December « 2011 « thfc1882.com

Match Preview: Tottenham Hotspur vs Bolton Wanderers

December 2nd, 2011 Posted in Articles, Match Previews

Dec, 02 2011

THFC1882 gives a debut to Siva who previews the Bolton game for us. Siva has been a Spurs fan all his life and as the man puts it himself he was born with lilywhite in his vains! The first game Siva remembers was when he was 5 or 6, Ledley King (or Mr Spurs for Siva) is his favourite player and he likes a drink in the Bell and Hare pre match.

Oh the joys of being a Tottenham Hotspur fan. Everything was going so well, unbeaten in 10 league games, winning 9 and top of the Premier League form table with very hushed mutterings of a title challenge. All that stood between us and another routine Premier League win was a home match against a European team whose name resembles that scrabble world your Dad pulled out of the bag, which vaguely resembled cheating. Yet here we stand. After a shattering loss to the current 5^th best team in Greece all those old Spurs instincts have come back. Is this the beginning of the inevitable collapse? That horrible sense of anxiety when we’re 2-0 up with 10 minutes to go and our opponent has a corner haunts us, worried we’ll suddenly remember this season’s run has been a sick dream and revert back to the Spurs of old… But it isn’t, we are 3^rd with a game in hand, we’ve made our best start to a league campaign since we won the double 50 years ago and some of our players are on a list in every top managers desk draw with a big ‘?’ aside their name. I’m confused though, we are all but out of Europe yet I find myself not that bothered. Yes it’s an inconvenience to lose an outlet to give our reserve and youth players some games, and it’s a trophy that we would have liked to win, but it seems a small price to pay if it helps us cement a top 4 spot at the end of the season.

With that we look to Saturday and our match against Bolton Wanderers at White Hart Lane, incredibly our first 3pm Saturday fixture at home this season. The big fear is that Wednesday’s result may knock our momentum. In Modric, Lennon, Defoe, Walker and Bale, half of our outfield side that started against West Brom either began the game or featured and unfortunately tasted that bitter pill of defeat. We are generally excellent at home, especially in the league and against Bolton we have a record of 6 wins and a draw in our last 7 home match ups with The Trotters. Thanks to Opta I can also tell you that we have lost 1 of our last 22 home games in the league whilst Bolton have lost 15 of their last 18 away games, winning 2.

Whilst statistics can promise everything and mean nothing, those who attend WHL every week will know that there is something special brewing on that pitch. The feelings of expectation I feel when I get to the ground these days is like nothing I’ve experienced before - I believe its called confidence. We no longer have to fear the special weapons the opposition may have, because we know that if we play our football, even the best clubs have to spend just as much time worrying about our artillery and guile before they can think about unleashing theirs.

I actually have a lot of time for Bolton these days. They’ve moved on from the hoof tactics of Big Sam, as well as the anti football Megson brought to the table. Under Owen Coyle they try to play with the ball and really give it a go. Yes they still use the big lump of Kevin Davies as their focal point of attack, but he has to be respected. A crafty old fox at 34, when given the right service he is as effective a target man as there is in the Premier League. It has to be noted that Bolton are going through a horrendous injury crisis to an already thin squad, one which has stifled Coyle’s attempt to truly change the ethos of how they play.

So it comes down to how our loss on Wednesday has affected the mood in the camp and the mindset of some of the players who strived for the win but couldn’t find that goal. Given the state of Bolton and our current league form, I don’t think it is outlandish to suggest that if we turn up we should be looking at a strong home win. However we also know that we have that awful ability at any time to become the Tottenham of old again and struggle to break down well marshalled and disciplined sides - being hit on the break or from a set piece is certainly not out of the question. The bonus that Rafael Van der Vaart is fit and included in the match squad should help us. His creativity combined with his free licence to do as he pleases works well for us, especially at home (unless he’s in right midfield…). Hopefully Adebayor has rested up and is focused on continuing his good recent form; having played the 90 minutes on Wednesday, Defoe is likely to return to the bench.

I believe this season is going to signal a shift in the sands of the Premier League hierarchy. A big club is going to miss out on the Champions League at our expense, I have no doubt about that. This club has been looked after prudently, we have a chairman who has grown over time and is now strong enough to stick with his convictions and a manager who can get the best out of our creative talents by letting them go out and play as they know best. Referring back to Opta again, this is the fifth time in Premier League history that we’ve won five matches in a row, we’ve never won 6. This is a season to show the world (and more importantly the other big PL clubs) we mean business and I firmly expect us to smash this record to carry on our good form.

Prediction

I’m going for 2-0. Bolton will be hard to break down and work nonstop for the 90. Brad Friedel will have to stay focussed with their aerial threat always a factor but I expect us to wear them down with a Lennon and Adebayor double whammy.

