[Archived] Rovers 1-1Tottenham

[bellamy11]

Interivew to come ASAP.

Tottenham Hotspur Preview

On Sunday we face Spurs at Ewood in what is turning out to be a pivotal game in the seasons of both teams. Rovers have lost their last four Premiership games, scoring one goal in the process, and really need three points to halt an alarming slide towards the arse end of the league.

Spurs, for all their promise and impressive results last season, have had a bit of a ‘mare. They still haven’t won away from home this term, and despite a recent victory over Champions Chelsea they looked woefully inadequate as Reading put three past them last weekend. Therefore we should expect the inevitable Spurs win with four players all scoring their first goals of the season.

Form Guide

Rovers at home in the league: LLWWLD

Spurs away from home in the league: LDDLLL

If both teams could lose this one then they probably would.

Five (Six) Things You Already Knew About Tottenham Hotspur

1) They have a large Jewish following which has resulted in the adoption of the nickname “Yid Army” for describing their own fans.

2) They have a history of exceptional English striking talent. Their all-time top goalscorer in the league is Jimmy Greaves with 220 goals. Others include the likes of Clive Allen, Teddy Sheringham, Gary Lineker and Chris Armstrong.

3) Their stadium is the impressive White Hart Lane which opened in 1899, has a capacity of 36,240 and a category A game can cost you as much as £71 to get through the door.

4) Their record league victory was 9-0 Vs Bristol City in 1977. Their record league defeat came just a year later when Liverpool beat them 7-0.

5) They are the only team to ever win the FA Cup whilst being a non-league club.

6) They have nearly signed Ronaldo, Andreiy Shevchenko and Rivaldo.

Key Players

Robbie Keane: The cartwheeling Irishman got his Premiership goals tally off to a start against Reading when he converted a penalty to put the Lillywhites 1-0 up. Last season he was more than impressive, keeping Jermain Defoe out of the team with a combination of inspired performances and prowess in front of goal. All in all, he netted 17 times last season and will be looking to get to that kind of target again. He scored his first goal for Spurs at Ewood in a 2-1 win against us in 2002, and was also the last Spurs player to score here when we lost 1-0 in 2004.

Paul Robinson: The England international has impressed since joining from Leeds United. He has cemented his place in the England team ahead of the magnificent David James. Generally reliable, he is a very good shot stopper and a good kicker of the ball when not in Croatia.

Ledley King: Allowed Andy Cole to score at Cardiff back in 2002 but has since gone on to prove himself as a top class defender. Regularly linked with the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea and was recently described by Thierry Henry as the only player in the Premiership who could regularly tackle him through legal means. King has missed quite a bit of the season so far with injury and this has probably reflected Tottenham’s poor form.

Lee Young Pyo: Awesome.

Recent Matches Between The Two

Spurs 3 Rovers 2 (05/03/2006) – Rovers won more friends than points in a game that saw us claw our way back from two goals down only to suffer heartbreak at the hands of Mido. Spurs started strongly but were fortuitous when a throw in decision went in their favour. Mido took it quickly to Keane who still had it all to do – but within a few seconds he had jigged past Andy Todd and flashed the ball past Brad Friedel. Not long afterwards he showed his deft control by handling the ball and knocking a rebound into the goal to make it 2-0. Sinama and Bellamy both notched a goal but the decisive moment came when we all discovered (to my surprise) that Aaron Lennon is faster than even Mickey Gray, and his cross was slid home from yards out by the lying Egyptian.

Spurs 0 Rovers 4 (11/05/2003) – A wonderful match where a Rovers team including Damien Duff, David Dunn and Andy Cole made Spurs look like relegation fodder. With Everton losing to Manchester United at Goodison the onus was on us to win at White Hart Lane. It took just five minutes for Dwight Yorke to break the deadlock, and things went from bad to worse for Spurs after that. Gus Poyet was dismissed for a Kevin Ball-style lunge at David Dunn and Rovers were rampant against ten men. Super Craig Hignett made it two, with Duffer and Cole both notching in the second half. Rovers would go on to celebrate European qualification by losing humiliatingly to Genclerbirligi.

Rovers 2 Spurs 1 (24/02/2002) – Rovers marched on Cardiff and brought home our first major silverware of the new millennium in a thrilling game beneath the roof of the Millennium Stadium. We all know the story, but just for posterity, Matt Jansen scored, Chrtistian Ziege got the better of Tiny Taylor for the first and only time of the game to equalise, and Andrew Cole scored the winner. Special kudos also goes to Graham Poll who rightly failed to give Tottenham a penalty when Sheringham was tripped by Nissa.

Caption Competition

Prediction

The significance of this game probably cannot be understated. Another defeat and we could be in for a miserable winter. Yet a victory could well be a springboard towards the top half again. Premiership football has always been on that kind of balance. Ignoring our apparent curse against teams in bad form, this really is the kind of game we should win. I’m going to go for an optimistic 2-1 because I can’t see where our next clean sheet is coming from – even against the low-scoring Spurs.

