FA Cup Obituary
Sunday, April 11, 2010 at 8:23PM No massive analysis required. You'll have seen it for yourself. The way we worked the ball into the box wasn't crisp or decisive enough. Never truly with acute intent to find that killer ball or touch to lead to a certain chance on goal. I mean there were moments, but that’s all they were. And there were chances, plenty of chances, but untidy ones. Pinball football. Almost there but nowhere near. Clunky.
To compound things further, we were taken to extra time and over at the City of Manchester stadium, the blues spanked the blues 5-1 to take the lead in the goal difference stakes as well as remain 4 points clear in 5th.
An extra 30 minutes of football. And the potential of penalties. Oh dreary me. Always the hard way, the Tottenham way. In the dying seconds of the 90 it was almost avoided but alas of course it wasn’t.
Why would Spurs possibly conceive about winning the game in normal time when they're so close to dragging their tormented fans through more mire? Let's not buck the trend.
From the noise inside Wembley you'd think we were the ones going broke and relegated. Pompey lapping it all up. Brave and effective on the break. Always looking a little bit more likely to score, but when you think we'd be the ones with the superior quality in front of goal - it was more or less equal. In fact, they had far better clear cut chances that were mostly scoffed. We preferred to befriend the woodwork. Sure, we had more of the ball. But this was far from ever being a masterclass. It felt more like a chemistry lesson. Er...without the chemistry.
Then extra-time. And they score. Obviously. Thanks to the Wembley grass and slip by Dawson. It’s a gift. And it’s cheap. And then we score but not according to the ref who disallows it for a foul (Niko on James) when there was no foul to be given. Cheap. I’ve seen the image of James laughing. I’d have laughed. It's enough to make you cry.
Still cluncky in front of goal. Pompey break, and then Wilson breaks our hearts. Toe to ball, but enough for the ref to still award a penalty. Clumsy. 100% a penalty? Perhaps not. Who cares. It's given, it's given. Nothing anyone can do. And yes, that's a two match ban. So no Wilson for the Scum and Scummer games. All that hard work avoiding the yellows in prior games, imploding on the wet cutting Wembley pitch. KPB makes it two from the spot and our knees are no longer trembling. Instead they're making their way to the exits.
Cue: This was not meant to happen 'shrugs of despondency’.
Bale was great. Really really outstanding great. Everything else was just blah. And the ghosts of yesteryear heartbreaks from those other semi-final defeats swagger in to say hello. No smile for the Lilywhites from the footballing Gods who prefer (today at least) that the meek inherit the earth.
Congratulations to Portsmouth. Can't say many expected this, but as far as footballing stories are concerned, this one can only be applauded. I wish you the best of luck in the final. Jamie will be happy. And their fans a tad too. I expect. Irony irony...Harry won’t be sleeping well tonight. Couple of hours on the Wii to perhaps aid in tiring the eyes.
Grant outsmarted Redknapp – in parts I guess, or maybe I'm being kind on Pompey - because neither our manager or our players found a way through their congested midfield and at times struggled with their speed on the break. There was no spark. Just wasn't happening.
We might have been the better team, if you really want to delve into the technical aspects of the game but the better team doesn't lose 2-0. No club shop DVD. We botched it. But then you can't botch up a game of football you were simply never destined to win.
We sort of did what I was hoping we wouldn't do, and that's get all messy (not Messi) with our football. Half arsed urgency that turns to desperation when all that's required is a cool head at the end of a cool cool move. Clunky. The word of the day. We had what, thirty odd chances? Gomes was still busier. The ref was no Howard Web, but still equally poor. But that's the standard, so no complaints. No point.
Onwards then. No honestly, I mean it. The mongs are visiting next week and it's under the floodlights so there is no time to despair.
How many hours before the Wednesday kick-off?
COYFS
Reader Comments (114)
Spent £275 on a ticket....wish I didn't now! Dominated possession, but we only seemed to have one idea. Give the ball to Bale, get him to mercilessly skin Finnan, put the ball in the box, and hope someone got on the end of it. Didn't help with Dawson slipping on that joke of a pitch, and Wiley doing a total Webb on us, but still, Portsmouth? We should be able to beat them on an ice rink with Avram Grant reffing the game. NO excuse.
Bring on the Gooners on weds then. COYS!!
Good honest write up. Wasn't to be. Felt we play one dimensional football. Whether that was down to Pompey or not is debatable. Always felt we could do more in the game but simply failed to do it.
COYMFS!!!!!!!
