[Archived] Spurs 3 - 2 Rovers

[Yorick]

i dont want to sound like a broken record, but sav. was awful today. his desire cant be questioned, but his ability can.

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Sky Sports think differently.

http://home.skysports.com/matchratings.asp...0&clid=5&cpid=8

[Yorick]

i was in shock after motd2 it gave the possession as 55% spurs

388666[/snapback]

I can only assume that they have got the wrong way round! The early press reports in the Guardian and Times come down heavily on the side of the rovers and the 'luck' that Spurs enjoyed.

BBC2 didn't think fit to show the rovers 2nd half penalty claim either despite highlighting the 3 other handball incidents.

All is not yet lost though as Tottenham have just 4 home games from their 10 remaining fixtures.

[RevidgeBlue]

Mixed feelings, from the half hour mark until we scored our second we've completely dominated the game and probably not played better all season, yet as jim says playing well and losing is no good to anyone.

Ultimately we've defended certain situations very poorly today and it's cost us. We also started slowly, Spurs were much sharper in the opening 15 minutes.

The first goal whilst good play by Keane saw indifferent defending by 2 Rovers players. Prior to that we were the victim of an appalling decision by the linesman, Mido miscontrolled the ball and it went out for a Rovers throw, Todd the covering defender, was nowhere near the ball. The linesman inexplicably gave Spuds the throw but from that position there was no way Keane should have been allowed to score.

For the second goal Emerton seemed to handle on the corner of the penalty area and without the benefit of replays, if deemed deliberate, it seemed as though it should have been a penalty straight up.

The linesman bottled it and it looked as though we had earned a reprieve. Unfortunately though from the resultant free kick Friedel committed the keeper's cardinal sin of parrying the ball back into the six yard box instead of pushing it wide. No defenders were tracking back with Keane either and it was unfortunate the referee didn't spot the handball. To be fair no-one else round me did either until we saw the replays.

At 2-0 down it looked to be game over but we retaliated quickly with a superb goal out of the blue. Superb run and cross from Bellamy, equally good finish from Pongolle. Up to that point the Frenchman had been having a bit of a mare, and was guilty of a shocking miss from two yards out a few minutes previously. After the goal however he looked a completely different player and showed enough in partnership with Bellamy to suggest he could become a real asset.

We had dominated possession from the half hour mark onwards and the second half continued in much the same vein. I thought Reid unusually had a first half in which he could do little right, he was another player transformed in the second half and was excellent.

The equaliser was well deserved and the roles were reversed from the first, excellent run and cross from Pongolle, super finish from Bellamy. At that stage it looked as if there would be only one team going on to win it, but we were undone by more poor defending. Gray got caught out initially but again we didn't defend the situation well as a team. After that deep down you suspected there wasn't going to be a sting in the tail for a third time.

So we'll probably play a lot worse than that and win several times before the end of the season but realistically Champions League hopes would seem to be over.

Can't believe anyone thought Emerton played well. He was awful but then again no different to what he's been for most of the last 3 seasons. I didn't think Bentley did quite as well as some people are suggesting either. Excellent in small flashes but not involved enough most of the time. Savage had another really good game, Gray was nowhere near as bad as people are suggesting.

The main plus arising out of today was the potential partnership developing between Bellamy and Pongolle. And if we play as well as that for the remainder of the season we should be able to clinch a UEFA spot.

[philipl]

I travelled down to London today, and boy was it worth it!

It was a terrific peformance, how many times will a team go away from home to the 4th place team in the league and quite frankly dominate. We had the better chances and Robinson had to make more saves than Brad. Obviously the ref didnt help, the 1st 2 goals shouldnt have counted and we shuda had a pen, but i guess sh!t happens sometimes.

I cant work out certain posters haveing a go at individual players. Of course, there were stand out peformers but for anyone to say that Gray was crap, or Emerton useless, or Savage rubbish doesnt have a clue about footie and was obv nowhere nr WHL.Bellamy and Pongolle worked well up front together and the midfield was creative but combative at the same time. They ran their socks off and it was a shame a lapse in concentration let them in for a third time. No faults to Gray, you cant help it if your physically not fast enough to catch the guy up, Lennon would outrun Maurice Green ffs!

Funnyly enough this has made me more confident of achieving a champs league place. Not saying we have it nailed on, but look at the fixture list, we gota chance for sure. Plenty of home games, still have to travel to Pompey, Blues, Sunderland and Charlton all very winnable games. 

Finally im very proud to be a Rover. Performances like these are good in the long run, cos it shows we have the capability to do it. Good support from our lot also, id say 1,200 on a sun tv kick off when its £31 a ticket was a reasonable effort. Keep the faith! 

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100% agree with that post.

Rev, Nelsen was behind Mido for the throw in and also for the handball incident for the second. It WAS in the area. Sky coverage was indecisive- no angle caught the handball itself (unlike Keane's goal) and it looked to me that the ball was flicked up and ricocheted off the Spuds player onto Nelsen.

