Does Moyes Read Tottenham On My Mind?

January 6, 2011January 7, 2011 / Alan / 30 Comments

David Moyes reads Tottenham On My Mind. Obvious. How else would he know that the best way to counter our attacking tactics is to give us a taste of our own medicine. I’ve been saying so for ages, and more fool the rest of the Premier League for not paying attention. Big Sam for one. Comes to the Lane with a revolutionary 5-5-0 formation, four down in a trice, sacked a few weeks later. Sam Allardyce – My Part In His Downfall. At least Tottenham On My Mind can take some crumbs of comfort from last night’s emphatic defeat by Everton.

From first whistle to last, we were never comfortable. Saha and Beckford’s movement, coupled with Coleman’s right side raiding pulled the back four all over the place and occupied the midfield to snuff out our attacking intentions at source. Said midfield were also strung wide apart to the point where Bale and Lennon were as far apart as Peter Andre and Katie Price. Later, as the match wore on, Lennon, Kranjcar and then Keane gradually faded from view like ghosts disappearing into the mists on the moor. Did they ever really exist? The apparitions on Most Haunted have a greater presence.

We witnessed a series of poor individual performances but this is one for collective responsibility. The midfield provided the back four with absolutely no protection, bar a few blocks and tackles from Jenas. Bale and Lennon should have tucked in more during the extended periods when we did not have possession, a fault that we’ve seen before this season, especially in Europe. If they don’t work back, the full-backs are unprotected and vulnerable. Hutton and BAE both had torrid times, Benny in particular as Everton repeatedly pushed down our right, and Hutton’s distribution was rotten, but defending is primarily a team affair. They should not have been left one on one with their opposite number. As a result we were treated to the slightly bizarre sight of Phil Neville as the flying full back, cutting the ball back from the byline. He and Coleman combined well, creating several two v one situations.

A Pictorial Representation of the Gap Between Our Defenders

In short, we were a mess. Saha had so much time and space to shoot, although his was a well-struck shot. With nothing in front of him, Gallas had to come way out of his comfort zone and Saha found the room behind him. This pattern continued throughout the game and great credit to an Everton side whose passing and movement made us struggle in the first half, then in the second we went under, never to bubble back to the surface. Overwhelmed, we held out only because in front of goal, Beckford is rubbish and Saha and others little better.

It’s a while since we’ve been as badly mauled. Saying that it had to happen sometime is in this case a little more than mere philosophising to excuse a defeat. We have been stretched badly on other occasions but managed to get away with it. However, this Everton performance was the best I’ve seen against us for a while now. They were superior in every department. They applied themselves much better whereas we looked jaded, and passed the ball extremely well. In contrast, in the second half we reverted to the bad old habits of conceding possession.

Yet if we had taken the chances that came our way the outcome could have been different. Equalising was straightforward enough, and without playing well we made other chances in a first half that ebbed and flowed, with first Everton then ourselves getting on top before Everton finished the half the stronger.

VDV was running wild and free, largely unfettered by the opponents’ defence. Modric also did some good work before fading. He was pressured hard in the second half by his opposite number. We made passes and half-breaks into the channels but missed or the ball was just cut out. Crouch once again delighted in the way he set up Rafa’s goal (he’s assisted 6 out of Rafa’s 11 goals) then infuriated by missing decent chances in the air and on the ground. That header in the first half – for goodness sake. The offside goal – what a waste. In the home game, Baines did the best marking job on him this season by tucking himself into Crouchie’s armpit and easing him off-balance. Did him every time. Neville sussed this by the end of the first half and the big man couldn’t handle it. If only he didn’t do things like that brilliant run near the end, we could consign him to the bin, but that’s what makes him so exasperating, the ability is there, it’s just that he fails to make use of it so often. Too often.

