Looking Forward

Chelsea  (Away)

Premier League

Saturday 11th March 2006

So.  This time we meet Chelsea, who are fifteen points clear at the top of the table and just after they have been knocked out of the Champions League.  They have been criticised in the media for their diving and Jose Mourinho's attitude and comments.  Spurs ... well, we have just beaten Blackburn after an iffy run.

Historically, this fixture sees us leave any ground we play Chelsea at bereft of points.  Although we are progressing, it is still not far enough to have beaten a top four side in Jol's reign.  If we get a draw I will be happy, but with a myriad of international football stars to choose from, the reality is that the Pensioners will continue to keep their dominance over us.

With Defoe looking likely to start alongside Mido, it could not have been a tougher task for him.  But perhaps his pace will trouble Terry and Carvalho.  With Mido giving an option in the air, he will need to keep his elbows down with referee Graham Poll allegedly pulling on his Chelsea shirt under his black kit.  It will be a busy afternoon for King and Dawson, with Drogba and Crespo or Gudjohnson looking to score the goals that put the league title out of reach of Manchester United.

With Lampard and Cole no doubt keen to impress the watching Sven and Duff coming in for the suspended Robben, Stalteri will be hard pushed to stem the runs of the Irishman.

Spurs have not been playing that well for a while now and event he win against Blackburn came against the backdrop of a dogged performance from Rovers that stopped us playing how we would have liked to.  This time we face Chelsea with the onus on us to stop them playing and then try to snatch something from the game.  The team nearly managed it last time, with Keane almost stealing a winner with a header that Cech kept out.  The few chances we get this time will need to be converted if we are to get anything from the match.

Jol's tactics sound like they will be to keep it tight at the back and to try and get something on the break, so we will need Aaron Lennon on the pitch at some stage for his pace to do some damage like it did to Rovers.  That is if he doesn't sink up to his neck in the muddy pitch, although a new surface is supposed to have been laid.  It might help Spurs, as it would be a better approach to play the ball on the floor rather than lump it to Mido's head, so Carrick's distribution and Davids' and Tainio's battling will be key to establishing the right to play.  You know what ... I think it might just work !!

PREDICTION : -   Chelsea  17   Tottenham Hotspur  0

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

Coverage

TV :
For coverage in all parts of the world, check here and here.

Radio :  
BBC London - Digital (London area only) and Sky Channel 0152

If available on BBC radio, it can be heard in these countries on these stations ...
Australia (Melbourne) SEN  -  116 AM  Live Transmissions: TWI, Saturday. 12.45 & 1500 matches
Australia (Syndey)  Radio 2  -  1611AM  Live Transmission: TWI, Saturday, 12.45 Match
Singapore Media Corp Radio  -  93.8 FM  Live Transmission: TWI, Saturday, 15.00 Match
South Africa  SABC (Radio 2000)  Live Transmission: TWI, Saturday, 15.00 Match
Uganda  Radio 1 (English) 90.0 FM, Radio 2 (Lugandan) 87.9 FM  Live Transmission: TWI, Saturday, 15.00 Match
North America (USA, Canada, Mexico, Carribean)  Sirius Satellite Radio  Live transmission: Saturday - 12.45, 15.00 (TWI) & 17.15 (BBC) Sunday - 14.00 & 16.05 (BBC) Mon, Tue, Wed - Various times (BBC)

Internet :
www.spurs.co.uk   Live webcast  - subscribers only
Planet football - http://play.www.planetfootball.servecast.net/downloads/sky/spurs-pl04-kean0.ram (free - only available when match is on)

Cech

Ferreira
Huth
Terry (c)
Gallas

Makelele
Lampard
Essien (Maniche 78)
Cole (Duff 69)

Crespo
Wright-Phillips (Drogba 69)

Unused subs: 
Cudicini
Del Horno

 

Robinson

Stalteri
King (c)
Dawson
Lee

Jenas
Carrick
Davids
Tainio

Mido
Keane (Defoe 84)

Unused subs: 
Cerny
Gardner
Murphy
Lennon

Essien 14
Gallas 90

Tottenham Hotspur

Jenas 45
 

   
Duff (dissent) 89
Drogba (kicking the ball away) 90    

Martin Jol got this one all wrong in the end and yet another last minute goal conceded has cost us a point and maybe more come the end of the season.  Although Spurs have been dominant in terms of results at home, away there has been a noticeable caution that has held the team back a bit.  The approach was always going to be different away from the one employed at home, but the loss of away points might be crucial in the final analysis.

