Monday 15th October 2001, 8.00pm

FA PREMIERSHIP, WHITE HART LANE

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 3   (Ferdinand 10, Ziege 40, Poyet 90)

Sullivan
Perry
Richards
King
Taricco
Anderton
Freund
Ziege 1 (40)

Poyet 1 (90)

Sheringham

Ferdinand 1 (10) (Rebrov 83)

Subs not used: Keller, Thatcher, Sherwood, Davies

DERBY COUNTY 1  (Ravinelli 14)

 Feuer, Johnson, Higginbotham, Riggott, Mawene, Burley, Murray, Powell, Valakari, Burton, Ravanelli. Subs: Kinkladze, Elliott, Boertien, Christie, Oakes

Referee:- M Halsey

Attendance:- 30,148

 

This was the reason we protested and stood up against the Gooner ruining our club last season  - this was quality Spurs in the best traditions of the club – great passing, lots of exciting attacking play and great goals that will live long in the memory – we’re getting our Tottenham back.

Before the match, while virtually everyone expected a Spurs win, there was always the added pressure that our meagre 8 points from 8 games meant that we could not afford to slip up against one of the poorest teams in the Premiership.

 

With Ziege coming back from Injury and Richards returning after being cup tied, along with Thatcher and Sherwood – Hoddle had sufficient players to pick from to revert back to his favoured 3-5-2/or 3-4-1-2 which every way you want to describe it. This again meant bench-warming duties for Rebrov, and Davies who must be running Poyet close for a place in the starting line up.

On a drizzly autumn night at the home of football in N17, both Spurs and Derby players handed out t-shirts with lets kick racism out of football on them before the match.

The Sky cameras who forced this match to be played on a Monday night, could hardly believe their luck at picking such an entertaining match.

Derby were without their two best players Poom in goal and sweeper Carbonari, and after recently sacking Jim Smith were not the force of a couple of seasons ago when they managed consecutive top half finishes.

After two matches attacking the Paxton in the first half, Spurs attacked the Park Lane and were quickly into their rhythm with Sheringham, Anderton and Ziege all linking up well. Sheringham had the first of what was to be 28 efforts on goal, a premiership record this season, when he was released by Poyet on the edge of the area. He took the ball to the right, but hit his shot just wide of the post. Conditions were not easy for defenders with pre-match rain making the surface very skiddy.

I was delighted we signed Ziege but he has even surpassed my expectations and has been a revelation going forward this season. He nearly added to his impressive goals tally as early as the 6th minute when he ran on to a Sheringham chipped pass in to the area, only to see his powerful half volley tipped over for a corner by the 6ft 6 inch on loan keeper Ian Feuer.

Sheringham is very much flavour of the month with everyone in the country at the moment and fully deserves all the plaudits as he is a joy to watch,  and a very Tottenham joy at that. He had the ball in the net from a close range after Ferdinand had got the ball to him from a Treacle centre, but a linesman in correctly ruled the goal out for offside.

This did not seem to matter as the quality of the football was excellent and every time we got the ball, you expected something special to happen. It was just like the old days, and a far cry from when we struggled to overcome a similarly struggling Derby team this time last year.

The opening goal came courtesy of a surging run from Ledley King, who cut inside to the middle of the goal before hitting a 25 yarder that was clearly blocked by a defender’s arm. The reprieve was short lived as the ball came out to Ziege who delivered a perfect cross, which Sir Les managed to get on the end of and divert high into the net at the far post.

Spurs were rampant, and Teddy should have scored when set free on the left hand side of the area, but the old maestro took too long and his lofted chip was smothered by the overworked Derby keeper. Ziege also had another effort well saved as Spurs completely dominated the match.

And just like the old days, we fell asleep at the back and allowed Derby back into it. Ravinelli went on right to left diagonal run tracked by King, and as he received the ball on the edge of the box, he surprised everyone by shooting quickly and accurately into the reverse corner – taking both King and Sully out by surprise. While some can blame our defenders for this, I think its fair to say this was a class goal scored by a class player – and it was a bit of a shame to see him run his arse off for Derby, when his talent entitles him to be somewhere better. The trademark shirt over the head was also not done with the usual flourish.

The goal did nothing in terms of changing the pattern of the game, as it was one way traffic towards the Park Lane for the rest of the half. It is difficult to describe the football and do it justice – whenever  a Spurs player had the ball – players either side of him were on the move, people in front of him were making runs and there was an air of expectancy about the forward moves. Even Freund was comfortable in this system – always offering himself as an option for other players and playing accurate passes when he received the ball.

Feuer was again called upon to deny Poyet, Sheringham and Ziege as wave after wave of Spurs attacks came at him. Another great cross from Ziege found Ferdinand free on the far edge of the six yard box, and rather than head for goal, he chose to head across the six yard box for the on rushing Poyet. Unfortunately the ball bounced down and over Poyet, who hurt himself as he crashed into the net as the ball went wide.

