sit there twitching.
I know it’s pretty meaningless and the chances of it having any impact at on the players is at best very slight but I was getting increasing pissed off seeing clips of ‘Arry lounging comfortably in his luxury Recaro dugout chair.
Twitching away while his charges proceeded to run around a scrag end of a football pitch, seemingly unaware on how to play the game properly or indeed that they were the ones wearing all blue, not the white shirts. The latter maybe due to them thinking it was a home game as the only full stand was occupied by a hardy bunch of vociferous Spurs fans while the rest of the place had a scattering of the odd home fan. Why they bothered with a second tier on the stadium is unknown now.
Get up and ‘ave a shout ‘Arry, just do something, anything.
But it’s not just during a game ‘Arry has to do something the wheels are dropping off, or did they drop off a few weeks back when Lennon went down, now if he is back next week as is rumoured will this signal an about change?
Anyway, what another shocking away trip up North, season started so well there but this was another atrocious performance. On a day that started well as ‘Arry showed his commitment for the Cup by picking, on paper anyway, his strongest available starting XI, but not only that the great news that the Jenasite was nowhere to be seen, not even on the bench. No talk of an injury, is this a good sign that’ Arry has finally learned?
That good start didn’t really last long, yeah, not much after the whistle went, as those in blue put in an amazing display of ineptitude and profligacy. Modric must have wondered why ‘Arry had bothered playing him as the he kept watching the ball fly over his head. Much been said about the long ball game of late. This wasn’t it. No, this was just aimless humps hit out of defence in panic. A team with all the ability when the ball is at their feet just kicking it away as quickly as possible.
A shambles, being embarrassed by a side that aren’t that good and no one will miss if they go down. This was the complete opposite of the standard Spurs game, this time it was them on the end of a barrage, with chance after chance not going in. Thank god Bolton forward, well he ain’t exactly a striker, Elmander is crap or it could have been much worse by the time Davies opened the scoring after 34 minutes.
‘Arry just sat there. Twitch, twitch. Well half time, he’ll do the business then.
Didn’t seem to, wasn’t as Joe Jordan opined so much a game of two halves, more a game of two thirds to one as it wasn’t until the last 30 minutes that Spurs looked like they’d turned up. Bar hit twice and then Defoe’s equaliser, fin ally some life and then the lifeline. A penalty. Defoe’s been demoted, Niko’s on so it’s down to him or Thudd. And as Huddlestone stood there, head bowed not looking exactly like he was his first choice, did anyone really believe it was going to be 1-2. If the had as soon as he started those little tippy toe steps in the run up, they must have immediately changed there minds. When he then placed the ball, just at that right height for a ‘keeper, no one could have been surprised at all when the ball didn’t hit the back of the net. In a long line of piss weak penalty takers this season, Spurs have a new champion, so is it Niko or Bale up next?
Bale, well he’s the only one that yet again came out of a game this week with any credit, had a bit of a battle with Chung-Yong Lee – funny how everyone calls him Lee but yet Chung-Yong is on the back of his shirt at £1 per letter, plus hyphen, yeah I know it’s a Korean name. The middle two were for the best part bypassed, as was Modric, he tried to play football but those around him on both sides conspired to render that a useless exercise. Bentley was about as infuriating as ‘Arry, repeatedly trying tricks and cutting inside when a quick cross was called for, he could beat the fullback but wanted to piss about. As for the set pieces, he changed from being Beckham at his inept worst to full Ryan Giggs mode, as the ball either floated aimlessly past everyone or hit the first defender. Didn’t deliver one decent ball throughout the 90 minutes.
Defoe took his goal well but wasn’t in the game at all for the rest of it. This was both down to the delivery, or lack of it from elsewhere, bar Bale, but also down to his own play. The number of occasions Spurs were on the edge of the box the ball came in and Defoe wasn’t there, he was lollygagging yards behind, when he should have been breaking for the near post, Crouch at the back but no, just Crouchy was in there. I saw a lot of stick for the big guy, a lot of it was undeserved. Yes a change could have come, I wouldn’t have minded seeing Pav or Gudjohnsen on at some point but ‘Arry was too comfortable.
In the first few games of his absence Lennon wasn’t really missed as chances were created it was just they were spurned. Now the chances are drying up.
In the end could have won it, should have won it but lucky to get the draw and still be in the draw for the next round. Quarter finals, Fulham away yes but winnable, if Villa had gone out there’d only really be Citeh and Chelski and one of them is not going to be in the semis. It’s there to be won, a trophy or top 4?
Another question a certain Dutch master is coming up for auction during the summer, ‘Arry or Guus?