Spurs Maintain The Momentum

/ Alan / 23 Comments

Ironic that as the minute’s applause in celebration of the life of Nelson Mandela had barely died away, the Barclays adverts flickered around the pitch perimeter. Not so long ago, or so it seems to me, we boycotted Barclays because of its persistent links with the apartheid regime in South Africa. Cashpoints were picketed, and we didn’t buy their apples. The ANC probably did more to bring down the government but it felt as though we were part of the struggle. Many still feel a deep connection with a man whose principled, single-minded compassion created fundamental political and social change, an example to all yet sadly highly unlikely to ever be repeated in contemporary politics.

Plenty of time to watch the ads in the early stages as Spurs versus Sunderland took a while to get going. Perhaps I am in sync with the team, understandable after all these years I suppose. This is the pattern lately, a slow start then build up a head of steam as time passes. I know my knowledge of male grooming products began and ended with Old Spice and Brylcreem but a skin product named Nip-Man – that’s a joke, right? And sorry to disappoint relatives and friends but you can forget the Stubhub gift certificate for this and any other Christmas. This blog does not wish its readers a Merry Tixmas. Tixmas for goodness sake.

Christmas is a time for tradition and Spurs have created one of their own in time for the festive season, the defensive cock-up. After a sedate first half-hour where our new centre back partnership of Capoue and Dawson looked unsettled without Sandro’s protection in front of them, Lloris’s horrible error put us one down but shook us out of our stupor. His feeble punch went straight to Johnson who scored easily.

From then on, we dominated the match. As at Fulham in the week, we should aim to impose ourselves on teams from the start. We haven’t got the defence to absorb relentless attacks and in this opening period we looked lousy on the break, wilfully moving the ball slowly even when we had time and space.

Having the ability to pull ourselves back from a deficit is laudable. Personally I would prefer if we didn’t make a hash of it in the first place, much more sensible. Recent victories should not obscure this fact. Never mind all the talk about tactics, formations and the merits of AVB’s managerial style, we make too many basic and costly mistakes at the back. Our early season parsimony was not due to mighty defence but our relative lack of errors.

It helps to get back quickly. After Defoe missed one opportunity and Chadli headed straight at the keeper from a corner, the value of the latter’s height and power in the box was shown to full effect. A long cross seemed to be predictably drifting wide but Chadli nodded it back and Paulinho was more alert to the loose ball. I had given it up but he didn’t, and touched home from close in. The Brazilian’s starting position was deeper yesterday, alongside Dembele as DMs, and for me he looked all the better for it.

We came out after the break with a welcome eagerness, dominating the next twenty minutes where the game was won. AVB confounded his detractors by making two significant tactical changes. The high line was notable by its welcome absence again. AVB and I still shudder at the sight of Daws stranded on the halfway line against City. Also, a right-footed winger on the right. Lennon was outstanding, and when Townsend came on as sub to play wide left, he too looked so much more comfortable.

Holtby has a painter’s eye for the angled pass and on 65 minutes with a single devastating brushstroke intended to complete this canvas. The ball sliced through the entire defence, ending at Defoe’s feet deep inside the box as he skipped across the line and free of his markers but his judgement was less certain. His diagonal beat the keeper but slid wide of the far post. It was a frustrating miss, not only because it created 15-odd minutes of palpitating anxiety whenever Sunderland hacked the ball upfield but also because a goal would have demonstrated that finally, we really could make and take a chance inside the area.

There were other opportunities for proof, mostly from players, Lennon and Walker notably, getting to the byline and crossing. I’ll just repeat that for newish supporters or those with merely normal memories: getting to the byline and crossing.

Defoe hit the post twice, coming across the defender to the near post, the classic striker’s move. One header on the right, one deft flick on the left, both were reactions, both were unlucky. These and others – Holtby’s blocked shot, Paulinho’s header – from providers cutting close to the byline. If only they had done that for me, sighed Bobby Soldier, sinking deeper inside his padded coat on the bench.

