Sunday 27th October 2001, 3.00pm

FA PREMIERSHIP, WHITE HART LANE

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 2  (Sheringham (pen) 58, Ferdinand 61)

Sullivan
Perry
Richards
King
Taricco (Thatcher 70)
Freund
Poyet
Anderton
Ziege
Sheringham 1 pen (58)
Ferdinand 1 (61)

Subs not used: Keller, Davies, Leonhardsen, Kamanan

MIDDLESBROUGH 1 (Boksic 8)

Schwarzer, Stockdale (Windass 77min), Ehiogu, Southgate, Queudrue, Marinelli, Mustoe (Johnston 83min), Ince, Greening, Boksic, Nemeth (Cooper 65min),

Referee:- M Dean

Attendance:- 36,038

 

A valuable 3 points to give Glenn Hoddle a happy 44th birthday – but not the performance he or the supporters would have liked after the great football we have been playing for the rest of the month. The important thing was that Spurs managed to battle hard and take three points which lifts us into 7th in the league and more importantly only 4 points off the top.

The match was played on a clear sunny autumn afternoon in N17, with aircraft vapour trails cluttering an otherwise clear sky.

As I passed the entrance to the West Stand I had to be lively to avoid Iversen driving in with some friends.

As expected Treacle had recovered from his ankle injury sustained at Newcastle and the team was unchanged for the third Premiership match in a row, with Poyet still being preferred to Davies.

When I got pitch side I soon noticed that Rebrov was missing from the rest of the players and subs warming up, but we had to wait until just before kick off to have it confirmed that he was out of the first 16. This gave young Kamanan his first taste of first team football – but unless there was a late injury Rebrov has finally pissed Hoddle off enough with his whining in the press to make the great man leave him out of the team. I would like Rebrov to stay at Spurs, but if push comes to shove, I’d rather have Hoddle and players who Hoddle wants. Just who will buy Rebrov at this stage of the season for the expected £15m is anyone’s guess.

I noticed Segers and Hughton had a good chat about the effect of the low sun over the Park Lane end as the players warmed up, but in the end Ted must have lost the toss as Sully had to defend the Paxton end in the first half facing the sun.

Spurs never got into an early rhythm and it was Boro who looked the more impressive in the opening exchanges, with both Boksic and Nemeth looking lively up front.

Hoddle wrote in his programme notes about how in the past Spurs teams would get a good result away and come back to the lane the next week and cock it up (although not in those precise words) and he stressed the need to vigilant against a Boro team with a good record against us

But both the players and many of the supporters were guilty of regarding this as an automatic win and our expectations were brought crashing down in the 9th minute. Ince took a free kick midway inside the Spurs half which was chipped into slightly to the right of the middle of the penalty area – Perry made a bold effort to get to the ball, but misjudged his header which fell invitingly for Boksic, the player he was marking to smash home. Poor old Perry, not a crowd favourite but a more than adequate Premiership player who is just that little bit off the best strikers to make him a top player. To be fair to him though, he did well for the rest of the match.

A goal down and not playing well – this was most certainly not in the script. Thoughts of how Boro defended a precious 0-0 scoreline last Christmas came to mind and things did not look good for Spurs as everytime we looked to attack there were 9 Boro players lined up in rows of 4 and 5 spread all across the pitch blocking our path.

Spurs had a free kick on the right hand edge of the box after Ferdinand and Poyet had been fouled simultaneously, but first Ziege and then Sheringham’s shots were blocked. Ziege came in for a lot of stick from the travelling 100’s from Boro who could not fill even the upper part of the away end. In winning the free kick, Ferdinand took his usual knock and with Rebrov being left out this looked like giving Kamanan a longer involvement than he had dared to dream of, but Les recovered soon after and played on. An injury to Les then would have been a cruel irony to Rebrov who has sat on the bench through the longest uninterrupted period of strikers playing together in Spurs recent history.

Neither Ziege or Taricco got much room down the flanks, with McLaren doing his homework well on Spurs, but the little Argentine did manage to get one decent ball across which Ferdinand chested into the path of Poyet, who hit a good shot just wide, which must have taken a slight deflection as Spurs were awarded a corner.

Freund was having his 100th appearance and was more willing to entertain us with his shooting prowess today. An early effort was blazed well over before the other variation – a low scuffed shot was produced on the half hour, but despite his shooting, Freund was playing really well, getting stuck in and generally using the ball well in possession.

Although Ziege did not have as influential a game as of late -  he still looked good on the ball and our leading scorer cut inside, after some interplay with Sheringham, to have a right footed shot which was well saved by Schwarzer in the Boro goal.

For much of the half, Les toiled away on his own up front and we looked very light in this department as both Sheringham and Poyet had gone further back in the field to get the ball. Les had a great chance to score when put through by Poyet, but after racing onto the ball, he smashed his shot over, much to the groans of the crowd.

Spurs were not playing fluently, and after taking the lead Boro had retreated back into their half to make it difficult for Spurs. In many ways a game like this was never going to be easy on the eye, but even in saying that, Spurs were well below the standards of recent weeks and half time came as a relief.

Spurs were a little better in the second period, but as the hour mark approached it looked as though at least a single goal would enable us to take something from the match.

We got back into the match with what looked a fair enough penalty at the time as Taricco was pulled down as he ran on to Perry’s neat pass inside, but after seeing it on the TV might have been a little harsh (although it is nice to be the benefactor rather than the victim of these decisions once in a while.

