BoringOldFan
It's better to burn out than to fade away...
- Sep 20, 2005
- 9,955
- 2,498
My favourite Tottenham goal of the 2006/07 season wasn't even included in the top 25 that the official site put together. Extending to 16 passes between 8 outfield players, Robbie Keane's second goal against Boro is the one that does it for me.
The move begins with Jermaine Jenas taking a corner on the right. Now had he plonked it on Dawson's head and it had rocketed into the top corner, I'd have nothing to write about. But he didn't - in fact it was headed clear by Jonathan Woodgate. The next time a Boro player touched the ball it would be Woodgate again, vainly trying to head Keane's shot off the line.
You can download the goal as a Quicktime movie here.
Let's go through it again...
Woodgate's clearing header falls to Malbranque, who controls it (1) and feeds it back to Ledley King in the centre circle. King in turn passes it (2) to Rocha on the left.
Rocha takes a touch before flighting a right-footed pass (3) to Keane on the right-hand corner of Boro's penalty area. Keane battles for possession and exchanges passes (4,5,6) with Chimbonda. In the background you can see Lennon trying to find some space, which he does later in the move. But for now, Chimbonda has to play the ball infield (7) to Jenas, who returns it to Chimbonda (8).
Chimbonda then feeds the ball to Zokora (9) who exchanges passes with Jenas (10,11) before feeding the ball to Lennon (12) who had now managed to make himself available on the right touchline.
Lennon plays the ball back to Chimbonda (13) who sweeps it on to Jenas (14), who has come a little deeper to pick up the ball. As soon as Jenas takes a touch, Lennon knows what's coming and is ready to go. By the time Jenas makes the pass, Lennon's body is angled forwards, ready to sprint onto the pass (15). By contrast, his marker Stuart Downing is upright and flat-footed. He is beaten before the ball is played.
Such is Lennon's pace, he easily beats Downing to Jenas's pass even though Downing's starting position is about five yards closer to goal. Lennon has time to look up and cut the ball back (16) to Robbie Keane, who has pulled away from the near post to find some space. His fine clipped shot beats Schwarzer, and Woodgate's despairing header cannot prevent the ball finding the net.
Football is a team game and it's about doing the simple things well. Great though it is to see Berbatov slalom through a defence or Robbie Keane smash home a spectacular volley, these are the cherries on the cake. The bread and butter goals - if that's not mixing a culinary metaphor - are ones like these, made up of simple passes along the ground, good movement of players and an incisive final move. The team showed great patience in retaining the ball until an opening had been worked that could be successfully exploited.
Of the outfield players, only Berbatov and Dawson were not involved. Rocha's lofted pass to Keane early in the move was the only time the ball left the ground. There were no mazy dribbles, the ball was simply passed around and through the Boro midfield and defence. Keep it simple, play the way you're facing, find space to receive a pass, keep the ball on the deck - all football cliches but look how effective they can be.
So while I can enjoy Berbatov's goal against Besiktas, Defoe's against Charlton and Huddlestone's at Manchester City, it is hard to plan for these wonder strikes. But for me, doing the simple things well as was so brilliantly demonstrated at Boro has an equal sense beauty and satisfaction.
The move begins with Jermaine Jenas taking a corner on the right. Now had he plonked it on Dawson's head and it had rocketed into the top corner, I'd have nothing to write about. But he didn't - in fact it was headed clear by Jonathan Woodgate. The next time a Boro player touched the ball it would be Woodgate again, vainly trying to head Keane's shot off the line.
You can download the goal as a Quicktime movie here.
Let's go through it again...
Woodgate's clearing header falls to Malbranque, who controls it (1) and feeds it back to Ledley King in the centre circle. King in turn passes it (2) to Rocha on the left.
Rocha takes a touch before flighting a right-footed pass (3) to Keane on the right-hand corner of Boro's penalty area. Keane battles for possession and exchanges passes (4,5,6) with Chimbonda. In the background you can see Lennon trying to find some space, which he does later in the move. But for now, Chimbonda has to play the ball infield (7) to Jenas, who returns it to Chimbonda (8).
Chimbonda then feeds the ball to Zokora (9) who exchanges passes with Jenas (10,11) before feeding the ball to Lennon (12) who had now managed to make himself available on the right touchline.
Lennon plays the ball back to Chimbonda (13) who sweeps it on to Jenas (14), who has come a little deeper to pick up the ball. As soon as Jenas takes a touch, Lennon knows what's coming and is ready to go. By the time Jenas makes the pass, Lennon's body is angled forwards, ready to sprint onto the pass (15). By contrast, his marker Stuart Downing is upright and flat-footed. He is beaten before the ball is played.
Such is Lennon's pace, he easily beats Downing to Jenas's pass even though Downing's starting position is about five yards closer to goal. Lennon has time to look up and cut the ball back (16) to Robbie Keane, who has pulled away from the near post to find some space. His fine clipped shot beats Schwarzer, and Woodgate's despairing header cannot prevent the ball finding the net.
Football is a team game and it's about doing the simple things well. Great though it is to see Berbatov slalom through a defence or Robbie Keane smash home a spectacular volley, these are the cherries on the cake. The bread and butter goals - if that's not mixing a culinary metaphor - are ones like these, made up of simple passes along the ground, good movement of players and an incisive final move. The team showed great patience in retaining the ball until an opening had been worked that could be successfully exploited.
Of the outfield players, only Berbatov and Dawson were not involved. Rocha's lofted pass to Keane early in the move was the only time the ball left the ground. There were no mazy dribbles, the ball was simply passed around and through the Boro midfield and defence. Keep it simple, play the way you're facing, find space to receive a pass, keep the ball on the deck - all football cliches but look how effective they can be.
So while I can enjoy Berbatov's goal against Besiktas, Defoe's against Charlton and Huddlestone's at Manchester City, it is hard to plan for these wonder strikes. But for me, doing the simple things well as was so brilliantly demonstrated at Boro has an equal sense beauty and satisfaction.
