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Spurs 3 Newcastle 1 report by Bobby
Harper Barton ......Hughes, ............Goma..........Domi Dyer, ..............Dumas,.............Speed ............... Solano (Maric) Shearer, ................ Ketsbaia (Robinson for Hughes, Dumas to Centre back) We hammered the hell out of them until just after our goal. Somehow we forgot that you're allowed to score more than 1 and called it a day. Their first (coming from a basic error from Nobby, putting the ball out for a corner) was diabolical. Every team in the PL is capable of looking at least half organised in defending set play...but not us. The usual and scrappy English technique of pile-on and see what comes of it produced an unchallengaed header - not the only one we'd see. To be fair whoever was marking their scorer (was it Speed?) seemed to get pulled back and left them a man over. Unlike us, they could hit their targets. Typically the fans were in good singing heart, but come 75 mins even the most passionate were feeling the strai n. From the delights of Nobby's fabulous finishing to the joke if Maric's corner in 90 mins. I think criticism of Shearer is harsh. He was singled out for "special treatment" from the ref all game. Time and again he was left isolated and many time s was to be found in the middle of the pitch just trying to bring play forward, leaving Ketsy (head down and back to goal all the f**kin' time) up front. Al won a fair share of knockdowns, but with no-one running off him, or even anywhere near the pl ay he looked the forlorn figure. A solid 7/10. Robinson was a revelation. I'm sure that if he'd started from KO during our upbeat spell he'd have scored. He looked hungry for the ball and pressed defenders to defend. Plenty of lovely touches and s kilful play. In fact, it really went to show how dire Spurs really were at the back. Had we'd faced goal more often, kept the ball on the deck and passes went to feet we would have torn through them. Instead we saw the same training ground pieces (lay offs and free kicks) fall apart - not even at the seams, just collapsing into a sort of jelly. Stevie Harper showed courage, but that's not always enough. When up against the likes of Ferdie and Anderson you simply need to be 6'2". Goma got himself booked for needlessly kicking the ball away during a free kick. Domi made some outstanding tackl es to save us from a 5-1 drubbing. Dyer had Ginola in his pocket until Graham pushed him up 15 yards, leaving Warren to cope without any pace or backup. When Speed got booked (for what?) Daveeed moved into midfield and spread play nicely. Dominguez c ame on and looked like a short version of Kets. Thankfully a bad (and bookable) challenge from Warren put paid to their pain in the arse sub who was in turn, subbed. Maric is quickly getting the unwelcome reputation of being a dark haired Andrea, and we all wish him a swift recovery. Overall, I'm mightily pissed off that what promised to be 3 pts won with style and panache turned out to be lost with disgrace and Chanel No.5. >>> BOBBY
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