Looking Forward

West Ham United  (Away)

Premier League

Saturday 7th May 2006

Who thought we would have lived so long as to see Spurs challenging for a place in the Champions League on the last day of the season ??  And it has gone all the way to the end of the season ... and might go beyond, if Spurs win, as we will have to wait until the Champions League final of this season to determine who will go on to represent England in the competition next season.

With Tottenham's fate for their finishing position in the table in their own hands, we travel over to East London to meet the Irons.  With the FA Cup Final just a week away and already assured a place in the UEFA Cup, it is unlikely that the home side will field their first choice team and there are even rumours that one of the catering staff will be issuing the pre-match team-talk.  However, Spurs should not underestimate the side that West Ham put out, as they will be up for the game without doubt.  Spurs have their own injury problems with Ledley, Keano and Jermain Jenas missing from their line-up.

It is unknown who will take to the pitch for the Irons and Shaka Hislop has taken the goalkeeping duties in recent matches, preferred to James Walker in the absence of back injury victim Roy Carroll (sustained when he fell into the back of the net).  Hislop is an experienced keeper, but has always had some weaknesses, namely holding the ball from shots and his kicking.  For a big man, he is also vulnerable in the air on crosses, but it is highly unlikely that we will be able to challenge him too much in that department unless Mido recovers from his knee injury.  Walker is a smaller and more solid figure, but he has only played a few games since his dislocated knee last season in the play-off final.  A good shot-stopper, but again lacks the ability to regularly hold the ball, so anyone following up against either keeper might find some joy. 

The defence at Upton Park consists of some familiar names and also some who played together elsewhere.  The Ferdinand is Anton, who scored the late, late equaliser at the Lane, but is better known for his defensive headers.  Alongside him, Daniel Gabbidon is another strapping 6 footer, as is James Collins, who was his defensive partner at Cardiff City.  With two little strikers on offer, or at least with Defoe and the slightly taller Barnard, Spurs might find that the ball played on the floor might be the best option to circumnavigate the tall defenders in the home back four.  Paul Konchesky is the regular left back, but whether this tough-tackling defender with a desire to push forward up the lien gets to play against Spurs, the club he was on loan at, remains to be seen.  West Ham might not want to risk him, as two mis-timed challenges could see him suspended as well as midfielder Hayden Mullins.  Christian Dailly, the experienced central defender and Elliott Ward are more likely to play, with Dailly giving the benefit of his experience to the back four alongside the younger Ward, who is the brother of Crystal Palace defender Darren.  Lionel Scaloni might well feature in the other full back slot, as he is on loan and with the management at Upton Park not being impressed with him, he will not be winning a permanent deal.  This might allow Spurs some scope for attacking him, especially Lennon, who would leave him standing with his pace, although being a Spanish defender Aaron would have to watch out for the tackles coming in.

In midfield, options might be limited for West Ham with the aforementioned Mullins suspended and out of the Cup Final too, play-maker and captain Nigel Reo-Coker one booking away from suspension and Matthew Etherington suffering with a groin pull just prior to the final.  West Ham will rely heavily on Israeli midfielder Yossi Benayoun to be the creative force for them and he has established a good reputation for being a very good passer of the ball and also getting into positions to score too.  Spurs looked at him when he was at Racing Santander, but decided not to buy him, so West Ham snapped him up and he looks a good buy.  Young talent Mark Noble might make an appearance, as he is highly rated at the Boleyn Ground and he matches a high work-rate with good skill, making him a player needing to be watched, while Shaun Newton is another old hand who might get a run-out and he can still make important contributions from wide positions.

Up front, with Dean Ashton missing with a hamstring injury, it might be an all ex-Spurs attacking duo in Teddy Sheringham and Bobby Zamora.  TEddy we all know about and he can still pull defences around with his astute runs, despite his age, while Zamora never really got a chance to show Spurs fans what he was all about.  Ironically, his one goal for Tottenham came against West Ham in the League Cup !!  Zamora is a natural goal-scorer and if the ball is played into him from wide positions he will attack the ball with a single-minded determination.  This could cause Spurs problems and they need to ensure the supply is cut out from the flanks, but with Marlon Harewood being another player on the edge of a suspension, meaning he may be benched for the match, the stage will be set for Zamora to stake his claim for a place in the final. 

