Looking Forward

Manchester City  (Home)

Premier League

Saturday 8th April 2006

There is no doubt that on their day, City can be one of the most ineffectual sides in the Premiership.  Whilst not having seen all the Boro match, it appears that the team failed to ignite any spark of attacking intent and while Boro were little better, they took the points.  Some City players are prone to errors and some just go missing when they are needed.

We saw in the game at Eastlands that Sylvain Distin, who returns from suspension for this match if selected, has the propensity to go AWOL.  Lennon's chasing of a ball DIstin thought was rolling off created a goal, as the City captain slept as the Spurs winger retrieved the situation and set up Mido for the opener.  In that same game David Sommeil was guilty of a very high challenge on Lee and got a retrospective punishment for it, while tough tackling Ben Thatcher and Danny Mills have faced a battle to get a place in the team.  Pearce sticks with stalwart Irish central defender Richard Dunne, who always seems keen to kick Robbie Keane, but Keano likes playing against his Irish team mates too.  It should be an interesting match-up.  With Nedum Onuoha out injured and the suspended Chinese player Sun Jihai, Pearce might call for Micah Richards, who is only 18, but has impressed Spurs, Arsenal and Chelsea enough to talk about double figure million bids for the defender.  A big lad for his age, he made a name for himself by swearing on Match of the Day Live after scoring in the FA Cup against Villa.

Behind the back four will be David James, who we really need not say much about.  He has been around for seemingly an age, but he is still only 36, so could have some years still to play.  James has played through a few clubs and has never seemed to achieve his potential, as his error-prone performances have been the ones remembered rather than any good displays he has put in.  Back up keeper Nicky Weaver has suffered dreadfully with injury for about four years and letting six in against bitter rivals United in the Reserve league has not helped his cause.

In midfield, American Claudio Reyna may be ready to return after a shoulder injury, but driving force in that are of the pitch for City, Joey Barton will be missing with a knee ligament problem.  Antoine Sibierski has proved to be a threat in the air and he can be a concern with shots from long distance, but he can be another who is erratic and fades out of the game.  I think Kiki Musampa is a talented footballer, but again, not involved enough for Pearce's liking, so he is unlikely to be signed permanently when his loan deal expires at the end of the season.   I don't know a lot about Albert Riera, apart from the fact that he is a left footer playing on the left and can provide the crosses for the front two, while Lee Croft is a young player making his way into the side, but has an eye for goal from midfield.  Then there is Trevor Sinclair, who will work his way up and down the line, as fast as his veteran legs will take him.  Although he may lack the pace he once had, he still has a trick in his armoury to beat a defender and enjoys having a shot at goal from almost anywhere.

Darius Vassell will be missing the injured Andy Cole as his normal partner, which leaves Pearce the option of pairing him with Georgios Samaras or Bradley Wright-Phillips.  Samaras came in during the January transfer window and has shown he can score goals, with two against Sunderland and one each against Charlton and Aston Villa.  Tall and with a good aerial ability, he has yet to pick up the pace of the Premiership fully and may be one who blossoms next season.  Without the stellar rise his little brother has had, it seems like Bradley won't hit the big time.  Leggy and with good pace, he lacks the composure to be a top-class finisher and Pearce seems to think he can be best utilised coming off the bench, as his 20 sub appearances this season indicate.

Not good traveller and having lost six of the last seven and the other being a draw, City are not in the best of form, but that will be irrelevant after Pearce has been at them.  But then Jol will want to see a favourable reaction from the Tottenham side who lost at Newcastle, so a game full of effort will be on the cards.  Spurs might usefully employ the tiny two up front, as Distin and the full backs do not like pacy strikers running at them, so Mido might be an optional extra should we need the battering ram approach.  With the points a must for Spurs, it will be a nervous match for both players and fans, but with a good home record and the side picking up the pace from the start, I reckon it will probably end ...

PREDICTION : -  Tottenham Hotspur  2    Manchester City  1

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

Coverage

TV :  
Sky Sports Prem Plus - live coverage (pay per view)
Match of the Day  -  Saturday  22.15-23.15 (highlights)
Match of the Day  -  Sunday  07.55-09.00 (highlights)
Match of the Day 2   22.55-00.05 (highlights)
Sky Sports 1 - Saturday - 20.25  -  Football First (full game for digital viewers from 20.25) ... highlights if selected as a featured match from 22.15
Sky Sports 1 - Sunday 10.00-11.30 (highlights)
For coverage in all parts of the world, check here and here.

