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Once more Tottenham successfully came back from a goal down to take all
three points in a good little urn of three wins in winnable games, which
were all lose-able too, but at Sunderland, there was a special
significance, as it took Spurs past the 1,000 points total in their
Premier League history. A sloppy
goal to concede saw Spurs struggle for much of the first half, but one
just before half-time and another just over ten minutes into the second
half gave them a well won three points that jumps the team up to fourth
for a little while.
Tottenham had actually started the game
looking good, with some crisp passing, they took the game to the Black
Cats. Defoe made a good run on the left after picking up a ball
out of defence, turning back to play the ball into the box for Jermaine
Jenas' run to take a shot in his stride, but he put it too high in the
fourth minute. Sunderland hit back with a Malbranque volley from a
headed clearance that looked like it might be on target until it hit one
of his own players in front of Gomes and the deflection took the ball
wide.
While everyone was settling into the
game, William Gallas was having boot trouble and was off the side of the
pitch putting a new pair of yellow boots on to replace the pair of
yellow boots he had started in. But the home side took advantage
of their one man advantage with a ball in to Asamoah Gyan from the left
that saw the Ghanaian take the ball down and swivel to shoot home past
Gomes' dive to his left and the ball nestled in the bottom corner of the
net, while Gallas was still making his way back towards the penalty
area.
It was an amateurish way to concede a
goal and one which will not help us when we continue to make such sloppy
starts to matches.
Sunderland built on the goal and some
good possession play ended with new signing Sessegnon hitting a shot
straight at Heurelho Gomes, while Spurs then had their best move so far,
when Vedran Corluka pushed up on the right wing and slipped a pass
inside to Sandro, who took the ball into the area, but got over-excited,
hitting his shot over the top. Niko Kranjcar took an early shot
that went wide and Jenas hit a free-kick hopelessly too high with Phil
Bardsley moving into attack from the back to shoot over the bar, when no
Spurs player moved to close him down.
Teaming Pavlyuchenko up front with Defoe
has not always been the most slick pairing, but Pav was putting a bit
more effort than usual in, although not getting much of an opportunity
to get shots on target, so when he got the ball on the right and ran
diagonally to the left, exchanging passes with Kranjcar on the way, he
found some space towards the left corner of the box and from just
outside let fly with his left foot to send the ball a couple of feet
over the top.
Spurs had looked vulnerable at the back
in the earlier stages, but as the half went on things got sorted out and
they looked less likely to let another one in, so holding the score at
0-1 at the break would have been their aim, but Mensah conceded a corner
and from it, Steven Pienaar floated the ball over and he was not picked
up by a red and white shirt, leaving him a free header at goal from
around the penalty spot. As it went towards goal, Craig Gordon
seemed to be behind it in the middle of his goal, but as William Gallas
ran across his line of sight, he took his eye off the ball and let it go
between his legs and into the net. It was an unexpected gift, with
an equaliser so close to the break and as always, "a good psychological
time to score."
Harry would have been happier going to
the dressing room with the scores level rather than being behind, but
there were still things to resolve, as the midfield had been given a
hard time by the closing down by their Sunderland counterparts.
As it was, the second half could not have
been more different. Spurs started well again and that continued
for most of the half, with Sunderland failing to cause the Tottenham
defence too much trouble.
Spurs had already had one effort cleared
off the line in the 52nd minute before they scored again. A corner
came in and Dawson once more had a free header, but this time the ball
dropped in the six yard box after a block and Gallas tried to flick it
under Gordon, but the keeper got something on it and as Defoe and Gallas
closed in on the loose ball, Bardsley kicked it away from in front of an
empty goal. At the other end, Gomes had to beat out a shot from
Steed Malbranque that came past Sandro's shoulder and then he caught a
stinging drive from Sessignon that was straight at him, but then Spurs
moved up-field with a sweeping move that caught Sunderland not tracking
back. The ball was played wide on the right to Sandro, who had
made a perceptive run. The Brazilian swung the ball into the box
towards Defoe on the penalty spot, but Mensah won the header away.
Unfortunately for him, it only fell to Niko, about 20 yards out and the
Croatian struck a right footed volley that flew low past the
outstretched arm of Gordon and into the bottom right hand corner of the
Scottish keeper's goal in the 57th minute. it was a well controlled shot and one that
added to Kranjcar's late winner of last week, thus proving a further
point to Redknapp that he is worth a place in the side.
Spurs were now more comfortable in
possession, as the midfield were making better angles to receive the
ball and were getting in the face of the Sunderland players. A
move that went through Defoe, Kranjcar and Corluka saw a tight bit of
play on the right touchline release Pav and he got to the dead ball line
to put a low ball into the six yard box. Gordon managed to cut it
out by diving to hold it, but a chipped ball to the far post would have
seen Jenas running in.
With the gossip earlier in the day about
Spurs' interest in Sunderland's Kieron Richardson, he did little to
justify a move for him. His petulant behaviour made a bit of a
mockery of his comments about Spurs lacking a winning mentality ... the
sort that was bred into him at Old Trafford. Well, his
bad-mouthing of the ref and a push on Corluka (similar to that which got
Diaby sent off last week at Newcastle, except Charlie didn't go down as
easily as Nolan) finally got him in the book, when he could easily have
been in for a couple of other incidents, had Mike Jones been more
even-handed with his application of the laws. Anyway, he
contributed little to Sunderland's play and I am not sure he would be
any better than the players we have already.
As it was, any sort of response form
Sunderland was not forthcoming and Tottenham only had to deal with a
long-range shot from Muntari that flew wide of Gomes' right hand post
and Richardson's shot that went way too high. The former United
man did scrape the top of the bar with a shot that Sandro did well to
get a challenge in on the edge of the box to put him off, but if it had
been any lower Heurelho had it covered.
As far as we were concerned, it looked
more likely that we would score again, with our play on the break as
good as ever. Jenas played the ball out left to Pavlyuchenko and
the Russian got to the dead ball line to put a low ball into the six
yard box. Gordon managed to cut it out by diving to hold it, but a
chipped ball to the far post would have seen Jenas running in. it
was typified by Michael Dawson breaking up a move on the edge of his own
box and taking the ball to halfway, before giving it to Pav, who passed
to Wilson Palacios, on as a sub for Defoe and he got to the edge of the
Sunderland box before running out of ideas and having the ball taken off
him.
Sessignon hit a late shot straight at
Gomes and that was it really. Spurs had won at Sunderland for the
first time in ten years and taken their Premier League points total
beyond 1,000. Winning with a much changed side and with some key
players missing ahead of the Champions League game on Tuesday shows that
we are perhaps getting accustomed to playing in the top European
competition and making a challenge at the top of the Premier League.
Sandro had by far his best game for the club and his emergence as a box
to box midfielder alongside Jenas gives the side the capacity to play on
the break and have enough in that area of the team to cover defensively
too. We need to get our forwards
scoring again though, as the midfield are weighing in with more than
their fair share of goals, but it doesn't matter who scores, as long as
we keep on our good run !!
Matt Hodge |
Sunderland
(Away)
