Winning Dirty

The line between winning and losing is sometimes a very fine one, and Sundays game was a great example of just how fine that line can be sometimes. Whilst in retrospect Spurs had the upper hand in the stats over the course of their encounter with bottom-of-the-table Blackburn Rovers, any self-respecting Spurs fan would have been biting their nails down to the quick throughout most of the second half. I cannot even pride our back four on some stout defending as Spurs seemed to lose all semblance of shape throughout the game, and it was not for Blackburn's poor quality in front of goal, it could have been a different story....

Looking at the team sheet I thought this was the best line up we have fielded for a while, and the game started brightly enough with both teams looking up for a competitive game. Hoilett made a few early penetrating runs through the left side of the Spurs defence, but he ultimately squandered with poor passing. At the other end both Bale & Adebayor came very close within the first 10 minutes, which took some good work from the Blackburn defensive backline to stop an early goal.

Fifteen minutes in and Adebayor released Walker on the right-hand touchline who started off on one of his now familiar athletic runs to the bye-line, where he skilfully picked out the waving Van der Vaart, who majestically slotted the ball passed the flying Robinson, into the bottom corner. Praise was due almost in it's entirety to Walker's run, and VdV acknowledged this in his celebrations.

One-nil up and Spurs started to play expansive football, with Bale terrorising Lowe on the left flank, putting in crosses that were causing Rovers all sorts of problems. Adebayor had a nailed on chance gifted to him from a Bale cross, but he seemed to scuff his shot, allow the ex-Spurs goalkeeper time to deflect it wide. At this point I thought that this game could go one of two ways; either we ran away with it and racked up a cricket score, (as Man City had done earlier in the day); or we would take our foot-off-the-gas and make hard work of retaining our lead.

As is now becoming routine on the road, we made it difficult for ourselves, giving away a needless foul 25 yards out, that allowed Pedersen to send the ball straight on to Samba's massive head, and nod it down to the waiting Formica to slide in from inside the area.... Bugger..!  Whilst we had a few chances to regain the lead after the half-hour mark, but Blackburn kept coming back at us, keeping the pressure on, and if it had not been for some good work from Friedel, we could have gone it at half time behind.

I like Harry, I think overall he has been very good for Spurs in the 3 years he has been in charge, but I am sceptical that he is able to put the 'fear-of-God' into the players during the halftime break like some other Managers we know. I always picture him sitting around in the changing room having a cup of tea and a biscuit, saying, "Don't worry lads, we'll come out on top, won't we...?", oh to be a fly on the wall.

Anyway we came out unchanged for the second half, and immediately started to look under pressure. Even the goal seemed to be against the run of play to some degree, as a poor pass ran loose on the edge of the penalty area, where fortunately VdV latched on to it and planted a sweetly hit ball into the back of the Blackburn net.

At Two-One I again foolishly thought that his may be a turning point in the game, but after the goal it was almost all Blackburn coming at us with wave-after-wave of high balls, poor passes and wasted chances. No-one in the Spurs defence seemed to be able to put their foot on the ball and make a cultured pass out of defence, it was all scrappy long ball stuff, hoofed away to anywhere on the park. All this did was invite the pressure back on Spurs, and we never really looked like we would be able to kill the game off with a third goal, but the spectre of a Rovers equaliser was ever-present.

For the final 30 minutes I watched in agonised despair as we desperately clung on to that slender one goal lead, and resisted all Blackburn attempts to breach our goal, even if Friedel did spill the ball, Bennie came close to giving away a penalty, and Samba accidentally back-heading the ball almost beyond our flailing keeper.... Towards the end we brought on Rose & Defoe to no avail, and Rovers brought on the ever-muscular Yakubu who bullied his way around our 6 yard box, and even he missed a chance to steal it at the death, poking the ball wide.

Four minutes of injury time went on for an eternity, but in the end the Ref blew his whistle and we survived to take home the 3 points. Pundits often say that a championship winning team needs to 'win-dirty' in a campaign in order to go the distance, but this 'ugly' win against a team at the foot of the table was far from convincing.

