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Playing against ten men is always hard for Tottenham and they don't
usually do well with ten either, but against Bolton to say they
controlled the game and should have won by more than the 4-1 score-line
they ended up with, despite being a man down for the best part of 55
minutes. Robbie Keane's dismissal
after handling on the goal-line when a close range scrambled effort
struck him on the chest and then was knocked out by his hand came after
he had played a significant part in putting Spurs 3-0 up within 22
minutes.
Tottenham had started confidently, as you
might expect after beating Fulham and Everton away from home. With
the passing crisp and the movement intelligent, Bolton had struggled
even before Keane put Tottenham ahead. Robinson launched a
free-kick forward and Berbatov knocked over Faye, with everyone
expecting a free-kick for the visitors, but the play went on and the
Bulgarian flicked it to Keane outside him on the left and the striker
took his shot early, firing towards the near post. It was the
harder shot, but the ball struck the upright and cannoned in off it via
the inside of the net on the other side of the goal. Jaaskelainen
should have done better, but the ferocity of the shot probably surprised
him and he had more of that to come later in the game.
Within a couple of minutes, Bolton might
have been level, but when Diouf crossed fro Stelios to have a free
header from a couple of yards out, he headed down, but straight at
Robinson, how reacted to push the ball out, but Spurs went up the other
end to score again, with Berbatov's low cross diverted into his own net
by the hapless Meite, although he was saved by a linesman's flag for
offside.
It didn't hold Tottenham up for long, as
Berbatov challenged Faye and as the ball dropped, he dragged it away
from the fallen defender and fed Keane, who had Lennon on his left, but
hit an early shot with the outside of his foot, forcing a save from
Jaaskelainen. However, he could only knock it down in front of him
and Jermaine Jenas ran in to knock the ball in with his knee to make it
2-0.
Spurs had taken the initiative and closed
down Bolton well, winning the ball regularly. With a good ball out
to Lennon on the left, he ran inside and played the ball across to
Chimbonda on the right wing. A neat one-two with Tainio saw the
right back maraud down the line and pull the ball back into the six yard
box, where Robbie got free at the near post and flicked the ball past an
unguarded keeper, with Berbatov waiting behind if there had been a miss
by Keane.
It was a flowing move with neat passing
and a great finish that gave Tottenham a three goal lead and still just
under 70 minutes left !! Berba laid a long pass from Zokora back
into Keane's path and his first time shot flew past the left hand post
by a yard. However, Keane's next interaction saw him off with a
red card for the first time in his career. Lee had knocked a
header over his own bar as Diouf came in and from the corner, the ball
was helped off the line by Keane and Speed stepped up to convert the
penalty to give Bolton a glimpse of hope, as they looked at the next two
thirds of the game against ten men.
While Spurs looked to reach the half-time
interval without any further goals against, they also pushed forward
with Berbatov laying the ball into Tainio's path and he shimmied past
one player and hit a shot that caught Campo that went off for a corner.
At the break, we all thought that Spurs
needed to attack Bolton and not sit back and invite them onto our
defence. Starting the half, it looked like Tottenham would defend
their past third, with the aim to break when they could. The
reality was better than that, as Spurs should really have racked up
another four goals at least in the second half in which Bolton made
Robinson save only twice.
In this half the whole Tottenham team
played well, but Berbatov was truly outstanding. His forced an
early save when he took the ball down skilfully and struck a 25 yard
shot that dipped just in front of Jaaskelainen, who pushed it aside,
then he rose above Meite to power Jenas' free-kick just over the bar.
The Tottenham defence stood firm.
Rocha did well in the air and Dawson was everywhere, while Chimbonda
stemmed anything that came down our right and Lee was dogged in defence
and did well to get forward up the line too. Bolton's physical
approach saw them earn four yellow cards, when it could easily have been
eight or more and I was left to mull over which was more of a mystery
... how Speed got away with two bad fouls, Hunt three and Nolan
constantly mouthing off at the match officials or how Graham Poll is on
any official's list anywhere. Surely Hunt's two footed lunge at
Zokora was worthy of red on it's own. But Poll decided not.
Still Anelka made Robbo grab a header and
to dive full length to push away a low shot in the Amazing Sulk's only
contributions to the game, while Vaz Te had two headers when he came on;
one flicked over and the other headed back across goal, but it floated
wide by a yard. When Spurs broke they could have finished Bolton
off, with Zokora and Malbranque both choosing the wrong option of pass
when we had the visitors outnumbered at the back.
Berbatov chased down a long ball, flicked
it over Campo's head tight on the dead ball line, ran round him to get
it and laid it back for Jenas to thump first time and Jaaskelainen saved
it with his chest and when it bounced out to Steed, he could not get
full force on his shot and the keeper did well to make a follow-up save
and push the ball around the post. Malbranque was also
denied when Campo got a touch on his shot to deflect it over the top
However, it was all academic at the end
when Jenas got the ball on the edge of our box, fed Berbatov, who picked
out Malbranque down the line. He held onto the ball long enough
for Lennon to outpace Hunt into the six yard box and he hit Steed's low
cross past the keeper, although he got a hand to the ball.
The 4-1 score-line was not unfair to
Bolton. They were niggly, sluggish and looked unable to string a
decent move together. Their continual harassment of the match
officials was deplorable and their cynical fouling was not properly
punished by the referee in my opinion.
I thought the team might tire in the
second half, but they kept going and they pushed Bolton back in the
style that showed we are better going forward and going at teams than
sitting back and trying to defend too deep. If they can play like
this in most of the remaining games, then a UEFA place form a league
finish is not out of the question, but consistency will be the key.
We will be without Robbie for the next
game, but hopefully, that will give Defoe the opportunity to take up
where he left off in the scoring stakes. All in all, a grand day
out.
GARY SAMPSON |
Bolton
Wanderers
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