Underneath the Arch

After yesterday's FA Cup Semi-Final at Wembley, I have written this - http://thesubstantive.com/2012/04/underneath-the-arch/ 

My e-book on Tottenham Hotspur's return to the European Cup for the first time in 49 Seasons is now available on Amazon and Smashwords.

Street Spirit

Further to the events at White Hart Lane on Saturday, I wrote this Football Column for The Substantive on Monday (19 March 2012) - http://thesubstantive.com/2012/03/street-spirit/

My e-book on Tottenham Hotspur's return to the European Cup after an absence of 49 seasons is now available to buy for £4.27 (inc VAT) on Amazon and Smashwords.

Wide Open Space

In the board game 'Operation' a buzzing sound would go of when you failed to cleanly remove a part from the patient. Recently, selecting the Tottenham team has been like a board game where the jigsaw pieces haven't slotted perfectly into place and a 'Family Fortunes' wrong answer sound has greeted the team sheet, with an imaginary cross flashing in our heads followed by frustration on the pitch.

Ahead of last Saturday's game at Everton there were certain factors to consider, which would be part of a formula if we were inputting this into a computer to help us:

* Aaron Lennon was out injured.
* Jermain Defoe was bang in form.
* In the preceding game at Stevenage, Rafa Van Der Vaart came back from injury and ran the second-half from a central midfield position, playing behind two strikers.
* Louis Saha had been injured but was fit to return to his former club.

* Everton have a narrow pitch.
* Everton would most likely play 4-4-1-1.
* Tottenham had lost their last two league games, being dominated in the first half away at Arsenal by playing a 4-4-2 v a 4-3-3 but playing well at home to Man Utd when both teams played a 4-4-2 and Spurs pressed high up the pitch.

Further to that, there are the more general factors about the current Tottenham Squad that were relevant to Saturday’s selection:

* In the absence of Lennon, with Pienaar on loan, there is no player in the squad who would naturally hold onto a wide right position without drifting inside, including Kranjcar, Bale and Modric. (Kyle Walker could do it theoretically, but it would be a change to suit a system, rather than a system to suit the players).
* While Modric has done well from the left, including the previous week v Manchester Utd, he is at his most influential playing centrally.
* Van Der Vaart is technically the best player at the club - he can control the ball in any situation, with his back to goal and under pressure, or distribute the ball from deep, spreading the play or dictating the tempo through intelligent ball circulation. Also, he has the vision and technique to play killer balls. And of course he scores vital goals.
* With King, Kabul and Gallas, we have centre-backs who are comfortable on the ball, and can join the play.
* And then there is the position of Gareth Bale to consider....

When Bale was signed from Southampton he was an attacking left-wing back, with a good record from set-pieces. His Tottenham debut, away at Old Trafford in August 2007, was a good performance on the left-side of midfield, with much of the game played in the middle section of the pitch. Due to injury and Managerial changes, apart from an excellent free-kick against Arsenal, and some success in League Cup games, Bale’s career at Tottenham didn’t really kick start at Tottenham until Harry Redknapp finally gave him a chance at left-back in the absence of the injured Beniot Assou-Ekotto at home to Peterborough in the FA Cup 3^rd Round in January 2010.

With Nico Kranjcar going inside at every opportunity from his nominal starting position in front of him, Bale was influential in that game as well at the matches against Liverpool, Leeds, Fulham and Birmingham that month, by running from deep, overlapping and adding width on the left. Bale continued affecting the game from left-back in February, with assists home and away in the FA Cup against Bolton, and it wasn’t until the FA Cup 6^th Round goalless draw away at Fulham in March, when Assou-Ekotto returned, that Bale started on the left-side of midfield. Bale went back to left-back for the home league game against Portsmouth a few weeks later and again got another assist and created more great chances, but since then, has largely started higher up the pitch and so not burdened with defensive responsibilities that would detract from his game.

Looking back at his best performances playing in an advanced role on the left since, many of them have come when Tottenham as a team have had a deeper starting position in the game; against Chelsea in the run-in 2010, and at home to Internationale in the Champions League he was virtually unplayable, running from deep with pace and technique. Likewise, away against Inter at the San Siro his first two wonderful individual goals started from runs in his own half. (His third excellent strike was after Lennon run inside, where he was also in a more central position).

