Pav scores, empty seat salutes

Tottenham 1 Rubin Kazan 0. What did we learn?

Kurban Berdyev should consider looking for the receipt for his prayer beads.

Spurs fans who managed to attend might have been better entertained had they remained home and played around with a different ilk of bead.

24058. You should be applauded for turning up.

Kaboul and Sandro swaggered with cool, calm, controlled class as they punctured the game with powerful pomp. Not that you can complain too much about the standard of football. This was a second eleven (be it one with plenty of internationals) with returning first teamers and youth players that can't truly be expected to 'turn it on', as much as we'd like to see it turn on. It was more Sorry Sorry, than Glory Glory. Don't think this was the Europe Bill Nicholson referred too.

Pav proved beyond doubt that he is most effective when he is standing completely still and has ample time to consider options and weigh up the best course of action. He does that every time he plays, but alas, doesn't always pay off. What we do know after his free-kick goal is that he can't do it on a cold week-day night up at Stoke but can at the Lane when nobody much cares other than nerds who create animated gifs of goals. We'll always have the gif Pav.

I'll give Gomes a 7. Gio a 5. As for Carroll? 8. That's not out of ten, that's his age. On reflection (having watched the game a second time) he wasn't quite this elegant floaty flicky footballer I thought I witnessed (against the Russians) rather I had fantasised he was far better than he performed. Okay so he moved about, looked for the ball...but the nature of the game and its tempo meant that it was all much ado about nothing. But that hardly warrants him being tagged with 'out of his depth' comments. He's played a handful of games and he has to continue to make first team appearances to gain experience/confidence and understanding. He looks comfortable, very comfortable with the ball. Give it time, plenty of protein and we'll beef him up I'm sure. Keep on using him Harry please.

Can I mention Sandro again? Hands up if you retained your interest in the game just to see him charge towards a player to tackle the ball back into our possession or for his Gandalfesque-like in 'you shall not pass' defending. If I was Sandro, I'd never take that gum shield out of my mouth either. You never know, he might happen to brush past Godzilla in the pub and spill his pint and we all know 'zilla struggles with his temperament.

Bassong. Captain. That is all.

Lennon is back. Sort of. I'm sure I can remember him making some tasty runs second half. Don't make me watch the game a 3rd time - I wasn't making notes, I was busy multi-tasking and reading Channel 5's online coverage of the Big Brother house so I could appreciate more the various link-work Jim Rosenthal and the commentating team were doing.

Defoe blow out some of that cold, just reminding us that he's still capable of doing so. It's not all hot. Has it ever been any different?

Walker and Rose had a decent enough run-out. Gio was Gio. It's like getting dressed up for a night out, polishing your shoes then being turned away from the club door by the bouncer for being over-dressed. Gio looks the part but he can never get in on the action where it matters most.

As for the visitors. They looked more like a unit, a team. Which was hardly a shocker considering the line-up we fielded. Risky football, but we got away with it. They were not as good as I expected them to be (our first eleven would wipe the floor with them). Europa League group stages, hardly a priority then. So no, we have learnt nothing new.

Could have quite easily been a home defeat had we not rode our luck some what (thank those malfunctioning prayer beads). We got away with it. Stronger side required when we visit them.

We won. Isn't that all that really matters?

Forward failure

Previous season review articles:

In our defence

Midfield majesty

Onwards now with penetrating the penalty box of pessimism where our goal shy forwards sleep.

Defoe

Patches of form is JD’s signature. He scores goals in spurts but then goes missing for a while. He lashes the ball into the back of the net, a regular trait much like his inability to beat the offside trap. He’s a player you always expect to see improved but doesn’t quite get there, although this season there was a suggestion he would surprise us. Alas, he was struck down by injury and that was that. It’s easy to forget about the big chunk of the season he was sidelined and just criticise him for his form post- return. He’s struggled to reclaim that blistering zip and had it all compounded by falling behind in the queue to start up top in Lilywhite.

I’m going to be brutally honest. I think on form and fit, JD will score goals. Even in spurts, he will hit 20 if he avoids injury. However, if Levy and Harry plug the hole we have up front in terms of balls deep world class quality to compliment the likes of vdV and Modric...then a sacrifice will have to be made. JD will be benched. He won’t be first choice and he’ll want to be and will therefore have to look elsewhere. I don’t think he’s going to change his ways. He’s not a bad player. We just need something that little bit extra special.

Seems we have players at Tottenham that are neither first choice or strong enough to lead the frontline. And that’s a weakness.

He’s scored plenty for us (you might have missed the t-shirt) so I hope he shows the desire to stay and fight, but his words recently suggest otherwise. In a confident side, with a confident Defoe...fireworks.

Crouch

Much maligned. Scored some vital goals for us at key moments. Assisted Rafa on the odd occasion too. But it’s like bringing a sex doll to bed to help you get in the mood when your partner is lying naked next to you. There’s no need for it. It’s a distraction. It’s not a necessity even though you could get some use out of it. If there was no Crouch they’d be no hoof and knock-down. It’s those key moments that allowed many to tolerate his lack of impact domestically (lack of goal return). It’s not his fault, he’s built the way he’s built and he’s had success at former clubs. But much like a team has to be setup in the right way for Darren Bent to run onto the ball off the last defender, you have to use Crouch as an outlet meaning it’s fine if he’s a backup/impact sub but not so good if he’s the one leading from the front. Dynamic he’s not.

Those vital goals, in the CL. Appreciated by all. But we need something far more robust. Someone who kicks the ball with venom and isn’t just an obvious Plan B to launch balls at.

Pavlyuchenko

Remind me, did we sign him in the aftermath of Zenit dicking us about with the Arshavin saga? We paid around £14M for a player that joined us off the back of the Russian season. He seemed to be permanently injured and forever with his translator. He wasn’t convincing and was far too apologetic in body language on the ball and off it. For the money spent he hasn’t displayed the qualities we expected from him when he arrived. There’s an argument that perhaps had he started more games he’d have found a rhythm and settled far quicker. Perhaps, but he’s far too erratic for me.

