Ferdinand (34) Harte (45, pen)
Bowyer (57)
Tottenham Hotspur (3-5-2):-Sullivan; King, Campbell (Capt.),
Doherty; Young, Freund, Davies (Sub Thelwell 45), Sherwood,
Clemence (sub Etherington, 64); Rebrov, Ferdinand (Sub Iversen)
Subs not used:- Walker; Booth,
Booked:- Sullivan, Freund
Leeds United (4-4-2) Martyn,
Ferdinand, Matteo, Harte, Mills, Batty, Bakke (Kewell 46), Bowyer,
Dacourt, Viduka, Keane
Subs not used: Robinson, Maybury, Burns,
Wilcox Booked:- Keane
Attendance: -36,070
Referee: -Fatty Winter
In what was his last match in control of the
PLC, Sugar was the difference between these two sides with Leeds
having better players all over the pitch as a result of having
ambition, and backing that ambition with money. Leeds capped a
great week with for them with a deserved victory against a Spurs
team who gave everything but were robbed by a series of dubious
decisions from the referee. Spurs had Davies in for his first
Premiership start and welcomed back Iversen to the bench. Leeds
had Radebe and Smith suspended, but had both Keane and Bowyer
returning after missing their midweek win against Anderlecht. As
ever when Campbell get his way, Spurs attacked the Park Lane in
the first half with winter sun blinding all of us on the lower
shelf until half time.
Spurs were on the back foot almost
immediately and after being put in by Harte, Viduka seemed to be
wrestled to the ground by Campbell’s challenge in the
penalty area, but this was to be the first of many contrary
decisions by the referee Winter, who is one of these ponsey refs
who always has to be the centre of attentions, letting lots of
things go, but booking people for silly things such as kicking
the ball away. Leeds started the brighter of the two teams,
moving the ball around fluently and always having a short passing
option when in possession as a result of good off the ball
movement, something we have yet to master at Tottenham.
Spurs first chance came after about five
minutes when some good work down the right found the lively
Davies on the right hand edge of the box. As he was challenged
the ball fell to Ferdinand who scuffed his first time effort a
couple of yards wide of the target. Leeds responded immediately,
when a Viduka back heel released Keane beyond Young on their left
side of our box, but his low shot was brilliantly turned around
by birthday boy Neil Sullivan, in what was to be the first of
many excellent saves. Leeds forced a couple of corners from this,
and generally had Tottenham pegged back for the opening exchanges
culminating with Bowyer hitting a twenty yarder over the bar,
much to the derision of the Paxton.
The bloke behind me commented that it seemed
like they had more players on the pitch – it was that sort
of game. After a couple of attacks by Spurs which both featured
Davies, Leeds came back to force another series of corners, from
the last of which Viduka rose above the Spurs defense and in
front of Sully (his one error in the match), but glanced his
header wide of the unguarded goal.
After the opening 15 minutes or so, Spurs
began to get in the game more and started to play some fair
football, with Davies offering many more creative options than
Sherwood or Leo in his position. Freund, who is back taking long
throws these days, sent one deep into the Leeds area and as the
ball bobbled about before being cleared it appeared to strike a
Leeds arm, but the referee was having none of it. In a similar
move to the third goal against Stockport (and a ball he has
played numerous times to Carr), Rebrov on the right hand edge of
the area slipped the ball through to the on-rushing Young, but
his cross was intercepted.
After his early error with Viduka, Campbell
was again excellent at the heart of the defense and tracked Keane
before dispossessing him in what could have been a dangerous
situation. It may sound obvious to single out the Sol Man, but
sometimes we take his consistent excellence for granted and some
mugs even doubt his commitment, suggesting he should be dropped
as he won’t sign a contract. They don't deserve the great
man. It is also great to see Ledley King, the best of our good
young bunch, maintain the excellent form he has shown this season.
When you think we have the likes of Sullivan, Carr, Campbell,
King, Anderton, Iversen, Ferdinand, Rebrov, with good squad
players such as Perry, Young, Doherty, Freund, Sherwood, Leo,
Davies, Etherington and Armo – should we really be losing
more games than we’re winning? and be only 12th?
Answers on a postcard to “Who should be the next Spurs
manager?”.
Although Leeds looked the more dangerous
side for most of the match, Spurs were not as bad as some of the
recent League performances and generally played fairly well.
After about 25 minutes, Mills cut in from the Spurs left and was
left unchecked to fire in a powerful shot from 25 yards, which
Sullivan expertly tipped over for a corner. After the corner was
cleared, Batty was felled as he trundled forward, giving Leeds a
free kick in a dangerous area. Fortunately for Tottenham, Harte
hit the shot well over.
In the long running comedy of Rebrov having
to contest arial balls with 6ft plus defenders, Rebrov managed to
win us a free kick as Rio Ferdinand clambered all over his back.
To demonstrate the contrary nature of the ref, the same thing
happened about 10 minutes before and he gave the foul to Leeds,
saying Rebrov had made a back. Expectation dimmed as Deadwood
stood over the ball – one of his no paced 9 irons into the
box no doubt, even though I guessed the delivery, Les Ferdinand
out jumped the Leeds defense but his flicked header hit the post
with Martin, who was beaten by the original header, diverting the
rebound the wrong side of the post for a corner.
