Woolwich Wanderers (Away) 15.01.2025

The Wanderers went into the match with a horrendous injury list of six players, but our nine players out were hardly mentioned in the run up to the match, with 80% of the Tottenham defence sitting the game out.  The game also wasn’t helped by a litany of fouls on Spurs players that went unpunished when the primary role of the officials is to protect the safety of the players.  It is something we don’t do, but when we do, we invariably get free-kicks or bookings given against us.

A few minutes into the match, a ball into the Spurs box was in front of Sterling, who bottled it as Kinsky flew out at him, with the former England  winger probably hoping to win a penalty.  It came when Spurs tried to play out and it was soon followed by a corner, which went over everyone for a goal-kick.  It seems to take Woolwich an age to take every set-piece.  Whether this is all part of their set-piece plays or if they just get away with wasting a whole lot of time.

The home side were pressing Spurs and getting away with two fouls on Son, but a free-kick wide on the right saw Kinsky come for the ball to meet it at the near post and put it out for another corner.  That was defended for another corner.  Toni punched it out and Spurs won a free-kick near halfway.

A ball into the Tottenham area was touched inside to Trossard and his deflected shot off Dragusin’s back was headed out from in front of goal by Archie Gray, as Spurs defended the pressure from the Wanderers.  When Bergvall over-ran the ball and went in on Partey, play was waved on, but then a foul was given against Bissouma, after which the ref spoke to Lucas about the foul.  Kinsky got caught on the ball by Havertz, but he recovered to grab the ball.

Most of the first 20 minutes had been played in the Spurs half, with very few incursions over the halfway line.  When they did, Djed sprinted into the Woolwich half and put in a low ball off the outside of his right foot that Gabriel got to just before Son, who would have had a tap-in.  The corner was headed back where it came and Kulusevski took a touch and hit it with his right foot forcing Raya to push it wide at his near post.  The next corner was cleared and Spence lost the ball, with a through ball aimed at Odegaard never going to be reached with Bissouma winning the foot race.  It was becoming end to end, with Pape Matar Sarr running unchallenged for fifty odd yards before winning a corner.  It was taken short and played in, cleared and Sonny hit a side-footed low volley from the 18 yards that took a touch off Partey to beat Raya to give Tottenham the lead.

Half an hour in, Trossard turned Porro, who went down when his left leg slipped with all his weight on his right knee.  Although Pedro appeared in a lot of pain, it was odd that the referee stopped play with the Gooners in possession, much to their intense annoyance.  A Kulusevski foul five yards outside the box gave a free-kick to the home team but Bissouma defended it, heading it out at the far post for another corner that Kinsky got a good punch to.

It was so ironic when the Goons complained about Tottenham taking too long at a throw and then got away with Saliba pushing Solanke with two hands in his back and then Lewis-Skelly taking Sarr down after the ball had gone.  That led to a corner that Gabriel headed in at the far post off Solanke.  The corner shouldn’t have been given as it came off Trossard after Porro got to it, but it was and it lead to a goal.

Snide Havertz went late onto Dragusin’s instep and got a yellow for it.  When Bissouma lost the ball ten yards inside the Spurs half it was moved quickly to their left and Trossard drove a low shot across Kinsky as the ball bounced just in front of the keeper.

Ange brought on Maddison and Johnson for Sarr and Bissouma at half-time, which put a lot on Bergvall’s shoulders as he dropped from his more offensive role.  Spurs were playing the ball out better, with Son finding some space outside the box to shoot, but it hit Dominic and went wide, then the Tottenham skipper won the ball 20 yards out but was crowded out.  Havertz went down dramatically when Gray’s arm caught him in the face, but the Gooner had pushed Archie in the first instance.  From another corner, Havertz got the ball wide off the top of his head, then he had a free header
that went straight at Kinsky.  It looked like Havertz was in again until Bergvall took the ball off him six yards from goal.

Trossard had a good chance when the ball went up in the air in the Spurs box and no blue shirt moved to it, but the home side’s forward took a complete air shot and then there was a late foul on Maddison.  The pressure that Woolwich were putting on our defence with the ball in our own area, Kinsky took a pass from Gray that got stuck under his feet, but as Havertz closed him down, he dragged the ball through his standing leg to reverse it back to Archie !

