PSV Eindhoven
(Holland)
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UEFA Cup - Round of 16 First leg

                   Thursday 6th March 2008

 
 
Juande Ramos is stirring up the players by saying they have three months to show him what they are made of and it all starts with this game against PSV after losing heavily to Birmingham City.  It was an unusual event for this season, let alone since Ramos joined the club, but I am sure that with the return of the injured players and the euphoria of the League Cup win being consigned to the bin, the players will be back in the right mood for the match.

PSV are racing away with the Dutch Eredivisie, being six points clear of Ajax.  Among there ranks they have some funny names ... Timmy Simons, Tommie van der Leegte and Edson Vicente Mendez Mende.  The only familiar names to me were Jefferson Farfan the Peruvian striker and the former Liverpool defender Jan Kromkamp.  They must be a decent side to stay ahead of Ajax, but they have lost four games against mid-table sides.  They failed to progress from their Champions League group of Internazionale, CSKA Sofia and Fenerbahce, so dropped into the UEFA Cup, where they beat Helsingborgs to face Spurs.

With a few days off behind our team, they should be refreshed and ready to take Juande's winning mentality into this game and we will need the big names to show us their best form.  Berbatov needs to show his finishing ability, as well as his link up play, while the central midfield of Zokora and Jenas must ensure that they do not get pulled too far upfield.

It will be a good challenge for Tottenham against a regular Champions League side, with it being imperative we do not concede a goal early like we did against Sevilla last season.  If we can keep a clean sheet it will be a good result and I think the team might be tuned up to face the Dutch champions, coming out of this leg with a lead ...

PREDICTION : -  Tottenham Hotspur   2    PSV Eindhoven (Holland)  1

 
 
PLAYERS UNAVAILABLE

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR : -  Benoit Assou-Ekotto (knee); Gareth Bale (foot); Alan Hutton (ineligible); Ledley King (knee); - (-); - (-); 

PSV EINDHOVEN :  -  Eric Addo (hamstring); Tommie van der Leegte (-); - (-); 

 
 
Coverage

TV
ITV 1 - (live coverage)
For coverage in all parts of the world, check here and here
.

Radio :  
BBC LONDON 94.9FM (London area only), Digital Radio (London area only) &  Sky Channel 0152
 (live coverage)
BBC Radio Five Live (live coverage)  606/939 MW

If available on BBC radio, it can supposedly be heard in these countries on these stations ...
Australia (Melbourne) SEN  -  116 AM  Live Transmissions: TWI, Saturday. 12.45 & 1500 matches
Australia (Sydney)  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, Caribbean)  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
BBC London - http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2005/10/12/live_commentaries_feature.shtml
click on link to "Listen to Tottenham Hotspur live commentary" on top right hand menu.

 
 
 

PS

 

Tottenham Hotspur   0    PSV Eindhoven (Holland)   1      (Half-time score : 0-1)

UEFA Cup Round of 16 First leg
Venue : White Hart Lane  
Thursday 6th March 2008
Kick Off :  8.05 p.m.
Crowd :   33,259
Referee :  Stephane Lannoy  (France)
Tottenham kicked off and played towards the Park Lane end in the first half.
Weather :  -  Mild, dry
Teams : - 
Tottenham Hotspur :

  1  Robinson

  2  Chimbonda     
39  Woodgate
26  King (19  Taarabt 73)
11  Gilberto      (24  O'Hara 46)

25  Lennon
  8  Jenas (22  Huddlestone 64)
  4  Zokora
15  Malbranque

  9  Berbatov     
10  Keane

Unused subs: 
12 
Cerny
  3  Y P Lee
  6  Tainio
20  Dawson

PSV Eindhoven (Holland) :

  1  Gomes

  2  Kromkamp
24  Marcellis
  3  Salcido
13  Alcides

15  Culina
  6  Simons
  8  Mendez
17  Farfan      (22  Dzsudzsak 85)

10  Koevermans (  9  Lazovic 77)
20  Afellay (28  Bakkal 90).

Unused subs: 
21  Roorda
  5  Zonneveld
14  Rajkovic
16  Aissati

Colours : -  (kits courtesy of http://www.colours-of-football.com)
Tottenham Hotspur

  PSV Eindhoven (Holland)
Scorers : -  
Tottenham Hotspur

None

PSV Eindhoven (Holland)

Farfan 34

Cards : -  
Tottenham Hotspur  

     
Gilberto (foul) 26
Chimbonda (kicking ball away)
Berbatov (kicking ball away) 

    

PSV Eindhoven (Holland)

       
Farfan (kicking ball away)

 

     

Match Report : -  
With a Champions League team dispatched in the last round, PSV Eindhoven posed a very different proposition and proved it with a 1-0 win at White Hart Lane.  Having only lost once in Europe in 47 years, it is now twice in the same season.