He’s obviously a classy player. Some of the goals he’s scored have been majestic, technically superb and instinctive. And yet he ghosts in and out of a game at times like a lost Sunday league player who has turned up in a professional league by accident. He’s a luxury. I think Harry knows that and I don’t believe him when he starts claiming he’s the best finisher at the club. I think the crux is that even though he might be, he’ll never be consistent enough and he’s obviously not doing enough to claim that first team start (unless Harry is still controlled by favouritism).

Pav does have the class, like I said. But it’s always too little too late. Scored some vital goals last season. Scored some great goals this season. That’s about it.

I guess, ideally, we’d replace all three players with two top drawer forwards and a young third choice striker for the future. Personally think Defoe will stay and Crouch and Pav will go. Which means we’ll sign our ‘world class’ forward and will simply need to invest in some youth to make sure we have ample cover.

At the end of this epically long day we didn’t score enough goals. Not to completely blame the front men as we lacked cohesiveness with the tinkering, but there were several games when you were left holding your head in your hands. Either we’ve had one of those days all season long or we just admit we need to up our game and make the required changes for the good of this team and its progress.

Up next:

Prem and the Cups 

The Progression of Harry Redknapp’s Tottenham (including a 'arry review)

Summertime High Jinxs

No more buffer

Wolves 3 Spurs 3

The whole point of Challenge Spurs and the five outlined games was to allow ourselves a buffer; extra points to go that extra mile that could cushion any potential slip-ups against more meaty opposition. Six goals shipped and one point gained from Blackpool and Wolves away pretty much removes any hope that this run-in journey will be anything other than ‘the hard way’. We are pretty much left with no other objective than to win all our remaining home games and not lose to Man City or Chelsea away. In fact I’d go as far as suggesting that we need to avoid defeat at Stamford Bridge and beat City at Eastlands (again). Seems like an age ago we battered them in the opening 45 at the Lane. Seems that to finish top 4 you don’t need to be better than one of your rivals. You just need to be less inconsistent than them when it comes to not winning when you’re expected to. Which probably makes you better by definition of points accumulated. You know what I mean, so I'll move on.

As a spectacle, the 3-3 was superb. Deano, no doubt, will have looked down from the heavens and applauded. I think we could have done with him in defence more so than Wolves.

The game felt as it played out like one of those types of ‘We’ll try to score more than you’ games. I think it illustrated that we are still growing up as a team and that we are still very much susceptible to naivety and attitude adjustment (in this case attitude being offkey).

Could we not go to both Blackpool and Wolves away and bully them? Boss the midfield, frustrate their pluckiness and generally pick ‘em off with the ilk of professionalism and maturity that tends to be saved for our European games? Can we not juggle the two, not just in selection but in how we set ourselves to compete? Or is this a harsh assessment considering none of the ‘top sides’ have won at Wolves? Although Chelsea dispatched Blackpool last night. Hence the loss of the buffer, because had we won at Blackpool – well, you do the maths. Onwards again, we always play better when our backs are up against the wall. For the moment the underdog label fits us best. It’s all pretty much clear now that we have to tighten up and not be left feeling regretful thanks to our own mismanagement of handling the opposition. Down to the wire, hold onto your hats.

Some musings on the game:

The pitch – awful. Cut up like an emo kid on you tube.

JD brace – I’d like to think I could take credit for some kind of cosmic blogosphere influence for Defoe finally exploding into life. Alas more likely to be the Jimmy Greaves goals tape Clive Allen shared with Defoe about a month ago (perhaps it was on VHS and JD only got his hands on a video this past week). Regardless, two instinctive efforts drenched in self-confidence. When you don’t think and you hit you score.

Pav’s lash – Another sweet effort. Who cares about the deflection? The power of the shot made it unstopptable. Bit surreal having the two of them (our forwards) score in the same game.

Hutton – I gave him the benefit of the doubt the other week in the lead up to the game. Mainly because if he stood at right-back then Gallas would play as CB. All he proved, once more, is that he’s not very good. Not very good at all. Clumsy, always out of position and seems to think that if he gallops forward it will look good and mask his defensive frailties. There’s a half decent player in there, somewhere. You’d probably need Leonardo DiCaprio to infiltrate Hutton’s dream state and plant an inception.

Wasteful in front of goal – We could have had it wrapped up. How many times did you think that during the match? Unlucky with the woodwork (JD) and unlucky with the angle (Bale). So close yet so far and yet still so close.

Gomes – Our mad Brazilian is all over the place at the moment. Just not in the right place. 1^st goal and 3^rd goal and the disallowed goal. It does not inspire confidence, although he’ll probably play a blinder against Milan and all will be forgiven.

Our defending – No shape or cohesion. Is this part of the failure to attitude adjust? Players thinking of Wednesday night, not focusing on the task in front of them, day dreaming about the one ahead?

Formation – Niko on the left, Modric in the middle. That would have worked, no? Luka out on the left is so two years ago. It’s wasteful. But then Harry will say the selection was necessary because of the missing players. Not sure why Niko was benched considering his recent form.

Sandro – Loving him. He’s finding his feet now after struggling initially with the pace. Give this guy two more years and he'll be a beast.

Lennon and Bale – Great to have Gareth back. Full pelt against Milan please. The role reversal between the two was apparently to aid Hutton out on the right hand side. Didn’t quite work. Could Azza have not pushed their left-back back and thus both players take their positions on their natural sides? Harry?

Chris Coleman – Bring back Andy Gray.

Conclusions –

We were second best at times and made some right royal fudge ups. We almost got away with it but yet still allowed Wolves to come at us in the final few minutes. Naive. You can’t afford to be this sloppy and expect to get away with it. It was probably a good point in the end in terms of how we performed. Utd, Chelsea and City have all lost there – so I guess in some ways it was a good point. But then again perhaps not.

We are still not out of it. I refused to accept it last season and it’s still well within our grasp. Let’s hope Corluka and Kaboul are back soon. And that Huddlestone plays a part at some point in the run-in.

Challenge Spurs round up - 7 pts from a possible 15, only 3 left to grab, potential tally: 10 pts. 5 pts potentially lost. Still, the run-in sees us play City, Chelsea and Arsenal.