This season, his best efforts on the left, at home to Chelsea to cross for Adebayor, came where he ran into space. When Spurs have had to play against teams who have defended deep, and in numbers, such as at home to Everton last season, Bale has found it difficult to influence the game, with not only three men on him, but nowhere to go when he got the ball. Which is why is given the license to roam.

Even in the 2010 run-in, his goal at home to Arsenal came from the inside right position, and last season his goal glut pre-Christmas came when he was given more freedom in the final third, including his lovely goal that began our comeback at The Emirates. When he played in a 4-3-3 away at Stoke, and playing-off the right in that system from the bench against Wolves last term, he has looked devastating, with wide open space to run into.

Aaron Lennon also prospered, when like Bale he came off the bench at Wolves last season, and with just one striker, was able to cut-in on his favoured foot will as well as go down the line. Lennon also looks dangerous when he switches on the left in a 4-4-2, because as a natural winger he stretches play, as is evident by him creating our best chance against Manchester United two weeks ago as soon as he swapped, and with his excellent goals against QPR and Fulham this season, both goals showing he has the ability to go either side with his dribbling.

The inverted winger is nothing new, not even to Spurs, with Chris Waddle and Cliff Jones examples of World-Class players who were both footed, and could come inside or go down the flank. Bale though, he is a different style of player, and like Cristino Ronaldo who started as a right-winger, can do more damage centrally. That game against QPR were Lennon swapped was also another where Bale prospered inside, as he did in his best performance of the season, away at Norwich in a fluid 4-3-3. Even in recent games where he has been criticized, he won the penalty at the Emirates through his run through the middle, and could have stolen the game at Anfield when he tried to score through the keeper’s legs.

Bale looked to be back on form against Stevenage with all three assists – one from an excellent long pass from the left-back position, one from winning the penalty from a run from the right wing, and one from a throw-in. But he did look good throughout the second half from the left.

He obviously wouldn’t get that space away at Goodison on the left wing, but the problem with playing him on the right against Everton was with two strikers and a narrow pitch - while he could still threaten by going down the line, as he did a couple of times in the first half, there was less space for him to go inside. So, without the injured Lennon and the desire to include Defoe as one of two strikers, Redknapp could have played 3-5-2, with Assou-Ekotto one of three defenders, in the knowledge Everton would start with one striker. That would have given Bale space to run into, and mean we weren’t outnumbered in the middle, as we were in the first half, which was too scrappy and too open. And, of course, it would have meant Van Der Vaart and Modric could both influence the game from the middle.

The second half was better possession wise, but with Everton defending deep and in numbers, and with a lead to hold onto, space was limited; despite two excellent killer balls by Van Der Vaart and Assou-Ekotto respectively, we didn’t score, and now have lost three leagues in succession.

When Redknapp said Bale played on the right for Wales in interviews afterwards, it was slightly misleading, as he does, but not in a 4-4-2. Redknapp clearly understands the benefits of giving Bale the license to do damage, and in the amount of different formations he has played this season, has shown he has the ability to be flexible. But he didn’t do it on Saturday. If everyone is fit and on form, a 4-5-1, with Bale and Lennon able to swap and roam, and Van Der Vaart and Modric able to influence the game from the middle, is our best bet, whatever the opposition. When that is not the case, sometimes a bit of thinking outside the box is required.

MG

My e-book on Tottenham Hotspur's return to the European Cup for the first time in 49 Seasons is now available to buy on Amazon and Smashwords.

Badhead

There was a lot of rubbish talked before yesterday’s North London Derby, including that this was the first time going into the fixture this century that Tottenham had a better side than Arsenal, and that Tottenham were certainties to win.

On the first point, people have short memories. In 2006, with three games left of the season, Tottenham went to the last North London Derby at Highbury above Arsenal in the league, and battered them for the best part of 90 minutes. Arsenal salvaged an undeserved draw with a late equalizer, but Martin Jol’s side were clearly the better footballing team.

Secondly, there are no certainties, and anything can happen in derbies.

