Spurs Odyssey's correspondent in Sweden - Jan Juhlin - files his final match report from the pre-season training camp tour. Thanks again Jan!
FC Trollhättan – Tottenham Hotspur FC 1-0 (1-0)
38’ 1-0 Kristoffersson
Spurs: Fulop, Kelly (Carr 69), McKie, Mabizela, Doherty, Marney (Keane 69), Hughes (O'Hara, 45), Davis (Mendes 55), Ricketts, Yeates, Barnard (Slabber 32, Malcolm 44).
Subs: Ifil, O'Donoghue, McKenna, Burch.
FC Trollhattan: Wennergren (Larsson), Olsson, K Karlsson, Hultberg, Andersson, Nilsson, Holmqvist, Mohemmedian, Eriksson, Kristoffersoon, R Karlsson.
Spurs finished off their Swedish campaign losing 1-0 to Swedish third division outfit FC Trollhättan, but to be fair to the boys it was hardly Tottenham’s starting eleven that began the match. Instead Santini had opted to give the younger players another chance to shine against opposition that would be at pretty much the same level.
The first half of the game can best be described as being as interesting as watching yet another episode of Eastenders. Both sides had a couple of decent chances but Fulop, making his Spurs debut, looked comfortable as did Wennergren for the home team. The best chance came after 17 minutes as Kelly blast the ball towards goal, only to see the keeper save well.
After 32 minutes Santini was forced to make an early substitution as Lee Barnard went into a tackle with Andersson. Barnard fell, and lay motionless. He was stretchered off and rushed to hospital with a suspect broken collar bone. Jamie Slabber came on but was forced to withdraw only 12 minutes later after he injured his arm as he tried to tap home Marney’s excellent cross. Malcolm came on for Slabber.
Before that FC Trollhättan had however taken the lead as Kristoffersson got onto the end of Hultberg’s delicate long-pass. Fulop could do nothing to prevent the goal.
O’Hara came on for Hughes at the interval, but neither O’Hara nor Spurs as a team could get the upper hand, and looked tired after a week of intense training. Things were however about to change as Pedro Mendes made his Spurs debut 10 minutes into the second half. With Mendes on the pitch Spurs began to get the upper hand in midfield, and a defence splitting pass after 62 minutes set up Marney in a good position, but Marney couldn’t get enough power on his shot.
Kelly and Marney were replaced after 69 minutes, and both had fairly good games. Keane and Carr came on and from this point it was all Spurs. Mendes worked tirelessly in midfield, while Keane showed his class on a couple of occassions even though he failed to score from one of three good chances. Mendes had a chance in the dying minutes, but his cracker of a shot was palmed away by substitute keeper Larsson, and the game ended in a 1-0 loss for Santini.
With Spurs playing with a very young side one can hardly draw any major conclusions, but Santini probably found out one or two interesting things about the players. Doherty looked lost and slow against the opponents, and he has not convinced in Sweden. Mbulelo Mabizela has looked rather lonely during training sessions, and he was largely ineffective today. Marney did well today, and has probably done enough to convince Santini that he is worthy of being in the team, as has Kelly. Mendes showed a lot of class today and judging by this performance Spurs have found a real gem, but we said that about Postiga last year as well didn’t we?
