Spurs v Burnley. Five Goals. Again.

September 27, 2009 / Alan / 5 Comments

Flowing football from Tottenham Hotspur took Spurs to fourth place in the Premier League and provided great entertainment for the large crowd basking in the unexpected autumn sunshine.

Moving with style and purpose from the off, Spurs threatened to overwhelm Burnley in the first half. Once we figured out that their back four were playing a high line, the offsides stopped and we slotted the ball into the gaps in between and behind their lumbering defenders. Some of our moves were pure beauty, graceful passes, long and short, finding a succession of willing runners. Although it mattered little to the final outcome, I was furious with Defoe for missing that straightforward left footer with the target at his mercy, because that gorgeous move deserved a goal to be endlessly drooled over on MOTD and Sky.

Jermaine Jenas was at the heart of everything for the entire game. He drove us forward, always available then equally well attuned to the whereabouts of team mates. Short or long, yesterday afternoon it was all the same to him as our strikers fed hungrily upon a series of perfectly weighted passes. Even a performance as superb as this will not silence his doubters, however. No player provokes such extreme reactions on the blogs and messageboards, and in a sense this game epitomises the problem rather than settling the argument. If he is capable of playing this well, why doesn’t he do so every week? It’s the frustration born of this inconsistency that riles fans so, even those like me who like to see his name on the teamsheet. However well he does, he appears to have the stamina and talent to be better, it’s as if he’s inexplicably holding something back.

Our Star Man in Philosophical Pose. 'Why don't I always play this well?'

In my preview of the match, I stated that I like Burnley and that’s not altered after yesterday. It’s not just because of the generosity of their defence. They had an attacking outlook, always seeking to get men forward, although this admirable attitude is their undoing. Welcome to the Premier League, no wonder they are regularly slaughtered away from home. Open attacking football – whoever heard of such a thing? The very idea! I was surprised at how few fans had made the trip. It may not get any better than this, my northern friends, so enjoy it while you can.

The other thing I learned about Burney is that they are not very good. Other teams would certainly have made more of the gaps in our defensive formation. This is Spurs, so there is always a ‘but’ somewhere, so here it is. Winning 5-0 should not hide the fact that three old problems have returned, in evidence not only yesterday but over the last few games. First, we are giving the ball away far too often. Yesterday our opponents quickly learned that with a little patience, we would present them with possession soon enough. Palacios was particularly culpable and together with rash challenges and another needless booking, his form continues to be below the standard of last season .

Second, we do not close down at the edge of our own box. Remember a few seasons ago when we were the patsies on every Goal of the Month as long shots flew into the net. That was because we gave them time to line up the delivery and it’s fast becoming the norm right now. We must cut these problems out now.

Lastly, we let teams back into a match that previously we have controlled. We started the second half poorly, although one factor was down to a tactical change from our opponents, whose back four played deeper thus preventing the runs behind them and making JD and Keane play more with their backs to the goal. In the end we scored five, could have easily had eight or nine, but if Blake’s clever response to Cudicini’s dozing at that free kick at 2-0 had gone in instead of hitting the post, we would have been rocked back on our heels.

I remain fascinated with Harry’s team selections. Next month marks the anniversary of his first year at Spurs but he’s still trying to figure out what his players are capable of, both as individuals and in terms of the best blend. Dropping a guy who has scored a hat-trick in midweek was a brave decision (I was certain Crouch would start) but fully vindicated as Keane and Defoe were far too much for Burnley to handle. Not so long ago, the accepted wisdom dictated that they could not play together effectively. I think Harry has put that one to bed, thank you very much.

Neither did I believe for a moment that Huddlestone would play centre half, but he was our other star performer. At Derby he began in that position and it looks like he may have a future there. Another player who creates controversy amongst Spurs fans, to me his main fault is not slowness of foot but of mind. He does not anticipate well, certainly if the old adage that the first yard is in the head is true, then it has not yet occurred to him. Yet yesterday he was particularly strong coming out of the back four line to snuff out danger. Dare we hope this could be a pointer for things to come? A centre half with his ability to pass the ball so well from deep is good for both defence and attack. The test will be very different against better strikers, of course, but perhaps he will find things easier with the play predominantly ahead of him, facing one way.

