The baby blues

Fulham 4 - 0 Tottenham Hotspur - FA Cup Fourth Round

again.

I hate that kit, it’s right up there with a certain individual, Harry & Levy have at the time of writing just under 10 hours to either loan it out or flog it for good, we shouldn’t see that kit being worn by Spurs ever again.

The kit just seems to influence the manner of play, sloppy, slack, indifferent and just down right bloody awful. And so it was against Fulham in the Cup yesterday. A complete disaster from start to finish – and he didn’t even start – as the slack, sloppiness started straight fro the off.

‘Arry’s team selection of a bunch of “little uns” meant he said there should be no humps up the park but playing the ball on the floor. Nice idea but he tell them that’s how it should have been done. With Fulham sharp to it and pressing the ball kept finding itself at Assou-Ekotto who did that annoying thin of waiting and waiting as the ball rolls across him until the very last second before either the ball crosses the sideline or an opposing player is right on top of him before he humps it aimlessly up the park.

The back four were just at a dither all day culminating in the three minutes that effectively ended the tie as a contest just over ten minutes in. Dawson took the ball down well, which was OK as long as you aren’t some old (failed) manager in a studio somewhere but then he dithered, turning and hitting the square ball blind was the problem. A problem exacerbated by Hutton’s rashness in tackling Dempsey. Well I say tackling but this seemed to have nothing to do wit trying to get the ball as the fullback both tripped him and shouldered him over. Where a cool head could have seen out any danger, which very little as he was the only white shirt in the box and facing a tight angle to goal, a block was the only thing required from Hutton.

Murphy hits the pen, he doesn’t miss many. One nil.

Three minutes later and Dawson is again dithering this time out on the right, where he decides a type of Cruyff turn is the order of the day. Dembele nicks the ball off him and the Daws is floundering. Ref blows and it’s another pen. Now Dawson did grab hold of his shirt and pull him back but Dembele did get a shot off, which Gomes saved, so did Dawson prevent a goal scoring opportunity? So should he have been shown a red card? Would we have been whinging if it had been at the other end and not given? Probably. Feeling a bit mixed about this.

Murphy hits the pen, he doesn’t miss many. Two nil.

This sees ‘Arry making a change, Sandro off for Gallas, you knew it was coming – poor Sandro doesn’t get the best of it at the Cottage – but also felt it was the wrong move as now Modric is pretty much left alone in the middle of the park. Now the little maestro does his fair share of the hard yards but this was asking too much of him. Quite frankly with the little he’d offered before the red card and especially the little after it Pienaar should have been the one. What wasn’t the best set up side was now completely screwed up.

Third goal came from a corner, that should have been stopped from going out, due to slack or indeed non-existent marking, ball shouldn’t have made it’s way across the box or been given free passage into the net.

Half time approaching and no coincidence Fulham’s fourth came straight down the middle. Dembele gets Bassong in a dither and just runs past him, Gallas is dithering on the edge of the box, Dembele just goes to the side of him and scores.

Four nil, christ this was so bad. Of course we’ve been here before except that was against the reigning European Champions in the Champions League at the San Siro, this was against Fulham in the Cup at the cosy Cottage and no Bale.

It could have been worse and Spurs created bugger all, Defoe barely got a touch never mind a clear scoring opportunity and it got even worse when Crouch came on as he gave nothing. Hell even Modric fell into some bad habits, some rather over hit balls.

‘Arry’s tactics of seeing Pantsil as their weak link so putting Lennon on the left fell flat as the rest of the team don’t seem to realise his pace is nullified when he’s facing inside or backwards when getting the ball. Just like England the delivery he gets doesn’t work, it stops him in his tracks or just leaves him with the inside/back pass. Get him running forward, with the ball, at pace, it ain’t rocket surgery. With both him and pienaar on the left a lot of the time it was left to Hutton on the right and Modric just had vast swathes in the middle to man.

A tactical fuck up.

Only Spurs who left the ground with any credit were the six thousand in the Putney End. They kept on going and were louder than the natives and a lot of home fans in certain stadiums *cough* Emptycrates*cough*. They deserved better than this and the fact they didn’t spur on any reaction just shows the disrespect the players showed on the day.

As for the transfer window and the “Sky Sports News exclusives” that Spurs are totting round Spain with a bag full of cash, well.

The reported £38.5 for Sergio Agüero, well he’s young and a decent player but he plays behind a front man and we’ve got enough of those types we need the front man, a real striker.

Fernando Llorente Torres, now I haven’t really seen him play for his club, been a one in two striker over the past couple of seasons but I reckoned him in the World Cup, Spain looked far better when he played especially compared to the other Torres.

Maybe they can also look at a new pair of fullbacks and some central defensive cover with Kaboul needing an op that’ll keep him out for six weeks, Dawson suspended and Corluka being no one’s idea of a replacement.

I see we’re still fighting off all the huge bids from all the big sides for Jenas again this window.

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