On 34 minutes, one of those long aimless
diagonal punts up field, this time from Young found Rio Ferdinand
about 10 yards inside the Leeds half. Rather than trying to
contest the header, Rebrov gambled (possibly knowing Ferdinand’s
style of play) and spun off for a sideways header, which arrived
at his feet. He held the ball before releasing Les Ferdinand
through the middle with a perfect pass. Les rolled back the years,
accelerating onto the pass, deftly flicking the ball wide of the
onrushing Martin, before shooting it into the empty net with the
same movement. A very classy goal.
This goal seemed to give Spurs a bit of
confidence and we enjoyed our best period of the match until
halftime. Soon after, Rebrov tried a snap shot from outside the
area, which had Martin scrambling across his goal, but
unfortunately the ball went wide. Davies broke into the right-hand
side of the box and although he did well to get a shot on target,
Ferdinand was arguably better placed in the middle. From a long
clearance, Les Ferdinand was given time to bring the ball down on
his chest and he immediately turned goal wards and hit a dipping
shot which flashed inches wide of Martin’s left-hand post. A
truly inspired bit of skill from Sir Les, which would have
certainly been one of the goals of the season.
A second goal in this good period for Spurs
could have changed the course of the match in our favour, but it
was n’t to be. We were given a temporary reprieve as
halftime approached when Sherwood lost the ball on our left, and
Leeds moved the ball through to enable Keane to have a clear run
at goal, but as Campbell closed and Sully advanced he lost his
composure and could only offer a back pass of an attempt into
Sully’s grateful arms. Rebrov managed to show his dexterity
and skill by having two shots with either foot after blocks by
Matteo on the edge of the box from the Sullivan clearance.
In the minute of stoppage time at the end of
the first half, Bowyer stole a yard on Doherty and as soon as he
got into the penalty area, pushed out against Doherty and fell to
the earth. A shameful act of cheating (from an utter shitbag),
but it managed to convince the ref who’s lardy fat arse
meant he was quite a distance from the incident. Despite guessing
the right way, Sully had no chance with the well-hit penalty that
flashed passed his left hand into the corner. The crowd sounded
their disapproval at the halftime whistle, which blew soon after
While the scoreline reflected the balance of
play, it was galling to concede in such a dubious way so close to
halftime, as at 1-0 Spurs would have had a good chance of hanging
on. Halftime was made worse by being reminded that Sugar, with
his wife (who was shamelessly wearing a fur coat), was attending
his last match in control of the club from his usual place
amongst the cardboard cut-outs of the West Stand. He later
claimed on the media that he’d saved Spurs financially and
that we have a nice ground and excellent training facilities(!)
and we should have shown more gratitude. Curiously he forgot to
mentioned we were cup winners at the time he took over, he sacked
the best coach in English football in his prime, spoke about all
the money entering the game, but forgot to mention he spent too
little of it in investing in a successful team at Tottenham and
walked away with £22m after a one off £1.5m investment of his
own money, not to mention the £200k salary paid to his son, who
was not sufficiently able to continue his job after Daddy left.
Goodbye and fuck off. Lets hope Levy manages the PLC with the
dignity and ambition of his opposite number at Leeds Risdale, who
has dealt with the triumphs and tragedies of his tenure at the
club with great distinction.
Davies did not reappear for the second half
– it is becoming apparant that he needs to score at least
once to convince Graham that he is worthy of making it through
halftime. This appeared to be a tactical decision as Davies
showed no sign of injury. Thelwell replaced Doherty at the back,
with the latter going up field. Leeds also replaced Bakke with
Kewell, which meant Bowyer switched sides and was saved the wrath
of the shelf.
Thelwell, who’s sister and boyfriend
sit in the seat in front of me, generally had a good match in
terms of what he did, although he has a panicky manner which
sometimes makes what he actually achieves look less impressive.
Thelwell is a player I like and at only 20 is far from the
finished article, but if he continues to learn from the great man
next to him he has a great chance of making the grade at
Tottenham. Just as importantly for his career, he seems to have
won Graham’s trust.
Spurs had the first chance of the second
period as they attacked the Paxton when the ball fell to King on
the edge of the box, who managed to hit his second attempt over
after his initial effort was blocked. At the other end, Bowyer
managed a header and a dive for a penalty, much to the continued
derision of the Spurs fans who continually booed him and reminded
him with the “Bowyer’s going down” song that he’ll
be spending some time at Her Majesty’s pleasure in the near
future for his part in the disgraceful racist attack in Leeds.
Viduka, who really is a funny looking geezer,
turned smartly from a ball in from Leeds left and fired a low
shot which Sully did well to save, but as the rebound looked to
be tapped home, he reached out from his prone position and
punched the ball away from the advancing Leeds player. This
looked like being a temporary reprieve as the ball fell to Bowyer
unchallenged on the edge of the six yard box with the goal at his
mercy. Amazingly, he shot straight at Clemence who had done
really well to get back on the goal line, and the ball hit his
midriff and rebounded to safety after running just in front of
the goal line. One of the most incredible escapes I’ve seen
at the Lane.