Destiny sits purring on our lap.

Anyone for a goal?

Is it safe to come out now? Everyone recovered from the debacle at Blackpool? No irony lost on me as I was ravaged and harassed much like our backline was. Rather illness than DJ Campbell witnessed me waste away (I lost 7 pounds). Offside indeed. Arguably a more damaging week for Spurs losing three points that cannot be recovered. I can at least eat a couple of doner kebabs and apply the lost weight in ample time.

What lessons can we take from the defeat? Other than the routine complaints that our forwards are not up to scratch?

1) Our forwards are not up to scratch.
2) Aided by the naivety of pushing forwards in numbers and allowing us to be punished on the counter.

On another day we might have scored a bundle. Oh for that other day.

JD hasn’t been on form for what seems like forever. Perhaps since the 9-1. Injuries aside, he has now taken an almost Pavlyuchenkoesque aura with his under-performing.  

“He’s only just back in the side”
“Needs to rediscover his touch”
“Trying too hard”
“Thinking too much instead of being instinctive”
“Lashing it when he should place it, placing it when he should be lashing it”

etc

In his defence some of his performances have been selfless in terms of sacrificing traditional goal-hanging virtues for more workman like defensive-forward qualities with JD running back into midfield, working the channels and generally doing all the donkey work with movement and pulling defenders away that many would over look because there’s no glam or end product. In these games you could also look towards the lack of creativity in supplying options to the forwards to strike at goal.

Such is the complexities of the current Spurs side that we’re almost performing to paradoxical levels week in week out.

We have spirit and guile and tenacity and most importantly we have team unity and belief (well, apart from Alan Hutton who is apparently in Goa with some old bloke with a white beard claiming to be Lord Lucan). We also have genuine balls deep world class players. In fact, in some ways we have the ilk of player(s) that transcends the accepted quality we usually enjoy at the Lane. We have players who are wonderfully talented as individuals but work majestically well as part of the team – with no determent for their inclusion. The paradox is, us sitting in fourth, could have been third, with hardly a reliable forward to be found. Ours can be easily located in Dubai.

I’d say ‘Crouch’ but I’d be shot down for mouthing it. But at least he tucks into his continentals whilst others choke on their full English. Although, I guess, he also chokes on his English. All a bit over-cooked then.

The only consistency has been the excuses we’ve all discussed post-match as reasons for our failures to see our midfield and attack combine to score goals (rather than goals being scored from midfield).

Apparently, it’s because of van der Vaart. When he plays everything goes through him (via Luka). Hence why it works with Crouch up top as a foil to the movement and endeavour of the Dutch maestro. If he’s missing, we fall back to a more traditional 442 set up. And we make hard work of it when we do. For example, the 3-1 loss to the Tangerines.

It’s pretty obvious stuff. We need something, someone special at Spurs. A player at the same level of a Modric or a van der Vaart. A forward, robust and intelligent who can play it on the ground and isn’t too shabby in the air. Some who can also link up play and allow others to flourish. Equally so, if there is no Drogba out there available then all we need to do is find a Lineker. No wonder we fail at each transfer window, eh?

Nothing new here, hardly a revelation. But all is not lost.

The paradox still has us in the top four with only a couple of recent gut wrenching defeats in the league that have seen us falter.

We have a striker who doesn’t score much, other than in Europe, but does assist.
We have a striker who has forgotten how to score.
We have a striker who seems to perform better as an impact player and can finish the ridiculously sublime but not the ordinary.

In fact, all three of our forwards are probably more suited as Plan B’s from the bench. But we still have to make do with what we have. We have no choice. Nothing we can do about wishful potential signings either. Whether it’s one up front or two, we’ve only got three to choose from.

I know that it’s all very dependent on the availability of vdV in how we line-up and from one game to the next and Harry likes to swap and change, but it’s time now to stick and pray. I don’t just mean with the forwards, but in other areas.

We need cohesiveness from one game to the next. Play the best players in their best positions and if they’re on-form let them retain their place. Sure, tactical reshuffles are a necessity for certain games (Milan) but if we want the midfield to link up with our rouge strike-force then a particular line-up needs to retain its shape. Appreciate squad rotation for freshness and injured players has to be accounted for. But sometimes I don't grasp the reasons for the shuffles. But then I'm just a fan not a coach.

It’s not ideal all this. If you have an in-form striker, someone you have faith in who you can stick up front and you know he’ll give you not just 100% but a little bit of composure too...you wouldn’t complain. Even the best have off days and you’d accept that. What’s frustrating is we’ve seen little in the way of movement in terms of improvements from any of our players other than say Crouch who does impress in those European one-offs.

Pav has never been in the zone. Always fleeting on the edge.
Defoe is a confidence player, scores in bursts, and when he doesn’t is maligned for offering little else.
Crouch is hardly prolific, great foil for vdV or an in form Defoe. But can’t be relied on to notch up the goals.

You can’t be too shocked that were not producing the goods. But even with this motley crue, we’re still someone how in the hunt. Thanks to the strengths of our midfield and the fact that we don’t actually lose that many, so our defence must be doing equally good. That’s the defence that also never remains the same from one week to the next.

We need to be better to consolidate. We have to in order to remain in the fight. To suggest we can’t is the type of pessimistic hoodoo we can do without. Last season we had key midfielders missing. We got on with it.

We’re stuck with the intangible again. So based on blind faith I’m placing hope on our trequartista threesome simply because...we have absolutely nothing else to place our hopes on.

Zonal marking, eat your heart out.

Anyone for a t-shirt?

Entrepreneurial webcomic illustrator/blogger/founder of the Studs Up empire (and all round nice guy) Chris Toy has followed up from his simplistically joyful football culture tee ‘2 points, 8 games, 1 hero’ and ‘Taxi for Maicon’ shirts with another essential must-have.

Oh yeah.

You know you want to.

In support of Jermaine Anthony Jenas

No - the blog has not been hacked.

Welcome to the JJ and Pav Appreciation Society. Membership is free.

You'll have noticed four things this past weekend. That's if you are straightforward with your honesty. I know I did, and it was echoed by others. A minority it would seem in parts - but I guess due to past crimes many of us struggle to come to terms when attempting to quantify then justify and compare one of the greatest of Spurs conundrums...and any supporting acts touring at the same time.