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

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) ... link has not been working in recent weeks and therefore no guarantee it will operate.
BBC Five Live Sports Extra - live coverage (after the cricket) http://www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive/sportsextra/schedule.shtml

Robinson

Stalteri
King (c)
Gardner
Lee

Lennon (Defoe 83)
Jenas
Carrick
Tainio (Davids 89)

Keane
Mido

Unused subs: 
Cerny
Murphy
Davenport

James

Danny Mills (Riera 59)
Dunne
Distin(c)
Thatcher

Sinclair
Richards
Musampa
Reyna (Sibierski 80)

Vassell
Samaras

Unused subs: 
Weaver
Sommeil
Wright-Phillips

Tottenham Hotspur

Stalteri 44
Carrick 49

Samaras 52
 

       
Vassell (encroachment at free-kick) 27
Richards (kicking ball away) 59
Thatcher (foul) 76

When two teams who have met with defeat the week previous receive the wrath of their managers, it is a fascinating spectacle that awaits the fan attending a match to see how the players respond to their promptings in the preceding week's training.  With home advantage, it was Tottenham who took the initiative and the three points in this meeting with Manchester City at White Hart Lane, as a 2-1 score-line failed to reflect the superiority Spurs had in the game.

For all the column inches in this week's newspapers, City failed to show any spark and while Stuart Pearce might have been impressed by their effort, you could not really say that it was enough to take anything from the match.  With some patient play, which was not always to the crowd's liking, Spurs proceeded to unravel the compact defensive attitude of the visiting City side.  With Carrick's probing passes and Robbie Keane's astute moves, both on and off the ball, it was a victory that had the fourth place slot occupied for at least another week.

With an opening minute move that saw Keane almost put Tainio in, Tottenham set a tempo that had been missing of late.  The speed of our movement off the ball had been lacking and the pressure building on the opposition was necessary to prevent them forging forward.  Samaras sliced a volley wide after Vassell had knocked the ball on to him and then Musampa hit a hopeful shot well over from distance, as Pearce's side tried to grab a lead to defend.  It appears this may have been their over-riding problem, as their attacks looked good until they got to the edge of the box, when they broke down or panic set in.

David James has conceded the most goals in Premier League history.  He has played the most games for a goalkeeper in the league, but on this performance, he might be making the trip to Germany as Paul Robinson's deputy, with a string of good saves.  His first came a quarter of an hour in, when Carrick struck a shot from 30 yards and the free-kick was pushed round for a corner.  Four minutes later, the flip side of his game showed, when he tried to dribble around Lennon and fluffed a kick clear to Mido, but the Egyptian took too long to get the ball to Keane or a shot on goal and it all ended in a corner.  In between, Micah Richards had a shot on the Spurs goal that was lifted over Robbo as he closed the midfielder down, but it went across the goal rather than in it.  He was getting forward to support the front two and had two more efforts in quick succession, but he failed to make the most of them, perhaps demonstrating his potential rather than his current ability.

It was an open game, with space for both sides to move into, but the target was not being hit often enough in the spell leading up to the half hour to trouble the keepers unduly.  Musampa hit a long range effort wide from 25 yards, while Keane failed to get a sufficient connection on a volley to panic James, but the City keeper was drawn into action on 35 minutes, as he dived to gather Jenas' curling free-kick from just outside the area on the left.

Three minutes later, James produced a fine save to direct Robbie Keane's drive up and onto the bar.  Spurs were going forward to try and get something to take into half-time and the goal they wanted finally arrived a minute before the break.  Mido lifted the ball onto Keane, who turned Dunne and struck his shot goalwards.  James was once more equal to it, pushing the ball to the left side of the goal, but he had not reckoned on Paul Stalteri, restored to the side at right back, coming in to fire the ball past him to make it 1-0.   The old chestnut about it being a psychologically good time to score could not have been more apt if I had heard Sigmund Freud as the bloke behind me muttering it to his fellow spectator.

With the goal causing a buzz in the ground at half-time, the arrival of former Spurs great Steve Perryman on the pitch at the interval cemented the excitement, especially as it was accompanied by Ricky Villa's 1981 FA Cup winning goal against City at Wembley.  Perhaps it signalled a replay in our minds of that great night and how it used to be to support Spurs and how that might be on the brink of returning.  Six minutes after the restart, we perhaps remembered what it was like to support Spurs.

A corner from the right by Carrick once more failed to clear the first defender, a regular failing of his corner kicks, but the ball fell to Teemu Tainio.  With a pass so delicate and perfectly placed, he lifted it over two City defenders out to Carrick running in from the right hand corner of the area.  The midfielder took a touch and then rifled it hard and just over James, leaving the keeper helpless to save and putting Tottenham two goals ahead.  It was a neatly crafted goal and one which Carrick should score more of.  A shame that Sven for once to be elsewhere.

