football

Fulham v Spurs. One is Better Than None.

/ Alan / 4 Comments

Spurs left Craven Cottage with a point, which many fans would have settled for before the match began. But football at the highest level is not about settling for half measures. It’s about making the possible reality, and yesterday it was certainly possible for Spurs to play a whole lot better.

For much of the game we held our own but lacked the sense of urgency and purpose that could have translated possession into supremacy, and in turn into more chances. We were never able to dictate the shape or tempo of the match despite having our fair share of the ball. Much of this was down to Fulham, who are well-organised and hard-working. It’s hard enough to break them down but this became nigh on impossible because we gave the ball away so frequently. This old failing of ours is wasteful of so much of our better play and is hampering our efforts to become a top four team.

Our back four were solid for the most part, with a few aberrations from Assou Ekotto, but Gomes was the star of the show. His Stretch Armstrong impression plucked the ball from all four corners of the goal, a fine all round display. Gomes looks more relaxed and confident, a far cry from this match last year where he was so edgy and out of touch that he provoked pity rather than anger. He made the most absurd error, getting his body behind a simple ball but somehow contriving to allow it to roll into the net.

Ironic then that this morning David James is openly declaring his desire to come to Spurs, adding to the usual guff about being flattered at the interest of a big club that it will help his World Cup chances. Sitting on the bench won’t help, so if there is any truth in this rumour, and James is usually careful in the way he expresses himself, he thinks that he will be first choice. Whether number one or not, James’ arrival would totally unsettle Gomes and undo all of the good work that he has accomplished this season with his coach Tony Parks. I don’t want him.

In my preview I was disparaging towards Bobby Zamora so naturally he had a fine game. Clever with his back to the goal, his link up play with team mates was conspicuously superior than the manner in which Crouch, a better player, linked with our forwards. Fulham stay closer in possession to their centre forward, buzzing around him and providing different options and angles. Crouch on the other hand was often detached from his colleagues. Keane did not help, another poor game, full of effort with no end product.

The old adage that success comes if you win at home and draw away is not so true in these days of three points for a win and teams with cutting counter-attacking strategies, but this remains a decent point, made better if we win against West Ham. Other teams have targeted Fulham as an away win and come away with nothing. Also, that’s three clean sheets in a row for the first time in four seasons, I believe. That must represent some sort of progress.

Charity Begins in the Dressing Room

/ Alan / 4 Comments

Working as I do in a career where teamwork is crucial, I’ve attended more than my fair share of team-building exercises. I’ve gathered in intense circles of earnest contemplation, gazed at my navel, had days out in the country and built models of bridges (oh the significance) from cardboard, paper and string. Catching so many toppling colleagues in trust exercises, I’ve become known as the Pat Jennings of my profession.

Mercifully I’ve so far been spared the ordeal of crossing the Thames in a raft made from wood and oil drums lashed together with rope by myself, the temp in accounts and the IT nerd. However, I have participated in more than one team sculpt. Unfortunately this does not involve getting messy with large dollops of clay. Rather, you choose to stand in a place that symbolises your relationship with your colleagues, close perhaps if you feel good, holding hands to represent a strong bond or the merest fingertip touch if you are hanging on for dear life. It feels like playing Twister at a funeral.

But after all these years of experience, my advice is that only one thing is truly effective – alcohol. A few beers round the table in a decent pub or a glass of wine in the park allows people to talk to each other in a relaxed way and loosen a few inhibitions. I’ve been on two highly expensive and professionally facilitated jaunts that people barely survived, then went off to the pub to get over it and returned to work the following Monday full of how they got to know their team mates over a pint and a couple of g and t’s.

British professional footballers don’t need much prompting to get the beers in but if the Spurs squad felt better after team-bonding in Dublin, then that can do nothing but good. Footballers are athletes, whether they see themselves that way or not, and so they have to watch carefully what they eat and drink as well as slogging out the miles on the training pitch. Provided that they do not overdo it every night of the week or, worse, succumb to the stress of life at the top by regular solitary drinking, the occasional night out is a valuable pressure-valve for young men in the public eye. Far worse are players who clearly aren’t fit because they are unwilling to work hard or who are overweight. They will have no sympathy from me.

