| S |
|
66.33% |
| P |
|
66.33% |
| U |
|
61% |
| R |
|
67.66% |
| S |
|
54.66% |
| = |
|
63.2% |
Form Guide May 2010
P W D L F-A GD Pts
3 2 0 1 4-4 0 6
Pos:- 4th
· April 2010 figures
· Last year's figures
May 2009
Another memorable anniversary
Spurs fans celebrate a number of anniversaries during April and May every year. First there is "St. Hotspur Day" on April 14th, commemorating Paul Gascoigne's wonderful opening goal in the FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal in 1991. Then on May 10th we often think about "Nayim from the half-way line", and on May 14th is the anniversary of Ricky Villa's fantastic winner in the 1981 Cup Final replay against Manchester City. Now here's another - May 5th 2010! It was on that day that Peter Crouch capped a fine team performance to score the winning goal at Eastlands, Manchester against our only remaining rivals for the coveted fourth place - Manchester City. Maybe one day we'll be reminding City of "One Peter Crouch" as well as Ricky Villa! City fans won't be happy that they enter this particular Spurs "Hall of Fame" for the second time.
Spurs performance for the month of May, in which there were three games, should really just be defined by that special night on Wednesday May 5th. I met a City fan before the game who said that wheoever won the game would clearly deserve to be in the Champions League. Well, we did and we do!
Understandably, there were some very high marks offered on the Spursometer" for the City game. The players' defending and effort won particular praise. The defence was built upon those rocks in the middle which are Michael Dawson and Ledley King, who actually played 4 consecutive games at the end of the season, including all three in May! It's no wonder that these two are among the 6 Spurs players who have made it to Fabio Capello's 30 man training squad for the World up from which 23 will be chosen to travel to South Africa. The others are Tom Huddlestone, Aaron Lennon, Jermain Defoe and Peter Crouch.
Ledley was the Spurs man of the match against City. Apart from leading and mastering the defence, we thought he had scored his third goal of the season in the first half, but that was disallowed for what was probably a lesser offence than one he committed when scoring at Old Trafford in April.
Not only did we finally break down the barrier to reach the top four, but we did it by playing attractive attacking football, as demonstrated in the City game, where Harry Redknapp played with two out and out wingers, Aaron Lennon and Gareth Bale. In simple terms, Lennon had been fit for the first half of the season, and Bale for the second half. What a prospect it is in store to see the two of them in tandem next season!
The City game was preceded by a narrow win over Bolton, where we had numerous chances, but had to settle for Tom Huddlestone's rocket of a shot, and then was followed by the party at Turf Moor where Spurs started in the frame of mind to match their magnificent 9-1 win over Wigan earlier in the season, scoring two great goals, but once they knew there was no chance of third place, succumbed to a rousing second half performance by the relegated Burnley.
The Spurs party started at Manchester City at full time and continued long into the night, starting with the lengthy time we were pinned down by police within City's confines. We didn't care as we embraced and laughed and shared the joy of one of the greatest moments in Spurs history. In that moment we celebrated a great achievment on the night, and forgetting the glitches during the season recalled those many great and entertaining moments of the season which had gone before! The party will go on throughout the close season right up till the vital Champions league qualifying game at the start of next season.
Mathematically, Heurelho Gomes was the player of the month, but he missed the last game at Burnley. Morally, I'll award the player of the month award to Ledley King who continually battles against his knee problem, and who led us majestically to the Champions League!
There will be a Spurs Odyssey review of the season in due course, but as you can see below, your player of the season was Gareth Bale, closely followed by Heurelho Gomes and Michael Dawson
Don't forget to check out the cumulative appearances and grades for the players as the season progresses - below. The grades are based upon a mark out of ten.
...if you want to remind yourself of the matches played during this month, then See the Fixtures page here. By working your way back through the previous month's figures, you can review the performances over the last 10 years!
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