If Tottenham can play more like they did against Arsenal and Manchester United than the way they did against Bolton, they stand a good chance of getting what we need from this match.  If nto, then they will have to graft until they are able to play their natural game.  Pardew is a pretty good tactician and may have twigged that by shutting out Lennon, Tottenham's attacking threat is nullified somewhat.  It will be up to the players on the pitch to give the West Ham team something more to think about and hopefully, the midfield will be able to get into the game earlier than last Sunday.

In the final analysis, it has been a fine season and fifth place still guarantees us European football, but a win would heap more pressure than just that of winning the Champions League for our rivals for the place in that competition next season. 

Given that the side know what they have to do, I think we will win out but it will be close ...

PREDICTION : -   West Ham United  1   Tottenham Hotspur  2

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

Coverage

TV :
Match of the Day  -  Sunday  22.45-00.15   (highlights)
Sky Sports 1 - Football First  -  Sunday 22.00 (full match)  - digital subscribers only, unless chosen as match for full 90 minutes showing
For coverage in all parts of the world, check here and here.

Radio :  
BBC LONDON 94.9FM - Live commentary

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) ... this link has not been working in recent weeks and therefore there is no guarantee it will be webcasting.

Hislop

Scaloni
Ferdinand
Gabbidon
Konchesky

Newton
Fletcher
Reo-Coker (c)
Benayoun (Reid 86)

Sheringham (M Harewood 68)
Zamora

Unused subs: 
J Walker
C Dailly
Collins

Robinson

Kelly
Dawson
Gardner
Lee (L Barnard 78)

Lennon
Carrick (A Reid 64)
Davids
Tainio (C Davenport 87)

Keane (c)
Defoe

Unused subs: 
Cerny
Murphy
 

Fletcher 10
Benayoun 81

Tottenham Hotspur

Defoe 35
 

       
Reo-Coker (foul) 71

Having said that West Ham were up for it.  They did not shirk their tackles and the only booking went their way when Reo-Coker brought down Davids from behind.  However, the ref, Chris Foy, had quite an inept performance in my opinion.  When someone who does this job professionally, you would expect the basic decisions to be given correctly, but back-passes and goal-kick/corner calls were wrong and it was am indication that things were definitely flowing against us.

The early goal by West Ham didn't help and was perhaps a result of our layers looking jaded and not closing down Fletcher, who had the time and space to drive home a well struck shot from 25 yards.  By then Reo-Coker and Benayoun had already gone close and the corner count had started to climb, as the Irons tried to catch Spurs cold and knock even more stuffing out of them.

Tainio and Sheringham exchanged shots at either end, while Fletcher tried his luck again, but this time was off target.  As Spurs pressed forward with more purpose, they earned a corner, which food poisoning victim Michael Carrick took and Teemu met with a good header. but failed to trouble Hislop in goal.  Tainio was then involved in a bizarre incident where he played the ball back to Robinson.  With the ball flicking off Zamora on the way, Robbo picked the ball up, only for Foy to blow for a back-pass being picked up.  Our keeper went ballistic and the official would not consult his assistant, leaving Spurs to defend a free-kick inside their own box, which they managed thanks to West Ham's inability to work a shooting chance from it.

Within three minutes, Spurs had equalised from a source that Spurs fans might nto have expected and West Ham fans didn't want to acknowledge.  Jermain Defoe had been getting stick from the time the team came out to warm up, so when he got the ball from Carrick and turned around Anton Ferdinand, the sight of him curling a well-laced shot beyond Hislop's reach was greeted with warmth by the Spurs fans who were glad to see him score again and with disbelief by the Irons fans who suffered the ex-factor.

Carrick almost provided a second goal when he delivered an inviting corner into the centre of the goalmouth for Anthony Gardner to head free of a challenge, but he glanced it wide of the goal rather than bulging the net.  It almost proved costly, with Shaun Newton hitting a shot on goal, which Stephen Kelly did well to get his body in the way of. 