Team spirit at Spurs seems good, despite the odd grumbles from men who are not regular starters. Dublin probably helped. The question is not about the moral outrage spouted in many of the papers over the past few days or the value for the squad. Rather, it is more plain – why didn’t Redknapp allow them to have a Christmas party in the first place?

He has been widely quoted as having a well-known dislike of Christmas parties for the players. But he knows they are part of our football culture, and Harry knows that culture better than most. At West Ham and Portsmouth it could not be said that he had a reputation as a martinet when it comes to team discipline. The unchaperoned golf trip was obviously a euphemism for something more lively, yet he appears to have given his blessing. If so, then why make a big thing about parties in the first place? Keep quiet, let the players organise something and let it run its course. As it stands, he risks having his authority publicly undermined by a captain prepared flagrantly to disregard his manager’s expressly stated command. At any club the manager must be in control.

It’s even harder to fathom why HR or the players thought they would not be found out. In the old days, this would have been a scoop uncovered by a crack journalist. Now it’s any old clubber with a mobile phone and hold the front page.

This whole business is avoidable. Maybe he made his comments in an unguarded moment – you know how he gets excited when a microphone is thrust in front of him – and thought more about sounding tough over indiscretions rather than thinking it through.

In other clubs this would have been portrayed as a crisis in confidence in the manager, i.e. the players have taken absolutely no notice of him, and that club discipline has fallen apart. Cue old photos of Crouch sticking his head out of the car sunroof and Led falling into and out of various nightclubs. Harry’s cosy relationship with the media has really helped, however. That’s not how they have chosen to portray Redknapp, so it’s good old Uncle Harry and boys will be boys.

A quiet word and a donation to charity is the best way of sorting this out, given where we are, and for the club’s sake this is the best outcome. The papers have fallen over themselves to trump the anticipated total, ranging from £2k each in the Indy, 5k (the Sun), £20k (Mirror) up to a total of £1m in the Star. If Redknapp thought for a single moment that his captain was working against him then Keane would be out on his backside in the blink of an eye. A wink from Harry, cough up lads and next time, don’t get caught. Thank goodness it’s over.

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Blackburn v Spurs

/ Alan / 4 Comments

A solid away win keeps Tottenham Hotspur in contention and more importantly perhaps, that’s two clean sheets in a row for the first time this season, as well as our first away victory for two months. Our passing game spluttered fitfully but we rose to the occasion in the second half when hard graft enabled us to maintain our hold on the lead offered by Crouch’s header late in the first period. Rising to the challenge in adversity is a talent we would do well to nurture.

I say ‘adversity’. Their strikers’ dangerous moments were outweighed by mediocrity in other areas of the pitch and despite their pressing, Blackburn never totally closed down the space in midfield. However, we’ve come unstuck against such opponents in the past, this match last season being one of those occasions. We were on a good run as Harry sprinkled magic dust over the team, then Palacios was unluckily sent off for a second bookable offence that wasn’t and we duly imploded, their winning goal coming from a particularly woeful piece of defending. It can’t be that easy for so many defenders to miss a cross and leave so much space in the six yard box.

Yesterday we were made of sterner stuff. Another good game from Dawson, ably supported by Bassong. Daws still got caught out by flying in, too high up the field. His nervousness that his lack of pace will be found out causes more problems than his speed. He needs more confidence in his ability. Stand tall, stay on your feet, don’t get pulled too far forward and trust that colleagues will cover.

Nothing much written in this blog about Gomes lately. He’s quietly getting on with the business of goalkeeping and yesterday made a couple of cracking saves. He gets down so well to low shots. The shambles of Blackburn’s winner last season as he was sucked unthinking onto the near post is not likely to be repeated too frequently.

The other difference with this win is that we made few chances but took a high proportion of those that arrived. Some classic centre forward play from Crouch. Determination in the first, smothering Nelsen’s brawn to head home firmly, and perfect chance-taking for the second, smoothly tucked away with poise and balance, two adjectives that I’m certain I haven’t used to describe him so far.

Huddlestone and Jenas combined well, JJ driving forward to come up with the second while Hud dropped back to defend.