The rest shrugged and stated nothing has changed. And it probably hasn't. Because their perception of Jermaine Jenas has remained constant so it supports their opinion of the player, no matter what changes around him.

Now before you start accusing me of over-reacting or suddenly acquiring misty eyed delusions, I'm just pointing out that both Jermaine Jenas and Roman Pavlyuchenko (two of the most much maligned players we possess who sit on the bench of besmirch with Bentley, Keane and one or two others) played well. That's it. Not saying that for example JJ has suddenly achieved redemption and is owed respect and medals of honour or that Pav is the answer to our lack of cutting edge up front.

All this article wishes to state (in a traditional long-winded manner of therapeutic acceptance and apology) is that to balance out the Spursverse and stop the stars from falling from the skies, it's only fair we get into the habit of acknowledging those that deserve some praise, be it a gentle pat on the back or something more. The culture of knee-jerk, blame and favouritism remains and its easy to ignore anything that might contradict your opinion. We are guilty of it.

And sure, it was only Blackburn Rovers, but then it was only Sunderland, Bolton, Everton, West Ham, Wigan etc etc. We need players performing, no matter their apparent squad importance.

Both Jermaine and Roman deserve polite plaudits. I'm hoping this won't send some of you into cardiac arrest. So considering how quick we are to throw rotten fruit, it's only fair right? And equally so, my feet are firmly on the ground in terms of expectancy from both players. Because we've been here before, especially with JJ, who has flattered to deceive countless times. When he does play well its easy to confuse a standard performance for most other players with something sublime or superb thanks to it's rarity when he delivers the goods. And soon you come to the common conclusion that it's a blip, a positive spike of energy, and normality will resume. It's the ongoing soap opera we follow with Jenas, the same plot line repeated over and over again.

Not sure if its the smell of the NLD that has him looking sharp and focused, in time for a possible hopeful obligatory Tour de force cameo against the scum. Or if he has simply dug a little deeper with no spot-light on him. Arguably one of our best performers on Saturday against Rovers. What with rumours of Huddlestone crocked (now confirmed - 3 months), although both are completely different ilks of players, on form, Jenas isn't too shabby a player to have as a replacement. On form. Which is where the problem has always been. He's not always on form. Or to put a finer point on it - he's never the player we expect him to be. Which in some ways is the reason so many of us look on in despondency and always expect him to be below average. Even when he's not.

JJ is nondescript, say, in comparison to a Hudd or a Luka. You know the strengths and weakness of both of these players but with Jenas, he's just box-2-box but doesn't excel in one particular area other than his energy levels and his long-busting runs. When on form. With Hudd, it's his quarter-back stance and power-shots and vision and Luka is a crafter, a dinking magic man. JJ is always meant to be something, but we're never quite sure what that something is meant to be.

On Saturday he covered the pitch with intent and purpose, wanting it, playing balls to the flank for Bale, cross pitch marauding runs and some trademark box to boxing, driving forward (almost scored) eating up the space ahead of him. He's played decently a few times this season, but in comparison to the Bale and vdV hype, nobody tends to notice. Unless he plays sh*t, then we notice.

I know I've probably been guilty of ignoring him and grabbing the Kleenex for fast wrist action when watching Gareth destroy the left wing. Kleenex obviously required to wipe away the tears of joy from my eyes as my wrist struggles with the constant grabbing of the remote to rewind and replay.

This time though, I've found myself basking in Jenas tackling and battling on the field of play. Okay, basking is a touch too far. Pleasant. It was pleasant to see and with our injuries, it's fairly joyful to have a forgotten player reminding us that he can still offer his services to the side. Unlike Bentley who never appears likely to re-discover form he possessed prior to his move to Spurs.

I suppose you might still not be impressed and you might cite something I've always preached about  Jenas. When he plays well, as aforementioned, it's a blip. Levy's original poster-boy for 'sell-on value'. He is the perpetual prince of potential, forever we await for him to grow out of footballing puberty and then grow some much needed balls. Belief, he lacks it. And the home support equally so lack belief in him.  Hence the target on his back. We all want him to be the player he's expected to be.

He was never (going to be) a blood and thunder die hard mentally strong player we could build our midfield around. Whereas perhaps now, he can simply offer us some energy and directness, not as a Plan A, but as a Plan B.

"Uh, no, they're saying "Jen-urns! Jen-urns!"

We stand by the likes of Modric etc when they under perform because we know how well they can consistently play when on form. We hate on JJ because we expected him to be Gerrardesque in terms of stamping his authority on games. Perhaps not so much these days. Once upon a time when we lacked class in our midfield, he was our only hope. Hence the misguided faith and expectancy that weighed down on his fragile ickle mind. Now the landscape is one of riches so Jenas can - when given the opportunity - get on with doing the hard graft work whilst others swagger and silk.

He has played well this season, with a couple of poor performances thrown in. Much like many of our players have too. Considering how easily we excuse some of these players and look the other way and whistle.

So what four things did I notice on Saturday? Not rocket science this.

1) JJ played well

2) Pav played well

3) JJ still gets maligned via the 'Jenas is crap' reflex

4) Pav gets support from the crowd even when he's missing 'open goals'

Now the latter is great to see. Not the missing of open goals, but the support. Roman shots wide a glorious chance, then misses a penalty, but still we cheer him on and when he scores we lap it up. He always notches up a goal does Pav, even though most of the time he lacks much of anything else. But we seem to accept him. Did play very well against Blackburn and showed the type of movement we need from a forward whilst we wait for JD's return. And he showed strength to get on with it and stick the header away.

As for JJ, when the pressure isn't on, he turns it on. And we could go on talking about how a player who needs to be handled with care is not the right type of player for the club in the direction we wish to continue going. But it wouldn't be so much of a problem if we didn't treat him like he goes around bragging he's the best midfielder in the country.

