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)
Yesterday's performance was a shambles as said plenty of times, but no amount of complaining is going to change the result, so we have to focus on what's ahead.
That being said, there are many issues at the moment. For months i've been of the opinion that Redknapp simply isn't good enough, people argue that he has taken us to great heights; but look at the squad he inherited, we were massively underachieving in the first place! Some of his fantastic signings such as Keane, Chimbonda, Crouch, Kaboul and his blatant ignorance to not use anyone not signed by him (Pavlyuchenko & dos Santos, namely) haven't helped our cause. He appears unwilling to use anything besides a basic 4-4-2 and isn't one for making game-changing substitutions. With him in charge, we've lost games against Wolves and Hull to name just a few, and these are games that we must win to be seriously considered Champions League contenders.
Crouch has had his time now, but Redknapp insists on playing him all the time (he's featured in every game this season!). He's 6'7 yet has no aerial ability, and when he plays the entire dynamic of the team becomes 'long ball up to Crouch'. If we just played on the floor he might not look so awful, and if you look, the majority of his goals for England come when the ball is played on the ground!
Bentley i've never been a fan of, he looks to have no pace, he takes forever to cross the ball, and when he does it rarely beats the first man. Similarly with his corners (which he insists on taking), he never beats the first man, and for £17m or however much it was, he's diabolical.
Kaboul, Assou-Ekotto, and Walker have also looked terrible at the back when played recently, and really we can't afford to have a weak backline. Personally I feel the best we've looked this season is when we've had Pavlyuchenko, Gudjohnsen and Modric in the side. Modric and Pavlyuchenko seem to have similar thoughts, and Luka's always slipping lovely little through balls to Pav, they just have a great understanding, whilst Eidur I feel is a great creative player (much like Keano was in his first spell at Spurs).
I'm not going to complain about our slim chances of grabbing 4th now, as at the start of the season I would not have expected us to, I simply wish for better performances, and 'arry to stop saying every loss is 'one of those days'.
And anyone who says I can't be a true Spurs fan by criticizing the player/manager, I must point out that as a paying customer of the club, I am entitled to voice my opinion.
Well Spooky after 30 mins i walked out of the house and only returned when my niece told me they scored and on the way home they got a penalty .When the Referee turned out to be whiley we where beat unless we score 3 or more Trust me we where not going to win a team 9/1 and in Administration who do you think saved Pompy from the Tax man the premier league brand thats who Mr SCHOFIELD who let a man take over a club with no money and he had bean sacked by is own company has a director and he also owed investors money for is Luxury flats in Abu Dhabi. The money they will get for Wembley will be Five million and they are trying to get into Europe . Grant has poured more water on this game by saying some of is players where only 80 percent fit who does he mean the way they got stuck in to our crocks they looked okay to me Hudds got two crackers and he never recovered whiley stood and allowed this to happen . Brown girl in the ring looked thin and ill looking Prince was all red when he took is shirt of Mullins had a bandage on Dindane and pick your nose lokked faster and Rocha could still have memory loss from is bang because he looked like vidic could he mean David pink makes the strikers miss James he looked like he could play for England at forty This is just another shock to go with Ross County and Burnley winning away the last time favs lost this many times in a year was horsegate where Jockys where stopping there mounts from winning and sadly drug taking any fans think Pompy where pumped No only desperate teams do that. it will get better next year i promise not my blogs drug testing ssssssssssssaaaaaaaaaaadddddavspurs
Not out smarted really. poor team choice - once more the one shouting the most after a defeat is Crouch!!! ye ready for Arse, lets get motivated, lets bounce back bla, bla, bla, your idiotic plank of fu##### wood!!! We would not need to bounce back from anything if you had not been playing.
This person is a Bolton, Hull, Portsmouth player not a top 6 premiership player. I'm personally sick and tired of him and Redknapp. Poor choice, Pav for Crouch, Modric in the centre. We would have beaten them if we were a little more clever on the shott ball in and around the penalty area, but noooooooooooooo, we have to go for the long bloody ball again.
Just look at the 2 Wolves games, the Hull game, the Everton games, lost points and lost dreams.