Meanwhile, Harry’s fervent wish that his alleged financial indiscretions might disappear has not been granted, even though it is Christmas. I wrote about this in October: Harry v The Taxman – Battle of the Titans  http://wp.me/pzmOo-40 and nothing has changed my view that he is in danger of being scapegoated to show that the massive Stevens inquiry has not been wasted. It appears that the sum in question is comparatively small beer at about £10k. I’ve been hamstrung this year by unpaid taxes (my employer’s fault in case you are wondering) running into the hundreds but Harry has in his words paid £10m in tax over the years. However, they need someone to be fronted up as a warning to those immersed in the murky world of football and a high profile guy like Redknapp fits the bill perfectly.

Spurs statement is supportive but maintains a degree of distance. It’s odd that they say it is ‘not related to football matters’ because surely it has something to do with his contract at Portsmouth. My understanding is that with such sums, a settlement is the usual option but this may turn on whether the Revenue pursues the fraud angle.  Actually, it will turn on the skill of Harry’s hotshot lawyer who defended the Jockey Keiron Fallon recently. That garnered plenty of unwelcome publicity so it’s more negative attention for the club.

Blackburn v Spurs Preview

/ Alan / 10 Comments

Spurs travel to Blackburn today in high spirits, and that’s not just the after-effects of the Dublin Christmas party.After such a fine win against Manchester City, we need to maintain the mood, energy and skill in what is another winnable away fixture.

There’s not much to talk about with the team selection – same again, surely. Upfront, Keane might have a look-in, though. Redknapp has made changes to the striking partnership throughout the season based on his assessment of our opponents’ defensive weaknesses rather than our form in the previous match. Samba and Nelsen might be one of the few centre back partnerships to be relieved to face Crouch instead of the quicker, more mobile Keane, who has done well enough against Blackburn in the past.

At the back, Harry has a cautious attitude to change, and anyway we’ve only got two centre halves.  Blackburn were horribly ordinary against Birmingham in the week, a series of high balls forward underlining their lack of creativity. If Daws and Bassong stay alert and mark assiduously then we should be able to resist. Palacios needs a rest but will probably play: he should be stationed permanently in front of our back four. It’s possible that Harry wants him to play his way through his bad patch but a break now might refresh him for the Christmas period. Word is that Redknapp is an admirer of Jenas but it’s questionable if he has faith that between them he and Huddlestone can provide enough of a defensive barrier. Hud should be willing to tuck in between the centre backs if we are defending in the air.

Once more we look to Lennon for the source of our goals. Chimbonda might be shifted to left back to handle him. I rated Chimbo, moody greedy git though he may be. His form with us dropped as soon as it entered his head that we might not deliver the success he sought, so from then on, he was off, first in his mind and then in reality. I’m certain he regrets leaving, discovering as many do that change somehow breaks up what is working, the things that are going right. Eh Robbie? Allardyce will have a better plan to nullify Lennon’s danger than one of his predecessors at Ewood Park did on Wednesday, so we must look to use the space double marking creates elsewhere on the field.

Off the pitch, the Spurs’ players determination to be branded drunks continues unabated. My initial reaction to the Dublin reports was disbelief but no one seems to want to deny it. If players want to let their hair down occasionally, I have no problem with that. Emphasis on the word ‘occasionally’ here. Young men having a good time is part of normal life and if it occasionally (again) eases the pressure and enables them relax as the rest of us do, then fine. There’s a huge difference between that and partying several nights a week or, worse, serious drinking, often in private, as a refuge from their fame and the consequent expectations.

So in worrying abut this episode, I’m not occupying the moral high ground.  If we are to believe what is being said in the media, the club captain has organised a rebellion in direct confrontation with his manager’s instructions. Most of the squad have gone along with it. Keane’s position therefore is untenable, but more significantly, Redknapp’s authority has been totally undermined. He said no party and moreover has made a big splash about it in the papers. They partyed.

Except this is not quite what happened. Redknapp permitted a golfing trip. Spurs fans and the world of football have been presented with the concept that one of the most experienced and wily managers in the game happily accepted that an unchaperoned group of players would have a round, followed by a couple of lemonade and limes and tucked up in bed by 10.30. I kind of like the idea that they actually thought no one would find out. Ireland is indeed a land of green farmland, but my understanding is that these days it has telecommunication contact with the outside world.

Nobody comes out of this with any credit and the club look absurd. If the players were to have a party, let them. Never mind, it’s already spawned new urban slang. ‘Fancy a round of golf tonight? See you down the pub then’.