Well done Jenas, I appreciate your efforts. You're not exceptional in any great way and your abilities are less special than say the likes of Modric and Huddlestone and company that offer those dinking runs and sublime passing but on this type of form, if we just accept you for what you are and can be (a solid squad player) then hopefully we'll see more of this from you. With the odd anomoly that has you playing out of your skin. And we promise not to expect from you every week.

Consistency, it's all we want.

JJ. Not reinventing bread just lightly toasting it. The Marmite is optional.

Support your team. Support your players*.

*if you play sh*t JJ, I will ruin you mate.

As for Pav, he needs a run in the team, otherwise we'll never know if he's just the right man in the right place when coming off the bench (Darren Bent anyone?) or a forward who can work as part of a cohesive fluid Spurs side.

As for the game itself. Good to have you back Spurs. Well, at 60%, but good enough. Disappointing to concede two late on, especially in the soft manner we did, but otherwise it's important to knowingly nod at the fact we scored four goals at home comfortably with two goals from forward players in a 4-4-2 formation (bastardised a tad to account for vdV's wondering into central positions).

Back to basics Tottenham and Harry. Huddlestone injury to be discussed later. NLD previews on the way.

Onwards Spurs.

A lot. At the minute. Hoping that minute turns into hours.

Forward Thinking

by Chrisman

A '20 goals a season man' is a bit of a red herring. These days 15 league goals are more than enough. We get goals from all over the pitch. We do however need another striker. Crouch should be 3rd choice. Harry doesn't seem to fully trust Pav....or, reading between the lines, maybe he views Pav as essential, and was saving him for the arguably bigger game on Tuesday.

Crouch's problem - he can't beat a man. He is not a threat at all receiving it with his back to goal and beating his man on the turn. Like Pav, Defoe, or any number of top strikers can. The problem this creates is that defenders know they can get ultra tight on him, because they know he's not going to go past them. Other top strikers will automatically have 2 yards of space because defenders know they have to drop off, or risk getting put on their asses with a sharp turn and sprint. This means they can receive the ball in a bit of space, and turn and go towards goal. It opens the pitch up. Crouch always has a man hanging off him, and he can only go one way - away from goal. This makes life difficult for him and us.

He often has to receive the ball to his head, because he can't properly run the channels and be in enough space to receive it to feet. Pav is so much better at this, and adds a different angle of attack when he does it, an angle Crouch rarely provides. We end up playing the long ball to Crouch far too much. You could say that this isn’t his fault, but you could also be a bit more astute. You could see that the reason we play this ball so much is because Crouch doesn’t have the speed of movement to offer any other option.

Yes Crouchie has a good touch, and when he has chances he can take them. But he is just too slow and immobile. Even the likes of Berbatov, Saha, Anelka etc can all hold the ball up, and also offer that ability to turn and go. Crouch is one dimensional. Admittedly, that one dimension is a dimension he is pretty good at. But it’s not quite enough.

I also believe that Crouch knows he is a bit out of his depth. His confidence is suffering slightly as a result. I think if he was used as a 'plan B' 3rd striker, he would be much more comfortable. He'd know that's the role that suits him best, and it's a role in which he can really offer something. It’s just I don’t feel he offers anything that Pav doesn’t, and Pav has a lot more in his locker than Crouch. I’m not saying Pav is the second coming of Klinsmann, but right now Crouch is making him look really good. At the very least Pav deserves a good run of 6-8 games where he is a guaranteed starter. It’s no more than Crouch has had after all.

Having 5 good forwards on our books might be a good thing if they were all emotionless automatons. But they ain’t, and there are only so many games in a season, and not nearly enough to keep all 5 happy. So we end up getting some silly situations like Saturday when you have to bring on 2 strikers at once. What about letting Defoe have 10 minutes with Pav? Did anyone really expect Keane to do anything positive? Why not bring on Dos Santos up front for the last 10 minutes? It’s easy to look at things in hindsight from my armchair, but logic seems to go out of the window when so many different parties have to be appeased. Having so many good strikers will do us more harm than good.

Strikers play on confidence. They have to know their role, and know the hierarchy. What kind of situation is it when 2 strikers start, and they know that if they don’t produce anything after an hour there are 2 replacements the manager is dying to throw on? It’s not a good look. I’m pretty certain Harry knows this, and it wouldn’t greatly surprise anyone to see 2 of the 5 leave in the next week. I’d be delighted to see Keane leave, and if Crouch left I certainly wouldn’t be too worried. As long as one comes in. That still leaves us with 4.

Any number of players would do. Forlan is obviously the dream choice. Fabiano is interesting, but I think he’s too much of a finisher. In the PL you need to be able to do a lot more than just finish to be a good striker. Berbatov is an interesting proposition. I would definitely like to see what him and Pav up front could do. The move is probably there for him if he really wants it. Loic Remy looks extremely raw. Gyan looked good in the World Cup. Milevsky of Kiev looks to be a good prospect. There are plenty of options, all offering great potential but also a fair degree of risk.

I don’t think any other area of the team needs major improvements. We saw last season that it was only a pretty small improvement needed to change us from a best of the rest team into a really serious contender. We have the cake. It just needs to be iced. Give me some sweet, creamy frosting please Mr Levy.

Breaking the heart of O'Hara

Now that's what I call Tottenham.

Still buzzing. The high octane swashbuckling football was nowhere to be seen first half, Fulham had our number, taken from under our pillow whilst we appeared to sleep. Head in palm of hands for most of it as they frustrated the fuck out of the players and the fans. BAE and Corluka seemed to both be obsessed with playing lackadaisical balls, and there was no authoritative swagger from the boys in Lilywhite.

Just efficient effort from Fulham and for the best part of the first 45 Harry was getting out-smarted tactically on the field. Ominous when they took the lead, Zamora of all people finding the net with a curling shot. They deserved it.

Football is always funny in about 1000 different ways. At half-tme you wondered what we would need to do in-order to get some kind of grip on the game. For starters, own the tempo. Said it in my match preview - make them worry about us rather than be concerned with trying to counter any spoiler-tactics directly. Hodgson is no fool. He did his homework, suffocated the midfield and had his players working their socks off on and off the ball. Made all the easier by a ghosting first half display.

