| Maybe as the years
go on, the weather gets hotter for the first pre-season match and the
gap between the last time you saw the team play in the season just
passed and the first time you see them play in a new season gets ever
shorter.
At Broadhall Way, the sun shone and we
saw a new Spurs side (or should I say two new Spurs sides) from the one
that left the pitch after playing Blackburn at the Lane. What we
did see was an energetic and youthful line-up that showed that they can
play football on the floor and in the brief moments they sparked into
life in this summer stroll, they might pose some problems for
Premiership opponents in 2005-06.
Amongst the 22 Tottenham players on view
were new-comers Teemu Tainio, Aaron Lennon, Wayne Routledge and Tom
Huddlestone, who all impressed on their first outings in a (new) Spurs
kit. The rest who featured were well-known faces, but missing from
the line-ups were Ledley King, Noureddine Naybet, Anthony Gardner,
Thimothee Atouba, Reto Ziegler, Paul Stalteri, Paul Robinson, Michael
Brown and Sean Davis, who all will be expected to turn out for the first
team this season, unless they are sold before then (in Gardner and
Atouba's cases). Even though these were mix and match elevens, the
first half and the second half teams showed they have enough talent in
them to ensure our squad is now deep.
The game was nothing less than a stroll
in the sun for Tottenham, to shake some of the close-season cobwebs off
their limbs. A gentle run in the sun. As for Stevenage, they
took it all a bit too seriously, with Berquez living up to his name with
a number of rash challenges and an unhealthy attitude that means he will
be a refs favourite for the book this season. Ronnie Henry,
formerly of Spurs reserves, was at the heart of the Boro defence and did
well, while sometimes going through players from behind, but he will be
a good player at the Conference level. As for the rest, George
Boyd showed some good touches and the lanky Stamp made an impression on
our defence.
For Tottenham, they started the game with
Lennon cutting up the right wing. His crossing was not quite
dangerous enough to trouble Julian most of the time, but the lack of
match sharpness not only affected him, but Kanoute and Keane, who he set
up, but both dallied and the shooting opportunities were lost. It
was clear that Martin Jol is still working on the set-pieces during the
summer, as one was pulled square by Carrick and then laid off to Marney
by Keane. Dean struck the ball well, but a defender blocked it
swiftly.
The closest Spurs came to a goal was in
the 20th minute, when Keane made some space for himself after taking the
ball from a defender's error, but his 20 yard shot was stopped down to
his right by the Stevenage keeper. A better shooting chance opened
up for Aaron Lennon, when Kanoute put him in on the right, but cutting
inside, he scuffed the left foot shot with a clear sight on goal after
23 minutes. Lennon speed was taking him into some good positions
and when Fredi pulled a low ball back to him, he struck the ball first
time, but it was rising all the time and flew over. Fredi was
pulling wide quite often and this left space for others to exploit in
the box. On one occasion, when Kanoute crossed firmly to the
middle of the six yard box, Teemu Tainio met it with his forehead, but
the keeper was in the right place to take it comfortably.
Tainio looked good on his debut. He
was dynamic and was not afraid to get stuck in, while he showed a good
eye for a pass and he was keen to get forward. He might be a good
acquisition. Tom Huddlestone took up a central defender's position
alongside Calum Davenport, who was also making his first start for
Spurs. Both looked comfortable, with Calum's height well-matched
to Tom's strength. For a lad of 19, he has broad shoulders and
great physical presence, which was not how he looks on TV. I think
he will become some player for Tottenham and this is only on first
viewing of his ability.
Just before the half-time break, Spurs
took the lead. One more picking up a ball that strayed too far
from a Stevenage defender's foot, Keano played the ball in to Lennon on
the penalty spot and his presence of mind saw him touch the ball off to
Kanoute, who stroked it home from about 12 yards out. It was
nothing more than Tottenham deserved, as Stevenage had left Cerny with a
quiet 45 minutes to start the campaign. In fact, I think it took
until 86 minutes for the home side to win their first corner.
After the mass ranks of changes at the
break, the best chance for Boro to score presented itself as Danny
Williams broke away on the right and his cross flew in to the head of
Stamp, who could only nod it wide of the goal from 10 yards out.
With Defoe and a much reduced Mido in tandem up front, Spurs began to
cut Stevenage open and with the arrival of Routledge on the right wing
too, his supply soon started to cause problems for the home
defence. His ball into Mido was laid back for Defoe and a defender
just managed to get a block in to keep the ball out.
The miss of the game came on 62 minutes
when Williams robbed Andy Reid on the right to fire in a cross that
Nurse managed to get wide from close range. The link play between
Mido and Defoe was almost telepathic (although they were not always on
the same wavelength though) and Jermain released Mido only for Henry to
stop his shot on goal. Then Kelly and Routledge linked on the
right wing to set up Defoe and only a brave stop by gore in the
Stevenage goal stopped Spurs adding to their lead.
Not that it mattered in the long run, as
in the 67th minute, a corner from Reid found Mido taking the ball on his
chest after a defender jumped under the ball. As it dropped, the
Egyptian flung himself horizontal and volleyed the bouncing ball home
past a stunned keeper. Gore did better five minutes later in
blocking Defoe as he ran through and the shot deflected off him and went
wide. It was last ditch defending by Boro, with Mounir El Hamdaoui
being twice denied in the same incident by two blocks thrown in the way
of his shots. Mido then dinked a ball back to Andy Reid, who was
20 yards out and hit a screamer just a couple of feet past the far post.
It was just as well that Bunjevcevic was
alert to the danger at the other end, when Stewart came in at the far
post and although Fulop got a hand to the ball, it was Bunjy on the line
who hacked the ball away with ten minutes remaining. Unfortunately
for Stevenage, it only prompted Spurs to go for a third. Three
minutes later, Wayne Routledge burst into the Stevenage half and
spotting Defoe making an astute run, slipped a pass into his path and
with fast feet, Jermain manouevred the ball past the keeper and then
shot across the covering defender to make it 3-0.
Spurs held the ball well in the second
half and broke with pace, thanks to Routledge's speed on the
right. This was aided by Pedro Mendes' movement of the ball, both
short and long, which kept the team moving. Dawson and Bunjy
looked untroubled in defence, although Stevenage thrust forward with a
more direct approach in the second half. Fulop did what he had to
do well and Kelly and Edman both found time to get forward from their
full back positions. With Reid making ground on the left and using
his full range of passing, it left EL Hamdaoui to move forward and he
looked keen to break into the box and had several shots on goal,
although few got through to the keeper.
The last bit of action was a shot from
Webster from long-range that Fulop did well to stretch full length to
tip around the post.
In the end, it was a comfortable win for
Tottenham, with Stevenage playing a bit part role in proceedings.
They looked anything but a side who narrowly missed out on going up to
League Two via the play-offs, but then they might play the sort of
football needed to get to that position. The quality was lacking
and it was nothing more than an ice-breaker for Spurs before they fly
out to Korea for the Peace Cup.
There was nothing more for Tottenham to
do other than what they achieved. With the added pace on the
flanks and some quality defenders in the side, it looks like there might
be a bright season ahead. Clouds might temporarily blot the
horizon, but with the players already in place, it could be that Marti
Jol is set to take the team to the next level.
MEHSTG TOP MAN : - TOM HUDDLESTONE
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