Gomes (Mullens)
Hutton(Shiuy) Dawson(Bear) Gallas(Ikes) Ekotto(Garrow)
Lennon(Tubby) Palacios(Howard) Sandro(D.Cheung) Pienaar(Hasslehof)
Crouch(Sam) Defoe(Kai)
Bench: Corluka(Ketts) Woodgate(Sebs)
Finishing in fourth spot to qualify for the Champions League for the very first time in the club’s history, vying for another top four finish in the current season and excelling in their virgin appearance in the Champions League these are supposedly extremely exciting times for the club. The aforementioned is not the prestigious club Goodfellas FC, but Tottenham Hotspurs. Having just come away from San Siro with a 1-0 advantage, Spurs travelled to Bloomfield Road to consolidate their top four ambitions.
The fans could be forgiven for thinking this to be just another formality, against Blackpool, for a side that has grown from strength to strength in recent years, but then again they all do possess tinted glasses of heavily shaded rose. Since the January transfer window the squad has been severely depleted as witnessed by the lack of numbers on the bench. Exactly a week ago the club lost two of their most influential players in Robbie Keane (Chris) and Luka Modric (Cedric). Modric was taken off immediately after falling awkwardly on this shoulder and the scans revealed he had suffered a dislocated shoulder and will be out possibly for the better part of 2 months. Keano as affectionately known by the squad, played his last game for the club before his imminent transfer. The departure of Keane to LA Galaxy was a most bizarre turn of events involving what the chairman described as ‘a bet gone wrong involving beer pong and some sort of boyband sing song contest!’ Other notable depletions to the squad included Younes Kaboul (Flo) who was taking care of his new born, Danny Rose (Belgium) who was out injured with what he described as a ‘slight twitch on his upper groin region’, David Bentley (Shaka) having been offloaded to NY Red Bulls, Pascal Chimbonda (Doug) who decided to buy out his contract for his move to Singapore, Niko Kranjar (Koh) who is currently taking a sabbatical to study for an MBA and Tom Huddlestone (Cresser) was apparently stuck in HK after having flown there to hold talks with Goodfellas FC.
The game started as a very competitive stalemate as neither sides were able to create anything to trouble either defenses. Both keepers had only the most routine goal kicks to carry out for the most part, but having said that Spurs were able to make full use of Crouch’s presence up top and win the majority of balls coming from Gomes. The focal point of Spurs forward movement all originated from either a flick or hold from Crouch. With the center of the pitch at Bloomfield being pretty much unplayable all play was spread wide to try and utilise what little grass was to be found on the wings. Spurs were unable to supply much to Defoe or Crouch as neither wing were able to provide any sort of quality into the box as new boy Pienaar has yet to fully integrate and Lennon is obviously lacking any sort of form from his long absence. Spurs had occasional good interlinking play only to fail to provide any goal scoring opportunities. On two occasions however, Lennon found himself unmarked in the box. The first was a loose ball scuffed wide and the other failing to control a cross for a clear one on one. Blackpool relied heavily on direct balls coming from their own half to be chased down by their forwards which amounted to not more than a few beads of sweat for the Spurs defense. Gallas and Dawson were more than happy to deal with such triviality whilst Hutton and Ekotto were equally on the case bringing the ball forward. Sandro and Palacios worked tirelessly in the middle to ensure nothing came through the middle and spread play quickly out wide when going forward. First half came and went, 0-0.
With the evident lack of creativity up front, Spurs opted to replace Pienaar with long term absentee Woodgate. Playing Woodgate in an unfamiliar left back position then allowed Ekotto to be moved onto the left wing. The substitution seemed ideal as Spurs edged forward with more fluidity and consistency. This eventually led to a chance for Palacios who tried to curl a left footer into the top corner just inside the box. The keeper managed to recover from out of position to palm it out for a corner. Blackpool had their own surges down both wings and made the most out of substitute Woodgate and getting multiple fouls off the the defender. The pivotal play came when Ekotto managed to avoid the attentions of a few markers to make his way into the box to drive a cross into the six yard box which found Defoe pouncing onto it only for the shot to find the keeper. With the ensuing goal mouth scramble the ball deflected back outside the box for a Blackpool player to play a long ball to their left winger. Taking full advantage of the out of position Hutton the winger sped on down the left side into the box. Hutton having recovered the lost ground then had a moment of true Scottish flair and bundled down the winger, who was waiting for the slightest waft of wind to blow him down onto the ground. Penalty. Gomes known for his shot stopping abilities managed to get a hand to the penalty only to see it finish in the back of the net. 1-0 Blackpool. You could sense that the Spurs team had taken a real sucker punch from that sequence of play. With a proverbial mountain to climb Corluka was brought on to replace Hutton. Blackpool pushed further forward in search for a second and was determined. A needless foul conceded by Woodgate about 45yards out on the right set up a free kick which was delivered beautifully and met by an unmarked Blackpool player who finished with aplomb! 2-0 Blackpool. As Blackpool celebrated Palacios and Corluka were still debating why there were two players unmarked for the set piece. Spanish and Croatian clearly doesn’t have too much in common. Worryingly the energy levels of both Palacios and Sandro were visibly low allowing the Blackpool midfield even more time as they grew in stature. Crouch and Defoe continued to work hard to no avail. Eventually Pienaar came back on for Lennon who clearly is lacking match fitness and sharpness. Bizarre really how Pienaar was allowed back on the pitch, as usual the high standards of refereeing did not pick up on that! Slowly the game drifted away from Spurs and not even a point from a relegation threatened Blackpool.
A most difficult result to swallow considering the game was so finely balanced. Most bitter for a team which has been on the up. However, was it such a surprise that Spurs lacked the discipline, concentration and quality considering the hammering the squad has taken due to all the losses of important personnel? Hard times to come for Spurs? No doubt, but for all that witnessed the efforts put in by every player on the day, you would put your money on them pulling through as a team. Bring on Barcelona!
