[Archived] Spurs Preview 2-2-2011

[colin]

Rovers v Tottenham Hotspurs KO 20:00 Wednesday 2nd February

Funny isn’t it how each and every one of us support Rovers, but have our own little likes and dislikes of other football teams?

I look out for Bristol Rovers because the brother-in-law is a supporter. They play in blue & white. And they are BRFC too. They sacked Paul Trollope the day after Sam, so there’s a bit of synchronicity there.

Then there’s Lincoln City - Andy, best friend for years & my best man when I was married, was an Imps supporter. He died of cancer of everything 12 years ago. Wife & two young daughters: the last time I saw him in hospital in Dublin we both knew we’d never see each other again. You’ve got to look out for him & them after something like that.

Simon was a Northampton Town supporter and a biker. He and his wife Mary were killed by some cretin in a car who rammed them into the front of a bus in Stockport. Mary died instantly, Simon took another 24 hours before he died. I helped clear their house out after their funeral. Horrible job, rooting through their personal possessions. So I look out for The Cobbler’s results.

(with apologies for the morbid nature of this, but context is important.)

I lived in Nottingham when Forest brought the European Cup to the city in 1979 & 1980. Dave is a Forest fan. So I look out for Forest’s results.

Andy, Simon & I were one of the factors that lead up the collapse of Dave’s marriage to Marilyn by creating havoc in his house and garden on the day of Live Aid on 13 July 1985. Certain substances were involved, but I think it was shouting very rude words at Freddie Mercury and Elton John that sealed it…..and Andy falling through the greenhouse. Luckily for him it wasn’t glass.

The other side of the coin is the clubs that you don’t really like.

The Dingles & Manchester United are default settings. Then there’s Spurs. I have a quiet satisfaction when they lose.

I suppose it goes back to the Worthington Cup Final on 23rd February 2002. We’d got there by beating Middlesbrough; Manchester City; Arsenal (4-0 blimey!) and Sheffield Wednesday.

We met Spurs in the final: their manager then was Glenn Hoddle. It was said by Tony Cascarino that "When Glenn tried to be funny, it was time to pass round the laughing gas because he was probably the unfunniest man I have ever known. He was also completely besotted with himself. If he had been an ice cream, he would have licked himself."

Spurs arrived in Cardiff already having booked the open-top bus, because they thought they only needed to turn up to win. But they didn‘t . There was that stroke of genius from Graeme Souness to play Mark Hughes in midfield and crush the “will-to-live” out of Darren Anderson. And Tiny Taylor’s tackle on Sheringham in the 88th minute in the penalty area…… A brief report is here

Sadly, there is nothing on Youtube. (at least I can’t find anything, feel free to post a link.)

Anyhow we won it and the Spurs fans departed and Hoddle didn’t turn up to lead his side out to receive their losers medals and I thought “What a mean-spirited” act. All this is rather unkind of me to tar all future Spurs teams with the same brush. But, there it is, and there it stays.

So, Harry Redknapp. Part of me dislikes him for being a re-writer of history. As www.football365.com succinctly put it: here

For younger readers who wonder why Harry looks twitchy. In June 1990, whilst watching the World Cup in Italy, he was involved in a car crash with Bournemouth's managing director Brian Tiler, who died along with four other people. Though Harry made a full recovery (apart from being permanently without a sense of smell.) Harry went through the windscreen. So not’s let knock him for that eh?

Although we can have a snigger about the result of the last day of the season, on 11th May 2003 when we left WHL with a 4-0 win. Spuds fans were seen to be throwing their season tickets onto the pitch in disgust.

Here’s Harry -

More sweary Harry getting the hump after being called a “wheeler-dealer.”

Here’s a summary of our recent league games against Spurs:

2010 -2011 A L 2-4 ?

2009-2010 A L 2-4 H L 0-2

2008-2009 A L 0-1 H W 2-1

2007-2008 A W 2-1 H D 1-1

2006-2007 A D 1-1 H D 1-1

2005-2006 A L 2-3 H D 0-0

One win out of 11, not looking too good is it?

So, onto the game. I’ve invited my imaginary friend Rueben (I’ve been playing Zappa’s ” Reuben & The Jets” tonight) to have a chat.

Colin: So, Rueben, how’s it going to pan out on Wednesday?

Rueben: Gareth Bale is going to give Salgado a total nightmare

Colin: Yes, I think we know that. Hopefully his back injury he got at Newcastle will mean he doesn’t play. How about Van De Vaart?

Rueben: He's going to destroy your midfield.

Colin: (sharp intake of breath) May I just point out that Spurs’ strikers have scored only six goals between them this season (Pavlyuchenko five, & Crouch one) Bale has scored seven & Van De Vaart has nine.

Colin: May I wish you a long and unhappy journey back to London

[dazmaz]

Going with a well earned 2-2 draw, RSC and Samba, vdv x2

[philipl]

Great and thought/emotion provoking preview Colin.

Huge test for Steve Kean- can he outfox one of the wiliest managers in the business who also happens to have a comfortably better team/squad?

Robbo and our defense are going to need to play a blinder if we are to get anything out of this. Spurs will be arriving more than a bit desperate as the current top 4 now look set for those Champions League places- especially if Chelsea spend another £50m+ this week.

Lets see what the Cup games do to both sides before making predictions.

