Spurs v Sheffield United - Report

By Moggy
August 24 2006

After a lack lustre performance and a well deserved defeat at The Reebok, Spurs had the perfect opportunity to respond quicky back at the Lane with a mid week kick off against newly promoted Sheffield United.

Their hard earned draw against Liverpool suggested it wasn't going to be an easy game and no doubt Neil Warnock would've taken note of the way we were out fought against Bolton.

A number of supporters were feeling a little aprehensive prior to the game but Front Wheel Skid made an interesting prediction in the Billy Nick - either 1-0 or 5-0 - suggesting an early goal might spark a rout.

And an early goal was just what we got which helped to settle the nerves. We came out of the traps brightly with Keano delivering an excellent ball to Berbatov who just failed to connect and stab it into the net. Less than two minutes later, Keano was again pulling the strings and passed to Lennon out on the right who danced his way past a handful of Utd defenders into to the box, crossing to Berbatov who stood waiting for the easiest of tap ins for his first Tottenham goal.

We continued to press with some excellent forward play with first class movement and pace and were rewarded for our efforts on 17 minutes when Tainio found Keano who passed to Berbatov whose excellent downward header found an advancing Jenas who skillfully lifted the ball over Paddy Kenny and tapped it into an empty net.

2-0 up inside 20 minutes and chants of EASY EASY were a far cry from being 2 goals down at Bolton in the same amount of time. Another host of chances came and went before the end of the first half, Tainio's scuffed shot, Berbatov forced a smart save from Kenny after some brilliant build up play and also saw a header go narrowly wide.

The second half saw us drop off the pace a bit - probably due to early season fitness levels and Utd at least attempting to make more of a fist of it although their chances were limited. A reasonable penalty shout (called offside though) and an air shot from panic buyee in the box were the nearest they came to sniffing out a goal.

Spurs contined to create a number of chances with Lee spurning a decent effort, Keano dragging a couple of chances wide, Davids unleashing a fierce shot and Defoe forcing two smart saves from Kenny late on.

All and all a fine team performance which could have seen us win more comfortably if our finishing had been a little more clincial. Nobody had a bad game - Dawson and Davenport played excellently together in defence with Davenport making the most of Utd's loan striker and venturing forward with the ball from defence on a number of occaisions to good effect. Ekotto had an assured home debut on the left with Lee looking competent on the right hand side. Lennon was outstanding, Davids back to his heel snapping best in the centre of the park, Jenas full of energy and commitment and Tainio making a welcome return.

Berbatov had an impressive debut at the Lane and Keano was simply sublime in the first half. Both Zokora and Defoe made notable contributions when they were introduced.

It sets us up nicely with another home fixture against Everton on Saturday who played tonight which gives us an additional days rest so we can continue from where we left off on Tuesday night - COYS