The newly “professional” referees got off to a bad start, when both referee and linesman managed to miss/ignore the most blatant of blatant penalties which ended up costing Spurs all three points in an open and sometimes entertaining encounter at White Hart Lane in which both sides hit the woodwork in the second half and in all honesty a draw was a fair reflection of the play.

Newly appointed club captain Sheringham had failed to recover from his injury, but terminally ill Anderton managed to make it back to the bench as Spurs fielded the expected line up of 3-2-2-2-1 with two central defenders either side of Bunje the sweeper, two wing backs, two holding midfielders, two attacking midfielders and a central striker. Villa who’d been at the Lane for a hard fought point in May at the end of last season, came with a similar objective fulfilled with different personnel including new signings Schmichael, Mellberg and Kachloul. They were led by the ever-rancid Merson.

The Spurs team came out to a new musical arrangement, which included McNamara’s Band, Glory Glory and a few of the modern players songs. There was even a song sheet in the programme (which has now been increased 20% to £3) to help the newer members of the crowd get into the atmosphere at the Lane. The words to “stand up if you hate Campbell” were sadly absent and they chose to use the “walking in a Rebrov wonderland” rather than the packet of sweets/Wenger version.

The 2001/02 season kicked off under a grey humid skies at White Hart Lane, as Spurs attacked the Park Lane under stand in captain Les Ferdinand. Spurs started brightly with Poyet and Rebrov working well with their wingbacks in fluent passing movements. Ferdinand had the best early chance when the ball fell to him 8 yards out, but he skied the ball over under pressure from a defender.

The inevitable Ferdinand injury happened sooner than usual. He went in bravely with a challenge with Wright the Villa full back but ended up in a heap the other side. “See you in December Les”, was the immediate response from the bloke behind me and after lengthy treatment and 5 minutes back on the pitch, it was obvious that Les could not go on and he was replaced by Iversen. The stand up if you hate RSol song was sung just the twice, but each time had universal support amongst the Spurs.

Spurs had the best of the first period when Rebrov, Poyet and Ziege all had good efforts as Spurs worked the ball well and it was all Villa could do to hold Tottenham. The biggest cringe of the first half, and possibly the season was Clemence’s effort of a Nayim style lob from the halfway line. This is probably worse than Geoff Thomas against France and just about made the penalty area, and confirms his status as the new John Pratt.

Clemence and the other holding midfield player, Freund were the weakest area on the pitch for Spurs. Clemence gave 100% and while no one can fault his commitment, he has yet to show the ability on a regular basis to play for a team in the top half of the Premiership in the 4 years since Mullethead gave him his debut against Man U. Along with Freund they did not possess sufficient quality to protect the defenders behind or to support the more attacking players in front. This is the weakest area of the Spurs squad and just about the most important area of the team. IMVHO this is where Hoddle should be looking to buy next.

Ziege, hugging the left touchline was always a thorn in Villa’s right side, and he provided some top quality balls into the box. It was from a Ziege throw that King flicked on for Rebrov to fluff his chance. Rebrov, played as a deep inside left, had the chance when, after good work by Iversen and Poyet, the ball eventually found its way back to him on the edge of the area, but he miss-hit his volley.

Perhaps the best chance of the opening half fell to Ziege. A long throw from Nutter resulted in a scramble, which eventually fell to Ziege on the edge of the box. He made good ground to the ball and hit a fierce low volley, which was charged down by a couple of Villa defenders and Schmichael. Iversen set up Poyet, after Treacle had got beyond Wright on the Spurs right, but again his shot was blocked by any one of the number of Villa defenders who were camped out in their box.

At half time, you had the feeling that both Hoddle and Gregory would be trying to out think each other tactically, and that is the way the game panned out, with Villa denying the space Ziege and Taricco enjoyed on the flanks in the first half. A definite positive from the match was the performance of the back three, especially Bunjevcevic who had a good debut in the Premiership. We all know how good King and the Doc are, but this was always going to be a test of Bunje’s suitability in the Premiership and he had a good match defensively with interceptions and importantly headers, and used the ball well when Spurs had possession. He also gave the midfield players an out ball if they we under pressure.

Villa had a couple of chances from set pieces in the second half as their level of performance improved as Spurs regressed in the match. Alpay and Vassell both sent headers over and the latter was just off target when with a close range stabbed effort, but all this was forgotten when the moment of the match occurred after 58 minutes.