I felt Gomes was sure to play; his fragile confidence must have been undermined by Cudicini’s selection. Carlo has done well enough over the last few games, especially getting down low and quickly as a shot stopper. However, every game there is an inexcusable mistake. Nothing was going on when he gave the ball to Blake at that free kick and it could have altered the course of the match.

Doubts aside, leaving the ground with a 5-0 victory feels wonderful. Our third was an excellent move, long ball from JJ, Lennon quick and sure, great first time finish from Keane, and from then on there was so much to enjoy. Must mention Kranjcar’s first half crossfield pass to Lennon, not so much inch-perfect as millimetre perfect. Great fun, and that’s five goals on four occasions, it’s not the end of September yet.

Spurs v Preston. And Championship Manager

September 23, 2009September 24, 2009 / Alan / 3 Comments

Tempting though it may be to treat the League Cup as light relief after successive matches against top four teams, Preston away is serious business.

The contempt with which this competition is viewed within the game is evidenced by the number of ‘resting’ players this midweek. In the last round, even Doncaster fielded a weakened team, for goodness sake. However, this trophy is a major target for us, never mind the need to reassert our confidence after two substantial defeats, and I advocate a near first choice selection.

I confess I know very little about today’s Preston, although time was when I had a profound insight into the club. Preston were the choice of my son and I in Championship Manager 01. Our success gave the lie to the maxim that you cannot have joint managers. It may not have worked for Curbishley and Gritt at Charlton, but not so many miles from the Valley, two minds were as one.

Why we chose Preston, I’m not entirely clear. Can’t be Spurs, there’s too much of an emotional attachment. It’s bad enough kicking every ball and agonising over every miss every match, let alone putting yourself through that most evenings. Any other Prem team was out of the question, but we were attracted by the challenge of building a team on scant resources, using our football nouse, football people.

And so Preston it was. The board had limited funds and ambition to match, but although the pressure was off, we aimed high. The play-off final was a nadir in my cyber football career. Keeper David Lucas, promoted by us in the latter stages of the season, failed to repay our faith by having a mare. Subbed at halftime, the battle was already lost and even the efforts of our mystery Icelandic striker Porhallsson could not turn the game around. By then of course we had long ditched the football nouse idea – hours scouring the internet found the cheap guys who no one had heard of in real life but who excelled in CM. Press delete and start again.

CM is both an escape from and a mirror of reality. The following season was a triumphant march to the Premiership but once there, we could not buy any decent players and remaining loyal to the existing squad led inexorably to ignominious relegation and the sack. But I forgave them. Over the years curiously I’ve kept up with some of the players who did not feature for us. Paul McKenna (not that one) was a dedicated squad player in CM but in reality stayed for about 10 years and over 400 games before moving on this season to Forest. Richard Cresswell had great stats but did nothing for us, yet he’s flirted with the Prem at several clubs. On the other hand, we brought back ageing full back Graham Alexander as a first team regular and in real life he went on to become an international and scored on Saturday for Burnley. I like to think we can claim a little credit.

Spurs should field a strong team tonight. There are a few positions that might be up for grabs in the long run, so the choice between Gomes and Cudicini could indicate how much Harry rates the Brazilian. This is the moment to bring him in, if that is the plan, but Carlo has done well enough for us. Similarly, with Corluka and Hud the only centre halves available (I’m assuming Bassong will be rested after his bash on Sunday eve though it’s not a serious injury), there’s an opportunity for Hutton to have a run in the team, but again there’s a pointer if Naughton plays.

In centre midfield JJ and WP must anchor the team and up front is Crouch and Defoe for me. This leaves the two wide midfield places. Niko in one and hold Lennon as an impact sub if necessary, so maybe a chance for Bentley (my preferred option) or Gio.

As a postscript, put your hands together for all the Pompey faithful who went to Carlisle last night. That’s being a football supporter. Or insane.