The Tottenham team news when it came through before the walk to the ground was a surprise. It was the same team that produced the best performance of the season against Newcastle two weeks earlier and was probably picked with the idea that two strikers, Emmanuel Adebayor and Louis Saha, would unsettle a vulnerable Arsenal defence, that has had problems throughout the season, home and away, from Blackburn to Milan.

In the home fixture earlier this season Harry Redknapp got the tactics wrong, playing Jermain Defoe up front with Adebayor, and with Rafa Van Der Vaart out on the right, leading to Spurs being outnumbered in the middle, until Sandro came on in the second half. Despite that, we won, and still had four one-on-ones in the game, created mainly through the vision and skill of Van Der Vaart.

This season, when playing a diamond in the second-half at home to Everton and in the cup at Watford, and three at the back in at Stevenage and in the second-half against Stoke Redknapp has tried formations where Spurs could play two-up-front and not get outnumbered. Both formations rely on the width coming from full-backs/wing-backs and yesterday, with Niko Kranjcar tucking inside, and Bale fluid, it looked at time this might need to be the case.

We started off well, playing a very high line, compressing the space, with Scott Parker and Luka Modric excellent in midfield, and we soon created, and scored, when Adebayor and Saha linked well after great work from Kyle Walker. Arsenal soon got to grips with the game, retaining possession well, and pushing Spurs back. It always looked though, that we would score a second goal on the break, so big were the spaces Arsenal were leaving. 

Walker twice broke before Modric put Gareth Bale in, who from a central position powered into the box and won a penalty. Adebayor, after a long wait, took a fantastic penalty, totally different from the poor kick he took at West Brom. Minutes later Bale this time had a run on the inside left, but rather than playing the ball across the face of goal, where Adebayor was in the box, chose to shoot at the near post. The right decision and a third goal then could have shattered Arsenal.

As it was, even at 2-0, Arsenal still had confidence on the ball, and the first goal in the second half was always going to be vital. Before then though, Arsenal made their spell of possession count, pulling their first goal back which got their crowd behind them for the first time after 40 minutes, and then gaining all the momentum in the game with equalizer two minutes later.

At half time Michael Dawson had an extensive warm-up, suggesting Ledley King may come off, or less likely, Redknapp would take Benoit Assou-Ekotto off (who was back from a minor operation and whose weak clearance preceded Arsenal’s equalizer), and go to a back three, allowing Van Der Vaart, who was also going through his paces, to come on for Kranjcar, and play behind the two strikers.

Dawson didn’t come on, but Van Der Vaart did, for Saha, with Sandro on for Kranjcar, so beefing up the midfield that was once again outnumbered and overrun, and reverting to the 4-3-3 that worked so well at Norwich, with a fluid front three of Bale, Adebayor and Van Der Vaart.

But the Dawson’s warm-up was the big clue. Ledley King was struggling, as he has done more this season than ever before, and all of Arsenal’s three second-half goals came in the channel between him and Ekotto.

When we were 3-2 down we look composed on the two rare occassions when we had the ball, having the confidence to pass when under pressure, and moving the ball around well. But we never created a chance and then opened up too quickly, when there was still time to get back the game. Arsenal exploited the space at the back, and unlike a few other away defeats we have suffered in North London Derbies in the last few years, they were deserved winners. They kept possession well on the day, moved well of the ball, created chances, and scored five goals. It was their Cup Final, and they were due to win a final eventually.

We have a wealth of talent, and apart from Van Persie no Arsenal player would get in the Spurs team, and few would get on the bench. The trick is getting the selection right. 

While there was a logic in playing two-up-front, in games against a team whose game is based on possession, it was dangerous to go into the game without three in the middle, and led to us being dominated. Also, a couple of key factors when trying to work out the winning formula: our team is ALWAYS improved when a fit Aaron Lennon plays, and Rafa Van Der Vaart adds something to the team no-one else at the club does, through a combination of personality, footballing intelligence and technical class. 

Which suggests that the 4-5-1 we all expected should have been the starting line-up.

If everyone is fit that will surely be the team that starts against Manchester United next Sunday, with Sandro in for the suspended Parker, and Lennon and Van Der Vaart back in the team. And maybe the one upfront could be Saha against his old club. We could do with the comeback that we showed when we lost against Portsmouth 22 months ago. It’s about time we beat United, and about time we won a six-pointer. We are more than capable of going on another good run.