It is a blow to the club's aspirations to win another trophy in this, their 125th season, but not all is lost, as there is still the second leg to come.  Although, it will need a considerable improvement in their performance for the Spurs team to progress.

Having said that, while PSV were undoubtedly the better team on the night, they quivered under pressure at the end, as Tottenham pressed for an equaliser and a faster tempo in the return from our side will help push the Dutch side to the end.

Both sides were feeling each other out in the opening stages, with the first shot on goal coming from Mendez, but it lacked power and Robbo picked it up comfortably, while a Woodgate header from Jenas' free-kick floated up for Gomes to pluck out of the air with over a quarter of an hour gone.  Tottenham picked up a few free-kicks outside the PSV box, but they were all wasted.

New Brazilian signing Gilberto was making his first appearance and looked comfortable on the ball, with a good left foot, but when Zokora let a long ball bounce before heading it and it got past him and then Jefferson Fanfan got away, he showed that he may not be fully match fit, as he had to foul the Peruvian as he ran past him.  Gilberto picked up a booking for his troubles.  Around the half hour his day got even worse.

Firstly, he got the ball back from Steed Malbranque and hit a right foot shot well over the bar and then, when play was on the edge of our own box after our free-kick broke down, he tried to take the ball out of defence on the right hand side of the area, he was robbed of the ball by Farfan and the striker stepped forward to drive his shot past a helpless Robinson.  It was a slack piece of defending and perhaps he needed to hoof it rather than be a little bit more classy.  He will have to learn he needs to pick and choose when he plays football in that area.

Jermaine Jenas raced away up the left, got beyond the defence, but as he reached the penalty area, he lost his balance as he was deciding what to do and the ball ran off for a goal-kick.  As soon as Spurs broke forward again, a minute later, the ball came to Malbranque, who struck a shot that came off Kromkamp and bounced up, causing Gomes to flap at the shot and get it out for a corner.  The same result came from a Berbatov cross that Steed brought the keeper into action once more.

With the ball being kept around the PSV area, a Jenas cross found a free header for Jonathan Woodgate, but his slid his header across the face of the far post.  Steed was quiet involved in this part of the match and when a neat passing movement saw the ball drop to him off Lennon, he struck it first time, but the angle he was coming in from did not suit a right foot shot and it went a long way wide.  The visitors did break out and Mendez fired in a shot from distance to make Paul Robinson save, without any worry and then just before the break, the Spurs keeper launched a high ball upfield and Keane took it down with great skill.  With two PSV defenders for company, he took them on and broke into the area, where he claimed he was being pulled as he got a shot away and Gomes did well to fling an arm up to his right to keep the ball out.

Turning around at 0-1 down, Ramos brought Jamie O'Hara at left back for Gilberto.  It was a risky move, as Eindhoven seemed to single him out for balls played over his head for Farfan to run onto.  But with the side pushing forward, this kept PSV away from Robbo's for a while.  The keeper Gomes looked like he would wobble under pressure and his punching leaves Spurs with some hope, as his general demeanour could not have given his back four a great deal of confidence.

On the hour, Afellay was lined up with a shot by Farfan's pass, but with the goal there to be hit, he missed the target completely and Spurs had a let off.  When Mendez went into a challenge with Jenas in midfield, the Spurs midfielder was left holding his leg in the middle of the field.  Having received attention, he had to be take off on a stretcher and Tom Huddlestone came on to replace him.  It was later revealed that it was only a twisted ankle and he may miss a couple of games, but will be back before the season's end.

Another series of free-kicks saw the ball strike the wall regularly from Jenas, Berbatov and O'Hara managed to clear the wall by some distance.  When Dimitar got wide in the 68th minute, he found Pascal Chimbonda at the far post, from where he headed the bal over the top.

Chimbonda had been booked for kicking the ball away and Berbatov followed him for the same misdemeanour, being a particularly shameful way to get booked.  With about 20 minutes left, Ramos sacrificed Ledley King to bring on Adel Taarabt, who took eight minutes to touch the ball, but the touches he did have brightened up the Tottenham side.