My Player Ratings: -

• Friedel - 7.5 - Not his best game, but he did keep us in it with some fine saves
• Bale - 7.0 - Had a good 30 minutes in the first half , but faded from the game after that
• Kaboul - 7.0 - Another that didn't play to his normal level, did just enough
• Bassong - 6.5 - Average performance, cant say much more than that
• Walker - 8.0 - Much better going forward, but just about covered his defensive duties
• Assou-Ekotto - 6.5 - Poor showing from our usually dependable left-back
• Lennon - 6.0 - Look good in patches, still hunting for the form of old
• Rose - 6.0 - Added very little when he came on
• Parker - 6.5 - At fault for the Rovers goal, average performance at best
• Van der Vaart - 8.5 - As long as he keeps scoring, he should be in the starting line-up
• Defoe - 6.0 - Wasted substitution, should have brought on Sandro
• Modric - 6.5 - Had few opportunities to shine, less than usual quality from the wizard
• Adebayor - 6.5 - Should have done better with the handful of chances he had

Revenge of the Pudding

I have really developed a deep disliking for our mercurial Russian striker, Roman 'the pudding' Pavlyuchenko, this season, as he meanders through games, shuffles aimlessly around the penalty box and occasionally pokes a shot high, wide, and seldom handsome.

So yesterday he starts in the Europa league game against 'Rhubarb' Kazin, continues his directionless forays in and around the area for the first 30 minuets, and then steps up and scores the best free-kick by a player in a Tottenham shirt since Gazza against the Scum in 1991...!

I'm not quite sure what Walker was doing behind the wall and whether or not he was interfering with play, but the keeper could have had a thousand attempts to stop that shot, he would never had made it. Unfortunately ther is only one word to describe it, and that is 'Sublime'...

That pudding has given me indigestion....

PS. I will not be doing a full review as I had to watch the game, (and I use the term loosely), on a combination of a dodgy internet feed, and BBC London 94.9 on the iPlayer... Not recommended....

My Player ratings :-

• Gomes - 6.5 - Equal parts comedy & brilliant, just what we have come to expect
• Bassong - 7.0 - The best of a make-shift defence
• Walker - 7.0 - Athletic performance, all over the park
• Lennon - 6.5 - Good to see Azza playing himself back to fitness
• Modric - 5.5 - 15 minute Cameo of no great note
• Rose - 6.0 - Had a bit of an up-and-down sort of game, needs more polish
• Livermore - 6.0 - Some good touches but not really a Centre-back
• Sandro - 8.5 - IMMENSE, what more can I say
• Kaboul - 6.5 - Brought on to bolster the defence. Job Done
• Carroll - 6.0 - Still looks like a boy amongst men, but still a prospect
• Pavlyuchenko - 9.5 - Nine of those point are for the free kick
• Giovani - 6.5 - lost of running, just wish he would take the ball with him
• Assou-Ekotto - 6.0 - Another brought on to bring a better defensive shape in the 2nd half
• Defoe - 6.5 - A couple of good efforts, needs some more heading practice

I'll take an away draw....

After two weeks of international break, i was starting to get withdrawal symptoms..... I am impatient for Spurs to continue the good start to our season and make our way back into the Top 4 where we belong.  Having said that, it was not going to be a push over for us, as we have not beaten Newcastle United away in six seasons or so, and they have had a good start to the season as well. With an unbeaten run of 7 games, this game against the 'Toon' looked like it would a good test of our resolve and allow us to see how far we have come.

Our team formation has settled down recently, and apart from the inclusion of Livermore in midfield, it's pretty much that same squad we have used in the Premiership over the past month or so. Having said that, not sure why VdV could not start in central midfield and allow Defoe to start up front with Adebayor..? I mean is VdV really an attacker or a midfielder/supporting striker, he does spend a lot the game coming deep most of the time...? I guess Harry knows what he is doing....

The first half was a cagey affair, with both teams feeling each other out for weaknesses & openings, which were few & far between. Whilst there was some good build up play from Spurs in midfield, the Newcastle defence was resolute and easily contained our efforts to break through on goal. The major 1^st half event was losing Leadley King to another injury, as he pulled up with an abductor strain, and was replaced with Bassong. King has been immense in the past 4 wins, and this was a big blow for our defence.