All these chances yet the winner was pure good fortune. Dembele charging forward on the left and his cross/shot hit O’Shea and into the net. An own goal but one made because we attacked from dangerous angles. It shows again the value of the Moose upfield – let it go, Al, just let it go – but overall he had a strong match before he went off holding his hip.

One of my suggestions to heal our Andre’s self-inflicted wounds was to return to a few things that worked last season. Yesterday Walker and Lennon were reunited down the right. Both made a full, flowing contribution to this win. At times they looked like they were enjoying themselves almost as much as I was. Little Azza was just terrific, buzzing up and down, irritating the Sunderland defence like a wasp after an icecream on a summer’s day. He’s learned to vary his game, not only when to take the full-back on or tuck inside but also to sense the pace of the match, picking things up with a dash forward or a calming touch or two to allow team-mates to readjust position. That is the difference that to me gives him the nod over Townsend right now. Andros is still inexperienced: let’s hope he learns, just as Lenny did.

The pair helped each other out at either end of the field. Defending is not part of Lennon’s natural game, whereas Walker quickly gets bored defending, yet time and again he was back, notably towards the end of the game to prevent Sunderland from crossing the ball. Both were tireless. Walker took stick from the crowd when he stayed down after a challenge – he was knackered after several lung-busting runs then using his body strength to stave off an opponent. He’s improved his play and this was his best game this season. If only he could learn to tuck in at the back every single time to bolster his centre-backs.

Capoue did well enough after a shaky start. He could have done with closer attendance from Walker to help out but when Sunderland went longer later in the game and pinned us back into the box, he and Dawson won most everything. Daws was especially strong at the end. Back in the box not stuck upfield, it’s what he does best and his presence was reassuring. Sunderland’s one decent chance went straight to Lloris, who showed his mettle by claiming one important ball to partly banish the memory of his mistake. Capoue won a header then instinctively went to go forward to where the ball landed, pointing to his team-mates to pounce on the loose ball as he would have done, but he can’t be in two places at the same time. That’s what you get with a midfielder at the back.

Holtby did well but tired. This is one problem with all the chopping and changing. Players get gametime but seldom play for 90 minutes. Holtby has been with us for almost a year yet I would be surprised if he has played more than a handful of full games.

AVB brought on Sandro, not in the starting line-up because he does not feel fit enough yet to play three games in a week, to shore up the defence. It was just at the right time and he did well. However, it could have been our downfall. With the stiff uncertainty of a man who has just come on the filed, Sandro handballed a corner but the ref, who was poor throughout, turned a blind eye.

And on moments like that, the game turns. We fully deserved this win, in the second half playing some of our best football of the season so far, yet we win by an own goal and the penalty that never was. That momentum again, we have kept it going and players and managers know it, judging by their expressions at the end of the game.

No complaints, it augers well for the rest of this important month. Just one caveat – we have done well against three teams who allowed us to play a bit. It remains to be seen what happens when sides park the bus at home, as did Hull and West Ham. That’s for the future = the team and manager, that’s a big ‘we’, have earned our praise for their response after the City debacle, so let’s enjoy it with them.

Spurs’ Nine Games of Christmas

/ Alan / 8 Comments

Each season offers up its particular challenges, determined by the vagaries of the fixture computer, the luck of the draw in the cups plus the team’s form as it ebbs and flows, as it always does whatever standards we set. It becomes a set of sequences, groups of matches joined together by importance or chronology. The Nine Games of Christmas were not one of those connections that would have leapt out of supporters’ ritual pre-season scrutiny of the fixture list. However, as the good ship Tottenham starts to take on water and sit lower in the water, circumstance has given Christmas a new meaning for Spurs fans.

How Villas-Boas addresses the problems in December on and off the pitch will determine our fortunes for this season and for at least the next few. It’s Tottering Hotspur with the focus squarely on the faltering effectiveness of his tactics and team selection. On top of which, sections of the media are at his throat, a combination of unjustified venom festering ever since he was ridiculed at Chelsea then had the nerve to get another job in the Premier League, and indignation that our boy has the chutzpah to challenge their wilful misinterpretation of the inclusive phrase, ‘we are ashamed’.

