Chelsea 1-0 Tottenham

For Tottenham Hotspur, it was 39 hours after the game in Sevilla and time for another one; the team had stayed and trained in Spain during the Friday before going home. Fatigue understandably being an issue, Martin Jol made relevant changes to his starting XI, with Mido and Jermain Defoe starting up front and Aaron Lennon resting as well. Pascal Chimbonda, versatile as ever, was employed at left-back in place of the injured Young-Pyo Lee. Ricardo Rocha, ineligible against Sevilla, was back to partner Michael Dawson in central defence. José Mourinho, whose team had played in the Champions League, albeit at home, had also made some changes to his midweek team, with Shevchenko and Ballack both on the bench, Claude Makelele back in position and Shaun Wright-Phillips starting on the right.

The latter had a bright start, made a nice run and crossed the ball to Didier Drogba, who just missed it. Chelsea kept the pressure on and forced Spurs keeper Paul Robinson into several saves during the first half, even if this game, in comparison with the previous three encounters between the sides this season, was a subdued affair. A nice run by Hossam Ghaly enabled him to find Teemu Tainio, but the Finn was well blocked by the Chelsea defence. An effort by Frank Lampard was cleared by Michael Dawson and Ricardo Carvalho’s effort on goal was blocked by Robinson. The first half ended goalless and despite Chelsea’s comparative domination it all looked quite open. Neither team was at full speed; the Spurs defence, the busier of the two in the first half, looked solid.

Spurs opened the second half with a nice opportunity for Mido, when Chimbonda’s cross and Ghaly’s head found the Egyptian. His powerful header was, however, saved expertly by Petr Cech. A few minutes later Carvalho managed to find an opening and fired a hopeful but forceful shot at goal from 40 yards, which went past Ricardo Rocha and Robinson to make it 1-0. Chelsea had awoken and Robinson had to save from Mikel soon after; Rocha, again employed to make life difficult for Drogba did a good job with just that as the Ivorian charged towards goal.

Spurs started replying more and more, as the second half became much more energetic than the first. On 65 minutes Jol substituted Tainio with Adel Taarabt, Spurs 17 year old loan signing from Lens, who immediately made his presence known. Mido passed to the Frenchman and his shot was on target but saved by Cech. Dimitar Berbatov, replacing Mido soon after, combined with Defoe to free Steed Malbranque, whose effort was cleared. A free kick afforded the Bulgarian with an opportunity to head nicely towards goal, but again, Cech managed to save, pushing the ball over the bar. Spurs continued to go for an equaliser, with efforts from Taarabt and Berbatov, but to no avail. At 1-0 it was to stay.

Two defeats in 48 hours cannot be said to reflect the performance of Spurs; rather than being a cause for despair and a worry that the team has ended up in another “slump” their play and composure inspire hope for the remainder of the season.

Chelsea
Cech, Ferreira, Carvalho, Terry, Bridge, Makelele, Lampard, Mikel (Joe Cole 83), Drogba, Wright-Phillips (Ballack 71), Kalou (Shevchenko 74).
Subs Not Used: Hilario, Diarra.
Booked: Drogba, Joe Cole.
Goals: Carvalho 52.

Tottenham
Robinson, Stalteri, Dawson, Rocha, Chimbonda, Jenas (Zokora 81), Tainio (Taarabt 64), Ghaly, Malbranque, Mido (Berbatov 69), Defoe.
Subs Not Used: Cerny, Ifil.
Booked: Ghaly.

Attendance: 41,864
Referee: R Styles

Sevilla 2-1 Tottenham

Peculiar refereeing decisions and disturbing crowd violence permeated that which should have been, could have been and still in many ways was an evening of exciting football. Tottenham opened in the brightest way possible; Dimitar Berbatov taking a shot at goal with a few seconds gone and then setting up Robbie Keane who, when goalkeeper Palop saved his shot, tapped in the rebound and made it 0-1 with 68 seconds on the clock. Spurs kept the pressure on, but also afforded Sevilla an opportunity when a backwards Stalteri header hit Pascal Chimbonda (filling in at centre-half for the ineligible Ricardo Rocha) instead of Paul Robinson and fell to Adriano. The Sevilla midfielder charged towards goal forcing Robinson to make a courageous dive at his feet to take the ball. This he did, with both his hands, but Alain Hamer, Luxembourg’s finest referee, astonishingly pointed to the spot and showed Robinson yellow for arguing about it.

