EYEWITNESS: TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 0 AC MILAN 0, UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 0 AC MILAN 0 (Tottenham Hotspur win 1-0 on aggregate)
EYEWITNESS report by DAN CARRIER
At WHITE HART LANE
YOU have to be cute in Europe. It can’t always be gung ho goal scoring and bang bang bang shoot outs, can it? You have to be able to show a maturity and not give the ball away, play out games and make the other side work. You can’t rely on the tactic of hoping to land more and harder punches than the opponents - you have to be able to get your gloves up in front of your chin as well. But trying to sit out nil nil draws is not a characteristic any regular at the Lane associates with the class of 2010 2011. There’s been plenty of goal mouth action for us to savour, but not always down the end we’d wanted it to be.
But as the clock hit 81 minutes and still the white shirts lined up disciplined as Milan sought to get back in the tie, perhaps we were going to show a maturity that has so far been lacking in this exciting team this season.
Harry had promised we’d go for it, attack, attack, attack - but to do so, you have to have the ball first. While this AC Milan team is not to be compared to their predecessors, they are organised and experienced, and as they got in to their stride, the crucial away goal in Milan began to look like a very thin and slender cushion. At times we were chasing shadows in the first half and needed to put a foot on the ball instead of always hitting Crouch early. This aspect of our style had been spoken about before - how in Europe defenders don’t seem to enjoy trying to win headers against Crouch. He scored a few and has looked a right handful.
But for long spells it looked like we only had one move - the ball out wide and then a cross for Crouchy to nod back, the hope van der Vaart would be on hand to poke it home. And it has to be just one in an armoury.
They started well but got nervy, and the crowd felt it, too. The knock downs didn’t seem to falling right and if there was a silver lining it as that Milan had lacked the guile to find the final ball.
In the first half punches were traded - van der Vaart had a couple of skimmed efforts head in the general direction of the Milan goal while the visitors also got forward but failed to show any conviction.
Bale came on with half an hour to go, wearing a strange belt round his midriff. But to do so Harry had to sacrifice the talents of Rafael van der Vaart. The smart alec I saw in the pub before hand with a shirt saying Van der Bale on the back would have been disappointed not to see the pair of them on the pitch at the same time. Still, we were disciplined and organised, and did what was needed. Nil nil was not what we expect from this Spurs side - but you have to be cute in Europe, and that is exactly what Harry’s charges proved to be tonight.
SPURS RATINGS
Gomes, 6: Made a couple of smart moves in the first half to snuff out danger but never had a real shot to save.
Lennon, 7: Had very few chances to stretch his legs and take his markers on in the first half, but provided respite for the hard working middle men later on in the game.
Van der Vaart, 6: Drove a couple of efforts hopefully goal wards but was well marshalled. Sub: Bale
Gallas, 6: One cute move in the first half saw him win the tackle in the box and then shimmy it clear. Anticipated well.
Modric, 7: Influential in creating and snuffing out.
Crouch, 7: Always in the thick of it - but mainly because Tottenham resorted too often to the long ball for him to leap for. Sub: Pavlyuchenko
Dawson, 7: Rock solid.
Corluka, 6: Offered little going forward.
Sandro, 8: Shielded the back four and then broke when the space opened up. His best performance yet for the club. Man of the match. Got into his stridfe after a great tackle on Ibrahimovic after 10 minutes - blossomed from then on in when he realised: I belong at this level.
Assou-Ekotto, 6: Had work to do, didn’t lose his concentration.
Pienaar, 6: Hassled and harried. Sub: Jenas
Cudicini
Hutton
Bale
Jenas
Pavlyuchenko
Defoe
King