Two games, two heavy defeats.
After a taking a hammering on our own ground in a fixture that should have been a six-pointer, where many of the flaws in our first-team squad were exposed, against a back-drop of a ground emptying as quickly as The Emirates in front of a live global audience, it may a good time to look for a bit of perspective.
The boarded up shops and demolished infrastructure on Tottenham High Road instantly provide a bit of perspective. In the early hours of Sunday 7th August, when Tottenham as a district was a headline across the world, some of instinctively thought that the club would immediately be a less attractive proposition in a key transfer window, while considering the possibility of national funding for a new stadium. Going back to N17 twice in four days for the first time since the rioting, is a reminder of the bigger picture.
On a more micro level, there is a sense of perspective that we still have the same players that battered the then reigning European Champions in the Champions League last season, and won away at Milan with one of the club’s all-time great European away performances, just 20 competitive games ago. As our manager is never slow in reminding us, things have been much worse. And, hopefully, we should have a stronger squad by close of play Wednesday when the transfer window shuts.
And, on the lowest level of them all, there was an undeniable silver lining yesterday. In the days after Labour lost the 1992 General Election after being well ahead in the polls throughout, the satirical comedy ‘Spitting Image’ had the crying Neil Kinnock puppet consoled by his wife Glenys with the thought of Chris Pattern losing his seat – the sketch showed Kinnock, in the midst of his darkest hour, smiling at the misery of his rival; it is far from the end of the world for Spurs, and seeing the great pretenders, one of the teams both the bookies and the media still expect to finish above us this season, get a proper going over at Old Trafford didn’t just bring a smile, but laughter. (Their third red card in three league games even felt like being spoilt by a Ferrero Rocher at the Ambassador’s Party.)
In contrast, we held our own at Old Trafford for the best part of an hour on Monday night, and were on top early on the second half, but failed to create a clear cut chance, with the usual problem of not having someone in the six-yard box when the ball was out wide; we were also being too reliant on a ‘shoot on sight’ policy for a suspect goalkeeper. Had Defoe either played in Van Der Vaart for a one-on-one rather than shooting or made a run across the goal himself when Lennon once again beat Evra and was in position to find him, we could have been one-nil up, and the start of our league season may have been entirely different.
But just before United took the lead the signs of us getting sloppy were there; Corluka gave the ball away carelessly from a throw, and Assou-Ekotto also gave the ball away cheaply as United went on to score the first, before we fell away badly. It was no surprise we were over-run in the end, not just because we were a League game behind United in match-sharpness as a team, but because we started with Jake Livermore and Niko Kranjcar as a central midfield two.
Livermore is a local lad from Enfield, and has done well in pre-season, but in truth at this moment in time he wouldn’t get anywhere near either Man United or Man City’s squad; regardless of our Europa League games, a loan at a Championship Club chasing for the play-offs may suit his development more.
Most of us, including the Chairman (and hopefully the Manager) would expect come the end of the transfer window we would have a squad from which a fit first-choice XI would compete to win at Old Trafford; but an XI on it’s own is not good enough, and we need to have a squad with at least two quality players per position. We won at the San Siro without our full complement, but our squad is far from complete and it doesn’t always necessarily need an oil-rich backer to improve it.
Liverpool, while clearly paying over the odds with a number of their transfers since January, have also made a couple of very astute signings in the summer, that can be considered good value in the current market: Jose Enrique is one of the best full-backs in the league, and was snapped up for £6m, while Charlie Adam, a player with a streak of competitiveness our midfield is sorely lacking who proved last season he can dictate the pace of any game, both score and make goals, was reportedly signed for £7m. Both of those players would have enhanced our squad, and were comfortably in our pay range, but for whatever reason, we missed out.
Once again yesterday, depressingly, Kranjcar started in central-midfield two. Kranjcar didn’t have his best game at Old Trafford, but played well in both games against Hearts, and has shown in both the Premier League and at International Level he is a quality player, but playing in a two against a Manchester City team that would have two defensive midfielders, plus three players playing between the lines ahead of a central striker was always asking for trouble.
We started off well though on the ball, and could have twice taken the lead after fluent forward moves, showing signs of the passing and moving demonstrated at Tynecastle ten days earlier. There was no clinical finishing though, and Bale’s spurned opportunity yesterday was particularly disappointing, considering his undoubted ability and confidence. And we were made to pay.
The central midfield highlighted many of the deficiencies in our squad. There was no bite, no tackling, no enforcer, no leadership, and no protection of the defence. And conversely, as Van Der Vaart, the one player of ours who moves between the lines, dropped deep, no midfielder moved into the space he vacated. This lack-lustre midfield performance continued into the second-half when both Huddlestone and Livermore were on, both on their heels when there were opportunities to break into the box.
Both full-backs started off well, Ekotto continuing his improvement as a player, looking comfortable of the ball, and progressing play, and Corluka covering well. But once again as the game wore on Ekotto’s poor defending directly led to the third and fifth goals. By then, of course, the game was already up. Within the space of 100 minutes of football, starting with the first goal at Old Trafford on Monday, the team’s confidence had been shot to pieces.
Bizarrely, while 2-0 down, we had Bale, one of our better players at attacking a ball in the air, staying back on the half-way line to mark Nasri, their only man forward, while we took a corner, with Corluka (admittedly not the quickest) and Ekotto (admittedly on a booking) as two spare men. Perhaps understandable if we winning, but a sign of the fear of being caught on the break again, and a shift in emphasis to avoid a heavy defeat, rather than trying to fight-back.
City have improved dramatically since last season, now with the confidence of a first major trophy in 35 years won and Champions League qualification, in addition to signings that have allowed them to suddenly play with an attacking intent. All of their players are comfortable on the ball, and in Joe Hart, Vincent Kompany, Yaya Toure and Gareth Barry, they had plenty of leaders on the pitch yesterday. And they have De Jong still to come back.
Our confidence will be lifted with the right signings, and as highlighted, they don’t all have to be big-money transfers. Adebayor is a striker that can lead the line on his own, and will complement Van Der Vaart well, although Van Der Vaart’s injury may change the shape of the team in the short-term, unless we play Modric in the hole, or sign someone else who can play that position.
Scott Parker is a leader who started off as a both-footed ball player at Charlton, and adjusted his game early on to become to protect the back-four. Last year’s Player of the Season, we could have done with him last summer, when he initially wanted to come; West Ham wouldn’t sell him to us then, but may be forced to now, and it is a shame that transfer window doesn’t end before the English season starts, or we may not have had the bad start we so far have had.
Another striker would also be welcome; Crouch again looked poor yesterday, Defoe needs to be making runs into the box, and at both Edinburgh and White Hart Lane, Pavlyuchenko has shown he is not at the races at the moment.
Players will have to leave as well, and using Sebastian Bassong in a part-exchange to bring in Gary Cahill would be good business, as Bolton are clearly willing to sell. And there may even be a couple of players brought in that haven’t been widely speculated about, as was the case with Van Der Vaart last August.
Amidst all his verbal diarrhoea and his tactical indifference, Redknapp does seem to recognise what the squad lacks. For him to suddenly start talking up the teams prospects again this season in mid-week suggests he may get some of the players he wants. Characters with a winning mentality are important, as is quality. If we can get that in before the window shuts, while the Chairman continues to show we won’t be bullied by agents, players or other clubs, we will be in a much stronger position when we start against Wolves than our place in the table suggests.
MG
MG
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