Ipswich Town 3 Tottenham H 0
What’s the mark of how far we’ve come this year? Beating Tottenham? Beating
Tottenham easily? Or beating Tottenham easily and nobody being that
surprised?
OK, so Tottenham were rubbish – probably the worst team we’ve played all
year, although Middlesbrough might run them close. But let’s keep reminding
ourselves, they might be just about the worst team in the Premiership at the
moment, but we were expected to have that honour all season. Let’s just take
a moment to go and feel smug.
Right, that’s that over. Were we any good today? To be honest, not
exceptionally. I genuinely believe that if Tottenham had been a little bit
better and made us try just that little bit harder, we’d actually (and
perversely) have won by more. We won in second gear against a glamour club
(OK, “a Small Club In London”, nice one), and that’s a wonderful way to
finish an astonishing year.
Most of the players were on such cruise control it’s hard to rate them. I’m
sure Richard didn’t bother to wear a cap in the second half, despite having
the sun in his eyes, because he knew he wouldn’t have to catch a ball. He
did well to wake up to make the great save, so perhaps 8 out of 10 there.
For everyone else, a nice solid unremarkable 7. OK, perhaps an extra mark
for Reuser for really trying hard (was he desperate to score or what?). I
can’t think of anything else to say about most players’ performances, they
all did enough, they all looked good, and they all made it seem rather easy.
Sorry if that’s a cop-out, but that’s all I can think of to say.
Full marks to George for introducing this fledgling squad-rotation system
(McGreal/Bramble, Croft/Wilnis, Clapham/Reuser) which, if it can keep the
squad happy, could be a fantastic innovation. I think we might be adding
Magilton/Wright to that in the New Year.
Oh, and 10 out of 10 for the North Stand (Jack, you were being modest with
your rating) for some of the funniest chanting I’ve heard since the Tiswas
vs SwapShop days against West Brom, which rather dates me. I’m off to see in
the New Year tomorrow night with a toast to a year just half as good as this
one’s been. That’ll do me.
Just watched the game on the TV after getting home from the real thing, and
a few points for those of you saw it on TV but couldn’t get to the game:
1. Town came across about right, although the TV didn’t really show how much
work Matt and Jermaininho were getting through
2. Spurs in general were much worse than they seemed on the TV – don’t know
why it came across that way, perhaps it was because you couldn’t see the
complete lack of off-the-ball effort on the TV.
3. Sol Campbell, who was a complete and utter one-man team, didn’t come
across anything like as well on the TV as he seemed to at the game. I
thought he was probably man of the match on either side, hardly missing a
thing all afternoon despite the complete shambles around him.
4. What a shame the North Stand’s chanting barely came over on the TV. I
understand that Sky keep their microphones away from the North Stand and its
equivalents elsewhere because they get complaints about the language
sometimes. If you weren’t there, every word of the North Stand’s chants
(especially in the second half) was clear to everyone in the ground. My
selection (hope I’ve got these right from memory, I was laughing too much at
some of them):
– – Small club in London; you’re just a small club in London…
– – One Alan Sugar; there’s only one Alan Sugar…
– – Shall we sing a song for you? Shall we sing a song for you?
– – **** off, you’re the weakest link, **** off, you’re the weakest link…
(what others have I forgotten?)
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