YIDS
I agree with Harry. Shit pitch. But we were not the only side playing on it. Should have been 1-1. Would have lost on pens anyway.
Seriously depressed now. Not just losing the semi-final, but knowing early in the first half that that slippy pitch was going to take a toll on muscles and ligaments, with the NLD only 3 days away, then having to play an extra 30 minutes, with the NLD only 3 days away and finally losing Wilson, (say it with me, brothers and sisters) with the NLD only 3 days away. Bugger.
I was trying to remember the last time I felt this utterly disheartened after a Spurs loss. It wasn't the final day food poisoning loss to West Ham. I was disappointed then, but so, so proud of the lads, how hard they tried, despite how green their faces were. The last time I felt this hollow and sick was that UEFA Cup loss when Martin Jol's sacking became public by halftime. I knew then we'd bought ourselves a shit load of bad karma that we'd be paying for for years to come.
So, I'd like to think today's results balanced the books/turned the wheel/whatever, given Pompei doing over the manager who bailed on them, KPB scoring the penalty, relegated team winning over champions league pretenders, Citeh canceling out both our game in hand and goal difference advantage, etc.etc. I mean what next plague of frogs? So I'd like to hope the slate's been wiped clean and a win (christ, even a point) in the NLD is possible. But right now I'm afraid to look at the table to see if we can even count on a place in the Europa cup next season.
Are we sure Wilson is out for 2 games?
I was pretty sure the cards got set back to zero on the 10th of April (Saturday). Also Wilson was talking openly about how hard it HAD been walking the tightrope for 6/7 games not getting booked. So I assumed again it was all over....?
Sadly, I think things go from bad to worse here, as I seriously doubt our players have the bottle to bounce back and there's certainly no Captain at the club who can pick the team up or give them all a swift kick. I wouldn't be surprised if we can't even make the Europa League.
Docomospur. Mate, I thought I viewed the glass as half empty. Do you even see a glass? :)
I reckon that scenario is possible but the opposite seems possible as well. This could focus the lads and turn em around. We shall see of course but at the risk of being ... ahem delusional I am going to hope for the best.
My question, along with the issue of Wilson's status, is what is our injury situation like? Any early reports from ITK types???
We need to get to 65pts to finish 6th. The Liverpool draw with Fulham means the best they can do is 68pts and they still have Chelsea to go.
Bad day at the office alright. Have to say well done to Pompey imo they wanted it more for some odd reason, fair play to them I hope they go on to win it.
COYS
An excellent March has slipped into what looks like a disastrous April. The fat lady is warming up for the final song of the season, which tells a tale of what might have been. Let's shut the fat bitch up and stick two fingers up at all the doom mongerers. Let's come back from the dead like Lazarus on black bombers. COYFCS
Yes, well done to Pompei. Objectively, it is great to see a team step up and play above themselves like that. If I'd been a neutral, I really would have enjoyed that. Good luck to them, both in the final and in getting their financial house in order (Worryingly, I'm still not convinced harry didn't have a finger in that very messy pie...)
This may sound like somebody jumpimg the gun and unfounded early anger but i am fed up of Harry fucking Redknapp!!. Yes we are doing better than last season. But i am sick of his 'Look at where we were when i took over' schpeil. He is a manager who will never have ambition further than Europa Leauge. Today plain and simply was not good enough like many games this season!!. Dropped points against inferior opposition and maulings against the bigger sides bar Liverpool at home!!.
With Manure winning CC and Pompey not being eligible for Europe and Chavski in FA Cup final, that means Europa places go down to 7th place. Simples.
Adam, I'll join you in beating what has long since been a dead horse for me. When I saw the Defoe Crouch line up, I thought "Here we go again. The old dog is reverting to his old tricks." That partnership had stopped working long before Defoe got injured and I'm not convinced Defoe was match sharp or match fit. I don't even think it's a question of ambition, but of ability. Did I hear some comment during the match that Harry's coached over a thousand matches and only ever won the FA cup with Portsmouth (using a team so expensive, it ultimately bankrupted them?)
He was a man hired to do a job: save us from relegation. He did it. Thank you. He's not the man to take us into the top four.
Anybody remember David O'Leary O'Leeds? Surprised there havent' been more comparisons between his Leeds and Harry's Portsmouth. Well, O'Leary didn't, erm, "cultivate" the media the way Harry does.
Can always rely on the Totts to make a good day even better – up yours Twitch !