Livermore & Modric at the heart of the midfield were both fairly quiet for the first half hour, but equally there was little for Friedel & the defence to worry about.  That all changed on 40 minutes when Livermore stole the ball from Cabaye and nudged it through to Adebayor running through on the box, where Steven Taylor clipped the tall striker, who took the opportunity to go down for the penalty. It looked like a pretty weak foul, but Taylor was nowhere near the ball, and after a moment’s hesitation, or intervention from the linesman, the Ref pointed to the spot.  Van der Vaart stepped up and took a finely executed penalty, sending Krull the wrong way, and planning the ball firmly in the back of the net.

The second half was an altogether different story, with Newcastle taking the gloves off and coming at Spurs right from the whistle. Gutierrez was given far too much space on the left and easily strolled to the by-line before delivering a neat lofted pass into the area where Demba Ba was on hand to slide in an push the ball past a sprawling Friedel. The marking on the goal was a bit random and Newcastle were given far too much space and time to walk through the defence, Walker & Modric did little to stop Gutierrez on the left, and Bassong & BAE did not pick up Ba’s run into the box.

The good news was that the equaliser happened early enough in the 2^nd half that Tottenham had plenty of time, and inclination to came back at Newcastle in equal measure.  Adebayor was unlucky not to put Spurs back in front a couple of times, the closest chance being a low angled shot that beat the keeper but went narrowly passed the upright. Harry threw Defoe into the mix, replacing a ‘leggy’ VdV, which paid immediate dividends, when a neat through ball found him with his back to the goal and being closely marked by Taylor, but with a quick spin inside, he managed to let loose with a fierce low shot that Krul could not react quickly enough to.

At 2-1 up, it was game on, and while Tottenham look like they wanted to put the game to bed with a 3^rd goal, Newcastle were also doing all they could to get that vital equaliser and save their unbeaten run. Spurs had a couple of efforts and if Defoe & Adebayor had been a little less selfish, we could have scored. The game had gone end-to-end with Newcastle coming close with some long range efforts from Tiote & Ryan Taylor saved by Friedel, but Spurs  were holding on valiantly. That is until substitute Shola Ameobi was given just a little bit too much room on the left and launched a missile of a shot that Friedel had no change of saving.

Even at 2-2, it was still a very open game and it could have gone either way. Defoe has a couple of chances to score, and Newcastle kept coming with Coloccini going close, but in the end I think it was overall a fair result,  and it was good to come away with a point where in the past we may have capitulated at the end. Newcastle, while not being flashy, look very solid and hopefully will continue their good run of form.

My Player Ratings: - 

• Friedel – 7.0 – Not much to do in the first half, but was he too slow to get down for the second goal.
• Bale – 6.5 – Pretty much anonymous, and didn’t look comfortable on the right
• Kaboul – 7.5 – Very solid at the back and looking like becoming a regular in the centre-back pairing
• King – 5.5 – Always a sad sight to our heroic talisman hobble off yet again….
• Bassong  - 6.5 – Slotted in nicely but should have picked up Ba for the first goal
• Walker – 7.0 – Looked good going forward, but may need to keep focus on his defensive role as well
• Assou-Ekotto – 7.0 – Some good forward forays and look dependable at the back
• Parker – 6.5 – Not his best game in a Spurs shirt but still adds a lot of strength in the middle
• Van der Vaart – 7.5 – Great penalty, but still not looking at his best
• Defoe – 8.0 - This week’s super sub, reasonable to ask why he was not playing from the start..?
• Modric – 6.0 – Sub-par performance from the Croatian
• Livermore – 6.5 – Nothing sensational, a little quiet at times, but still a good game for the lad
• Adebayor – 7.5 – Could do with being a little less selfish sometimes, but still plenty of chances
• Pavlyuchenko – 5.0 – Why do we persist with this clown…?

Player Ratings - The story so far...

If you have been reading the blog you will know that after each game that I actually manage to watch on TV, I will rate the players performance for that game.

