TOPSPURS

Jim Duggan's TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR site

Saturday 25th August 2001, 3.00pm

FA PREMIERSHIP, Ewood Park

BLACKBURN ROVERS 2  (Mahon 6, Duff 70)

Freidel, Curtis, Taylor, Berg, Short Gillespie (Bent 69), Flitcroft, Mahon (Hignett 60), Duff Grabbi (Blake 18), Jansen

 

Sheringham

Iversen

 

 

 

Clemence (Freund 6)

Poyet

Anderton (Davies 85)

 

 

 

 

Ziege 1 (89)

 

 

Taricco (Rebrov 67)

 

 

 

 

 

 

King

Perry

Doherty

 

 

Sullivan

Subs: Keller, Thelwell,

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 1  (Ziege 89)

Referee: - S Bennett

Attendance: - 24,992

 

No points from a match Spurs controlled for long periods but could not find the killer touch. The results leaves Spurs 14th with no wins from three matches – not the start we all expected, but with better refereeing and a bit of luck up front things could have been much different and we can all take heart from the fact Spurs are playing better football and the results will surely start to reflect this.

 

I decided to make a weekend of the trip up North and used Blackpool as a base. It was like going back in a time warp to 1974, a truly weird experience, aided in no small way by the hotel we stayed in which had the worst cabaret you could ever imagine.

 

All the Spurs fans gathered in the designated away pub “the Fernhurst”. We met up with the Cumbrian Spurs John Stevens, Tony Slatz and Greg, along with Mark Rose. The first chant of what was to become the song of the day was heard in the pub when the “you can stick you Rsol Campbell up your arse” had the “singing we’ve got Ledley at the back” added to the end. Others including “Beers up, if you hate Campbell” [people we standing their with arms aloft with or without beer] and “sit down if you hate Campbell” [sparking a mass sit down in the pub] mixed it with the traditional Spurs songs to make a terrific atmosphere. Everybody was ready and hopes were high.

 

Spurs lined up with Clemence in for Freund in the midfield and Perry in for Bunjevcevic at the back, and played with three conventional centre backs, two wing backs, two holding midfielders, two advanced midfielders/deep strikers headed by Iversen as the lone front man.

 

This report should have been littered with lots of pictures from the day, but unfortunately I managed to delete all the shots I’d taken on the digital camera. I am gutted about this, as there would have been some great shots!

 

Spurs attacked the Darwen end where we were all gathered and again in good voice. The first incident of the match was a bad tackle on Stephen Clemence by Garry Flitcroft, for which the former blond basin haircutted git did not even receive a talking to, let alone a deserved booking. Clem who’d been given a chance ahead of Freund tried in vain to run the injury off but it was obvious he would have to be replaced. In the re-organisation surrounding the Spurs substitution, Blackburn scored the opening goal.

 

Jansen’s persistence down the left won a throw, which he received back and slipped a well weighted pass on to the on-rushing Mahon who took the ball on before firing into the corner. This was quite a well-crafted goal, but there is no doubt that Spurs would have defended this better had the substitution not taken place immediately before. 

 

Rovers had a good few minutes, buoyed by their goal and with Spurs still getting it together after conceding and the substitute reshuffle. Ledley gave Sully a chance to show his skills when a weak header back to Sully nearly put Gillespie in, but Sully got in bravely to thwart the danger.

 

This time last season – conceding away from home meant certain defeat under the awful Goonersaurus, but Hoddle's Spurs are a million times better thesedays and gradually began to assert in the game with good possession and good football, even if it lacked a little pace at times. At the heart of this was Teddy Sheringham who was a joy to watch. Our first real chance came from a Poyet header from a Ziege cross, but the header lacked power to trouble Freidel. As on Monday against Everton, Sheringham released Iversen for a run on goal, but Freidel saved his effort.

 

Blackburn had chances in what was an entertaining opening period and Sully had to save from a 20 yard effort from Freidel, while at the other end Iversen had another effort on goal, but this time it was blocked by his Norwegian team mate Berg.

 

Midway thro the first half, a strong challenge by Perry resulted in a Spurs throw, but Souness went mad, running to the touchline and slamming the ball to the turf. Wanker. I claim the honour of being the first person to start the chant of “Tottenham reject” which gradually built up throughout the Spurs end as Souness clashed with Gorman and Treacle, with Freund and Poyet getting involved as well. Somehow out of all this, it was Treacle who got booked  - a worrying bit of racism – as Spurs restarted the match with a throw. Somebody aught to creep up on Souness and give him a fright, popping a paper bag or something to rid the world of the man who I have never forgiven for taking out virtually every Spurs player, notably Galvin in the 1982 League cup final. In Bill Nic’s judgement, a man not fit to represent Tottenham.

 

Rovers had their moments, but Spurs we dictating the pace of the match, although there never seemed to be a goal threat from Iversen, despite all the good play further back on the pitch.

 

At halftime, much of the conversation surrounded Iversen, and his lack of quality up front – along with why Davies was n’t given a go in the starting line up & with Rebrov’s absence. The general view was that with an early equaliser, there is no reason why Spurs could not go on and win the match.

 

The early equaliser nearly came from the boot of Teddy Sheringham, but his close range volley produced an excellent save from Freidel and we once again wasted the corner. At the other end, Rovers only attacked on the break, but a mishit effort from Jansen nearly found its way in, catching Sully off balance before he saved with his feet.