The mongs are visiting next week ! What kind of shit is that, fuck who you support that kind of speak was lost back in the 70`s. Do you know anyone with D/S & are you really that disrepectfull.
Why hasn't anyone mentioned the crap Ref? a disallowed goal that was legit, and giving a PK moments later after Wilson had won the ball.
Spook, I love your posts and I understand you're writing under extreme distress... but, we were good today. We played well, particularly well enough to win.
You can say our chances were squeakers - and they were to a degree - but there are no open chances when there's 10 men in the box. Announcers love to go on about cutting edge, but there's a degree of luck. 16 shots on target - a fart could have put one in and it didn't.
Yes, Pompey had four good chances in 90 minutes, but they scuffed them. They were resolute defending, but hardly dominating us in that regard.
The Footballing Gods rewarded Pompey's fans today and all we can do is move on, but I don't think we were outsmarted or out played.. even out hustled. Certainly not Luka Modric, busting his ass 70 yards to intercept a breakaway pass late in the game.
Plain and simple crouch was the problem today..he cant control the ball, hence why there were so many pinball moments. The team plays better without him. Krancjer was equally as shocking when he came on..how many times did bale put that ball in the box and crouch fluffed it..defoe and pav should have started, taking defoe off was wrong, it should have been crouch for pav. Im fed up with redknapp as well, he isnt a top 4 manager, he doesnt have it in him. He sits on the bench motionless not one display of of any passion for the team. Redknapp has already taken us as far as he is capable of in my opinion. And the less we see of crouch the better. He should be a bench player at the most. Yes we are still having a good season but Redknapp has in my opinion proved himself to be tactically enept and unable to see and rectify the problems within the team. Sinply put he is not and does not possess the abilty to take us to the top 4 level.
Factors went against us today, the gods were on pompeys side. The pitch was terrible and if dawson doesnt slip pompey dont score. The free kick which took the ball in box for that goal was not a free kick either. We have a perfectly good goal chalked off and the penalty was not a pen. Palacios got the ball. I thought hudd looked off the pace today so im suprised gudjohnson was not on quicker. Bentley should of stayed on longer and crouch should of been subbed for pav.
We bossed the game in terms of shots, possesion, area possesion and corners. The stats dont lie, it was that final cutting edge we missed..hardly suprising when we had crouch up front all game, who i may add was getting in the way of pav. But for this we have redknapp to blame, he picks the team and tactics, he decides the subs and once again..he blew it!
That coupled with nothing going our way and i really think we were not supposed to win this, it was not meant for us. Good luck pompey, please beat chelsea in the final.you have my backing.
And also Harry harps on about his wonderfull acheivments at Portsmouth.Getting them into the Premier League!!!! Ok well done Harry but managers like Phil Brown ' Owen Coyle all the way to bloody Danny Wilson. yes its an acheivment but nout to harp on about. And as for his 'F.A Cup triumph in 2008' I do not think i have ever seen an easier run to a trophy!! Bar Man Utd away (who were down to 10 men and had Rio Ferdinand in goal for a spell) And this isnt an opinion ive just reached today.Ive said it for months and months.We should be miles ahead of city if it was not or tactical ineptness and lack of ideas!!
Also i thought i would mention pompey parked the bus for the majority of the game. At one point they looked like they had 6 centre backs..they tried to double up on the outstanding bale and modric and also on bentley. They offered very little in attack and the chances they had, although good, were scuffed by there poor strikers. Hence why if dawson doesnt slip they would not of scored! They defended with 10 men in the box for most of the game, especially long periods of it and hit us on the counter a few times. It just was not meant to be for us today unfortunately! Same old spurs..we should be used to f*ck ups now!
SACK REDKNAPP, WE'RE FINISHED. PHIL BROWN'S OUT OF A JOB, HE'S WORTH A PUNT.
Oooopps a daisey Martin Hayesie la la la de la
We were shit today, how many corners? 20? We can't score from one, and when we the last time we scored from a set piece. Crouch was useless, Defoe was worse against a crap side with no players. Bale wasn't great, he is Lennon two years ago, no final ball. Season over. Please don't delude yourselves, that was a shambles, we rode our luck all March and now we are paying for it.
Things are bad when I cannot muster the energy to be angry. I am numb and gutted. We can't blame the pitch, both teams had to deal with it. Injuries, Pompey had more than us and JOH ineligble, so no excuses there. The Ref, well another inept performances but how didn't we wrap up the tie in regulation time. Top 4 teams do it regulalry, either win convincingly or at a minimum, knick a late goal. Anf the icing on the cake, Sarge's yellow in the final minute and I believe than equals a 2 match ban! Can'y blame him for his commitment to the end and truth is it was a harsh penalty on what looked like a 50/50 contest.