What makes this sequence so fascinating is that it is a real mixture: winnable home games after Christmas versus West Brom and Stoke, enticing away fixtures at Fulham and Sunderland where again three points are possible but you never know with away games, and three matches against top six rivals in Southampton, Liverpool and United. Add a home league cup tie against West Ham that will played with real ferocity and it’s got everything. Anji, play the ground staff and tell everyone else to put their feet up.

It’s vital we pick up some momentum after the crushing indignity of defeat at City. Comparing AVB’s expression after Fulham went a goal up on Wednesday with his exuberant relief at the final whistle gave a hint of what this all means to players and manager. 70 minutes in he was as white as a sheet, dead eyes staring blankly as once again it looked like a decent Spurs effort had fallen apart. Shifting from first half containment to second half attack, we had the better of a belting game and playing some fine football. All undone after another defensive cock-up. In a sick and twisted replay of goals conceded this season, Dawson’s pass into midfield found everyone in place for the transition from defence to attack. So when it was intercepted, Fulham could run through and score.

Building up some momentum dictates how matches turn out, and the outcome of those sequences. Hard to put your finger on what exactly makes the difference. In games, it’s certainly to do with pressure and possession but sometimes a single comparatively minor incident like winning a 50/50 tackle or a poor refereeing decision can set the pulses racing for players and fans alike, and so the game turns again.

Goals help – that’s an understatement if ever there was one, and this goal undid all our good work and AVB’s cunning plan. he was over-cautious in the first half. The selection of two DMs did not have to be negative. Rather it gave our attacking players some freedom. Lamela took advantage. Given a more free role (or perhaps he wasn’t paying attention to the manager’s instructions), his runs from midfield and interplay were effective for a time – and he got back to defend. Not a great performance but for the first time he looked as if he was getting to grips with the English game, appearing somehow more muscular and grown up. Or perhaps my stream was playing up, who knows?

More missed chances, Defoe and then Paulinho wasting good moves that would have justified AVB’s set-up. However, we did not pressure Fulham enough – given their recent problems we should have gone at them from the start but it was half-hearted.

Second period, AVB changed things – see, he does you know – and we looked much better. Again we missed chances – I would have played Soldado for this one, he can rest later. We look good on the counter – our best efforts all came from breaks at pace. We have the players for that and it’s a set-up we should try more often, at home as well as away, starting attacks from deep rather than leaving men upfield.

The Fulham goal changed all that. We bunged on everyone to get the goal, (three wingers at one point?) but momentum shift come from unlikely sources. Chiriches kept his long range shot down but no one expected that to go through so many players without a touch. fortunately the Fulham keeper was one of those bystanders. Holtby won it with a fine long range Bale-esque effort cutting in from the right and left-foot, top corner.

We still can’t score from inside the box and this nearly went badly wrong but it worked out and for the moment that’s enough. Add this to the performance against United and the players are feeling good again. When you think things are going your way, sometimes that indefinable quality, that certain something where it all works, can mean more to fragile psyches than sustained periods of good football.

But in the end, it’s good play that counts and in that respect, Hugo Lloris excelled. Several fine saves won this one for us. It was a great second half, bonkers end to end thrills and spills. If only I was able to enjoy watching Spurs play….

We Think A Little Change Has Done Spurs Good

/ Alan / 7 Comments

The criticism most often levelled at Spurs manager Andre Villas-Boas is his lack of flexibility. He sticks rigidly to his ideas, tactics and formations come what may, so the stroy goes. At this point his more snide detractors add something about clipboards and never having played professional football.

I’ve never fully bought that. Tottenham have tried different formations, although always with a back four, and the permutations have seldom included the classic 4-3-3 that was supposed to be his trademark. He persists with certain players but then again being accused of giving players a chance to prove themselves over a run of games is laudable. When he chops and changes, he gets it in the neck too.