 

Ziege, always a threat down the left skied a volley into the Blackburn crowd, before he was again involved at the end of a good move between Sheringham and Poyet, but could not reach the final ball. Many Spurs fans do not seem overly keen on Ziege at the moment, citing a casual demeanour and an apparent unwillingness to defend – but I think this is just his laid back style and think is doing the job Hoddle wants out on the left. My own preference would be to give him a go in central midfield when Carr returns, switching Treacle back to left wing back.

 

The Spurs support was again excellent throughout the match – with the “you can stick your Sol Campbell up your arse, you can stick your Sol Campbell up your arse, you can stick your Sol Campbell, stick your Sol Campbell, you can stick your Sol Campbell up your arse…singing we’ve got Ledley at the back, singing we’ve got Ledley at the back, singing we’ve got Ledley, we’ve got Ledley, we’ve got Ledley at the back” always to the fore.

 

Rebrov replaced Taricco with Spurs switching Anderton wide right to cover for Taricco, and Rebrov slotting in along side Poyet and Sheringham behind Iversen.  I was still optimistic of at least a point when the second Blackburn goal arrived to effectively kill the match and silence much of the Spurs support. Duff picked the ball up on the left hand side on the halfway line (where Anderton should have been in his new position – but he of course had sulked and moved infield) and ran unchallenged diagonally across the pitch without a challenge and hit a firm low shot into the corner when he reached the penalty area. It was a fine individual goal, but the ease at which he ran thro the central midfield area must be one of the major concerns at the moment. Freund/Clemence and Sherwood are not good enough, while Anderton is too lightweight and does not possess the all round game required for this role.

 

I did not realise we still had 20 minutes to play when the goal went in (it seemed a lot nearer the end), and we could and should have been level a minute or so later when a bad back header presented Iversen with the ball, on his own with only an exposed Freidel to beat. He hesitated and then panicked before a weak effort was turned away by Freidel to the delight of the home fans, and disgust of the Spurs supporters who have just about run out of patience with Iversen’s failure to build upon the promise of his younger days.

 

A goal then would have given Spurs a great chance of finding an equaliser. Blackburn sat on their lead and although Spurs continually pressed the Blackburn goal we never really looked like getting a goal before Ziege opened his Spurs account with a 20-yard half volley into the bottom corner, after a poor clearance.

 

At the final whistle, the Spurs fans trudged off with many of the hopes for this season already looking unlikely. Spurs now have two weeks to prepare for the Southampton match which has become a must win to stop the wheels really falling off with Chelsea, and tough away trips to Sunderland and Liverpool to follow before Manchester United visit the lane at the end of September.

 

The good from the game could be that Hoddle realises we need two top midfielders and at least one top quality striker, who hopefully could add a bit of pace up front. A quick solution could be Steve Ferguson or Yannick Kamanan to be given a chance as Iversen just has n’t got what it takes. With no disrepect to them, they could n’t do any worse. Our defenders are fine, the chase for a defender to replace Rsol was never my priority to improve the team, especially if the defender in question is Dean Richards, but we do need better protection from the midfield and someone up front that can turn the possession into goals.

 

This was only Hoddle's 10th league match in charge and it will take him a while to sort the wheat from the chaff, so we must be patient and hope that we get a few points on the board to buy him sometime to get things sorted and us back amongst the elite. In Hod we trust ! – COME ON YOU SPURS

 

THE WORD OF HOD

"You lose 2-1 and you are disappointed, particularly the way we have given the two goals away," he added. "There was a lack of concentration and that is very annoying."

Sullivan (7/10) – Some good saves and reliable as ever at the back.

Taricco (6/10) – Another good match, solid defensively and a threat going forward

King (7/10) – Now getting the recognition he deserves as one of England’s brightest defensive talents and even has his own song now “you can stick your sol Campbell up your arse, singing we got Ledley at the back”

Perry (6/10) – Nothing flashy, but generally solid and reliable at the back

Doherty (7/10) – The Doc produced another decent display in his usual uncomplicated style that we all love

Ziege (6/10) – His demeanour is not to everyone’s liking & he sometimes seems less interesting in the defensive side of role, but for me Ziege is a quality player who will be a major asset this season. He also walked right up to the Spurs end to applaud the fans after the match, and gets a topspurs thumbs up for that.

Anderton (5/10) – Gets into the first team ahead of Davies on reputation only and does nothing to convince me that he is a central midfielder

Clemence (6/10) – Injured early on and was in the process of being replaced by Freund when they scored the opener

Poyet (6/10) – Much like the Everton game, Poyet was involved in a lot of the good stuff in the first half, but was less of a force in the second

Sheringham (7/10) – A quality performance, full of skill and invention – most of which was wasted by Iversen

Iversen (5/10) – A shambles up front, capped by an embarrassing miss when one on one with Freidel. Come in number 16, your time is up. Becoming a latter day Ian Moores.

 

Freund (5/10) – Came on for Clem, but again failed to convince. As much as I love Freund, I think he could be on his way

Rebrov (5/10) – In what is becoming an all to familiar Rebrov performance, he flattered to deceive

Davies (6/10) – Not given enough time to show his talent, perhaps my only gripe with Hoddle's current team selection. But the performances of Anderton will surely give Digger his chance soon

Back to TOPSPURS

 

This report is copyright of TOPSPURS.com – do not us any of its contents on any other site or publication without permission.