Saturday 23rd December 2000
FA Carling Premiership
Attendance:- 35,638
Referee:- Rob Styles
Spurs (3-5-2):- Sullivan; Perry,
Campbell, Thelwell; Carr, Anderton, Sherwood (sub Leonhardsen, 85),
King, Clemence; Rebrov, Ferdinand (sub Armstrong, 46)
Subs not used:- Walker; Doherty, Korsten
Booked:- Sherwood, Perry (fouls)
Middlesbrough(5-3-1-1):- Schwarzer;
Mustoe, Ehiogu, Vickers, Cooper, O'Neill (sub Gordon, 90);
Karembeu, Ince, Okon; Whelan (sub Fleming, 87); Boksic (sub Deane,
75)
Subs not used:- Crossley; Festa
Booked:- Okon, O'Neill, Deane (dissent).
It as a case of After the Lord Mayor’s
show, with a time wasting Boro team stifling everything Tottenham
threw at them and then relying upon the crossbar and a dodgy set
of officials when they were beaten to maintain the clean sheet
which seemed their sole intention. Carr received his deserved
player of the year award before the game, and he took his usual
place in an unchanged Spurs line up, with Korsten replacing the
injured Freund on the bench. Venables had a quiet return to the
Lane.
Boro set their game plan from the start
– defending deep and with numbers and despite having 90
minutes to try and work a way round this, Spurs failed to come to
terms with the stifling tactics and had only sporadic periods
when they put the Boro goal under pressure. Graham did not help
this situation, by using only one tactical substitution, and that
with only 5 minutes to go. The ref was useless as well – not
pulling up the Boro players for time wasting and falling for
their cheating when winning free-kicks.
Carr teased O'Neill on the edge of the box
before hitting a left foot shot across the goalmouth and just
wide of the mark. Carr was involved in most of the decent attacks,
and his cross was deflected for a corner after a neat interchange
with Anderton and Rebrov. Rebrov was pretty sharp today, but
sometimes his passes are too clever for his teammates, or just
plain inaccurate!
There was a little panic after Perry lost
the ball on the right allowing a cross to Karembeu lurking in
space on the right. He was soon closed down, and his chipped
centre was intercepted by Sol and sent accurately to Rebrov in
style. After 23 minutes, a good build up started with a long ball
from Carr to Rebrov. Anderton and Clemence combined until
Clemence crossed, but Carr's header was cleared in front of goal
by a defender. Five minutes later Anderton found Ferdinand, who
headed to Rebrov. The cross reached Sherwood, whose diving header
at the near post was pushed round by Schwarzer for a corner.
It was Spurs who had the only real chances
from here on in, as Schwarzer mis-judged a Clemence cross/shot,
and had to tip it over the bar for a corner. Then he cleanly held
Ledley King's powerful shot from a chest-down by Ferdinand.
When Armstrong replaced Les, he was often to
be found working down the right flank, which at times put Carr
off, as he worked inside. There were one or two occasions when
Sherwood or Anderton were on the ball, and no-one was moving for
them. Confusion reigned. Armstrong started a move down the line,
which led to a Rebrov cross being cleared as far as Sherwood on
the left of the area. His shot was deflected into the path of
Armstrong who was adjudged offside before he put the ball into
the net. Armstrong's pace worked when he picked up an Anderton
through ball. A back pass to the goalkeeper was cleared only as
far as Rebrov, whose super shot was deflected onto the bar and
out for a corner.
At the other end, Boksic took advantage of a
poor pass to try a curling shot that failed to bother Sullivan.
Armstrong again picked up a long ball - this one from Sherwood -
chested it round the advancing Schwarzer, but was too ambitious
with his effort from a sharp angle. With fifteen minutes left,
Stephen Carr worked his way in from the right, and his driven
left foot shot was parried by the keeper. Armstrong emerged from
the pack to fire home, but again an offside decision thwarted him
– although it was clear that Armo was onside.
By now one was in fear of the visitors
managing to snatch an undeserved goal on the break, and nothing
would go right for Spurs. Sherwood and Armstrong were deprived in
a goalmouth scramble, and then both Perry and Anderton tried long
range shots from the corner. Schwarzer saved from Perry, but
Anderton's shot was wide. The best chance fell to Clemence, after
Ledley King chipped the defence. Clemence was in the perfect
place to shoot – for Chris Armstrong - he completely duffed
his effort as it was on his right foot.
All that was left was for Mr. Venables to
use all the time wasting tactics under the sun. Referee Styles
did add a fair amount of time, but it was never going to be
enough for Spurs. Two points off these low table merchants is an
insufficient return in the two matches we have played this season.
Sullivan – 6/10 – had
nothing to do, but deserved the easy ride after his heroics on
Monday and gained an all to infrequent clean sheet
Thelwell – 6/10 – growing
in confidence with every match and as well as assured defending
played some good passes
Campbell – 7/10 – gave
Boksic no chances and had another good match at the back
Perry – 6/10 – another good
match defensively and had lots of space as Boro retreated, but
his use of the ball lets his game down
Carr – 7/10 – gave a player
of the year performance – bombing down the right and giving
marker O’Neill a torrid time. It is remarkable the progress
he has made from ordinary full back to super star in only a
couple of seasons
Anderton – 6/10 – this is
the sort of game Anderton needs to dominate if he is to be worth
£25,000 a week and again he failed to do so. Did some good link
up play with Carr and Rebrov, but not enough to justify his
central midfield position
King – 7/10 – another fine
performance from King – calm and assured with good passing.
The find of the season.
Sherwood – 4/10 – truly
awful – waved his arms about a lot and pointed but could not
pass to a Spurs player – not even his usual hospital balls.
Was belatedly replaced by Leo, who should start on Wednesday.
Clemence – 7/10 – a good
match for Clem, especially in the first half when he was unlucky
to score a couple of times.
Ferdinand – 6/10 – got
another head injury and had to be replaced by Armo at half time
(Sub Armstrong – 6/10 – had
the ball in the net twice, being unlucky not to be able to claim
at least one of them)
Rebrov – 6/10 – looked back
to something like his best, with a positively display – not
everything came off but he gave 100% for the cause.