However, his capacity to change will never be tested under as much pressure as over the coming month. How he responds in the nine games of December will define not only this season but the longer-term future of the club. Spurs are slipping down the table, we can’t score and sections of the media will pounce like starving hawks on the slightest sign of weakness. And in our last league match, we were slaughtered.

Early signs are positive. From first to last the team’s attitude was exemplary. They all played for each other and, as ‘we’ is an inclusive pronoun, presumably for the manager too. After the City debacle, what I feared most was a slump in morale but the opposite was the case, with a fighting determination to do the right thing that will see us through if it continues. For long periods we were the better side and imposed our pattern on the game rather than reacting to United. We made the chances too, but missed them when it mattered.

In the end, a deserved point, a pearler from Sandro and the optimism that it could have been more. The result was less important than the performance. This was never the ‘must win’ game that many named it because we have a lousy record against United. This fixture has meant nothing but frustrated hopes and soggy disappointment for a decade or more, so three points are an aspiration rather than a benchmark.

AVB changed the team too, with Lennon on the right and Chiriches at the back alongside Dawson, who looked the most vulnerable of the defenders after last week but I doubt Kaboul is fully fit, or indeed if he will ever be again. The inclusion of Chadli was the most surprising. We’ve seen a bit of him looking ripped and hanging around on the left but little else. He started at Palace and now he’s back after injury so safe to say his manager rates him.

However, some things don’t change. The way the team was given to me, I assumed Dembele was playing further forward – regular readers will know I firmly believe his considerable talents are wasted as a DM. In fact, it was just a random order of the midfielders so there he was, with Paulinho pushed up into an unfamiliar advanced role as the link between striker and the rest of the midfield.

After the early skirmishes Spurs took the game to United. With Paulinho in that advanced role we were better able to press high up the pitch. Dembele got stuck in too and the United midfield never had time to settle, looking dangerous only when the excellent Rooney got on the ball or when Valencia powered towards Vertonghen. The Brazilian enjoyed his work near the box without ever appearing entirely comfortable. He was part of the best move of the game, returning Soldado’s first time ball with a pass of his own that sliced through the defence to give the Spaniard a precious chance deep inside the box. As we’re on the subject of defining moments, as he took aim and without hesitation hit a first time shot, you knew this embryonic goal of the month could resurrect his reputation, silence the doubters and send his flagging confidence sky-high. But into the crowd and the moment had gone.

Still, he played well, encouraged by his manager to adapt to the English game by increasing his movement and work rate. As a result he got on the ball more and played an instrumental role in fashioning our other great chance. Lennon’s shot was saved and from the rebound his perfect cross to the far post found Paulinho hanging back when he stood have been idling near the goal-line for a tap-in.

Paulinho made our opener, Walker slamming home a direct free kick after the Brazilian was fouled at the edge of the box. I like to think we had scouted the fact that the United wall jumps as the kick is taken and that’s why it was a low ball straight at, then through, the wall, rather than a slightly scuffed effort. Positive, that’ the approach…

Walker has been playing better recently. If only he could concentrate for 90 minutes. He seemed surprised a cross came to him and sliced his clearance straight to a grateful Rooney. He put everything into this game and I feel for him even though his howler put United on level terms and back into a match that was at that point slipping out of their grasp. His positioning and body-shape were a tiny bit off and that’s all that is needed for a mistake.

However, that cross would not have come if Dembele had not lost the ball in midfield. His good game was spoilt by repeating this error on several occasions, each time it gave the impetus back to United.

Lennon was outstanding in the first half. Townsend essentially gives us a single angle of attack – Lenny gives us several, going outside like a proper winger or whizzing directly into box in a series of dangerous diagonals. Pleasure to see him do so well.

Walker’s error took the wind from our sails and we were becalmed until half time. We picked up again after the break, then we were lifted by the gale-force blast from Sandro’s right foot, a classic top-right-corner-keeper-rooted-to-the-spot from 25 yards.

And now – an official TOMM apology to referee Mike Dean. When Lloris dived at Welbeck’s feet, I was convinced he reached the ball first. I, like many in the stands. were frankly uncomplimentary about his powers of decision-taking. But I was wrong. Welbeck made the most of it as is the modern way but there’s no defence if the keeper doesn’t touch it. Penalty, and United had both the goal and renewed momentum.