Former Spurs striker Fredi Kanouté, eager to score after the build-up to the game, walked up and expertly converted the penalty. The decision incensed the visiting fans and their agitation about it may have been the spark which prompted police to enter the stands; whatever happened to start it, violence soon erupted and added to the confusion of the game. Throughout the game the referee awarded a surprising number of free kicks, for challenges which seemed perfectly good; Martin Jol spoke of the ‘different culture’ which saw the Spanish players collapsing easily, but even Spurs got a fair few of the free kicks which only managed to achieve disrupted play. As the crowd violence peaked behind Robinson’s goal Sevilla were able to capitalise on another defensive mistake as a corner kick clearance became less of a clearance and instead enabled Alexander Kerzhakov to head the ball in the net on 35 minutes.

After the interval, when the trouble in the crowd had been subdued, the Spurs players regained full focus and put the pressure on. The second half saw some good chances narrowly missing out and at 2-1 it was to stay; by no means a hopeless result for Spurs, who, away goal in bag, stand a decent chance to turn it around at the Lane. We saw Jol’s tactics for closing down Sevilla’s play working well, with Daniel Alves for instance not threatening to his full potential, and considering it took a controversial penalty to secure Sevilla’s win the outcome of this game leaves the next open. All in all, the lads put in an admirable performance, retaining composure in disruptive circumstances and never giving up.

Sevilla
Palop, Javi Navarro, David (Dragutinovic 68), Daniel, Escude, Renato (Marti 60), Poulsen, Adriano Correia, Kerzhakov, Kanoute, Jesus Navas.
Subs Not Used: Cobeno, Duda, Chevanton, Hinkel, Maresca.

Booked: David.
Goals: Kanoute 19 pen, Kerzhakov 36.

Tottenham
Robinson, Stalteri, Chimbonda, Dawson, Young-Pyo Lee, Lennon (Malbranque 80), Zokora, Jenas, Tainio (Ghaly 84), Keane, Berbatov.
Subs Not Used: Cerny, Mido, Defoe, Taarabt, Ifil.
Booked: Robinson, Tainio, Young-Pyo Lee, Zokora.
Goals: Keane 2.

Att: 32,000
Ref: Alain Hamer (Luxembourg)

Image from www.tottenhamhotspur.com

The misfiring curse

It was an entertaining weekend of giants killed; Manchester United stumbled to defeat in Portsmouth, Arsenal lost, for the first time at the Emirates - to West Ham United (!) and Chelsea managed to beat the mighty Spurs... ok, slightly facetious with the last one and that was less spectacularly entertaining anyway, but the "curse" of not finding the goal which you, dear readers, have pointed out, certainly seems to have spread. Arsenal have a very bad case of the misfiring curse; they may have outplayed West Ham and had an amazing number of efforts on target but West Ham got their only one in. And that counts. It has to be said though: Robert Green was heroic on an epic scale. (And apart from the microsecond of hesitation at Carvalho's shot, our own Paul was quite heroic as well.)

Portsmouth did Chelsea (well, yes, and themselves) a great favour by beating Manchester United in an amusing fashion, a Man U which also seemed unable to find the back of the net. Well, the back of the opposition net, anyway. After Paul has somewhat redeemed himself and his part in the "Croatia incident" by scoring a "freak" goal of his own and coming back in form, we now have a new pair of own goal culprits to taunt. Gary Neville's club and country partner Rio Ferdinand's miscontrolled ball went back towards an uncomprehending Edwin van der Sar who, not expecting the pass, just calmly watched it roll back into his own goal as if, by some magic, a ball kicked by his own defender could never go that way... Injury time injury expert John O'Shea tapped in a loose ball, but the own goal still meant that no points for Manchester United were to be had from this encounter and IF, just IF, Chelsea grab the title because of this loss the own goal will be historical. It is already hysterical.

Oh, and in Spain even the great Barca were unable to score. Teams that I wouldn't mind inflicting some misfiring curse on, say Everton and Bolton, of course did nothing but score all weekend. Let's hope that this is all part of some freakish Easter bunny voodoo and that, come Thursday, at least Spurs have been cured...

Happy Easter all - I'll be back with more serious stuff actually relevant to Spurs as soon as my internet server has been cured of its curse... a more paranoid person would see a pattern.

Technical difficulty

No, alas this is not an interesting entry about technical aspects of the game or anything at all related to football. My internet provider has decided that Easter was a brilliant time to have the lines go down, so I shall be off-line for a week - posts to follow when I manage to get back on line...

