"Tottenham: A Precious Gift to the Neutrals"

[Bill_Oddie]

Nice piece from the usually ordinary Sarah Winterburn at Football365. Have to say, I agree last night's game would have been a treat for neutrals. I didn't think it was too shabby myself.


http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,13320_6377342,00.html

It would be easy to write that Tottenham's naivety was exposed in throwing away a two-goal lead in Germany. Or that Spurs paid the price for not playing spoiling midfielder Wilson Palacios. Or that William Gallas should have provided at least some semblance of Champions League experience to that defence. Or that any team is only as strong as its weakest link and when that weakest link is Vedran Corluka, that team will always struggle against any opposition with guile and pace.


Positivity does not generally sell newspapers or indeed generate page impressions but sometimes cynicism and hindsight should be abandoned in favour of enthusiasm. So, to that end...what a fantastic sodding game and how refreshing is it to see a new English team on the biggest club stage in football?


Werder Bremen v Liverpool would have been a bore. Werder Bremen v Tottenham, on the other hand, was bloody fantastic. Harry Redknapp had the good sense to learn from the Young Boys fiasco and play a five-man midfield and yet they started in rampaging fashion, with Gareth Bale phenomenal and Rafael dan der Vaart providing a touch of class.


Bale has been the revelation of 2010 and the Champions League is richer for his presence. We laugh when Redknapp hails him as the best left-sided player in the world, but on that form he must fit comfortably in the top five. While Aaron Lennon labours on the right to find the form of 12 months ago, Bale is having the time of his life on the left, and the Bremen right-back will have palpitations at the memory of the Welshman's curious face for weeks to come.


Until the Germans' 43rd-minute goal, Tottenham were startlingly good. They were incisive, creative and penetrative - Werder Bremen looked seriously shellshocked at the quality of a team that looked like champions rather than debutants.


What followed in the second half was probably what most were expecting all along - Tottenham looked nervous and struggled to contain the impressive Marko Marin. And yet they still had chances to take all three points as Bale never stopped running at the Bremen defence. Not for him the careful shepherding of an important Champions League point.


While glass-half-empty Tottenham fans might curse and talk of what might have been, they should be reminded that they have just secured a point at the home of a strong German side. And perhaps equally importantly, they have just entertained. And when it comes to the Champions League group stages, that's a precious gift to neutrals.


Sarah Winterburn

 

[AngerManagement]

If Crouch would have put in his one on one at the end to win the game I would have said that was a perfect night of football.

So dramatic, edge of the seat football and a wonderful introduction to the Champions League.

We started off so well and really put them to the sword, one error and we let them back in the game....our confidence slipped (we also lost one of our best players) and they grew in stature and in truth were well worth a point.

Had we however made the most of Palacios' through ball to Crouch, who missed what at that level should be a routine finish to win the game we would have all been delerious with the result.

Sure we were exposed second half, lessons to be learned no doubt. There were however lots of positives to take and we really showed we have the attacking flair to hurt teams at the top level

Gomes back, Defoe back...Modric and VDV fit and we are looking at building a very exciting team. All we really need is a jewel in the crown up top, if only we still had Berbatov.

 

[StartingPrice]

:clap::clap::clap:

 

[Gilzeanking]

Yes , very nice Bill . Its true that Harry generally goes for the win and thats a 'traditional' Spurs attitude we can applaud .

 

[mil1lion]

It is great to see us play that same style in Europe. Far too many teams are cautious at that level, but not us. We have far too many attacking players to play that way. We play to our strengths and our strengths are bloody exciting to watch.

I totally agree about Liverpool aswell. They would've been so dull to watch last night. Without wanting to sound biased, we are a great addition to the Champions League. Win or lose, you always get entertainment with Spurs. That is what football is all about.

