Fulham (Away) 29.11.2001

Richards was unavailable, as he was cup-tied; Poyet was recovering from concussion and Ferdinand apparently has a strain.  In came Bunjevcevic, Leonhardsen and Rebrov up front for a welcome start.

Sergei had a great game beavering away with his skilful touches.  In the first Spurs attack, Sergei clashed with a Fulham defender and spent some 10 minutes receiving treatment on the sidelines.  When he returned to play it was to great effect.  Teddy cushioned down a header and Rebrov stormed through to smash home a half volley.   It was an excellent goal and gave Spurs the impetus to go on.

Ziege hit the post with a left foot volley from a deep cross and then Christian hit one of his trademark crosses, which just evaded Teddy.  As half time approached Fulham started to claw themselves back into the game.  Right on the stroke of half time, Finnan was allowed to get his cross in behind the Tottenham defence.  Hayles got beyond the defenders and guided his header in.

The second half saw Spurs containing Fulham’s attacks.  Boa Morte’s pace was a threat but there was no end product and Ledley gradually took control.  With extra time beckoning, Spurs were awarded a free kick on their right flank.  Anderton floated the ball in, Ledley King knocked it square with his head and Simon Davies hammered home with his left foot whilst Fulham’s defenders stood and watched.  A great finish again from Davies and enough to win the game and send Spurs into the quarter-finals.

For Tottenham Ledley did well and Freund worked hard, but in the second half particularly, both Sheringham and Anderton looked out of sorts.   Leonhardsen looked out of his depth again, but there was enough in the overall team performance to deserve the win.  Sergei will no doubt be pleased with his contribution and deserves the Man of the Match award.

Eric The Viking

Have You Got A White Macon ?

The Glenn Hoddle comments about winning when not playing well really did hit the spot today, even though neither side were at their attacking best.  After Tottenham’s game at Upton Park, where they had in modern parlance “passed them to death”, that passing game stuttered a bit on the night at Craven Cottage.

Fulham are also a good side with the ball and although they enjoyed the majority share of possession, they were unable to create a great deal with it in the end.  Their swift, incisive passing was only evident in the two thirds of the pitch nearest their own goal and not anywhere likely to hurt Tottenham.  This meant that apart from the goal and a couple of long distance efforts, there was little that Sullivan had to deal with in the Spurs goal.  The one that did get past him was a poor piece of defending from Tottenham.  Both in terms of shutting down the crosser – Finnan – and by Bunjy, who left Hayles to run in behind and have a free glancing header past Sullivan.   Ledley had been caught out a couple of times by the ball over his head, but luckily, his well timed tackling got him out of jail.

An early clash of heads, meant that Rebrov missed most of the first quarter of an hour but returned to slam home Teddy’s neat headed pass into space on the edge of the box.  Sergei looked a bit out of it, as he hasn’t had much match practice playing alongside Sheringham, but then Ted was hardly firing on all cylinders, so it can’t be used as an argument for or against their partnership.  Ziege had been pinging in tempting crosses that no-one got on the end of, but had to do that very thing, when Rebrov’s delightful ball across the face of the goal evaded everyone.  Unfortunately, what seemed like the pace of the ball off the pitch, the surprise of it getting that far and the narrow angle resulted in Christian hitting the outside of the post with his effort.

With Anderton looking a bit lost, Gus missing and Simon Davies concentrating on his defensive duties, there was not a great deal of support form midfield.  Indeed, Leo did more as a sub at West Ham than he showed at Fulham.  This made it hard to get out of defence and the ball kept being ceded to the home side, which, as it turned out, wasn’t the worst thing that Spurs could do with it !!  Davies was on hand to save the blushes of the side and the need for extra time, with a low shot drilled just inside the post for the winner five minutes from time.  While, Simon is still learning, he shows the right stuff when it comes to finishing and for that we should all be grateful.  His willingness to play out of position meant that he did not perform as well as he had, but he stuck it out and didn’t let anyone down.

Bunjy looked like he had been out for a while and although he did head the bal a few times, he looked like he was worried about the cheekbone injury that kept him out.

It was a shame that an unnecessary booking for Ziege means he will miss the league game against the same opponents, but I suppose it shows commitment and that was what mostly got the team through on the night.  Little flowing football was on offer and apart from the goals, there was only Teddy’s close in effort that Taylor did well to smother..

The major talking point, unfortunately., was the showering of Luis Boa Morte with shower coats provided to those who were entitled to a terraced view in full exposure to the elements.  It is reported that a cigarette lighter was among the things thrown, but whatever, Spurs fans are now being looked at more closely after the events of November 17th.  Let’s not give anyone from another club or the FA that opportunity … it’s more of an Arsenal thing.

In the next round, so mission successful.  Let’s save that football for another day when we need it.

PETER BUTLER