Spurs v Manchester United

September 13, 2009 / Alan / 10 Comments

A Spurs fan e-mailed Friday evening’s 5Live football programme to say how much he enjoyed games against Manchester United, especially for the first twenty minutes when we play well then United score. Defoe’s brilliant bicycle kick looked like the pattern that was all too familiar to my eyes had been broken, but sure enough, 20 minutes later United were on top and by and large, that’s the way it stayed.

There was plenty of time to think during the last ten or fifteen minutes. Those periods are excruciating torture, where the side is beaten but hope flickers occasionally as we string a few passes together or a long ball into the box produces half a chance. Logic dictates that it’s time to start the car but I have never been able to bring myself to leave before the final whistle, and never will. Further self-flagellation: to stay and suffer leads to more hard time in the traffic jams afterwards. Sentences to run concurrently.

The punishment fits the crime, in my case of approaching the match with a degree of optimism. Mitigating circumstances, m’lud – only slight optimism, none of this ‘we’re going to win the league’ baloney perpetrated by certain other defendants. As we muddled through the last few minutes, I was still thinking about what might have been. Crouch’s header from 6 yards and Defoe’s uncoordinated miss in front of goal, both in the first half, if Wilson had stayed on his feet and not let them back into things, or some excellent flowing passing early on.

However, with each step away from the ground and closer to the car, as the adrenalin subsided I could not hide the reality of a sound beating by a better team. We were still on our feet in wonder and awe at Defoe’s scything feat when United sliced through an absent midfield. They repeated the trick a couple of minutes later and although on these occasions nothing came of it, in hindsight the tide turned just at our moment of triumph. Face facts: but for Cudicini’s excellent goalkeeping we could have been thrashed.

Harry Redknapp has been a bloomin’ marvel cor blimey etc. Yesterday, playing Keane at left midfield was a mistake. When United had possession, Keane drifted wide to cover his opposite number. This took him out of the equation and left plenty of space for the opposition, and as the game went on they took full advantage by outnumbering us in midfield. I thought Kranjcar would start, but as soon as he came on it was evident that he is seriously overweight and not fit for 90 minutes. Also, he tried too hard: by being involved in everything he came inside at a point where staying wide on the left would have given us room to exploit our man advantage.

Wilson has been remarkable for us and I hugely admire him. For this, I will forgive his trespasses or whatever it is the goyim do. So I say this because I care. He has to learn when to fly in and when to remain on his feet. He’s quick and alert so he should be able to jostle and niggle at the opposition when they make their runs on goal, rather than see the big tackle as the only option. The free kick brought them back into the game. They probably would have scored at some point anyway but that’s not the point. The booking weakened his effectiveness. There have been clear signs of this impetuosity in the past, and now is the time to take action. It’s Ok – we forget he’s still quite young and is learning his trade. Harry will help.

Finally, we fell into the Ten Man trap. We began well enough, with Lennon staying wide, JJ being always available, pass and move, stretching the play, being patient, the openings will come. Then, we pushed men further forward. Falling into such temptation is seductive but fatal. Too many players ahead of the ball makes it easier for the opposition to pick them up – our men are largely static and their players are in defensive positions anyway – and also removes our man advantage in midfield, where all the creative action takes place. If our men are ahead of the ball the options we have available are curtailed – passes must mostly go forward to men who will have defenders in close attention, rather than enabling the option to move from side to side, then strike when a weakness has opened up.

It has to be said: United were outstanding. In other circumstances I would have said it was a pleasure to watch Rooney. In the flesh, his purposeful intelligent running and great skill is so obvious. I would not blame Hutton too much for the third goal. He saw the problem and came across to deal with it, but the pass was perfect and Rooney unstoppable. Evra’s bursts from deep, perefectly timed and at such pace, should be the benchmark for us to aim for. And the United fan who rang 606 to wonder why Giggs was still being selected should be barred for life from watching football – sir, this fine game is far too precious for the likes of you.

In many ways, this match told us nothing new. We’ve done extremely well to have 12 points out of 15 at this stage of the season. Our players, for the most part, are on form and very fit, and Redknapp has enabled them to work as a team, the outcome being some quality football, some of which we were able to produce against one of the best teams in Europe. However, we have a long way to go before we achieve the combined resilience that enables us to complete at the highest level over a period of team. That’s something we can learn over the course of this season.

