Spurs 0 - 1 Madrid: Inevitable

Tom Huddlestone was picked ahead of Sandro and for the first 20 minutes it didn’t look a great decision. While Huddlestone’s incisive passing can bring the other attackers into play and get things going you still have to face that trio of Xabi Alonso, Mesut Özil and Sami Khedira. Huddlestone is not the most mobile of combative at the best of times and he’d only played the game against Stoke on the weekend after a five-month lay off. About halfway through the first half he settled down and a lot of the play went through him.  

We needed a performance from Gareth Bale and he was central to the action from the start. Within the first 7 minutes he’d dived in the box and created a chance that genuinely should have led to a penalty. Bale took the ball past Sergio Ramos, hit a cross-cum-shot that Iker Casillas parried and Xabi Alonso kicked Luka Modric’s ankle. Jim Beglin reluctantly admitted it might be a penalty, but then again he openly condones fouling.

The four-goal deficit was always going to be too much to overhaul, but if we were going to have a stab at it we needed to bury every decent chance. In the 27^th minute we got our first decent one when Huddlestone sent Aaron Lennon on his way and he picked Roman Pavlyuchenko out on the penalty spot. Pavlyuchenko should have buried it with his laces, but he chose to sidefoot it and it went well over. Later he had a free header from about 9 yards and put it over the bar too. I’ve spent too much time defending Peter Crouch to lay into Pavlyuchenko when he makes a mistake, but I do hope those that seem to think he is the answer to all our problems if only Redknapp would pick him noticed his poor finishing.

The final penalty shout was the most ambiguous. Pavlyuchenko went down a split second before he made contact with Albiol’s leg, but had Albiol definitely left it there. It didn’t make any difference really and the last hurrah was a beautiful goal that was ruled out. Luka Modric was offside when he headed Pavlyuchenko’s cross back to Bale who volleyed it in.

Real Madrid’s aggregate victory wasn’t really threatened and Cristiano Ronaldo made sure they won on the night too. Heurelho Gomes was the Spurs Show’s player of the season last year and I agreed with them, but he has regressed hugely since. Ronaldo’s speculative effort stung his palms and looped in. The same thing happened against Chelsea and it’s hard to argue against claims that Gomes is no more than a good shot-stopper rather than a rounded and reliable keeper.

Van der Vaart’s swivel and curling shot would have been a nice full stop on the thoroughly enjoyable campaign, but it went over and we went out with our heads held high even if it wasn’t quite a blaze of glory.

The Spurs fans were loud on the television going through the full repertoire in the last 20 minutes including choruses of ‘there’s only one Paul Gascoigne/Gary Mabbutt’. It was two good performances against one of the best teams around.

Madrid Build-Up

29^th November 2010 – At Camp Nou Barcelona beat Real Madrid 5-0 with a performance that is immediately recognised as one of the greatest of all time. Xavi and David Villa get on the score sheet, Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta are instrumental. Pep Guardiola watches his team dominate possession at an unprecedented level. They pass the ball wonderfully and tear apart their fiercest rivals. Seven of the starting 11 won the World Cup four months earlier. The opposition are no schmucks – Cristiano Ronaldo, Ricardo Carvalho, Mesut Özil, Iker Casillas. Europe’s most feared coach Jose Mourinho in charge and powerless to stop the force of nature that is the Catalan club.

That’s all Tottenham have to do tomorrow night – match Barcelona’s five-goal win and we’ll go through. Gareth Bale believes it can be done. This is the same player that grabbed the ball out of the net and ran to the halfway line with it when we were 4-1 down to the European Champions. I admire his determination and optimism even if I don’t share it.

The tie was always going to be difficult, but when Peter Crouch got sent off it became nigh on impossible. Failure to pick up Emmanuel Adebayor aside we didn’t play too badly, but Real Madrid were too good. Even without the extra man their quality in every position is undeniable.

Roman Pavlyuchenko, after an impressive performance as provider against Stoke City, will probably replace the suspended Crouch. Whether Harry Redknapp will pick Tom Huddlestone or Sandro I don’t know. I suspect William Gallas will get the nod over Younes Kaboul, but these things will make little difference to the outcome.