MG

My e-book on Tottenham Hotspur's return to the European Cup for the first time in 49 seasons is available to buy for £4.27 (inc VAT) on Amazon and Smashwords.

 

Harry Redknapp: Spurs & England

My piece on Harry Redknapp and his options regarding the England job, and Tottenham, from earlier this week on The Substantive -  http://thesubstantive.com/2012/02/nothing-to-lose

My e-book on Tottenham Hotspur's return to the European Cup for the first time in 49 season is available to buy from Amazon and Smashwords.

Ghosts in the Eyes

For our journey to Manchester on Sunday morning I made a Bruce Springsteen compilation CD for the car that was driving us up there. The CD started with Thunder Road, a majestic song that looks ahead to reaching the Promised Land after a lifetime of past disappointments. Setting the scene for the story in the song, it contains the line “Like a vision she dances across the porch as the radio plays”. The following morning I doubt I was the only one whose first vision when they woke to their own radio alarm was a yellow ball rolling across the goal, Joe Hart stranded, and Jermain Defoe poised to come onto to it...

I have seen enough football to know that vision may stay with me for a long time.

Losing that match dramatically at the Etihad has given some air for pundits who despise Tottenham to talk about a title challenge now over and self-hating Spurs fans who want justification for their ignorant and cynical belief that a title challenge was a delusional idea. Yet stoppage time on Sunday showed the swings and roundabouts in sport, the tight margins involved, and gave a perfect example of the term ‘six-pointer’.

We went to City on the back of a disappointing result at home to Wolves, where a few individual performances dropped below the high standards set this season. It is wrong to say that title talk in the preceding days caused that slight dip; there was no problem with the mentality, though it did look a case of one too many games after a hectic period, having also played an extra game three days earlier, with the game in hand against Everton.

Both Michael Dawson and Aaron Lennon, starting their third games in a week after coming back from injury, struggled, while tiredness also seemed to effect others, including Younes Kaboul, who as with the Everton game, began shakily and with errors. The atmosphere inside the ground to begin with was good though, with the expectancy raising the volume to start with, rather then inducing nervousness, which sometimes can happen.

But there were three stoppages in the first fifteen minutes, we never really got the up-tempo start we would have liked and we soon ended up chasing the game, as Wolves suddenly had something to hold onto. Perhaps through inexperience, Kyle Walker, cheaply gave away possession via a throw-in in our own half. He seemed to recover well enough to see the ball out for a goal-kick but a bad decision by the officials led to a Wolves corner and an opening goal.

Despite a concerted effort we failed to equalize before half-time as another vital decision went against Adebayor (although the fact he is offside so many times suggests he didn’t know he was being played on when he converted the Gareth Bale shot that looked goal-ward bound). But there were still 40 mins to go when we equalized. The goal came from fantastic movement again by Rafa Van Der Vaart, taking up a position in the box before using great technique to engineer room to pass to Bale, whose who lay-off in turn set up Luka Modric, who finally hit the target with one of a number of shots from him on the day from the edge of the area. That was the time to go on and make the pressure tell.  A second goal then and Wolves would have buckled. But they saw that period out, and we dropped two points.

Teams will drop points in the second half of the season. The key is making sure that when we don’t win, we don’t let it affect us, and get straight back on another winning run. Sunday was more than just another game though.

We started off well enough at the Etihad with a five man midfield and playing a large portion of the first fifteen minutes in their half. We continued to be comfortable until half-time, with Sergio Auguero’s individual ability the only threat, and masking Man City’s general play, which was decidedly average.

City started the second half off the better though before we countered four times, Van Der Vaart and Bale both looking to get in advanced positions without creating a clear-cut chance: Bale slipping the one time he could have had a strike on goal. Within two minutes City took the lead, Nasri’s movement and clinical finish doing justice to Silva’s killer ball. From nowhere, it was 2-0, Lescott given a free run to bundle home from a corner, the second soft goal we have conceded from a corner in two games.

Fortunately we were back in the game straight away. Jermain Defoe expertly capitalised on Savic’s error, finishing coolly and naturally, giving us a springboard for a comeback.  Lennon stretched City on the left after combining with Bale and Van Der Vaart before coming inside and, as so many times for us, providing a vital assist, this time to Bale, who proved how dangerous he is from the centre with a wonderful first time shot.