As for the first, Keane was just brilliant and both Sav and Todd got beaten by his flicks in the penalty area- penalty and a sending off if either had dived in.

[Presty On Tour]

guted, so guted!!!!

we were immense, so awsome in the 2nd half.

i don't make excuses but we were by miles the better side on sunday just so guted we didn't take anything out of the game as we were superb

[Montfort]

After the match I was really dissapointed that we had not won for about 5 hours.

This morning, I can recognise that any team that can play as well as Blackburn did yesterday will win more matches that they loose.

It was great to hear Andy Grey on Sky enthuse about Rovers.

(Some of the contributors to this site are far too negative about certain players)

[AggyBlue]

yet as jim says playing well and losing is no good to anyone.

388695[/snapback]

That performance, even though we ended pointless, is good for everyones confidence. To totally outplay a team in fourth spot on their own patch, scoring two in the process shows just how good the team is playing at the moment.

Every man and his dog knows spuds were very lucky with dodgy decisions, hell, even my missus could tell they were fortunate.

Can't wait for the next game, keep the momentum going, even build on it.

[Radagast]

I was in disbelief when Spurs scored their third. Everything was in slow motion (like Michael Gray) from the moment Lennon got the ball and started charging down the flank. The second I realised Gray was scunnered for pace I just knew it was a certain goal. Unreal stuff after such a dominant display since conceding the second.

Its a cruel, cruel game, but you do make your own luck to an extent. Their first two goals wouldn't have stood but for bad/unfortunate officiating, but niether mistake would have mattered if the defenders and keeper had done their jobs properly. Very unfortunate, but as Tango says "An absolutely superb display by Rovers, and a ruthless one by Spurs - probably the reason they'll make the Champions League ahead of us."

[philipl]

All credit to Martin Jol. This is how he is quoted in the Daily Mail:

Tottenham boss Martin Jol agreed that Blackburn, who trail the north London club by one place and six points in the Premiership, deserved to win and revealed his admiration for the impact made by Bellamy.

"Blackburn are a marvellous team. They beat Manchester United twice and Arsenal once. We know they are a great team with great balance," he said.

"But they still have 43 points and we have 49, so what can I say? I understand their disappointment.

"I could saw we were very lucky with the handball from Paul Stalteri. But it's always the same in football. Bellamy caught us at a bad moment just before half-time which is always a bad time to concede.

"Bellamy is one of the top three strikers in the country at running the channels. He's lively and a fantastic player.

"They took the game to us and played better than we did. But we have players like Robbie Keane and Jermain Defoe and that's why we've been getting lots of points."

The Times report is very good and very fair.

Edited March 6, 2006 by philipl

[dave birch]

(Some of the contributors to this site are far too negative about certain players)

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Montfort, if you're a reader of these pages, you'll realise that posters have favourites, and those they love to hate.

The favourites get the good mentions, because the posters favour the good bit they do, and ignore the crap bits they do. It's the other way around with those they love to hate.

Some of the posters actually know a bit about football, others actually play the game, the rest think they know something. None of them work in the game (with a couple of exceptions)

To summarise, Montfort, read 100%, ignore 90% and take 50% of what's left, and you might be close to getting something positive out of what's posted.

[FourLaneBlue]

Bit disappointed to see Keane pointed to his head after the second goal went on. Didn't expect him to own up to or anything but there was no need to keep on the charade after the goal had been given.

[thenodrog]

Not being churlish but I have never seen anything from Jenas to ever suggest that he is England squad material. Defoe yes, King yes, Robinson yes, whilst the juries out on Carrick (only because there are so few around that play his position.) But Jenas!? Reminds me too much of that other overrated waster Kieron Dyer.

I guess it's just the usual Spurs influence eh?

[Rover4ever]

Bit disappointed to see Keane pointed to his head after the second goal went on. Didn't expect him to own up to or anything but there was no need to keep on the charade after the goal had been given.

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Keane has done such stuff before also. He always tries to claim own-goals with his cartwheels, will someone tell him his celebration is just not cool and overused??

[AggyBlue]

will someone tell him his celebration is just not cool and overused?? 

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Unlike Cookie monsters celebration, which is definately not overused

[James No. 7]

there was nobody who played badly today as every single rovers player contributed towards a very very good team performance.

Emerton didn't play badly?! Come on, Blueboy, you must be blinkered. Fair dinkum. He can't do a thing right that one. He's a waste of space and Mark Hughes doesn't know what the hell he's doing putting him in the starting eleven.