Even though we pushed forward after going a goal down we still looked out of sorts. WHL wasn't exactly pumping positive pomp from the home support. Fulham had got to us. And we were concerned. It could have been far worse at half-time.

Then Harry Redknapp birthed a second half that was so majestic in difference, you'd have thought you had tuned into a different game. He must have had some words to say at half-time for a start. No doubt told them to forget about how Fulham were playing, slapped them about a bit and then made two quite simply superb substitutions. Yes - Harry Redknapp made impact-changing subs. Stick that up your bollox you non-believers!

On came Bentley and Huddlestone - both returning to the first team since taking time out injured. Off went Niko and BAE - both players well under par. All my hope was anchored on the first 10 minutes of the second half. You can tell what direction a game will go in from the tempo played straight after the break. Within minutes it's 1-1. Ace.

Bentley (first touch?) hit a stunning undefendable free-kick into the box that beat everyone (including a interfering-with-play-offside-Corkuka-if-he-touches-the-ball-which-he-doesn't) and it flys into the goal past a despairing Schwarzer. The Lane is rocking, and not for the first time this season, Bentley's foot is on fire.

The injury curse made a cameo, claiming Corluka as it's latest victim. And once more bold Redknapp played an absolute master-stroke (or perhaps out of desperation...sshh). Enter the Russian goal machine, Pavlyuchenko. Who just about made it on the bench and was never meant to play more than 20 minutes having survived a late fitness test. Seven minutes after coming on, he's off sliding in celebration. The big smiling show-off. 2-1 Spurs. Bentley again involved, crossing in, finding Pav who scores a sweet volley into the far corner. Schwarzer - no chance again.

What. A. Frigging. Turn-around.

For all of Fulham's guile and commitment to Hodgson's match strategy, it counts for nothing when we changed gear in this manner. Dictate the tempo, dominate the game. Inspirational stuff, proper full on FA Cup loveliness. This was more like it.

Obviously, being Spurs, you're not quite content until you get yourself 2 goals to the good. Six minutes after Roman's super-sub scorcher, we made it 3-1. And relax.

Playing it confidentially and with purpose, the ball finds Modric who (with deflection) threads the ball into the path of Gudjohnsen who takes the ball around Schwarzer (yep, despairing once more) with a touch and manages to get another to send the ball goal-bound. Happy days.

Fulham ended. Wembley again in our calender.

Kudos to Redknapp. Hodgson and Fulham were 1 up on him at half time. His man management skills coming into play, he mixes it up with some changes and the game completely changes course because of it. Great to see both Bentley and Hudd back - both involved and effective. And credit to the visitors for making it a painful first 45 minutes. It served a purpose. It showed we retain the backbone instilled since Harry's arrival at the club and the players believe in themselves and their ability.

Also - special mention to Gud. Class act, a player that oozes experience, patience and vision. He links the midfield with the forward line perfectly. Ice ice baby. He has mad skillz.

Pompey next in the semi. So so close now.

Tottenham Hotspur. Exclusive copyright on putting their fans through the mire every time.

Wouldn't have it any other way.

COYS.

Additional: Villa drop two points, City lose.

What a night.

More post-match commentary tomoz.

One more time...

COYS.

Bored of the Taarabt

Afternoon Sports fans.

If you haven't read my latest letter to Daniel Levy then shame on you. Just click here if you missed it.

As for this article, quick run-down of today's news. Nothing fancy, straight to the point.

Pav

He's obviously content with his form and he's now talking about the possibility of staying at the club and even shown some belief in challenging for 4th between now and the end of the season. Keep on scoring and it's win win. I still don't think Redknapp fancies him much, and he'll still claim the credit for the rejuvenated Russian in what was a clever reverse psychological trick to inspire the Russian back into first team duty, innit Harry? Even though desperation called upon his selection. I'm just happy it's positive translated quotes we are reading rather than sulking about being bullied/ignored/not allowed to leave. I still see him moving on in the summer. Him talking about staying just aids Spurs in adding an extra million or two onto his transfer fee.

Lennon

Might be back for the Chelsea game. This news has me salivating. Would give us an additional edge to be able to re-introduce Aaron back into the side. Realistically, might take a few games for him to get back to full match fitness which means Bale still has a massive job for us to do. But just imagine Bale on the left and Azza on the right. I'm salivating again. Just not out of my mouth.

Sandro

On his way, so say the Brazilians (press/clubs president). So I guess we have another not-the-finished-article player on his way as an alternative CM option. He's highly rated. So there's a good chance we'll follow tradition and half destroy his career. I jest. I think we can all agree that when dealing with South Americans, the transfer negations are always prolonged and ridiculous - jam-packed with conflicting quotes and denials. But the only thing we need to concern ourselves with relates to whether this is a huge gamble on our part considering there are better options (just too expensive) and if we are perhaps nothing more than a stepping stone for him to use as a shop window to then move onto Spanish or Italian football. Although France and Portugal has been a far more common destination for South Americans in the past for new arrivals. Guess we would feel blessed.

I'm shocked and surprised this is actually going to happen. But I'm going to hold on until he's at the Lodge holding up a Spurs shirt before I raise a glass. I hope he lives up to the hype. Talking of which...

Adel

We always over-rate our youth players, whether they are Academy or signed young. It's because we've had little success in promoting kids and developing them to first team squad members. We've got plenty of young players at Spurs that are highly rated, players who have enjoyed success in prestigious youth tournaments around the world and represented their club at youth levels. And yet no one knows just how good Bostock really is and if the rest of the 16-18 year olds genuinely have what it takes. Perhaps we expect too much too soon.

Taarabt, bless him, thinks he's the bollocks. Yes, he has the fancy tricks and is quite obviously confident and has self-belief in his abilities, but he's raw. He has produced some worthy cameos for QPR, but hasn't held down a place consistently. I just don't think he has the right attitude or temperament. It's easy to be critical of Spurs and say its another example of the player not being developed and looked after. But if the kid has no footballing brain - i.e. doesn't do the simple things first before the fancy stuff - then there's little hope of getting through to him. He never wanted to go on loan, so either Harry is lying when he says he rates him and just wanted rid, or Adel wants what Adel wants and nothing less.