Something very unusual happened in the 71st minute, when the referee gave a foul throw against a Gooner !  Much like obstruction and goalkeepers hanging onto the ball for 20 seconds, I didn’t think they bothered punishing this any more.  Anyway, Johnson got a good low ball across the box, but there wasn’t a Spurs player in the right place to capitalise on it. When Solanke had a shot blocked in the Woolwich area, they broke and Kinsky saved it with his chest as the ball must have taken a deflection from Odegaard’s shot.

Kinsky played a pass to Spence on the 18 yard line, with three players around him, losing the ball but Woolwich couldn’t take advantage of the possession.  The constant fouling of Solanke by Gabriel eventually came to an end when he dragged the Spurs striker down as he ran away from the defender.  Havertz made another snide foul on Gray before Saliba knocked Spence over in the box, but it wasn’t given as a foul.

When Odegaard got the ball to his feet in the box, he screwed his shot wide with five minutes to go.  A ball in to Solanke saw the ball cleared for a corner, with the obligatory pushing and shoving going on before the delivery that was cleared and a breakaway was ended in the Spurs box when Bergvall kicked out the low ball into the Spurs area.  Timber still continued to foul Spurs players without a yellow card for persistent fouling, which allowed Woolwich to regain possession.  When Gabriel pulled down Solanke off the ball he finally got booked two minutes into added time.  Dragusin went forward and won a flick on to a ball in from Kulusevski, but Spurs had to work the ball around and it came to Porro on the right, who drove a shot into the near post that Raya had to tip onto the post.

The performance was “unacceptable” according to Ange after the match, but it wasn’t too dissimilar to the recent showings, especially last Sunday when we struggled against Tamworth.  Whether it was the notion that soaking up pressure is the way to beat the Goons, that is not the way we usually play, although there will be periods in match when our goal comes under pressure, but this was unlikely to be feasible when we were backed into our own area for far too much of the game.  We got caught on the ball for their second goal, much as Jorginho was when we scored there last season.  It’s all narrow margins and any team with a half-decent striker would have made the score-line a lot more embarrassing.  Our lack of speed in transition is in contrast to when we were playing well, with teams flooding back to outnumber us at their end.

Tottenham’s top performers were our youngsters with Bergvall particularly with his desire to receive the ball and run with it.  Gray was stoical in defence, showing once again that he is a mature young man who is making a name for himself in a position he had rarely played previously in his career.  Kinsky was blamed for not doing better with their second goal, but the ball leapt up off the turf, going over his dive, so I don’t think that he can be criticised too much for that.  I feel sorry for Solanke, who runs and runs, but gets little service to do what he was signed to do and that is put the ball in the net.

Much has been made about what is regarded as a kamikaze tactic of playing the ball out from the back to beat the opposition press, but when it works it brings big rewards.  A couple of times we were caught on the ball, but it wasn’t those that lead to goals.  I’m told that one Gooner pundit was advocating that we should play over the press, but we saw when it was cleared long, that it played into the hands of the giants they have at the back.  I’m quite impressed with Toni’s distribution when he plays it out longer than just in and around the box, so I am sure that in time that will prove useful. 

Sonny got the Spurs goal but he is not having a great season.  A couple of times he received the ball or it was played in front of him and his usual desire to run at pace seemed to be missing.  While the rest of the team obviously look up to him, I wonder if the captaincy is hanging heavy on his shoulders and when he returns to action, I would give the armband to Rodrigo Bentancur, who seems more of a leader than anyone else in the team … even those captains/vice-captains who have been given those titles.  

Someone needs to grab these players by the neck and tell them that they have to win games and not be content to go through them hoping something is going to go their way.  We are better than half the teams in this league, even with the side we can put out at the moment, but that isn’t reflected in our league position.  I can’t see that sacking Ange is the answer, despite what some fans think.  Returning players will help the situation, but the mentality in approaching matches needs to be much more positive and it is no good feeling sorry for ourselves, as was proved today, when you are down, things go against you.

Kirk Hammerton

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