soccer

Liverpool v Spurs. A Performance of Lettuce Proportions

/ Alan / 23 Comments

We demanded strong and bold, what we were given was limp and lifeless. We were up for the moment, they were down in the dumps. It’s premature to describe the Liverpool defeat as a turning point, but after this and Hull, I stare at the table and see us fourth but by default rather than merit. The table does not lie, it’s what happens over a season that counts and there’s plenty of that season still to run, but last night in no way, shape or form did we look like a top four team.

Cameo performances typically brighten up a performance of any kind. In film or on stage, the actor seizes her or his brief chance in the spotlight to steal the scene and put on a show that is noticed. Last night a Spurs cameo encapsulated the entire night and the performer was indeed noticed but for all the wrong reasons. Closest to the pitch yet so tantalisingly far from the action, being a substitute requires a degree of resolution. Bassong must have had some idea before kick-off even that his services were likely to be required as once more Ledley’s prematurely creaking bones could give way at some time. Yet when called upon his mind was elsewhere, unable to offer the basics, like shorts. Finally on the pitch, he never came to terms with the fact that he was playing, missing tackles, late with a header and then conceding a penalty.

That foul made no difference to the outcome of the match – it was well and truly lost by then – but Bassong’s lack of mental application and fortitude perfectly sums up the approach of the entire team. Half a mistake, Daws not quite strong enough, and suddenly there is a gap for Kuyt to finish skilfully, a well-taken strike. Going a goal down early is tough but not insurmountable. I waited for us to get into our stride. Waited for us to get hold of the ball. Became frustrated as in the first half we lost possession so often, wanting to take three or four touches, to beat a man, where one or two would have done. Waited for the Croats to get on the ball and knock it around, it’s their game and here was the place to play it. Waited patiently, the second period came and finally the ball was ours, we were on top, we pushed them  deep into their own half…

Nothing. Nothing but a smart long shot, a Modric chance and a couple of kerfuffles in their box. No pattern or intelligence. No one willing to take control. JJ and Wilson huffed and puffed, not everything came off but they won the ball for us on sufficient occasions only for nothing to come of it. Luka and Niko disappointed, drifting infield to be swallowed up by an eager Liverpool defence. In my preview I suggested they would be key. Without Lennon’s surging pace, they had to respond in a different but no less effective passing style, yet they seemed as confused as the rest of them.

I had warned that Liverpool should not be written off as a spent force and the performance that Benitez coaxed from them proves he remains highly influential in the club. They worked, covered and pressed, and when their legs tired did not wilt. Known for their open play, Liverpool on this night took heed of the success of their less illustrious counterparts and threw a stifling midfield blanket over us, as have Stoke, Wolves and Hull of late. It worked perfectly, and only some frankly awful finishing prevented them from handing out a real beating.

Nothing should obscure the fact that this was a ragged and intensely disappointing Spurs performance. However, now that we mention turning points, there was another one in this match. The Defoe goal should have stood. Active, phases, whatever – my view is that he was not offside. This is the second time this season that a controversial decision by Howard Webb has affected the outcome away against a big team, the first being the penalty he denied Keane versus Chelsea. Then as last night, we were not getting anywhere and such a moment could have brought us back into the match as well as testing Liverpool’s own fragile confidence.

Put into the context of the season as a whole, however, the point is that goal or not, we should not allow ourselves to wait for something to happen in order to ignite the passion and the football. We have to make it happen ourselves. In the same way, a shrewdly engineered two minute injury break broke what spluttering rhythm we had. Surely we had enough experience of that on Saturday to know how to overcome it. It says much for the lack of resilience in the team if we cannot deal with this.

Of the other players, Bale had another decent performance and apart from five minutes at the end of the first half where the ball was in his corner and he totally lost concentration, it augers well for the future. Not much more comfort to be had, I’m afraid. Crouch was awful, barely a single decent pass or lay-off in the entire match, let alone effort on goal, and Defoe was not far behind in the race for last place. Nothing stuck when the ball was played up to him and he spent most of the match in apparently increasing resentment that he was being tightly (but fairly) marked. Defenders tackling – the very nerve. And I genuinely forgot Keane was ever on the pitch.

Spurs v Hull. Next Time, We Take Charge.

/ Alan / 18 Comments

Not for the first time this season, Spurs toiled against a team with less talent but exemplary organisation. Hull deserve credit for their energy and application and none whatsoever for starting their time-wasting tactics in the first quarter of the match, but in the end despite all our travails we made and missed four gilt-edged chances, and with them the opportunity to bank valuable points in pursuit of fourth place.

Hull came with a plan to restrict and stifle our flowing football, and we fell right into their clutches by allowing them to dictate the tempo in the first half. We had precisely the midfield to combat their pressing game but chose instead to waste possession and play the long ball far too often. Searching for scraps, Modric and Kranjcar came inside and were enveloped in the Hull defensive blanket. Without Lennon there was no escape in width.