It’s over. A wonderful adventure comes to an end tomorrow night at White Hart Lane. This season has been the most enjoyable for a couple of decades and when the final whistle goes and the Champions League adventure ends we’ll have our heads held high.

Spurs 3 - 2 Stoke: Back To Winning Ways

Tom Huddlestone returned to central midfield after a five-month absence. Sandro’s emergence during Huddlestone’s injury promises much for the future, but his battling spirit wasn’t required in a home game against inferior opposition. At the other end of the spectrum Peter Crouch and Roman Pavlyuchenko were both picked to match the height in Stoke City’s defence and while Crouch won lots in the air, including two goals, Pavlyuchenko turned provider was excellent link up play. Quite why the TV kept cutting to Jermain Defoe on the Spurs bench I don't know.

Aaron Lennon wasn’t in the squad because the virus that made him a last minute casualty at the Real Madrid game persists, but it was odd to hear Harry Redknapp say he didn’t know whether Lennon was at the ground or not. Lennon used his twitter account to make it known he wouldn’t be made a scapegoat and Redknapp, on TalkSport, was unsure who was trying to make him one in the first place. Rafael van der Vaart played on the right in his stead.

Watching Stoke City you get the impression they practice obstruction in training as often as other teams practice passing or dribbling. Tottenham on the other hand moved the ball about quickly and gracefully from the word go. Asmir Begovic in the Stoke goal, whose non-transfer to Spurs earned the club £1 million, wouldn’t have been surprised by the first goal. Only 11 minutes had been played, but it was already on the cards. Crouch towered over Ryan Shawcross to head in Pavlyuchenko’s cross.

Seven minutes later Luka Modrić picked the ball up from Pavlyuchenko, ghosted into the area, past Robert Huth, and slipped the ball under Begovic. It was beautiful, more a performance piece than merely scoring a goal, from the best player at the club. His lack of a nomination for PFA Player of the Year is scandalous and I hope the football writers won’t make the same mistake.

When Matthew Etherington left Spurs in 2003 I thought we were losing a player with a lot of potential, but while he’s had some good patches of form over those eight years he’s not become anything more than a mid-table player. For a moment today we saw the very best of him when he got past Michael Dawson and outpaced a not-fully-fit Tom Huddlestone before slotting the ball past Heurelho Gomes at the end of a run that started at the halfway line.

It wasn’t long before Peter Crouch had his second, another Adebayoresque header at the end of a beautiful move involving Van der Vaart, a delicious Benoit Assou-Ekotto floated pass, Vedran Ćorluka and finally a cross from Huddlestone. Crouch really enjoyed scoring the goals, doubling his league tally in the process, and going some way to rectify the disastrous red card at the Bernabéu.

The fifth goal of the half came when Kenwyne Jones stole the ball from a dawdling Bale and a few touches later he had the ball in the top corner with a marvelous left-foot belter. After the break Jones knocked the ball past Assou-Ekotto and shrugged him off way too easily. Gomes tipped his shot into the path of Jonathan Walters who couldn’t quite guide it in, hitting the post with the goal gaping.

In the 94th minute Tom Huddlestone kicked Jones to halt a potentially dangerous run. He was booked and there were suggestions, on twitter at least, that he might've 'taken one for the team' to prevent Stoke’s first goal, but personally I can't really get on board with that kind of thinking.

Beaten By An Arse... Real Madrid 4 - 0 Spurs

As the second half started Glenn Hoddle said he 'ad a feeling about Spurs' chances, but a goal and a man down you'll forgive me for not sharing his optimism.

Tottenham Hotspur ought to be familiar with Emmanuel Adebayor. Prior to tonight he'd scored 8 goals in 9 games against us. Adebayor is 6 foot 4, so it’s curious that Jermaine Jenas was the player tasked with marking him. Heurelho Gomes and Luka Modrić made a hash of stopping his header going in.

