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Having gained a great deal of confidence from a 2-1 win against
Liverpool, the pay off came in a 5-1 win at Hull City in a match which
you might have once expected Spurs to be turned over in.
The consistency that Tottenham have lacked
for so long, may be a thing that equals out a bit now, as this game
showed that they were able to weather a little ten minute storm from the
home side when they scored and threw everything to get level. But
with a goal just before the break, Spurs eased their way through the
second half and had all the chances been taken it could have been
approaching double figures. It was Jermain Defoe's clinical
finishing that took the game way from the Tigers, making Harry's
selection one which was vindicated.
A speedy start set Spurs on their way to
a convincing win. A second minute goal by Keano was ruled out for
offside and Thud's perceptive pass picked out Jermain to try a chip that
dropped onto the top of the net as the team knocked the ball about well,
using the width of the pitch and the full backs on the overlap. It
took ten minutes before the goal came. Huddlestone once more found
Defoe, who controlled the pass, took it wide of Michael Turner on the
left of the area and smashed it low into the opposite corner of the goal
across Boaz Myhill in the Hull goal.
The goal was expected to bring about a
response from Hull, but passing the ball well and hitting on the break,
Tottenham stifled the home team's efforts. A high ball into the
box to test Gomes was punched away and the keeper felt a pain in his leg
as he landed. The ball had gone to Defoe, who fed the ball inside
to Robbie Keane and he put the ball into the path of Wilson Palacios,
who had run 70 yards to smash the ball into the bottom corner of the
goal at Myhill's near post from just inside the box to make it 2-0 after
14 minutes.
As Palacios' first competitive goal for
Spurs flew into the net and the celebrations begun, the physios were
attending to Gomes and he was helped off to be replaced by Carlo
Cudicini. The second goal and the substitution of the keeper was
to upset the pattern that Spurs had been playing and Hull, urged on by
their scary orange manager Phil Brown, came back into the game. A
couple of shots on goal by Keane, that brought a save and Defoe that
flew over the top worried the home goal before Brown brought on Geovanni
for the lacklustre Cousin. He didn't look happy about it, but then
he hadn't looked happy all night.
Almost immediately, Geovanni created a
far post shot for Stephen Hunt, but he put it wide and when Geovanni was
fouled out on the right by BAE, Hunt swung a pacy cross over from the
dead ball and everyone missed it, with the ball bouncing up and in at
the far post to give Hunt the credit for bringing Hull back into the
match after 25 minutes.
Spurs were wobbling and looked as though
the new keeper and Corluka having to slot in for King alongside Bassong
was causing a few problems with knowing who was supposed to be doing
what.
But by keeping attacking, Tottenham stuck
to what they were good at. Lennon was sent clear, but put his shot
too high and when Aaron freed Hutton outside him on the right wing, the
Scotsman's cross hit the hand of Anthony Gardner as he slid in to block
the cross. If these things even themselves out, it must have been
for the one Liverpool fans were claiming on Sunday. Hutton was
also involved when play switched to the other end and he produced an
outstanding tackle to deter Hunt as he was picked out by Geovanni, who
was having an increasing impact on the play. The tackle took the
ball through to Cudicini when it looked like the former Reading man
would score and when the Spurs back-up keeper was beaten in the 37th
minute, Folan's 'goal' was ruled out for a foul where he wrestled
Bassong off the ball before his shot.
While the Tigers were trying to keep the
pressure on, Tottenham were using their pace to their advantage by
breaking at speed. Cudicini threw out to Defoe and his ball aimed
towards Keane was intercepted by Dawson and then Lennon broke right for
Defoe to take his pass inside, although he couldn't make a solid contact
with the ball and it went wide. Jermain had not made as good a
contact as the one that took the ball between his legs against
Manchester City at the end of last season, but he looked lively and that
paid off a minute before half-time. Hutton once more got away on
the right, passing in to Keano, who flicked it past Turner, who was left
bemused and could not get back at Defoe in time, before he buried his 12
yard shot past Myhill with great power to give Spurs a 3-1 lead at the
break.