With no Beckham around, and as he’s captain – Sheringham gets first call on all the free kicks, despite the presence of Ziege and Anderton and had an opportunity midway through the first half which unfortunately hit the wall.

I can imagine Freund dreams of being a winger, as every now and then he tears off down the wing and invariably delivers a decent cross. One of these events set up Poyet at Tranmere and it was from a Freund cross that Sheringham again brought the best out of Feuer.

Not to be outdone by Ziege’s excellent play on the left, Treacle who was again excellent at right wing back linked up with Ferdinand and Sheringham, and Sir Les’s cross was met by Poyet with a fine header which clipped the top of the bar before going over.

Spurs were all over Derby, but after so many chances we needed a goal or two to reflect our superiority, and for me the best goal of the match was scored a couple of minutes before halftime. Sheringham received the ball from the right midway in the middle of the Derby half, turned and spotted Ziege bursting through on the left. Rather than play the easier ball outside the covering defender, Ted chose to play a perfect pass inside, which Ziege was able to run onto and clip a perfect shot with the outside of his wonderful left boot beyond the on rushing keeper. Pure class.

The topic of conversation at Half time was not if, but how many – and in truth the fact that we did not get five or six was the only disappointing aspect of a thoroughly entertaining match.

Sheringham had another go from a 25 yard free kick at the start of the second half. This was a much better effort, and only missed the right hand post by inches. Derby made a couple of subs during the second half, but could not seize the advantage from Spurs, and even though we were not as fluent as in the first period, we were still pretty good.

Freund was excellent in the second half and every time he received the ball, the crowd urged him to shoot. Nutter being Nutter more often than not laid off the simple pass as per his instructions from Hod, but when the ball fell to him 25 yards out and he shaped to shoot the collective breath holding was tangible. Unfortunately the shot was blocked. 98 appearances not out! Will he score the winner against Boro on his 100th?

As Rebrov warmed up, the crowd, who gradually made more noise from the hour mark sang his name and generally gave Hod a big nudge as to who they wanted up front. This was a tough one for the manager, as while I’m sure he’d have liked to give him more than the five minutes at the end that he did – he could not risk changing a system that was playing well to possibly endanger such a slender lead. Les had a good match again, and while it is difficult to bench warm for Rebrov, it would also be harsh to drop Ferdinand who played well and has scored in our last two league matches.

The crowd, led again by the Park Lane also managed a “lets all laugh at West Ham” for the cameras, in reference to the Hammers 7-1 weekend defeat at Blackburn. Treacle, who was excellent again on the right, came close to scoring his first goal for Spurs after a goal mouth scramble left him with the ball in the middle of the six yard box, but desperate defending blocked his effort, and he was still seen cursing his luck minutes after.

As the clock ticked on, anxiety at only being 2-1 up did enter the back of our minds, but Derby never looked even like getting  a goal out of the blue. When Rebrov finally replaced a disappointed looking Les, he injected  a bit of life back into things up front and immediately had a snap shot turned round for what would be our 16th corner. Anderton had a dipping shot which flashed wide, before Rebrov again had another effort, which was well saved as he burst into the box from a Sheringham pass.

The goal that finally ended all nerves was a classic. A Derby defender trod on the ball midway inside his own half, and Poyet seized upon the ball and immediately hit a high chip. The keeper stood and looked at the ball as it sailed over his head and just under the angle of crossbar and post for Poyet’s first league goal for us. Poyet obviously delighted ran to the West stand waving his shirt around his head, which he eventually threw in the crowd. You cannot fail to like a player with such passion.

This was a fine match and an important three points for Spurs as the Hoddle revolution gathers a few points to add to the general feeling that we are actually starting to go places. 

 

Sullivan (6/10) – Asleep for the goal, but did well to thwart Christie in Derby’s only other attack in the second period

Taricco (7/10) – A good match linking with the impressive midfield

Perry (6/10) – Not called on to do much, but gave a solid display.

Richards (6/10) – Looked impressive with the ball and did his defensive stuff well

King (6/10) – Caught out for the goal, but otherwise another good match.

Ziege (8/10) – One of the stars of the show – excellent movement, crossing and shooting – a true footballer in the Tottenham tradition

Anderton (7/10) – Pivotal in all the good midfield play for Spurs

Freund (7/10) – An excellent match for Nutter who is fitting in much better with the new style of play with each match

Poyet (6/10) – Scored a fantastic goal at the death to make it safe for Spurs, hit the bar with a header and was involved with much of the good stuff in the first half and generally had a much better game for us

Sheringham (8/10) – Classy as ever and a joy to watch. A mystery how he failed to get on the score sheet

Ferdinand (7/10) – A good display and a goal for Sir Les, who looked a little bit down by being replaced by Rebrov near the end.

Subs:

Rebrov (7/10) – An energetic performance and unlucky not to score, but must be a little bit pissed off at only getting 5 minutes at the end.

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