Firstly and more importantly, Manchester United stood up to
be counted and played a match they deserved to win on the balance of play. It
could have been a result of a wake up call after the Red Devils found themselves
booking a Europa League ticket when they had the opportunity of the real deal,
the UEFA Champions League.
Barely a week after I tore their football behaviour to
shreds, they picked themselves up, dusted off old form and scored a vital
victory that even put neighbouring arch rivals off balance. Moneyed Manchester
City came unstuck against a determined Chelsea and lost 1-2 on Monday night to
keep United just 2 points behind them.
Victory for the Blues saw them climb to 3rd,
replacing Tottenham Hotspur who lost a thriller at Stoke. Spurs are 4th
on goal difference but they will be back and this is why.
For the few days before the next match, manager Harry Redknapp
will be at pains to complement a good effort the team made and how the obvious
blunders cost them an arm and a leg. He will tell the players they did a good
job. That psychological massage has a sell-by date - the first half of the next
match.
Spurs will feel like doubling their efforts to fend off
committed teams and incompetent officials to make a statement about the Stoke
match. The first 45 minutes of that match will show a resolute spirit of a
wounded lion. Whether they will have anything to show for their sweat and
blood, is another story.
The manager will get into that dressing room bellowing and
barking at everyone about either failing to score half a dozen goals or just a
single one for that matter. Either way, his point would be, ‘you think you have
done enough, you think you are playing well. Do you think this is acceptable?
Have you forgotten all your toil at Stoke City? What have you to show for it?
Nothing! Nothing! You think I will accept this? No! Never! I want more and now.
This will be so regardless of the goals Spurs will have
bagged by then. This line of thought will be the Spurs technical department
strength and weapon. This makes Spurs more dangerous to play against. The
problem will be the match officials who may want to prove a point. The referees
may decide to compete with the inept officiating that was so embarrassing that
the diplomatic Harry forgot his art of being a Mr Nice guy.
Let’s forget about bad jobs and talk about the good job
Stoke did. City came in charged and with a particular game plan to make Spurs
not to play. That killed all the flow Spurs would have. Gareth Bale, Rafael van
der Vaart and Luka Modric never arrived till half time. Aaron Lennon was
isolated and that eliminated Emmanuel Adebayour. To note, Scott Parker
contributed more to Stoke’s cause and he donated possession with his usual
precision.
That aside, the usual suspect in long throw-ins, Delap, was
benched and that was enough to fool Assou Ekotto to push balls out for
throw-ins. In the first half alone, and from the same spot, there were over 5
dangerous throw-ins by Shotton. Two of those were fatal.
Many can say that Redknapp was fed his own medicine. He has
always been a fan of Peter Crouch. He loves target men who have an eye for
goal. Crouch did not have to do much, but in Gallas and Kaboul, you could see
Harry’s fear in them. They had no solution to his threat. Etherington, being
ex-Spurs, like many others, cherished punishing the former pay master.
As much as Spurs toiled in vain and were surely robbed in
broad daylight and with so many people watching, and the officials erred big
time, Stoke worked well for their victory. It is not like it came on a silver
platter. They should be commended for the way they made Spurs not play football
for a moment, that when they actually did, City had goals to show for their
efforts.
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