| With three corners in the
first couple of minutes, things looked bad for Tottenham, but a spirited
defensive showing (much to Mourinho's disgust) left Spurs crossing back
to North London with a point.
The resilience in Tottenham's defending
this season ahs been notable as a starting point of Jacques Santini's
ground laying to make Tottenham difficult to beat. When teams come up
against Spurs and play for the point, it is difficult for us to break
them down at the moment, as the side has not fully developed it's
attacking instincts, but when we go to Stamford Bridge, it is naive in
the extreme for Mourinho to expect Spurs to come flying at them hoping
for a win. The need for points gained early in the season might
lay the foundation for a more outgoing style of play later on.
However, it did take Spurs a while to get
into the game. The three corners were dealt with although Robinson
came too far without getting to the ball for one of them, but the
defence got the ball away. Paul regained his composure in the
fourth minute when Gudjohnson played a pass inside King and the ex-Leeds
keeper raced from his line to get down at Drogba's feet to rob him of
the ball.
The game was a struggle for Tottenham to
hold onto the ball and too often they hit long high balls for Defoe to
challenge for and against four blue-shirted defenders, he stood little
chance. So the ball kept coming back to the Spurs penalty area and
the back four provided good protection for Robinson, although everyone
defended today from back to front.
Ledley King proved the master of
interception with a neat move on Gudjohnson before the Icelander had a
clear chance with a header from about 10 yards out, which he put
wide. From Chelsea's point of view, they seemed to try the
difficult final ball and found it being picked off by the Spurs players,
with Mendes doing a lot of good destroying work in midfield. When
Spurs did finally get away, they did not make the most of the
space. A neat one-two between Atouba and Keane put the Cameroon
midfielder away with a bit of time, but he failed to deliver the ball
across the box quickly enough and Ferreira cut it out for a corner.
Robinson once more saved easily when he
fell on a Gudjohnson volley on the half hour and then three minutes
later, he raced to block Drogba as he wriggled past Naybet on the
floor. This preserved the 0-0 score-line at the break and it was
nothing more than Spurs deserved, although they never looked like
breaking free from their defensive shackles.
The start of the second half was much
like the first, with Chelsea having the bulk of the possession and
Ledley King's first foul of the season earned him a booking from Mike
Riley for bringing down Drogba, who, for such a big bloke, drops like a
stone.
Then, out of nowhere, the chance of the
match came Tottenham's way. A neat working of the ball down the
Chelsea left found Redknapp laying it back for Davies to cross.
Simon's ball in went over Carvalho and with Keano behind him, the
Irishman powered a header goalwards, but it was too straight and Cech
managed to get a strong hand to it and it flew out off his glove.
A few feet either side and he would have given Spurs a most unlikely
lead. Another effort from Redknapp from a half-cleared corner on
66 minutes had Cech scrambling across his goal to keep the ball out near
the post.
The corners continued to pile up for
Chelsea, but apart from a flicked header by Terry across the face of
goal, there was little threat. The biggest problem was a 79th
minute in-swinging free-kick which Robinson palmed out with Gudjohnson
flying across his line of vision. Paul watched the ball well and
saved with a bit of luck taking the ball out for another corner.
He denied Drogba racing through by punching the ball out and the
luck that he earned was evident when another slice came
Tottenham's way five minutes later. Ledley King's defensive header
fell to Gudjohnson and his volley bounced back into play off the
goalpost.
As the Chelsea side was packed with
strikers towards the end, Mourinho strove for a winner, the long ball to
Drogba became the order of the day. One bounced kindly for
him in the box and as he tried to get around King, the Spurs defender
got a kind bounce too as it came off his heel and then out for a
corner. Chelsea fans and players cried for handball, but it was
nowhere near his hand. Into the final couple of minutes of injury
time, Drogba again fell over a blade of grass as he ran onto a log
through ball, backed into Pamarot and then took the bump he got and
turned it into a fully fledged slump. He looked desperately at the
ref as Pamarot roared his disapproval in the big golden booted striker's
face. The attitude of the new French Spurs full-back epitomised
the way the defence played today. At all costs, but all within the
laws.
The result was one that Jacques
wanted. It proved that you don't have to spend millions to be
effective and that you can utilise the resources at your disposal to
their maximum effect. It wasn't pretty, but to be realistic, to
get Spurs to where we want them to be within a reasonable time period,
it will not be possible to do it in a flamboyant fashion
MEHSTG TOP MAN : - LEDLEY KING
|
Chelsea
(Away)
