After that display he really should be given a starting place, especially when you consider the huge amount of injuries our squad has at the moment - unfortunately Van der Vaart becoming the latest casualty.
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| Niko scores the winner in the 92nd! |
The game started off very well with a penalty in the 5th minute thanks to a handball by Kevin Davies, the spot kick was happily put away by Van der Vaart (see my rather grainy video). This was followed by another penalty 3 minuted later that was also put away by the Dutchman, unfortunately Palacios decided to run into the box - the retake was sent wide of the mark.
The penalty miss seemed to cause heads to drop a little and the next 20 minutes or so were lively but with Bolton having the better chances and most of the ball. Then Defoe scored a header! This doesn't happen very often and it didn't count this time either as the flag was raised for offside.
Crouch had several opportunities in this first half but failed to make the most of them, despite this he actually had a decent enough first half. Bolton were unlucky not to score in the first 45, as already said they had a lot of the ball and had some good chances on goal - hitting the bar in the 21st minute.
There was even time for a third penalty just before half time, however with the ball on the spot the decision was reversed as the lino had flagged Crouch for offside. So somehow the first half finished 1-0.
Van der Vaart was subbed at half time for Pienaar after suffering a calf injury, he has since dropped out of Holland's friendly against Austria - we all pray to the footballing Gods that its nothing too serious.
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| Van der Vaart after some tongue action |
The second half reminded me of the Fulham game game on new years day - Bolton had most of the ball and when we did get forward it was either defended well or we cocked it up - Pienaar in particular throwing away a number of chances.
Tottenham were trying to get back in front though but on 65 I thought to myself that its just going to be another one of those days. This mostly brought about after Jenas fired a well taken free kick against the post. The crowd had gone so flat it was embarrassing - the Bolton fans making more noise for large portions of the second half.
The biggest cheer of the afternoon when the jumbo-tron announced that the filth had thrown away a 4-0 lead against the barcodes. Always nice to see!
We were lucky not to give away a penalty on the 58th, Pienaar left a leg out and Cahill went down - Mark Clattenburg waved it away and booked Cahill for diving - after looking at replays they probably should have had the spot kick.
The afternoon was saved when Niko Kranjcar stepped up and drilled home a great effort form the edge of the box on the 92nd minute, thank Christ for that!
So we got the win which was the main thing but it was by no means a great display. We really need to get some of our players fit again - Modric in particular is a big loss to us at the moment and his absence really showed today, especially when VdV left the field on half time. Why Harry keeps starting Jenas is beyond me, the guy really adds nothing to the squad - his free-kick being the only real mention today, he has had his chances now please start someone else.
I'm not going to go into a big rant about this today as I'm aiming to write a piece on it later in the week but the crowd was poor today. We at Spurs pride ourselves on having some of the best support in the country, over the years we have made The Lane an intimidating place to come to but I'm not seeing this lately.
Bar the big games the atmosphere has been pretty pants - I put this down to the new influx of 'fans' following our recent success.
I was sat in block 36 of The Park Lane today, there were probably half a dozen of us making any sort of attempt at song throughout the game - this included the shirtless man at the front - yido! The guy I was sat next to didn't say a word for 90 minutes and the bloke behind me was moaning that I was singing!?! Come on guys, Bolton may not be as appealing as AC Milan but these games are still bloody important and the team needs our support!
Player Ratings:
Gomes - 7 - Should have done better with Bolton's goal but otherwise had a decent game
Corluka - 6.5 - Had a better game than last time but needs to sort out his ball control, really didn't look confident at times
Dawson - 7 - Didn't have a great game today, made some good blocks but gave the ball away for Bolton's breakaway before they equalised
Gallas - 7.5 - Needs to cut his toenails. Spooned a number of balls but was otherwise quite solid
BAE - 7 - Needs to stop whacking the ball upfield to no-one in particular, very good defensively again but needs to direct his passes a lot better
VdV - 8 - Only on for 45 but was great in that time, dropped his head a little after the second penalty but soon picked it up again
Palacios - 7.5 - Didn't actually have a bad game, gave away his usual array of balls but looked confident on the ball and going forward
Jenas - 6 - No balls in the middle. Very rarely made an attempt to get forward and bar his free kick he once again made no impact on the game! Getting very fed up with this every week.
Lennon - 7.5 - On the left again but had a good game, still a little predictable on that flank but always looked a threat - one us our second penalty
Crouch - 7 - Had a decent game but should have made more of his chances, got his legs in a tangle when he should have scored in the first half
Defoe - 6.5 - Forgot he was on the pitch for large parts of the game, needs to gain some confidence/form!
Subs
Pienaar (for Vdv, 45) - 7 - Showed his potential but wasted a number of opportunities to break away and score!
Pav (for Crouch, 73) - 6.5 - Laid the ball off well for Niko's goal in the 92nd but other than that didn't do much, has revealed today that he wants to leave in the summer so don't expect too much from him for the next few months
Kranjcar (for Palacios, 78) - 8.5 - Has to start the next game, only on for 10 minutes again but showed his class in that short amount of time! Scored the winner!
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