The time-wasting and staying down at the slightest knock is enormously frustrating (Bolton did this a few years ago when of course Brown was their assistant manager) but we have to be big enough and strong enough to rise above it. Instead, we failed to just hold the ball and shift it around and were sucked in. By the middle of the second half, Hunt had succeeded in winding up Hud to the point where he kicked the Hull player in the back. Hunt protested but in reality he was delighted – he had Hud exactly where he wanted him.

The long pass to Keane and Defoe, who were running centrally between their central defenders, looked like team orders, but our opponents learned from the away fixture earlier this season and played deeper, therefore there was little space between back four and keeper for the ball to be played into. Their cause was greatly assisted by Huddlestone’s poor performance. Time and again he went for the long ball, ignoring simpler but more effective alternatives. Everyone has a bad one from time to time, but this was a match where as the playmaker he should have taken on the responsibility of directing operations. He did indeed set the tone for the team, but being caught in possession and over-ambitious passing ripe for interception was not what we had in mind.

As the first half wore on, and time went very slowly yesterday, we gradually dragged ourselves into the match but Keane and then Defoe missed the chances. We expected more in the second half but it was only the introduction of Jenas to up the pace and to drive on from midfield that finally kick-started our game. Crouch won everything and we looked more dangerous, but for the most part the final ball in the box eluded us or heroic blocking from the massed Hull ranks prevented better opportunities.

Myhill had a fine match. My usual Saturday night routine is to look forward to MOTD and then fall fast asleep after the second match, so although I missed our highlights I’m assuming that Lineker’s trail of the ‘best goalkeeping performance for years’ referred to him. I feel duty bound to point out, however, that we placed the ball close to him on several occasions when we should have done much better. Keane was fatally hesitant when those rebounds fell to him, one in each half. For the first, Myhill did superbly to get up and back into position, his best save, but Keane had a lot of the goal to aim at, as did Crouch for his late header.

Keane’s form is highly concerning. Once again he was ineffective and approached his chances in the manner of a man who knows he is way out of sorts. At the moment we cannot rely on him in any way.

Bale was our best player. He showed total application, understood what he was supposed to do and defended well enough, although he was not seriously tested. Still, he will benefit from games like this. Modric and Kranjcar, two of my favourite players, disappointed, being absent for long periods. In the second half they and we fell into the trap of pushing ten or fifteen yards too far forward. Playing against teams with a blanket defence, one or two forwards have to drop back to start each move, to begin the pass and movement style, and they are experienced enough to know this, rather than hang around up front waiting for the ball in areas where defenders can more easily handle them. Dropping back also tempts their marker to follow them, thereby creating a fraction of space. I would have brought on Rose for Hud, with Modric in the middle, to give us the option of width and pace plus more craft in the centre.

Daws made a couple of fine tackles towards the end, one of which I would hail as magnificent if it weren’t for the fact that it was necessitated by defensive hesitation.

The question hanging over the Lane at full-time was, ‘why can’t we beat the teams at the bottom?’. The reason is that Wolves, Stoke and now Hull come with limited horizons. I don’t blame them: it’s just a fact. They can get ten or eleven behind the ball because winning is not the primary aim. Teams with greater ambitions will have a more open style because they will be attacking for at least some periods of the match.

To be a top team, we have to dictate to them, not the other way around. It’s not easy playing through and around defensive teams but we have to find a way. This was out biggest failing against Hull. Two points lost.

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Let’s Hurry Up and Play Them….

/ Alan / 9 Comments

So it would have been a good time to play them after all….. The Liverpool game has been rearranged for next Wednesday, where with injuries they might still be forced to turn out at less than full strength. Playing sooner rather than later will help us maintain our momentum and also enable us to not fall adrift in the race for the CL places just because we are without a fixture. The biggest boost of all will be victory against Hull on Saturday, so one game at a time.

There’s a bit of real activity in the window too, rather than the equivalent of one of Harry’s twitches. The forthcoming purchase of Sandro is no real surprise as it has been heavily touted for some time, the deal allegedly having been done a few months ago.

I can safely say, without fear of contradiction, that I know next to nothing about him. I’ve not seen him play so I’m not going to comment. One cap for Brazil at 20 years of age indicates that he has something going for him, although let’s not read too much into that because they play a large number of internationals in the course of an average season, many of them friendlies and where they might be short of some of their Europe-based players.

I don’t expect him to be an automatic starter when he arrives, or make that if he arrives as the work permit has still to be granted. He’s touted as a hard working central midfielder but even so it will take time for the young man to adjust to the English game. I look forward to seeing him play but we should not ask too much too soon.

Harry’s interesting comments this week about needing four central midfielders provide an insight into his plans for the squad. It is the absolutely crucial position in Premier League football, and men who can run, pass, tackle, attack and defend are precious commodities. Such a portfolio of qualities looks absurdly unattainable but that’s what we not only expect but also what we see in other successful teams. No other position requires so many varied attributes.