Lennon got O'Hara's cross-field pass and then tried to hit a shot from 25 yards out, but got it all wrong and it went a long way wide.  Then suddenly the ball was in the Tottenham net.  A well worked break-out saw Farfan feed former Liverpool defender Jan Kromkamp, who hit a shot that Robinson did well to keep out with his fingertips.  Twice Chimbonda did well to prevent the team going further behind.  Firstly, he flicked away a header at the far post with a man coming in behind him, another well timed challenge to stop a shot on Robbo's goal shows he can be an effective defender when he puts his mind to it.  Woodgate made a similarly important tackle on substitute Lazovic as he looked like he would get clear in the box.

With four minutes left, it looked like our UEFA Cup campaign was over.  Afellay cut inside from the right to hit a cross shot that Robbo did well to beat out , but the keeper's parry bounced down in front of goal and Lazovic was Johnny on the spot to head home.  However, he was denied a second goal by the assistant referee's offside flag ... much to our relief.

With time ticking away, Tottenham's attacks got ever more frantic and the long ball did worry the away defence, but they held firm and when they did get breached Gomes did enough to keep the ball out.  Huddlestone's neat little pass put Berbatov in and his volley brought a falling save from Gomes at his near post.  And then, when Keane got away from the defender sin the box, he tried to beat the PSV goalkeeper, but he had raced out to block his shot from close range.

Four minutes were added, but nothing came of them and a few boos rang out after the final whistle.  I think that was a bit harsh, but hopefully, they were borne out of the frustration of those fans, who want more success.  that is something we all want, but you have to hold your hands up to give credit to Eindhoven, who produced an experienced European showing and kept the ball moving and kept the ball better than Spurs.

So, the rest of our season comes down to the game next Wednesday. 

Yes, a trophy is already in the bag, but the need to show that we can compete with the biggest of clubs from the Champions League must be proved.  Our pace in attack must be used to best effect in Holland and Lennon will need good supply to get him into the game.

Let's hope the boys are up for it !!

MIKE HORTON

 
 
 
GO
 

Reaction : -

 
 

GONE DUTCH

 
 

What a great night of European football at the Lane once more - despite the result. If you ignored the UEFA cup cardboard cut out's in each corner of the pitch this could easily have looked like a Champions League match.

Apart from the disastrous first half performance of Gilberto, I thought we held our own against an extremely under rated PSV side.  My argument is that sides like PSV shouldn't even be in the UEFA Cup though as surely finishing third in the Champs League group stage shouldn't equal UEFA Cup football as it is slightly unfair on the teams that have worked hard to get where they have up until now in the competition this is I'm sure, an over used argument.  What I do find extremely unfair is that Alan Hutton is ineligible to play in the UEFA Cup for Spurs when he only played for Rangers in the CL ??  So we are being punished for Rangers inability to get through such an easy group in the Champs League ...

Anyway, hopefully we can push on in Eindhoven and Juande can replicate his victory in the manner that Seville did under him a few seasons ago in the same competition.

P.S One thing that really concerned me last night was surrounding the pitch - "Like Football, You'll Love The Army" I've always thought the two are really similar !?!?!? Front line in Afghanistan or two hours a day training on 40 grand a week - you decide ...
.



LEE BRADLEY

 
 
Read Wyart Lane's view of the PSV loss by clicking here
   
 

What has "40 Winkels in Holland" got to do with football ?

No wonder the players were distracted from what they should have been doing ... namely winning a football match.  The Dutch advertising constantly moving through our wonderful electronic advertising hoardings must have made the team think they were playing away.  And it begs the question as to why there were not English adverts on them ?  Did the Dutch companies pay more ? 

On the pitch, the Spurs defence might now be packed with experience, but there is an alarming lack of pace.  While Chimbonda played well and got back when required, Ledley looked tired and Gilberto got skinned on one occasion and Jonathan Woodgate does not have the pace to cover if someone goes past him.

With Ledders being substituted as Spurs tried to get something out of the game, it is looking like a new central defender will be arriving in the summer.

Great to see Ramos willing to try form players, as Taarabt was the star of the show in the Reserves on Monday and did well when he made a late cameo appearance.

Will we get through ?  Well, it will need a League Cup Final type performance, as PSV are a very good side, but I think they are beatable.

ISAAC GREGORY

   
 
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Other first leg scores this round :
Glasgow Rangers (SCO) 2 Werder Bremen (GER) 0 Thursday
Anderlecht (BEL) 0 Bayern Munich (GER) 5 Thursday
Bayer Leverkusen (GER) 1 Hamburg (GER) 0 Thursday
Bolton Wanderers 1 Sporting Lisbon (POR) 1 Thursday
Marseille (FRA) 3 Zenit St. Petersburg (RUS) 1 Thursday
Benfica (POR) 1 Getafe (SPA)  2 Thursday
Fiorentina (ITA) 2 Everton 0 Thursday

 

   

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