week.
Another dispiriting result looked to be following another dispiriting display by Spurs until a bit of luck here and there saw them overcome Hull 2-1.
It was an awful 45 minutes of football with only the slightest relief that Adebayor wasn’t anywhere to be seen – in that he wasn’t actually in the squad not his usual not being seen after being picked – and the fact that Spurs only went in at the break one nil down.
Though it was a half made worse by the standard fair of the law of the ex. Ex-Spur Jake Livermore scoring the opener, was bad enough but hearing the usual drivel of commentators telling us how great ex-Spur Michael Dawson was playing was even worse.
He wasn’t that great, it was Spurs were that bad, in another clueless, direction less, narrow, performance. Another performance where Hugo saved the day again – though he had a dodgy few minutes here and there – and Spursesque finishing, from the likes of Ben Arfa, saved further blushes.
It was a surprise the Hull player missed his sitter, he was one that has hurt Spurs before and so with the three ex-Spurs players on there books along with Jelavic who only seems to score against Spurs there were plenty of candidates to heap more misery on Pochettino.
No surprise the when Livermore opened the scoring. No surprise that a defender turned his back on the shot either.
The guff said about Dawson was matched later on by the guff talked about the turning point in the game. Queue the outrage. Chief cheerleader Dave Whelan’s best mate Steve Bruce. Of course Bruce is going to try and deflect from his player’s actions and of course the British media is going to back the British manager has he rails against the dark acts of these foreign types.
The fact his player kicked out at another player who had played no part in why the Hull player had gone to ground screaming for a foul – which is a red card offence no matter what followed – is lost on Bruce. The fact that Vertonghen went down and just looked at Gaston and shrugged with a what the fuck expression is apparently a criminal act designed to get Bruce’s player sent off. Something Bruce would be ashamed to do.
Of course the knuckle faced knuckle dragger forgets to mention that earlier in the game one of his players, one of his good honest salt of the earth English players – Tom Huddlestone – went down holding the upper part of his face after being slightly brushed on the chin / chest area. You’d have thought Huddlestone had taken a forearm smash to the bridge of the nose the way he went down like a bag of spuds. I don’t know if Bruce was ashamed.
Was he ashamed at the cowardly tackle by Livermore later on in the game on Mason which should have seen a straight red, never mind just the second yellow which would have seen the scorer go.
Of course neither would fit into Bruce’s narrative of how hard done by they were. Nor would it have fitted into the pundits on MotD2 diatribe about the foreign influence. Barkley, Wilshere, Tomkins and Huddlestone all went down very easily this week, all dives some with feigning injury to get others sent off, Vertonghen actually was kicked and tripped and in no way made the most of it but he was singled out the most. Some would say there was an agenda here.
It helped Spurs yes but that was the Hull players fault no one else’s. What also helped was a change at half-time, Dier on a booking again wasn’t at his best at right-back filling in for the suspended Naughton – does any Spurs’ game finish without a sending off? – so was replaced by Chiriches. This I called for not only just before the game but the moment Naughton received his marching orders.
Vlad didn’t have to defend much, which helped, and offers more pace, dribbling, width and crossing from the wide area. More width was added with the introduction of Lennon and the positioning of Lamela wider on the left. With that came room in the middle for Eriksen to finally get time and space on the ball.
Eriksen was begging to run things. A ball was played to Soldado, he was fouled as he executed his turn – would have been clean through on goal if not fouled, letter of the law – from the free-kick Eriksen hit the post and Kane knocked in the rebound.
Kane had taken a previous free-kick the folly of which was shown here and with that kick which was atrocious. Ideas above his station, he fluked the last one at Villa and it was luck that the rebound off the post hit the ‘keeper’s head or it wouldn’t have gone anywhere near Kane.
Soldado doesn’t get that luck but he also doesn’t help himself. A fairly easy chance came his way a little later, his shot was that of a man with no confidence but then Kane missed a later sitter from a Lennon cross and didn’t receive anything like the abuse. Nor does Adebayor who contributes even less.
The abuse was in full flow after Soldado didn’t react to a cross flashed across the face of the goal. Well after the last 18 months at the club it was probably the last thing he expected and again Adebayor spends his whole time on his heels.
Going off shortly after didn’t help Soldado either, neither did it help Spurs as Paulinho came on for him and what had been a high tempo, all action, assault, slowed to a laborious grind. Paulinho just halted everything in it’s progress. As it looked to be petering out to a draw.
Until Eriksen picked the ball up just outside the box, bit of a jink, bit of a tee up and bang it was two one. Queue celebration pile up in the corner.
All that was left was to put up with the idiots like Steve Bruce and Phil Neville. That latter who showed how Spurs missed Dawson by highlighting one of his cross field humps. You know those cross field humps that come off once in a blue moon and were a standing joke amongst Spurs supporters.