Stoke City 1 Tottenham Hotspur 2

Saturday, 21st August, 2010

Victory Over Stoke Highlights Progress Made by Tottenham and Bale

Gareth Bale - two goal hero

The win at Stoke City was an important victory for Spurs as it displayed their newly-found appetite to battle away from home against difficult opponents. It was vital to get their first Premier League victory after their encouraging performance against City a week ago and before the early season optimism wavers through pressure and doubts when results don’t go as expected. The battling display showed that Spurs are focused on campaigning on all fronts and not just being selective in the matches where they turn on a performance.

This match was set up for a Spurs’ failure sandwiched as it was between the two European qualifiers against Young Boys of Berne and in previous seasons it would have done. All the ready-made excuses were there – tiredness after travelling to Switzerland, injuries following the disappointing defeat on the artificial pitch, resting players ahead of the vital return game next week, the players distracted by the importance of the next match and Stoke are a big, strong, direct and difficult team to play against – especially at home.

Two years ago, in Stoke’s first season back in top flight football, Spurs and Gareth Bale limped away from the Britannia Stadium battered, bruised, disillusioned and defeated in what turned out to be Juande Ramos’ last league match as Tottenham manager. It was their lowest point – bottom of the league, three points adrift and as Harry Redknapp continually reminded us throughout the remainder of the season – “Spurs only had two points from eight games when I took over.”

As a team, Tottenham were in disarray, the players had lost all confidence and it was impossible to predict where the next win would come from and although it was only October, Spurs looked like a team destined for relegation. In his report on the match Matt Lawton wrote in the Daily Mail, commenting on Tottenham - ‘From the boardroom to the boot room the place is in a shambles; a sorry excuse for a football club that actually fooled itself into thinking it was on the verge of breaking into the top four of the Barclays Premier League.’

As a player, Gareth Bale was struggling as were quite a number of his colleagues. Early in the first half against Stoke Bale was caught in possession on the edge of his penalty area, conceded a rash penalty as he tried to redeem the situation and was sent off. He had yet to win a game in Tottenham colours and after an encouraging start to his Spurs’ career he was struggling to overcome the injury that had curtailed the previous season. On his comeback he was finding it extremely difficult to re-find the form that had had a host of clubs interested in signing him from Southampton. He was struggling to meet the demands of the Premier League and it was so bad that there was media speculation over how long he would remain at the club.

Twenty two months on from that depressing day, Spurs have made tremendous progress under Harry Redknapp who was unexpectedly appointed just ahead of the following weekend’s match against Bolton Wanderers. It brought Spurs’ first win of the season, although Clive Allen was officially in charge for the game. Over the two season’s Redknapp has moved the team forward. His priority in that first season was to avoid relegation and that was achieved although there were hiccups along the way. He has brought in players to strengthen the team, even if at the times they seemed unusual – including re-signing a host of former players – Jermain Defoe, Robbie Keane, Peter Crouch, Pascal Chimbonda and Younis Kaboul. Last season the manager built on that to secure fourth place in his first full season in charge and Spurs’ highest ever finish in the Premier League has brought the team to the verge of Champions League football.

Redknapp now has a squad of players which has made it possible for Spurs to rotate players and play an under-strength team which has had the organisation and ability to give a good account of itself and take three points away from home. The team for the match against Stoke was a selection that took account of injuries and the need to preserve players for the forthcoming Champions League tie. It did not fill one with confidence so shorn, was it, of important players but they played together as a team and earned their success. The football wasn’t pretty to watch but having gained the initiative in the first half all the players worked hard after the interval to preserve their lead and get the win. In previous years that would not have happened – in the past the team would have eventually succumbed to the pressure and taken nothing from the match. Never before have Spurs been in a position to field weakened teams and still win matches. In the pre-season matches it was clear that Spurs had an array of talent available as they sent out a different team for each half and both were able to give a satisfactory account of themselves against top class opponents. It is pleasing that that has now been carried forward into the league games and will enable Spurs to compete at all levels this season. Spurs showed such consistency last season that with additional European games it was going to be difficult to achieve such levels this year but the team have shown that they are capable of producing a result against difficult opposition on the weekend following the European competitions.

If Gareth Bale thinks back to that early match in his struggle for fitness and form in 2008, he will be doubly delighted at the result against Stoke and his contribution to it. From a player surrounded by doubts he has become the most exciting left sided midfield player currently playing in the Premier League. Since getting back into the team early in the year he has displayed the talent and skill of which he is capable. To date, teams have been unable to find a way to cope with his pace and direct running to score and create opportunities for the team. His two goals were at either end of the spectrum – for the first, he was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time as the Stoke defender’s clearance hit him in the face and rebounded into the goal. The second showed his ability to strike the ball perfectly with his left foot. He met the sublime cross from Aaron Lennon and dispatched the shot past the goalkeeper into the far corner of the net. No goalkeeper would have saved that shot.

Bale is an integral part of Spurs’ newly acquired belief and resilience under Harry Redknapp. He is a member of an exciting team and if successful I mid-week against Young Boys there will be further opportunities for Tottenham, Redknapp and Bale to test themselves at the highest level against top class opposition. It will be an interesting challenge.



Team: Gomes, Corluka, Dawson, Kaboul, Assou-Ekotto; Lennon (Walker), Huddlestone, Palacios, Jenas, Bale; Crouch.  Subs: Alnwick, Naughton, Bassong, Kranjcar, Rose, Livermore,

Tottenham Hotspur Champions League Qualifier

Tottenham Learn Lessons from the ‘Double’ Team



Harry Redknapp’s Tottenham Hotspur team 2010 did their utmost to emulate Bill Nicholson’s great ‘Double’ winning team in their first foray into European football’s top club competition for forty nine years. Unfortunately, it was not one of that team’s outstanding performances that they tried to copy but rather one of their poorer and most surprising defeats.