Half time provided some respite and a chance for Harry to regroup. Before the break, JJ was being bellowed at by Jordan and Bond. That may not be unusual – one imagines Jordan’s normal conversation as starting with the bellow and building from there. Also, Harry was taking notes – never seen that before, although he was using the same type of biro that I have in front of me. Me and ‘arry – two sprigs from the same bush, us.

Didn’t do any good. By the middle of the second half I lost count of the number of times that we gave the ball away. Luckily it was almost matched by the number of Everton missed chances, but in the end the goal was both inevitable and deserved. By this time, Everton were swinging it around like champions, we were bewildered. Bale was off injured. Neville gave him the treatment but no worse than the tackling he’s received earlier this season. Niko came on and was pathetic. An inexcusably feeble effort. If you can’t be bothered, just leave.

Gomes did well. He might have parried the second out wide but it was a fizzing shot. No chance with the first – credit to Saha for a firm, well-placed effort. Otherwise he had plenty to do, being unprotected and all, and he handled it all. In particular, he stood tall when Coleman was given the freedom of Merseyside, rather than committing himself early as he has done in similar situations lately, and this was a factor in Coleman’s miss. Hopefully with Tony Parks he’s working on righting that fault.

A forgettable night. Let’s console ourselves with the fact that Everton played really well, that we remain 4th and we took 9 out 12 points in 4 knackering games in 10 days.

A final more sobering thought. Perhaps our open style caught up with us last night. The idea lingers, that Everton were the first team to exploit fully a weakness in our play. The midfield have to be 100% to make it work, in terms both of going forward and when we don’t have the ball. I didn’t see the game but I strongly suspect the two teams at the Emirates didn’t approach the battle for the CL spots in quite the same way. Maybe we have to moderate our natural instincts for the long term good. One thing’s for sure – we can’t play like that again in the future.

A Striker, Not Becks Please. Ta.

January 5, 2011 / Alan / 12 Comments

Is this what success feels like? A flat atmosphere at the Lane, the team taking a while to get into their stride, arguable if they ever did, yet still coming away with the points. If this was a routine win then I’m not used to the concept so I can’t recognise it when it comes along.

Chatting. During the first ten minutes. About football, sure, but not about the match itself necessarily. Although some fans appear happy to pay forty or fifty to gossip with their mates, I prefer to focus on the matter at hand, yet here I am, ten minutes gone and there’s a game going on.

Fulham made it anything but routine. Because the rest of the team did not follow Luka’s admirable example – get on top, take over, stay on top – Fulham gradually hauled themselves into the contest. By the second half, despite being a goal down, they moved the ball around more efficiently than we did. Murphy, Davies and Duff kept things flowing and Dempsey’s movement meant it was difficult to pick him up. However, they lacked a cutting edge that a pair of quality strikers would provide them and most of their efforts foundered once they reached the box.

Once there, they encountered Dawson and Gallas in imperious form. Pressured, they rise to the challenge. Dawson suddenly grows two inches taller and a foot wider, blocking shots, flying in for tackles and winning everything in the air. His return has been remarkable precisely because it is as if he’s never been away. Three games back from injury, none of this easing his way back business, he has retuned, refreshed, eager and more dominant than he was before what was a serious problem. No hint of any loss of pace, if anything he appears more flexible and bouncy than before. Dawson’s back and we have two clean sheets, Coincidence? I don’t think so.

Alongside him, Gallas continues to be quietly effective. Timing and anticipation is his thing, plus a willingness not to give ground. Seeing him at close quarters, I have nothing but admiration for his impeccable attitude. Now he’s match fit, and he took a while despite his many years of experience with these matters, his pride in his personal performance betrays not a hint of a professional looking for some easy money in the twilight of his career.

Nine points out of nine over Christmas, 11 games unbeaten and some thrilling football along the way. However, the media has been full of one thing ever since. 606 took the lead. Listening on the way home, it was all about David Beckham. Good idea or bad idea? A taste of things to come perhaps. Everything revolves around him, even in his absence. Not what Spurs have achieved or how the existing squad could raise their game, but what Beckham might bring.

