and Chelsea got flustered trying to readjust. Bang, Berbatov hit them with a classic sucker punch and they were down to take an eight count. another analogy is the 'soft return' in tennis - I don't follow tennis any longer but 'in my day' one tactic to try against Rod laver's power game was to try and hit the ball softly to slow things down - so in a way we trying to damp that game down -
There's been something niggling away for days now, a though I had at the time but forgot in the excitement and I've just remembered it...
Did anyone else notice the composed, infinitely patient way we kept the ball in those first 30 minutes. It was very un-Tottenham. There was nothing gung-ho about our play, in fact I remember thinking that if I was a neutral I'd be scratching my head and thinking this is dull. At the time though I thought Chelsea aren't liking this at all.
We'd played them in the league a couple of weeks previously and they'd done a professional number on us, winning comfortably in the end. We'd gone into the game off the back of the exciting 1-1 against Arsenal which we should have won and which we'd dominated. So our confidence was high and we went at Chelsea in the same spirit, but they're the past masters at denying space and opportunity, they just sat there, worked hard and when we ran out of ideas took control in their typically remorseless fashion.
Last Sunday was the antithesis of that. Chelsea like the opposition to come at them, if they were a boxer they'd be the type with the ugly style, the kind which covers up for the first few rounds, conserves strength and then simply bullies their way to victory in the latter rounds. They must have expected us to go at them all guns blazing, looking for the knock-out blow early on - that after all is our style, the Nigel Benn of the football world, all flashy shots, can finish spectacularly but also with a suspect chin - instead, like I say, we sat and stroked the ball about our back four.
And we kept playing that way, keeping possession and playing calmly and unhurredly and basically said to them, we've got all day, you want to win this you're going to have force it. And they were non-plussed and we kept snaking out the occasional jab, to knock them off balance (Malbranques snap shot, Keane's deflected effort, Chimbonda's cross bar) and they started to look a bit concerned. in fact they offered little and whenever they did we covered up effectively, until they got lucky with the free-kick.
Even then though we got back to our feet and although we were now forcing it more, we remained calm and it was more a case of upping the pressure. Then Ramos switched us to South-Paw (Lennon moving flanks :wink
The rest of the match saw us take more and more control. Chelsea were tiring and only last minute desperate rear-guard action and a bit of over exuberance from us (Cech saving from DZ) prevented us landing the knock-out blow in regulation time. There was only going to be one winner now though and it duly came in extra time. A simple straight cross-shot caught them a glancing blow on the chin and they were down. They fought back to their feet to play a desperate last round with a flurry of ineffective punches, but we covered up well till the final bell.
Anyway, despite getting carried away with my analogy, the point remains, simply by not playing as they expected and as they prefer teams to do, we forced Chelsea out of their comfort zone. You can be certain Grant and Cate would have briefed the team to expect us to really come at them, when we didn't they were dumbfounded and when they tried to switch game-plans we were ready for them, because we knew what they were going to do while they didn't know what we were going to.
Sun Tzu always said that wars are won and lost in the minds of the generals, that the way to ensure victory is to attack where the enemy is weak and defend where they are strong. To pick you own ground, to know the mind of your enemy, while not allowing him to know yours, even if it's harder to do so, try and attack where it's least expected, this way you're sow doubt in the minds of the enemy and sap their morale.
Sorry for the winding and unfocussed post, but this is what we did and in particular this is what Ramos did and this is why we won.
Awww diddums!! :razz:
There's been something niggling away for days now, a though I had at the time but forgot in the excitement and I've just remembered it...
Did anyone else notice the composed, infinitely patient way we kept the ball in those first 30 minutes. It was very un-Tottenham. There was nothing gung-ho about our play, in fact I remember thinking that if I was a neutral I'd be scratching my head and thinking this is dull. At the time though I thought Chelsea aren't liking this at all.
We'd played them in the league a couple of weeks previously and they'd done a professional number on us, winning comfortably in the end. We'd gone into the game off the back of the exciting 1-1 against Arsenal which we should have won and which we'd dominated. So our confidence was high and we went at Chelsea in the same spirit, but they're the past masters at denying space and opportunity, they just sat there, worked hard and when we ran out of ideas took control in their typically remorseless fashion.
Last Sunday was the antithesis of that. Chelsea like the opposition to come at them, if they were a boxer they'd be the type with the ugly style, the kind which covers up for the first few rounds, conserves strength and then simply bullies their way to victory in the latter rounds. They must have expected us to go at them all guns blazing, looking for the knock-out blow early on - that after all is our style, the Nigel Benn of the football world, all flashy shots, can finish spectacularly but also with a suspect chin - instead, like I say, we sat and stroked the ball about our back four.
And we kept playing that way, keeping possession and playing calmly and unhurredly and basically said to them, we've got all day, you want to win this you're going to have force it. And they were non-plussed and we kept snaking out the occasional jab, to knock them off balance (Malbranques snap shot, Keane's deflected effort, Chimbonda's cross bar) and they started to look a bit concerned. in fact they offered little and whenever they did we covered up effectively, until they got lucky with the free-kick.
Even then though we got back to our feet and although we were now forcing it more, we remained calm and it was more a case of upping the pressure. Then Ramos switched us to South-Paw (Lennon moving flanks :wink
The rest of the match saw us take more and more control. Chelsea were tiring and only last minute desperate rear-guard action and a bit of over exuberance from us (Cech saving from DZ) prevented us landing the knock-out blow in regulation time. There was only going to be one winner now though and it duly came in extra time. A simple straight cross-shot caught them a glancing blow on the chin and they were down. They fought back to their feet to play a desperate last round with a flurry of ineffective punches, but we covered up well till the final bell.
Anyway, despite getting carried away with my analogy, the point remains, simply by not playing as they expected and as they prefer teams to do, we forced Chelsea out of their comfort zone. You can be certain Grant and Cate would have briefed the team to expect us to really come at them, when we didn't they were dumbfounded and when they tried to switch game-plans we were ready for them, because we knew what they were going to do while they didn't know what we were going to.
Sun Tzu always said that wars are won and lost in the minds of the generals, that the way to ensure victory is to attack where the enemy is weak and defend where they are strong. To pick you own ground, to know the mind of your enemy, while not allowing him to know yours, even if it's harder to do so, try and attack where it's least expected, this way you're sow doubt in the minds of the enemy and sap their morale.
Sorry for the winding and unfocussed post, but this is what we did and in particular this is what Ramos did and this is why we won.
