Quite a kerfuffle, then.
The first half was certainly more watchable than the second. But the whole gig was undermined by a referee that I predict if you call him in a years time you’ll hear, ‘Hi Dominoes, Marc speaking…’ on the other end of the phone.
Ratings then…
Gomes 6 Little to do
A&E 8 As good as it gets. Nice work, fella.
Begbie 6 Attacking, but his passing was ‘iffy’.
Gallas 5 Couple of decent moves, but looks a bit pants.
Kaboul 8 Defensively – extremely good stuff.
Azza Blud 7 Played very deep and his tracking back was often immense.
Sarge 5 Largely the victim of a rather retarded Ref.
Modders 8 Not a luxury player, Smith you tool…
Bale 8 Wot No Hattrick? Bale Out!
VdV 8 Class act.
Crouch 5 Achieved little. A poor Ref, but he failed to move on from that fact.
Sandro 6 …but should almost certainly command 7’s and 8’s in future.
Pav 4 Not a dig. I love the chap, but he produced schnichts.
Sarge was nearly back to his best – did not give the ball away once!!! Not fucking once?? Everytime he played the right ball my heart nearly burst from my chest with happiness. If he could just stop getting yellow fucking cards. We got a bit lost for 15 mins at start of second half and I think we missed him.
Gomes 6
Hutton 7 Every cross caused trouble
A&E 9 One shit game one outstanding game – true to form
Kaboul 9 Really starting to love him.
Gallas 7 Big improvement
Lennon 8 Great work rate – no supply
Bale 7 Looked a little tired
Sarge 7 Improvement
Modric 9 Best game of season
VDV 7 Went missing for periods
Crouch 2 Was this worse than Wed?? Sort it out… No fucking movement and no touch, won’t look up. Was def fouled for 1 blatant pen though.
Very good performance. With better play for a forward it would have been a different result.
ps – Crouch is not a cunt. He got us into the champions league. He is a great squad player. We just get frustrated by harry playing him every week… espicially at home… play him at stoke or wolves. I can’t wait for Defoe…. go small loads of movement… we’ll kill teams at home!!!!!
I’m not a Crouch supporter. He’s the antithesis of the centre forward/striker in the Spurs tradition.
Still, I have come to realise that one does not get to see sufficient fullness of play on TV, anyway here in the States via FSC/ESPN, to make balanced judgements. TV may be unfair to Crouch; there may be sides to his play the camera does not catch but ‘Arry does. When we comment on Crouch, or anyone or any aspect of a game, it might be useful if we stated whether we were at the ground.
About the limitations of televised football. For example, the two times Crouch was sandwiched in the box when going for balls. The defenders converged on him. Why no penalty? Admittedly, on one occasion the ball was perhaps a tad too far ahead of him; still, he was jammed off. If that had happened to Pav or Defoe, or to Everton forwards in our area, one wonders.
Part of my point is, why is it that Crouch so rarely gets the benefit of a ref’s call? Is it his clumsiness? When he goes for a header and is time and again penalised, is it his lack of technique obliging him to use his hands on an opponent’s shoulders? Or, over time, have the refs wised up to tricks of his we on TV cannot see, because when our eyes want to continue in one direction the camera has different ideas?
I have grown to respect ‘Arry. The team obviously responds to him. Plus he’s shown more tactical range than many suspected he possessed. The one explanation for his sticking with Crouch might be in his own, sort of wandering, managerial background. He’s a recent addition to WHL and its traditions. He’s not had the time to absorb our traditions, so cannot see that Crouch simply does not fit into the WHL mould. A decent player, who works on both sides of the pitch, in defence as well as on attack, but not the centre forward/striker a Spurs side deserves. Yet, the funny thing is, in his testimonial to the late Bobby Smith, ‘Arry recognizes what is needed.
Had a glimpse of Levy’s missus on ESPN. She was all animation and involvement; he was just sitting there, impassive. Hope she feels the way we do about Crouch and keeps at Danny all the way up to the New Year.
IMHO
All of you Crouch bashers are focking idiots. Where will assist come if it wouldn’t be for him? How many he had already to pull us out of defeats? Pav? There was never lazier and more wasteful crapper ever wearing lilywhite shirt, and you keep praising this focking retards? You don’t have a clue about football.
Redknapp if you’re going to have a rant on here don’t hide behind WHL because it’s never about Spurs with you, it’s always about the best interests for you and your buddies. 9 times out of 10 he loses an aerial battle. 9 times out of 10 when he does eventually win the ball in the air it goes to the opposition. Pav is a far superior player but will never be given a decent run in the team as long as ‘marmite the clown’ is in charge.
“Where will the assists come from?” ?
Maybe if the team was set up to not lump the ball up to Crouch most of the time, then the midfielders would be able to provide service to TWO forwards who know where the goal is.
The question really is: Where will more goals from with Crouch in the team?
Our strikers are not good enough. They are really not up to it. We badly need at least one outstanding striker to stay among the top teams in the Premier League.
theres always so much bad talk about crouch.let me say again,hes not a striker.hes a target man.nobody works harder on the pitch.if defoe was fit you would see benefit of crouch.Q when did you see roman head a ball?compare like with like.you cant compare him with roman.in january see which of them goes out the door.