The presenters, Robbie Savage and Darren Fletcher, couldn’t see what the fuss was about. A no brainer, of course he should be signed. Their scenario was a reasonable. Twenty minutes left, Spurs a goal down, on comes Beckham, just one cross, or he could settle things down in the middle, keep a lead.

Worse things could happen than Beckham’s arrival but there are fallacies in these arguments. They made football sound like gridiron, where you bring on a specialist for a set play then they toddle off again to bury themselves in padded jackets three feet thick to keep warm. But football, our football, is not like that. It moves and flows. If Becks’ cross is headed away, he’s got to get back because there’s a big gap behind him. Something he will have to do again and again, because that’s what the Premier League requires.

In our midfield, Becks could do a decent job, although I have to point out that he’s seldom played there effectively for any extended periods. We need midfielders who can hold, cover and protect the defence. Beckham can do so but others can do this much better. The whole scenario is predicated on an assumption that Beckham is not only fit, he’s match-fit. How else would a short-term loan be effective? Yet of course he isn’t. One of his reasons for coming is to gain match fitness. One thing I don’t grasp in the debate is that this is the Beckham of old. It gives me no pleasure in saying this, because I respect the man hugely, but this is a highly questionable assumption.

Off the pitch, he’ll be helping Lennon with his crossing and generally being inspirational, and all that. A small point, but actually he and Lennon have different games. Becks has never been a flying winger and corsses from deep, as opposed to Lennon who is best when he strikes at the heart of defences at full tilt. Lennon’s distribution is improving anyway.

The deficiencies in the team were made more obvious by the lacklustre performance. Pav’s control and awareness were poor and he posed little threat to a potentially cumbersome Fulham defence. He doesn’t like having his back to goal too much, yet to be fair to him we did not offer him decent service, too often striking long balls from the back (yes you Benny) that were easily mopped up. He was caught on his heels – the only thing he anticipated well was his substitution.

Crouch had a better match, holding the ball up well, but once he faced goal then his weaknesses were on display, tamely shooting at the keeper when given a decent opportunity. A striker, pacy, mobile, intelligent, sharp in the box, is what we need. It’s what Rafa and Luka need. They look up, there’s nothing on. As I’ve ruefully commented before, we are searching and so is the rest of Europe, but it will make the very best of our style of play and two of the most talented midfielders in the league.

Beckham remains a distraction. Lots of ifs and buts boil down to two simple things, one he’s not going to be around for long, two, he’s not good enough. A third maybe. I don’t want anything to distract us right now, for this is our moment. There will be others, because of our valuable long term team building, but the right striker in this window will be the making of this team, now and in the seasons to follow.

Everton tonight – the pressure is on but we should not fear it but feed upon it. Use it to drive us on. A tough team but this is winnable. Get used to the pressure because it won’t go away.

Although the long term strategy has been hard to discern, Harry’s panic-driven arrival was the catalyst for our revival. He’s taken the raw material bequeathed to him by his predecessors, added a mixture of experience, grit and latterly high class talent and shaped the whole mess into a potent attacking force. His are the hands at the potter’s wheel, slapping down a dollop of gloop and from the grey wobbling mess emerges, gradually, painstakingly, a creation that is solid to the touch, resistant and lasting. There’s still room for further embellishments to create a work of art.

We Don’t Need Another Hero – No to Beckham.

December 31, 2010December 31, 2010 / Alan / 22 Comments

David Beckham’s mooted loan move to Spurs would be an unwanted and unnecessary distraction from the core task at N17 OAP, the continuing development of this team into a top quality team.