Treacle was released on a goalward run and he’d got the better of Wright and was about to cut inside him when Wright blatantly took him out. One of the most obvious penalties I have ever witnessed at the Lane, but to the amazement of EVERYONE in the ground, the Lino bottled it and Gallagher waved play on. Poyet was furious and a very loud chorus of “the referees a wanker” rang around the ground. This was a scandalous decision.

New Villa signing Kachloul sent a looping header onto the post soon after which would have heightened the injustice, but fortunately it rebounded to safety.

Gregory introduced Ginola. The Spurs sang “your Spurs and you know you are” while Villa tried their hand at irony with “you fat bastard”, which was misinterpreted by many members of the press. Ginola was his usual classy self but the Doc did a good job against him and his only real moment of danger came when he hit a curling shot which forced Sully into a good diving save.

Spurs brought on Anderton to a surprisingly good reception, but he was ineffective and I, and many around me would have rather seen Davies come on. The last significant action of the match nearly produced a fantastic goal when Doherty, who had been moved to wingback to cover Taricco who had gone off with cramp, ghosted into the box and smashed a “Brazilian” volley from Rebrov’s deep cross which flew past Schmichael and rattled the bar before going to safety. A goal that would have been fit to win any match.

As people trudged off, the massive expectation of the summer was a little dulled. Apart from talking about the obvious penalty, attentions turned to ENIC and their lack of tangible investment in top quality players, and I have the impression that their “honeymoon” period is rapidly coming to an end unless serious alternatives to Freund, Clemence and Sherwood are delivered.

Hoddle’s View “I’m disappointed we didn’t win the game but there were a lot of positives to come out of it as well as a lot of negatives. We have to look at both and try to be balanced about it. It was made a little bit harder for us because we didn’t convert the goal chances that we had in the first half. If they had gone in and we’d have come in one or two up it would have been a different second half performance. I was disappointed in the second half that we didn’t respond and go up a gear because we hadn’t got the lead. In saying that, we’ve ended up hitting the crossbar and a penalty decision didn’t go our way. Hopefully they will go our way. I felt it was a penalty. All in all, not too disappointed with the performance but it will now be a tough game at Everton.”

Back to READ A VILLA ACCOUNT OF THE MATCH

Sullivan (6/10) – Did a couple good save from Ginola’s shot, but looked a little slow to react to the header that hit the post. Will need more to do to show us that he is back to the great form of last season.

Taricco (7/10) – A buccaneering display as right wing half, and should have had a 100% certain penalty when felled by Wright. Great cover for Carr, and a switch back to the left could allow Ziege to play inside

Doherty (7/10) – A solid match at the back, nearly capped with a spectacular goal in the final minute

Bunjevcevic (7/10) – This was a big test for Bunje on his debut, and I thought he had a good match. Good defensively and intelligent when in possession. He will face stiffer tests in the future but this was a good start in the Premiership

King (7/10) – A good match at the back defensively and looked to use the ball well in possession. A star in the making

Ziege (6/10) – His use of the ball was excellent and we are sure to score plenty of goals from his crosses. It is hard to be critical of a good display, but he did not take on his full back enough and may be better suited to one of the holding roles in midfield

Clemence (5/10) – Its hard to be harsh when someone is obviously trying their best, but it is plain to see that he is not good enough at this level

Freund (5/10) – Not a successful match for Nutter who did not do enough to impress Hoddle of his worth to the first team

Poyet (7/10) – Our best attacking player and was involved in all our good moves. Faded a little in the second half but was a popular choice when handed the captains armband when Les went off

Rebrov (6/10) – Had a good match as a deep lying inside left and worked well with Ziege. He might not be the goal machine people expect for £11m, but he is a good player and this new system should suit his game.

Ferdinand (6/10) – Not on for long, but looked up for the match and it is good news that the injury is not too serious

Subs:

Iversen (6/10) – Did some good stuff in the first half, but isn’t good enough to play up front for us

Anderton (5/10) – Surprisingly preferred to Davies when Freund was replaced and although he lacked nothing in commitment, there was not the discenable change in class between him and Nutter.

Perry (6/10) – Mr Ed slotted in well when coming on late to replace cramp victim Taricco and remains an important, and sometimes undervalued squad member

Shots on Target        Spurs 2 (Villa 1)

Shots off Target        Spurs 8 (Villa 10)

Blacked Shots            Spurs 4 (Villa 1)

Corners                      Spurs 6 (Villa 6)

Fouls Conceded           Spurs 16 (Villa 20)

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