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Tuesday, 28 December 2010

Homesick Manchester City Youngster Mario Balotelli Heading for AC Milan?

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Eastlands misfit heading for Italian return?

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Sunday, 19 December 2010

AC Milan? Spurs Always Do Things The Hard Way

By: Robert Reed | December 19th, 2010

'It's A Fantastic Draw.' Insists An Unconvincing Harry Redknapp.

Well the English weather has robbed us of today’s football, but will our lousy luck in the draw rob us of our Champions League fun as well?

Once again favour has not smiled on us when the suits have gathered to pick who plays who in the first knock out stage of the Champions League. Last time we were put in the hardest possible group to qualify, and this time we have drawn the hardest possible opponent in the last sixteen.

The mighty AC Milan, seven time winners of the competition, await us in February.

Some Spurs fans have been getting very wound up about the comments of their manager, Massimiliano Allegri, after the draw was made. He suggested that he was happy with the draw as Tottenham were one of the ‘less tricky’ teams AC could have been drawn against. Why is that an unreasonable statement? He added that we were an excellent team but very vulnerable at the back. Seems to me that he has our number. When you consider the fact that he could have drawn Barcelona, Manchester United or Chelsea I think it’s fair comment.

Spurs fans will point out that we beat reigning champs Inter Milan at home and put three goals past them at the San Siro, AC’s home ground also. It should be realised though that AC Milan are six points clear at the top of the Sirie A table and a massive thirteen points clear of Inter who are currently floundering in seventh place. It should also be remembered that the distinctly average Werder Bremen team, who we savaged at White Hart lane, went on to beat Inter 3-0 in their next Champions League match. They may not be the all conquering side of the past but AC Milan are a very different prospect to Inter.

champions_league_2007_1_1280x1024 Reading their team sheet is like a who’s who of top players. Ibrahimovic, Robinho, Gattuso, Pirlo, Nesta, Inzaghi, Seedorf, Zambrotta, Ambrosini, Ronaldinho, Pato..the list goes on. The eagle eyed though, or those with a basic knowledge of football will have spotted the chink in their armour. Most of those names would have been considered top players ten years ago. They have an ageing team, but with age comes experience. Nearly their entire team has been there, done it, bought the T shirt and starred in the video.

You don’t have to be a genius to work out what AC’s game plan will be. They are hardy campaigners and extole more than most the very Italian characteristic of being hard to break down. They will look to score a goal or two at home and close things down at White Hart Lane. They will foresee a very boring 0-0 in the second leg leading to a frustrating exit for the young Tottenham upstarts at the hands of the wily old campaigners.

Many of you however will have spotted the obvious flaw in this tried and tested plan..Spurs don’t do boring. Especially at White Hart Lane.

The real danger will be at the San Siro in the first leg. If they want to score a goal or two and shut up shop, as they often do, then I will fancy our chances. There is though the prospect of a first half akin to that against Inter, or indeed Young Boys. Ronaldinho has gone into decline and will be unlikely to start, and Pato is a perennial crock, but the good news ends there. Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Robinho will probably start up front and I don’t need to tell you that either of those could do us a lot of damage. Ibrahimovic will obviously be a major headache and this is not the Robinho of Manchester City but a reinvigorated player who is playing some of his best football.

Clarence Seedorf is also a player who doesn’t often get a game anymore and will most probably be replaced by, bizarrely, Kevin Prince Boateng! Remember him? The player bombed out of Tottenham for not being good enough is now a regular starter in AC Milan’s midfield. It is indeed, as Jimmy Greaves would say, a funny old game.

article-0-08E537B0000005DC-85_472x323 OK, enough doom and gloom. We didn’t top our group by just rolling over and getting beaten. So what do we have going for us?

A few things actually. Firstly what we have in abundance, and what will worry the Italians most, is our pace. Pace pace pace. Creaking old legs do not like having a young whipper snapper running at them and down the wings they can expect a very torrid time. Bale, Lennon and Hutton can all cover some serious ground and that could be a match winning asset for us. Not many teams play with two wingers any more and those that do don’t have the kind of quality we have in that area.

