Sunday 19th November, 2000, FA CARLING PREMIERSHIP

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR    2 – 1    LIVERPOOL

Ferdinand 31                                    Fowler 18

Sherwood 41

Spurs (3-5-2):- Sullivan; Perry, Young, Thelwell; Carr, Anderton, Sherwood (sub Freund, 84), King, Clemence; Rebrov(sub Armstrong, 84), Ferdinand
Subs not used:- Walker; Vega; Korsten
Booked:- Anderton (foul)

Liverpool (4-4-2):- Westerveld; Babbel, Henchoz, Hyypia, Traore (sub Gerrard, 64); Murphy (sub Carragher, 79),McAllister, Hamann, Smicer (sub Barmby, 61); Owen, Fowler
Subs not used:- Arphexad; Vignal
Booked:- Smicer, Babbel

Attendance:- 36,036
Referee:- M. Halsey

An excellent game at the Lane where a spirited Tottenham came back from a goal down to beat a genuine top five team

I've given the evil goon plenty of stick when his ineptitude has deserved it in the past, but today he deserves some qualified praise. First of all he dropped Vega and played Young, King and Thelwell. He also kept faith with the progressive 3-5-2 system that was effective against Sunderland but lost against Villa and managed to make the players use the system more effectively. It can be no co-incidence that no Fatcha and we have our first assists from the left wing since you know who departed in the summer

The reason the praise is qualified is because it has taken him this long to give the youngsters a proper chance and why why oh why can we not play as positively as this away from home. We now have the best home record in the league and the worst away record

I watched the game as a refugee in the upper West (an area I last visited on a sunny day in Sept 1990 when a certain fat bloke scored three past Shilton in a 3-0 win against Derby, Great view but no atmosphere and even some bloke moaning about Carr!! (twat)

The game started with both sides having good possession, with Thelwell and King getting huge receptions for every pass and tackle. Liverpool had the best early chances with Murphy shooting tamely when in a good position. Their goal came out of a nothing ball to Murphy on the edge of the box. He managed to flick it sideways and wrongfoot everyone giving Fowler an almost open goal

Spurs battled back and had attacking options on both sides of the pitch. Rebrov won the ball near the left touchline and put Clem in with a neat back heal. Clem then excelled himself with a perfect cross and for once Ferdinand moved his fat arse and got on the end of it and slid it home.

Most of the game was played in an open attacking way that has characterized recent encounters between the two sides at the Lane. The goal that proved to be the winner came from a long ball from Young which seemed to find Ferdinand offside in the middle but as the Scousers stopped, Clem ran on to the ball on the left wing and with plenty of time delivered his second perfect cross on to the massive head of Sherwood who thumped the header into the top corner

Piggy Barmby was introduced along with Gerard midway through the second half but Liverpool despite having lots of possession in the Tottenham half but did not take any of the half chances that fell to them. Spurs had a few chances, the best of which was an audacious chip from Steve Carr which hit the inside of the post with Westerveld stranded and Anderton could only hit the rebound straight at the keeper

The board indicating 5 minutes of added time was greeted with groans, but Spurs played out the majority of this in possession in the Liverpool half and a great cheer greeted the final whistle

Sullivan 7/10 - Good performance from Sully (despite being a bit out of position for their goal) with a couple of crucial saves from Hyypia header and Owen shot and he managed to mix up his distribution between the aimless oofs to upfield to throws to the back players

Perry - 6/10 Played another decent match defensively but the crowd seem to have little patience with his ordinary distribution which is a little unfair imvho as Perry is a capable Premiership defender.             Young 8/10 - A fine match from Youngy who nearly two years after making his debut at Upton Park is fulfilling the promise expected of an England U-21. Today he demonstrated good reading of the game, good heading ability, with a number of excellent tackles and decent passing. He deserves an extended run in the team, even when the Sol man returns at the expense of Perry     Thelwell 6/10 - After being an unused sub almost two years ago at Upton Park when Young made his debut, Thelwell made an impressive first team debut at the left handside of a three man defence. It drives me mad that Graham has chosen to wait to Liverpool at home live on Sky to give Alton his debut, but Alton rose to the occasion with a spirited display and even when he got caught by Owen, Sully produced a good save to rescue the day. A debut full of promise which should relegate Ramon and Fatcha further down the pecking order

Carr 7/10- Another barnstorming display from our hero -fierce in the tackle, excellent going forward and an exquisite chip which hit the inside of the post in the second half which would have made the last few minutes a bit easier on the nerves 

King 7/10 - Every time Ledley gets a start in the first team it seems to be in a different position. This time he was back to play the central midfield role he played so well during the away win at Derby last season, and he played another fine match good tackling and interceptions with simple accurate passing when in possession. Another player who deserves to keep his place for the Leicester match and beyond hopefully          Anderton 6/10 - At the heart of all the good passing moves and did a fair job when we did n't have the ball. Could have used dead ball situations better in the opposition half.             Sherwood 6/10 - Another better display in his more familiar role further up the pitch where he seems happier. Scored what proved to be the winner with a thumping header from a Clemence cross               Clemence 6/10 Did a good job in what is proving to be a problem position without Treacle. Provided two excellent crosses for our goals, the first after a neat Rebrov back heel and the second running onto a long crossfield pass by Carr which wrong footed the scousers who were appealing for offside against Fat Les

Rebrov 6/10 - Produced a better performance as the team tried to pass the ball a lot more and had his usual excellent link ups with Carr and Anderton. He seems to thrive on being involved in the game and its up to the rest of the players to utilize his undoubted ability. No one can doubt his commitment as a crunching tackle in the second half proved and its up to the other players and management to get the best out of him, although I'd like to see him shoot more. I would also like to see him play in Sherwood's position (the front man of the central midfield three) as I think this would give his skills greater opportunity, esp. if we had two forwards in front of him (and if these forwards were ones that did n't stand still all the time)
Ferdinand 6/10 - Another decent match from Les, capped with a good goal when getting on the end of Clemence's inch perfect centre to slide home the equalizer. While he may not be the player of the mid 90's, while he has this level of commitment, he still has something to offer