Change of Fortunes for Top Teams
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It is absolutely amazing the difference 2 or 3 matches can have on the expectations of a Premiership football team. Only a couple of weeks ago Liverpool were right in the doldrums with their new manager, Roy Hodgson, rumoured to be having the door shown to him after only a extremely brief stay. Now, having had a few fortunate wins under their belts they somehow discover some form to beat Chelsea 2 – 0 and deservedly so. A very solid performance which thoroughly deserved the 3 points must have felt very sweet to the Liverpool hardcore after such a terrible start to their campaign.
Contrast Liverpool to Manchester City, who must be under the moon, who have just been on a 3 game losing run ,whilst without Tevez, after a promising start and Tottenham giddy from the heights of thrashing Inter Milan to defeat at Bolton and we seem to be on for an unpredictable but interesting season with very few results assurred. Even at the other end of the league there is not a side that looks definitely doomed. The sides that have come up are doing remarkably well with Blackpool entirely unpredictable but more than holding their own.
Arsenal have already lost 2 games at The Emirates this season which is very surprising. With the exception of Manchester United and Chelsea ,who look like pulling away, the rest will race for 3rd and 4th spot which looks to be the most interesting this season as was the race for 4th last season.
Now the pressure is on Arsenal , Spurs and Manchester City to come back with results to continue their expected challenge and to juggle their squads effectively to cope with all the extra fixtures european football puts their way.
This could very well be the most open season for a while with such an equal field.
Gareth Bale becomes World Famous
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Gareth Bales demolition of Champions League ‘Defender of the Year’ twice in a fortnight has resulted in huge coverage and outlandish praise for the young Welshman. This morning the newspapers , TV and radio are only talking about one man. For once Manchester Uniteds exploits take a back seat as Bales pace and pinpoint delivery destroyed Inter Milan at White Hart Lane.
Bale went passed Maicon, the Brazilian international defender, so easily so many times that the crowd were singing ‘taxi for Maicon’. Poor Maicon looked like he was playing in cement boots as Bale tore pass him time after time { I won’t say ‘time and time again’ because I think Alan Hansen has it copyrighted} .
This morning, as there was a fortnight ago when he scored a second half hat trick, the speculation is that Spurs are not a big enough club to hang on to him. The bookmakers have opened books on which club he will join and I suspect with every good performance he puts in this speculation will gather momentum. He seems a great quiet boy who has found a place to flourish. I hope he realises that and gives himself time to grow where he is. I have heard Spurs described as a selling club today and that means it is only a matter of time before they sell him. There are few clubs in the country that spend as much as Spurs so I am not sure how that conclusion is reached. As far as I can see the players that have left in recent years of their own free will are Carrick and Berbatov who both went to Manchester United not because Spurs are a selling club but because they wanted to play in front of twice as many fans every week and play Champions League. Well Spurs are Champions League now and the outlook is brighter than previously so I don’t see that the same pulling power exists anymore.
Bale is a greater prospect than either Carrick or Berbatov, both of whom have had mixed fortunes since switching to Old Trafford. He is going to have a great season and long Spurs career.
Can the away team ever get the rub off the green at Old Trafford?
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When you complain about decisions going against your team after they have lost there is always that element of sour grapes. Whether it is against Manchester United or Blackpool in always sounds like excuses. Unfortunately at Old Trafford it has become an annual event for Tottenham and is very often the same for other teams too. If there is any rub of the green to be had it is to the team in red.
Having suffered at the hands of Mr Clattenberg before at Old Trafford when Pedro Mendes had his winning goal played on it was speculated pre match that he was a disaster waiting to happen and so it proved.
This time the referee allowed Nani to get away with diving then get away with hand ball and play on to score. Gomes was culpable too here for assuming a free kick and not playing to the whistle. However the linesman clearly pointed out to the referee that a handball had occured and he chose to ignore it and give the goal. I am not sure what the point of the linesman is if he is over ruled on such a blatantly simple point. It is clear that Mr Clattenberg showed favourism to Rio Ferdinard by allowing him to listen to his conversation with his assistant whilst shooing off the Spurs players and booking one of them for a very reasonable protest.