So the lead lasted only three minutes. Mind you, I really enjoyed those 180 seconds, among the best of the year so far, but hey ho.

Spurs performance never recovered but we were steady enough to see it thorugh for a point. The ball shot across our box a couple of times but otherwise we did not look like losing this one. I can’t recall Lloris making a diving save.

Trouble is, perhaps we could and should have done more to win it, and back we come to Villas-Boas’ inflexibility. Both his subs – Defoe Soldado, Townsend for Lennon – were like for like, thus United did not have to confront anything new and uncomfortable. Later that afternoon, his fallen mentor Jose Mourinho turned deficit into victory with his substitutions. Perhaps AVB was legitimately cautious after last week but there were opportunities to change things around with Paulinho remaining on the pitch to the end despite a fading contribution.

Sandro had a good game, dropping back into the back four when necessary to shore up the defence. Dawson tackled and blocked, while Chiriches looks accomplished with timing in the tackle, dare I say it, reminiscent of our dear Ledley. My imagination or did we defend deeper for the most part? I wonder if AVB wants to dump the high line. Interesting to see if that is permanent.

AVB has certainly changed his tactics when it comes to sections of the media, firstly tucking into Alan Sugar’s bid to install Alex Ferguson as his replacement then going on the offensive with journalists like Neil Ashton who interpreted his use of the word ‘we’ in the analysis of the City defeat as meaning that he blamed the players, not himself. Taking on the media is a dangerous game but good luck to him on this occasion at least. It’s a fine line between appropriate assertiveness and outrageous paranoia (see Mourinho, J. and Wenger, A.) but this was the right time to take a stand. More on this later in the week but we think the boy done good.

The Long Dark Night of AVB’s Soul

/ Alan / 61 Comments

The dank days and chilly evenings of winter are already with us but right now there is nowhere colder than the chilled marrow of Andre Villas-Boas’s bones. The clocks have long since gone back but for him the long dark night of the soul is fast approaching.

The six goal shambles of defeat against Manchester City violently sucked all meaning and purpose not just from shell-shocked, traumatised players but from everything our manager holds dear. Shape, tactics, motivation, the principles of team-work, the very existence of AVB’s Spurs rendered meaningless and empty. We thought there were solid foundations even if we have not been playing well. In reality, nothing beneath our feet except fresh air. The players had no idea what they were supposed to be doing and neither did their boss.

It started badly, could not have started worse even by Tottenham standards. We kicked off, they scored after 14 seconds. Barely possible but the laws of time and motion shifted just enough for Lloris to fluff a clearance under no pressure, short and straight to an opponent. He saved the shot but Navas curled in the rebound. From then on, the collapse continued, unhindered and without boundaries, the team imploding on itself until like a burnt out star in a far-off galaxy, our performance became a pinprick of the most dense and unresponsive matter in the universe.

The defining period of AVB’s reign has begun. Successive matches versus the Manchester giants were never likely to be profitable but the manner in which he deals with the games between now and the New Year will dictate the outcome of Tottenham’s season and beyond. His methods, challenged by our weakness in attack, will have to withstand the battering of outraged fans and sections of the braying media scenting blood. That’s not to mention the questioning looks from his players.

Faced with massive problems, players and manager seemed incapable of an adequate response. I’m not talking about the subs – the game was lost by the time they appeared – but a fatal lack of recognition that there were any problems. The midfield, flaccid and incoherent from first to last, offered no protection to the back four save for a couple of Sandro tackles. City like to get the ball wide – in Navas they play a genuine winger. yet it never for a moment occurred to anyone to drop back to protect our full-backs. As a result City took full advantage of the wide-open plains down our flanks like lions hunting antelope in the Serengeti.

Many of us want to see Lamela given a chance. Today we saw why Villas-Boas has been cautious. While his free role gave him scope to cut in and appear in unexpected positions, his team-mates did not know what to expect either. He watched and reacted too late when City created a two on one down our left and the cross was turned in. Welcome to the Premier League.

