Rob
27-11-2006, 11:35 PM
After a comprehensive victory made it five wins out of five in Europe on Thursday, White Hart Lane hosted 90 minutes of league football that told us everything we need to know about the side this term.
By Danny Mackay Footballingworld
In the first couple of minutes some excellent interplay saw Spurs split open the visiting defence with poise and style. However, early optimism made way for a first twenty minutes much like the start of our league campaign this season. It was a let down. The win seemed to be taken for granted and the men in White shirts casually defended lob after lob after lob.
When Wigan eventually scored from just such a ball it was hardly surprising. The composed finish made it an excellent goal, but with so little resistance it was only a matter of time before Robinson was beaten.
The key trouble for Spurs was that every time they went forward they either hit a wall of blue shirted defenders, or were called off-side by a linesman desperate to wave his little flag at every opportunity.
As strikers grew angry at the official, the fans grew angry at the players. Malbranque, nominally playing on the left of midfield, kept drifting to the centre. He used the ball well when he had it, but with everyone playing on the right half of the pitch it was easy for Wigan to crowd moves out.
Then something important happened. Left back Assou-Ekotto went up field. He filled the left hand void and drew people out towards him. Lennon stayed wide on the right and two defenders stayed near him. This meant there was space in the middle for the first time. Malbranque used it well to work a shot, and when that was saved Defoe nearly scored the rebound.
That instant changed the game, showing the solution to almost all of our problems this year. Assou-Ekotto kept driving forward and whenever the left opened up, some one tried to fill the space. It paid off beautifully.
Then a Berbatov pass down the left flank found Defoe who turned 360 degrees to leave the last defender for dead. He drilled home left footed and celebrated long and hard.
Second an Assou-Ekotto pass down the left flank found Berbatov who controlled and nutmegged to leave the last defender for dead. He curled home with his right foot and celebrated just as long and hard.
Those goals came two minutes apart and summed up just how good Spurs could be. Fantastic runs into space, well played passes, sublime control, and composure in spades.
So why wait so long before doing it? Just like the season as a whole, no one was quite sure.
When the second half started, despite a good early spell, the side fell back on bad habits. We abandoned the left flank again and we came up against a seemingly impenetrable defence as a result.
Meanwhile, Wigan got dirty. They flew into some nasty tackles and they picked up some yellow cards. Emile Heskey elbowed people in the face and dived a lot. And just as the fans are not quite sure how we had only one defeat in our last 14 games, we were never quite sure how the lads kept their noses in front.
A number of corners and often dubious free-kicks peppered the Spurs box but Robinson and the defence coped well to keep Wigan at bay.
Then, as a reminder of our striker conundrum, Keane came on for Defoe and played a part in nearly doubling the goal tally right at the death.
A couple of minutes from the end he latched on to, yep, a ball down the left flank. He turned inside and curled a stunning shot inches wide of the far post.
Then, a couple of minutes into injury time it happened again. Assou-Ekotto tackled well and played a ball down the, you’ve guessed it, left hand side and found Berbatov. He went deep and as Keane peeled away taking defenders with him. Lennon drifted into the space in the middle and tapped home the Bulgarian’s cross.
So, the 21st game of the season taught us some things. We learned that Spurs can be excellent, that the players can do the sublime, and that we are spoiled for choice up front. We learned that our defence is normally pretty capable, our keeper can make good saves, and that Assou-Ekotto is the best left back we have had in a long time, though that doesn’t ask much.
On the flip side we learned that we want for a line hugging left winger, that we sometimes fail to perform to our potential, and that we need to stop under-estimating mid table opponents. We also learned that despite every player playing well at times, we often fail to turn that into a good team performance.
Now, hands up anyone that didn’t learn those things from the first 20 matches this season.
Submitted by: mawspurs (http://old.spurscommunity.co.uk/index.php?name=Your_Account&profile=mawspurs) on Monday, November 27, 2006 (08:31:13) (1947 reads)
By Danny Mackay Footballingworld
In the first couple of minutes some excellent interplay saw Spurs split open the visiting defence with poise and style. However, early optimism made way for a first twenty minutes much like the start of our league campaign this season. It was a let down. The win seemed to be taken for granted and the men in White shirts casually defended lob after lob after lob.
When Wigan eventually scored from just such a ball it was hardly surprising. The composed finish made it an excellent goal, but with so little resistance it was only a matter of time before Robinson was beaten.
The key trouble for Spurs was that every time they went forward they either hit a wall of blue shirted defenders, or were called off-side by a linesman desperate to wave his little flag at every opportunity.
As strikers grew angry at the official, the fans grew angry at the players. Malbranque, nominally playing on the left of midfield, kept drifting to the centre. He used the ball well when he had it, but with everyone playing on the right half of the pitch it was easy for Wigan to crowd moves out.
Then something important happened. Left back Assou-Ekotto went up field. He filled the left hand void and drew people out towards him. Lennon stayed wide on the right and two defenders stayed near him. This meant there was space in the middle for the first time. Malbranque used it well to work a shot, and when that was saved Defoe nearly scored the rebound.
That instant changed the game, showing the solution to almost all of our problems this year. Assou-Ekotto kept driving forward and whenever the left opened up, some one tried to fill the space. It paid off beautifully.
Then a Berbatov pass down the left flank found Defoe who turned 360 degrees to leave the last defender for dead. He drilled home left footed and celebrated long and hard.
Second an Assou-Ekotto pass down the left flank found Berbatov who controlled and nutmegged to leave the last defender for dead. He curled home with his right foot and celebrated just as long and hard.
Those goals came two minutes apart and summed up just how good Spurs could be. Fantastic runs into space, well played passes, sublime control, and composure in spades.
So why wait so long before doing it? Just like the season as a whole, no one was quite sure.
When the second half started, despite a good early spell, the side fell back on bad habits. We abandoned the left flank again and we came up against a seemingly impenetrable defence as a result.
Meanwhile, Wigan got dirty. They flew into some nasty tackles and they picked up some yellow cards. Emile Heskey elbowed people in the face and dived a lot. And just as the fans are not quite sure how we had only one defeat in our last 14 games, we were never quite sure how the lads kept their noses in front.
A number of corners and often dubious free-kicks peppered the Spurs box but Robinson and the defence coped well to keep Wigan at bay.
Then, as a reminder of our striker conundrum, Keane came on for Defoe and played a part in nearly doubling the goal tally right at the death.
A couple of minutes from the end he latched on to, yep, a ball down the left flank. He turned inside and curled a stunning shot inches wide of the far post.
Then, a couple of minutes into injury time it happened again. Assou-Ekotto tackled well and played a ball down the, you’ve guessed it, left hand side and found Berbatov. He went deep and as Keane peeled away taking defenders with him. Lennon drifted into the space in the middle and tapped home the Bulgarian’s cross.
So, the 21st game of the season taught us some things. We learned that Spurs can be excellent, that the players can do the sublime, and that we are spoiled for choice up front. We learned that our defence is normally pretty capable, our keeper can make good saves, and that Assou-Ekotto is the best left back we have had in a long time, though that doesn’t ask much.
On the flip side we learned that we want for a line hugging left winger, that we sometimes fail to perform to our potential, and that we need to stop under-estimating mid table opponents. We also learned that despite every player playing well at times, we often fail to turn that into a good team performance.
Now, hands up anyone that didn’t learn those things from the first 20 matches this season.
Submitted by: mawspurs (http://old.spurscommunity.co.uk/index.php?name=Your_Account&profile=mawspurs) on Monday, November 27, 2006 (08:31:13) (1947 reads)