He says he regrets signing for us and should have gone to Arsenal. I'm sure he'd have lasted 5 minutes there much like that other arrogant self-important twat, Pennant. Remember the hype surrounding him?

Off you trot Adel, you silly little boy. I know there's talk amongst some of the Spurs faithful that he should be thrown into the side and be allowed to express himself, but I've seen nothing yet to suggest he could handle the responsibility. He's all talk, no action. He's not bothered with football in this country. He'll do well in Spain no doubt, probably because he'll apply himself accordingly to suit his ego. Although there are plenty of elements in La Liga that are not to dissimilar to the EPL. He'll continue to blow hot and cold and frustrate for years to come.

That is all.

Spurs 3 Rovers 1

9 games to go. Are you positively buzzing with excitement? You should be. I don't care about how difficult our remaining fixtures are, the harder they fall right? Usually it's us laying flat on the floor, face in mud, but I can see this going to the wire simply because it's been on the wire since practically the start. And having the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal (at home) might just turn out to be a blessing. We've done Chelsea a couple of times in recent seasons at the Lane. Arsenal? Well, it's been too long, and those lucky lucky mongs ('special spirit', lol) and their voodoo over us must be ended. The bigger they are, the harder they fall. And if we happen to shag it up against lesser opponents, we'll still have a say in the title race, a massive one, as we've also got Utd to play (and City) although tradition would suggest we'd be lubed up and bending over for them at Old Trafford with Howard Webb no doubt present, overseeing matters, holding a butt-plug and grinning.

Talking of Webb...actually, let's come back to him later.

First up, the win. 3-1 against Fat Sams lot in a game where Roman didn't play too well, missed a couple of decent chances but scored two goals, so even though he might have drifted in and out of the game and done his very best Andrew Cole impersonation (that's Andrew, not Andy) he still bagged himself a brace and could have had a hat-trick had he been a tad less casually with his lobbed effort. Good stuff that man. 8 in 6 games. It's impressive. And if you have an off-day and still score twice, then there's little to complain about.

Bale was strong and bold, worked his socks off demanding the ball and giving Salgado a tormented time. Yes, yes, Michel is an old man, but Gareth is doing this week in and week out. Will be interesting to see how he fairs in the left-wing position against the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal, and my money is on him continuing his stunning form. Season of comebacks this, with Roman and Bentley (until his injury) working their way back into our good books.

Dawson and Bassong were fine at the back, Daws showing off with his long range passing. Bassong, reliable and comfortable. Wilson (one card away from a suspension which might well prove to have devastating consequences if he happens to miss one of the Big Three games) was just flipping great in midfield. Again. Wasn't the best of games for Modric but then it wasn't the best of games full stop with the most effective play coming from the wings rather than through the middle. Although Wilson did play a delicious through-ball at one point that Luka would have been proud of. Palacios is back baby, he's back!

Corluka, not so great (wonderfully summed up here by AANP) and Niko struggled to impose himself. Special mention to BAE and his over-head kicks.

So in the midst of some decent individual performances and some sort-of half-decent-but-not-amazing attacking play, the game appeared to be conducted in part by the referee. Back to Howard, caught in yet another Webb. Although this time his incompetency was evenly shared out with our guests, Blackburn.

Incident One

Dunn, fouled in the penalty area, squashed between two Lilywhites. The soft lad, tumbling over. No penalty. Phew for us, but when watched over, arguably the wrong decision. But I (we) can live with that.

Pav has a couple of efforts, and then just before half-time, Niko corner, Charlie flicks it on and JD poaches it home. 1-0, half-time. Deserved. 23 goals for Defoe this season. Applaud that.

Second half, Rovers are a little bit more lively, but alas, we counter and JD feeds Roman who fires in a shot that manages to bounce under Jason Brown (Robbo off injured allowing a rest-bite from all the singing from the home fans, yes, we still sing up for Robbo, quaint stuff) for 2-0. These things happen.

Incident Two

Penalty to Spurs, although there is no guarantee we'll score it and, no, hold up...no penalty. Webb, standing in what was a perfect position gives a goal-kick. Bale taken down by Salgado. Blatantly. 

Unbelievable.

No pen. Guilt for not giving Rovers a pen? I guess he wasn't in a decent enough position for the Dunn incident, possibly saw his mistake at half-time, and sprinkled his own unique brand of anti-spurs karma on this decision. If it's not a penalty then book Bale. He doesn't. So what kind of consistency is this? You make one mistake, surely you make up for it by getting it right the next time? In fact what you should do as a ref is react solely based on the incident regardless of what has or has not been given before. I can only deduce that Webb is making concious decisions when to give or not give a decision based on his own personal agenda. The man is a fucking clown.

Incident Three

Bale fouled again in the box. No penalty again. Although someone who watched this on Sky Sports might be able to confirm if it was in or out of the box (if I got this wrong, then ignore incident three, happy to admit to my mistake).

Blackburn score with around 10 minutes to go which meant that we were about to enter the 'bite your nails off' arena with Spurs putting us all through the mire once more. Samba climbing all over Dawson (not that I would have disallowed it, but there are ref's out there that would have) to nod the ball in. Soft goal, Gomes caught in a huddle of players, lost but inconsequential because surprisingly we scored a third. Pav on his own, fluffs it, and seconds later the ball finds its self crossed over to Bale who strikes a majestic volley-pass across the face of the goal for Roman to score - with additional credit to Pascal Chimbonda who seemed to be man-marking himself and no-one else. 3-1. The end. Or not quite.

Incident Four

Webb's agenda by the way is a form of self-cleansing and perhaps not giving us a pen resulted with him disallowing a superb effort from Kalinic. Handball apparently. Even though Dawson fouled the player resulting in the handball.

Seems Howard Webb is incapable of simply ghosting through a game and allowing it to be about the players and the teams rather than his comical attempts at being masterful with officiating.

I'm guessing had this been us versus a <insert top 4 monopoly team here> his mistakes would have been far more specific and concentrated (against us, no doubt).