[slough_rover]

Have to agree with Philip for once, great preview and we will have to play out our skins to get something out of this.

[John]

Very difficult game however Spurs are perhaps not playing as well as they were a few months ago.

Know we have played an extra game, but massive incentive to win this one as we'll be 4 points behind Spurs should we do so (as crazy as it sounds)....

[vizcaya]

Great preview! Just one minor point, if memory serves me right, it was Johansson who brought down Sheringham? (might be wrong though...). To be fair, it should have been a penalty.

Difficult one this. Can't see us getting to much out of this game. So I'm going for an entertaining game with no goals. 0-0 it is.

[alexanders]

IF Bale is ready for the game what would people on here thik about putting Olsson on RB instead of Salgado?

[riverside returns]

I would put Emerton there as he has the engine and speed to cope.

[slough_rover]

Lets hope they play Bale left back again like they did in their last game to accomodate Piennar.

[Mozzer]

bale could be missing this game - as harry redknapp said he couldnt put a time on when he would be back

we definatly have to raise our game for this - as there a brilliant team ...

i go for the person who mentioned putting olsson at right back ..salgado just wont be able to cope -

[Iceman]

IF Bale is ready for the game what would people on here thik about putting Olsson on RB instead of Salgado?

Great Preview Colin. What i was thinking, with Olsson using his pace to track back when Bale is in posession.

[K-Hod]

I would put Emerton there as he has the engine and speed to cope.

Indeed, I was at the Spurs away game last season, and watching him kipper Salgado was painful!

[roversR4ever]

As we are at home would prefer to see both Hoilett and Olsson remain in midfield - could possibly go with Jones & Nzonzi in mid so the centre backs can cover the full backs. As Jones gets fitter/sharper I think we will see his box to box capabilities. Also during game maybe interesting to see Olsson and Hoilett swap sides - get Bale to think about his defensive duties as well!

[XLM]

Great preview! Just one minor point, if memory serves me right, it was Johansson who brought down Sheringham? (might be wrong though...). To be fair, it should have been a penalty.

It was never a penalty. Sheringham threw himself.

I refuse to predict a scoreline when I'm so optomistic. It clouds my judgement.

Tough test, and a chance to see how good we actually are.

[braddock]

Yeah it was no way a penalty. And if it was it definitely would have been given. Nobody wanted us to win it, outside of Tottenham's rivals.

[Steve Moss]

Indeed, I was at the Spurs away game last season, and watching him kipper Salgado was painful!

So was I. The only Rovers match I've seen in person to date, though I intend to catch others.

Bale v. Salgado is not something I want to see again. Then again, Bale may not be ready for the match, or may be moved to the left to accomodate Peinnar, so who knows at this point.

I think this will be a good match to judge the overall capabilities of the squad and Kean as manager. I'm not saying that they are failures if we don't win, but I would like to see how they stand up. If the Rovers play as a proper team and fight every moment, then we have a bright future as the Spurs are quite good.

[vizcaya]

It was never a penalty. Sheringham threw himself.

I refuse to predict a scoreline when I'm so optomistic. It clouds my judgement.

Tough test, and a chance to see how good we actually are.

Yeah it was no way a penalty. And if it was it definitely would have been given. Nobody wanted us to win it, outside of Tottenham's rivals.

Fair enough, it did look like a penalty to me, having seen it replayed several times afterwards. However, that incident nearly gave me a heart attack

[Seggie]

Hate Spurs, kill players by signing them through nasty tactics in the press then use them to warm the bench, think they have a god given right to everything. The Olympic Stadium thing has annoyed me too.

Would make my season if we beat them.

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

There would be no shame in losing, Tottenham have come a long way and are a consistently good team these days.

A draw would be good, a win excellent.

[Amo]

To be fair to Salgado, he did okay against Bale at WHL this year. Then Sam dragged him off and the media pounced on it, squealing that the Spaniard had never met anything like Bale in his time at the Bernabeu *vomit*. Ironically, Bale only killed us when Salgado was off.

I'd still play Emerton at right-back, if possible. Salgado didn't look too hot against Thomas the other week. It remains to be seen if Kean will drop the legend himself.

[XLM]

To be fair to Salgado, he did okay against Bale at WHL this year. Then Sam dragged him off and the media pounced on it, squealing that the Spaniard had never met anything like Bale in his time at the Bernabeu *vomit*. Ironically, Bale only killed us when Salgado was off.

I'd still play Emerton at right-back, if possible. Salgado didn't look too hot against Thomas the other week. It remains to be seen if Kean will drop the legend himself.

I thought he did alright against Thomas in the first half, it was only when he slipped that he really got in behind. He just didn't have the legs to do it for 90 mins. I can't remember properly how he did in the game at WHL but I'd imagine it was pretty similar, I seem to remember Bale being pretty innefectual down the left in the first half.

I can see the benefit of playing Emerton but Australia are in the final of the Asia cup on the 29th in Qatar. Surely it's a bit much to throw him straight in against Bale 4 days later.

[braddock]

I'd play Chimbo

[67splitscreen]

Wonder if Bale will be rapped in cotton wool for the CL match in two weeks time.

This back injury is certainly becoming a big problem, replaced by Kranjcar perhaps?

[trueblue]

Sod Bale.. Modric is the one who needs tying up!

[Amo]

Sod Bale.. Modric is the one who needs tying up!

Only if you're into that kinda thing.