurs - It's Actually Massive
Friday, March 5, 2010 at 9:13PM by guest blogger Chrisman
I’m going to lay it on the line here – The F.A. Cup QF against Fulham will be a cracker. It might not have loads of goals, and we might not get either of the results that we want, but it will be good. It will be a rarity – a game between two PL teams desperately wanting to win. And two teams quite reasonably believing they can win.
Roy Hodgson is a manager that I love listening to. He is almost the polar opposite of Harry in his handling of the media. Hodgson will openly, and often quite savagely ridicule the interviewer and his questions. ‘Roy, surely this is a must win game?’ he will be asked. His reply will be something along the lines of ‘Well, what happens if we don’t win? Does the season end? Will Fulham FC automatically self-destruct? Of course we want to win, but no, it’s not a must win’. You can tell he absolutely hates the cliché driven style of football in the British media, and he won’t even play lip service to it. Harry, on the other hand, revels in it.
Both men are actually very similar. The difference in their personas is directly due to the fact that Hodgson has spent the best part of 30 years in management outside England. To a total foreigner coming here, the way the ‘media circus’ exists will be a source of amusement, bafflement and eventual indifference. But because Hodgson is English, and he understands it a bit more, he’s visibly disgusted by it. He doesn’t even make an effort to conceal his total contempt for it. Old Harry, however, doesn’t have that luxury. He has had to play the game over the last 20 years, and he’s played it pretty well. He is so well versed in cliché speak that it’s actually very difficult to tell what he is thinking, about anything, ever. But one thing is certain, and it’s one thing that Harry’s cliché speak and Hodgson’s cynicism cannot overpower – The F.A Cup is a trophy both of these men are still desperate to win.
There won’t be any resting players, no saving it for the league – with 3 of the traditional big 4 already out, this is probably the best chance either team has had of winning the trophy for quite a while. It’s the business end of the tournament, and it’s 2 men at the business end of their careers. Expect both teams to give everything on behalf of the managers and fans.
Pavlyuchenko remains the key man for Spurs. If he plays as well as he has done, we have a great chance. With Defoe probably out, you feel Pav has to score if we are to get a result. And with Huddlestone out, a huge amount of responsibility falls on Modric, and to a lesser extent Kranjcar. Playing against a Fulham midfield that is likely to include Murphy, Gera, Davies and maybe Greening could be a blessing. They have a lot of ball players and not a lot of horsepower in their midfield, which should suit us if we are to play Modric in the middle. Conversely, the battering ram approach of Zamora should suit Dawson’s style. Gomes is going to have to have another good game if we are going to get a result. More of his heroics from the league visit to Craven Cottage are pretty essential.
It’s also to be expected that Smalling and Hangeland won’t have too much trouble dealing with a ‘direct’ approach. What we need is Pav coming deep and linking up with Modric and Kranjcar. If the 3 of them hit it off, we could, against all odds, win the game. If we were to do that, without Defoe and Huddlestone in the team, I think that will give the lads a pretty significant confidence boost for the rest of the season. What’s more likely is a hard fought score draw, then back to the lane for another classic night of mayhem.
Excitement building already. With the battle for the top 4 taking all our attention, this has almost approach unnoticed. But it’s here, an F.A. Cup Quarter Final, and a London Derby to boot. Sexual Chocolate.
Reader Comments (28)
resting players. we can hardly field a starting eleven.
not sure if this one is against all odds. Fulham to a greater extent than spurs are suffering from injured players (in terms of having a quality replacements, not in terms of numbers out hurt). I think we going in for the win on saturday 3-0 spurs, croatia to shine
It's never easy playing at the Cottage. Spurs will need to score early on if we are to get the result we need. But please... not the long ball strategy!
COYS!!!!!
No extra-time required. It's the cup. We'll battle through and win it in 90.
I've not felt this excited about a game all season. We seem to be getting back to playing the type of football we did at the begining of the season. It's just a shame that it may be too late in the season when we can eventually get Bale, Hudd, Mod, Lennon, Pav and Defoe all on the pitch at the same time!
No matter, I've a good feeling about tomorrow. I think we may see one or two of the youngsters at some point in the game. I'd love to see Livermore start alongside Palacios and push either Modric or Krancjar into the hole behind Pav. Not really sure this is the time for experiments tho
Come on you spurs, got the butterflies already, love going to Fulham, fine Italian pizzas and pubs, and hopefully an excuse to go on a piss up after.
Fulham away is a cracking match-day. Ding dong derby for me. 3-2 Spurs.