The six minutes were still ticking and the real reason the years of wilderness we have suffered came back to haunt us.  Having taken a two goal lead, you still wish Spurs had the know-how to quash a game and go on to win without worry.  A Distin long throw, a failure to deal with the ball in the six yard box and Samaras prodded the ball in at the near post without a meaningful challenge to bring the margin back to one goal within two minutes.  Defending set-pieces is something I am sure the side practice in training, but the ease with which Samaras scored put concern into the mind of many Spurs fans.

For a while it looked as though it would be OK, with a 55th minute goal by Keane ruled out for a narrow offside.  City tried to press home the jitters their foal had caused, but when a free-kick was given against the Citizens, Richards booted the ball away earning a yellow card.  Then, when he perpetrated the same offence a couple of minutes later, Gallagher had just a word with him, when surely he should have got a second yellow with a red to go with it.  While the ref probably applied the spirit of the law, it is highly frustrating to see Michael Dawson get sent off for trivial incidents, while others get away with it.  But then last time we lead City at home and they were reduced to ten ... !!  but then again, Ziege was sent off for two incidents of kicking the ball away at Maine Road in December 2002.

The Tottenham defence were doing well against the mini-onslaught that City put in, with King and Gardner winning the ball in the air and the full backs getting into positions to stop crosses flying in.  Lee was in the right place in the 69th minute, when he hacked a shot from Richards off the line following a corner being knocked on by Distin.  Within a minute, Robinson showed why he is number one for his country, with a flying save to push Riera's 30 yard rocket well away from harm, unlike James for Spurs' first goal.

Lee was getting more joy up the left flank that Lennon on the right, with then little winger put under pressure by heavy challenges form Thatcher and being deprived of service from our midfield.  When the Korean moved up to support Mido, he got the ball back and pulled a low ball to the edge fo the box where Gardner cleanly struck a low shot that came through a crowd and James did well to hold on the line.  The keeper did even better two minutes later.  Thatcher, who had brought down Lennon off the ball in a move just a minute before, was racing back to cover as Stalteri picked up Carrick's pass and put in a cross towards Mido in the middle.  The former Spurs defender got in the way and the ball flew off his stomach and headed towards goal, where James had to change direction and touch the ball onto a post.  An own goal would have been some sweet justice.

His luck didn't last long, as Thatcher was booked for one of a number of "clumsy" challenges on the Spurs winger intended to intimidate Lennon.  How this side is moulded in it's manager's image, but they go a bit further than Pearce used to with Dunne twice going through the back of Mido, Musampa winding our midfielders and Keane up with shirt pulls and niggles and Samaras getting away with a blatant elbow into Anthony Gardner's head. 

Lennon made way for Defoe, as Keane dropped wide on the right and he looked tired.  Lennon had an effect, even when he didn't have the ball, as his pace scared the life out of the City defence.  Defoe brings different problems and when Tottenham broke, with just five minutes left, they found themselves three-on-two at the back.  Unfortunately, the ball from Keane did not allow Defoe to let it run to Mido and he had to take it with two defenders now on him.  Despite this, Jermaine still got a shot off and although it went wide, he made something out of a poor situation.

Davids came on for the last few minutes, having surprisingly been dropped to the bench, although most fans before the match thought that was where he ought to start.  Tainio had given an energy to the midfield and he was snapping at the ankles of the City players throughout his time on the pitch.  Some of Carrick's passing was not as accurate as normal and Jeans put a lot of hard work in, both at the back and also getting forward to help out the front men, which isn't always appreciated.

As Calum Davenport stood waiting to make his entrance, Gallagher blew the whistle and the points were Tottenham's.  A shame the young defender didn't get onto the pitch, but then the result was the important thing and we will see who other sides fare this weekend.  All Spurs can do is win and leave the others to do what they can.  But the resilience that Jol has instilled in the side continues to show and that can only be good for the future ... as well as the present.

MEHSTG TOP MAN : -  TEEMU TAINIO

James Worthington

A game that had plenty of positives, most notably the three points, also had a few little worries.  How big Martin failed to spot how poor Mido was baffled me and many others sitting around us.  Defoe would surely have caused City defenders more problems with his undoubted pace.  Still I shall have to put my faith in big Martin.

The one other main problem seemed to be our players not being able to spot young Lennon standing out on the right wing.  I know he's only a small boy, but even I could see him from where I was sitting.  Come on boys, give him the ball and watch him take it and us all the way to Europe.