Hull had to do something and brought on
forward Nick Barmby for defender Mouyokolo to try and put the pressure
on the Spurs goal and stop the defence launching attacks on the break.
You could say it didn't work, as from the start of the half, Tottenham
controlled possession and moved towards the Hull goal looking for more.
Hunt was booked for a crude challenge on Defoe and crosses were flashed
into the home penalty box to threaten the Hull defence with more
pressure. The crisp passing cut through Hull's midfield and with
five minutes of the half gone, BAE put in a low ball with some pace on
it and it hit George Boateng and went wide, when it could have gone
anywhere.
Having been denied a penalty for being
brought down in the box, Robbie took it out on Barmby by chopping him
down and earning a yellow card for it. He had his revenge when he
dummied a pass so convincingly that Michael Turner wondered if he
was playing on the right day, but left Keano to run on and with Defoe
waiting for a pass to knock home his hat-trick goal, Dawson managed to
get back and concede a corner.
Hull fans yelled for a spot-kick when a
cross came into the Tottenham box from a cleared corner and Bassong went
over with Geovanni, but Chris Foy wasn't interested. He did give
Spurs a free-kick on the D of the area and Benny was allowed to take it,
but his shot hit the wall and came back to Thud, but he couldn't thunder
it past Myhill as Assou-Ekotto had done on Sunday.
A messy passage of play saw Hull winning
2-1 in bookings in the space of five minutes to add to those that had
gone before. Spurs were still conceding free-kicks in dangerous
positions, which were invitations for Geovanni to have a go at goal, but
he found Cudicini with one and when the Brazilian got on the end of a
Turner header from Myhill's free-kick, Carlo did well to make a save
tipping the ball over the bar and to safety. But still Spurs
rained down wave after wave of counter-attacks.
Twenty minutes left and Lennon and Keane
linked to play the ball into the near post area, where Defoe made his
run, but Turner slid the ball out for a corner. When a Hull corner
was cleared two minutes later, Keane and Defoe linked and the England
striker hit the side-netting with his shot. They seemed determined
to bury the commonly held belief that they cannot play together.
And it was the captain's turn to hit the net in the 78th minute, as he
spread the ball wide to Aaron Lennon, then ran into the box from just
inside the Hull half before getting his head onto the cross that the
little winger put in and beat Myhill by putting the ball into the other
corner of the goal.
It was his last action of the game, as
Harry rested him for the weekend by bringing on Peter Crouch in his
place and the tall man pulled a save out of the City keeper by heading
Lennon's high cross down at the foot of the post. David Bentley
also got a run out and could have set Defoe up for his hat-trick or
Crouch for his first goal as they pulled defenders wide as Bentley ran
through the middle, but he chose to shoot and picked out Myhill with his
effort.
With just seconds remaining, there was
time for one last Spurs foray into Hull's last third. This time
Lennon too a ball in from Deofe and laid a return pass to the forward,
who smashed the ball with all his might past Myhill from the edge of the
box to round off a 5-1 win and to complete his hat-trick.
By then, many a Hull fan was on the way
out of the shiny stadium into the still warm night. They had come
hoping that their defiant showing against Chelsea would lead to a
gathering of points on the night, but Spurs hit the ground running and
by playing at a high tempo and sticking with what we were good at,
attacking, it put the home side on the back foot without having a chance
to take the initiative themselves.
There were some fine performances in the
Tottenham ranks, with Lennon, Keane, Palacios, Defoe and Modric using
their abilities to open up Hull on a regular basis. The defence
looked a little uneasy at times, but that might be expected with a new
make-up to the back four, but they re-organised to deal with the threat
the home side posed and kept them out when they threatened to get back
into the game.
Two games and two wins, with a game at
Upton Park to come on Sunday, when Ledley King should be back. It
needs a good run to keep the confidence going and although the Irons
haven't played in midweek, they will be fired up for the game, but being
top of the league, Spurs should enjoy the feeling enough to make sure
they want some more of it.
burton coggles |
Hull
City
(Away)
