Fulham (Away) 01.09.2007

Having signed Boro keeper Mark Schwarzer, the hope was that he would be a straight replacement for the retiring Antti Niemi.  In games against Spurs in the past, Schwarzer has displayed the ability to drop a clanger or several and with the way Tottenham are playing at the moment, he could come under pressure on the afternoon of the match.  In front of him, he will have to rely on Brede Hangeland, John Pantsil, Paul Konchesky and Aaron Hughes as the back four to protect him from the new Spurs attacking style.  Hangeland is an old-fashioned central defender – big and strong, while Hughes is a little more mobile.  The two full backs are keen to join the attack, which can leave holes to exploit, as neither are the quickest to recover their positions.

In midfield, there are some familiar faces to Spurs fans.  Simon Davies, who was perhaps shunted out of the Lane a little too quickly, has found a consistency to his game at Craven Cottage, while the responsibility of being Welsh captain has also helped him realise his importance to the side.  A good player who prompts from midfield, he does a lot of hard work tracking back too, making him a useful player to have in your team.  Alongside him, Danny Murphy has been having a bit of a renaissance at FFC.  His passing is his greatest asset, but he brings experience, which was shown at Fratton Park on the last day of last season to bring about the goal that kept Fulham afloat on good ship Premier League.  The reason he was not getting games at Tottenham was because his legs were not what they used to be, but with willing runners around him, he can still be a useful player.  Spurs are reportedly looking at Jimmy Bullard’s situation at Fulham, where he is yet to be offered a contract and he is one such player, with a joy for playing the game, who will run all day.  A good passer and a player who knows where he should be to get on the end of things, his free-kicks are also a potent weapon for the Cottagers.  Summer signing Zoltan Gera from West Bromwich Albion is the fourth of the midfield quartet and he has great skill on the ball, good vision and possesses a fine shot.  Another one who will need to be made to work backwards instead of allowed to make progress forwards.

In attack, Andy Johnson is finding goals easy to come by just now after over-coming his injury when he signed for the West London side.  Nippy and strong on the ball, he has the goal-scorers instinct of knowing where the goal is and will need to be closely marked to prevent even a half-chance coming his way.  Much has been made of his weakness on the ball in the penalty area, but with Ledley hopefully returning for this match, any tackle will be well-timed and any fall will hopefully be scrutinised by the referee.  His partner up front is another ex-Spurs man in Bobby Zamora.  His six months at White Hart Lane did not give him the opportunity to show what he could do and he has scored wherever he has played, so a good run in the first team at Fulham has shown he can do it there too.  Good in the air and a strong runner with the ball, it will be another big and small combination for out central defenders to cope with.

Other options for Hodgson’s choice are American striker Clint Dempsey, who is yet to fully show what he can do in England; former Man U forward Erik Nevland, who has scored infrequently, but has good set-up play and Chris Baird, the defender who is inevitably deployed as a midfielder when he comes on as a sub, to shore up the side when in a point(s) winning position.

With things going well under Harry Redknapp, I think he will have Tottenham fired up for this one.  With the team understanding the way he wants them to play and getting used to each other now, it should be an interesting game, but one which I can see Tottenham doing well in.

PREDICTION : –  Fulham  1   Tottenham  3

For more information on the opponents and their history, including full result history of matches between the two teams, click here.

Having twice been two goals ahead, there is no way that the home side should have been allowed back into the game.  Unfortunate to hit the post and have one cleared off the line, Tottenham had enough chances to win easily and then trying to sit back and defend the lead is always a mistake.

With Martin Jol under pressure over the last couple of weeks, you would have thought a second convincing victory might have taken the spotlight off him for a while.  But while I am not one to call for someone’s head unnecessarily, he will need to sort out the side’s defending from set-pieces and if he believes in an attacking policy, then he should stick to it.

With Kaboul just back from injury and Dawson coming on for his first appearance of the season, it was not a time to start letting the pressure build on the back four.  A deflected goal was cruel, but the poor marking at the death lead to Fulham’s late equaliser and the loss of two valuable points.  The match preview on this page hinted that the Cottagers would not give up, so why didn’t Tottenham do the same.