Discounting the rubbish from websites writing splash sensationalist headlines to improve their traffic and the ego-manic attention-seeking so-called ITKs, our interest in Scott Parker appears genuine, which makes five central mids. A fine player, he will organise well, cover and enable us to build from the back, but he’s not going to cover every blade of grass and he’s suffering from injuries. He may come if the price is right – a few million and a reasonable salary will not necessarily make a huge dent in our resources. The salary could be a problem as West Ham agreed silly money to a few players signed under their last regime in order to get them to sign. Desperate is the word, and now how they are suffering…

The same might be said for Matthew Upson’s value to the squad. Another decent player, experience is invaluable but I would prefer someone quicker to play alongside Dawson, and certainly not to replace him. And only Harry knows how bad Woody and Led are, so if a quality centre half is available at the right price, then H will be in there like a Jack Russell after a rabbit.

And so to the dearly, nearly departed. Hutton, Bentley and Pavlyuchenko will generate some funds but in the case of the latter pair will represent a financial loss. More about them if and when they go, but in terms of the squad it is very dangerous to weaken it in any way as the fight for the fourth CL place develops. Bentley is superfluous because Luka and Niko can play wide ride right, a different wide right but highly effective nonetheless. If we need four central midfielders, then surely we need four quality strikers too. The suggested £10m from Zenit is as good as we will get (he should not be sold to an English team) but it would be foolish to sell Pav without a replacement.

And now the good news. Whisper it, but nothing around about clubs sniffing round our stars. Shhhhh……

Smooth Spurs, Nice and Easy Does It

/ Alan / 9 Comments

Swiftly into our stride against Peterborough, Spurs banished any thoughts of giantkilling with an afternoon of smooth attacking football, four goals being scant reward for our dominance.

It was an inauspicious start as a pigeon had unloaded on my seat. A quick search revealed the sole toilet that actually had some paper towels but frantic pre-match scrubbing was only partly successful, as clearly a major proportion of the refuse had been baked on in an industrial oven. I’ve seen some crap at the Lane over the years but never before sat in it.

Defoe responded in kind, with an early astonishing miss from under the crossbar, not quite as shocking as the legendary Acimovic effort against Fulham but seen by many around me as an omen. Cue solemn muttering about, “it’s going to be one of those days”.

It became one of those days that we are seeing more frequently, thank goodness, where we played some delightful football. Once we realised Lennon’s absence and stopped looking to feed the ball down the right (it took a few minutes), Modric and Kranjcar asserted their midfield authority and were irrepressible. They cut in alternately from the flanks to find space in front of the Boro’ box and directed a steady flow of passes into the channels or out wide, where they found Bale in particular a willing ally.

Just as the excellence of their keeper Lewis provided more ammunition for the glum ‘one of those days’ theorists, Modric’s sweeping cross field pass allowed his mate to cut in and slam a sizzling curling shot into the far corner. I leapt up to salute a superb goal but the reaction was out of keeping with the eerily muted atmosphere. Only Peterborough I know but I can’t recall such a lack of response to a Spurs goal at the Lane, given that it was the first and was of such high quality.

Spurs’ onward march was temporarily hampered by an outbreak of flickiness, sometimes seen when we get too big for our multi-coloured, individually signed and ludicrously expensive boots. Suddenly it was all back-heels and one-touches over the head with the outside of the foot. However, complacency did not take hold. Learning lessons from other games this season, we kept the tempo high and continued to make chances throughout. Harry became anxious at 2-0 when our opponents forced a couple of corners, rising from seat to offer a few well-chosen words, but there was little to worry about as we set about achieving Cliff Jones’ half-time prediction of 4-0.

Without wishing to kick someone when they are down, I haven’t seen a side who defended in depth with five in midfield and who worked as hard as Boro to so little effect. There was space all over the pitch. Their superb keeper kept them in the game. I suggested that here was the second keeper that our squad needs (see my preview), then the Park Lane took up the cry of ‘Tottenham’s number two’.

Bale had a fine game, raiding down the left with determination and pace and delivering regular crosses at full tilt, setting up our second and third with classic precise pull-backs for Niko and JD (impudently with the outside of his foot) to touch home. Sterner tests will provide solid evidence of his suspect defensive qualities but he couldn’t have done more today. He was certainly not short of confidence. A great talent that needs to be nurtured.

Rose came on for a nice cameo. The only time I have seen him play was for the Under 21s when he had a more central role. On the left he was well-balanced and lightning fast, schooled to move and deliver a quick ball. He and Lenny have been working together, clearly. Naughton joined him. On first sight he too is upright and confident on the ball but he saw little action, although he could have conceded a penalty before Rose whizzed up the other end to be brought down for our fourth.

In my preview I suggested that the non-appearance of Pav and Hutton would most likely signal their imminent departure but on second thoughts league position is the target for any club thinking of buying.

Defoe went off early and may have a hamstring problem, the only bad news on a cold but pleasant day as thoughts move to the clash against Liverpool next weekend.