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Spurs 2 - 1 City
- I didn't see the game but I hear it was mixed: a terrible first half, a better second half and chances to win it. If you did see it, let us know how it was. Did anyone play well?
- The big news is this: no seventh place, no Europa League - no eighth place even. The best we can do is ninth, but for that we need West Ham not to beat Middlesbrough on final day, which is quite unlikely. So it's almost certainly tenth place, and at most fifty points; a regression from last season. Hughes could well have an uncomfortable time when Khaldoon al-Mubarak comes to City for the Bolton game.
- If there's good news, then it's Valeri Bozhinov's first senior goal for City. Almost two years after Eriksson bought him, and after two terrible injuries, he's finally scored a competitive goal. This is a great testament to his character for bouncing back twice. Let's hope he can have a good season and fulfill his promise next season.
- I hope our away form's better next season.
6 comments:
Watched via stream and 1st half was very poor. Good goal by Boj though so hope he keeps kit for next season.
Some confusion as to why Elano was subbed 30 mins in. Eye injury was mentioned but did he ask to come off or did Hughes bring him off. Any clarification appreciated.
to neil, within the first 10mins i was watching elano and he didnt seem to have much interest or hunger for the match, not sure what made me think this, he just looked like he didnt want to be there, as soon as we started to get over run in the early stages i just thought he didnt look interested and for some reason thought that i wouldnt be surprised if he asked to come off early on....i remember a few times under sven when he would ask to come off......then 10mins later he comes off. i didnt see if he asked...but it wouldnt surprise me
From a Spurs perspective:
Spurs controlled the first half, City the second. City's midfield were much better than Spurs' (positioning, physicality, intelligence), but Spurs' defence were better than City's. Having said that, City could have easily got more than 1 goal. Benjani looks a class below Bojinov. Ireland was your best player, Modric ours. A combination of Petrov lacking match practice, Zab playing out of position, and Caicedo not getting much joy, Ireland looked frustrated with his team-mates - he missed Robinho.
Thought de Jong and Kompany were too deep and could have controlled the game more had they applied more pressure to people like Huddlestone and Keane. Huddlestone is only good when given space and time, and he was given just that at times.
Dunne needs to go for you to progress as well I'm afraid.
But I thought Onouha was good today.
Caicedo and Benjani are effing useless.
Interesting comments from Tom - I would agree 100% with everything! Dunne is quite simply appalling and should be cast on the scrap heap ASAP.
I agree on Huddlestone, don't understand why Vinny and de Jong weren't pressuring him more. But Modric is some player, he really is.
In the end the difference was (in my opinion) a poor decision, though Richards really does expose himself to these situations, and Defoe. City only had a good forward on for 30ish minutes - Spurs had one for the whole 90.
Cheers Philip - I think Spurs and City both have a core of players which can challenge the top 4 (i know talk of breaking the top 4 is tedious, but it's ultimately everyone's big aim).
Spurs - Gomes, King, Woodgate, Corluka, Modric, Palacios, Lennon, Defoe.
Possibly: Hutton, BAE, Bale, Jenas, Keane.
City (although you'll all know better than me) - Given, Richards, Bridge, Zabaleta, de Jong, Kompany, Ireland, Robinho
Possibly - Onouha, Elano, Petrov, Bellamy, Bojinov, Sturridge
(sorry if I've made a glaring error)
But we both need to fill some holes. The Blackburn away loss for Spurs summed it up for me. The quality was there to be winning, but a top 4 team would have seen the game out. We didn't. That extra bit of maturity, togetherness and composure in the tricky situations is all you need, and it takes one hell of a manager to get that out of players. Nearly anyone can assemble a good squad with money. But only very good managers can bring the best out of a team while adding that extra bit to get results as I mentioned above.
Moyes and Hodgson are the only managers (possibly Pulis) to have got their squad playing to their full potential throughout this season - and who knows, with Yakubu and Arteta fit for the second half of the season, they might have had a crack at the top 4.
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