From the start of the game, Tottenham were going forward at Fulham.  Berbatov is the one who was ruled offside for the first of many times Spurs got caught out.  Fulham played a high back line, but Tottenham’s forwards and midfielders did not time their runs well enough to make the most of the huge gaps in the white shirted back four.  Fulham’s defence was so ragged, the chances came so regularly, the Spurs players must have got bored, as they wasted them as they ran into a 2-0 lead.

Too many times players decided to pass on responsibility for shooting to someone else – Keane’s flick out right to Malbranque in the sixth minute which ended in Niemi’s arms – being the first example.  Also too often players failed to attack the danger areas when Spurs had dead ball situations.  Jenas’ second half corner dropped invitingly in the six yard box with only white shirts there and Huddlestone’s free-kick to the far post slipped a foot past the post with Niemi and a defender leaving it to each other, when Chimbonda should have been moving onto it and would have had a simple chance to score.

As it was, Spurs were literally handed the first goal, with Antti Niemi dropping a corner at the feet of, luckily for him, one of his defenders – Baird – who hoofed the ball away for another corner.  Although this one came in from the other side, Bale’s ball in was again dropped and the one bit of luck Tottenham had saw the ball bounce off Younes Kaboul and he only had to stab the ball over the line from a foot out to make it 1-0.  Ten minutes had passed.

The opportunities continued.  Hud volleyed well over and Keane’s near post header went too high, but Fulham had a chance when Robbo spilled a low cross from Bouazza and Steve Davis knocked the loose ball over the bar.  After 27 minutes, Berbatov’s goal put Spurs into a lead which should have ensured more than the finished up with.  A bouncing ball was played down the right for Dimitar, who got beyond Stefanovic and cut into the area to unleash an early shot that beat Niemi at his near post.

At this point Fulham were there for the taking.  Jenas raced through on goal, but took too long to decide if he was going to shoot or pass square to Keane, leaving Bocanegra the opportunity to tackle him.  A minute later Keane did the same thing, dithering instead of getting his shot away.  You had the feeling that if the score had been 0-0 or if the chances had fallen to Defoe, they might have ended differently.  Malbranque’s shot was deflected wide and then Rocha got to the corner first and his near post header went to the far post, with no-one there for Tottenham once again.

When it looked so comfortable for Tottenham, it all started to go wrong.  Simon Davies played in a straightforward corner, but with Chimbonda getting the wrong side of his man, Clint Dempsey had an east task in powering a header into the net, just three minutes before half time.  Even then, there was a chance for Bale to restore the two goal advantage, forcing Niemi to a low save after being played in by Berbatov.

The second half started well with Berba striking a ball in the air and forcing Niemi to a flying save to tip it over the bar and eight minutes later, Jermaine Jeans repeated the action, with the Fulham keeper tipping the shot round the post.  Still the chances came along with Steed striking a loose ball fiercely, but it bounced back off the goal-post with Niemi beaten.  Spurs had to wait until the 61st minute to beat the goalie, with Kaboul winning a defensive header and the ball was helped onto Gareth Bale through Huddlestone and Keane, to leave him a free run on goal and he was clam enough to look up to see Berbatov to his right and chose to slide the ball home between Niemi and his right hand post.  It was a cool finish from a young man who was the Spurs man of the match for his energetic performance.

At 3-1 up with half an hour to go, it should have spelled the end for Fulham, but it was from here that the tide turned.  The front two became more distant from the midfield and that meant both that the ball fell to Fulham most times when it was cleared from either end and also that the pressure built on our defence.  There was still time for Jenas to burst into the area and chose to pass to Keane (unsuccessfully as it turns out) instead of shooting, while Bocanegra and Niemi messed up dealing with a high ball on the edge of their box and Berbatov drilled his shot at what seemed like an open goal, only for Chris Baird to appear and manage to deflect it wide with his thigh.

Keane looked disgusted to be substituted with Defoe coming on, rightly so, when there was little outlet play coming from the defence or midfield, as clearances got more and more panicky.

Shots started to fly in on the Tottenham goal.  Davies hit one way over, as did Dempsey before Davies’ free-kick was well gather by Robinson.  By then he had been beaten by a deflection off Rocha, as he dived in to try and block Smertin’s drive.  Robbo would have had it covered, but the Portuguese defender’s touch took it high into the air over the keeper and in to bring it back to 2-3 and Spurs were starting to wobble.  Why they do this, I don’t know, as there is enough quality in the side, but when they try and defend the last third, they ask for trouble.