Whereas I don't want to write reports while in an internet café I feel a strong need to put out my first "referee-rant" ever. Anyone who watched the Sevilla-Spurs game - can you tell me where they found him, why he was there and which sport he thought he was refereeing? Golf? I just don't know. Anyway, still not a catastrophic result for the lads and we can look forward to the next game.

COYS!

Giants, Riots and Davids

Europe week, and while the main event is of course yet to come, this very evening, the Champions League has been rather entertaining as well...

Liverpool destroyed PSV Eindhoven in Holland, heaping further humiliation on Arsenal by convincingly dealing with the team that kicked the London side out of the competition. As PSV now have to go to Anfield and try to turn around a 3-0, few people will doubt that Liverpool are set for the semi-final. Ok, this is football, miracles happen… but no.

Bayern Munich’s at the San Siro was an interesting game, a clash between Milan’s pace and Bayern’s staunch confidence. Initially, Milan looked like the likelier winners and were in the lead after a nice header by Andrea Pirlo in the first half. Every time I wondered where on earth a Bayern goal was going to come from, despite the impressive flank work of Lahm and Schweinsteiger, they equalised. By the clever chance taking of a defender. Daniel Van Buyten managed to sneak two similar goals past Dida, the second in the 93^rd minute. The Bayern defence had done well against Milan’s attacks, not the least goalkeeper Michael Rensing. Oliver Kahn, true to form, was suspended because of an incident with a urine sample (too horrible to contemplate), and had been replaced by his complete opposite, a sweet, seemingly timid lad who looked about twelve. But not only is Rensing more experienced and less timid than his appearance suggests, he is also very good. So, 2-2, and an interesting second leg to look forward to.

Manchester United, ending up with ten men and furthermore facing twelve men, according to Sir Alex (as he apparently considers German referee Herbert Fandel to be a Roma player), did, if that mathematical analysis is to be believed, rather well to only lose 2-1 in Rome. Paul Scholes, adding to his already impressive number of coloured cards, was sent off for two offences and the Man U supporters were involved in combat with riot police. Will there be more hostilities in the return leg at Old Trafford? Or just more pretty goals from Wayne Rooney, who scored his first in the competition with composure and skill?

Chelsea taking on Valencia at Stamford Bridge was an exciting tale of the Davids and the Goliaths. David Villa and David Silva are both tiny, fast and skilful; the latter’s strike was a real beauty. The Chelsea players, by comparison, looked more forceful than quick and despite dominating possession, especially in the second half, found Valencia’s clever positioning hard to get past. But as we all know, Chelsea just refuse to lose at home, and Drogba eventually secured a draw with a nice header. Joe Cole, up for the award as most missed player of the season – at least in the England squad – made his return as a substitute.

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go and be nervous about the evening: Sevilla FC vs. Tottenham Hotspur. Anything can happen.

Tottenham 1-0 Reading

April Fool’s Day, and our Spurs really fooled us into believing that this was going to be an easy win; a forceful start, a convincing display and enough chances throughout to bag at least a handful of goals. But to no avail. The lads had brought all the skill, style and imagination which has recently become their trademark – but not the finishing touch. Despite not becoming the emphatic victory it could have been it was still three points in the bag for Spurs, meaning that the 50^th game of the season became a fifth consecutive league win, moving the team up to 6^th in the table, and – finally – a first clean sheet since October. The goal, furthermore, finally took Spurs goal difference in the league out of the negative – it is now 0...

A few excellent chances for Spurs opened the game; Dimitar Berbatov and Aaron Lennon freeing Steed Malbranque, who hit the bar, a Berbatov assist for Robbie Keane, who hit Marcus Hahnemann, a shot by Berbatov – saved by Hahnemann. Leroy Lita nearly scored for Reading as he headed a cross from Glen Little towards goal, but he, too, hit the post rather than the net. A lovely pass from Malbranque, at his creative best throughout and man of the match, found Keane who had superbly timed his run – but again the finishing was not quite up to scratch and Hahnemann saved comfortably. Robinson’s only truly meaningful save of the game came when a loose ball from a free kick ended up with Dave Kitson who fired a lethal shot towards goal.