I am a lifelong Spurs fan and not getting any younger, my biggest fear being that I will not be around to see another FA Cup or Top 4 finish based on our performances over the past 20 years.
On to the Goons...how the hell can we possibly back up in 3 days after 120 minutes+ of yesterday's game? I think we have the squad to match them and the WHL advantage, but it is hard seeing us get the job done in reality. Hope Pav partners Defoe in the starting line-up. Crouch misses too many chances to be considered top shelf.
What a miserbale day :(
It was a mistake to have removed Defoe. It is Crouch who should have been replaced as he was missing chance after chance..
My condolences.
Our obsession with England "Team B" players - especially strikers ensures a goon pleasing guarantee of mediocrity at Spurs. Whether this is for eternity or not, I don't know. But one thing is for sure...It is the only thing that makes me question WHY I still feel so much for this team because I really REALLY hate this mediocre players! Bent! Now Crouch! Together... a whooping 26Million Pounds wasted. We could have Eto'o or David Villa up front for that price.
I'm just repeating myself, but If Crouch starts any of the next three games. The embarrassment is going to be catastrophic. I am ashamed of him. All a laughing goon has to say to me is 'Crouch"...and all my pride vanishes in an instance.
Thats the problem with most spurs supporters... we are quick to point the finger at the manager whenever we fail. Thats why we failed to have continuity over the past 2 decades.. we keep going back to the drawing board. Harry has done a job... and got us playing sexy football at times.. how often have that happened in the last 20 years?
Lets face it.. no bigwig manager is coming to WHL unless we get bankrolled by an arab sheikh or russian oligarch. And no big name player is coming unless we have to $$ and CL football.
So Redknapp as manager is as good as it gets... so instead of whining and calling for heads...support the team and manager, and hope that the footballing gods help us trade the FA cup defeat with a 4th Spot (which i will take any time of the day)
Wilson, Niko, Vedran, Aaron. All out for the NLD.
Might as well just give up now, this team just doesn't have it in them to muster up what's needed, when it's needed.
"The Gods were against us"....really?
FACT : There is no God.
FACT : There rae plenty of false idols....Modric, Crouch, DeFoe, Huddlestone, Bentley
FACT: : With these brain-dead under-achievers in the team we should be grateful for mid-table security and hope we avoid the Europa League to avoid International embarrassment instead of just local UK.
FACT : Wednesday night should have an X-Rated certificate to avoid traumatising the next generation of Spurs' fans who must already be wishing that their Dad supported someone else.
If there is a God (which there isn't) he must really, really hate us to allow the level of torture that we supporters are put through season after season. Maybe we should hire a Haitian witch doctor to provide us some good Ju-Ju?
no words to describe yesterday im afraid only........we are not good enough.
its just short of disgrace when you look at it which other big team would that have happend to..none only tottenham.
our season is more or less in ruins and im fed up with redkneck saying if we dont get 4th its not a bad season considering where we was last year, last year was a blip its never happend before and yes redneck came in and relegation was avoided but what have we really acheived...we could have made it in the uefa cup last year if he didnt pick a weak team maybe even got to the final but he avoided that...we could have made it in the league is well but for stupid points dropped..so we really havent made any progress, we should have made more signings in january and maybe we wouldnt have been so streched with the squad.
maybe im a bit bitter from yesterday but up untill then i was confident we would beat the scum and at least get a point against scummer on saturday but now im not so sure.
other then that we sould have killed the game without having to worry about beanpoles goal being dissallowed but like i said only tottenham
stevespurs of corse wer gonna blame the manager they pick the team and tactics and make the subs but is it me or is it that it dosent matter what manager we have or what players we have year after year its the same old rubbish we go through and we are all FED UP WITH IT
I loathed having to go away for the weekend under pressure from the missus (anniversary and stuff) but after watching the live text on my blackberry , i must say that i am very glad that i havent spent 400 euros on a wembley trip
Was Pav injured that he did not start ?
Pompey fan in peace. We were a bit fortunate yesterday and the longer the game went on the more likely I felt that we may nick it.
With regards to Harry he was a great manager for a club like Pompey but we let him over spent and now we are paying the price for it. Harry is not a great tactically as I sure you'll see in time and he often struggles to make a sub that influences the game.
I wish you all the best for the rest of the season starting with the NLD.