Defoe flashed a shot wide when Chimbonda set him up from a well worked short corner, but it was not enough, as a late Fulham long throw was headed out by Kaboul, but only to the edge of the area, where Diomansy Kamara launched himself into the air and performed an overhead kick that left Robinson unable to reach it as it headed into the net in the top corner.  It was a last minute goal in a million and summed up some of the lack of fortune Tottenham have been having this season, but they were masters of their own downfall by not ramming home the advantage like they did against Derby County.

Whether it is Jol’s tactics or the players’ insecurities when ahead in a game, but they have to learn to finish games off and to make sure that if they are going to defend, they do so without losing their shape.  For too long, we have seen Tottenham sides trying to defend leads and it has never worked.

The loss of two points here was a big thing in terms of our final league placing.  Turning winning positions into three points is something the team still need to master and although it was one of the better away performances under Jol, there is still a feeling that the team need to adopt a more high tempo approach to their away games against the lower sides … especially as it looks like we need a four goal start to take something from the match !!.

MEHSTG TOP MAN : – GARETH BALE.

The Heathrow Spur

However the start to this season, has been a terrible calamity.  The board undermining him in Seville was totally out of order, and we’re all agreed that any managerial changes should take place close season.  But ENIC have invested heavily in the squad, and deserve a return on that.  Although perhaps their focus should be about our ground – a big five club with a 36,000 capacity?

However on the playing side:

• we still have no left sided midfielder;
• little quality midfield or defensive cover;
• a goalkeeper too easily beaten; and
• an ill-coordinated back four;

Who takes the blame for that? Jol.

We all know that Tottenham cannot defend a lead. Clearly illustrated as we crumbled at Fulham.  We retreat back, and then hoof speculative balls to Berbatov.  How many times have we let in late goals over the past three seasons.  Tactics are very much Jol’s domain ?.

Top four is off the radar already, as the demise of Arsenal has been grossly exaggerated. With teams like Blackburn, West Ham and Everton significantly stronger and hungrier, we cannot even guarantee a UEFA spot.  Given the money we’ve spent, totally unacceptable.  Jol may be popular, but is he really the right man ?  We all agree that Tottenham need to consider stability as a new strategy, but too many questions about Jol remain.

What a mess (yet again) !

Kevin Coaker

I agree with the match report that Chimbonda is not performing to a level this season that makes him half the player we thought we had signed.  The left sided midfield issue seems to have been solved by the emergence of Gareth Bale, but the back four might not be the same until Michael Dawson is back in tandem with Younes Kaboul.  I would say Ledley King, but I am not sure whether that will be a long term answer, with the club captain missing ever increasing chunks of the season.

Again, the report echoes my thoughts about Jol’s tactics and substitutions.  I know he is under pressure to try and secure Defoe’s signature (as well as win the title, Champions League and UEFA Cup in the same season), but surely, if he was going to bring him on for Keane, the midfield needed to be a lot closer to the front men ?

The way the team dropped so deep almost invited Fulham to have a go, which they did.  When the team play like this against a team like Fulham, I fear for what might happen when we meet a top side … like a fortnight’s time.

East Stan

One, if we cannot defend well enough to stop a 3-1 lead slipping away, how many goals ahead do we have to be to be safe in holding onto a lead ?.

Secondly, he has publicly hit out at his team for one of the first times since he has been in charge, so does this indicate that he is feeling the heat from the newspaper stories about Juande Ramos and the club’s intentions regarding the Head Coach’s job ?.

I am not an advocate of calling for the manager’s head, especially when we are so early in the season.  We have seen what happens before when this happens at Spurs, but Jol seems to take the long view and while he may not be setting the Premier League alight at the moment, I think that when he has some more of the injured players back, things will improve.

Most of all I think that we need to put a string of results together and that might not start until after the Liverpool game.  If you look at our fixtures, we have some tough ones in the coming few weeks.  Not that these should not be winnable, but not being in the best of form just now, it might take a few weeks for the team to start playing the football they need to be playing to succeed.

The Funky Phantom

For Big Martin, the club and us I pray we beat the Arse.

Keep the faith
All the best

Richard Cook

P.S  Heskey back in the England squad … I thought we got rid of Sven – it seems McClaren’s not heard of Defoe either. 

• -.