I’m still not 100% sure about Sheringham taking our penalties – but once again he made no mistake, sending the keeper the wrong way by planting the ball low to the keepers right for his 103rd goal in our colours.

This got the crowd into full swing after a somewhat muted atmosphere and within a minute or so we had the lead. A ball was floated into the Boro box and Poyet and a defender jumped for it. The ball flicked across the box and Ferdinand emerged from around the back of his defender to hook the ball home for a superb “Sir Les” finish, which was very similar to the winner he scored against Everton in the league match here just over at year ago and makes it 3 in 4 premiership games for the great man. News of a Sunderland equaliser and a Viera penalty miss in the Arsenal match at Sunderland made it a great 10 minutes!

Possibly the most memorable moment of the match arrived soon after and could have made the game safe for Spurs. Ziege had taken a corner on the right and the cleared corner arrived a Freund who hit a high ball back to Ziege who’d made his way from the corner flag to the right hand edge of the box and he hit the ball sweetly on the volley with a dipping shot which looped over the keeper before thudding against the bar. A fantastic effort and a player out of the top drawer.

Boro forced the play more after going behind but apart from the ever lively Boksic Spurs were rarely stretched and held on fairly comfortably.

Treacle seemed to get cramp in his left calf and was replaced by Fatcha for his first league appearance in 11 months as Spurs switched to a 4-4-2 with Perry dropping in to right back.

Poyet nearly managed another goal when he unleashed an excellent shot from 25 yards which whistled just wide of the right-hand post

 

The usual 4 minutes of injury time was posted (where do they get all that time) but Spurs played out time and recorded a hard fought and important win. During injury time the bloke behind me reported Sunderland had gone 2-1 up in the last minute against Arsenal and it spread through the crowd like wildfire, only for the correction that the goal had been disallowed to swiftly follow it – bastards.

 

Thinking about the Boro match with a bit of hindsight, although we did not move the ball with fluency of previous matches, much of this was related to Boro doing their homework on us and denying us the scope to play, and all in all we should be pleased that we got the points from a team and type of game that has often been a banana skin in the past. What I’m trying to say is that, I’m more happy with the match on reflection and that it does show our progress. I’ve been underwhelmed by Poyet’s contribution, even when scoring, and far be it for me to tell Hod what to do, but I think we could only be better with more of Davies on the pitch.

 

This was not a good match to watch much of the time, but Spurs fought hard and were patient and got their reward, and in & while the match will probably be quickly forgotten, Three wins in a row and the promise of bigger and better things to come make it a happy White Hart Lane at the moment – COME ON YOU SPURS.

 The Word of Hod

He said: "During the game when it happened I felt it was a penalty, but having seen it on video I can now say it was the faintest of touches. However, I can understand why the referee awarded it. These things are swings and roundabouts. We were denied a blatant penalty on the opening day of the season against Aston Villa, and Chelsea were given one here against us which clearly wasn't, so it all works itself out over a period of time.

"That first goal for us was the key. We upped the tempo and showed character in turning the result around. This is a great present, the lads couldn't have delivered a better gift than three points, and I felt we deserved it. We were talking since Thursday about how possession doesn't win games. We had enough possession today to win three matches but we had to be patient and not get too frustrated. The crowd played an important part too.

Sullivan (6/10) – Not have much to do but always looked safe. Responded with the score when the Park Lane asked him in the second half and is a star

Perry (6/10) – Got done badly for the goal, but did not put a foot wrong for the rest of the afternoon

Richards (6/10) – Easing into his role at the back for Spurs and did some good defensive work as well as using the ball well when required. Still need to be proved he’s “that much” better than Perry but has made an encouraging start to his Spurs career

King (6/10) – Did well when required, but nothing special required

Taricco (6/10) – Well contained for Boro for much of the first half – was much more of a threat in the second and won Spurs the penalty that got us back in the game

Ziege (6/10) – Is fast becoming a hero and a classy player to be mentioned in the same breath as Waddle and Galvin. Could have sealed the game for Spurs with a specacular volley which smashed against the bar in the second

Anderton (6/10) – A few misplaced passes, but generally played ok, without being special

Freund (7/10) – Seems to be coming of age at Spurs in what was his 100th appearance. Plays the ball a lot better and more positively, while also being just as good closing down and tackling. It appears to mean as much to him as it does to us – and we are now rating him as a midfielder as well as loving him as a Spur, for which Hoddle and the new training regime must take some credit.

Poyet (5/10) – It takes every player a while to settle in, and while its too early to judge Poyet – he does seem the weak link in the midfield forward line – and his goals and in the box contributions do not always out weigh his lack of ability in the rest of the game. While this may not be a universally shared opinion, I’d start with Davies from next week, but it is good that we have a debate over these roles, as the strength of the squad gets better and better.

Sheringham (6/10) – Tried his heart out for Spurs and was seen as often taking the ball from Perry at the back as he was up front with Sir Les as Boro cut down our opportunities for free flowing football. Gave his all and scored the penalty to put us back in the match

Ferdinand (6/10) – Ran hard and did his best often alone up front, and popped up with what proved to be the winning goal with a poachers goal like the Les of old. To progress further, we need someone better than Les, but no-one can fault the effort he puts in.

 Subs:

Thatcher (6/10) – Came on for Treacle as Spurs switched to 4-4-2 and did not really have much to do. The feeling is that Thatcher is not good enough for us, but he deserves a chance to prove this one way or the other.

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