Spooky i cannot share your love of Roy you can call Harry a Dodgy dealer or a silly subber but is team play without Energy inducements and apart from Bobby's sudden impersonation of Drugba that great prem player and not so great International. There is born again Davies Duff Murphy Gera Hangerland the strange Defender who wont move to a bigger club why? and lastly the new Ferdinand 12 million Smalling he never looked that good dropping a clanger for the under 21 last night .Zamora was so bad a few months Bobby Boo couldn't score even if the other team left there goalkeeper on the bench. Then one magic day he scored and he let the Boo Boys have it in the crowd and two of his team mates felt is anger now he scores free kicks penalty's and he can dislocate is shoulder and come back in record time to play against us and only for Gomes could have scored remarkable or suspect . this team has won Roy Manager of the month twice and also is a team that cant win away in the last three seasons under Roy and like is twin Moyes can lose most of is team and still win and can also lose dozens of games with a full team . These Managers thank god will soon be exposed when the same testing laws that caught the rugby leaue player taking Hormones this drug leaves your body in 48 hours and under the present testing in Football could not be found soon it should be arriving it should have been already in place but for objections from some worried people Ferguson Sol Campbell the FA Gordan Taylor.. So Spooky Harry's silly remarks pale in significant s to some of te goings on in the prem if i can see it then surly you seem a fairly educated man can also see Fulham Everton liverpool Burnley Birmingham Wolves Stoke Blacburn Bolton can all play with the same energized tempo because no one is bothering when whole teams are cheating and in some cases the manager has not got a clue or just turns the other way .Two Everton fans said by accident when i said we played you of the park in the first half and without thinking they both said we where tired and only played Thursday and i said surely you should Tire in the second half a deadly silent ' s followed and they walked off most of these teams have failed players or in there twilight years yet run round like they are twenty Davies and Duff Reid 22ib loss in weight every team has raised there Tempo when we have played them another tell tale stat Wolves have beat us twice in the Bottom three and the week after they have gone back there , just like West Brom when they beat us 2-0 Last year . I am sorry for boring you all but this cannot go unreported or cheats will proser Lets hope we rise above this Tempo and by playing some of our kids will help us beat a rejuvenated Murphy and co..this Team would win GOMES EKOTTO DAWSON BALE KRANJAR CORLUKA BOSTOCK OR(ROSE )TOWNSEND MODERIC PAVLYUCHENKO SCORE 4-2 TO SPURS . COYS
Dav, I admire your optimism regarding your line up... but you've only picked 10 men.
And it's Chrisman and not Spooky who wrote up the match preview. Clue is in 'guest blogger'.
Our first XI wins this but we cant field them and will have to make do with whoever is available.
We have to win in the middle against Murphy and keep their strikers starved too.
Should have a cracking atmosphere and Fulham play proper football so it looks promising for a good game.
I fancy us to get to the semi after winning the replay.
Davspurs you lost me at the word energy ...
COYS!!!!!
I wouldn’t simplify things by pivoting outcome of the game on performances of Luka and “to a lesser extent” Niko. The way I see it, more important is how effective Bale/BEA or perhaps both, and Rose will be with Luka’s and Niko’s forward passes. Equally important will be performances of guys affront Gomes (e.g. Kaboul, Wilson, Charlie, MD, SB). Anyway, I’m not sure Pav will score, but I predict that Iceman will tip the scale by scoring at least one goal tomorrow.
I LOVE YOU DAVSPURS!
At least Jenas is injured
dav spurs , u are seriously retarded
I'm saying that mod and krank will be important because they will have a helluva lot more defensive responsibility with Hudd gone. If it's just Willy P protecting the back 4 we will be overrun, no doubt. Modric has to do a lot of sheilding work, and Kranjcar will have to help him out, a lot more than if it was Hudd in the middle.
If the midfield is indeed Bale, Modric, Willy, Kranjcar....well that is pretty exciting, but we wil be playing it very fast and loose. If they can go forward as we expect they will, and still keep defensive and covering thoughts to the fore, then it could work very well. But this will hinge on Modric and Kranjcar more than Willy or Bale, primarily because we know what we're gonna get with the latter pair - Willy will munch and crunch his way through Fulham and Bale will play as an orthodox winger. Modric and Kranjcar however will have to play a slightly different game to what they normally do.
RICHg Right and i suppose you think the cheat who has just shocked rugby league taking hormones because he was to small .the states don't lie one failed test since the premiership started .mind you it could just be worms making Konchesky look red and thin and the rest and don't call retards because tour brain is not sharp enough to spot anything has clever has players chasing the ball without getting out of breath Here is a though for today Everton fans talking to me about the match and i said we battered you in the first half and they said we where tired so how come they where full of it in the second half i rest my case.COYSBTHECH
Davspurs - I don't think your allegations are as ludicrous as they might first appear, but I am curious to know why you think certain teams do it and certain ones don't? One thing I do agree with is that the testing in football needs to be a lot sharper, and although I'm not certain there is widespread doping, If we found out that there was lots of players on CERA, HGH etc I would not be surprised at all.
DAVSPURS = legend. Couldn't make up that character. For what it's worth the concerns you ratse, I believe to be real, not sure how widespread, keep it up one day you will be able to say to the doubters , I told you so (in full caps locks mode, of course)
Spooky we miss you.
I wonder what davspurs looks like?
Like you or me CEJ, like you or me!
Once more, with feeling, back at the Lane. Sweating those last few minutes. Happy to get away with a replay.
Who is trying to hack this site? I got a message saying this site is a link to omnisports.co.uk (or something like that), a site that contains malware.
It's that cunt HH
Why is the replay almost 3 weeks away? Mind you we may get a couple injured players back
Maybe it's 3 weeks away cause we were so boring today.
We certainly weren't terrible. But we were predictable and boring.
Come back Spooky, i'd honestly rather no blog than someone else writing on here