As for the action, well, a lot of it was fought out in midfield, with only a few chances presenting themselves to either side.  The earliest was in the second minute, when Lampard's cross was met by Crespo's head and luckily Jermaine Jenas was there to clear the ball off the line.  Wright-Phillips drilled in a shot, but Robinson blocked it, then it fell to Essien, after Lee had blocked the winger's follow-up.  The big midfielder missed with a shot from around the penalty spot when he should have done better with the goal yawning in front of him.  It delayed the goal for six minutes, as in the 14th minute, the two players who had threatened the Spurs goal linked up for the Ghanaian to sweep home from a similar position he had earlier missed from, as Wright-Phillips' cross came in from the right.  Michael Carrick had been caught releasing a loose pass across his own area in the build up to the goal and releasing the ball as early and as accurately as possible is something that he will have to master against the very top opposition.

Spurs had been in control of the game until the goal, when they appeared to let their heads drop and Chelsea started to dominate proceedings.  Terry brought a save from Robinson, when Stalteri let a long pas hit him and fall to the Chelsea captain and then the Spurs keeper had to stop Huth's shot from 35 yards.  It took until the half hour for Spurs to have their first serious effort, when Jermaine Jenas' 30 yard shot went wide.  Five minutes from half-time, Joe Cole found himself in a shooting position and put it to the right of the goal and it was a costly miss, as right on half-time a free kick given for a foul by Wright-Phillips in Lee was floated in by Carrick.  Michael Dawson rose above John Terry to head down and Jenas was on hand 12 yards out to flick the ball past Cech to make it 1-1.

Spurs had been just about worth the draw at the break, with some spells of good possession and taking the game to Chelsea, but when they dropped off, they let the home side look more threatening.

After the interval, Terry's header from Lampard's free-kick saw Robbo grab it and was then in action again shortly after when Cole had another effort on goal.  At the other end Keano brought Cech into the game by making him save with a shot and when Chelsea broke away, Gallas brought a catch from Robinson with a shot from 25 yards, which was a portent of what was to come.  Terry was proving more dangerous in our penalty area rather than solid in his own, as he produced a 57th minute header to Lampard's free-kick and once more Robinson was required to save, by tipping the ball around the post.  The nearest Chelsea came to another goal at this point was when Crespo put in a low cross and Ledley did well to cut it out, but sliced the ball up high and it landed on the roof of his own net.  Then Robbo did well to put Terry's header over the bar.

While Lampard put a lot of hard work in, he seemed to be less effective than usual and on the hour, he fired in a shot that missed the target.  Such was the worry of Mourinho that he swapped Duff for Wright-Phillips and Drogba for Cole to add more to the strike-force.  But the changes seemed to inspire Tottenham rather than the Pensioners.  With some space being found on the flanks, it looked like Spurs might get something from their crosses, but they were poor in execution and we were left rueing the chances to create opportunities from this spell of play.  It prompted Mourniho to bring on Maniche for Essien to try and stiffen the defensive composition of the midfield, but failed to have that immediate effect, with Jenas hitting a shot from inside the box to make Cech save.  Jermaine had taken the ball from King well as he ran through, but should have done better when he was faced with only the Chelsea keeper to beat, as a goal 12 minutes from time would have come in very handy.

The Spurs wall did it's job as Drogba tried to fire through it and Jol tried to inject some pace to our attack when he brought Jermain Defoe on with less than ten minutes to go.  Unfortunately, this left him isolated up front, while the side dropped back to try and defend the point they had at that point.  It is a tactic we suffered last week against Blackburn and it almost didn't work and when Drogba forced a diving save from Robinson to keep his angled shot out with the help of the post, I started to get jittery.

My worries were well founded when William Gallas went forward up the left and curled a right footed shot out of Robinson's reach to deny Spurs a point right at the death.  It was a real blow, as the team deserved something out of the game, but trying to defend a narrow lead against any side, let alone one like Chelsea, is hard for the team and even though the goal came well into added on time, it seemed almost inevitable knowing our past history of such periods of the game from earlier in the season.

