Tottenham Hotspur V Arsenal match review
By MattoftheSpurs
April 25 2007
Poor is the word that sums up this match. First and foremost a poor second half performance from the Spurs team and then poor refereeing from an official who was conned many times by Arsenal.
Tottenham Hotspur (1) 2
Keane 30, Jenas 90 +5
Them Lot (0) 2
Cheat 64, Cheat 78.
21st April 2007.
Premier League.
White Hart Lane.
36,050.
Poor is the word that sums up this match. First and foremost a poor second half performance from the Spurs team. Quickly followed by poor finishing from Them Lot, and then poor refereeing from an official who was conned many times by the cheats from N5 but noticeably for the two free kicks that Them Lot scored their 2 second half goals from.
Beautiful sunshine greeted the players which was turned into beautiful football for the opening 30 minutes by North London’s better half. Berbatov nearly capitalising on poor defensive play by A Cheat in the opening three minutes by the Bulgarian could only lift his shot past the post.
Spurs continued to dominate the opening exchanges with the midfield pushing forward. Zokora wasted two fine opportunities when opting to shoot instead of passing. However, he may have been trying to hit the Goons in the away end so we should give him some slack.
The Cheats thought they had taken the lead on 14 minutes when a back heel from one cheat found another but the first cheat was miles offside and was rightly flagged so. The goons in the Park Lane celebrated like they had all lost their virginity much to the amusement of the Spurs supporters.
The first piece of real blatant cheating happened in the 30th minute. As the players prepared for a Spurs corner to taken A Cheat in the goons box started to wrestle our star man Berbatov. Berbatov, of course, did nothing wrong, and the referee warned both players. Then the goalkeeping cheat decided to stamp on Berbatov’s foot and then elbow him in the face. The referee saw this, stopped play, and called all three players (Berbatov and the two cheats) over. Amazingly Berbatov was given a yellow card along with the defending cheat. More amazingly the cheat in goal was only given a yellow card when he should clearly have been given a red.
Justice was done (in some measure at least) when the ensuing corner was swung in. Dawson lost his marker and got a firm head to it and Robbie Keane nodded it over the line from a yard out. Cue lots of very happy people, and one, small section of bitter and twisted individuals.
The remainder of the first half was played out. He most notable action was when one of the cheats managed to hit the Spurs post by accident when he was clearly trying to cross. The ball pinged off the post and the follow up shot was put absolute miles over the bar when it would have been easier to score. How we laughed.
The second half started with the notable exception of the Spurs players. They decided that a stroll around in the sun was preferable to chasing lots of sweaty cheats with the ball.
The game took another turn in the 64th minute. One of the cheats in red decided that instead of continuing to challenge for a 50/50 ball he would lay down instead. The referee mistook his laziness for a foul and awarded a free kick. The resultant kick was swung in and with Chimbonda fast asleep in the shade a goal was scored.
This woke up the travelling gypsy’s and spurred on (excuse the pun) the dishonest half of North London. Most of the play was now in the Spurs half and Tottenham were clinging on.
Seventy eight minutes gone and Huddlestone tangles with a cheat on the right touchline, thirty yards from goal. Huddlestone attempts a tackle and completely misses. The cheat in red goes down like he has been shot and the referee (and worse still, the linesman who is only standing 2 yards away) buys the dive and awards the free kick. That illegally won free kick is swung in an it accidentally hit’s a cheats head and goes in. Twelve minutes to go and it does not look good.
Spurs strive to amend the arrears but to no luck. The 90 minutes are up and the board goes up to indicate that four minutes of injury time are to be played. The cheats make a substitution in the desperate attempt to run down the clock and Spurs launch one final attack.
Chimbonda 30 yards from goal on the right of the area checks back and plays a pass to Jenas. Jenas is forty yards from goal with every cheat in red in front of him. He plays a ball into the feet of Malbranque, and the Frenchman returns the passing completely bamboozling Jenas’ marker. Jenas runs onto the return ball and unleashes a low thunderbolt that cuts through the heart of the cheats defence and into the back of the net. Justice is done. The crowd go wild. The South Londoner’s slink away from their seats with their tales between their legs. There is barely time to restart the game before the final whistle goes and the match ends in a 2-2 draw.
Outside supporters of the cheats are helpfully pointed in the direction of South London by the loyal home support and despite only picking up one point, and their team playing some awful football in the second half, it is the supporters of Spurs who have the moral victory.
So despite the worst second half display by Spurs in the whole season, despite the awful cheating by the team in red, despite the incompetent refereeing by the officials Spurs still gained a valuable point in their quest for European football next season. It’s Middlesbrough up next for Tottenham at the Riverside. The may not be the best team in the world but at least they won’t try and cheat their way to three points unlike some.