Fulham (Away) 30.10.2004

Michael Carrick was relegated to the bench and Sean Davis lined up against his alma mater, much to the joy of the home crowd who had something to boo about every time he touched the ball.  Jacques went with the little combination of Keane and Defoe up front and yes, our players did keep delivering high balls up to them.  It was only when Kanoute and Carrick came on near the end that things started to look a bit more fluent, but it was too late by then.

There was little between the two sides on paper, but the way the teams played was diametrically opposed.  More passing on the floor, more movement pulling players around up front, more closing down to put pressure on the players on the ball, more support from midfield and more passion in what they were trying to do.  Tottenham failed to produce anything like the basic requirements to match a team on a bad league run and in as lowly a position as Fulham.

The home side could easily have been two up at the break.  The first goal came about when Steed Malbranque slipped a pass through to Boa Morte inside the penalty area and he rifled a shot past the exposed Robinson to put Fulham 1-0 up in the 34th minute.  Only Ledley King’s intuition stopped Spurs going further behind with a clearance off the line in the time before the half-time whistle went.

Davies has come on for Michael Brown before the interval, but there was no further during the half-time break and Tottenham looked a little bit livelier after the short rest.  but still they failed to supply Defoe and Keane with quality balls and I lost count of the times that Defoe got caught offside in the match, making runs for passes that never came.

Spurs looked disjointed and when the second goal went in, it was curtains … there was no way we would score two goals today.  This time Boa Morte turned provider with a cross for fellow former Gooner Cole to head home from the edge fo the six yard box, with nobody marking him.  It was Tottenham’s luck in that Papa Diop was intent on trying to open his goal-scoring account, but would have been top scorer in a rugby match, with most of his shots rising high over the bar or going wide, with one into touch for a throw in.  Robinson was called into action to tip a shot from Cole around the post.

Apart from that, it was a succession of free-kicks and stoppages in a game that failed to flow and one that Spurs failed to get into – much like the Portsmouth match.

While these are still early days for Santini, the season is almost a third gone and there is still little sign of a pattern emerging in Tottenham’s play.  That is the most worrying aspect of the current run.  What goes on in the League Cup looks at odds to the League and there can be no rational reason why.  Maybe the need for Carrick to come in and provide some flexibility in the provision of ammunition to the forwards could be the answer.  Maybe we will have to wait until January for some transfer dealing to shake things up, but when the chances aren’t there, you look to the forwards to try and make something for themselves, but the gap between the midfield and them is such that they are isolated.  This gap is just one that needs to be narrowed.

MEHSTG TOP MAN : – NOE PAMAROT

Kirk Hammerton

BACK TO NORMAL : BACK AT THE COTTAGE

With the early promise shown by the team, I had hoped that losing to the likes of Fulham was a thing of the past.  If we can hold bigger teams and beat some of them too, then the little sides should be points in the bag.  But just when you thought it was safe to assume we would be able to shut little teams out …

The lack of goals conceded I can stand.  The lack of goals scored needs looking at long and hard by the management.  It will hold us back and the veritable goal rush that pours out in the League Cup must be translated to our League form to ensure that if we do go behind, like we did twice at Bolton in midweek, we can get some league points back by making a comeback.  Things wouldn’t be so bad, but when the team let’s two in, you know they haven’t a hope of their long balls dragging two goals back just to restore parity.

But the problem is trying to establish where this is going wrong.  It is not a time to panic, but we need to stay in touch with the top six and we are sliding away from them.  The midfield are capable of opening up defences, but someone told me there was a good point raised on Soccer Saturday on Sky and that was with the midfield defending so deep, they have a long way to go to play up with the strikers.  It’s a valid suggestion and one that leaves our players a lot of ground to cover to link play.  When the team are playing well, the side is laid out in the 4-4-2, but there is a tightness in a compact way and the rows of players do not get strung out.  In the League Cup, the side seems to get organised better and even when behind, look to get men forward.  In the League, it is like they are thinking that there will be another three points along soon.

It appears to me that it is not unrelated that we have been losing since the loss of Erik Edman at left back.  His presence means a lot in terms of someone who will always give you the 100%+.  Someone who will run into brick walls (or at least Everton players’ heads) for the club.  The sooner he is back the better.

But the big question mark is how we will break down teams like Charlton who we meet next and that doesn’t even go seven days beyond that !!  Our midfield is hard working, but with Davis just having come back from injury, Davies a little further down the rehabilitation road and Carrick not getting much playing time under his belt, I suppose Jamie will step straight back in next week, now he has served his suspension.  There is little attacking midfield option at the moment.

The loss to a depleted Fulham side is a sign that there is still much for Jacques and Martin Jol to do.  Our record of one win in 17 London derbies is pitiful and we will never progress up the table unless we can gain points from the many games against our capital rivals.  And to do that we will need to score goals.

My confidence in the management team is still there, but there needs to be some sign of getting things back on track – shallow squad or not.

Funky Phantom

It appeared that neither Ledley King or Noureddine Naybet were communicating effectively on either goal, as for the first Boa Morte ran between them and for the second neither picked up Andy Cole’s run into the six yard box, but they were both caught ahead of the striker when the cross came in, leaving them under the ball.

Also, why was it that there was little support for Ziegler on the left ?  Bunje failed to get behind his midfielder and the young Swiss player was left to fend for himself a lot of the time.

With the various forward combinations not working, is it time to consider a different approach with a quicker tempo to our play ?  The breaking from defence has to be quick, but the rest of our offensive play tends to be leaden in it’s pace and allows the opposition to get numbers back behind the ball.  With Kanoute being leggy and  Defoe good at running onto balls, why not play to their strengths and play someone who can knock a decent ball through the defence of the other side ?

East Stan

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