The stay of execution was brief. Leeds won a
corner, and schoolboy defending meant that Spurs only sent one
man to cover the two Leeds players who took the corner. The Leeds
players worked the ball beyond the Spurs defender Bowyer ran into
the Spurs penalty area unchallenged before hitting an ordinary
shot which past through Viduka’s legs and into the corner of
the net with Sully unable to react. Sully appealed for offside,
but it was clear that Thelwell had showed his inexperience by
staying back to stay goal side of Keane and playing everyone
onside. The goal was a combination of poor play from the
defenders in not having two people at the corner, but also from
our esteemed manager not be able to communicate that Corner
takers (as well as throwers in throw ons) need to be marked in
his 28 months at the club! Lets see if we learn from this, but I
have a feeling we won’t.
While it was difficult to see Spurs getting
two to win the match, an equalizer and a draw was still very much
within their reach. Rebrov who usually looks dangerous when he
has the ball, let fly from 35 yards with one of his powerful
shots but Martin saved well low to his left. Leeds, who obviously
learn from O’Leary that once they go ahead in a match, the
best way to stay ahead is to score again, continued to press with
Keane and especially Viduka always looking dangerous.
In one of our better moves the ball was
worked to Ferdinand on the left hand edge of the box, but Rebrov
waited too long to receive his pass and the ball was intercepted.
Despite the defeat, this was one of the most entertaining matches
of the season with good end to end football. Spurs had a number
of moves on the Leeds goal, but most were fairly easily
intercepted, and it would have been great to have had Carr
bombing down the right to give us extra impetus in attack which
we have been sorely missing since the start of the year. Leeds
next chance came when Harte was given another chance to try his
special free kicks, and although this dipping free kick was hit
with power and pace, it was always too high
On seventy minutes, a corner on the Spurs
right was met by the massive head of Sherwood who did well to out
jump the Leeds defense, but could not deflect his header under
the bar and it sailed agonizingly wide. With ten minutes to go,
Spurs replaced Ferdinand and Clemence with Iversen and
Etherington, but both had little chance to make much impression
on the rest of the match.
Keane had a good chance to seal the defeat,
when put through by Kewell, but Thelwell got in a good block.
Keane received a booking for trying to block a quickly taken free
kick by Sherwood, and the ref advanced the ball a generous 10
yards. Sherwood put back his 9 iron and got our his pitching
wedge and chipped a ball in to the penalty spot, which Campbell
with his back to goal, chested down but Leeds managed to clear
before a Spurs player could capitalize.
From a good whipped corner from Rebrov, the
ball struck Doherty’s boot about 10 yards out as he ran on
to the corner, but he could not direct his effort goal wards.
Spurs had further efforts with a King header going just wide and
another header this time from Doherty being cleared off the line
by Leeds captain for the day Rio Ferdinand. The last chance of
match fell to Leeds as Campbell gave the ball away on the halfway
line and Viduka ran on to the through ball. His powerful shot was
tipped over by the ever excellent Sullivan in what proved to be
the last action of the match
Sullivan (8/10) – Another
excellent display between the sticks, with several excellent
saves which were undone by a bad refereeing decision and some
sloppy defending
Doherty (6/10) – Again played
half a match at centre back and half up front and acquitted
himself well in both
Campbell (8/10) – An excellent
match for Sol who gave a lively Leeds attack nothing, and did
some great saving tackles. A true Spurs hero, who needs to be
surrounded by more heroes.
King (7/10) – Yet to do anything
other than impress for Spurs, and had another fine match at the
back
Young (7/10) – Played well
against Bowyer and Kewell and had a decent match, and although we’re
missing Carr, Young is doing a good job in his absence.
Davies (6/10) – Seemed to be
playing well before being removed at halftime. If it was for
anything other than an injury, Graham got it badly wrong as we
were not as good going forward without Davies in the second
period
Freund (6/10) – Another good
performance in the middle, but against someone like Dacourt you
can see why Freund is with us rather than a Champions League side,
as he does everything Freund does, but has much more to his game.
Sherwood (6/10) – Marginally
better than previous weeks, but is a shadow of his former self
and needs to be replaced urgently
Clemence (6/10) – Did a great
saving clearance off the line when it looked certain Leeds would
score and had a better match than some of his recent efforts, but
still looks like coming up short of Premiership quality on a
regular basis.
Rebrov (6/10) – As ever, had a
lively match when he had the ball, and set up Ferdinand for our
goal, but he does not get enough of the ball in positions he can
be do damage to the opposition (or have team-mates willing to
make runs to give him options)
Ferdinand (7/10) – Les looked
fitter than last week and had a strong game up front, capped with
an excellent goal which rolled back the years.
Thelwell (6/10) – Alton often
looks quite flustered on the ball, but usually gets the job done
and its good to see that he has won Graham’s trust
Etherington/Iversen (-) –
Neither had much time to make and impression