Dipnro will slope off towards the Carpathians this morning, and nothing more will be said or done. UEFA will have their usual “do not disturb” sign hanging upon their counting house door.
Ramos’ stewardship at Dipnro has been prolonged compared to his spells with us, Real Madrid and CSKA Moscow. At each of those clubs, he never lasted beyond a year. If last night was anything to go by, his frustrations appear to seeped into his players.
It’s difficult to think of an aspect of cheating that their lot didn’t indulge in. The referee was so horribly aloof from the whole business, it wouldn’t have really done him any harm to drop the C3PO routine and let a game of football break out.
The headbutt on Verts appears to be a bone of contention. Live, it looked to me like he bought it, took it home, skilfully added some store cupboard essentials and whipped up a sumptuous meal of it.
Looking at this Vine with a helpfully added slow motion feature, there is little doubt in my mind that it was a headbutt.
The problem is, we are so used to seeing players simulate, that our immediate reaction these days is too greet every face clutching collapse with “…let’s see that again.” A lot of trust between fans and players is gone.
My solution to this modern malaise by the way, is quite simple. Any player caught repeatedly dabbing their head, examining the palm of their hand for traces of blood, that are not there, no matter who many times they dab, are made to play the rest of the game in their underpants.
It’s a struggle to believe that Dnipro would have collapsed like they did with 11 men on the park. You could try and temper that of course by saying that a red was looking increasingly inevitable, but it wasn’t under this robotic ref.
Lucky Tim? Well, yet again, we had malodorous first half. It’s my genuine belief that Tim’s coaching is largely a “going through the motions” business of making sure all the lads are fit, and drilling it into them, that we’ve got to win. I honestly can’t see anything more considered.
Whether Adebayor can be trusted isn’t the issue. If he can turn it on, even only when it suits him, so what? You can’t be wheeling out the “yeah buts…” or you’ll morph into one of those people who was happy to discount Dempsey’s goals when it suited you.
Their goal went in on the 47th minute and it was probably a blessing. Lord knows we needed some class of catalyst. To some extent, it provoked not so much an urgency – the game had been like pinball table prior to it – but a focus. Suddenly, or so it appeared, it dawned on our lot that we were going out.
So that’s why the sending off was the tipping point. The inherent talent of Eriksen and Adebayor, that had already been jostling for success, found itself with extra space. Before the game, Sherwood said:
You need the personality when you are playing at White Hart Lane because it’s a big stage and it always has been. It’s a very demanding crowd and rightly so, and you can either play for a big club or you can’t. Some of them have to still prove that they have got that character to be able to play for Tottenham.
A good many of our lot last night demonstrated they have exactly what it takes to win a game from a negative position, with a referee who’s best friend is R2D2.
When Dnipro went down to 10, they didn’t have the resources to dig in, put their wagons in a circle. They’d already been doing that. We rose to the challenge. We done ’em!
Mentions in dispatches:
With more space, we became more effective. In particular, Christian Eriksen is doing a bloody good impression of the Christian Eriksen that was playing for Ajax.
Adebayor’s solo goal, the third, was simply sublime.
Sandro’s performance was extraordinary. I haven’t seen a beard like that since I last went to a Jethro Tull gig by accident in Milton Keynes.
Zeki Fryers was good. Let’s bin Kyle “It’s All About Me” Naughton and give this guy a go. He wasn’t outstanding, but you don’t need to be to find praise. It was an error free performance in a frenetic game.
Soldado was damned unlucky. It goes on.
Cardiff indoors. Anyone who gets a snap of Levy & Tan together wins a major prize.
Col. Hans Landa: [giddy] Oooh, that’s a bingo! Is that the way you say it? “That’s a bingo?”
Lt. Aldo Raine: You just say “bingo.”
Col. Hans Landa: Bingo! How fun! But, I digress. Where were we?
[button color=”light” size=”big” link=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/hotspurshalfhour/HHH-260214.mp3″ target=”blank” ]#52: Rob White Guests[/button]