On Sky Hoddle was banging on about shutting the front door, meaning Kaboul should have dropped a yard closer to the six yard box at the near post, but that was shutting the door, front or back, after the horse has bolted. You have to cover – Lennon wasn’t much more use on the other side – and you have to keep the ball. Yet time and again we gave it away, most dangerously when the side had shifted into positions to mount an attack thus leaving us bare and exposed. City took full advantage, with Lloris, our best player this season by far, again the culprit. It wasn’t as if City were playing particularly well. They didn’t have to.

This blog tries to be fair, balanced and consistent. Annoying I know but it’s how I am and as I approach my sixties I’m too old change. So let’s be fair – I was happy with this starting line-up. Lennon for Townsend was brave, given the furore around Andros’s England performances, but the right choice. I was pleased to see Lamela – we have to give him a chance. I would have preferred both Holtby and Dembele, the latter in the advanced midfield role that suits him best, so that leaves only one wide man because City are so strong in midfield. Kaboul back, definitely, and Sandro of course. But not so different from AVB’s choice.

It’s what they did that was so poor. Wandering wide men gave the flanks no protection. Paulinho and Holtby were too far forward too often. Neither contributed a thing to this match. Paulinho’s starting position should have been deeper. You have to defend against City by denying them space and he’s able to get forward when the moment is right. He and Sandro could make a fine partnership but he was too far forward. If he stays back, there’s time and manpower to move across and cover, i.e. to provide the very platform that Lamela and Lennon need to be at their best.

Fact is, he is knackered and bewildered, worn out after his exertions coming straight to the under pressure Tottenham midfield after the Confederations Cup. He needs a rest. Send him back to Brazil for a couple of weeks, he’s no use to us now and we’ll need him fresh in the New Year.

Soldado got barely a sniff. It seemed to me that in the few moments in the first half when we approximated a football team he was moving more, both deeper and laterally. Or maybe that was hope playing tricks on my eyes. He depends on being the given the ball. If AVB is trying to find the right formation for him and the team, that is worthy of some patience. What worries me is something worse, that he sanctioned the purchase in the conviction that he knew how to play to his strengths and that what we have seen so far this season is the failure of that plan. Which begs the question, what the hell is he going to do now? And that’s why I’m worried, not just a striker failing to spark but a squad composed of players who do not do the job they were bought to do.

And so to the back four. Kaboul, my first choice but rusty. Dawson a fine warrior but all at sea today. Stranded in midfield for City’s fourth goal as a simple one two with a runner from midfield took him out of the game, worse was to come when he simply left his man unmarked. Standing near him, he did nothing. Vertonghen, unhinged by what was going on around him, nearly got himself sent off for a reckless sliding challenge. His mind was gone long before his weak and inept challenge let Navas in for the sixth. Was it just the defeat playing on his mind, as he’s a serious, proud professional, or was he wondering why the best centre half in the Premier League is playing at full-back?

George Graham’s classic drill for the back four was to get them to imagine they were tied together by a piece of rope. In Spurs’ case, it’s elastic. They wandered as if strangers on a ramble, occasionally surprised but pleased as they bumped into each other, but mostly going their own sweet way. Negredo and the fabulously lethal Aguerro don’t need the help we gave them but they revelled in the gaps between our defenders.

I have no desire to kick a man when he’s down but this was AVB’s worst effort as manager. City have a four man midfield and yet we allowed them to outnumber us and paid dearly for the consequences. My sympathy to the loyal Spurs who went that far for this stinking detritus, and if it is any consolation we could hear you singing loud and clear until the end.

If things could possibly be worse, consider one final thought. Last season, Villas-Boas succeeded in getting his message and methods through to the players. Motivation has been good, team-spirit similarly. That will be called in question after this, not just by fans or media but inside the club itself. Heads went down. I’ve already mentioned how the players did not know how to react. This is why this defeat will gnaw away at confidence and belief. Like I said, tonight will be a long dark night for our Andre.