Bus-Conductor
SC Supporter
- Oct 19, 2004
- 39,837
- 50,713
Aaaaghgh, the pantomime that is spurs. We are like a west end farce. Funny but only in a painful ironic way.
I was going to question Ramos's tactics even if we won, honestly I swear. Didn't understand why he felt the need to expose an already frail defence by putting only Lennon, Malbranque and Zokora in front of it. Why he felt such outragiously attacking formation was needed against a side as poor as Birmingham. I also thought the taking off of Kaboul was a complete waste of a substitution and a very counterproductive thing to do. It was a very harsh penalty and apart from that Birmingham were offering very little threat and the last thing his confidence needed was to be subbed again unecessarily in such a one sided game. Some will say keane was great scoring goals but he and the rrest of the strikers were pretty shit all day long for me. It was Keane who lost a ball he never should have (bottler) that cost us the first goal and Berbatov losing a ball that cost us the third. In between they all contrived to waste chances and gave the ball away and chose wrong options several times. Yes he stuck his penalty away well and then scored after hitting huddlestones good pass into the ground. He also gave the ball away nedlessly before the lunge that got him sent off (which was a harsh decision).
But just to add to the panto, this was a ludicrously one sided game. I think we had something like 20 shots and 10 on target. Birmingham had 3 on target and scored all of them including the obligatory 35 yard screamer in injury time from a player who has never scored a goal before. Despite my tactical misgivings, I am still scratching my head as to how we managed to loose this game. On the other hand we're spurs - is any more explanation required. Ratings:
Robinson 5 - Three shots to save.0 for 3. I know none were his fault just wish he would be a hero just once and save something unsavable. Even the penalty seemed to go through his legs. Still don't see how I can mark him higher.
Chimbonda 6 - good footballer. Less than good defender.
Dawson 5 - Just makes defending the minimal amount of pressure seem like the hardest job in the world.
Kaboul 5 - I'm really not sure he's ever going to be good enough defesively but playing next to Dawson is never going to improve him.
Bale 7 - came out of the game with some credit. great going forward. Defensively still learning. Bad time (for us) to be learning (who's he learning from).
Lennon 7 - worked pretty hard and got on the ball plenty. Just needs to improve the end product but would be helped if our strikers were better getting on the end of things and offering options at times.
Zokora 6.5 - Did pretty much everything that was asked and started the comeback with a great run and through ball but loses marks for ducking under one cross that they should have scored fro and not getting in the way of the 3rd (I think).
Malbranque 7 - See Lennon.
Berbatov 5 - wasteful inpossession and in the box too many times. Sloppy for the 3rd goal.
Keane 5 - See above. This is the most enigmatic player I have ever seen. Was absoloutely shit until he scored. The irony of the day is that a player so scared to tackle gets sent off for a tackle.
Bent 5 - Too many cooks. One too many and it wasn't necessarily Bent but he paid as our 3 strikers struggled to figure out who does what and where.
Huddlestone 7 - Good ball for the second. did OK. didn't help the defence much though when it was needed.
Defoe - I can't be arsed to mark.
Personally I would have played 442 with the Prince in the middle and Berbatov and Bent up front. I didn't think I'd see a shitter side than Derby. These were, and we didn't have to play the Ardiles 4-1-5 to beat them. It still took massive slices of bad luck to draw never mind loose and we got just about every slice you can imagine. When will our luck change - possibly when we buy 3 new defenders and a goalie.
I was going to question Ramos's tactics even if we won, honestly I swear. Didn't understand why he felt the need to expose an already frail defence by putting only Lennon, Malbranque and Zokora in front of it. Why he felt such outragiously attacking formation was needed against a side as poor as Birmingham. I also thought the taking off of Kaboul was a complete waste of a substitution and a very counterproductive thing to do. It was a very harsh penalty and apart from that Birmingham were offering very little threat and the last thing his confidence needed was to be subbed again unecessarily in such a one sided game. Some will say keane was great scoring goals but he and the rrest of the strikers were pretty shit all day long for me. It was Keane who lost a ball he never should have (bottler) that cost us the first goal and Berbatov losing a ball that cost us the third. In between they all contrived to waste chances and gave the ball away and chose wrong options several times. Yes he stuck his penalty away well and then scored after hitting huddlestones good pass into the ground. He also gave the ball away nedlessly before the lunge that got him sent off (which was a harsh decision).
But just to add to the panto, this was a ludicrously one sided game. I think we had something like 20 shots and 10 on target. Birmingham had 3 on target and scored all of them including the obligatory 35 yard screamer in injury time from a player who has never scored a goal before. Despite my tactical misgivings, I am still scratching my head as to how we managed to loose this game. On the other hand we're spurs - is any more explanation required. Ratings:
Robinson 5 - Three shots to save.0 for 3. I know none were his fault just wish he would be a hero just once and save something unsavable. Even the penalty seemed to go through his legs. Still don't see how I can mark him higher.
Chimbonda 6 - good footballer. Less than good defender.
Dawson 5 - Just makes defending the minimal amount of pressure seem like the hardest job in the world.
Kaboul 5 - I'm really not sure he's ever going to be good enough defesively but playing next to Dawson is never going to improve him.
Bale 7 - came out of the game with some credit. great going forward. Defensively still learning. Bad time (for us) to be learning (who's he learning from).
Lennon 7 - worked pretty hard and got on the ball plenty. Just needs to improve the end product but would be helped if our strikers were better getting on the end of things and offering options at times.
Zokora 6.5 - Did pretty much everything that was asked and started the comeback with a great run and through ball but loses marks for ducking under one cross that they should have scored fro and not getting in the way of the 3rd (I think).
Malbranque 7 - See Lennon.
Berbatov 5 - wasteful inpossession and in the box too many times. Sloppy for the 3rd goal.
Keane 5 - See above. This is the most enigmatic player I have ever seen. Was absoloutely shit until he scored. The irony of the day is that a player so scared to tackle gets sent off for a tackle.
Bent 5 - Too many cooks. One too many and it wasn't necessarily Bent but he paid as our 3 strikers struggled to figure out who does what and where.
Huddlestone 7 - Good ball for the second. did OK. didn't help the defence much though when it was needed.
Defoe - I can't be arsed to mark.
Personally I would have played 442 with the Prince in the middle and Berbatov and Bent up front. I didn't think I'd see a shitter side than Derby. These were, and we didn't have to play the Ardiles 4-1-5 to beat them. It still took massive slices of bad luck to draw never mind loose and we got just about every slice you can imagine. When will our luck change - possibly when we buy 3 new defenders and a goalie.