Recent stellar individual performances from, amongst others, Bale, Van der Vaart, Gallas against Arsenal and the wonderful Modric, have all been founded upon a granite bedrock of team work. At last we have a consistent shape and balance that brings out the very best in our squad. This is Harry’s great strength, to understand what players can do, then ask them to do their job in a formation that suits them. Beckham’s arrival would be an entirely unwarranted interruption to the process of team-building. It’s taken long enough to get here and there’s lots still to be done, so anything that gets in the way could be downright catastrophic.

Our David is a cracking player but will add little to our attacking, pacy football. Defences no longer tremble at the sight of Becks in a wide position, but the full-backs are quaking in their boots when Lennon and Bale are on the ball. Also, I question his stamina to work up and down the line, even for half an hour at a time. That’s a requirement for any midfielder in the Premier League.

Also, one of the principles of our particular chosen developmental route is the enabling of players to grow and mature together. Bale, Lennon, Dawson, Modric, Assou-Ekotto, lynchpins of the team who have grown into that role in navy blue and white. Granted Gallas has been brought in to perform specific duties at the back and VDV is an established star, but Becks, sadly, is on his way down and in the two months loan that is being proposed will not add anything significant.

Talking of loans, who exactly is this for? Spurs – or more for Beckham to achieve match fitness? Whoever arrives at Spurs, the club and the club’s needs come first and I remain unconvinced that this is the case. Tottenham have outgrown the need to sign David Beckham.

I’ve reached this far and not even mentioned the media circus that will religiously chronicle his every breath. The club and the other players will be reduced to a pantomime chorus, albeit one where Harry will make a fine dame alongside Jordan and Bond as the Ugly Sisters. To repeat, a distraction that we do not need in any way, shape or form.

David Beckham will always carry my unstinting admiration for his achievements as a player. The derision and abuse that he received after his World Cup sending off rivalled that meted out to Joey Barton. Yet he won over fans from all over the country through the sheer force of his football. Carrying himself with dignity and purpose, he just played so well, so often, culminating in the match against Greece at Old Trafford where not only did he have the presence to convert an astonishing free kick under mind-boggling pressure, he also appeared prepared to take on the opposition single-handed if need be.

However, any advantage of being a role model and all-round Good Bloke will be massively outweighed by harmful effects on the team and the distraction of having a cultural icon in the changing room, rather than another midfielder. He’ll cost a fortune and we could get better value elsewhere.

It’s been suggested that he could be a useful coach, but he has no experience whatsoever of coaching top quality players. The English game is held back by the notion that good players will display the same qualities as coaches as they did on the pitch, and can do so with little preparation.

So a resounding ‘no’ to David Beckham at the Lane, and while I’m at it, no to any player who thinks they can piggyback onto our run of success. In the window we need men with ambition and commitment, able to actively contribute to our growth and development.

Harry was saying something the other day about the chairman being keener than he is to spend money. I didn’t catch all of it, but I sincerely hope that it was one of Harry’s flippant off the cuff gags for effect. However, you can often gain more of an insight into Harry’s thoughts through these asides that in the main platitudinous body of his press conferences. Harry’s spending excesses have been expertly kept under control by Levy – now it may be the other way around.

Slightly negative way to end the year. Don’t mean to be – the last few months have been breathtakingly wonderful. I hope you’ve been as transfixed by it all as I have.

Happy New Year to everyone. Thanks to everyone who’s dropped in and especially to all those of you who have kindly taken the time and trouble to make a comment. Here’s to style and glory in 2011.
Alan

Luka Modric – Virtuoso of the Spurs Midfield

December 29, 2010December 31, 2010 / Alan / 11 Comments

In the coffee bar of St Paul’s Church in the Park Lane, the benign Martin Luther King gazes down at the queue for tea and bacon rolls. The children have been remarkably inventive with their colouring project, considering that all they had to work with is the outline of a black man in a suit.

The ladies in the kitchen bustle at their task. Each treats the cramped servery as their own. At home the kitchen is their domain yet here they must share, so the fussing and unwanted advice means the service is slow. Even the vicar tuts with impatience as he takes the money. It’s value at £1.50.

