A show of hands then, for all you honest souls who just a couple of weeks ago had descended into a panicked frenzy, charging around wailing prognostications of doom before leaping headfirst through the nearest window, as our lot lost the opening two games with all the gloomy emphasis of gravitationally-obsessed lead balloon.No real need to panic was there? Two shakes of a lamb’s tail – and three wholesome wins – later we find ourselves in the top six, and neatly perched like an eleven-man Mo Farah, on the shoulder of the leading lot, ready to burst for the line with bulging-eyed determination as appropriate. Moreover, unlike Master Farah, we have the advantage of a game in hand at home to Everton. All of which is infinitely better than a slap in the face with a wet fish, so someone dish out gold stars to our heroes, and pronto for their fine efforts of the last couple of weeks.
Nine-One! Nine-One!
Sheer Bloody-Minded Ruthlessness: Not Really Our Forte
Make no mistake, our keep-ball is at times so good I want to frame it and hang it on the wall of my living room, but when the cushion is only one goal I think the collective pulse-rates of north London would be helped if our heroes put their heads down, scored the goals of which they’re capable and put the game beyond reach. Still, all’s well that ends well (or begins well, as it transpired yesterday).
‘Arry’s Opportunity to Dabble in Early 20th Century French Sculpture
Young Walker deserves some extra pocket money, for his forward forays are beginning to generate the same ripple of excitement as those of Lennon, and while his defending is not exactly Ledley-esque he certainly lacks not in the commitment column.
On the debit side however, there was a reminder from BAE of his capacity to slip so effortlessly from laid-back to horizontal that he forgets his raison d’etre and starts inviting pressure upon the Tottenham goal rather than the opposite.
L’Arse At Home. Bring It On
Still, he is an improved performer, and these are improved performances. They could be improved further – that clinical, ruthless edge could be added for a start – but Wolves away, Liverpool at home and Wigan away have been taken care of despite being eminently loseable one and all. Even with the usual glut of injuries, our starting eleven now oozes quality in every position, a situation that will only be enhanced by the returns of Defoe, Lennon, Hudd and Daws. It is all dreadfully exciting stuff – and lip-smackingly enough, l’Arse at home are next up…
7 replies on “Wigan 1-2 Spurs: Keep-Ball and Ruthlessness”
BAE came across & saved a beat-Walker’s bacon once, he sent a couple of scintillating through balls to Bale, and apparently drove up on his own to play, even though he was probably still under the weather. He’s been our most consistent defender over the last year, and his giveaway was followed by King not heading clear, Kaboul not getting close enough to scorer and Parker running right by him without getting in a touch or tackle. With only Manu, we were a little light uptop. Manu looks more comfortable with a striker to play alongside him, and he’s not going to get that with VDV going back deep. All the new boys (Friedel, Parker, Manu — and Walker in a sense) are melding in, perhaps a Monet or Matisse in the long term making. Now bring on L’Arse and keep the ball rolling!
I know what you mean about Bale. Of course he doesn’t actually get right backs sent off, they send themselves off because when he ‘s on form he’s virtually unstoppable. The three new signings are proving to be exellent and just for once in a long long time I’m not nervous about playing the Scum.
I thought Harry got it wrong saying he should have hoofed it.
Because if he over complicated yesterday then he has over complicated in every single game I have seen him play. The only difference was yesterday it did not come off. Still the case that Monsieur Benoît est très cool.
Last yr these corresponding matches yielded us 5 points; this year we got 9. which makes losing to man city palatable. what we need is to ensure the likes of QPR and Swansea are effectively killed off, home and away. Before we talk about beating the big guns, it will work best to avoid banana skins. It’s great two of these skins – Wolves and Wigan – have been swept aside. More of these, please.
COYS
My heart nearly packed in when we only scored 2 goals because in the North West that is not enough to be comfortable and i had too leave the house with my Yorkie Totte yes its named after Tottenham. The reason i could nto listen to the game was i knew wigan would come out pumped up and full of energy there is something magical about the North West dressing rooms a 2-0 deficit does to teams.. What i never expected was Ekotto to help them get back in the game. I will say in his defense if Freidel had bean on his line and not way out on his six yard line he could have saved the shot he left a gaping hole behind him i cant understand why keepers wander so faroff there line this means the shot is travelling faster and you have less reaction time to get down and save the goal is eight feet wide if you are on the line. The other major worry is Harry saying this is near his best team the reason i say this Van scored and that was it he left Ady isolated like he did to Crouch and when Bale broke away only Modric was in the box, With Defoe alongside we would have scored more goals and put the game out of Wigans energized response. This midfield on paper Modric Sandro Van Parker Bale is exciting but on the pitch we spent too much time passing to each other and allowing Wigan too press the ball in our area in the first half we broke quickly and threatened to score it was only when a player got sent off we gained our superiority, Arsenal will be a different prosbect and we must attack with speed i cat wait for Hudds Defoe if he was ill and not dropped and Lennon to play with Ady because 2-1 will become 4-0 or more if we stay with 4411 i will bet any money we will draw or lose more games like the Wigan one if we don’t stop passing when we are not at least a few goals ahead and and a few mins left its a fact our team creates more and scores more when Hudds passing is in our team and Lennons speed and Defoes finishing Hary must use all our midfield and keep them sharp and Happy and dont change what worked in attack and defence Ady Defoe. having said this i feel Grrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaattttttt being a SSSSSPPPPPPUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRSSSSSSUPPORTER
Great as ever, AANP.
Things we learned:
1) BAE was ill, right – so lay off (everyone). It’s all well and good Harry saying hoof it out, but we shouldn’t be that team. It just invites pressure, and we should be playing out from the back and building attack from defence.
2) Walker still gets done – He was got past a few times in the game – Corluka is still a far better defender. Getting forward, great, though.
3) Modric is wasted out wide. He wants to come in, he got trapped on the line a few times. If we have full backs rushing up the pitch, we need to play narrower in midfield and use that passing.
4) The close passing is great, but doesn’t get us anywhere. Don’t get me wrong, I love the way VDV, Modric, Sandro, Parker, et al can string together 50 passes, but they end up a few metres away from each other, no-one up the pitch, and it’s not very threatening.
5) We’re missing chances that will cost us if it continues. You know it.
If we’re 3 pts up (?) on corresponding fixtures last season, cause for optimism, but I’ll be a lot happier when we’ve got another striker for when Ade gets injured. With L’Arse and Newcastle upcoming, we just might be in that 4th spot before too long.