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From the worst start in the club's history last season to the best in
nearly 50 years, the three consecutive wins have got the media whipped
up into a frenzy claiming that Tottenham will be among the top four come
the end of the season. However, this 2-1 win after falling a goal
behind to West Ham United signals the arrival of a new Spurs.
A team who are more resilient and willing to battle back, even away from
home.
But not let us get too carried away, as
the results achieved so far are only equal to those of last season's
corresponding matches.
In what was a very open and attack minded
London derby, it was Tottenham's attacking intent which triumphed over
the caution of West Ham, who defended in numbers once they had scored
and were made to pay the price.
Spurs started confidently, as they should
have done after two wins out of two, with Keane and Modric have efforts
blocked and across the goalmouth respectively. Aaron Lennon showed
good pace against Jonathan Spector, which was something that became
something of a pattern throughout the game. As is what is rapidly
becoming a Spurs trademark, with a tenth minute move when Cudicini
started a speedy counter-attack, throwing out to BAE, then moving the
ball onto Modric and the Croatian midfielder darted inside to hit a shot
that Faubert had to make a block to stop doing more damage.
The return of Mark Clattenburg was marked
in his inimitable style, getting in the way of the ball travelling to a
Spurs player at the back of the box when it might have been a good
chance for Tottenham to create something.
In the early stages, the closest the
Irons got was to use Carlton Cole as a battering ram to bundle Carlo
Cudicini into the net with no regard to the laws of the game, resulting
in a free-kick to Spurs. But the use of over-lapping full backs
for Spurs this season has also lead to more defensive worries for
opposition sides as Benoit Assou-Ekotto raided up the left, but could
not quite find the right final ball, while back in his rightful
position, he was muscled off the ball by Carlton Cole, who shot from
outside the box, it was too high. West Ham's first meaningful
effort on target came after 18 minutes, when Scott Parker hit a low shot
from 25 yards out, which had Cudicini scrambling to save at his left
hand post.
The Tottenham keeper was in action again,
halfway through the first half, as a through ball from Spector released
Cole, who beat Carlo to the ball, but his shot caught the goalie's leg
and the ball was kicked away. Then it was Rob Green's turn to
save, this time Huddlestone's shot caused the England keeper to plunge
to his left as Hud hit a shot from the right hand side from 25 yards
out. When the next attack happened at the Spurs end, Sebastien
Bassong blocked Carlton Cole's shot and Jiminez hit the rebound over the
bar.
A miscued corner routine in the 27th
minute almost worked for Tottenham, as Modric's pull back to Huddlestone
on the edge of the box was mis-hit and went straight to Robbie Keane
inside the box, but the linesman had spotted he was offside. Then
Spurs had an even better chance as Bassong prodded a shot wide after
Modric's corner was returned in by BAE. Closer to a goal Tottenham
couldn't have got when Ledley King almost repeated his feat of last
season with a goal at Upton Park, but his flicked header from Modric's
free-kick took the ball over Green, but bounced back off the crossbar on
the half hour.
Spurs were pressing hard in this period
of the game and Modric took a curling shot that went just wide after
being set up by Keane, who foxed Collison, then Hud took the ball off
Noble before feeding it through to Luka, who brought another save out of
Green at his near post. The movement and closing down was giving
West Ham real problems and Bassong lost his marker at the far post from
Tom's free-kick and couldn't wrap his neck around it to get it on
target.
West Ham hit back, with a route one
derived chance, as Cole held up Green's long kick and Collison burst
through into the area to try and get onto the England striker's pass,
but when he thought he would be about to give the Irons the lead, King
produced a fine sliding tackle to block out his shot. They should
have gone ahead, with Stanislas getting around Charlie Corluka a bit
easily on the West Ham left, then putting the ball across the six yard
box where Carlton Cole was back on his heels and did not read it,
otherwise he would have had the simple task of tapping in the ball to
make it 1-0 as the game moved into first half injury time, with
Assou-Ekotto off the pitch at the time.
The half-time interval only served to
delay West Ham taking that lead. Having had the bulk of possession
and the larger proportion of chances, it will be a little surprising
that they somehow fell behind, but it was a stunning goal that gave the
home team the lead. Four minutes in and a long kick by Green was
taken by Cole, who teed the ball up for himself to hit a powerfully hit
volley past a shell-shocked Cudicini. It was one of those goals
like Adebayour's at the Lane the other year. Either they become a
goal of the month contender or end up hitting row Z. Whatever, it
put Spurs behind for the first time this season.
But then, many people have been
clamouring for Cole to partner Spurs up front And their will be
more calls for that after Defoe was set up by Cole for the equaliser
just six minutes later. knocking a pass up to him back towards the
centre of his defence, he was looking for one of his own players, but
only ended up picking out Defoe. What came next was only to be
expected, as Jermain took the ball on a pace and blasted the ball past
Green, as he had done last Wednesday.
Spurs had moved to push things forward
and Modric found himself on the end of Lennon's cross after he ghosted
past Spector once more. When Jiminez went into the Spurs box,
Assou-Ekotto challenged and the Chilean went down wanting a penalty.
But he didn't get one. But then Spurs had been balanced out by two
claims in the first half with a Collins handball and a tug by Spector on
King as he went for a header. Straight after those Irons fans
behind the Spurs goal were wanting another one as a shot hit Ledley King
in the chest.
Carlo Cudicini had to plunge down to his
right in the 70th minute to deny Jimenez heading Noble's cross in at the
far post, but it was Cole's shot two minutes later that came close with
it fizzing past the post. Upson got in the ay of two surges
towards the West Ham goal, before the decisive moment that won the game
came. Right in front of the Spurs fans, Corluka tried to slip a
pass up the right wing inside Spector. There wasn't enough pace on
the ball and the American defender got there first, but slipped and
Lennon's speed took him in front of him, allowing him to gather the ball
and curl it past Green into the far corner of the goal. It was a
fine finish from the little winger and gave Spurs a deserved lead for
their attacking display away from home.
Harry countered any possible response by
putting Crouch on for Keane to give them an out ball, while West Ham
replaced the heavy tackling Parker with Hines. This made little
impact on Tottenham's forward moves, as Lennon pulled a low cross behind
both Defoe and Crouch; one of whom should have been a bit behind the
other. Then Defoe saw a small gap as he latched onto a touch back
to him and hit a shot that Green parried away and was quick up again to
deny Crouch who go there looking for a goal off the rebound.
In between Stanislas fired over the bar
when in the penalty area, then afterwards, Collison made a run into the
box and was denied by a good low stop by Cudicini. As the heat
took it's toll on the players, the game fizzled out, except the heat
ratcheted up a few degrees when Defoe and Faubert clashed, with the
Frenchman scything the striker down, but Clattenburg only produced a
yellow card, when perhaps he should have seen red.
So a third successive win, hard earned,
but down by believing in the way the team were playing and by
out-playing West Ham, despite the home team having some chances
themselves. This will happen, as the defence will sometimes be
left exposed.
Winning games when things are in the
balance might indicate that the team are making progress in the areas
where they need to. The way this result went, Spurs will be very
happy, with tougher games coming up in the next few weeks and nine
points out nine is a start not too many Tottenham fans might have seen
in their years following the club.
the polyphant |
West
Ham United
(Away)
