- Jun 5, 2004
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[banner by the hugely awesome chrissivad]
I'll tell you all one thing. It's a lot easier to write a match report on the back of a glorious last minute winner, or a trouncing of a title-fancied side in the sunshine.
I won't bore you all with stories of no Victoria line and multiple buses because I've done that in my last two efforts - all that you need to know was that I was safe and sound in the Bell & Hare and the hour was the 16th of the day. A good two hours before kick-off.
I don't like the 5:30 kick-offs. There's something wrong with them. It's not quite as annoying as a 1:30 kick-off when you end up sharing your boiled egg and soldiers with a can of Strongbow in order to get in any sort of alcohol. But I still think supporters still can't judge it quite right - there were a lot of quite pissed people (more than usual). And I should know. I was well on the way to being one of them!!
***
Keane on the left was interesting. I've never been a real believer in him playing any other role than striker or support striker (and I love the guy). It seems many others don't love him though, as throughout the game he was battered by the fans for doing things that plenty of our players were guilty of: giving the ball away; sloppy passes, etc., but they escaped abuse where Keane didn't. I won't go into a rant about Keane and the love/hate thing that exists amongst supporters, though. As my view is increasingly unpopular.
But we started the game with a roar of the crowd: full of passion; full of beer. And soon we were roaring louder. A cross-field ball to Crouch, flicked back towards goal slightly behind Defoe. Shame. If it was in front of him he probably would have ... SCORED A GREAT GOAL. Defoe, showing technique beyond his years, defied gravity and majestically bicycle-kicked Spurs into the lead. In the first minute. Pandemonium broke out and no-one could quite believe what they'd just seen. It's like that goal you could score on World Cup 1998 on the N64; beating three players with different moves before flicking the ball over your player's head and scoring a bicycle kick with that same player straight from kick-off!
Now I'm of the school of thought that you can really piss off the title-challengers into playing some great football. I'm no manager myself, but scoring a first minute bicycle-kick against the Champions is going to really annoy them. There's a difference between sneaking past a wasps' nest that you've just found in your greenhouse and going in with a fire extinguisher in each hand, doing your impression of Billy The Kid.
Unfortunately we'd rattled the waspish United, and from that moment on (remember: the first minute) we took our script and accepted our role as extra.
As I said last week, Crouch's impact in our team gives everyone a quick route out of responsibility. They hit long balls aimed in his general direction - despite this not being his forté (Defoe bicycle-kicks aside) - and this destroys our good football. We had one move of note which involved some neat interplay - and with the score still at 1-0, Crouch's rolled ball across the face of the goal was begging to be finished, but Defoe scuffed his shot. I looked to the right of me: "he should've scored"; I looked behind me: "he should've f**king scored". He should have scored. But 2-0 may have really annoyed them.
***
[al]
So the half drifted on, and the voices from the Lane had a hint of disgruntledness about them. It was bad enough sharing the points with Birmingham for so long, to be sharing them so early with United obviously ruffled some. We missed Modric, and we missed a fully functional Palacios - seemingly put-off by Fergie's pre-match praise.
Whatever else it was, we weren't all there and United were playing like the home team, ably assisted by the man in black who refused to see past his red goggles.
Soon enough, United were ahead. There was a sense of inevitability about it all. We seem to take the lead against this mob quite frequently, and then somehow capture defeat from the jaws of victory. I think from the moment Anderson rammed his shot home, we'd lost any say in the match and that's what it felt like in the collective anyway.
At half-time we knew we needed to do something different, and the introduction of Jenas for the first time this season had the potential to be that something different. How wrong was that theory? Although fair credit to JJ, he runs his socks off and he does add an energy to a deflated team. His effort was somehow tipped over by Foster and at that stage the crowd were left with that 'if-only' feeling that haunted us for much of the late nineties.
The referee, who was roundly booed for most of the game, then gave us the sort of break we rarely get against the Red Devils. Scholes sent off for tackling like he has done since his career began. Reading the post-match comments on my mobile - with Fergie outraged - I couldn't help but think of all of his tackles he's gone unpunished for. Both tackles were yellow cards and in this game, two yellows = one red. It was a clearcut decision that was well made by a poor referee. This gave us a way back in.
***
Crouchy should have scored. And I really mean that. That sort of chance, for a man his size (despite heading ability) should be a goal and at 2-2 (although probably an undeserved 2-2 for our general play) we'd have been back in the game - especially as by that time, United would have been down to 10 men.
2-2 with 10 men as opposed to 1-2 with 10 men is a completely different ball game for me, and considering his impact to our team has been generally positive, I was surprised that Crouch hadn't stuck that header in as opposed to against the bar. The "HE SHOULD HAVE SCOREDs" were back echoing around a frustrated Lane - all worryingly familiar.
Hutton, meanwhile, still struggling to impress me, found himself with a Rooney to contend with. Rooney then proceeded to knock the ball through his legs, and wrongfoot a dumbfounded Cudicini - and any rays of hope that had been daring to shimmer over Tottenham Hotspur clouded over. The atmosphere died, and people started to leave.
A positive to take from the game was that Niko Kranjcar completed his first minutes in our colours. And he looked a lot livelier than Mr Keane on the left hand side. I was half-expecting Kranjcar to start - and in hindsight he probably should have. But then hindsight is a wonderful thing, a thing that keeps football pundits and journalist in a job.
In summary, a slightly lacklustre report to accompany a lacklustre Spurs performance. We left too much space for United to exploit, and this was evident even when they had 10 men. I'd hoped we'd lost our habit of giving the 'Big Four' so much respect and time - and I think on the whole we have. There's just something about Spurs vs. United games - and there's a reason we haven't beaten them in 19 games; and considering the strength of our current squad it's clearly psychological.
So positives: Kranjcar debut and Defoe bicycle-kick (a truly great technical goal).
Negatives: the rest of it.
Stay tuned for a hopefully happier report from our next home game. Have a great week, readers.