I am convinced like many others that away teams can’t get those sorts of decisions at Old Trafford and that the dice are always loaded towards the home team. Harry Redknapp will no doubt be fined for stating the obvious about the refereeing but he is not as scary and powerful as Sir Alex Ferguson so will never have the benefit of this sort of refereeing.
Is that sour grapes? Possibly it is, but Ferdinard shouldn’t be any more important than Modric. John Terry appears to be allowed the same privilege by some referees too and it is time it was stopped. Manchester United would probab;ly have won the game anyway but it is a shame that we again are talking about home bias by the referee at Old Trafford instead of what until then was a pretty good game
Liverpool Panic Is a Bit Premature
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Liverpool in the bottom three is a sight that few of their supporters can ever have seen before but the current crisis talk as far as results are concerned is a bit premature.
Don’t get me wrong that have plenty to sort out but they are only 5 points out of the top 4 spots too. If you are an optimist they are only a couple of wins off the pace. It is far from a crisis yet but is not helped by the widely held frustration and even hatred felt towards their American owners. Losing at home to Blackpool is not something that many would have expected so it has caused a little bit of a stir this weekend. Unfortunately they really didn’t show enough fight to encourage their supporters on this occasion and now they have an international break denying them the opportunity to go out and redeem themselves quickly. Those of us that enjoy the intensity of these situations find international breaks very annoying.
The next match is an absolute corker with Liverpool making the short trip across the park to Everton who are only above them in the table on goal difference. Whoever loses will be in the bottom three in three weeks time so both Liverpool and Everton will be desperate for a result.
Losing a merseyside derby would add even further pressure on Roy Hodgson however he is a very sensible and measured manager and will know how to cope with the situation. He got Fulham out of an almost impossible position when he took over there so I am sure he can cope with this early season set back given the chance. He needs the backing and understanding of the fans which Liverpool are tradionally famous for and a bit of time. It only takes one performance to get the momentum going. So much the better if it is at Goodison Park against the old enemy.
Goal Line Officials Add Chaos Instead of Clarity
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The goal line officials added only chaos and confusion to the match at White Hart Lane last night between Spurs and FC Twente. The extra officials deployed in European matches are not only unnecessary but yesterday proved to be an extra distraction for the referee to handle. With there strange batons they looked more like gay continental policeman than football officials and might as well have been.
They seemed to have a big part in awarding Tottenham their 3 penalties but strangely then appeared to not pay attention as the penalties were taken. The main function of the goal line official is presumably to watch the goal line. For the first penalty, which was saved , his job was to watch the goalkeeper , I would assume. Clearly he didn’t think so as the goalkeepers movement went unchecked. This is a non-job with maybe 5 minutes work at most in 90 and the only time he was actually needed he didn’t act. He and his little friend at the other end did voice their opinions on the penalties it seems but they really aren’t needed for that. You can’t decide penalties by committee it is bound to lead to confusion
These officials need abandoning as a pointless waste of time and money with immediate effect
Who Chooses the Commentators for Sky Matches ?
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I have no idea who is responsible for choosing who commentates on which match for Sky but I really don’t think a lot of thought goes into it. Anybody that has any awareness at all of the football fans thought patterns would be aware that having a former player from one of the teams taking part is going to alienate and irritate half of the viewing audience. I wonder how many Spurs fans where last night telling Alan ‘Smudger’ Smith how to pronounce his ‘r’s in no uncertain terms for a full 120 minutes.
With the fierce rivalry between the two clubs it is particularly thoughtless to put him on this match. I am very surprised that he gets so many Spurs games to commentate on anyway as he is always going to be unpopular with Spurs fans. Not for any other reason than he is ever associated with Arsenal and that is not good. To be fair to him he hides his bias better than some.
I know we are going to have to put up with the smugness of Andy Gray for ever but we can shove Smudger off to Fulham or Aston Villa matches without any major upheaval surely.
Why do Spurs need Ashley Young?
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There has been speculation about Ashley Young moving to Spurs from Aston Villa all summer long. I can’t really see why this has been the case and would be totally puzzled if it turned out to be true. Firstly because Spurs don’t need him and secondly because there will be uproar at Aston Villa if they sell another of there better players.
Spurs arguably currently have the most effective wide players in the country with Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon in the starting line up. If they are not available then there is Gio Dos Santos, David Bentley, Modric and Kranjcar that can play the position at least as well as if not better than Ashley Young. Danny Rose is also an effective wide man. There just doesn’t seem a logical reason for signing him unless one of the Spurs men are leaving.