In the interests of understanding who our best performers have been so far, I have added up the individual rating for each game, (removing the lowest & highest scores), and divided this total by the number of games played, (assuming more than 2 games played this season)

This gives the following weighted value for my rating of each player for the season so far: -

• 8.50 Parker
• 7.63 Friedel
• 7.50 Adebayor
• 7.20 Walker
• 7.00 Van der Vaart
• 7.00 Defoe
• 7.00 King
• 7.00 Sandro
• 6.83 Corluka
• 6.75 Kaboul
• 6.75 Assou-Ekotto
• 6.75 Kranjcar
• 6.67 Modric
• 6.63 Bale
• 6.50 Livermore
• 6.50 Bassong
• 6.00 Pavlyuchenko
• 5.50 Lennon
• 5.50 Giovani

Note: Of the 31 players have been rated so far this season, only the above 19 qualify for rating as they have played more than 2 games

"It's all gone quiet over there....."

There is always a frisson of excitement about the North London Derby, and this years encounter was not going to disappoint. The Red Scum have had a terrible start to the season, not just in terms of results & injuries, but the loss of Fibreglass" & Nasri has destroyed the heart of the Arsenal machine and the replacements are either just not up to the job, or have yet to gel properly. Either way, it's been many a year since Tottenham went on to a derby with Arsenal as the favourites, and even with the favourite tag, you can never be too confident as a Spurs fan.

Tottenham got off to the now regular flying start, taking the game straight to the Arsenal with some good initial forays through what was looking like a fragile & un-coordinated defence. Six minutes in, a mistake from Song gifted the ball to Adebayor, whose neat through pass put Parker one-on-one with the keeper, only for Scotty to fire the ball directly at Szczesny and the ball to roll harmlessly wide.

Arsenal extra midfielder started to put their foot on the ball and wrestled the possession stats away from Spurs for large parts of the first half, but no matter how much possession they had, they failed to anything meaningful with it. On the other hand, when Spurs did get the ball, every attack looked dangerous, and it was only a handful of quality saves from Szczesny that kept the Scum in the game. Arsenals only real chance of the first half came from a pulled shot from Gervinho that really should have at least hit the target.

10 minutes later, Tottenham punished the meandering Arsenal with a great move through the heart of their weak defence. Adebayor brought the ball forward in to the Arsenal half while Defoe made a run to the right dragging the central defensive pairing with him, leaving Van der Vaart running through on the left. Adebayor found VdV with a delightfully floated cross ball, that the striker controlled on his chest, (with maybe slight help of his arm....), and bringing the ball down and stabbing it past the diving keeper. Goal.....!

VdV celebrated the goal with some passion, almost as if it were the winner in the World Cup final, but isn't that what we fans like to see when one of our hero's puts one past the Scum. It is always great to go into the half time break one goal to the good, high on elation and hope for the second half.

Unfortunately, it was only six minutes into the second half when Song cruised easily to the byline and crossed low & hard for Ramsey, who had done bugger all up until that point in the game, made a late run into the box to poke the ball home. There has been a lot of finger-point towards VdV for not tracking back to stop the cross, but it is unrealistic to think that the support striker would have been able to do anything about it. I question who was tracking Ramsey's run in to the box...?

The goal seemed to spark Spurs back in to action, and we very nearly got a goal back almost immediately when Bale eased down the left and released Adebayor inside the area, whose shot was saved with another excellent save from Szczesny, who was single handily keeping the 'Arse' in the game.

Harry decided to stiffen up the midfield with the introduction of Sandro for the now tiring Van der Vaart, who left the pitch to a rapturous applause from the Spurs faithful. When Sandro came on, and in combination with Scotty Parker who was having a great game, he set about disrupting the Arsenal midfield and breaking up play. Sandro was instrumental in the second goal when he was given far to much time to cross towards Modric, whose shot cannoned of a defender into the path of Walker, who took one touch and unleashed a rocket of a shot from all of 35 yards. The ball stayed low and fast and swerved wickedly just as it reached Szczesny, leaving the keeper on his arse as the ball whipped past him.