Yes, yes, conspiracy this conspiracy that. Read it and dry them:

2007/8, Man Utd (Old Trafford)
0-0 after 60mins, Berbatov rounds van der Sar and shoots, only for Wes Brown to block the shot with his arm. Webb does not give the penalty. Alan Hansen described it as "clearly a penalty" and that Brown should have been sent-off.

2008/9, Man Utd (Old Trafford)
Spurs leading 2-0 after 57mins, Webb gives a shocking penalty to United. After the game, and after a huge amount of (negative) coverage, he apologises for the decision.

2009/10, Chelsea (Stamford Bridge)
1-0 to Chelsea after 55mins, Keane is through on goal but is brought down by Carvalho. Webb doesn't give the penalty. It was described by the Guardian live text as "Absolute 100%, 24-carat stonewall penalty to Spurs. Not given."

2009/10, Liverpool (Anfield)
Liverpool leading 1-0 after 35mins, Kyrgiakos is all over Crouch in the box. Webb gives a free-kick to Liverpool, described as a "strange decision" on BBC Sport's live text.

After 47mins, Defoe capitalises on a mistake in the Liverpool defence to score, but Webb disallows the goal. The match report on the BBC Sport webpage says "the exact nature of the offence was not clear".

200/910, Blackburn (White Hart Lane)
Spurs leading 2-0 after 65mins, Bale is brought down in the box by Salgado. Webb doesn't give a penalty. BBC Sport's live text states "I'm not sure how or why that wasn't a penalty".

(compiled by Day of the Triffics pt.2)

There's incompetency and then there's Howard sodding Webb. 

In the end, we still won. And won well. Still 4th. Still in it. And that's about as much as you can ask for from the team. 19 points the target. 3 taken, 16 more required. So says Harry.

Onwards.

COYS.

Fulham v Spurs - It's Actually Massive

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.

Crouchie Conundrum

England's super-sub, Tottenham's super-drab...

Crouch for England and Crouch for Tottenham appear to be two completely different entities. One is a goal scoring machine, confident, always in the right place at the right time and finding the target with simplicity thanks to his confident positioning. The other doesn't quite hit the same giddy heights (insert 'tall' joke here). But then that's no shocker.

Placed into a forward's forward position (that's really forward) and asked to run into the box looking for the ball will pretty much result with him (probably) finding the net. Much like he did last night, much like he does all the time for Engerland. Play him alongside a main striker (i.e. up front with Defoe) and it probably won't work out too good. In fact we know it doesn't quite work out good.

This might have a lot to do with the hoofing up to him some of our (Spurs) players are obsessed with doing, even though he is more than capable of playing with the ball at his feet, but a Robbie Keane link-up player (at his peak) he is not. Which is the reason why the tall giant figure of Crouch is lost in all the build-up play at Spurs.

So basically, what we have is a player far more comfortable knocking them in than setting them up. The Defoe/Crouch partnership does work at times (as seen at Pompey) but long term, Spurs need a far more mobile complete forward who can slot into playing alongside someone like JD or Pav or even Crouch. Spurts of it won't aid the free-flowing football we've seen when Pav starts alongside Defoe.

Until then, it's fragmented football up front for Spurs. But plenty of joy for England.

Discuss.

All hail the Roman emperor!

Okay, it's getting ridiculous now. At the final whistle, the surrounding area of White Hart Lane resembled Woodstock circa 1969. Grown men hugging and kissing, declaration of (man) love (for a certain Russian teddy bear) and plenty of skipping naked up the High Road singing and weeping tears of joy. And crying too. Rainbows lit up the dark night sky and the singing continued well into the early hours of Thursday.

Yes. Roman Pavlyuchenko is better than sliced bread. His goal celebration was one of absolute unbridled happiness, laying on the ground whilst one team-mate after another mounted him (ooh err), his legs up in the air shaking uncontrollably. It was yet another release of pent up frustration, following on from his brace away to Wigan. He probably never thought he'd be playing a part and now suddenly he's the darling of the Lane. The purest of our goal-scorers, slotting/passing the ball into the net rather than lashing it towards goal.

His first was coolly taken. His second (after two Bolton own goals) was made to seem as easy as they come, with all the time in the world to pick a spot and beat the keeper. There's a bug going around at the moment which has apparently hit several of our players (Defoe, Palacios, Bentley, Corluka). Jenas is locked in my basement where he will remain for the foreseeable future. Not sure if Crouch is injured or struggling with illness but I'm certain he'll have a headache looking on as Roman has more or less cemented his place for the Everton clash. No bug with this lad. Just a buzz.

Harry was his usual deflective self post-match. Dropping in a comment about how Pav is a good lad, nice lad, can't speak a word of English. Beautifully navigated there Harry. He could have sold him ya know, could of but didn't. Quality man-management right there. Makes you wonder at what level the Russian would be had he played a part from the start of the season, but hindsight and theorising aside, the fact is - he's in form NOW and that's fine by me. Long may he continue to prove me wrong and the other doubters. Whether it's enough for him to want to stay, we'll see soon enough. He's increasing his potential value for a move away if that's what Harry ends up wanting, because Peter Plan B great control for a someone so tall Crouch is the perfect foil for young Defoe. Harry knows best.

As for the game, thank you to Bolton for not turning up. They hardly had any true sustained pressure with their mish-mash line-up in that oh so typical 'the league is more important for us' guise they were wearing. Although there were moments when we sat back (lackadaisically is what the BBC called it - pretty much perfect description) we were more than comfortable in possession and never really tested to the point where nails were bitten. It was easy. Never vintage, but not boring either. Pav giving us the deserved lead, one own goal to settle the nerves further and at the birth of the second half, another to kill the game off. Pav's second (from a Danny Rose inch perfect pass…yeah, you heard me, a pass!) was an unnecessary footnote on the game other than for Roman to gleefully continue to smile and punch the air as his renaissance continues.

Massive test for him and the rest of the side when we play the Toffeemen in what is going to be a vital 6 pointer clash. As for the FA Cup, Fulham away next. We don't like playing them there mainly because we don't tend to win when visiting their quaint ground. Better memories in the Cup though. More of the same again. Won't be easy, end to end no doubt. Will be happy to bring them back to the Lane in yet another replay. The hard way is better than no way.

COYS.