Peter Crouch picked up the first of two bookings in the eighth minute for inexplicably diving into a challenge with Sergio Ramos. The tackle on Marcelo ten minutes later wasn’t really dangerous and a lot of refs might’ve let him get away with it, but even Jose Mourinho’s consolatory pat on the shoulder doesn’t change the fact that leaping in with your studs up is against the rules.

A Ramos diving header almost made it’s way to Adebayor and with a couple of minutes of the first half remaining Michael Dawson was lucky to get away with a two-handed block in the area from Ángel di María’s volley. It may have deflected off his knee, but normally it’s only John Terry that gets away with raising both hands like that. 

No personnel changes until half time, Jermain Defoe coming on for Rafael van der Vaart who was struggling up front by himself. He’d been hoping to play 90 minutes against his old club, but he finds that difficult enough when he has ten teammates. He was booked for kicking the ball away earlier in the game. It would be nice if he would exercise some self-control every now and then.

Defoe did okay, but chances were few and far between and Real Madrid’s defence and midfield protection is top draw. They pressed, Spurs defended deep and in the 57^th minute William Gallas found himself with two players to pick up, one of them Adebayor who headed in his second. Much of the pre-match focus was on Cristiano Ronaldo and he did get on the scoresheet with a volley from a Kaká cross (Gomes might’ve got down quicker or used his legs), but they’ve got so many other quality players. Di María was very good and scored the goal of the night spanking his strike into the top corner.

The Gareth Bale backlash in gained some force since his nomination for PFA Player of the Year (and Young Player of the Year) was announced. While the accolade may not be deserved (Modrić has been much more consistent) it's a little harsh to say he hasn't performed in the league and there's little allowance made for the fitness issues he's contended with in recent months. Tonight his impact was minimal although a quick throw which Van der Vaart caught on his chest with the intention of volleying goalwards would've been wonderful if it had paid off and he hit the side-netting after picking a up a fantastic diagonal ball from Michael Dawson. Perhaps more crucially Aaron Lennon got ill at some point between the warm up and kick off and was replaced with Jermaine Jenas.

There’s no shame in losing to a side as good as Real Madrid, and even though the four-nil hammering is basically game over even with 90 minutes at White Hart Lane to play, I can’t say I’m disappointed with the players who put in a decent performance.

Wigan 0 - 0 Spurs

With Aaron Lennon on the bench and Gareth Bale out injured you’d have though Niko Krancar might have got a game, but no, regardless of proving he is a genuine goal threat he sits on the bench every week. Jermaine Jenas, Sandro, Luka Modric and Rafael van der Vaart made up a narrow midfield. But the midfield wasn’t the problem, it never is this season. Jermain Defoe left his 100 goals t-shirt at home this week and rightly so, he didn’t come close to scoring. Neither did Roman Pavlyuchenko. When Peter Crouch came on he had a couple of headers, but none of them really tested Ali Al-Habsi in the Wigan goal, and as usual he had a lack of support and found himself isolated up front.

Fresh injuries at the back meant Sebastien Bassong had to play, but it didn’t cost us even when Wigan’s attack came to life in the second half, and he actually made a great block when it looked like a certain goal.

Conor Sammon, a second half Wigan sub, could have won it, but Heurelho made a good save from close range. Victor Moses and Charles N’Zogbia also came close.

A return of three points from a run of four games against the current bottom four is pretty dismal. Chelsea and Manchester City’s results are becoming less and less relevant if we can’t beat the mediocre opposition in front of us. 

Spurs 0 - 0 West Ham

With every week that passes, the last few anyway, we look increasingly likely to finish where we currently stand - in 5th place and heading for Thursday nights on Channel 5. We're still in contention, hardly cut adrift regardless of the result of Manchester City against Chelsea, but the margin for error in the final stretch of the season has shrunk to almost to nothing. Today's goalless draw is one the games we'll look at at the end of the season if we don't finish in the top four.

