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I am starting a blog with game reports just to get a bit of writing experience and give my opinions on the way we are playing. Feel free to criticise.
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In an entertaining derby at White Hart Lane, West Ham put in a spirited team performance only to be cruelly denied the three points by a 96th minute penalty.
The first fifteen minutes aside the Hammers would have been good value for victory and had led 2-0 through goals from Cheikhou Kouyate and Diafra Sakho.
It was only when we dropped deep in the final fifteen minutes and invited pressure that they managed to threaten our goal and Tottenham can consider themselves incredibly fortunate to have taken anything from the game.
The Team
With the gutless performance at the Hawthorns a week ago still fresh in the memory, it would be fair to say that I wasn’t exactly confident about our chances before making the trip to North London. However, my outlook changed when the teams were announced and we were fielding the side that I think most fans have wanted to see in recent weeks.
In defence we were boosted by the return of Winston Reid who took his place alongside James Tomkins at centre half.
This allowed Cheikhou Kouyate to move back into his favoured position in the centre of midfield and meant that the much-maligned Kevin Nolan had to settle for a place on the bench, a position in which he serves his teammates far better if recent performances are anything to go by.
The one area of concern was the substitutes bench, which seemed worryingly short of attacking options, with new signing Nene not match fit and Morgan Amalfitano suspended after his red card against West Brom. The one positive was the return of James Collins from his own injury problems.
Starting line-up: Adrian, Jenkinson, Tomkins, Reid, Cresswell, Song, Noble (c), Kouyate, Downing, Sakho, and Valencia.
Substitutes: Jaaskelainen, O’Brien, Collins, Demel, Jarvis, Nolan, and Cole.
The referee was Jonathan Moss.
First Half
Tottenham started quickly and saw a lot of the early possession with midfielder Nabil Bentaleb’s long range strike stinging the palms of Adrian after he was given far too much time on the edge of the box. The Hammers keeper did well to push his swerving shot around the post with a diving save.
The best chance of the opening fifteen minutes fell to Harry Kane as a long ball over the top caught out James Tomkins. Luckily the striker failed to make a decent connection with the ball and, under pressure from Winston Reid, he poked a mishit shot against the outside of the post.
With this we seemingly woke up began to assert ourselves on the game by pressuring Tottenham high up the pitch. This played a crucial role in the move that saw West Ham draw first blood after twenty-two minutes.
Good work from Alex Song and Enner Valencia saw the Hammers gain possession on the edge of the Tottenham penalty area. Mark Noble fed the ball into the path of the overlapping Aaron Cresswell and from his pinpoint cross Cheikhou Kouyate expertly powered a header beyond the helpless Hugo Lloris.
While our response to the early pressure was encouraging, it was the way that we took advantage with such devastating effect that was particularly pleasing.
It was testament to our improvement and work rate that Spurs failed to create any real openings for the remainder of the half. Their only opportunity of note came shortly after our goal when Adrian came for, and missed, a hopeful ball into the box that Danny Rose headed onto the roof of the net.
Second Half
After the restart we began much the same as we had left off, with our pressure in the middle of the park preventing Spurs’ midfielders from keeping hold of possession.
Approaching the hour Alex Song and Mark Noble did well to keep hold of the ball deep in opposition territory, before the latter played an excellent through ball behind the Tottenham defence and into the path of Diafra Sakho. Rather than square the ball for Enner Valencia to tap into an empty net, the striker went alone and his shot was pushed away by Hugo Lloris.
However we didn’t have to wait long for a second, when just four minutes later Sakho made up for the earlier miss by notching his ninth Premier League goal of the season.
Mark Noble retrieved a ball that had flashed across the face of the Tottenham box and whipped a cross to the back post where the striker was on hand to steer the ball into the net from a tight angle.
It was an excellent finish and few could argue that we weren’t full value for our two-goal lead.
Just a minute later Mark Noble, who was already on a yellow card, slid in from behind on Bentaleb and made contact with the player and not the ball. Despite the protests of the Tottenham players, not to mention the embarrassing theatrics of Bentaleb, referee Jonathan Moss kept his cards in his pocket.
Should it have been a yellow card? Perhaps. However, there was no malice in the tackle and Vertonghen’s shove on Noble in retaliation could certainly have been considered as a more serious offence. Ultimately I think that common sense prevailed and both players escaped a caution.
We can consider ourselves unfortunate not have gone 3-0 up shortly after as Enner Valencia was denied by an excellent point blank save by Lloris after a Winston Reid header back into the danger area from a free kick. The Spurs keeper was then quick to recover and kick the ball out of play before Valencia could slot the ball into an empty net.
With Mark Noble walking the disciplinary tightrope he was withdrawn for Carlton Cole with twenty minutes to play. This marked a turning point and, in my opinion, allowed Tottenham to regain a foothold in the match.
I can understand why Noble was withdrawn considering the danger of him being sent off but we definitely missed his energy in the middle of the park. However, the decision to replace him with Cole was one I found baffling considering the defensive options that we had on the bench.
This change, along with Matt Jarvis’ introduction in place of Valencia, gave Tottenham the impetus and Harry Kane had a shot ruled out for offside before Adrian was forced to push away Christian Eriksen’s long-range free kick.
With ten minutes to go they got back into the game and it would be fair to say that there was more than a hint of fortune about the goal.