The half-time break gave the Spurs walking washed-out a chance to have a sit down and get some energy back into their wracked bodies.  At half-time, there were no changes and the fact that Robbie Keane had been very quiet indicates that he might have been press-ganged into playing despite his injury (and or vomiting and diarrhoea).  Davids hit a dragged effort wide as Tottenham pushed forward to start the second half.  Within five minutes, the tiredness looked like sinking Spurs, when Zamora went through into the area and a combination of Dawson and Tainio brought him down with the ref whistling with his finger pointing to the penalty spot.  When Teddy Sheringham stepped up, it looked like West Ham would get their own back with an ex-Spur scoring against his old team, but Robinson dived to make a fine stop to prevent us going behind.  Judging by Teddy's insistence on shooting from anywhere, he was keen to prove a point to the Spurs management and fans.

After Keano had struck a weak shot straight at Hislop, Teddy smashed a shot at goal and only Dawson's block got in the way.  Lee was also stopping the shots get as far as Robinson, with his block on Benayoun's effort, but it wasn't all West Ham.  Keane had two shots go wide and Jermain volleyed a fierce effort over either side of the hour mark.  Then Keane, who was now getting a new lease of life in the game fired a low shot that Shaka Hislop had to turn around the post for a corner.

West Ham were feeling the pressure a bit and when Reo-Coker brought Davids down the ref showed him the yellow card and then a foul on Lennon saw substitute Andy Reid fire a shot in that was blocked, while Tainio hit the follow-up at goal, only to see it go wide.  Spurs went close again in the 78th minute, as Jermain Defoe took a deliberate lob to try to outwit Hislop and he did, but the ball landed on the top of the net rather than in the back of it.  Shortly after substitute Lee Barnard, thrown on for Lee to add to the attack, hit a shot that was straight at the West Ham keeper.  But when play broke to the other end for the first time in a while, Zamora hit a low shot that had Robinson stretching to turn it around the post.  When the ball came in from the corner, it dropped invitingly for Benayoun to sweep in past the Spurs defence to give the Irons a 2-1 lead. 

West Ham then sensed that this might make Spurs drop off and Reo-Coker struck a 30-yarder which ENO caught comfortably.  Davenport was thrown on up front in place of Tainio, but he had little chance to make an impact.  Only drawing a foul that gave Robbie Keane a late chance from a free-kick, but it went wide and with it our chance of fourth place, because of events elsewhere (and not just today).

While it is most disappointing to have dropped out of fourth place on the last day of the season after having held it since December, it shows progress and perhaps the lack of experience in being in such a situation cost us, but the players will be better for that experience and next time will be more prepared.  It also says much for our season's work that Arsenal had to rely on West Ham doing them a favour to achieve fourth place ... and sad that the Irons were willing to do the Gooners' dirty work for them.

While the points we dropped earlier in the season undoubtedly have come back to bite our arse, for our opponents, the way their fans celebrated the win, perhaps they have had their cup final for this season.

MEHSTG TOP MAN : -  MICHAEL DAWSON

Dear MEHSTG,

Talk about players living a cosseted life, why on earth are the players spending the night in a hotel before travelling to the East End to play West Ham, can't they take the club coach, after all this would have have stopped the 'food poisoning' by the 'Gooner chef' at the Marriott Hotel in Canary Wharf, and hopefully may have got us into the Champions League ?

Joking aside, I think we all realise that we were a little bit 'inexperienced' for the CL and hopefully we can still get the required players we need to make us a stronger side, namely two full backs ... who, let's face it, have cost us points against Sunderland, Arsenal and Man Utd.

We also need another striker who can score goals, as we're not sure what Jermain Defoe is going to do in the summer, and Mido has lived up to his reputation of changing clubs more often than Tiger Woods ! 

UEFA Cup does seem second choice now, but let's face it, wouldn't we have settled for this at the beginning of the season ?

COYS
Regards

Paxton Mark

Like most of you guys reading this I'm pretty gutted, to lose fourth like that is not fair, but then football never was fair !  I could take it if we simply played badly.

I couldn't believe 10 players down with food poisoning - and then the announcement the game would go ahead !  Well that¹s it I thought - good night horse (as my dad says).  I have to say a perfectly respectable performance from our boys on Sunday under the circumstances and hey if the club do manage to sue the Marriott for the 10-mill, we'll get the CL money without having to do anything ! - I know it's not the point, but look at it this way.  Our young side would get roasted in the CL at the moment, but this way we can sue, improve the squad with the cash and then bed that team into European football against slightly lesser opponents, just trying to be positive ...