Whatever followed later, seeing the ball hit the back of the net, and the ensuring celebrations that had me hugging all and sundry and took me out dancing onto the concourse behind me, produced a few endorphins. And reports of an unusually animated and excited press box at the Emirates as Bale scored, was another example of the potential significance of the goal. As League games go, this was the biggest since our visit to City in May 2010, and while a positive result could only be judged in hindsight, that equalizer meant everything was possible.

We tightened up in midfield with Livermore on for Van Der Vaart, shortly after City brought on Balotelli for Dzeko. Lennon swapped again, Ekotto providing the width on the left, with Bale again dangerous with his movement from the centre.

City were there for the taking. On the back of two home defeats in cup competitions, without Yaya Toure and Vincent Kompany, and now under pressure against a better team. We pressed them high up the pitch looking to score the next goal. There is no doubting the resilient qualities of this Tottenham team, with second-half fight backs away at Inter and Arsenal last season, and a winning mentality that has been evident for three seasons now.

We had half chances, but no clear cut opportunity until the first minute of stoppage time and the aforementioned chance for Defoe. Livermore put Bale in, and his run and ball were perfect, taking all the defenders and Hart out of the equation. Defoe held his run so not to get offside but just failed to make sufficient contact.

Fine margins that could leave ghosts in our eyes.

Pienaar was close to putting Defoe in again before City then had a spell with the ball, while their fans were leaving in droves. All our men were behind the ball, and we eventually won the ball back, but a long ball from Ekotto gave it straight back. They then hit a long ball of their own and got behind us.

The one player in the world you would want defending in that situation is Ledley King. I have been lucky enough to see Baresi, Blanc, Hierro and Maldini play in the flesh, and Ledley is as good as any of them. It was a cruel way to end his personal record of 11 wins in a row and such a rare occurrence that he has mistimed a tackle his foul will be as memorable for that fact, let alone the significance and timing of the occasion.

But having seen all but one of the competitive games Ledley has played at White Hart Lane in his career, plus a fair few away and on international duty, he has noticeably found it harder this season. It is evident in the physical pain he clearly has when he is on the pitch and inevitable with his injuries. He would still be in my team every time if fit to play, but those days will sadly be rarer.

Television pictures later showed that Balotelli, who won the penalty and then scored it in stoppage time caused by prolonged treatment to Scott Parker, whom he petulantly but dangerously attempted to stamp, shouldn’t have been on the pitch. And neither should have Lescott, who was shown to have forearm smashed Kaboul.

Howard Webb, who has given us so many atrocious decisions in the past but appeared to have an okay game, apparently ignored Balotelli’s stamp, claiming he didn’t see it, which looks implausible from the pictures. It’s more credible he missed Lescott’s foul, but beyond belief that he has said yesterday Lescott would have only received a booking, meaning that City are fortunate in the extreme that Savic is not their only available natural centre back for their next league game.

And we shouldn’t lose sight of City yet. Technically we are now bang in the middle of a top five – five points ahead of fourth place Chelsea, five points behind second place United; eight points of the top and nine points above fifth place Arsenal.  But we still need to keep on City’s tail.

On paper they have a winnable run of games coming up and importantly the momentum is now with them. But history suggests points will be dropped. Conversely, considering the top three placings, the Man United win later that on Sunday afternoon may benefit Tottenham, as it keeps pressure on City, and everything suggests it will be pressure, if anything, that means City don’t go on and win the League this season.

Also strangely, a good parallel for Tottenham at this stage is Arsenal, who won the title in 1998 from being 9 points behind United as late as March. It was their first title for seven years and they were outsiders for most of the season, but were the form team, and won the double at a canter in the end, with a comparatively small squad. They had games in hand, and importantly won their six-pointer away, which we didn’t do on Sunday, but United then had pedigree City don’t have.

City could yet buckle, but all Tottenham can do now is get on another good run. As Springsteen also wrote in Thunder Road “You can hide ‘neath your covers and study your pain”, but feeling sorry for yourself is not an option.

We are as good as any team in the League, we need to pull out of Manchester and start winning again, forget the disappointment of Sunday, and blind out the distractions from Southwark Crown Court. It is a strong group of players and if they play to potential there is an outside chance Defoe’s miss will not be the definitive moment of our league season.