I haven’t seen anything from Young that makes him an improvement on the players already at Tottenham and when scrutinized his final ball is not accurate enough to be paying silly transfer fees for.
Spurs have made two very sensible signings this summer. To remain in the land of logic the best thing would be for Keane to depart and a talented forward to arrive. It seems unlikely to be Luis Fabiano and there are no other obvious candidates in the frame at the moment so perhaps Keane will be staying again.
Jenas is perhaps the other candidate to leave as he is unlikely to start many games.
Plastic pitch takes its toll on Spurs
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Spurs travel to Stoke City for the second league game of the season with 4 out of the possible 5 front players injured on the plastic pitch in Berne Switzerland on Tuesday night. All the forwards that played picked up strains and only Peter Crouch is fit possibly because he is the only one that didn’t play.
It is a bit difficult to predict the line up with Modric also injured. If none of these players travel it looks like Harry might be forced to play Jenas as an attacking midfielder getting up to play in and around Crouch or possibly Kranjcar could play in the hole.
It looks like Spurs are getting stronger now with the arrival of Gallas and Sandro. The weakness appears to me to be the fullbacks now. Ekotto can be great but has a few stinkers but how Corluka gets the nod over his rivals for right back is a bit of a baffler. He is tidy but slow and rarely delivers a decent cross. He is too slow to overlap and often gets outpaced when defending so it ought to be a good time for Walker or Naughton make the breakthrough this season. It is unclear why Spurs bought Kaboul back as they had already sold him once because he wasn’t good enough.
For Saturdays game perhaps only having one forward might be a blessing as going to Stoke is a job for the physically and mentally strong. A packed midfield might just be whats necessary to get a result.
Gio To Sporting? But he was Spurs only decent player at the World Cup
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If the rumours are true that Giovanni Dos Santos is about to get shipped out again I will be very disappointed. He was far and away Spurs best representative at the World Cup in South Africa which you would think might earn him a chance to actually get on the pitch in a Spurs shirt. One thing you can be sure of is that if Spurs didn’t already own him they would be linked with buying him about now.
Now with David Bentley injured I would have thought it was a great chance for Gio to at last get a chance to shine. If the World Cup is any sort of barometer Gio is one of the best young players in the world but nobody at Tottenham seems to think so.
It always baffles me at this time of year when the revolving door starts. You could start a team of ex Tottenham players that were not given much of a chance at White Hart Lane but have gone on be successful at other Premiership clubs. Pedro Mendes and Danny Murphy were both better than midfielders that kept them out of the Spurs side but they never really got a chance.
Let s hope Harry decides to give him a chance because there are a lot of Spurs fans that would really like to see him out there ahead of players like Bentley and Kranjcar.
Isn’t it great to be a Spurs fan ?
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The world is in chaos today with flights grounded , the general election nonsense going on and an armed robbery just down the road. But all is well in the world because Spurs gave the Arsenal a beating for the first time in years. It could only have been better if Sol Campbell had been sent off and Wenger had claimed it wasn’t fair. Actually he was unusually gracious in defeat this time to his credit.
The difference in attitude of the Spurs players from Sunday to Wednesday was huge. Instead of the pedestrian arrogance of a team that thought it only had to turn up to win there was a work ethic and determination that was a joy to behold. I loved every moment even though Arsenal had much of the possession. From the moment Danny Rose rocketed Spurs into an early lead they always looked in control keeping Arsenals intricate passing far enough away from Gomes for him to get out his deckchair.
Bale and Modric were splendid, King and Dawson super strong and everybody else without exception dogged and determined.
When Bale scored a well taken side foot into the corner soon after half time Spurs looked even more comfortable and in wasn’t until Arsenal brought on Van Persie that there was any threat to the Spurs goal.
Van Persie made a big difference and had 3 efforts spectacularly saved in the last ten minutes by official man of the match Gomes. He carved out the goal which Bendtner scored with five minutes to go. The Spurs fans had to live on their nerves for another 9 minutes before erupting intoscenes of delirious pleasure.
Now the big ask to go do it again on Saturday against Chelsea probably without Ledley King. But why not? Spurs won this fixture last season so it is not as unlikely as the pundits would have us believe.
