Woolwich Wanderers (Away) 23.11.2025

Changing formation to a 3-4-2-1, Thomas Frank set out to defend, but that didn’t suit the Spurs team, who looked uncomfortable in this set-up.  In the third minute Eze lifted the ball over the Spurs defenders from just outside the D for Rice to volley at goal from 12 yards and Vicario did well to block it with his leg, with the ball bouncing off Danso to go just wide of the goal. 

Apart from a lot of jeering from the home crowd when they didn’t get a free-kick/throw-in/corner/booking for one of our players, not a lot happened for the next 30 minutes until Bentancur got booked when Saka threw himself in front of him.  The Gooner right winger took it and it had pace on it, but Vic kept his eye on it and palmed it well away.  In the 36th minute, a ball into the Spurs box was met by Trossard’s run, but he couldn’t control it in front of him, but turned on it to scuff it
into the goal off Micky’s foot and the far post.

After another non-descript period of play, some balls bounced Woolwich’s way and saw the ball drop to Eze, who came onto his right to sweep the ball past Vicario to his right to make it 2-0.

Xavi came on for Danso at half-time, but the change didn’t work as it was 3-0 thirty seconds into the second half, when the ball came to Eze just inside the penalty area and he drilled it low past Vicario.

Ten minutes after the break, Palhinha tackled Zubimendi ten yards inside the Gooner side of the centre circle taking the ball on to Richarlison who took it on a stride and from fully 40 yards lofted the ball into the goal over Raya, who Tottenham know strays too far out of his area.  It gave Spurs a slim hope of getting something back
from the game, but realistically the damage had been done already and the way we were playing a full-on comeback looked highly unlikely.

Oliver had an awful match, failing to understand the game and how it is played.  When Zumimendi kicked the ball forward and fell to the floor after he kicked Palhinha, he got a free-kick, as all the ref saw was the player go down and gave the home side a free-kick.  It is hardly surprising we never get anything there.  The fourth official
was weak, allowing Arteta to go way out of his box and even cross the halfway line to have a go at Thomas Frank, while the obnoxious Rice was regularly abusing Tottenham players with no rebuke from the ref.

65 minutes in and Wilson made way for RKM and Bentancur left the pitch to be replaced by Pape Matar Sarr.  It didn’t alter proceedings much, with Romero getting booked for something he said, meaning it was his fifth of the season and will be suspended for one match.  In the 71st minute, Vic pushed away a curling shot by Saka that looked like it might sneak in and a little later, the home side finally got a set-piece right (although I thought this was supposed to be their speciality) with a deep corner that Hincapie managed to head away from goal from a couple of feet out and into the grateful hands of our keeper.

Working the ball through the left channel, it was played square for Eze to bury it into the bottom corner.  Only a fine save by Vic throwing up a left hand to his left to keep it out stopped Eze scoring again in the 79th minute. 

Another example of atrocious refereeing (not uncommon in the PL these days) came when Rice cynically taking down Simons as he left him for dead.  Then Rice said something unsavoury to Xavi while he was on the floor and when Porro came in to defend his team-mate, there was pushing and shoving that ended with both Pedro and Rice betting booked.  I would like an explanation (but I know I won’t ever hear from the ref, as they are never wrong) as to what the difference was between  Bentancur’s booking and Rice’s foul, as a yellow card for a foul would have resulted in the Woolwich midfielder being sent off (one for the foul and another for the handbags) or it might have defused the melee that followed his foul if a yellow had been issued initially.  Simple isn’t it, unless you are Oliver.

Tottenham lost through two basic issues.  Frank set up the starting eleven wrong.  Leaving Porro out gave the home team the ability to push forward down their left and double up on the right to outnumber Udogie.  The second problem was the referee.  Easy to blame him and we probably would have lost with another ref, as they are all much of a muchness and not much at that.  The constant holding of Richarlison was allowed to continue throughout the match and the inconsistency of the official’s decision making was evident throughout the game, allowing a lot to go for the home team and not a lot for us.

Having said that, we made it simple for the home team to find space where it mattered – in and around the box.  For periods of the game, we looked all at sea, with players getting pulled out of position and making us vulnerable to attack by allowing them to play through us.  Richi’s goal was welcome and well executed, but it was all too little … and not even too late.

As in so many matches recently, we have barely tested the opposition goalkeeper.  Yes, we have players missing, but these ones should be able to make it difficult for the other side to play against and we should be making more chances and getting more shot son goal than we are, because at the moment, we aren’t stopping them going in at the other end.

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