Dare I quote Hansen and that other side sick, somewhere along the road Spurs will always let you down!!!!!!!!!!
Nobody in the world wants us to prove them wrong more than i do!!
I was at Wembley yesterday. Anyone who'd seen the other semi on sat would have seen players going down like Kelly Wells. Did Daws have the right studs in? After 20 mins with all our possession it was worrying. James looked lucky and we didn't. But I have to say I read an article recently here when we played portsmouth in the league which said all we have to do to win, is "turn up". What arrogant nonsense.No wonder we are laughed at. Yesterday couldn't have been worse really. No urgency from us or 'Arry, shit pitch and ref. Sgt Wilson gets card for dubious pen and City power on. Gawd. Hats off to Pompey and their fans. Now....bring on L'Arse. Coys!
For the "need to give Harry more time" brigade: Harry Redknapp is older than dirt. He's coached well over a thousand (that's 1,000) matches and only ever won the FA Cup by doing a "Leeds" i.e. assembling an expensive side that the club could never support. He's not going to get any better than he is right now. How many old farts do you know who become more flexible with age? Or do they get increasingly stubborn and set in their ways? Sound familiar?
To say until we get Champions League we can't get anyone better than Harry is absolute horseshit. We're not an expensive side shooting ourselves in the head at the bottom of the table anymore. Any competent manager would be able to see the strength of our squad and the more clued up will be aware that Spurs rank among the top twenty wealthiest clubs in the world. We've been in and around 4th spot for most of the season, and had we not dropped a shedload of points during the first six weeks of the year by winning only one of six league matches, due pretty much to Harry's refusal to change a strike partnership that was not working, we would be nailed on for Champions league. That's a pretty attractive proposition to an up and coming or already established manager.
...as long as he speaks English...
Oh, and much as I may dislike Harry personally, Levy, this time be a freaking man and don't leave the guy who did in fact save us from relegation twisting in the wind, the way you did with the Martin Jol, who got us further up the table than any other manager since the founding of the premier league, with a much weaker team.
Ziegemonster, I think Harry has done a very good job this year, I don't agree with your argument at all although I agree with your sympathies for BMJ.
We're 5th behind a team that spent close to 200mm quid. We've only been beaten soundly 4 times all year. Sunderland, Arsenal, Man U, and Chelsea. Otherwise, we've matched every oppenent we faced and regularly dominated. I simply don't get it. Were your expectations this season an FA Cup victory and top 4? I think its highly demanding, too much so I'm afraid. Its frustrating to be so close to those massive achievements but pointing out how close we are to those achievments but falling short isn't an argument that the manager hasn't gotten it done, its the reverse.
It's fine to go about saying if we beat Everton (did Harry miss the spot kick or Defoe?) , or if we beat Wolves (not seeing how we were tactically outdone in those games). Fact is, in the last year we've progressed massively. We have identified several players that I think (we think?) we can build around, Dawson, Lennon, Bale, Palacios, Gomes.....Huddlestone, Bassong also look promising. I think our strike force is very solid. I'd prefer to add a more complete striker but our group compares pretty well with any.
I think we'll have room to manouver this summer once the sales of O'Hara, Hutton, Jenas, Keane, Bentley are made, also Gio Dos Santos, Adel Tarrabt all surplus to requirements and probably net 50mm+ and knock 200k off the wage bill. Decisions have to be made on Woodgate and King. We can't afford to shell out 120k a week in wages to players who combine play 20-30 games a season. Woodgate I feel sorry for as aside from this year, he's been relatively healthy for us. The King situation continues to go downhill with increasingly poorer returns in his play (it pains me to point out).
End of the day, I think we've got a very good squad. I see us challenging again for 4th place next year but I don't see how even on paper, we are better than any of the sides who currently sit above us in the table. Now, if we can stay healthy, and we add a few players (I like Ashley Young and think we have a need for a central midifeld box to box type with strong leadership qualities.) We can be right there again but I don't think its fair to expect it. Further, who do you think is better? It's not enough just to spout off not good enough. Who do you suggest?