[AxesFirstTouch]

Definate loss on the cards, the squad is not good enough at the moment, and Hughes seems to reluctant to drop players he who are underperforming.

We've got one of the worst defences this season, although Spurs have been firing blanks. Although given Rovers proneness to help teams out under pressure and needing good performances, I can see the Yids scoring a few.

[bob fleming]

Caption Competition

Sherwood and Thatcher blow their tops at Graham Poll's inappropriately timed and quite frankly crap Tommy Cooper impression during the Worthington Cup Final of 2002.

Nice preview bellamy11.

[Eddie]

Nice preview. I simply can't see where our next win is coming from and I find this all very depressing. 3-0 Spurs.

[Ozz]

Caption Competition

Oi ref, have you farted?

[1864roverite]

Another Rovers loss 1-0, you can see it now.

caption

"if you dont give me a third card I am gonna forearm smash you into the hoarding advertisement and if i dont then that ugly muvva tim nice but very dim will"

[frosty]

1-0

19,500

[bluebruce]

Caption

'Sheringham's aggressive sodomy rudely interrupted Poll's 'Hey Macarena' dance'

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

A 2-1 win for Rovers,I'm sick of losing.............FFS PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!

20,400

[Mike Graham]

I hope to goodness that I am wrong on this but I cannot see anything but a drubbing against us.

With a gate boosted by 2000 Spuds we may still even struggle to "achieve" 18,000 with a lorra luck!!

[vyeo]

rovers 1 (gally)

spurs 1

[FourLaneBlue]

5) They are the only team to ever win the FA Cup whilst being a non-league club.

If I was a pedantic so-and-so I'd say that the league didn't actually start until 1888 and so all teams before then were also non-league cup winners, including our dear old woodbine-smoking, shorts-to-the-ankles three time cup winning Rovers side. Spurs are the only side to win it since there was a league though. However, I'm no pedant and so I'm not going to even mention it - not a even hint at it!

Good preview Bellamy11!

Prediction - draw. If we don't play Mokoena as a central midfielder in a 4-4-2 and let their midfield walk all over us that is!

[gazsimm]

Rovers 1 Spurs 3

i just can see us winning a match at the minute, hope i am wrong though.

[b12_simon]

Spurs 0 Rovers 4 (11/05/2003) – A wonderful match where a Rovers team including Damien Duff, David Dunn and Andy Cole made Spurs look like relegation fodder. With Everton losing to Manchester United at Goodison the onus was on us to win at White Hart Lane. It took just five minutes for Dwight Yorke to break the deadlock, and things went from bad to worse for Spurs after that. Gus Poyet was dismissed for a Kevin Ball-style lunge at David Dunn and Rovers were rampant against ten men. Super Craig Hignett made it two, with Duffer and Cole both notching in the second half. Rovers would go on to celebrate European qualification by losing humiliatingly to Genclerbirligi.

Heh. Remember it well. When the 3rd goal went in a load of season tickets came flying on to the pitch. It might have meant something had it not been the last game of the season.

I think that we can get a win here. 1 - 0 Rovers, McCarthy to get the only goal in a tight game.

Simon

[LeftWinger]

http://www.physioroom.com/news/english_pre...njury_table.php

Spurs have overtaken us in the Injury Table - they look like they've got a few injuries too! Although all of theirs seem to be very short-term compared to ours.

[roversmum]

R Savage thigh 5th Dec 06

[Jordan]

Rovers to bounce back from a miserable run by thrashing Spuds 3-0.

[Perth_Rover]

Rovers to win it 1-0

[Ozz]

SPUDS MASHED

Jeffers hits brace as Dawson walks in Ewood massacre as Jols flops slump.

*fill in the rest yourselves...*

[asianRover]

I have to say, with the current form and injury plight that we're in, i cant see a winning this one. A draw at best. Cmon Rovers prove me wrong!

[3rdpillar]

im with you guys,

no ideas how we are to win a football match in the English Premier League. We have brought ourselfves down to the level of 3rd rate European opposition from the EUFA Cup. A level were we are more than competative. Premier League withour current starting 11. No way.

Oh and we are on tv, ( we'll be the club in crisis )

Rovers 0 - Spuds 2

[rebelzero]

Rovers 2 Spurs 2

McCarthy Keane (2)

Nonda

and Mido to be sent off

[Al]

Rovers to win 2-0

[Salgados Hair]

Spurs are awful away from home. Surely we will win this one.

2-1 Benni, Bentley, Lennon for Spurs.

Failing that, I think - given recent results, we would all take a scrappy 1-0 (Dawson backpass, hitting Tim Flowers' divot, making Englands No1 kick thin air again

[s_simpson_9]

We'll skin em.

4-1 to the bully boys.

I'm making Benni my captain in Fantasy League - he is going to score two.

Bentley to score a tap in.

Bert will smash one in from the top of the box.

Come on Rovers.