Brightening TDH's day
In a rare occurrence, TDH had the chance to watch the Spurs match live from here in the Big Apple. And forget the fact that we looked disorganized in the first half, that the midfield seemed to be a mess for long periods, that Owen didn't quite have his touch... TDH's entire mood improved as Milner's trademark volley popped into the corner of the net.
Yet another 3-1 against Spurs! And some newsworthy events, too. For example, Cacapa's shaving of his beard seems to have improved his aerodynamics. But more importantly, there was Joey Barton playing at SJP in a competitive Premier League match! TDH can't say the little thug did anything earthshattering, but what a pleasure it was to see two strong players - Barton and Rozenhal - coming on to seal things up at the end.
And what a pleasure, too, to see Beye playing neat and tidy football on one side and Jose Enrique tirelessly diving into tackles on the other. TDH can't say the quality of their crosses was fully satisfactory, but perhaps that will improve with time.
From Spurs' side, what was Martin Jol thinking, benching Berbatov? When the Bulgarian wizard was charging in alongside Keane and Bent, Spurs actually looked dangerous for the first time. And then on came Lennon - why has he been out of favor? TDH likes Jol, and not just because he looks like Jaws from the James Bond films, or because he has two enormous battle tanks named Huddlestone and Kaboul imitating him on the pitch, but the man signed his own death-warrant with his Gullit-Shearer impersonation today.
At any rate, TDH will put those excuses aside. Why? Well, TDH knows all too well that as a member of the Toon Army, you have to enjoy the good times while you can....
Yet another 3-1 against Spurs! And some newsworthy events, too. For example, Cacapa's shaving of his beard seems to have improved his aerodynamics. But more importantly, there was Joey Barton playing at SJP in a competitive Premier League match! TDH can't say the little thug did anything earthshattering, but what a pleasure it was to see two strong players - Barton and Rozenhal - coming on to seal things up at the end.
And what a pleasure, too, to see Beye playing neat and tidy football on one side and Jose Enrique tirelessly diving into tackles on the other. TDH can't say the quality of their crosses was fully satisfactory, but perhaps that will improve with time.
From Spurs' side, what was Martin Jol thinking, benching Berbatov? When the Bulgarian wizard was charging in alongside Keane and Bent, Spurs actually looked dangerous for the first time. And then on came Lennon - why has he been out of favor? TDH likes Jol, and not just because he looks like Jaws from the James Bond films, or because he has two enormous battle tanks named Huddlestone and Kaboul imitating him on the pitch, but the man signed his own death-warrant with his Gullit-Shearer impersonation today.
At any rate, TDH will put those excuses aside. Why? Well, TDH knows all too well that as a member of the Toon Army, you have to enjoy the good times while you can....
posted by Daniel Altman at 10:11 PM
4 Comments:
Jol seems to be uner the impression that he has the strength in depth to be able to rotate his side. It's ludicrous. But whatever, I loathe spurs. Always have done. I'm not sure I can rationalise it apart from them being a london club, with the superiority complex that goes with it. Their fans' close season crowing and the media's tongue bath made me look forward to their self-destruction even more.
I share your delight that we finally have a couple of decent full backs. And two ugly hard bastards between them (seriously, I'm pretty sure keane and bent were turned to stone from one glance at Faye). We're certainly a more direct side and look pretty dangerous from set pieces (for the first time ever?). Butt was excellent. Even England's Michael Owen worked hard up front. very satisfied. We played too many long balls in the first half though and the passing was sloppy at times. There's still a way to go yet.
Well, I think Butt, Faye, Cacapa, Geremi or whoever else is controlling the middle has to let Emre get forward more. I saw Martins dropping back way too often, and Zog running down the middle instead of on the wing. We need to use Emre's creativity as a playmaker - and certainly Zog is decent at it, but he belongs on the wing.
I think Jol was just grasping at straws, honestly....
You found somewhere showing the Derby round your way TDH? Here in Manchester a Geordie with a new Sky connection in his flat has thrown out an open lunchtime invitation to the Geordie diaspora of his acquaintance.. I'm thinking of taking young Frankie (aged 3) along for his first experience of what this whole nufc thing means.... the poor fellow, what am I letting him in for....
Ah, he's being let in for a glorious rollercoaster ride: A lesson that life is just not bloody fair; no matter how well things seem to be going with half an hour to go in a UEFA cup quarter final it will inevitably go tits up; cockneys are awful, awful people. And when things aren't going your way it's best to leave ten minutes early.
Newcastle United: the living embodiment of Murphy's law. I wouldn't swap the horrible bastards for any team in the world.
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