all over it.
I pretty much said this time and time again – well if you’ve ever read anything on here you know I repeat myself ad nauseum – up until the 74th minute when it changed to OK it’s got a one nil defeat written all over it
.
What it did have written all over it was typical Tottenham
. Everything about this season all rolled up in one, the good, the bad and the ugly.
What with Citeh losing earlier is was a guilt edge chance to really close the gap, beat Blackpool, repeat last years victory at Eastlands and then while they’re crying over losing the cup over take them with a rousing scalping of the rejuvenated Liverpool. All in our hands now.
Let’s start with the good then. Well as with most of the season it was Modric, who again was class on a stick. Alongside side him was the tireless beast that is Sandro, who has pretty much filled that spot Spurs have been crying out for, for years, now he hasn’t been encumbered by the presence of Jenas. To think he only really got in through chance, Huddlestone’s injuries, as ‘Arry seemed reluctant to try him.
The other good was the decent display by Danny “what a goal” Rose at left back and this brings us to the bad. The fact that while Rose was whiling away his days in Bristol, ‘Arry thought it was better to play Pienaar on the left or even worse move Modric out to the wasteland and play Jenas in the middle. What a waste.
It’s added to by Lennon being on the bench, until he replaced the anonymous Pavlyuchenkio at the break. For what reason he didn’t start is unclear, is it this rumoured bust up that’ll see the winger offloaded in the summer? Again his play on the field couldn’t be faulted, this time around he finally got some decent service himself and delivered some decent balls, which yet again weren’t finished off. The only reason Lennon’s has a miserable three assists in the league is the lack of finishing, and it doesn’t take into consideration the number of his deliveries knocked down by Crouch and banged in by van der Vaart during their purple patch.
Another piece of bad started out in the good column. Heurelho Gomes, sadly, yet again. He was making great save after great save, right up to Dudley’s shot that he palmed out for a corner. From that corner Dawson, from one angle seemed to be pushed, though not from another and he hand hit the ball. Penalty given. Penalty brilliantly saved by Gomes. At this point I did say Now don’t do anything stupid
, he didn’t hear me and here comes the bad. An aimless flap from the ensuing corner followed by his headless running about and contact with a Blackpool player – which again looked like no contact and a throwing himself to the floor by Taylor-Fletcher throwing his legs out from one angle and a barge by Gomes in another. No saving Adam’s second attempt from the spot. As soon as the first was saved everything else was inevitable.
That Blackpool player, who almost became a Spurs player in January – who would you replace with him ‘Arry, Modric or Sandro? – brings us neatly onto the ugly. Though the ugly started well before his intervention. Early on Rose was on the end of three bad challenges that should have all seen a card shown, Modric was on the end of his usual kick fest, as usual without getting much – no surprise he’s a doubt for the Citeh game, that and the fact only Assou-Ekotto and Gomes have played more league minutes than him. But it all culminated when Adam went over the ball and straight onto Bale’s ankle. Again the ref initially gave nothing, though he may have taken into account the number of times recently Bale has rolled about, Barca/ARSEnal style. But this was a bad one and Bale will be missing for some while you’d imagine, certainly we won’t see him again this season. Though saying that the ref should be seeing that, it was so blatant and deserving of a straight red.
As Bale was stretchered off, with what had gone on before, a non-Spurs fan said to be me that Blackpool had got away with murder
in the game. Now if this had been the scummy Woolwich Wanderers the manager would have whipped the media into a lynch mob to run Adam out of the game, while ‘Arry says I’ve talked to the lad and he doesn’t seem a dirty player
, yes coz he’s gonna come out and tell you ‘Arry.
The other ugly thing was Defoe’s goal, because it shows what he can do, actually score but what just hasn’t happened from any of the strikers all season, it’s an ugliness that’s lead to the ugly stats that we’ve won one out of the last 12 games and the record against the promoted three is one win, one loss and four draws, eight for and eight against. If you take in the likes of Wigan, West Ham, Wolves i.e. the relegation fodder it’s even uglier.