The goal capped a dismal day for Stalteri, who had been given the run around by Cole and Duff, before he got turned inside by Gallas.  The Canadian might need a rest with Kelly being brought in to add some defensive strength, as I fear that a number of clubs are now playing on Stalteri and it might be our undoing if he stays in the team for the next few games.  Dawson was outstanding again, as was Ledley, with Jenas sticking to his task if not having the best of games.  But he was there when it mattered ... both in terms of clearing off his own line and getting into the thick of it between Terry and Gallas to score.  Davids did OK and Tainio got stuck in with gusto.  Mido didn't look like he was too interested today and with Robbie putting in a lot of effort, it might have been a better substitution to bring Defoe on for Mido rather than Keane.

Still, we can argue until the cows come home.  It is another in the long line of defeats by Chelsea and we expected little before we got to the Bridge, but coming so close to getting a point, it was a real disappointment to leave with nothing.  Let's hope it doesn't feel just like that at the end of the season.

MEHSTG TOP MAN : - PAUL ROBINSON

Sorry there's more!

Completely agree with the previous comment about Zeigler, fantastic talent (I thought), get him in - Lee out - he gets dizzy when the balls over his head.

Stalteri - AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRR!

Maybe a bit of Ramon Vega style booing is needed to show Jol what most people actually think of this one - I mean Canada have a great footballing history don't they !

Everyone knows that our full backs are crap !  I mean it's flaming obvious tactics now !!  Long diagonal balls over the full backs for strikers to run onto, even I can do that !

Starting to feel a little jittery, the goons are getting warmed up and we're fading fast and their two lover-boys are getting ready to come back into the side !  We're in desperate need of a new tactic Mr Jol and it doesn't involve long balls over the full-backs head !

Kind regards

Alan O'Brien

OH NO, not another 92nd minute goal conceded !

How many points are we going to throw away this season, not content with letting West Ham, Sunderland score in injury time, now Chelsea have to get in on the act.  Alright, we rode our luck in the first half, but we had more possession than them in the second, and if it wasn't for Jenas's 'back pass' when he was in on goal, then we may have gone 2-1 ahead.

What Jol does though is once we score, we invite teams onto us, so what was needed was Defoe and Lennon on to keep the attack away from our awful full backs who we got on a 'buy one get one free' down the local supermarket !

When is Jol going to realise that every team knows the weaknesses of Lee (right foot only) and Stalteri (can't defend at all), so they are targetted from the kick-off.

The midfield were 'non existent', and if Carrick goes to the World Cup, then so can I !

As the 'Gooners' are now hitting form, and we're lacking it, I feel that the UEFA Cup is our best bet, but if we continue to play for only 90 minutes, then we can forget that as well.

Paxton Mark

I am very concerned that the season is spluttering to a grinding halt, with Bolton having two games in hand on us, we may not qualify for Europe at all.  I don’t believe we have had a worse set of full backs since Messrs Austin and Edinburgh graced our presence in the 90s. 

What has been overlooked in the Gallas wonder goal is Stalteri’s perfect clearance in the 92nd minute of a cross into our area.  It should have gone into row Z - he can’t cross for toffee.  As for Lee why is it we paid 5 million for a left back who is right footed, there’s a precedent before Taricco (average) or Hughton (legend).  As a result we play central midfield players Davids/Tainio/Jenas on the flanks to protect the full backs.  To quote Jol, Lee was bought because he can’t get forward more than Edman and supply decent crosses.

Jol has made great strides with us over the last two seasons but some of the purchases have been strange to say the least.  Let’s hope we hang on in there until the end of the season, but we have a very difficult run in.

Dave Harris

Last minute ... myself and my son sitting there happy as Larry ... a good point gained we thought.

Oh no ... how wrong !  Our ever unreliable right back fluffs his clearance and another point disappears again.  How many last minute goals can one team concede in a season ?  Sadly, I think this will cost us a chance at Champions League football next season. I think I can stop dreaming of the Nou Camp and the San Siro for another year, unless we can get our act together for one last effort starting at Birmingham on saturday (who quite honestly made the baggies look good). 

I'm trying to keep the faith but it keeps getting harder every week. come on u spurs please.

All the best

Richard Cook and despairing son Thomas.

One Man.  One Problem.  Paul Stalteri, a player so poor it makes one wish for the return of a certain Mr Carr, seeing how Stephen Kelly and Phil Ifil are never going to feature in the plans of Martin Jol.  For God's sake, even Lee Young-Pyo has got his act together at left back.  The only thing that will stop us from securing fourth place is Stalteri.  I just hope Jol realises before it's too late.

Sean Jackson