I cannot recall a time when I have watched us spend so much time on the floor writhing in agony.
Admittedly since the word got out one or two of our lot were quite good at playing football, the fouls have been flying in thick and fast. But today’s game was a masterclass in wincing and clutching that even left Drogba looking on in awe.
Once the territory of ‘foreigners’ on the telly, then the domestic domain of Chelsea and Manchester United it seems to be a Top 4 affectation. And so if that’s the case, Spurs are good at impressions.
Hutton went down easier than a Leith brass. Defoe got a free kick when it was he who backed into a Chelsea player who was barely aware of him until the whistle went. And Sarge made a three course meal of a challenge late in the game that went on for so long that Arry just threw Sandro on in order that we could resume playing 11 vs 11.
One of the things that has always left me cold about players like Nani, Anderson, Drogba & Co was the ham acting. The aim, for anyone joining us late, is not simply to break up play, but to put into the referee’s feeble mind that there is pattern of ungentlemanly conduct emerging. It’s an element of ‘gamesmanship’ I’d be happy to see us distance ourselves from.
The Tottinghams came out flying and the opening half hour was exhausting just to watch. Come the second half, the tempo ebbed and Ancelotti unsurprisingly threw into the mix the two players that have been most noticeable by their absence.
We were missing Van derVaart’s intelligence and the inclusion of 3MP for the burnt out Pav pretty much heralded the end of the entertaining football. A stream of balls walloped up on to his head took us from being in possession to wrestling 50/50 balls.
In the final analysis it was difficult to work out if Spurs were lucky to get a point or if the luck had been with Chelsea. Spurs are almost there. But it does look a little bit like an impression at the moment.
Gomes? As Arry once remarked, ‘people want goalkeepers who don’t make mistakes. Unfortunately, they don’t exist.’
ankle muffs for us ,mandatory.
I’m with you on the playacting, I couldnt have shouted “cut it out” any more in 90 minutes if I were watching Cristiano himself. We do need to cut out the peter griffin theatricals. Our best impression today was that of a very good side that could beat chelsea without a number of key players, and not having our best day. Bravo dear spurs, bravo.
Two of the incidents I am sure you are referring to included Essien dragging his studs across the front and back of our players shins/calves. Both are yellow, maybe even red card offenses.
Our players don’t get the calls when they play straight up and don’t roll around on the turf. So today, we did it the Mourinho way with all the hysterics, and still didn’t get the calls.
HH – your strip ad to the right of your weekly poll is randomly loading videos that absolutely kills our browsers.
Yeah, have also been strugling with this. Was initially cursing the update to firefox, but it only seems to crash on this site.
It was a good game for Wilson, Bennie and Hutton to defend with some physicality, but our skill players need to toughen up and get their own pound of flesh. The Champions League refs have spoiled our lads, and made them soft.
Agreed on Wilson. Basically no dangerous missed passes and one or two really good ones. More, please.
To nitpick. 3MP came on for Defoe. Pav didn’t go off until Keane came on.
I actually thought it was a strange decision to remove Defoe’s speed when we were ahead and looking to hit them on the break. Obviously, we still had Azza and Baler, but you can never have too much speed in that situation. Might be that his conditioning doesn’t quite allow him to last 90 minutes at 100% effort so soon back from injury, but he looked perky enough to me. Brilliant to see Daws back and looking lively, but Gallas’ exclusion is worrying.
All around it was a good match for the neutrals. Incredibly high-paced at times (what do you say Davspur?). Totally agree HH, can’t decide if I’m more disappointed we didn’t score a second, or relieved at the penalty save late on. Say what you will about him, but there’s never a dull moment with the Octopus.