TUESDAY 31ST
OCTOBER, 2000, WORTHINGTON CUP 3RD RD
Anderton (pen), 60
Adebola,
14, 27
Referee:-
Mr D. Pugh
Attendance:-
27, 096 (allegedly)
Spurs (4-4-2/3-5-2):-
Sullivan; Carr, Perry, Vega, Thatcher; Anderton, Freund (sub
Davies, 9, sub Young, 46), Sherwood (Capt.), Clemence; Korsten (sub
Dominguez, 68), Ferdinand
Subs not
used:- Walker; Doherty
Booked:- Perry
Birmingham
(4-4-2):- Bennett; Gill, Purse, M. Johnson, Grainger; Eaden,
Hughes, O'Connor, Lazarides (sub Robinson, 79); Adebola, Burchill
(sub Ndlovu, 73)
Subs not
used:- Poole; A. Johnson, Bass
Tonight's
performance was one of the worst I've ever seen in my quarter
century and more at the club. Burnley 4-1 in 83 even was n't as
bad as this. Graham must go and soon. I'd not even thought about
relegation until Sunday afternoon, but it is looming ever larger
as Spurs luck begins to run out and images of Blackburn two
seasons ago come to mind
This was an injury ravaged team - missing Campbell, Rebrov,
Iversen, Armo, Treacle and Freund, but even so, they could have
done a lot better than this. Birmingham were nothing special,
just waited for the inevitable Spurs
mistakes and punished them
Birmingham had already gone close thro Burchill when Davies on
for hamstring victim Freund gave the ball away on the halfway
line. Birmingham broke swiftly down their left and Vega
completely missed the cross allowing Adebola ages to control the
ball, and place it passed Sully's right hand into the corner
The crowd who'd been quite before eventually broke out with a
short bit of Graham out and then spent the rest of their abuse
for Sugar (and the hapless Vega). I understand the frustrations,
but we really needed "Come on you
Spurs" rather than the barracking. Spurs had much of the
ball but never looked like getting through the masses of yellow
shirts. Their passing was poor and a lack of invention, width and
movement up front meant that it never looked like we would score
Birmingham's second was a fine individual effort from Adebola who
received the ball on the right wing, ran at the retreating
bamboozled Vega. Thatcher again woefully out of position arrived
when he;d reached the edge of the box and put in the most lame of
challenges before he struck a decent shot which did not go in the
corner and travelled from outside the box, but Sullivan did not
manage to get a hand on it
Bad to worse followed before halftime when Vega let Burchill get
in front of him to tap home simple chance from a left wing cross.
This was one of the worst single pieces of defending I can
remember and cements Vega alongside
the "greats" such as Cundy, Nethercott and Lacy
The jumbotron did not show any repeats of the third goal and the
Rasta steward was busy organising his troops around the touchline
to stop any halftime pitch invasion. Halftime was also highlight
free on the jumbotron
and that idiot thing Chirpy was seen on his knees banging the
ground during the interval.
To be fair, Spurs were not quite as inept in the second half, but
were still along way below their modest standards of this season.
Birmingham seemed content to defend their sizeable lead and hit
on the break giving Tottenham
a lot of the ball, which further exposed their embarrassment.
Graham had decided to revert to three centre backs and push Carr
and Thatcher further forward. This was a hopeless tactic from a
man who sold Ginola and only now
is realising that Tottenham are most dangerous when they attack
with width. Carr tried his hardest and after a good series off
passes released Clemence in the box, who was up ended for a
penalty which Anderton converted
Spurs had chances after this, notably a miss by Les which was
painful, but it never looked like it was going to be our day and
people were streaming out with about 20 minutes to go. A truly
awful experience.
Sullivan 4/10 - no
chance with 1 & 3, but wasn't very close to the second
and his distribution was poor
Carr 8/10 - a
grand effort from a grand player. Put Clemence in to win the
penalty and was our best attacking threat for the whole match
having another
shot and heading just over when in the centre forward position.
11 Steve
Carr's would put us back where the club belong amongst the elite,
but only
one Carr coupled with one Vega and one Thatcher means we are in
dire shite.
Not only should Carr be given the money he is asking, but the
captains
armband would be more useful on him than Sherwood
Thatcher 5/10 - not his
worst game, but still very lacking and nowhere for
their second goal
Vega 0/10 - all
your Vega nightmares arrived at once and he was at fault
for all three City goals. He made ordinary Dele Adebola look like
a young
Ronaldo as he had no idea of how to get near him let alone get
the ball off
him.The crowd did not help him by barracking him, but when all
said and
done, he was truly shite and what else are the crowd expected to
do.Its not
as if this is the first time.
Perry 6/10 - had his
usual game and also hit the bar with a header. Not
brilliant, but not bad in comparison to the pony all around
Freund - pulled up
early with a hamstring injury in similar fashion to Leo
against Derby. The injury list just gets worse
Sherwood 4/10 -
offered very little
Anderton 7/10 - I've
been a harsh critic of Anderton, but he knuckled down
and always wanted the ball and, along with Carr, was at the heart
of what
little decent stuff we did create
Clemence 6/10 - Never
stopped trying and gave his all.
Korsten 3/10 - Is this
man a footballer? All said and done, Leeds have
really diddled us with this prick, Scales and Graham
Ferdinand 4/10 -
Unrecognisable from the Premiership's golden boot of a few
years ago. Finds new ways of missing vital chances. If he was a
horse they
would have shot him long ago
Davies 5/10 - came on
for Freund and was at fault for the first goal losing
possession on the halfway line (admittedly he did not get a call)
but played
a solid simple game after. Was subbed at half time, which unless
he was
injured would have done his confidence no good at all
Young 5/10 replaced
Davies at halftime (Graham, ever attacking in trying to
get 3 goals back, brings on three centre backs with similar
results to the
last time he did this at Charlton) and had a moderate game in
difficult
circumstances
Dominguez - 5/10 -
showed some invention when running at the Brummies, but
Ginola he ain't and his usual repertoire of runs, falls and
losing the ball was never going to save the day.
Graham 0/10 - this man
must go and go soon before more damage is done. He sat on his £2m
a year arse for the whole of the first half as the team were
woeful and fell apart. His removal of Davies (who did not appear
to be limping) at the start of the second half for another
bleedin Centre half was mad. Not only did another centre half
hardly had Birmingham worrying about conceding goals and what
must the poor lad be thinking after being responsible for the
first goal