Match Report: Tottenham Hotspur 3 Bolton Wanderers 0

THFC1882 presents Siva’s guest report on yesterdays action:

Tottenham: Friedel; Walker, Kaboul, Gallas, Assou-Ekotto; Lennon (van der Vaart 72), Parker (Livermore 85), Modric, Bale; Defoe, Adebayor

Goals: Bale 7, Lennon 50, Defoe 61

Well that was easy. 3 points on the board, again. I could get used to this winning every week business.

As I said in the preview getting a win was always the minimum expected before Bolton arrived.  There was a nice calm around WHL before the game, hearing people speculating if other teams might drop points this weekend to help us consolidate 2nd/3^rd. was nice.  Everyone came to the game ready for a comfortable home win, and that’s exactly what they got.

Even the news that Ledley wasn’t playing couldn’t jolt people, ‘we can beat Bolton without Ledders’ was the general opinion.  With Defoe starting in place of VdV we were set up for goals.  However, before the game began, there was a very touching minutes applause for  the recently passed Gary Speed. So much has been said on this over the last week by wiser people than me, so I’ll leave it at that.

As we started the match we were nice and bright, a few signs of intent brought us our first corner. There was some fear that VdV’s absence might hurt us from set pieces, especially corners. Its not clear if Modric’s attempt at a corner was scuffed or sneaky but either way, Bale ran ahead of his man and managed to get a toe poke on the ball at the near post and in she went! 1-0 after 6 minutes! Bale had ‘RIP Gary Speed’ stitched into his boots, he took one off and showed it to the Bolton crowd which was a nice touch to their former player and Bale’s former International manager.

Long admired Tottenham target Gary Cahill had a chance to show Harry Redknapp and the Spurs faithful what he was about, sadly he didn’t get much time after the goal to show us what he could do in terms of defending.  Adebayor and Parker chased the ball down from our right midfield all the way to the other side, and as Cahill mis-controlled the ball, Parker picked his pocket and was away. Cahill logically committed the professional foul that would save his team. Parker was on the half way line there were at least a couple of covering defenders and an obvious yellow was required. However Stewart Attwell could find himself reffing in the Conference North next week as he produced a red card as harsh as you’ll see. I sit at the front of the East Upper so had a great view, everyone around me was bemused and/or laughing. Luck is on our side it seems.

As the first half progressed, Jääskeläinen, the Bolton keeper proceeded to have one of those halves that show why they are worth their paycheck. A string of close range instinctive saves kept the score down to 1. With a marauding Bale in the mood to cause havoc it was an odd 30 minutes, no goals but the intent was there.

The half died towards the end as Bolton slowed the ball down trying to get in to their dressing room still in the match, the crowd got a bit restless when we started to do the same but cheers and applause all round when the whistle was blown.

The second half was a decent showing from Tottenham and was as relaxed as I’ve seen us play this season. Lennon scored a great goal, finishing off a sweeping break from Walker on the right who fed Defoe in the centre, the ball finally made its way to Lennon who checked and dummied a couple of times, found some space and drilled into the corner to make it 2-0, game over.

Just 10 minutes later it was 3.  A near post flick on from Bale after another short Modric corner, found Defoe lurking under the bar. He showed good body strength and athleticism to turn his body to the ball, a classic instinctive poachers finish.

The game died when VdV came on and as stated in the preview should never play in right midfield.  He was almost operating as a central sweeper just to get the ball.  When he is in that free role he is as good as they come, but it felt like Harry put him on to keep him happy. 3-0 up against a tired, demoralised Bolton side, why not let him rest for a week and save the hamstring? Give one or two of the bench players a go? Eventually the game petered out, like the first half we spent ages just passing the ball between our back line happy to save energy.

Ultimately we all went home happy with the 3 points in the bag.  The shocking red card decision clearly helped us, but I saw enough of both sides to say confidently that 11 vs. 11 would not have ended in a dissimilar way. Bolton almost played to not get thrashed in the second half, which may not have been the same with 22 on the pitch.

Man of the Match:  Gareth Bale was excellent first half and actually made an impression on the right when switched in the second.

Chant of the Match: “KABOUL KABOUL, KABOUL is on fire!”

Moan of the Match: Ade had an average game. First half he lacked a bit of luck with his runs. But he definitely seems to lower his work rate when we go a couple up, but then again all he’s tasted is 10 wins and a draw since he joined us…!

Stat of the Match: We have officially won 6 games in a row in the Premier League for the first time!

How far can we go this season is anyone’s guess on this form and now we are all but out of the Europa League we can fully concentrate on finishing in our highest ever Premier League position.   Premiership beware Tottenham Hotspur are coming to get you!

COYS

Siva

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