So I watched the Gooner game and was cheering on Wigan !  But they've had a hard season and couldn't hold on - even when that twat le-mon gave them a goal ! and with Spurs equalising late in the first half I still thought we might nick it.  Then the Gooner fans started jumping and cheering - penalty ! Oh-shit !  A fantastic save from Robbo and we're still in it (in my mind anyway), was it me or was that not the best penalty from Teddy ?  Deliberate ??

The rest we know and I have to say it's hard to take, but there it is and all this rubbish about replaying the game - it's never going to happen especially with 'Mr Dean' (I shall call him that !) having such an influence higher up.

I'd just like to say after such a massive season that it's been great fun, we've genuinely had something to wind up the scum with this year and they were truly petrified we might better them, so here's to an extra 10 million, less games and still looking forward to European football.

Come on you spurs.

Alan O'Brien

Well, you couldn't make it up, could you ?  Seven first-team players struck down by food poisoning.  What odds would you have been given by the bookies for that one ? 

Whatever (and whoever) was behind that bizarre set of circumstances, fourth place was not lost today, nor was it decided against the Scum at Highbury.  I maintain, as ever, that it was in fact decided in the January transfer window, when Spurs failed miserably to sign the necessary players, chiefly a right-back, two left-backs, and a striker.  Most notably, we required a left-back (Bridge or Taylor) and a right-back (Glen Johnson or Trabelsi) to replace the faltering occupants of those positions, Paul Stalteri, Stephen Kelly and Lee Young-Pyo. 

The truth is that Spurs have not scored enough goals or created enough chances since the New Year.  However, the over-riding fact is that we have also made far too many unforced errors that have resulted in a diminished goal difference, games drawn instead of won and games lost rather than drawn.  If you look back at the video footage of each of those games, as I rather painfully have, the two players responsible for 95% of those errors were Stalteri and Lee.  For this, I can't fault them.  They were signed by a massively popular club in London and were selected to play week in, week out.  They didn't do anything that you or I wouldn't have, so good luck to 'em.  They were crap and they knew it, they still are crap and they know it but, well, they've got bonuses to worry about, haven't they ?  Can't say anything to the boss, can they ?  They're struggling, in all areas, but they mustn't let Big Marty know, must they ?  Lee is playing at left-back but is right-footed, can't get to grips with, plus, he cannot speak A BLOODY WORD OF ENGLISH !!!  HE DOESN'T UNDERSTAND HIS TEAM-MATES, DOES HE ?  But he can't tell his manager that he needs a little bit of help, can he ?  Oh no, he's got to think about his bonus, sod the team.  As for our Canadian, he's a bit knackered, a little tired, needs a bit of help, but doesn't want to lose his appearance bonus.  Sod the team !  Hold on.  Wait just a moment.  Isn't that what we've got a manager and a Sporting Director for ?   Surely Jol and Commoli could see the glaring weaknesses in an otherwise impressive squad.  You would think that the over-seers of quality would notice that Mr Lee could not handle either the pace of the Premiership or the simple duties of a player assigned to the left-flank.  You would think that J & C could see that Stalteri was getting turned game in game out, struggling to support the attack, struggling to defend, struggling with the pace of the premiership and ... just struggling.

How could Jol not notice ?  How ?  I'm not saying we should bomb the boys out of the club, but they should NEVER have been first-choice full-backs.  No way, not a hope in hell.  It's not as if we're short of money, jeez, the entire sodding board are made up of multi-millionaires and billionaires (Phillip Green, Sugar, Joe Wotsisface), not to mention all the money that the club has squeezed out of the fans for home tickets and season tickets.  Spurs could easily have afforded to pay £5-6m each, for Wayne Bridge and Glen Johnson and £2.5m for Portsmouth's Matthew Taylor, as cover for Bridge.  Why didn't we sign Dean Ashton before the Spammers did ?  I knew that Egypt were going to ruin Mido and they surely did.  We needed cover. 

Yeah, well, fourth place should've been sewn up long before today and everyone will have an opinion as to why, but I'm sure that I know the reason. 

Fifth place ?  UEFA Cup ?  Pah.

Sean Jackson

Arsenal