SATURDAY 28TH
OCTOBER, 2000 - FA CARLING PREMIERSHIP
CHELSEA 3 0 TOTTENHAM
HOTSPUR
Hasselbaink 13(pen), 87
Zola, 39
Referee:- S.
Dunn
Attendance:- 34,966
Chelsea (3-5-2):-
De Goey; Melchiot, Le Boeuf, Desailly; Ferrer, Dalla Bona, Poyet
(sub Flo, 64), Wise, Babayaro; Zola (sub Jokanovic, 68),
Hasselbaink
Subs not used:-
Cudicini; Bogarde; Morris
Booked:- Le Boeuf, Babayaro
Spurs (4-4-2):-
Sullivan; Carr, Vega, Perry, Young; Anderton, Freund (sub Davies,
79), Sherwood, Clemence; Ferdinand, Korsten (sub Doherty, 79)
Subs not used:-
Walker; Thelwell, King
Booked:- Anderton, Sherwood, Carr
Another away match, another defeat! Its now official - Graham is worse than Gross
Christian Gross
Pts per game 1.31 p26 w9 d7 l10 f33 a40 pts34
Pts per game - Home 1.50 p12 w4 d6 l2 f16 a17 pts18
Pts per game - Away 1.14 p14 w5 d1 l8 f17 a23 pts16
George Graham
Pts per game 1.30 p79 w27 d22 l30 f109 a102 pts103
Pts per game - Home 1.79 p39 w20 d10 l9 f72 a46 pts70
Pts per game - Away 0.83 p40 w7 d12 l21 f37 a56 pts33
a gloomy cold wet night and the feeling we're still going nowhere
after all
the years of transition seasons and bad mangersFrom Paul Smith
After dominating Chelsea until going behind to a needless penalty
conceded by Ramon Vega, Spurs slumped to their fifth consecutive
away league defeat, and back into the bottom half of the league.
Sergei Rebrovs thigh strain kept him out of the side, and
Willem Korsten got a deserved start, following his four goal
display for the reserves this week. Korsten looked the most
threatening attacker too, but in truth, Spurs retreated into
their shell after a promising start. As anticipated, George
Graham played a stock midfield, which played without width. Both
Anderton and Sherwoods creative juices were squeezed out by
the second half, which was played in a deluge of rain. Neither
full back seemed to be allowed to get forward enough, and the
statisticians can add yet another game to the long line since
Spurs last managed a win against the opposition. (For the record
it is 21 games, and ten and a half years. It is also 18 months
since Spurs won an away game in London)
Korsten showed his ability on the ball, when he latched onto a
glorious long ball from Anderton, and fired a left foot screamer
at goal, which De Goey tipped over the bar, after just 4 minutes.
Steffen Freund hit a shot wide from the resulting corner. Four
minutes later, after a neat exchange with Ferdinand, Korsten was
through again, but De Goey managed to save clean ly this time.
Then Ramon Vega rose to a long ball through the middle, under
challenge from Poyet. Vegas arms were flailing in the air,
and he was fairly spotted by referee Dunn, as he handled.
Hasselbaink gratefully accepted the chance to put his team ahead
with aplomb, as he struck in Sullivans right corner.
There were few chances thereafter, although both Vega and
Clemence had half chances in the Chelsea area. Much of the play
was in the middle, an at this stage, Spurs still looked
comfortable. An equaliser would not have been an injustice. The
best chance came as Desailly lost out to Les Ferdinand on the
right bye line. Les cut the ball back for Korsten who miscued,
and although Ferdinand picked up the loose ball, he was in an
offside position.
Sadly, Chelsea increased their lead too easily, as Hasselbaink
headed on a Wise cross from the left, and little Zola got in
front of Young (replacing Thatcher) to head home. Zola got on the
inside of Young soon after and sent a low ball to Poyet, whose
shot was saved by Sullivan.
Spurs just couldnt get it together in the second half, and
one wondered what benefit Georges half time talk had been.
Hasselbaink nearly scored with a cheeky back-heel from a right
field cross, but it went straight to Sullivan. Anderton got
booked for a foul on the right, and Sullivan could only punch
Zolas free kick as far as Melchiot lurking beyond the back
post. Sullivan was equal to the return shot.
Although not on top of their game, Chelsea were easily able to
cause panic in the Spurs lines. Vega did well to win the ball off
Poyet, and made a decent back pass to Sullivan. The goalkeepers
clearance was poor and went straight to the feet of Hasselbaink,
who fortunately sent his shot wide.
Korsten was putting himself about a bit in the Chelsea area, and
having given both Desailly and Le Boeuf the slip, then caused a
degree of mayhem when he followed up a 50-50 ball, and caught De
Goey in the head. Korsten was blameless, but the centre backs,
especially Le Boeuf were theatrical. A little later Le Boeuf was
sent sprawling by a fair Stephen Carr challenge, but went to
great pains to let every one know how much his shoulder hurt him!
Korsten forced another save from De Goey with a good long range
shot through the defensive pack. Le Boeuf got in the refs
book for a foul on Korsten.
Stephen Carr was put under pressure by a poor Anderton pass, and
lost out to Hasselbaink. To his credit, Carr chased back, and got
in a superb saving tackle. If only the rest of the team showed
the spirit of this man! Too often the ball would run into
unoccupied territory on the left flank for Spurs, as Clemence
seemed to be playing in a similar inside position to Anderton on
the right. In fact, at times Steffen Freund was the one providing
width on the right. Sherwood had a long range shot just over the
bar, after Carr returned a poor Clemence cross into the danger
zone. However, that was about it for Spurs. Graham
introduced Davies and Doherty with just ten minutes to go. I
would also like to make the point that Doherty has spent all
season so far playing at the back for the reserves, and yet he
appeared today as a substitute attacker. To my mind he also ran
around pretty ineffectively too.
Melchiot headed against the post from a Wise cross, and then with
three minutes left Hasselbaink wrapped it up with a superb solo
effort, as he curled a right foot shot around the defence and
inside the left post from fully 28 yards.