Vaguely Gratuitous Use of A Great Man in Spurs Blog.

Looking around, there’s spiritual inspiration to be had from a few religious images, or perhaps the giant stuffed Speedy Gonzales, lying in the corner with a fixed grin.

This peaceful setting, with its attentive service (‘how would you like your egg cooked?’), youth club chairs and shiny toilets is tranquil yet vaguely unsettling. Football’s not about this. It’s about the grease of burgers, watered down sauce trickling down the wrist and hurried gulps of indigestion before the expectant rush to get into the ground. Too nice, it’s just not right.

The contrast with what was to follow could not have been more marked. Twenty minutes later, we were plunged into the midst of a physical battle that became increasingly intense as the match wore on, a seething froth of steaming tackles, gross duplicity and red cards. Newcastle’s defensive tactics gradually descended into systematic intimidation, encouraged by lenient refereeing.

That Spurs did not buckle under such pressure is a measure of our resilience, both mental to overcome the threats and our ingenuity in playing our way out of trouble. Yesterday, Bale and Lennon made and took two superb goals with a precious combination of breathtaking pace and slide rule finishing, but we were led all the way by a virtuoso performance from Luka Modric.

From first whistle to last, he scurried and scampered through the markers and tackles, untouched by the mayhem all around. When we had the ball he dictated the pace of the entire game, pass and move, a touch on or 50 yards cross field all the same to a player at the peak of his powers. He ran and ran and ran, constantly available to ease the pain of teammates under pressure. As the infidels thundered down upon him, he swayed and swivelled, a drop of the shoulder and he’s gone, no discernable change of pace but look, there he is, he’s away. No space in the crowded midfield throbbing with opponents intent on destruction, but there, look, in daylight, crouched over the ball then head up, a seemingly idle flick of the outside of the boot or a firm instep. Frail legs hide a frame of tensile steel, clip his ankles but he’s still upright, protecting the ball as if it were precious treasure, shielding and caressing it to safety. One moment, under pressure in our left full back position, the pass down the line to Rafa defied the laws of geometry and physics. A masterpiece from a truly wonderful footballer: one of the most complete individual performances I’ve seen for years.

From such rarefied heights, back to the blood and thunder. Early on, the air of expectation was palpable as Carroll took on our centre halves, for the game would surely turn on how we coped with their dangerman. Very well as it turned out. Daws was not prepared to give an inch. He’d spent days focussed solely on winning that first high ball and he was on top from the start. Such is our confidence that we let Kaboul take him on when the ball was on the left – whoever was closest. The Frenchman bolstered his growing reputation by not flinching either.

Defensively our task was made easier by Newcastle’s reluctance to support their centre forward. Later in the half Carroll won a few balls, headed perfectly into space but the nearest teammate. Barton usually, was 15 yards away. A total waste of their greatest asset.

However, the Geordies’ defensive outlook stifled our attacking efforts. Rafa struggled to find room, Pav’s control let him down at crucial moments and the wide outlets were blocked. Newcastle’s high line begged for a ball to be slipped in behind them but we didn’t make those runs, then they dropped back behind the midfield shield and that route to goal was blocked.

We found it hard to make any chances but could have scored just before half time when first Rafa missed a good headed chance then Pav’s downward header tantalisingly hit both posts before rolling clear. A fine save from Krul. We needed to up the tempo in the second half, We play better at the level of quick bordering on frantic.

Alongside Luka, Palacios was back to his bouncy best, covering diligently and snapping in with the tackles. He was a yard faster around the pitch, add something for his sharpened sense of anticipation and for 45 minutes it was as effective a piece of defensive midfield play as you could wish to see. Well, for almost 45 minutes. Twice he gave the ball away, leading to chances that Newcastle would not have otherwise made. The second time, the lunge and booking on Carroll was as predictable as England’s Ashes win.