COYS

Siva

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Adebayor, Bale, Bolton, Champions League Qualification, Defoe, Europa Cup, Lennon, Modric, Owen Coyle, Spurs, Van der Vaart, Walker

Match Report: Tottenham Hotspur 1-2 PAOK

December 1st, 2011 Posted in Europa League, Match Reports

Dec, 01 2011

1 Comment »

THFC1882 presents Mike Hooley with a match report from a less than glorious night for Tottenham Hotspur:

Any hopes or expectations of progression to the knockout stages of the Europa League were all but extinguished last night, with Spurs never recovering from perhaps their sloppiest start to a game since the 4-0 reverse at Fulham in the FA Cup back in January.

Just five minutes were on the clock before a horrendous touch from Gallas gifted the Greeks possession on the half-way line, and from their first attack, Georgiadis crossed from the left for Salpingidis to head into the bottom corner.

The Greek fans – taking up a large chunk of the Park Lane end and around the side of the West Stand – were making themselves heard and just eight minutes later turned near-delirious after Athanasiadis added a second, following a ball played inside the exposed, sluggish Corluka, before Georgiadis again sent over a precise cross to leave Athanasiadis with a simple finish.
For an experienced home defence, it was all ridiculously easy for PAOK.

The question now was what did the boys in white have in the locker. Spurs did gradually play their way into the game, with Modric inevitably at the heart of most of it, trying to coax a response. The first real effort of note was a shot wide from Defoe, but too many moves were breaking down, often from the left through the rusty, returning Rose and perhaps White Hart Lane’s current least favourite son, Pienaar.

With half an hour gone Spurs finally upped the tempo, with first Kane sending a side-foot snapshot wide, before Defoe finally warmed Chalkias’s hands in the PAOK goal. From the resulting corner, a clearance off the line was followed with what looked like a trip on Defoe, though it was apparently handball, and the referee awarded a red card to Stafylidis and a penalty. Modric opened up his body and stroked the ball to Chalkias’s left –a textbook penalty from the midfield maestro.

Unfortunately that penalty kick was to prove the highlight of the night. There were a couple of other attacks of note down the left side before the break, with Rose involved on both occasions as he finally made an impact. On the second occasion though, Pienaar badly overplayed the return pass.

Spurs inevitably began the second half strongly, and in fact Gallas scored shortly after the resumption, only for it to be deservedly ruled out for offside. But just a few minutes later a cross by Rose gave Kane a headed chance at the back post, which he put well over the bar – though it looked like he was stretching, he should have done better.
Approaching the hour and another fine chance came and went, after a one-two between Corluka and Kane presented Pienaar with a chance from 16 yards, which he screwed horribly wide. It was clearly not Pienaar’s night, and the South African has yet to supply any meaningful contribution during his time at the club.

Rose’s last contribution was a woefully overhit cross, before Bale entered the fray, initially at left-back. Spurs continued to pile on the pressure, as Livermore tried his luck, shooting narrowly wide. (Livermore has taken some criticism for his performance but overall he had an okay game – there were certainly a few worse performers out there).
On 65 minutes Walker replaced the (apart from a couple of neat first-half flicks) ineffectual Pienaar, allowing Corulka to switch to left-back and allowing Bale to play in his usual position.

Bale started to make his presence felt, and shot too high after a reverse pass from Gallas allowed Walker the chance for a run and cross.

Redknapp’s last throw of the dice was to replace Kane – who will be hoping for better times to come after a largely frustrating game – with Falque. Into the final quarter a trademark Bale run and superb cross saw Defoe’s shot cleared off the line by Contreras, before the defender then fell to the ground after a challenge with Defoe, before the England striker finally scored. It wasn’t offside and with no apparent whistle blown there was much confusion in the stadium as the referee and his assistant conferred. No goal; Defoe instead penalised for a harsh looking foul.

Frustration grew on the pitch and in the stands as the Dutch referee denied Spurs a quick corner, while the Greek fans grew louder, chanting at each other from the south and west stands, or whistling in unison.

Still more opportunities came and went in the final ten minutes, as the lively looking Falque curled just wide and Bale blazed over, while their looked a decent shout for a penalty after Lennon was upended.

And so I was left with the long walk up Tottenham High Road to Seven Sisters tube station, having left just before the end of injury time, where I was greeted with two separate groups of excitable, celebrating Greek fans with a couple of flares set off in the road, heading back towards White Hart Lane. One of the first group approached and advised me to ‘go home’. I sensibly decided to walk on and not to engage in conversation with him and his friends.

Not our finest night then, and a largely pedestrian performance where no player really shone. Some of the players must be rusty having not played much this season, but perhaps some may struggle to make any impact at all. It is certainly likely to be a while before many get another chance, barring injuries.

My marks out of ten are as follows: Gomes 5; Corluka 3, Gallas 4, Bassong 5, Rose 5; Lennon 5, Livermore 5, Modric 6, Pienaar 3; Kane 4, Defoe 5.

COYS

Mike Hooley (follow @mjhooley on Twitter)

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Europa League, PAOK, Spurs, Tottenham Hotspur