SATURDAY 23RD SEPTEMBER, 2000
FA CARLING PREMIERSHIP
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 0 MANCHESTER CITY 0

Referee:- S. Bennett

Attendance:- 36,069

Teams:-
Spurs (4-3-3):- Sullivan; Carr, Vega, Perry, Thatcher (sub Young, 86); Freund, Sherwood (Capt.), Leonhardsen; Rebrov, Ferdinand (sub Doherty, 81), Iversen

Subs not used:- Walker; Clemence, Davies

No Bookings

Man City (3-5-2/ reverting to 4-4-2):- Weaver; Prior, Howey (sub Crooks, 19), Ritchie; Haaland (Capt.), Whitley, Wiekens, Horlock, Tiatto (sub Kennedy, 48); Dickov (sub Weah, 61), Wanchope

Subs not used:- Wright (GK); Bishop

Booked:- Horlock, Crooks

Once again, Spurs fans went home frustrated as their team failed to score for the third consecutive game. In fact, the last goal was that scored against West Ham by Sol Campbell, despite the presence of three strikers in the last 3 league games. A defender came nearest to scoring for Spurs today as Ramon Vega cracked a header against the bar.

Rarely have we seen the short passing game that George Graham seemed to be looking for in the now distant pre-season. Spurs have sorely missed Darren Anderton, as the only midfield creator, captain for the day, Tim Sherwood, is off his game at the moment, and not often finding his target with his passes.

Much of the game seems to be by-passing Sergei Rebrov, as too often, Spurs relied upon long balls or percentage passes. Man City packed their defence, and had to play the closing stages with only ten men as substitute Lee Crooks was stretchered off with 25 minutes left. The angry Joe Royle had already used his three subs, and could be seen complaining to the fourth official that the challenge upon Crooks (possibly by Thatcher) went unpunished.

Whilst Weaver had a couple of good saves to make, Weah and Wanchope firmly tested Sullivan in that last half hour, as a shock defeat looked all too possible.

Man City were on the back foot from the outset as Ferdinand's sharp-angled shot was saved, and then Iversen's header from a right field cross was cleared off the line. Stephen Carr, of all people, had 2 shaky moments as he under-hit one and over-hit another back pass. After the first mistake, Tiatto turned Carr and then shot into the side netting. Neil Sullivan had to improvise to prevent the second going into the net, as he managed to think quickly and head clear.

George Graham later suggested that Weaver was the man of the match, but he had no trouble when Ferdinand headed a Perry cross into the goalie's hands. Really, that was the story of the game, as chance after chance went begging, and we didn't make Weaver work enough. Unfortunately, some of the best chances fell to Leonhardsen, whose first touch was pretty awful, and whose shots were too weak, or mis-hit.

For me, Ramon Vega was the Spurs man of the match. He defended confidently, and quite often was our last line. He distributed well, finding colleagues with headed or passed clearances over 90% of the time. This is more than we usually experience. Vega was also a potent attacking force, often carrying the ball out of defence to start an effective attack, and coming close to scoring more than once. I hope he scores on Tuesday against Brentford and answers Ron Noades goad in the best possible manner. (Noades had been quoted this week as saying that "When you see Vega coming on, you always feel you have a chance")

There were several chances for Iversen, Freund and Rebrov in the first half, but it was Wanchope who broke round Perry (only half heartedly going for a City free kick) and forced a diving save from Sullivan. City reverted to 4-4- in the second half, and early on, Thatcher did well to battle away against Crooks, and get a cross in which Ramon headed against the bar.

The gangling Wanchope threatened again, and was obstructed on the edge of the area. Horlock blasted the free kick wide. Once again, Carr did not seem to be allowed forward much, and when he did there was too little support. The flanks have been empty spaces for too much of the time this season. When we did use width, from either side, we were dangerous, so why not attack more in this way?

With 59 minutes gone, I can say that I saw a little of that passing style that I crave. This culminated in a 30 yard cracker from Iversen, which Weaver held. Rebrov had a goal disallowed for offside(correctly), and with 20 minutes to go, Spurs were nearly caught on the hop, as Weah led a City counter-attack, but Wanchope's shot across the goal went wide. Sullivan was soon in action again, as Iversen lost out in midfield, and this time Weah hit the target, but Sullivan was equal to the low drive in the middle of goal.

Weaver's best save was a dive to the left to palm away a powerful Rebrov shot, but it wasn't long before Man City countered again. Iversen was on the floor in the City area, Leo lost the ball, and Weah forced yet another decent save from the Spurs keeper, who will be missing next week through suspension. Doherty was an ineffective replacement for Ferdinand, and Spurs last chance came after Rebrov was bundled down outside the box by Ritchie. After the free kick, a Rebrov shot was parried by Weaver, and Sherwood pounced to sweep up, but was (I feel) unfairly adjudged offside by a very late flag.

In his after match interview, Graham was keen to make the point that if we had got the extra point that we had deserved at Charlton, if we had won at Middlesbrough, and if we had got the "rub of the green" today, then we would be in the top three. There are a lot of ifs there. We still haven't played a top side, and the trip to Leeds next Saturday looks a tough test even though they are in the middle of an injury crisis. Spurs fall to sixth place today, and lost their 100% home record, and also a 100% home record in the Premiership against City.

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