What a difference one result makes and more importantly a change in formation. Don’t we all feel a lot better today? It wasn’t just the three points won at a very tough place to go to and it’s not like we were at our fluent best but the sight of seeing two strikers on the pitch, albeit one of them being Crouch and the other Defoe, who I thought enjoyed one of his worse performances in a Spurs shirt, gave us all renewed enthusiasm for the remainder of the season. Plus as an added bonus it took us beyond the magical 40 points mark so now we can all relax and know we’ll be playing premier league football next season. 
I’ve noticed a plethora of spurs blogs being updated today which must mean we’re all a lot more positive today and that’s down to Mr Redknapp. If you’ve read this blog in the past you may have noticed I don’t believe Harry’s infallible when it comes to errors no matter how much success he’s had in the last 18 months. The last few games have been testament to that but last night he got it spot on. We were all crying out for a return to 4-4-2 and he duly delivered. I’ll admit when I saw the team I had mixed feelings. I was delighted with the formation and the inclusion of Corluka for the hapless Hutton but less excited about the prospect of watching Lennon on the left and Crouch up front.
A very handsome man wrote in his match preview:
There’s no point in playing Crouch against Samba because he’s unlikely to win the ball in the air but he does have a good record against Blackburn so if he starts then so be it but my preference would be Pav and Defoe.
Some would say that’s a clear error on my part considering how 3-metre-Peter leapt through the air like a Salmon to bury the ball into the bottom corner and leave Samba looking like a bear with a sore head who couldn’t catch his dinner. However, if you look closer you’ll also see how beautifully I covered my tracks by mentioning his record against Blackburn. It’s like reading an ITK statement made by the poet laureate. For the record I thought Crouch was very good last night. It’s only one game but more of that for the final 14 games of the season could help a lot. It wasn’t just his goal either, for the most part of held it up well and linked play, in particular with vdV on the right. These two seem to have some sort of telepathy going on whether it be in the box or outside it.
As a result of my delayed response to writing some sort of reaction to last nights match I expect like me you’ve already read many of the other corners of the internet and seen the player ratings etc so there’s not much point in doing the same here. Before I briefly mention those who had good games last night I just wanted to address a player who I thought played well but I’ve seen many comments to the contrary. Wilson Palacios, as we all know, has been garbage for the majority of his games for the past year. Every now and then he has a good game but follows that up with a performance that see’s him substituted at half time. We definitely need better. However, whether it be Palacios, Crouch, Jenas or vdV, no matter what a players past performances are like they should be judged on their last match and for me, Wilson had a good solid game.
Stats can tell different stories depending on how you want to look at them but Palacios’s from last night only confirm his performance for me. As you’ll see from the image on the right he only misplaced 5 passes which gave him a completion rate of 90%. Decent for any player. I understand the problems people have with the type of pass he makes, often sideways and short, sometimes laboured and slow but he’s a defensive midfielder. His job is to win the ball and do his best to give it to one of the more creative players around him, which is what he did. Couple that with his 3 interceptions, 0 fouls and 3 from 4 tackles won and he had a good game. I’m not saying he was excellent on the night or even close to a man of the match performance but a 7/10 is surely justified? The funny thing is the one pass I remember him making all night is one of those 5 failed attempts and that’s from someone who thought he had a good game. I guess when you spend so long disappointing we only see what we expect to see.
We all probably agree that van der Vaart returned to some sort of form and put in a shift on the right side of midfield, tracking back when needed and generally making a nuisance of himself to the opposition. It’s good to see such a talented player taking one for the team and it’s not as if he was told to stay on the right and not get forward too much. For the first 20 minutes of the second half we were closer to playing a 4-3-3 than a 4-4-2.
Other performances of note were Jenas who put in one of his rare excellent performances that make you hope he’s finally understood what he’s meant to do and will do it every week only to watch him in the next game be completely useless again. We’ve all said it before and I’m sure we’ll say it again but if he could just play like that every game he’d be like a new signing. Or at least up his value so we could sell him.
Gallas is fast becoming our Mr Consistent. I’m happy to admit when I’m wrong and I was about him. I thought he was too injury prone and a sulker but he gives the impression that he just wants to play football. Ekotto and Charlie were good too. It’s nice to see Corluka back in the side, although we shouldn’t expect much going forward as he showed at times last night but as a defender he’s far superior to Hutton which is what we need at the moment. Gomes made a string of superb saves but still gives us and those around him the jitters when the ball’s in the air. A good defence is always confident of it’s keeper and I don’t think ours is, but his saves won us the game as much as Crouch’s goal.
A final word on our two munchkins, Lennon and Defoe. One looks to be gaining confidence and discipline out on the left and the other looks a shadow of himself. While Lennon’s threat might not be quite as great when he’s got to cut inside all the time if he can pick the right pass instead of running into defenders once he does cut in he could be more effective there than on the right. Some work with his left foot wouldn’t go amiss either. Defoe on the other hand is a tricky problem for Redknapp. I presume it was Defoe who Redknapp believed was as good as Suarez which is why he pulled out of signing the Uruguay international. On last night’s display that decision could cost us. Defoe has always been a confidence player and with his injuries, suspensions and then seeing the club trying their best to sign a new striker his confidence is clearly low, but how do you fix it? If you put him on the bench and give someone else a chance it’ll get even worse but if he continues to play like that he doesn’t deserve to start. Personally, with a home game coming up I’d start him again and hope he scores or at least plays well. If not, it could be time for a rest.
All in all a very enjoyable night. Redknapp made the right formation selection and an excellent substitution that effected the game for the good.
Forget the FA Cup and the transfer window. Who cares about the Olympic Stadium, Northumberland Development Project or injuries to key players. All that matters now is beating Bolton on Saturday afternoon. String together a few back to back wins and with those above us playing each other we’ve got what could be our final chance to put pressure on them and maybe still sneak into the top 4. That is unless we go back to a lone striker.
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