/ Proud Spurs fan out

 

[Jimmypearce7]

Its the same stuff that got Harry annoyed last night. The idea that we are naive or have something to learn about playing at this level. 1) Its not a level above the Premiership. Its not some different game or challenge than playing any of the Premiership big teams. 2) The idea that you can learn and by doing so eliminate mistakes is absurd. By that criteria the teams with lots of CL experience would never make mistakes and never lose.

 

[SpurSince57]

Two of the best football games I've seen anywhere in the past couple of years were the Werder v. Hamburg UEFA Cup semi-finals the season before last. Last night wasn't quite that good, but it was a terrific game nevertheless, because we played our part.

What a pity the EPL can't be like that.

 

[DEFchenkOE]

It is great to see us play

that same style in Europe. Far too many teams are cautious at that level, but not us. We have far too many attacking players to play that way. We play to our strengths and our strengths are bloody exciting to watch.

I totally agree about Liverpool aswell. They would've been so dull to watch last night. Without wanting to sound biased, we are a great addition to the Champions League. Win or lose, you always get entertainment with Spurs. That is what football is all about.

/ Proud Spurs fan out

.
Couldn't agree more, really enjoyed the game last night and it really did sum up spurs as we went from the sublime to the average to nearly getting the victory.

on the whole its just great to be in the CL, there was also something strangely satisfying watching barca highlights just after ours

 

[StartingPrice]

Its the same stuff that got Harry annoyed last night. The idea that we are naive or have something to learn about playing at this level. 1) Its not a level above the Premiership. Its not some different game or challenge than playing any of the Premiership big teams. 2) The idea that you can learn and by doing so eliminate mistakes is absurd. By that criteria the teams with lots of CL experience would never make mistakes and never lose.

It's not though. With the comments that got 'Arry annoyed last night the emphasis was us being niave. With that article, the emphasis is on the fact that we played to our strengths - going forward, positively sought out the win when a lot of teams (Liverpool), would have been negative, and came away with a very good result against a pretty decent German side. It is not concentrating on the niavety (alleged), suggesting we were wrong to play good football and try to win, or trying to minimize the result - which is the attitude 'Arry was reacting to.

She does mention niavety once in the article, and I think we did let them into the game with a little bit of it. For a start, Benny had plenty of time, and far better options than that wild slice that produced an entirely different phase of play to what was expected - and put us on the back foot. And secondly, I felt that, without any instructions from the bench, we did kinda sit off them a bit after the second goal when they were rocking, and a more experienced team may have put them to the sword. But she only makes a brief mention, in passing, to the 'n' word, and then concentrates on how bloody good it was. There is nothing negative in that. The media 'Arry was reacting to have been reared on a diet of Italian defensive football (sorry any Italian Yids:grin, and therefore cannot conceive of any team doing anything else without thinking it is a childish error.

 

[sunnydelight786]

I told all my neutral team supporting mates to watch our game with Bremen as I just knew it was gonna be a end to end type of game. Thomas Schaaf sets his teams up to attack from the start normally. We certainly shocked them by taking the game to them and playing at PL speed in the first half. They could not live with us. The end result was a fair result in the end and as you said we more than played our part in a fantastic game of football. How often can you say that of group stage games of recent years eh.....?

 

[StartingPrice]

I can honestly say, and a lot of the older members will relate to this, that as someone who grew up when live games on TV were a rarity to be savoured, I was immensely excited when they started proliferating. I would never miss a match if at all possible, nomatter who the team was. This was especially the case with the CL. I found, however, that because the games were often so dull and defensive, that I began to think there were TOO MANY games on TV. It was so bad that for some shockers, in particular, that I would actually find myself wandering away from the TV and finding chores to do, listening to the commentary on the off-chance that something exciting might happen that i could watch on the replay.

Last night was not like that at all. It was the type of game where the neutral fan could watch it and enjoy.

Well to the Lane Leg's for that...but also to Bremen for contributing to a memorable game (the no-good equalising MOFO B'Stard's):grin:

 

[michaelden]

A draw away against fairly strong opponents. Can't really complain can we?