Erik Lamela’s cross was met by a less-than-convincing Adrian punch to the edge of the area where Danny Rose scuffed his shot into the ground. However, the bounce seemed to deceive the West Ham keeper and he jumped too early as the ball crept past him and into the far corner almost in slow motion.
Adrian will be disappointed not to have done better, first with the cross and then with the shot that ultimately beat him.
The keeper went some way towards redeeming himself with five minutes remaining as he made a smart stop to deny Roberto Soldado’s drive from twelve yards.
Carlton Cole then appeared to injure his hamstring and James Collins replaced him as we looked to keep things tight at the back.
It looked like we had done enough to close out a deserved victory but we were cruelly denied by Jonathan Moss’ decision to award a penalty in the fifth and final minute of stoppage time.
Now from my perspective it was a soft decision and Kane, who was looking for it, went down incredibly easily under minimal contact from Alex Song. However, Song did not need to put himself in a position that forced the referee to make a decision.
The bigger issue to me lies in where Moss got the five minutes that he added on from. It seemed excessive and yet still at the moment that Kane struck the penalty we were more than fifty seconds beyond the allocated time.
Therefore surely the referee should have blown the whistle as soon as Adrian saved his poorly struck penalty, and before he turned the rebound beyond the despairing dive of the Hammers keeper.
Though I would have taken a draw before the match, the circumstances in which the victory was taken away made it particularly hard to take.
Player Ratings
Adrian – Made a few very good saves but he still worries me when he comes for crosses. He will be disappointed with their first goal but was desperately unlucky with the penalty 6/10
Carl Jenkinson – He was not as effective going forward as he has been but that was largely due to the amount of defensive work he had to get through. He dealt with everything that came his way well enough 6/10
James Tomkins – A good game for Tomkins although he was nearly caught out by a long ball in the first half. Definitely benefitted from having Reid back alongside him in the centre of defence. 6/10
Winston Reid – A solid performance upon his return from injury. Along with Tomkins he kept Kane quiet and showed what we have been missing over the past few games. Though it seems incredibly unlikely at this point I hope that we can keep hold of him in the summer. 7/10
Aaron Cresswell – Was kept busy defensively and, a few misplaced passes aside, he put in a decent performance. His ability going forward was highlighted again by his cross for Kouyate’s goal and he will hope to be more involved at the other end of the pitch against Crystal Palace on Saturday. 7/10
Alex Song – He did a lot of good work in the middle and did a lot to break up Tottenham’s attacks. When he plays in the way that he is capable of he is unplayable but all too often recently he has been getting caught on the ball in dangerous positions. This was a better performance than he has been putting in recently but his challenge on Kane was definitely one that didn’t need to be made regardless of whether the decision to award the penalty was correct or not. 6/10
Mark Noble – Was very busy and involved in the build up to both of our goals. We definitely missed his work rate when he was replaced and it definitely changed the complexion of the game and put us on the back foot. He was perhaps lucky not to have been given a second yellow for an unnecessary challenge in the middle of the pitch. 7/10
Cheikhou Kouyate – Back in his favoured position and he undoubtedly had a bigger impact on proceedings as a result. His energy definitely had an effect on those around him and he took his goal brilliantly. 8/10 MOTM
Stewart Downing – It was a quiet performance from Downing but then that seems to always be the case when he is played wide. He tried to make things happen but was ultimately well marshalled. 6/10
Diafra Sakho – Another goal and the amount of work that both him and Valencia get through makes them a nightmare for opposition defences to deal with. Should probably have squared the ball to Valencia when through on goal early in the second half. 7/10
Enner Valencia – Full of running and on another day would have had a goal to show for his performance. His persistence had a huge impact on the lead up to Kouyate’s header. 7/10
Substitutes
Carlton Cole (Replaced Noble) – I’m not sure if he touched the ball in the 25 minutes he was on the pitch. I was surprised that he was chosen to replace Noble and the game just passed him by before his injury. 4/10
Matt Jarvis (Replaced Valencia) – Didn’t really offer us anything and looks scared to put in a challenge. It is frightening that he was once our record signing and never threatened to have any form of impact. 5/10
James Collins (Replaced Cole) – Wasn’t on long enough to have an effect on the game but won a few headers as is customary for him. It is great to see him back from injury and the fact that our three best centre backs are fit for the run in. 5/10
Unused
Jaaskelainen, O’Brien, Demel, Nolan.
Overall
While I think we would have taken a point before the match, it is disappointing that we didn’t hang on considering that we were 2-0 up with ten minutes to play.
We seemed to have established a knack of dropping points from winning positions with Manchester United, and now Tottenham, snatching points from us at the death in recent weeks.
While we are exceeding any expectations that were held at the start of the season, with the players that we have at our disposal I expect us to give any team a good game and at the very least always attempt to win. This is testament to how far we have come over the past few seasons but whether this team will fulfil its potential only time will tell.
I am not ready to give up on our hopes of European qualification just yet and if we perform in the way we are capable of in the coming weeks I am confident that we can find ourselves right back in the mix. The return to fitness of our key defenders will only help us in this respect.
Sam Allardyce has been criticized heavily in recent weeks and though it should not be injuries that force him to play what many consider to be his best team, I think that that coming weeks are likely to be critical in deciding the what the owners do at the end of the season. Regardless of my own views on Sam, a strong finish to the season may make it difficult for them to let him walk away.
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