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THFC1882′s Stuart Watts brings you another guest writer. This time Ciaran Griggs gives his view on yesterdays match.

Finally We’re Off

After two painful early season results against the unstoppable forces of Manchester (good and evil, I’ll let you decide which is which), many a fan and journalist alike had billed our away fixture to Wolves as both the real start and also, laughingly in my view, a make-or-break game to signal our intentions for this Premier League season.

Before the international break, the two sides’ fortunes had been somewhat contrasting. Wolves on a high after 7 points from 3 matches and a newfound belief in their status as a Premier League side. Spurs were propping up the foot of the table and, after a relatively quiet transfer window, a large number of our fans were writing off our chances – a distinct sense of gloom settling over N17.

So which Spurs team would turn up for the 3pm Saturday kick-off at Molineux? Comeback kings, marauding attackers or the rather meek, porous team from the back end of the 2010-11 season? Looking at the starting line-up, I think that most fans would have been relatively happy, with a standard Spurs 4-4-2 being employed. Van der Vaart’s absence had divided many Spurs fans. He is a genuinely high quality player, of that there is no doubt, but much like Lampard for England, Spurs have a tendency to become shapeless when he is in the side. Given the importance of the fixture, a solid line-up was essential, with both banks of four working together to close down any opportunities for the home team. Parker and Adebayor were handed their Premier League debuts. The former to add some steel and fight to our midfield with the injured Hudd and Sandro not available, the latter to add some much-needed quality to our faltering forward line. Maybe the biggest surprise was Gareth Bale reprising his newfound Wales role on the right-hand side of midfield, with Niko occupying the space on the left-hand side.

For Wolves, the absence of tricky winger Matt Jarvis was the most notable change to the line-up that had performed so well until now.

The game started fairly evenly with both teams finding gaps in the opposition but with few genuine chances carved out by either team. Henry and Parker were patrolling the centre of the park well for their respective sides and Spurs best early movement came from the full-backs, particulary Assou-Ekotto, moving forward into the space vacated by the more centrally-minded Kranjcar. Walker looked assured in the right-back role, moving ever closer to being a first-choice regular with each appearance. Adebayor also looked sharp – he loves a debut, having scored on both his Arsenal and Man City bows – and showed some good early movement, holding the ball up well, allowing our midfield to move forward and offer some assistance, a skill his predecessors, Crouch and Pavlyuchenko, have lost/never had.

Our earliest chance was almost scored by a Wolves player with a skimming BAE cross nearly turned in by the excellent Roger Johnson, forcing Wayne Hennessey into action, only to parry the ball to Kranjcar whose follow-up was cleared off the line. Our intent was clear. Wolves also had chances with Jamie O’Hara stinging Friedel’s hands with a well struck, if somewhat central, strike at goal, easily parried. Wolves’ best chance of the half fell to Henry whose low shot was brilliantly tipped around the right-hand post by Friedel. He’s certainly getting enough chances to show off his goalkeeping ability…The game continued to be of decent quality, without ever reaching good quality and we reached half-time 0-0, a solid start to the game.

The second half continued as the first with some half-chances created but nothing of real import. In the 60th minute, the game changed with Bale returned to the left wing, his best position, to link up with Modric. Both players instantly looked better and we looked simultaneously more balanced and threatening. This yielded results in the 67th minute with Scott Parker finding some space and slotting the ball through from 25 yards (he only passes sideways, right?) to Adebayor, who showed good composure to round the onrushing Henessey and slide the ball back across into the empty net. Make that three debuts, three goals in the Prem for the Togolese forward. He’s an ex-Arsenal player, you say? Tell that to the Spurs fans, roaring out the “Yiddo, Yiddo, Yiddo, Yiddo” chant in full voice.

Spurs continued to push on with Wolves failing to establish any kind of foothold during the following minutes. In the 80th minute, the pressure told with Kranjcar feeding Defoe in the area to the right of the goal, with a trademark Defoe shot, low with power, flying into the net from ten yards out. 2-0 Spurs and hopefully, game over. We saw the game out well, with Harry continuing to apply pressure rather than sitting back. Giovanni came on for Defoe in the 89th minute to keep Wolves guessing. Hopefully he’ll get a few games this year, he’s a great option if he gets his head down and trains hard.

In Summary, Spurs are off the mark, we’re up to 13th. For those panicking, or downplaying a victory against a rather quiet Wolves side, let’s review the positives. We kept a clean sheet, both our strikers scored, our 2 new players played well and all of this with a squad joint top of the PhysioRoom most injured players list. Sandro has signed a new 5-year deal (ssh, don’t tell Harry), Hudds, Van der Vaart, Lennon and Dawson are all set to return to bolster the squad. The depth of our squad should see us through – can Arsenal, Liverpool, or Stoke (ask Martin Samuel, they’re challenging for fourth where we are not apparently) boast a squad as strong as ours? I don’t believe so. Onwards Spurs, we believe again.

COYS

Ciaran Griggs (@LordFIMM on Twitter)

Related posts:

1. Match Preview: Wolves v Spurs
2. Match Report: Spurs 4-0 Liverpool
3. Match Report: Fulham 1 – 3 Spurs
4. Match Report: WBA 1-3 Tottenham Hotspur
5. Match Report: Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 Sunderland