At two-one, we looked well in command and I was confident now that we would either hold this lead or even go on to grab another goal or two, as by now the Scum were broken. Bale came very close to scoring when the cart-horse combination of Mertesacker & Song let the ball bounce over them, allowing Bale to sneak in and only just slide the ball past the post.

Five minutes of extra time could not end quickly enough, and even with Szczesny joining the attack in the final minute, the game was ours.

It was a fine win, that helps push our claim to be top 4 material, after all we have not lost to the Scum for 3 years in the Premier League. In the hot, nervous, high energy atmosphere of White Hart Lane, we played well enough to deserve the game on balance and it showed that we can take a lead and hold on to it. We created by far the best chances in the game and if it had not been for a string of fine saves from Szczesny, we could have had a hatful of goals on the day, and given the Arse a real spanking.

Only one thing left to say.... North London is ours...., North London is ours...., F**k off back to Woolwich, North London is ours....

My player ratings: -

• Friedel - 8.0 - Granddad has added some certainty to our defence. Solid game
• Bale - 7.5 - Doing what Bale does best, scaring defenders & excellent crossing
• Kaboul - 7.5 - Very solid game. Developing an impressive partnership with King
• King - 8.0 - Immense at the back, nothing less than we expect
• Walker - 8.0 - In control for the full 90 minutes. Great game to score you first team goal
• Assou-Ekotto - 7.5 - Bennie doing what he does week in, week out
• Parker - 8.5 - Another immense performance. How did we ever do without him...?
• Corluka - 7.0 - Calm head in defence
• Van der Vaart - 7.5 - Did well for the 1000th Tottenham goal, tired later in the game
• Sandro - 7.5 - The Brazilian always makes an impact. Did not disappoint
• Modric - 6.5 - Workman like performance. Not his finest work by far
• Adebayor - 7.5 - Always dangerous, nice link up play for the first goal
• Livermore - 6.0 - Limited time to impress
• Defoe - 7.5 - Good all-round performance, unlucky not to score

Luck of the Irish....?

Did anyone really think that Shamrock Rovers would challenge Tottenham in this Europa League group match..? Tuning in to the ESPN 'less than average' HD coverage, once I saw the team selection I did have a small concern. Harry obviously had an eye on the upcoming North London Derby match this weekend, but with Defoe coming back and the inclusion of Lennon amongst the younger players, it gave me hope that we could take all 3 points from the Irish part-timers.

The first half was an all-action affair with Spurs well in control. If it had not been for the
Rovers keeper Richard Brush pulling off a great save from Defoe after 17 minutes effort, Danny Rose hitting the woodwork and well saved effort from Dos Santos, we would have surely gone ahead. Roman "The Pudding" Pavlyuchenko was doing everything he could to look as inept as possible, and even the ESPN commentator mentioned 'Banjo' and 'Barn Door' in the same breath.

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I was expecting that fatigue and tiredness would kick-in for the part-timers during the second half, but I was stunned, as was every Spurs supporter at the Lane when Rovers scored just five minutes after the restart in front of their away fans. A fiercely hit free-kick from McCabe was parried by Cudicini, and the ball dropped nicely to Twigg on the edge of the box, and his shot was deflected past the keeper by Rice.

The Rovers dreams lasted all of 10 minutes, before Jimmy Two-Saints, who was having his best game for a long time in a Spurs shirt, whipped in a great cross that even Pavlyuchenko couldn't miss with his head. This was added to only two minutes later when Townsend's cross was sweetly put away by Defoe, and Dos Santos planted a third, five minutes later, after some good approach work by Defoe.

Overall, we cruised past the Irish minnows, much in the way I expected, it's just a shame we had to let in a goal to wake us up. Well will need to do better against Ruban Kazan...

