Milan, revisited
Friday, March 11, 2011 at 2:08PM Was meant to write up a match report of the Milan game but alas, I’ve been too busy celebrating the best 0-0 ever. Touring the saunas and lap dancing clubs of London can take its toll. And to be honest, in retrospect I’m not sure too much can be read into the manner of the game in terms of tactics and especially in terms of it being any form of marker of improvement or further maturity. It was one of those games that did not go the way we wanted it to, but adapted by digging deep. We might have to do that again, and perhaps next time find a way to turn up the tempo in our favour.
This side, under Harry Redknapp, is more than capable. They’ve proven that. It’s beyond dispute. Amazing considering how it all started with our Bambi foot-work away in the opening qualifier of our campaign. It was always about that gradual learning curve having to tap the vein of belief and inject confidence until our eyes rolled and we flew as high as a kite.
We’re equipped but we’re not going to win it are we? Actually scrap that question. What I meant was, we’re not the best equipped to win it are? So it won’t be humiliating or laughable when we get knocked out because we’ve made the quarters. Sorry playa haters, but as much as your bitterness drives you towards wanting us to fail, but virtue of our progress – it’s now impossible to do so.
Do I want the journey to end? Of course not. I want more. I want more twists and turns and more chronicles in the making. Only two games away from the semi-final. I guess that’s where Spurs fans irk the other fan bases, by being dreamers, by believing the unbelievable. Heart on sleeve, might be too giddy for some but for us it’s the way we live our football. Two games from the semi. Four from the final. So be it. We’re not going to be found out, just out-classed when/if we get knocked out. And there will be no shame in it. 2006 seems so long ago now.
As for the game. I’ll try and cover everything I had planned to in the match report.
Milan – Okay, so they turned up and played like the home side. Controlled possession with good passages of play. I’ve sat down and re-watched the game and for all the time they had with the ball at their feet and their desire to get forward and test us – they didn’t do that much. Two or three chances? Arguably none of them were clear cut. The Gallas clearance? That wasn't even clear cut thanks to how the ball travelled towards goal. I’d go as far as saying that a side with three better forwards would have punished us. I’m going to firmly state they flattered to deceive. Big whoop. The Zlatan Zeppelin burning to the ground in flames. Robinho is not that good and Pato, when in a good position fluffed his efforts on goal.
Now they might cry injustice, but they're in denial. We expertly mugged them at the San Siro in a game where they failed to truly make home advantage count. Gomes the hero in that game, our patience the key with our counter and away goal. At the Lane the only injustice is the suggestion that Ibra calls himself the best player in the world.
Now in terms of how we lined up and how we played, it’s tricky to gauge. Other than perhaps forming your own opinion and taking the sage of Harry in his post-match. We don’t sit back and soak up the pressure in Europe. We appeared to do so against Milan because I’m not sure we had much of a choice. The lack of genuine fitness from van der Vaart and no Gareth Bale from the start meant a couple of outlets of our play were not present. Lennon was doubled up on (personally thought he came through and produced some quality balls into the box the longer the game progressed). And because Crouch will eternally give away free-kicks simply because he’s tall meant that the olde knock-down double act with vdV wasn’t going to have a productive night.
All made more difficult thanks to Seedorf and his excellence and Milan’s midfield and their work ethic. We failed to hassle them back in an attempt to regain sustained possession and instead built a wall out of Brazilian bricks and named it Sandro, the Beast of the Lane. The graffiti clearly stating ‘not tonight, I'm going to give you a headache’ with Milan attempting to get past it and failing time and time again, reaching for the paracetamol with the tick tock of the clock as the game worked towards its conclusion.
As pointed out by a keen follower of South American football, we hardly signed him from a team of Sunday leaguers. He played for a top side in competitive games, not unlike the ilk of Champions League. The kid has taken time to adapt to the pace of the Prem (I say adapt, it’s still early days with a handful of appearances) but even during the appearances made he looks assured, confident and believable as a defensive midfielder who can play the ball a bit (no Huddlestone) can tackle and can get stuck in. He’s robust and simply doesn’t look unfazed by much.
Our performance, our initial drive towards how we wanted to play might have been to hit Milan down the flanks and put them under pressure but having been placed on the backfoot, I think we dealt with them pretty well because the players wanted it and were therefore completely focused at completing the task. If we were not going to score, neither would they. Even with the odd error or scrappy clearance thrown in for extra nail bites. What we didn’t do is change it or attempt to change it, not until late on with the substitutions. Risky, but it worked out.