A host of varied attacks by Spurs were all closed down by the Reading defence, which also managed to catch the Spurs strikers offside to an unusual extent. The second half was to see two goals disallowed for offside, as well as a frustrating amount of opportunities thwarted. Reading had done their homework and Coppell’s tactics paid off. Some of Spurs missed chances were just that, misfiring, but some were simply foiled by good defending. It is too tempting to praise the Premiership debutants in a patronising way; they are, quite simply, a good side who work well as a team.

A Spurs attack in the final minutes of the first half finally did yield a goal, as Greg Halford was adjudicated to have handled the ball while trying to take it from Keane. Referee Alan Wiley awarded a penalty and the Ireland striker dexterously placed it into the net. The decision was a bit harsh on Halford, Reading’s record signing from Colchester United, who, apart from that moment, had a very good game – displaying, among other things, his fabulous ability to throw a ball. Far. Very far.

An expertly taken free kick by Berbatov, forcing an equally expertly executed save, closed the first half and Hahnemann’s contribution to the match as injury forced him to be replaced by Adam Federici in the second half. The second half resembled the first, with lovely runs from Lennon, amazing ball control from Berbatov, lovely attacking play by Lee, great moves from Malbranque… Federici too had his shares of saves to make, from Didier Zokora, Berbatov and substitute Defoe, who, with his 15 minutes also managed to contribute to the toll of chances missed.

Reading, who were very effective defensively but essentially played with an attacking mind-set, nearly equalised when Lita sent another header just outside of goal. Their never failing spirit meant that the game was open to the very end, an equaliser never looking impossible. Spurs may have dominated the game and deserved the victory, but the missing ‘clinical’ finishing meant that it really could have gone either way.

Tottenham
Robinson, Chimbonda, Dawson, Rocha, Young-Pyo Lee, Lennon, Zokora, Jenas, Malbranque (Huddlestone 80), Berbatov, Keane (Defoe 75).
Subs Not Used: Cerny, Stalteri, Taarabt.
Booked: Rocha.
Goals: Keane 41 pen.

Reading
Hahnemann (Federici 46), Halford, Duberry, Ingimarsson, Shorey, Little (Oster 75), Harper, Sidwell, Hunt (Doyle 65), Lita, Kitson.
Subs Not Used: Bikey, Gunnarsson.

Attendance: 36,067
Referee: A Wiley

Newcastle 0-1 Manchester City

The league goal dearth for Newcastle United continues: the team have not scored since the February win over Liverpool. Despite a greater number of meaningful chances, especially in the final ten minutes, none of them yielded a result. Manchester City, also struggling but coming from the second win of the year last weekend, have had similar problems. Similar responses came from the fans, at the half-time whistle, with the score still at 0-0, fans of both sides were unanimous in their booing. Both managers looked tormented.

Of two teams in comparable crises, Man City showed the greater fighting spirit. Newcastle looked lethargic until their visitors went up; Man City, driven by a hard working Joey Barton, tried to create chances. There was still a familiar lack of finishing, but Man City’s new signing, Emile Mpenza, proved his worth again – once hitting the bar and then, with 11 minutes to go, the net. A lovely cross from the young and impressive Michael Johnson, combined with Mpenza’s perfectly timed run became too much for Shay Given, who until then had had little to do.

Newcastle were lacking in imagination as well as spirit, and found the solidity of the Man City defence hard to penetrate. Kieron Dyer’s well timed movements were to no avail. Despite dominating possession, especially through an energetic Scott Parker, and making threatening moves the team did not become truly fired up until after Mpenza’s goal. The introduction of James Milner with 15 minutes to go on the right wing had cheered the fans as well as play, and Newcastle spent the final minutes of the game in frantic attack. Isaksson had a few saves to make and Martins, Taylor, Butt, Carr and Onyewu all saw their attempts misfire. By that time some of the fans who hadn’t fallen asleep had started to leave the stadium, a hurry to get out which was replicated by Glenn Roeder.

Newcastle
Given, Carr, Moore (Onyewu 73), Taylor, Babayaro, Solano (Milner 76), Butt, Parker, Duff, Dyer (Sibierski 77), Martins.
Subs Not Used: Harper, Emre.
Booked: Moore.

Man City
Isaksson, Onuoha (Trabelsi 85), Dunne, Distin, Ball, Jihai, Barton, Hamann (Samaras 46), Johnson, Vassell, Mpenza.
Subs Not Used: Weaver, Corradi, Miller.
Booked: Vassell, Jihai, Barton.
Goals: Mpenza 80.

Attendance: 52,004.
Referee: G Poll