My Player ratings :-

• Cudicini - 7.5 - Not much to do but pick the ball out of the net
• Bassong - 7.0 - Still not looking as good as he did during last season
• Corluka - 7.0 - He maybe slow but he is a gifted right-back
• Walker - 8.0  String showing, excellent marauding runs up front
• Lennon - 5.5 - Looked short of match fitness, still a ways to go
• Townsend  - 8.5 - Changed the game when he came on, great on the wing & laid on a goal
• Rose - 8.0 - Some signs of quality from 'Broadway' Danny Rose, more games needed
• Kane - 6.5 - Didn't add very much when he came on in the last 10 mins
• Livermore - 7.0 - Average performance from the midfielder
• Carroll - 7.5 - Solid game in the middle from our number 46
• Pavlyuchenko - 7.0 - Still a Pudding, even after scoring Spurs opening goal
• Giovani - 8.5 - Given a chance which he took with both hands. Great game for Jimmy
• Defoe - 7.5 - Quick, Strong, lively and on the score sheet
• Falque  - 5.0 - Not enough of a showing

A Game of Two Halves

A trip to Wigan is always an interesting prospect, but the result is never a foregone conclusion. Some years we have been there and won comfortably, and other years we have simply failed to deliver at the DW stadium, you just never know what you are going to get. With our season starting to take shape, hopes were high that we could get another away win and push for the top half of the premiership.

We could not have got off to a better start with a mistake at the back by Figueroa, pounced on by Adebayor, who unselfishly crossed the ball square to Van der Vaart to score. GOAL, 1-nil up after 3 minutes...

Was this going to be another nine goal epic...?

Wigan looked very shaky at the back and Spurs were soon in ascendency, moving the ball around at will and playing the game effectively in the oppositions half.  One-nil is never a safe place to be with Spurs and even though we had lots of build up play, that all important second goal could not come along soon enough. I didn’t have to wait too long..... A well taken corner from Modric was met by flying Bale, running a diagonal across the box to plant a well struck header past a helpless Al Habsi. Woo Hoo.... 2-nil and now we were getting in our stride....

As in previous matches, Spurs have spells in the game were they are so in control, that another goal seems imminent, and how we didn't score before the break is beyond me. After Half time, Martinez made a change by replacing Gomez with Ronnie Stam, and the Dutchman made an immediate impact as he played a crucial role in a Wigan goal.

Benoit Assou-Ekotto's is usually imperious at the back form Spurs but from time-to-time he seems to lose a bit of focus and hit wild passes or make rash tackles. This time his attempted clearance at the edge of the box was knocked down by Stam, and the ball made its way to Diame, who brushed easily passed Kaboul to drive a low shot inside the left-hand post.

Suddenly Spurs had gone from being totally in control, to running around like headless chickens, and the one goal lead looked in trouble. Fortunately Gohouri was shown a second yellow card for another tough tackle on Bale, and Wigan's day was over.

Of course Spurs should have extended the lead, but once again we slipped into a low gear and started to play out the remaining time, even if Kaboul hit the crossbar with a free kick.

I can't say I was overly impressed with the game as even when we were 2-nil up, I still felt sure that we were going to concede, and when we did or shape dissolved and we looked even more likely to let one in. As in previous games, when the opposition go a man down, Spurs lose the killer-instinct, we really need to learn to put things to bed.

Still it was a 3 point away win that took us up to 6th place in the Prem, so it was not all bad...

My Player ratings :-

• Friedel  - 8.0 - Once again very solid between the sticks. Could do nothing about the goal
• Bale  - 7.5 - Coming back to form with some great runs and a well taken header
• Kaboul - 7.5 - Maybe could have done better on the goal, but overall played well
• King - 7.5 - Another Rolls-Royce performance
• Walker - 8.0 - Now starting show strongly on the right, excellent all round
• BAE - 6.5 - His uncharacteristic mistake led to the Wigan goal
• Parker - 7.5 - Dependable defending the midfield, starting to look dangerous going forward
• VdV - 7.5 - Great opening goal, but tailed off later in the game as usual
• Giovani - 5.0 - Still no great break-through from Jimmy Two Saints
• Modric - 7.0 - Cultured midfield general coming back to his best
• Sandro - 7.0 - Strong and disruptive, shame about the hair
• Livermore - 6.5 - Looked lively from off the bench again, needs more game time
• Adebayor - 7.5 - Starting to bring all the qualities that made us hate him as a Gooner