We bossed the game from the word go playing some really good football in the sunshine and hitting the woodwork three times. In the third minute Michael Dawson hit a delicious strike from the edge of the box against the bar. Jermain Defoe and Luka Modrić put shots wide, Rafael van der Vaart went close with a half-volley from a corner, and Aaron Lennon, cutting in from the left, beat Rob Green and hit the inside of the post. The rebound came out to Defoe and with an open goal in front of him he missed the target, the ball coming off his heel.

Carlton Cole had a one-on-one that he made a complete hash of, then forced a save out of Heurelho Gomes in the first minute of the second half. Vedran Corluka was having a dismal game in terms of passing, but he was linked up well with Modrić to create a chance for Defoe, another one which he missed from inside the 6-yard box, hitting the ball straight at Green's legs. To be fair it did involve swiveling and a limited amount of time, but he ought to have put at least one chance away today. I couldn't see it from all the way at the top of the north stand, but on television a t-shirt was visible through Defoe’s lilywhite jersey prematurely celebrating his 100th goal for the club. Despite all the chances it's still 99, and more importantly just one point.

West Ham's full-backs kept our wingers relatively quiet. Bale isn't at full fitness yet and the tactic of swapping him and Lennon back and forth didn't make a great deal of difference.

Mark Noble's overhead kick was close and Demba Ba had a good effort. Roman Pavlyuchenko came on for Van der Vaart and was lively having a couple of decent speculative efforts and with five minutes to go Green somehow tipped Bale's free-kick on to the bar. He was tremendous when we lost at Upton Park too.

With 29 games gone our three strikers (four if you count Robbie Keane) have contributed 11 goals. It doesn't matter if you have the best midfielder in the division (Modrić was excellent as usual) if you're getting nothing from the forwards.

In other news Bale has signed a new four-and-a-half year contract. 

Spurs 0 - 0 AC Milan - A Job Done Alright

I've been so spoiled as a Tottenham fan over the last 18 months that last night (knocking AC Milan, European giant and Serie A champions in waiting, out the Champions League) was a bit anti-climactic.

The attacking outlet Spurs needed to be victorious on the night, Gareth Bale, was missing. He was only fit enough to play 25 minutes at the end where he didn't have much of an impact. He was joined on the bench by Ledley King. One hopes his shock inclusion was an indication of improving health and not just a consolatory selection for our best player of the decade having cruelly missed out on the Champions League proper so far.

With Steven Pienaar on the left Milan could afford to double up on Aaron Lennon on the right and nullified his, and the team’s, attacking threat. Spurs defended deep all night, but it was hardly Barcelona-Arsenal. Milan weren’t nearly as good as Barcelona and we at least created a number of chances.

In the first half Rafael van der Vaart had a couple of speculative efforts and was dragged to the ground in the penalty box, but got nothing. Milan came very close when William Gallas had to clear a Robinho shot that had ricocheted off Benoît Assou-Ekotto’s head off the line. Alessandro Nesta’s 70 yard pass along the ground reached Alexandre Pato without interception (Gallas expecting the midfield to have dealt with it), Heurelho Gomes rushed off his line forcing Pato wide, but Robinho failed to convert his square ball. Pato emerged as their best attacking player and had an effort saved when Zlatan Ibrahimović put him through.

In the first minute of the second half Lennon crossed to Peter Crouch and he headed across the box to absolutely no one. It was evidence of the lack of support he was getting and it was no surprise when Van der Vaart was substituted 20 minutes later. Still, Crouch perhaps ought to have been more aware of his surroundings and at least attempted a header toward goal.

Clarence Seedorf played deeper than he did in the first leg and was excellent, orchestrating Milan’s attempt at a comeback and dominance of possession. Milan finished the game with a couple of good chances – Pato shooting inches wide from the edge of the box and Robinho blasting over from a similar distance.

It was another excellent defensive performance from Tottenham. Gallas and Michael Dawson were very good, but they owed so much to the man of the match, Sandro. He was ubiquitous in central midfield intercepting everything and playing an excellent short passing game. You get the feeling he could be a big player for us.

There was an overwhelming sense of relief at the final whistle even if it did seem a bit inevitable after the win at the San Siro. It wasn’t much of a spectacle, but what a result.