Gallas, Dawson also excellent on the night. Gomes, ignoring his walkabout, handled very well. Corluka was calm which makes me less nervous than having Hutton at right back. BAE did a job too. Modric had one of his ‘quiet’ games, it’s the type where you might at first glance think he was ineffective. But once more he recycled possession (when we had it) and worked hard covering plenty of ground. 90% pass completion from the Croation. No major link up play with vdV, a player I long to see at even 85% full fitness, something I’m not sure we’ve witnessed yet. Piennar, not box office but another hard working display. Would Niko have worked on the left in a game where grit was required because there was no apparent time for spark? Lennon our main outlet, even when constrained by the double-up, gave us some rest bite.
It was not an offensive Spurs performance by any stretch of the imagination. It was a forced defensive one. Crouch could have should have headed that second half chance at goal rather than across goal. Not enough of the ball out on the flanks which meant not enough of anything in forward positions. High hoofs to Crouch, one dimensional, at the sixth and seventh attempt but one out of desperation to get the ball up top to release the stress at the back – only to give the ball back to Milan.
As mentioned, Harry made the right subs late on. And also, as mentioned, Milan for all their posturing did nothing decisive when it mattered. Other than fall to the ground hurt time and time again. Nice one KPB and Robinho. The ex-goon also showing more of his class with another trademark lunge.
Team unity got us through it.
We have dismantled teams, bossed it and scored goals in abundance at home in the CL. This time out, it a test of character and perseverance. No matter how you wish to analyse, the fact remains, two games against one of the best sides in Italy – and they couldn’t score past us. Luck? It wasn’t luck that saw us finish top of our group was it? Doesn't matter if Ibra is over-rated or that Italian football struggles when played at a Prem rate of pace. We out smarted them in the first leg. That's what won it. That's what they can't get over.
I'm still smiling.
COYS.
Reader Comments (36)
spook,
enjoyed your post match run down ..
Sandro and pancakes?? The boy delivers.
You learn somit every day don't you? Who would have thought that the word omelet in Brazilian was Harry Redknapp! Now what are the chances of that?
"He’s robust and simply doesn’t look unfazed by much." <== precisely. the lad hasnt seen a ball he couldnt win in his entire life.
I watched the game with my 10 day-old son and at half time he had gotten all grizzly and upset.
Then a magical thing happened half-way through the 2nd half:
The WHL crowd started to belt out "We are Tottenham..." and my living room started to rock. BabyRay stopped crying, looked around in wonder and then sat on my lap and gurgled happily for the rest of the game. He could sense the belief, the optimism radiating from the thousands of fellow Yiddos - I'm sure the players could too...
my gooner mate explained to me that as soon as we meet a decent team we'll be out! after i stopped laughing I mentioned that Inter were holders and AC are top of Serie A but he dismissed AC as "finished". They are a bunch of bitter, angry, dissapointed goons who must be praying that we don't win it even harder than we are praying to win it.
Kabuol, Hudd..any idea when they will be back? VdV was dissaponiting, clearly very unfit. What's going on with him? a bit strange if you ask me. Defoe must be chomping at the bit to replace him.
We could lose in the final and some people would still shout from the rooftops that 'look told you so, Spurs are rubbish'.
With the Stratford stadium plan dead, maybe we should consider moving to Italy. We'd be champions in no time. :)
Great performance, they all worked their socks off and good to see Dawson having his most assured game for a while. Sandro has stepped up and I'm happy to admit I was pessimistic about him too soon... hopefully he will adapt to the pace of the Premiership soon, he looks like he could be a good player for us.
Anybody notice how the Milan centr-backs didn't really attempt to win the headers against Crouch, they just backed into him and waited for the free kick? Crouchy gave away at least 8 free kicks in this way. When will he learn that he doesn't need to put his hands on defenders' backs... he is tall enough he should be able to win most headers with his hands glued behind his back? European refs constantly give fouls against him, the opposition players are playing the game and he isn't. Learn the lesson Crouchy, your jumping technique encourages refs to blow for a foul, sort it out.
Now that Barca have shown the world how to use a multi man midfield, could we not use a similar formation in our next European game.
Across the middle something like this.
Bale, Modders, VDV,Piennar Sandro, Lennon.
Just a thought. Bale can score, Modric can score, VDV can score and so can Azza.
Little triangles across the middle moving backward and forward ala Barca.
We can swap Piennar with Huddle for the semi's and final!!
Gomes
Corluka Dawson Gallas BAE
Huddlestone Sandro
Modric
Bale vdv Lennon
I'm not totally inclined to disagree with you here.
We didn't set out to just preserve our away goal, that's not really in Harry's or Spurs DNA.
Milan were good but not quite good enough.
The long ball to Crouch tactic sucks. Its an embarrasing and lazy tactic that we have adopted due to...what? one goal against FC Twente?