 

[ShelfSide18]

It's a nice little article apart from the dig at Corluka. Honestly, he's not on form, that's the long and short of it. Until recently he's been a solid and dependable member of our best defensive form for a long, long time.

But yes, it was a magnificent game where football was ultimately the winner with both teams trying to win the game playing exciting football, I'm quite enjoying the Arsenal game tonight for the same reason.

There is a part of me though that wants to rid the tag of being good for the neutrals, I want us to be ruthless and predictable in that we get the job done with little fuss. A bit like Chelsea when they go 1-0 up, you just know what will happen. It will come, and in the meantime I'm going to enjoy what is a memorable time to be a Spurs fan despite the negativity of many on here.

 

[Teddy Klinsmann]

A draw away against fairly strong opponents. Can't really complain can we?

I must admit i felt disappointed with the result last night when the whistle went, but on reflection a point is a really fine result against a good team.

 

[ShelfSide18]

I must admit i felt disappointed with the result last night when the whistle went, but on reflection a point is a really fine result against a good team.

It really is a good result, especially away from home and lesser Spurs sides would have crumbled to defeat in the past. We were simply sensational in the first half, and looked like a proper champions league team that should be looking to get to the latter stages.

You know the reality check Bremen gave us could perversely be good for us.

 

[AngerManagement]

It really is a good result, especially away from home and lesser Spurs sides would have crumbled to defeat in the past. We were simply sensational in the first half, and looked like a proper champions league team that should be looking to get to the latter stages.

You know the reality check Bremen gave us could perversely be good for us.

Very much so, had Crouch slotted home to win the game it would have been a perfect night.

We still would have been given the reality check of what we need to do on at the top (by the way WB responded) but we would have also left with 3 vital points.

I just hope we don't fail to qualify by 2 or less points because at one point there were in the bag and Crouch hand them in the palm of his hands with that late chance.

 

[whitelightwhiteheat]

I think if VDV could have played the 90 minutes we would have won. Which is frustrating.

But also, we were awesome first half, as SS18 says, we looked like a proper CL team. That is a good start for our first ever game in the competition proper. Don't forget Bremen are an experienced outfit who recently got to a Europa League final and have bags of CL/Europa experience.

So, yeah, a point's in the bag and we're on our way. Home games are key to success.

 

[spurdownunder]

Werder Bremen v Liverpool would have been a bore. Werder Bremen v Tottenham, on the other hand, was bloody fantastic.

So damn true. In fact, you could replace 'Werder Bremen' with any team.

Well played by the journo. Makes a nice change.

 

[guate]

I love to see this type of positive reporting as I'm so fed up with the usual negative comments of "Spurs typically fail to hold on to 2-0 win etc" For the same reason I loved the US commentators style when we played over there, talking up the players abilities etc instead of moaning how "such and such a player didn't do this or that"
Living in Central America means I get to see our games broadcasted in Spanish with Latin American commentators who are so much more entertaining that their Brit equivalents, particularly when ggggoooooaaaaaalllllllllll's are scored

 

[Partizan]

I love to see this type of positive reporting as I'm so fed up with the usual negative comments of "Spurs typically fail to hold on to 2-0 win etc" For the same reason I loved the US commentators style when we played over there, talking up the players abilities etc instead of moaning how "such and such a player didn't do this or that"
Living in Central America means I get to see our games broadcasted in Spanish with Latin American commentators who are so much more entertaining that their Brit equivalents, particularly when ggggoooooaaaaaalllllllllll's are scored

I agree the Brits are generally boring, but if I'm watching an EPL match I would always prefer to listen to them who would know the teams inside out. Same with the italians, spanish etc.

I think the Argies are the best footballing commentators in spanish. They simply get on with the events of the match and properly analyze (although sometimes they tend to get over critical) unlike the mexicans who are absolutely fucking terrible. I'd rather mute the sound altogether or watch it on a dodgy stream online than having to put up with them getting the names of the players wrong or drifting away into an unrelated topic. THey really get on my nerves