The guy in the Newcastle midfield looked vaguely familiar. It took me a moment to realise this was Alan Smith. Once a highly gifted and mobile young striker at Leeds, Fergie paid a fortune to convert him into a decidedly average, albeit committed, midfielder. Injuries haven’t helped. I know he’s been away a long time because of injury but someone should have let him know that in the meantime they’ve changed the way you can tackle from behind these days. Trouble is, the ref seemed to be back in the nineties too.

Now I have some sympathy for refs these days. No really – the game is so fast in reality and so damn easy with the benefit of 37 slow motion replays that they have a nigh on impossible task. However, here was an instance where by not setting the standard early on, the referee allowed players to take too much freedom. Time and again Smith, Barton and Tiote chomped in. They should have been punished more severely, if not for individual fouls then for repetition.

Newcastle's View of the Build Up to the First Spurs Goal

If the eye was drawn throughout the game to Carroll, it was also impossible to avoid paying attention to Joey Barton, however hard I tried, and believe me I did try, so hard. I admit prejudice: surely no professional deserves the 50k a week less, given his history. But I am a warm and generous man, willing to embrace efforts at rehabilitation. Newcastle fans have been saying it’s ‘Joey for England, and certainly his effort can’t be faulted, trying to hold down a midfield berth whilst pushing forward to support Carroll and, later, dropping deep to try and start something, in the face of utter indifference from the anonymous Routledge and Gutierrez

But of course he started. On Rafa first, who is becoming a target now that the league has spotted his short fuse. Leaving his foot in on Kaboul, then twice digging Modric in the ribs as the ball was dead, actively looking for trouble. Luka just looked at him. Barton sees a frail victim, we see a battle hardened child of a war zone.

Then the free kick. We have the ball, about to launch from deep. Carroll goes down holding his head, ref stops the game. Carroll gets up, he’s hurt his leg. Barton takes the free drop, looks at Gutierrez, they point, Barton drops it the corner as Gutierrez follows up. If they had scored from that free kick… Naked opportunism, carefully thought through, that no one else would do. This loathsome objectionable individual is the Newcastle captain.

Still it got the game going. The atmosphere was boiling over once Kaboul stupidly fell for the provocation and saw red. This foolishness could have lost us the game – as it is, he’s out for three games just when we need him. Need him because this adolescent indiscretion aside he’s fast maturing into a high quality centre half. I believe he’ll become a top class player.

By this time, we were a goal up. Speedy Gonzales came to life with a lightening dash and rifled finish. Earlier we had struggled to raise our game and raise the tempo – we did everything too slowly but gradually cranked it up, inspiring this terrific little goal from an impossibly wide angle. Anderle anderle indeed.

A man down and we took over until the final whistle. Quality shone through the whole team. Luka shrugged, picked up the pace and the ball, dominated. Jenas had another good match, excepting his loss of the ball in front of goal. Harry could have withdrawn Wilson because the booking rendered him impotent but it was perhaps more positive than that. JJ can take the game to opponents who are retreating and he did so effectively, but perhaps his best moment was the great last man tackle at the edge of the box. Too many false dawns in the past to signal a JJ comeback but in this form he’s a cracking player.

Lennon and Bale pinned back the defenders, while Bassong showed the same fearless attitude towards Carroll as he did to Drogba recently. Against a bigger man he refused to give ground. Daws was there to sort him out too.

Another day, another ten men, another 80 yard move. Bale was off before you realise how much room he has, then it’s the familiar hold your breath surely he can’t get through no shooting from there never, it’s in, it’s in in, it’s in… you beauty.

A moment of breathtaking skill that was as incongruous in this match as the pre-match tranquillity of St Pauls Church. There’s a lesson there somewhere, that stick to your principles, play it right and you shall be rewarded. Vicar, there’s your sermon for next Sunday, Harry and the Parable of the Two Wingers. And if you could get some mustard in next time, that will be perfect.