they write the word for the score.
So on all the tickers on Sunday it was Tottenham 9 (nine) – Wigan 1.
Wigan, another of those games that had banana skin written all over it, all depending on which bunch of PieMen turned up. The one that turned over Chelski, Villa and the only team to beat Burnley on their own patch could be tough. The one that rolled over against Pompey then everything should be OK.
But could Spurs help themselves, or more specifically ‘Arry ‘elp ’em? Yes he could when he picked the team. A straight 4-4-2 with Kranjcar nominally on the left filling the Modric role he was really brought in for, the happy return of Lennon on the right, Defoe and Crouch up front and Huddlestone along side Palacios in the middle, in a Jenas free zone.
Typical Spurs start followed, up and at ’em, Lennon skinning his fullback, chances being created, but as usual most not taken. All not taken except the one by Crouch from Lennon’s excellent cross, right in the danger area, the type of delivery that we’ve been waiting for. But with those other chances either spurned or kept out by Kirkland in the Wigan goal, it had a look of one of the frustrating days. After 25 minutes Spurs dropped off and let Wigan back into it, they finished the half on the up, going in at the break their manager the more happier, seen out the storm only one down and playing better, ‘Arry on the other hand not as happy even with the lead.
Go out there and get into ’em, press ’em, ‘arry ’em. Out early for the second half, out with a purpose a purpose that was put into practice right from the off as Palacios was at their ankles, biting and snapping at them like the player we bought, the player at the beginning of the season, not the player we’ve seen these last few games. Oh what was the difference, ah yes someone was missing from the start of the campaign, was back in the last few weeks but was on the bench yesterday. Without the debilitating presence of Jenas, Palacios could function, so could the whole team.
After watching Hull on Saturday you see the difference between a player that wants the ball and a coward that runs and hides from it. Jimmy Bullard was constantly making himself open and actively seeking possession for Hull, a team that are not exactly on the up, he was doing everything he could to win the game. Everything that Jenas doesn’t do when he’s hiding.
And with the pressure of Palacios pressing them came the goals. Lennon outstanding in doing the simple things and doing them right. Running at his fullback, keeping wide not always cutting in and putting across some of the best deliveries we’ve seen from the lickle tyke. Mostly at the foot of Defoe, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. Did he get a bonus for his 5, if so it should be taken off him along with the win bonus, extra punishment for missing those three games due to that stupid sending off. Just look what we missed in those games.
Of course in between Defoe’s second and his hattrick, was Scharner impression of a dirty French cheat. Yeah like the Frog v Ireland game you can see why the ref missed it but not the linesman, assistant referees my arse. In the end though Scharner and Wigan were to pay for the incident, if he hadn’t done that would Spurs have gone on to score the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, or ninth? Maybe as it had such an effect on the game Wigan will campaign to FIFA for a replay.
I do believe after the sixth went in the BBC decided not to bother with the game, after missing the first half hour of it due to the dire Bolton v Blackburn long ball fest, 5Live chose to head over to Stoke v. Pompey, which set the world alight in footballing brilliance, instead of staying at The Lane. Now can you imagine them doing that if ARSEnal, The Hubcap Bandits, ManUre or Chelski were six up? No, neither can I.
Anyway a 16 clear goal difference was required to go back above the Woolwich Wandering scum into third place after their humiliation at the hands of Darren Bent and Sunderland, but for the Wigan man of the match Chris Kirkland what ended up as just nine could have been closer to that number…
But confidence up, Defoe scoring, Lennon flying, Kranjcar excellent, Woodgate and Dawson at the back, ‘Arry hopefully figuring out who should and shouldn’t play, should just be happy with nine scored and the goal difference helped out by eight…