Against Inter we scored six goals and none came from the stupid Crouch-VDV long ball knock down nonsense. Against Milan, our one goal came from a Lennon run and pass/assist. Even in the Premiership, against Chelsea, Man U, Arsenal, Liverpool...any good team, we have not scored from that rubbish tactic. I hate it and it does not represent us!!!!!
That said...What a display by the defenders. Beginning with Sandro. Thank God Jenas did not get "favoured"...I mean, selected, ahead of him and ruin everything. Gallas was immense. Hard to imagine he was ever a gooner.
If it wasn't for the "long ball to the poor Crouch-y" tactic/confusion...I would say bring on Barca. I'll take Raul's Schalke for now.
And VDV is being selfish. Just because the knock down rubbish seems to have favoured his statistics in the PAST, doesn't mean that we have to stick with it forever. Its not working anymore, Crouch has been found out, Jeez! everyone is talking about it. Its time to come up with a couple of new, clever, entertaining goal scoring ideas...that will bring the glory glory back in its desired form.
Long ball to Crouch has lost any surprise factor in Europe, does need to be mixed up. Not any fault of Crouch.
Crouchy’s critics should chill out. The man gives 100% effort every time he plays. Thanks to his hustling and composure he (we) capitalized on a brilliant Lennon’s run in the first leg. WTF more anyone wants? His goal vs. ManCity undoubtedly kick-started a historic Glory Glory Nights at WHL, and not a single fucker here or anywhere else can dispute this fact. He scored quite a few goals in CL so far. Those who complain that he committed too many fouls in the last game know shit about footy, because they are not capable to recognize “backing into Crouch” tactic that AC was allowed to con the game with all night due to incapable ref. However, Beanpole produced few opportune knockdowns but VdV was not quick enough to get to it, and no other player was nowhere near the box to follow those actions. Knockdowns could be extremely useful if more than one forward follows it. We learned this the hard way at Stoke, where Zigic’s knockdown cost us the game. I’m not saying that this should be our only option going forward, but it is a commodity not many clubs can exploit.
We do have plenty of fans that expertly forget the facts or prefer to just aim their disdain at a single player. We've all been guilty of it. But with Crouch, it's not like he's rubbish. He's not the perfect forward and he's not the future but it can work and work well and he has a knack of scoring important goals. And most importantly - he along with JD and Pav are the only strikers we have so back 'em.
The interviewer was asking Sandro if he was homesick particularly as now everyone in Brazil everyone is going bonkers at Carnaval whereas in England the big deal at this time of year was to eat pancakes. A different world.
He seems like a cool down to earth guy. Helpfully unlike Robinho and other Brazilians who've gone abroad he seems very focused on establishing himself in England rather than sneaking off home to party.
the reason for his 'knack for important goals" - two to be exact - is that the other strikers are usually on the bench.
Spooky, could you be among those who expertly forget the facts? All I'm saying is that that longball/knockdown tactic never works against any good team. Remember that even against Inter away we were being torn apart with our longball... but after the red to Gomez, and the eventual removal of the Crouch obstacle, we were transformed and managed to score 3.
I'm happy with the progress... but honestly, we were quite lucky that the MilANIMALS did not score because our attack game was really poor. Think about it.
@beetleblues, I think you mean Birmingham. But it doesn't matter. That tactic is not only overrated, its very embarrassing. Can u see Birmingham or Stoke and their Zigics playing the likes of Milan. We are no longer fighting for survival, we are in the CL.
The crouch-way is way unnecessary.
My point is, the gaffer rates him and plays him. The stick Crouch gets is unfair based on the tactics the team adhere to when running out. Sure, we got lucky against Milan in terms of their over-rated forward line. We need to be able to attack in a more traditional Spurs manner and hoofs up to Crouch are not the answer.
I'd love to party with BAE and Crouch. We could strap The Grin to the top of Benoit's smart car like a surf board, hit some roped off joints. Do some pop and lock in the VIP section, then roll to Sandro's late night for pancakes. That would be something.
Crouch IMO is too honest, his sole intention when attacking a ball is wholly on winning the header, but his marker/s' sole intention is not to win the header but to stop Crouchie from winning, and they don't care what they have to do to stop him as long as they do.
Most ref's/officials don't understand genuine intent as they've never played the game and that's why he concedes so many fouls. A top drawer ref who's played the game would've nipped the desperate defensive tactics in the bud early doors, if not you'll have a game littered with fouls against the player being fouled... this type of ref's lack of awareness also encourages diving hence KPB's continued success.
Sometimes just by standing there he could win freekicks, he needs to be craftier.
Immensely proud of the lads for their disciplined performance, they've earned that place in the qf with 2 outstanding displays of football.