MG

My e-book on Tottenham Hotspur's return to the European Cup after an absence of 49 seasons is now available to buy on Amazon and Smashwords.

Nite Moves

In the pub after the cup win against Cheltenham, conversation turned to football superstition. As someone who justifies arguments with logic, reason, science and facts, there was a bit of surprise with the news that I have made an effort to drink out of my Spurs mug on matchdays since we have embarked on our fabulous run since winning at Wolves in September. I like to do my bit.

I do recognise fortune. The fortune of being born in the First World and the greatest City in the World; the fortune of good health; and the fortune of seeing a Spurs team in the eighties that played magnificent football. I was also fortunate that my first game was up in the Paxton Upper Tier, where as well as a good atmosphere (the banging of the wooden seats is still unforgettable now), it was also a great view of a great team, both then and now.

And last night, once again from the Paxton, I had a wonderful view of the artist Rafa Van Der Vaart.

I like art generally, having been to Picasso museums in Malaga and Barcelona, Van Gogh and Rijksmuseums in Amsterdam, as well as countless other exhibitions in places including Budapest, Dublin, Stockholm, Manchester and Madrid amongst others, often while my primary reason for travelling there in the first place was for football. Yet just as easy on the eye and stimulating to the mind is watching Van Der Vaart play.

In the second-half last night, as in the second-half against West Brom the previous week, his movement from a starting position in the centre of the pitch was wonderful. As was his touch, technique, intelligence and vision.  

Spurs started the second-half with a 4-3-3, used so effectively at Norwich in particular, recently. This time though Van Der Vaart was part of the three man midfield, alongside Jake Livermore and Luka Modric, rather than in the front three, where instead Aaron Lennon and Gareth Bale were fluid alongside Emmanuel Adebayor, at times Lennon hugging the touchline to stretch the width of the pitch while sometimes moving inside and letting the full-back overlap. A week earlier Van Der Vaart was playing behind a front two of Adebayor and Jermain Defoe in a diamond in the second half, and as like last night he ran the half.

His movement was similar to how Jari Litmanen used to play at Ajax in the mid-nineties in a shape which Terry Venables successfully adopted for England in Euro’96, with Teddy Sheringham at times picking up the ball alongside the centre back, while moments later in the same move being the furthest man forward in the opposition six-yard box. Van Der Vaart’s intelligence and personality, which I have written about before, makes him the perfect exponent of this.

He always plays the right ball, and had Xavi or Paul Scholes played as well as Van Der Vaart has in midfield in the second-half of Tottenham’s last two league games, it is likely his performances would have received more coverage. And as has been shown at times when playing from deep, most notably with two left-foot passes, one on the half-volley, out to Beniot Assou-Ekotto against Sunderland (when he also played in a diamond in the second half), he has the technique to execute difficult skills while spreading the play. I previously compared that half-volley to Hoddle, and with every game he plays he plays, Van Der Vaart looks to be the best player we have had since then.

His love of Tottenham is clear, as is the respect he has to all his previous clubs and their fans. And in style as well as attitude, he is what I would call, having grown up with the wonderful teams of the eighties, a typical Tottenham player.

He was central to the winner in the tight game against West Brom with his movement, a game when his great reading of the game was also vital when he was when he was defending 12 yards from his own by-line when we were momentarily down to nine men because of head injuries. And his attitude is key to our success.

His experience and leadership on the pitch last season contributed to a winning mentality that triumphed in the San Siro, got long overdue wins at the Emirates and Anfield, put Inter to the sword at White Hart Lane, and on four occasions won games in which we had missed penalty kicks. And as I wrote in a football column about the two Manchester clubs this week, mentality, pressure and confidence will be crucial in the title race.

It is no secret to anyone I have spoken to since the first week of October, or to anyone who has read things I have written about Spurs this season, that I think we can win the League. I have always thought the players and the manager have believed that as well. Other people seem to be coming round to the idea now as well. And as the manager inferred last night, we are beautiful to watch in the process.

MG

My e-book on Tottenham Hotspur's return to the European Cup for the first time in 49 seasons is available to buy from Amazon and Smashwords.