In season 1961-62 as reward for winning the 1st Division title for the second time in their history, Spurs took part in the European Cup, the fore-runner of today’s Champions League, which had been in existence for only six years and had been the preserve of Real Madrid who had won the first five competitions.



13th September, 1961

European Cup (1st Round 1st Leg)

Tottenham were drawn against Polish champions, Gornik Zabreze with the first leg away from home. In front of a hostile 90,000 crowd Nicholson played his full strength ‘Double’ winning team and to their horror they were three goals behind at half-time. In the opening seconds the home side hit the bar and then were gifted the lead after eight minutes following a defensive error leading to an own goal. Gornik attacked at will and Spurs made numerous errors and went further behind on twenty minutes. Mistakes continued and a third goal came just before half-time. Two minutes after the interval, having failed to learn from the earlier mistakes, Gornik were presented with their fourth goal. The hostility of the crowd increased with Tottenham’s robust tackling which saw their team reduced to ten men as one of their players wentoff injured.



Twenty minutes from time the Tottenham revival started with the battling Dave Mackay making a run and cross that enabled Cliff Jones to head a goal to reduce the arrears. Four minutes later Mackay created a second with a cross that Bobby Smith knocked down for Terry Dyson to score. With no substitutes in those days Gornik Zabreze were reduced to nine men when their young centre forward went off injured twelve minutes from time.



As Spurs left the pitch to booing and whistles, the Zabreze coach said that they had played many foreign teams but this Tottenham side was the hardest he had ever known. However, Bill Nicholson was confident Spurs would overhaul the Zabreze miners in the second leg at White Hart Lane. Desmond Hackett in his match report for the Daily Express wrote: ‘This was Super Spurs reduced from champs to chumps in ninety uneasy minutes.’



Team: Brown; Baker, Henry: Blanchflower (Capt), Norman, Mackay; Jones, White, Smith, Allen, Dyson.



17th August, 2010

Champions League (4th Qualifying Round 1st Leg)

After waiting so long this was Spurs’ opportunity to make a positive start towards the new world of the Champions League group stages. But what a start – inside four minutes Tottenham had seen Young Boys of Berne hit the post with Heurelho Gomes beaten, had Benoit Assou-Ekotto booked for tripping and conceded a goal which encouraged the Swiss team and their vociferous supporters to even greater efforts. Unable to settle on the artificial surface the Spurs players were tentative in their passing, unsure of their movement and looking in some disarray. This increased after thirteen minutes when a defensive error from Michael Dawson allowed the Berne striker through on goal to finish coolly past Gomes. After half-an-hour Spurs were three down when the defence was caught out by a through ball and Gomes had no chance. This was not in the script as perceived by the Spurs faithful many of whom had anticipated a safe passage past the ‘no-hopers’ from Switzerland. However, it was very much in line with the copycat performance of events in Poland forty nine years earlier.



Harry Redknapp introduced Tom Huddlestone before the interval and this brought an element of control to the Spurs play and for the first time in the game they weren’t chasing around hopelessly but started to exert some pressure in the match which resulted in a number of corners ahead of the break and from one of them Sebastien Bassong atoned for this defensive short-comings by heading the first Spurs goal.



The second half showed Spurs with more control but despite early possession they were unable to add to their goal tally. The Swiss continued to be dangerous on the break and could have increased their lead but this time, fortunately for Tottenham, they were not as clinical in their finishing. Then with seven minutes remaining Roman Pavlyuchenko who had experience of playing on a similar artificial surface with his former club but had had a very poor evening in Berne, received a pass from Robbie Keane and hammered an unstoppable shot inside the goalkeeper’s near post. Now, only a goal down Spurs settled for what Harry Redknapp described as a ‘great defeat’.



Team: Gomes; Corluka, Dawson (Capt), Bassong, Assou-Ekotto (Huddlestone); Dos Santos, Palacios, Modric (Kranjcar), Bale: Defoe (Keane), Pavlyuchenko.



Lessons Learned

In 1961 against Zabreze Bill Nicholson was unable to make any immediate change in personnel as no substitutes were permitted but he realised that for the away European Cup games he couldn’t afford to play the same style of football that had brought the ‘Double’ team such success in domestic competitions. In future away ties he introduced Tony Marchi as an extra defensive security. He had played football in Italy and his experience played a vital role in Spurs future progress.



Harry Redknapp was fortunate that with a bench of experienced players he had the opportunity to try to correct the failings identified early in the game against Young Boys. Huddlestone contributed greatly to the control that Spurs took of the game after his introduction and the other changes saw the manager work with a narrower midfield rather that the more extravagant wide players of Giovani Dos Santos and Gareth Bale. With Luka Modric and then Nico Kranjcar on the left of midfield they came inside much more and allowed Bale to attack from defence.



The Outcome

In 1961 the return leg introduced the football world to one to the first of those great ‘Gory, Glory European Nights’ at White Hart Lane. In an electric atmosphere, Spurs hit the bar inside thirty seconds and took the lead on nine minutes with a Danny Blanchflower penalty. Cliff Jones terrorised the Gornik defence and scored a first half hat-trick in seventeen minutes but the visitors also managed to grab a goal to keep their hopes alive. Before half-time Bobby Smith scored and Spurs were 7-5 ahead on aggregate. In the second half Smith added his second, Terry Dyson scored number seven and John White completed the scoring with a minute remaining to make the score 8-1 for Tottenham.



Having followed the 1961 script so closely for the away match, it is to be hoped that Tottenham 2010 will get their lines right in a similar fashion next week to ensure the club make it into the lucrative group stages of the UEFA Champions League and that the fans don’t have to wait another forty nine years to experience competition at the highest level in European football.