everyone predicted it.
As soon as Spurs turned over the European Champions, Inter Milan, on Tuesday, most fans of the lilywhites said to themselves, or others, well we’ll probably get turned over by Bolton at the weekend. Was it really in jest or just a knowing nod to the inevitable?
Either way it was prophetic.
The fact it was the early Saturday kick-off was a helpful indicator, those game are generally crap and Spurs never really perform in them. So typical of us to get that time slot after a Champions League fixture. And then going to Bolton, having never won at the Reebok… ah it’s all falling into place.
Not helped either by injuries to van der Vaart and Lennon, ‘Arry had to make changes. In a way I can sort of understand picking Palacios and Sandro in the middle. Seeing Bolton as being up for the fight, wanting to show those fancy dan southerners, they don’t like it up ’em, so a bit of muscle required in there to help out. Reasonable in theory but with Palacios’ recent performances and the fact when he’s not played we’ve really missed Huddlestone’s presence – which might have to get used to if he’s banned for that stamp, though he could use the Gerrard defence, what you mean they didn’t show his elbow on MotD2, what a surprise – not one that worked in practice. Maybe have been graft in there but no craft.
Though a lot of the times there was no graft either, dilly dallying on the ball, leaving strikers wide open in the middle of the park. Everything that was so on midweek was off here, from every player that excelled in their job against Inter, especially along the back-line. We saw the best of Assou-Ekotto, Kaboul, Gallas and Hutton back then, we saw exactly what we all feared on Saturday. Yes Davies was offside for the first but you can’t give even him that amount of free space. Was he offside for the last, does it matter?
Modric, moved forward couldn’t provide the spark we’d seen midweek but then he didn’t exactly have the same environmental round him to work with. Many had wondered what Kranjcar had to do to get a game, well not playing like this would help, that’s if he’s given another chance. Bentley’s show after replacing him less than fifteen minutes before the end, made it even more obvious to all that it should have come earlier, much earlier. Why wasn’t it obvious to ‘Arry, Joe, Kev etc?
And of course Bale, ah the joy in the voices of all the media types as they scrambled to get off the bandwagon and declare they never said the young winger was that good anyway. Oh no it was others who were caught up in the hyperbole, not me. 🙄 Maybe if Steinsson had been carded for that crunching foul on within the first five minutes it would have changed things.
More sloppy goals, sloppy penalty… that’s the BAE that was missing midweek, and then the comeback. Hutton trying his best jazz hands cuts inside and has a swinger with his swinger. Cracking goal. Plenty of time for a comeback. Big Pav’s been on from the break, he’s not done much and then bang, what a volley, what a goal. They could do something here, totally undeserved but they could come away with at least a….oh right Petrov makes it four…oh well…
Bad loss, very bad loss, typical bad loss. Made even worse with the fact that Bolton now go above Spurs in the league and made even worse by the events of Sunday afternoon, when if the scummy wanderers don’t get an equaliser then we’re below the Toon. Which of course they didn’t and we now are below the newly promoted side, level on points with the scousers and sad mackems, who we play on Tuesday, a real six pointer.