Edited March 6, 2006 by James No. 7

[SAS]

I`m going to focus on the decisions that affected the game :

the first goal : the lino needs to be investigated, that was blatent cheating, there is no other reason why he would have given the throw in to spurs

2nd goal: fair enough if your going to give that as handball, at least give keanes hand ball a free kick too, quite confusing, id like to know what the difference was between those handballs.

nelsens penalty hand ball, was definetly ball to hand, but you get some referees giving those, fortunatly this one must have thought he`d already scored enough for spurs

handball in spurs box, i didnt see one so cant comment

the 3rd goal was a serious lack of pace from gray

our two goals were brilliantly taken

the game smacked of celitc away in the uefa cup

[sleepyjack]

Blatant cheating? Maybe the linesman just got it wrong? Nelsen was poking his foot between Mido's legs to try to reach the ball, and without the benefit of a million replays the linesman may have thought there was some contact. Even if he was only a yard away from the incident, he only saw it once. For the second goal the ref was behind Keane and, though he should still have seen it, he probably didn't. Oh well. It was probably a penalty anyway.

I was as annoyed as anyone else at the decisions after the game, but there's nothing anyone can do about it now.

[Exiled_Rover]

Regarding the third goal, I thought Gray made a huge mistake in not bringing Lennon down. It's an automatic yellow card, but it prevents a dangerous cross on the counter attack. I'd take my chances at a free kick.

[Hughesy]

Gutted today with the result but so proud of the lads. We were immense after we went down 1-0. The biggest ever spell of possession in the premier league history. We had 86% over a 10 minute period and that was Away at the 4th places club!! I was also loving the praise we were receiving from Andy Gray.

Bellamy & Pongolle looked class together. They never gave Tottenham a moments peace and im glad that Pongolle will of shut some of the doubters up! Bellamy showed exactly why Hughes rated him in summer. Souness & Sheppard are absolutely clueless if they will allow a player like him to leave! He is the difference between an Average side and a good side.

Yesterday I thought Gray was abit naïve because he was stood still when the ball was played in for Lennon. He should have been running with him and then he would have been able to stop him.

Once again I thought Todd should have been replaced by Zurab but unfortunately he wasn’t and the mistake of Todd jumping in for Keane’s 1st goal cost us dear. Now fair enough it was a good goal and also Savage jumped in but I really think Todd should of done better.

Tottenham should not finish 4th. We have played them twice and both times they have been average. They still have to go to Chelsea, Arsenal & Bolton so im still confident we can finish above them.

Saturdays game against Villa is now a must win game for us.

[SAS]

Blatant cheating? Maybe the linesman just got it wrong? Nelsen was poking his foot between Mido's legs to try to reach the ball, and without the benefit of a million replays the linesman may have thought there was some contact.

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its like a midget kicking you in balls, then you suddenly think it was a dude 7foot tall

doesnt happen , therefore an act of cheating took place, backhanders, favours etc

[stuwilky]

its like a midget kicking you in balls, then you suddenly think it was a dude 7foot tall

doesnt happen , therefore an act of cheating took place, backhanders, favours etc 

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OR

he made a mistake?

[Tony Diamond Inc]

Not being churlish but I have never seen anything from Jenas to ever suggest that he is England squad material.  Defoe yes, King yes, Robinson yes, whilst the juries out on Carrick (only because there are so few around that play his position.)  But Jenas!?  Reminds me too much of that other overrated waster Kieron Dyer.

I guess it's just the usual Spurs influence eh?

388726[/snapback]

I could not agree more!

To everyone who says Gray had a bad game- you dont know what you're talking about. He got skinned for pace by Lennon, he isn't the first left back to have that done to him, and he won't be the last. Tell me any left back who could live with that raw pace.

[waggy]

i remenber someone having ago at the bbc for there anti rovers stance,well i watched the game live on sky and we played bloody well,i posted how motd2 would make spuds valid winners,they did.said the throw in was spurs,ignored the most blatant hand ball off the day,and managed to show every spurs attack,then cocked up on the possesion at the end.

for what it's worth i love reading everyone's view off the game,i dislike savage emmensly but i would like to think it does not distract from me being fair about his displays.BUT IT DOES,he had a decent game yesterday but i remenber the bad points,mis-placed passes,piroetting for the 1st goal,needless challenges.btw my dislike off savage is only on the field,as he was one off the few rovers players to make a effort with my family when we were at ewood.

i thought emerton had a decent game yesterday,yet others slate him,maybe his preformances this season have been that poor yesterday was just average!someone said anyone criticising rovers players yesterday,was nowhere near whl.well for years i have thought you see more off the game on tv,not stuck in the corner off the ground with a obstructed view,but i can understand how heartwarming yesterdays display must have been to witness in the skin ,after the wba and everton displays

[WaffleWag]

2nd goal: fair enough if your going to give that as handball, at least give keanes hand ball a free kick too, quite confusing, id like to know what the difference was between those handballs.

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I think the difference was that it was the assistant referee that flagged for Nelsens handball.

[Presty On Tour]

when bellamy scored the equalizer and came running over celebrating what a scene of ecstasy.

going wild in the corner of the lane and thinking we were going on to take home all 3 points as we were so dominant!!

i beleve it was 2mins 2secs later we just had the stuffing knocked out of us by mido and lennon.

what a blow

fairplay we come back well, so unlucky not to equalize again. guted!!!

bring on villa n keep the faith