I’m not sure I enjoyed that.
Fifteen minutes of public humiliation followed by having to watch a loved one emerge from a coma.
It gives me no pleasure to refer to my last blog and mumble under my breath, I told you so. This is a territory usually occupied by w*ankers. But the reality is, whatever Arry’s tactical intentions were or were not, the weakest element in the equation was undoubtedly Tottenham’s defense.
Here are my ratings. Tell me yours.
Gomes 2
Was it a penalty? Yes it was. Daft challenge. Amateur night from the Octopus.
Hutton 3
Looked unfit. Off the pace and … Hungover?
Gallas 3
I overlooked his murky past as he was a top notch footballer. I was done. Anonymous. Again.
Bassong 3
Another Invisible Man. Not the required standard.
A&E 5
He did little wrong, he was simply outplayed.
Azza Blud 6
A game where duff crosses cost the most. He’s not on form.
Jenas 6
Not a bad shift. I may be coming close to giving him a break.
Huddlestone 4
King of the ball watchers.
Bale 10
He scores 3 when we’re 4-0 down. Bar turning water into wine, what more could he have done?
Modders – beyond me why he was the one to come off. Should have been Hudd.
Crouch 4
Just didn’t achieve anything.
Palacios 5
Efficient but no huge impact
Keane 5
Another not very super sub.
Cudicini 6
What a horrible game to be hurled into.
Inter Milan aye, European champions, and they won’t look forward to WHL, and that’s after playing an over awed spurs team missing King Woodgate/Dawson/Defoe/vdv, not to mention octopus & Modric.
Bale was a 10 if ever I’ve seen one, actually thought Jenas 7 & lennon 7 there were no other good marks Gallas was awful, 2, Octopus 2, Crouch 3 everyone else 5. All I ask is they learn from this Inter milan are a top top side, but so could we be with 2 worldclass cb’s and striker.
COYS
For the first goal, Jenas, Hutton and Thudd are to blame. Anyone who puts that one on Gallas quite simply doesn’t understand football.
Penalty situation: blame should be split evenly between BAE, Gomes and the ref. BAE should never let the Eto’o past him in a situation like that. He knows the man is fast as f*ck, so he needed to take this into consideration. In his defence, the pass was sublime. Gomes, when he sees that BAE is still close to their striker, needs to stay on his line. The ref needs to read the rules of football. Absolutely no way it should have been given as a red, though the penalty is obviously correct. Ruined the rest of the game, really.
Am very worried about the goalie situation for the return match. I’ll give Cudicini the benefit of the doubt, having come into an extremely tough situation. However, a decent goalie would have at least been after their third goal (not blaming him for it, the center halves and mids were to blame there).
Their fourth is on Bassong’s shoulders for playing Eto’o onside (Gallas clearly thought he had him under control).
Still, I’m not entirely gutted. Bale definitely gave the Italians something to think about, and with VdV and 11 men it should be a classic match at the Lane. Just need to concentrate from the off. We’ve had a bad habit lately of cenceding early on. Maybe that works against Villa and Fulham. Won’t work against the Italian Champions.
But first, bring on Everton…
i think its a bit silly blaming individuals,they were all shit in the first 15mins and taken apart by players who know what they are doing
we were 4-0 down in 35mins,game over
to be fair to the lads they kept the ball and worked hard in the second half,the team had crouch,benny,hutton,jenas,thudd,keane,bassong these are players we have all considered a joke at times,plus the new no hope gallas and after you cuddles in goal,anyway inter were cruising
it will be nice to beat them at the lane for the CL group and to shut all our enemies up but it is not going to be easy,hopefully we have paid for a homer :cop:
the incredible thing about Bale and his first goal is that after he scored it, all the Spurs players (some closer to the goal than him) are running away from the goal itself after its scored. Its only Bale who turns around to go and collect the ball from the back of the net.
We simply need all 11 players to have that desire and we will be more than fine.
we need 10 more players, as VDV will be back in the squad for the rematch
Lads, think we have to take a deep breath and react a bit more calmly to it all.
For most of the guys out there this was their first experience of top, top CL footy, and like their previous step up – ie leg1 vs. YB – they got caught in the headlights.
You could see their legs werent moving, they were a split second behind on most challenges and generally very slow at warming to the heights of playing the champions of the entire continent (minus JM).
It’s a learning curve.
Hudd has proven himself in games against Chelsea/Arsenal/Man City – he doesnt become a bad player in big games because he was outplayed by Inter’s seasoned stars. He’ll learn, and that’s exactly what this 1st season in CL is about.
Jenas though is a weak link in any Spurs team, not because of what he does on the ball, but because off the ball he just has no idea – how to track players, how to link up the defence to attach, etc. Thought he should have gone off instead of Modric, who plays well with Hudd (see vs arse and chelsea last year, against 5-man midfields).
And second half we saw a Spurs team shaking off the daze and awe, and just playing the ball around a bit.
Never mind the goals Bale scored, as impressive as they, and his entire performance, were. We grew into the game, and showed once again that as a team and squad we’re quick learners. 45 mins late for this game, which no amount of Bale-ing out was going to rescue, but in time for 2 weeks’ time and the next 2+ games after that.
In football (and possibly in life) the future is about learning from your mistakes, and learning quickly from those who have a lesson (however harsh) to dish out.
Inter dished it. We learnt. Game on at WHL.
I hear what you are saying and, God willing that be the case for the rematch at WHL. COYS!!