The Soccer Blog: Can We Play AC Milan Again Please?

Wednesday, 23 February 2011

Can We Play AC Milan Again Please?

By: Robert Reed | February 23rd, 2011
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Harry Woe

Oh boy. To quote Blackadder, Spurs fortunes, ‘Twist and turn like a twisty, turny thing.’ As much as we did a job on AC Milan, Blackpool did a job on us last night to run out 3-1 winners at Bloomfield Road.

While the away team usually plays on the break, a stupid early penalty given away by Sebastian Bassong saw to it that we were chasing the game and Blackpool picked us off. While they should take a lot of credit for the way they defended and finished their chances, our finishing was wasteful and their goals were sucker punches to a certain extent.

Spurs had more than enough chances to win the game. Chance after chance after chance in fact. I literally lost count of how many shots the dogged Blackpool defence cleared off the line as Tottenham piled forward looking for a lifeline. If we could score one, you had the feeling we could score five from the amount of possession and attacking superiority we had, but our strikers let us down once again. Well, Pavlyuchenko got a consolation at the end but Crouch (2 goals in 26 appearances) and Defoe (0 goals in 13 appearances) again drew a blank.

This game kind of summed Pav up for me. He missed two headers which he should have buried when we had a chance to come back into it in the second half, his link up play and final ball were not good all game and yet he pops up with a meaningless goal at the end. He’s great in little spurts but his consistency is non-existent.

charlie-adam_1832601c Defoe on the other hand has become one of the most consistent strikers in the Premiership. He doesn’t score in every game, like clockwork. I still have the feeling that if he can just get that one confidence boosting goal he will start banging them in like we know he can, but my fear now is that I may be saying that on the last day of the season.

You can’t help feeling that van der Vaart would have made the difference against Blackpool. A bit of composure in front of goal or a moment of brilliance could have turned the tide. We also clearly miss Gareth Bale. Piennar has done well, as has Kranjcar in the Welshman’s absence but neither player is world class and Bale’s barnstorming runs down the left which are such a source of goals have been sorely missed.

On the bright side, Luka Modric is back and looking fit. You cannot help but marvel at the way the little guy avoids losing possession whenever he gets the ball. He is absolutely vital for Spurs progression and we should hang on to him like grim death. He was a little island of class in a misfiring Spurs attack last night, but the one criticism you have to level at him is his lack of goals. He can score in cracking fashion, but it doesn’t seem to be instinctive for him which is a shame because it would be mind boggling what a fantastic player he would be if he could couple his amazing technique and vision with fifteen goals a season.

1598448_w2 So Tottenham have no games for two weeks now. Although that did seem like a blessing as it will give us a chance to get our walking wounded back in the team, it is never good to have too long to stew after a defeat. The players will just want to get out there and set it right rather than have so much time to mull over a loss in a game they should have won. It’s a good job then that we have ‘Happy Harry’ around to keep them upbeat. All this, ‘It will be a miracle if we can qualify for the Champions League’ stuff is just for the papers. Do you honestly think he’s saying that to the players? Me neither. Although I’m sure he had some choice words for them after the game (particularly Bassong), he will now be telling them it is only one game and that we are still in fourth place. Admittedly it was a good opportunity lost to go above Manchester City, but there are still a lot of games to go.

This is true of course, we should not let our heads drop. It is one game and we lost it more as a result of Blackpool having a game plan and sticking to it brilliantly than us playing particularly badly. They also had a portion of luck, and the performance of Charlie Adam who was superb. We can certainly make fourth place and personally I think we still have a good chance for third. My optimism is based largely on Chelsea and City not performing to their maximum for reasons I gave in an earlier post. Although it was a disappointing result, we beat AC Milan a week ago and haven’t suddenly become a bad team since then. With games against Chelsea and City still to come anything could happen if we have our top players back in action. We finished like a runaway train last season, who’s to say we won’t do so again?

So cheer up, chin chin, turn that frown upside down etc because we are gonna be back to our best soon and there is all to play for between now and the end of the season.

COYS!

You can follow me on Twitter @RobertReedUK

Some Related Spurs Posts:Why Spurs Should Be Considered Favourites To Finish ThirdBale Or Modric Go To United? You’re Living In The Past, FergieSpurs’ World-Wide Profile Is On The RiseMagnifico! Super Spurs Can Go All The WayPalacios Could Make Spurs’ Season Something To Crow About

Category: Blogroll, Game Review, Harry Redknapp, Players, Premier League, Team News

Tags: Blogroll, Game Review, Gareth Bale, Harry Redknapp, Jermain Defoe, Luka Modric, Peter Crouch, Players, Premier League, Premiership, Roman Pavlyuchenko, Spurs, Team News, Tottenham, Tottenham Hotspur
Tweet « Blackpool v Spurs (The Harry and Holloway show) | Home | Comments | Add your comment jim | February 23rd, 2011 at 2:00 am

yes, absolutely a disappointing result to say the least yesterday but more than the fact we lost is the idiot comments i have read on the internet today from the fanatic fringe of our support. Yesterday blogs were full of how many we were going to score and how we should play defoe and pav up front. On the radio home i even heard one moron claim that after we win against blackpool, if we were playing arsenal as planned this weekend we would be 2nd ! Ignoring the fact arsenal play tonight of course, but why let facts get in the way of a good opinion eh? Then this morning all the posts are of, why did we play pav & defoe we should have played one up front, blah blah blah

My fellow spurs fans are my biggest frustration with the club. When all is good, its all great but why oh why hasn’t the last 40 years taught you never to presume we will win any game, why did everybody think we would just turn up and turn over Blackpool?? Then to make things more ridiculous when the players have this attitude and lose the game, you lot slaughter them for being rubbish, yet you are why they get so complacent, they believe what they hear from you. You make yourself look ridiculous when you go over the top and we all get it even us realistic fans who never thought the game at Blackpool would be easy. Why? because whenever we look like we are about to be great, something happens to make it go wrong. Yet you lot seem so surprised? Its lunacy. Why not just keep you head down and crow all you like at the end of the season, but to do it now just sets us all up for the stick we will all get today.

Fact is we are the outsider to get top 4 this year, Harry is right to say it will be a miracle if we do it 2 years in a row. You lot need to get real, you are all suffering from extreme delusion. The sooner you realise the better for the club.

Peter4Spurs | February 23rd, 2011 at 2:04 am

Did Defoe play yesterday as it came across as one man upfront in Pav, as for Pinnar, what a waste of space and money…. I shouted at the top of my voice when we were chasing him NO NO NO … but the so called experts said he would fit in .. in what? a shoe box?? coz the guy CANNOT play football at top level (that’s why he played at Everton)… as for Redknap, again on the ‘need to win’ games he screws up yet again … please go and manage England and let us get a manager who can do the job. Spurs with all their ‘top draw players’ when it matters are CRAP. I love my team but not like this…. COYS and N17 4ever

Yid101 | February 23rd, 2011 at 2:16 am

Great article.

Peter how was this more of a need to win game than Sunderland? They are all need to win at this stage.

Jim there’s nothing wrong with optimism if you can handle being disappointed. The idea the players are complacent because of what we are saying on the internet is just mad.

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