PUP
After all is said & done, it hurt like hell on the way home from Wembley, but it would have hurt a whole lot more if it was anyone else. so well done Pompey. The Portsmouth fans we met before & after were also a credit to the club. Now go & beat Chelscum !!!!!!!!!! Play up Pompey. COYS COYS COYS
REDKNAPP OUT
I was so, so angry when I left the stadium yesterday. For several reasons, firstly the pitch was horrendous! You could see that from the first minute. Therefore immediately I began to think this is somehow going to cost us (as you do, being a spurs fan). Then the selection of crouch instead of starting pav was peculiar, considering it very rarely pays off. He was so lazy throughout the game, always last to push out of defence after a corner, at one point playing a pompey player onside because of it. This also mean't when it was cleared defoe/pav were basically on their own and its not like he was busting a gut to get up there and help them. But it wasn't just crouch that was lazy, at one point there was about a 3rd of the pitch between the two strikers and the rest of our team, and gomes was shouting furiously at them to push out and they broke into a light jog. That summed it all up really, no passion, no effort. I hate to say it but even our support was lazy. I think there must have been 3 or 4 times throughout the whole game where the white half of wembley got into full voice. Credit to those pockets around our side that were trying the damn hardest, but shame on the rest for appearing to attend the funeral of tottenham hotspur. I was sat right next to the pompey fans, only the mesh between us and them so I heard all the "banter" being hurled our way from certain scummy individuals and at the time I was just trying to ignore them but thinking back most of the things they were saying had some truth to them. And credit to their fans, they were in full voice, it appeared that both they and their team wanted it much more than us and they succeeded. Bale, Gomes and Pav were the only ones who came out of that game with any shred of self respect left intact. They were the only ones who were above average in both effort and mentality.
Finally, I want to finish by saying that I hope to god that both kyle walker and naughton replace corluka perminantly because he is ridiculously slow! He hasn't got the pace for the premier league and it was made blatantly obvious yesterday. I hope I'm not alone in this thought, because it is a serious deficiency and will/has cost us points.
Don't get me started on the ref..........
Well I searched the OED and 'hallowed' does not mean, falls apart under foot, extremely poor or slippery.
So why does the Wembley pitch get refered to as the hallowed turf?
DaveK...Spot on post.
why is everyone so suprised ?? ive been saying for weeks that i had a bad feeling about this game, pompey seemed to have destiny with them. besides look on the bright side, would we have beaten chelsea in the final ??? Absolutely no way. So at least we avoided that pleasure.
also why the depression about us being 4pts behind 4th now? Couldnt anyone see it coming ??? Too many of you get carried away too easily by seeing a table printed in your paper showing us 5pts clear a few weeks back. Will we get 4th??? No. Despite all this has it been a good season? Absolutely Yes. So cheer up and learn for once not to get carried away when things are going well. There is always something round the corner. But thats Tottenham and thats why we love 'em. if you dont like it, go support someone else. But dont act suprised when it does happen. COYS.
Crouch was crap yes, the ref ditto, but in the end I didn't get the impression that anyone on our side, from Harry downwards, really gave a shit. I had to keep reminding myself it was a cup semi-final I was watching. There was no passion.
and another thing after jamie o'hara never wears a spurs shirt again after publicly saying he hopes we lose just so he can play at wembly, i think even if he thought it, dont say it because he has to come back.
maybe i would let him play for one game at home and let the fans take it out on him
Question: If Crouch is there to be a threat in the air, how come he didnt score from one of the 20 corners we had?
Why don't we just go with a bit of pace up front, then maybe when Bale gets to the byline and crosses, we'll have someone on the end of it?
Just a thought.
i know everyone hates him but i think we missed jenas yesterday, i think we needed someone to just get up and down the pitch a bit with some energy, at the beginning of the season i said we wouldn't get in the top 4 because were short of a central midfielder (and because crouch is shit but thats a different story), nothings changed my mind. for a long time i've said we should try and sign arteta because we need someone who can create and score a few goals from the centre of midfield.
Arteta is a good shout, I doubt he'll leave everton for anything other than CL though.
In a way, I'm glad it won't be us given the horrible job of stopping Chelski from doing The Double. Roman has finally bought himself another football milestone. Winning the Double by writing blank cheques is a huge achievement of course.
One less distraction on the push for 4th. Still achievable even with pisspoor results against the big 3. It may well be down to us winning at Eastlands where I would hope for a more gutsy display than this.
This could still be a great season.
COYS