Players to build around, I add Modric to that list. Dawson, Modric, Palacios, Lennon, Bale, and Gomes are all young and have the qualities to play in a top 4 side.
funny how the 'harry out' brigade were conspicuous in their absence when I did the piece on pros' and con's.
Most who commented didn't see the point as they thought that our love for him knew no limits, and that there were no 'harry haters' ergo, no need to make a summary comment. I'll conced that it was perhaps a bit long, no argument on that.
Spurs fans? One game mentality? surely not............
Harry forever / out* (*delete as applicable)
Tricky, I thought about it, but honestly, I would have been repeating things I'd previously posted and, since you'd clearly spent so so much time, effort and energy on what was truly a masterful piece of spin (the modern equivalent of a Shakespearean apologia), I just couldn't muster up the energy to go on another hiding to nowhere.
Tim, did we have a better squad than the top four when we got two consecutive fifths, and one year when we held fourth from December to the last day? Does Fulham have a better squad than the numerous European sides they've beaten? How many penalties did Defoe miss before he was stopped from taking them? Was it 5? If Pavs and Bentley and Bale had been integrated into the team sooner, then, yes, I think we would have won some of those matches. It's not purely about how many matches we lost/dropped points on, it's why. And it's how we play the game. Hoof it up to the tall bloke, it's enough to make you puke, especially since it doesn't work!
Arghh, gonna be late to work now. I love Spurs!
I must say it is hard to decide of i am pro or contra Harry ... He did very well with the club considering where we were but i think that almost anyone would have saved us from relegation considering the strenght of the squad.
The hoofing the ball part isn't something i like seeing at all but then again some games (when Crouch isn't there) we did play some tasty football.
But he failed when it came to Pav , we all know by now that the lad can play and will probably be leaving us this summer to go and make it big elsewhere. And i will blame Harry for that one , not only for not playing him but also for not giving him due credit when credit was due. Seeing the error in your ways makes you a big manager IMO , so if a player proves you wrong well then admit it and be a man about it.
I dont want him out but wouldnt be really upset if he left ...
Here we go again.getting "close to Anresnal", "we are up for it".....and then we get stuffed!!!
The Harry and Crouch show.............mouth, mouth, mouth.
Big mistakes in the season:
1. Lennon wanted to come off in the game he was injured in (cant remember who we were playing)......Harry would not let him.argument on the touch line, injury aggrevated
2. O'Hara to Portsmouth.........big mistake, Harry or was it Levy??
3. Insisting on playing Crouch rather than Pav in the games we dropped 9 points in....Harry's big mistake
4. Semi final: Wrong line up, Crounch should not have played, Hud was not fit, Mods should have played in the middle rather than double up with Bale!!
Harry, 63 years old..i suppose he has time on his side, we may get it right next season. Only problem is ive been waiting for 40 bloody years!!! For those of you that seem to think we have progressed, yes maybe, but my feeling is that we will be behind the top 5 next year!!! Arse, Liver, Chelski, Man U and Man City. Will Everton have another bad season, who knsows. !!!
who cares anymore...............................
Harry and his coaching staff deserve some credit for putting the team back on track and playing some good foot ball ,the problem is we cannot score, this obviously puts pressure on the defence and usually leads to the ultimate mistake that happened at Wembley. Harry seems to have a blind spot regarding Crouch & Defoe they are not good enough, Crouch cannot head a ball & has poor ball control on the ground Defoe always goe's to his right when trying to beat a player so is easily read, he is also poor in one on one situations with goalkeepers and does not make enough runs to open up defences, Modric has to hold onto the ball longer than he needs to because there is a lack of movement up front,Modric is missing Keane, Keane & Pav need each other all three are top players all three have been described as world class players how many times have all three played together for Spurs this season? not many I know! Harry call Keane back and we might just make 4th without him I see 5th.
Lets not forget the brilliant coaching staff and medical team that have helped players like Lennon back to full fitness, oh ye, lets hear it for the medical staff!!
Wait for that scandel to hit, youve heard nothing yet. The entire lot are incompetent!!!
Lennon probably out for the rest of the season mate!!