Come on u Spurs.
All the best

Richard Cook

At this stage of the season its three points and not performances that are high on the agenda and Spurs got back to winning ways at the Lane with a 2-1victory over Man City.  If it wasn't for the magnificent reflexes of David James then we would have wrapped this game up by a bigger margin.  Carrick's  thunderous drive looked to have given us a comfortable lead to see out the game, but moments later a lack of concentration lead to a Samaras goal and another tense finish at the Lane this season.

Chris Hughton said in the week that Robbie Keane is in the form of his life and he was yet again a constant threat bursting with skill, pace and imagination that seems to lift the whole team. He could have had a hat-trick against Man City but two fantastic saves, one a fingertip save onto the bar and a disallowed goal meant he was unable to get his 15th goal of the season which would equal his best goals return for us.  Carrick had James working after 15 minutes when his powerful free-kick had to be tipped wide.  It went from the sublime to the ridiculous for James as he once again tried to play with the ball and was horribly caught out by Mido, if it wasn't for the Egyptian's poor first touch he would have put us ahead.  Our first goal didn't arrive until two minutes from the end of the half when a lovely turn of feet from Keane brought another excellent save from James, but Stalteri was bursting into the box to confidently slot the ball past James.  It was the least we deserved and settled the players, and the fans nerves for the second half.

We came out fired up after the interval and it took us less than five minutes to double our lead.  A corner from Carrick was headed clear and the excellent Tainio lofted a perfect pass back to Carrick who had ghosted into the box.  Carrick controlled the ball with his chest with the ball falling beautifully for him to power a shot straight through James.  That should have been curtains, but we seem to enjoy giving teams a chance and not three minutes later City were back in it.  A throw-in on the right for City lead to a breakdown in communication between the Spurs backline giving Samaras the chance to steal in and poke the ball home. 

City were lifted after this and for the next ten minutes they pressed hard. A fine save by Robinson from Riera's long range drive was about a close as they came to an equaliser, in fact we did have the ball in the net after 55 minutes when a quick breakaway from JJ and a lovely ball into Keane resulted in the Irishman showing yet more dazzling skill to turn his man and slot the ball past James.  TV replays didn't seem to be conclusive.  James was in action again with the best save of the game when a cross from Stalteri took a huge
deflection off Thatcher making James have to change direction and dive full stretch to tip the ball onto the post.  At the beginning of the second half the Spurs faithful were singing 'England's number four' to James.  After his string of fine saves, he showed he is, in fact, 'England's number two'.

This was a vital three points for Spurs as it allowed us to maintain our hold on that illustrious fourth spot and it also opened up a five point gap on Arsenal.  Now all attention turns to Everton away before our two huge games with Man Utd and, what is shaping up to be the game of the season, with Arsenal at Highbury on April 22nd.  With Tainio playing down the left we looked a much better outfit in the middle of the park and it seems JJ and Carrick have developed into a sound central partnership, although I would like to see Murphy given a chance with Carrick before the season is out.

Joe Sayers

On a day when a game was abandoned for heavy snow in Sunderland, who are trying to stay in the Premiership, the sun shone on Tottenham as their Champions League ambitions were given some light at the end of the tunnel, although the train still has to get out of the darkness with a few more games.

Coming on the back of a defeat to Newcastle, Spurs needed to get back on track and with Pearce stirring up his City players after four straight losses and the fear that the Manchester side might derail Tottenham was in the back of our minds.  Glad that King was back in the sidings, with Gardner looking a bit more confident again alongside him, but the team played like a well-oiled machine leaving Man City little chance of getting into the game.  Keane hit a rocket that James pushed onto the bar and this acted as a platform for the first goal, when another Keane effort was directed into Stalteri's path and he knocked it in from close range.  This was just the ticket, just before half-time.

Just after the break, Carrick hit a corner that was cleared and Tainio put the ball into the corner-takers' path and he steamed in to railroad the ball past James to make it 2-0.

City's efforts hit the buffers with Robinson shunting Riera's shot well away from goal and it was left to James to keep the City fires stoked with a series of saves that kept a flame burning.  Well, that and the fact that the away goal was guarded by the man waving the flag when Keane was supposed to have gone beyond the last man by less than a yard.

As Jol celebrated at the end, the Egyptian Mido was spoken to as he tried to go straight down the tunnel, but it was the Euro-Star Tainio who had been the driver for this success.  Unlike Christian Gross, who appeared with a tube ticket, BMJ might be seeking a Euro Railcard if the team keep up their winning ways.

The Thin Controller