England v Croatia

September 8, 2009 / Alan / 3 Comments

As the World Cup qualifier against Croatia looms, I confess to having little enthusiasm for the England international team. It isn’t outright antagonism (I’ll certainly watch the match), more a mild case of indifference. Whilst I want them to win, the lack of any excitement on my part serves only to heighten my anticipation of the Manchester United game this coming Saturday, when adrenalin and the desire for victory will create an intoxicating brew.

Notice I wrote ‘them’, not ‘us’. Didn’t think about it, that’s just the way it came out. For some this admission denotes an absence of patriotism bordering on the treasonable, but I’m not alone. Several of my fellow bloggers have recorded similar feelings, and last year when the Spurs Odyssey messageboard www.spursodyssey.com discussed this, a large number of contributors clearly stated that Spurs meant more to them than England. The majority of people I know who are fervent England fans do not support a Premier League team as passionately.

The Croatian contingent at Tottenham poses another layer of varied and complex dilemmas. I really don’t want them to win, but if I am honest I would have liked our three to have all played extremely well. Maybe 4-3 to England, hat-trick for JD and Luka man of the match. No Modric of course, and Corluka obligingly managed to get sent off at the weekend so he can rest up nicely, thank you very much. Obviously he has the same focus on Saturday as I do, but am I the sole Spurs fan who would prefer Kranjcar to play better than Lampard?

This is very different from when I first started to watch England. In those days, Spurs and England both stirred the emotions equally. In my teens in the 70s I attended several internationals at Wembley. Living in West London, I just hopped on the 83 bus, tickets were cheap and plentiful, and Wembley still had that sense of mystery as a special place, kept exclusively for the biggest games, floodlights bathing the fading paint and rusting girders in a magical glow. I wore my Spurs scarf, to show where my true loyalties lay, and puffed out my chest with pride if any of our players did well. Seeing Hoddle score against Bulgaria in his debut was a great moment.

In those days it felt like the fans came together to get behind England, setting aside club rivalries and united under the banner of national pride. No one ever gave me any stick for wearing my colours. Now, club allegiances are more deeply entrenched. The all-consuming Premier League, with the media hype, the shirts, the merchandise and the international stars, dominates football.

The other major change that affects our attitude towards the national team is the way we relate to the individual players. In the 70s and 80s, visiting stars received a fair amount of stick at the Lane but it was nowhere near as strident as it is today. The worst chant I can recall was the one that pursued the Chelsea keeper Peter Bonetti for years after the Germany game at Mexico 1970. ‘Bonetti lost the World Cup, and so say all of us’ was hardly going to have Spurs fans being hauled up in court….

Much of the blame falls squarely on the shoulders of the players. Their enormous wealth and apparent prioritising of celebrity status over an honest performance has distanced them from the fans. If Lampard delights in displaying his life in Hello magazine, or on his own Orange channel, then dashes over to bait the Park Lane when he scores, then he should also realise the bitterness that such behaviour creates when people are paying a fortune for the privilege of watching him play football.

Ashely Cole was loudly barracked during the recent international against Kazakhstan. The media pompously castigated the fans (or ‘so-called fans’ as they became) for so doing. Supporters are always blamed as being fickle and stupid in such circumstances, but curiously we are not foolish when we turn up week in week out, or buy the shirt, or shell out half a week’s wages for tickets, food and transport. That night Cole got what was coming to him. He was not playing well but more significantly, as was missed by all the media, he had built up a huge groundswell of resentment. This loathsome oick is rich, talented and has a beautiful wife, yet he’s in and out of bed with every passing mini-skirt and chooses to remind us how shocked he was at being offered a mere 60k a week by the Arse. It’s not the money that truly irks me, rather it’s his overbearing arrogance in the fact that in his autobiography he genuinely expected us to empathise with his troubles. Poor old Ashley.

So if we do not unequivocally join hands as one to back Capello’s boys, it is the players not the fans who need to take a hard look at themselves, for it is they who have created a chasm of bitterness that cannot be spanned just by pulling on an England shirt.