COYS
our tactics against inter was just defend and if we are lucky get a knockdown from crouch to vdv or pinch a goal on the counter attack..not very entertaining but stodgy and effective against inter and we had a pinch of luck..and it did work..but i hope to god we come up with some better tactics if we draw barca or chelsea or man u in the next round... speaking of milans forwards they should of just tried peppering our goal with a few more shots rather than trying to pass the ball into the net..i thought our players were brilliant as a team and as individuals.....coys
ronnie;
I stand corrected; it was Birmingham, and not Stoke.
I'm not saying that high balls to Lanky should be THE tactic. It usualy isn't so when we have both wingers on the pitch. I don't think that it is Crouch's decision to most often position himself at the back post. To me, this is more likely the gaffer's direction how he should play. Knockdown opportunities when they come could be much more successful if at least Modders, winger, and VdV (if no one else) would flood the box, rather than only VdV being there surrounded by at least 5 defenders.
Also, no one can say that Beanpole has legs just for walking, because most of his finishes were done by his feet.
Finally, his defensive efforts, when we were under pressure (not only in this last game) went unnoticed and are mostly underrated. How many times have anyone seen Pav or Defoe heading out dangerous corner balls from our box?
All I’m saying is, the man is not “world beater” but he is versatile forward that not once brought us crucial points but also a joy (well, at least to me) . Like Spooky said, having only him, Defoe and Pav, it is silly to rubbish him the way some fans do.
Just come backfrom three weeks out of the country (and indeed a different continent and hemisphere).
Have I missed anything?
Are we out of Europe?
Are the goons still on for the quadruple?
Fergie still on the FA's refereeing panel christmas card list?
;-)
Nobody is about. Everyone is walking the streets trying to find an Arsenal fan to discuss this past two weeks football.
They're all on blogs, going bi-poar from what I gather this morning.
Some are calling for their manager's head, the bi-polar, fickle, nomadic (a term safe to use for now) bunch that they are.
As for some of the comments on Crouch, we should not forget the work he put in on the first leg, and the 'long ball out' option being the only way to play with two defensive mids that set up the win away from home. Not saying he is the ultimate answer to our striking problems, and 2MP isn't exactly prolific, just would hate to see us become fickle and drawn into the one game mentality (or should that be six trophy-less season mentality?).
*bi-polar
Arsenal fans calling us deluded miss the point.
Thought it had gone quiet Tricky.
Nah nothing happening. Boring 0-0 in the Champions league against Milan.
Nothing to see here move on.
Barcelona thrashed someone, didn't notice who.
We nearly beat Wolves, so that's an improvement.
Sandro is the new Palacios, who was the new Dave Mackay.
You will soon get back into the swing of things.
Cheers Jimmy,
No doubt it will all end in tears at some point.
When's the Hudd back, there was a time when he was the new something or other, I miss my Hudd and Modders partnership from early on in the season.
Wolves, hey, the new Middlesborough?
He twitted he was back in training this week (light running perhaps?).
By twitted I mean tweeted.
I don't think it's appropriate to make jokes after this tragedy. I know it's hard to feel sorry or sympathy 'cos they're foreigners, but we have to remember they lost everything in almost an instant. They've been left with nothing...
Still there's always next season for the goons.
haha
I don't think it's appropriate to make jokes after this tragedy - I know it's hard to feel sorry or sympathy for a bunch foreigners, but we have to remember they've lost everything in almost the blink of an eye! They have been left with literally nothing!!
Still - there's always next season Wenger.......
@ronnie........i'm not embarrassed that we beat milan over two legs mate, i'm not embarrassed that we beat Inter. I'm not embarrassed that we beat city at eastlands to qualify for the champions league......i'm not embarrassed by all of the pundits and ex pro's who call us exciting, a breath of fresh air a team that they love to watch.....not embarrassed at all by any of that. Proud....not embarrassed. I am enbarrassed by spurs "fans" who attack one of their own so much........
Be frustrated with the tactic, be frustrated with the manager for making that decision when it doesn't work, be frustrated with the player when his naievity leaves us at a disadvantage but be no more than that. We spoke on here about cult hero's a few posts ago.......crouchy gets my vote. He presents us with an option, he should as someone (possibly beetle?) pointed out earlier be seen as a commodity to be used when appropriate....he gives his everything for our team, he plays the game in the right spirit, he has been involved in many crucial moments for us this year and had a positive effect. If you don't believe in Redknapp and you don't believe in Crouch then maybe believe in what Milan said......their biggest fear was not Rafa, Luca, Lennon or Bale.....their biggest fear was Crouch...........unless of course like the gooners you think that they are finished and of no value.....not a one of us is perfect and crouch is far from that.......but when we ship out our strikers in the summer and bring in players of better class and quality i will still hope that there is a squad number for 2MP.......he's not THE answer but he is AN answer.