Unfortunately any Spurs fan anticipating the sight of Gareth Bale running rings around some old Italian codger, leaving him staring to the heavens wailing ’mamma mia!’ is likely to be disappointed. AC Milan’s right back, Ignazio Abate, is only 24 and known for his pace. He also did a job on Christaiano Ronaldo in the group stages. Young Gareth is a different kettle of fish to the Portuguese ponce however. Although Ronaldo is a formidable operator with a lot more to his game, Bale is probably the best in the world at the moment at just relentlessly ploughing down that left wing and putting in dangerous crosses. The Italians will have done their homework, and I’d anticipate them having a game plan to deal with our Welsh wonder which would probably involve the defence doubling up on him to keep him quiet. I hope they do.

If the AC defence are too busy trying to stop Bale they could come unstuck. Down our right wing we have the attacking threat of both Lennon and Hutton. Both are speed merchants and they will be up against the ageing legs of Gianluca Zambrotta. He is a very good player, but I can foresee him having a bit too much on his plate trying to handle those two for ninety minutes.

England_Jonathan Woodgate Our wing play isn’t all we have going for us of course. Any team with Luka Modric and Rafael van der Vaart operating together down the centre is going to score goals. Palacios is starting to return to his snarling best and Defoe could hopefully be going through one of his ’swing a leg at it and it finds the net’ phases.

If newspaper reports are to be believed then in the next couple of weeks we could see the return of Ledley King and…wait for it…Jonathan Woodgate! Apparently Woody is back in training and could be playing as soon as Boxing Day (although I’ll believe it when I see it.) We could conceivably have a choice of King, Woodgate, Gallas, Dawson, Kaboul and Bassong for centre back by that time.

Then there is the transfer window. It looks like Levy has misplaced his wallet so I don’t expect more than one big signing once we have sold some of the dead wood. I believe we will be getting some affordable cover for left back but a big name forward could be on the cards. Hopefully Andy Carroll. He’s an absolute monster of a player who scores plenty of goals with the service he is getting from the Newcastle midfield; the mind boggles at how many he could score with Bale supplying the ammunition. It’s probably an unlikely signing though, a lot of factors could stop it from happening.

SpursCLRobertReed Our main advantage in this tie will be that we play away in the first leg. AC will be putting a lot of faith in a home win to take to White Hart Lane. If we were at home for the first leg then they could size us up and do a number on us in their all important home game, but as it is when they play us at the San Siro we will be an unknown quantity.

We have surprised teams so far with our style of play and, although they will have heard all about him, until they actually have Gareth Bale running at them they won’t really know what they are in for.

A smash and grab in Italy, even just a draw, and it’s game on at the Lane.

At our ground, with our tails up and the crowd behind us on a Champions League night, I can see us winning. White Hart Lane is an old fashioned ground, with the fans right next to the pitch, and in a match of this significance against a team like AC Milan the atmosphere will be something of a shock for our visitors I suspect.

Whatever happens, win or lose, this is what it’s all about, isn’t it? AC Milan in the knockout stages of the Champions League? We’ve come a long way under Harry. A couple of years ago all this was just a pipe dream, but come February it’s going to be reality. It doesn’t often snow in Italy, does it?

COYS!

Some Related Spurs Posts:Super Spurs Beat Werder Bremen, And Make It Look Easy! (Includes Highlights)Spurs End 17 Year Run To Beat Arsenal At The EmiratesBrilliant Bale Is Causing A Headache For Spurs FansDefoe Back In November. Nurofen For Mr Redknapp!“Bale’s Going Nowhere” Says Redknapp. About Time Too

Category: Champions League, Harry Redknapp, Players, Team News

Tags: AC Milan, Champions League, Gareth Bale, Harry Redknapp, Johnathan Woodgate, Players, Spurs, Team News, Tottenham Hotspur, Transfer Rumours
« Palacios Could Make Spurs’ Season Something To Crow About | Home | Comments | Add your comment mattspurs | December 19th, 2010 at 10:35 am

fantastic article, well done v entertaining too

coys

davspurs | December 19th, 2010 at 10:51 am

The way i see it if we go out then we have gone out to a good team and i would feel better getting beat By Ac Milan than Copenhagen . But we will win so that wont happen .

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