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A shock start to the game saw Tottenham having to come back from a goal
deficit to beat Club Brugge on a lively and entertaining European
night at White Hart Lane. It was a
European night to remember as Spurs turned in a very impressive display
against a side with a large amount of experience in European
competition. But the youthful energy and fluent football that
Spurs produced eased past the Belgian side in the second half, when they
should have been ahead anyway by the break.
Paul Robinson was called into early
action as Brugge showed some good passing football that opened Tottenham
up at the back. Having not been a success at Aston Villa, no doubt
Bosko Balaban wanted to show English fans what he was all about and his
touch released Englebert, who put in a low shot on goal. The ball
took a deflection off the leg of Michael Dawson and ENO had to be sharp
in correcting his dive, low to his right, to turn the ball around the
post for a corner.
It was a warning for Spurs that went
unheeded, as 13 minutes into the match, a good build up from the middle
of the park saw the ball played into Ibrahim Salou about five yards
outside the box. With Dawson standing off him, it gave the Brugge
striker the opportunity to turn and place his shot high to the left of
Robbo's outstretched arm to give the visitors the lead.
By then, Spurs could have been two goals
to the good. With just five minutes gone, Benoit Assou-Ekotto, who
played well all night, made a run up the left wing, playing in a cross
that Maertins appeared to move his hand to and stopped the ball reaching
the Spurs players waiting in the area. Unfortunately, the referee
did not agree. But it did not stop Spurs going forward, with
Jermaine Jenas trying to pick his spot with a shot in the eighth minute,
but missing the target instead.
Spurs were passing the ball well, as
Brugge left space for that to happen as they sought the goal that came
through Salou. It did allow Tottenham to get forward with
reasonable ease and when a free-kick was given 35 yards out, Jenas
played the ball in straight to Chimbonda's head and as the ball dropped,
Dimitar Berbatov hit a well controlled volley past the Brugge keeper
Stijner to make it one apiece. It was the goal of a master
goal-scorer and showed exactly what Berbatov is about. But more
than that, his all round performance tonight showed his class. The
ability to hold the ball and to play in team-mates was superb, with his
first touch being sublime on most occasions.
With the equaliser in the bag, Tottenham
pressed on to threaten the Brugge goal more regularly. Aaron
Lennon was having a field day running at the unsuspecting Belgian
defenders. His nimble footwork left them gasping and a low cross
was just behind Berbatov, but the Bulgarian had the presence of mind to
take a touch and lay it into the path of Hossam Ghaly. His shot
was taken with him leaning back and a presentable opportunity flew over
the bar. Then Berbatov was felled on the edge of the area, but
once more the lenient Spanish ref let it go unpunished, but the ball ran
to Jenas, who scuffed his shot that was easily fielded by Stijner.
Ghaly returned the favour for Berbatov with 35 minutes gone, playing a
low ball into the six yard box at the near post, but the keeper did well
to block the shot from the striker at close range.
Within seconds, the next attack came even
closer to a second Spurs goal. Dawson lifted a ball into the area
from the cleared corner and Berbatov showed very good awareness to
control the ball on his chest and pass it to the on-running Jenas, whose
low shot bounced off the outside of the post and behind with the
goalkeeper static. The last chance of the half fell to Brugge,
when Jonathan Blondel, who had a disappointing showing on his return to
White Hart Lane, dinked in a free-kick to the chest of Salou and the
ball fell to Englebert, who hit his volley well wide from a promising
position.
With the half-time break featuring Paul
Miller talking about his time at Spurs and more specifically his goal to
the backdrop of some stirring footage of the 1984 UEFA Cup final, it
gave the Spurs fans something to cheer and the Brugge fans too, as they
hatred for Anderlecht shone brightly. There was even some good
natured cheering for each side's first half goals when replayed on the
Jumbotron screens.
The second half started with Spurs in the
ascendancy. Zokora, who looked strong despite his recent bout of
malaria, played in Keane on the left of the area and from a pretty
narrow angle, Robbie tried to beat the keeper at his near post, but
Stijner covered it with his legs. Then Lennon cut inside when the
corner was cleared to him and hit a shot that luckily for Brugge hit
Maertens and went wide, with another huge slice of luck for the visitors
when Dawson's header saw Englebert somehow slice the ball over the bar
from just a yard out !!
Although the Brugge goal was living a
charmed life, it had to come to an end sometime and did so with a
well-crafted goal from Robbie Keane. A long ball forward saw
Berbatov hook a volley straight into the path of Keane on the right and
rather than trying to do something clever with it, he hit the ball early
straight past the goalie and into the bottom left hand corner of the
net. The goal showed the best of Berbatov's awareness and the best
of Keane, when he finishes clinically.
Stijner had saved from Lennon and
Berbatov and Aaron curled an effort just wide by the time Dimitar got
the third Tottenham goal. Spurs had been knocking the ball about
well, as Brugge had more or less given up any hope they might have had
of salvaging anything from the match. Jenas picked out Ghaly's run
on the right wing, with Chimbonda taking a man away by overlapping
outside him. The Egyptian looked up and played a perfect cross for
Berbatov to rise eight yards out to head down and home past the Brugge
keeper. It was a really well-worked move that lead to Spurs
sealing the win.
With the substitutions coming thick and
fast, Assou-Ekotto made a run on the left and played in a low cross,
which Brugge sub Vandelannoite almost squeezed past into his own goal,
but it went the right side of the post as far as he was concerned.
With two wins out of two, it virtually
ensures Tottenham of a place in the next stage of the competition and
the remaining matches will be used to push for a top placing in Group B
to ensure an "easier" game in the next round and to hone our European
experience ahead of tougher challenges. Bayer Leverkusen will be a
tough game and with Dinamo Bucharesti winning against Beskitas, it may
be that the Romanians will also give us a test. With a team
performance like this and with the calm passing to keep possession,
Spurs might prove a match for any opposition. |
Club
Brugge
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