| Match report
This match with Villa in the
Third Round of the League Cup didn't turn out to be the 'impossible
game' that Andre Villas-Boas had predicted, as a 4-0 win
emphatically states.
Spurs had retained Jan Vertonghen, Paulinho and Kyle Walker from
Sunday's match against Cardiff City, Spurs were much changed with
Zeki Fryers making a first start and Vlad Chiriches making his
debut. With Lewis Holtby taking the Christian Eriksen role and
Sandro in alongside his compatriot Paulinho, Spurs were looking to
form a firm base to launch attacks up to Harry Kane and Jermain
Defoe up front.
Villa were similarly under-strength, but even more so, as their
depth of their squad is as shallow as the support that turned out
for this match. The swathes of light blue seats indicated that this
once great club has a fan-base that feels there is little hope of
success in the near future.
The game started slowly and it was the home side who had the first
chance, with a free-kick conceded by Zeki Fryers giving them the
chance to put a ball into the box, which was cleared, but only as
far as Leandro Bacuna, who hit his volley wide of the goal in the
third minute. Spurs then got moving going forward, with Vlaar
having to cur out a move by Kane to latch onto Lamela's chip through
and Chiriches almost found Defoe, but the pass was a little too
long. In fact, Vlaar was a stumbling block for some of Spurs'
moves, with two interventions within a couple of minutes to stop
Defoe's shot and then to deny Jermain getting to Kane's pass.
When Defoe did get some space, he bent a shot wide, as had Lamela
just before him and the debutant at the back made a good tackle on
El Hamadi, but a slip allowed Marc Albrighton to get into the box,
where his shot was well parried away by Brad Friedel, close down to
his left.
As the clock moved towards
twenty minute gone, Spurs had two good chances, with Defoe looking
sharp and firing an effort that Jed Steer did well to beat away,
then in the second phase of play Sandro blazed hiss hot way over the
top and into the desolate wastes of empty seats behind the goal.
Tottenham's best chance came when Defoe closed down Steer's
clearance and the ball bounced off him and went into the crowd with
the keeper stranded.
Eight minutes before the
break, Villa worked a free-kick on the left and a low ball across
the goal from Tonev caused a little consternation until it was realised that
there was no claret and blue shirt there to finish it. Spurs
hit back with a move through the middle of the home team's half,
with Holtby flicking the ball to his right into the path of Lamela,
who shot at goal, but it was straight down the middle and straight
at Steer who pushed it over the top. The keeper was also on
his toes with three minutes left of the half, when Kane played in
Defoe and his early shot to the goalie's left saw him denied with a
dive to push the ball wide. But right on the stroke of half
time, Lewis Holtby's invention opened up Villa to make it 1-0.
Picking up the ball 25 yards from goal, the German midfielder moved
forward and scooped a ball up over the back line for Defoe to run in
and get a feint touch to head it past Steer to score at a good
psychological time.
Holtby very nearly set up a
second before the half time whistle, when he ran to the line, taking
the ball from a throw-in and pulled the ball back into the middle,
but no Spurs player had read his run.
Both Chiriches and Freyers
looked a little nervous on their first starts for the clubs, but
given time to settle in, they will no doubt feel more at home.
If they turn out to be as good with their feet as the Villa full
backs were with their hands (pulling Spurs players back on more than
one occasion), they will be good players for the club. Both
looked better as the game went on. Lamela was looking good on the
ball on the right, but is yet to explode onto the scene, while Kane
did well leading the line.
With two changes by Villa at
the half-time interval, Nicklas Helenius, the Danish striker was
one, making an immediate impact. A long ball down the right
got beyond Vertonghen and as he stumbled over, he grabbed the Villa
forward's shorts and pulled them almost all the way down to his
ankles. Helenius kept going and fired way over the bar, but it
was a strange incident that could have had a very different ending.
Breaking at the other end, Walker was fouled on the right and Lamela
fired it in and only a deflection took the ball wide for a corner.
From it, Holtby played the ball in with pace from the left and it
came off a defender and Paulinho had got in to be the beneficiary of
the deflection as he volleyed in for 2-0with 49 minutes on the clock.
Apart from a Paulinho long
shot straight at the goalie, the next ten minutes got bogged down in
midfield. After that Kane did well to hold off three Villa
players on the left of the box after Holtby played a cross field
ball to him, but was denied by an outstretched leg as he twisted and
turned players in the box. With so much control of the match,
Spurs were passing the bal for fun and it back-fired when a move
along the edge of the Villa box produced at least three shooting
chances, which were not taken and the move broke down. When
Villa did get going forward, Albrighton's cross to the far post from
the right was well dealt with by Walker, who cleared for a corner
under pressure.
Brad Friedel was forced to
make a save from Alexsander Tonev's powerful drive from 25 yards and
he slapped the shot away, looking like he was taken by surprise a
little. As if there weren't enough changes to the side, AVB
pulled players to rest them for Saturday and Paul Lambert took the
opportunity to give a debut to Daniel Johnson. A poor pass on
the left by Villa went straight to Jermain 40 yards out and he moved
forward, slipped it left to Nacer Chadli, who powered in a low shot
at the keeper's near post and the ball squirmed past him to give the
Belgian winger his first goal for Tottenham.
Villa forced Brad to a save
when the ball was cleared, but ricocheted off Helenius to see the
ball flop towards goal, but Friedel fell on the ball slowly to hold
it. Playing with a nonchalance now, playing the ball around
well, Holtby fired over from 20 yards before a late break found the
German running at one defender and he slipped a pass to the right,
where Defoe picked the ball up, took it around Steer and steered it
into an empty net for his second and Tottenham's fourth. It
was virtually the last kick of the game, as the whistle went as soon
as Villa restarted, but it was another example of Defoe's ability to
finish a chance. I am not saying that Soldado wouldn't have
done the same, but his goal-scoring form must make Defoe a strong
challenger for a starting place soon.
While the game was scratchy
in large parts, especially the first half, Tottenham superior
ability to hold and pass the ball was a deciding factor in the
outcome. That Villa resorted to all manner of tactics to try
and stop Spurs said a lot about the relative strength of the two
clubs. Anyway, onto the next round and another game, but this
showed that the squad can be utilised to make a charge on all fronts
this season, but with higher priorities in other competitions.
Sparky Marky |
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