West Brom vs. Spurs
Saturday's fixture against West Brom saw our relatively uninspiring start to the season extended by another week. It would be fair to say that the highlight of this away day was probably the cab ride from the pub to the stadium, as our cabbie was a pretty entertaining bloke. I think his final joke was to drop the four of us off in the middle of a few hundred Brom fans, mutter something about not knowing where the away end was, and then speed off after we'd paid him...No harm done though.
The game itself was pretty flat, with Spurs just not looking themselves. Gallas and Van der Vart both made debuts, and despite both showing some moments of promise (particularly from VdV), the fact that neither have played much this season showed. Gallas getting skinned by Fortune in the lead up to the Brom goal was the most worrying moment of the game, closely followed by Wilson being left behind by Odemwinge, who then went on to force a very good save from Cudicini.
Aaron Lennon seems to have switched places with Theo Walcott this season - the Lennon we know and love needs to show himself before long, as watching our usually lively winger opt out of taking the full back on is not something I want to get used to. All he needs to do is look over to the other wing if he needs a reminder of how to play, as Bale was once again very impressive, as Harry rightly pointed out after the game.
I have said this for a while now, but Palacios still seems to be getting worse with each game, and I am convinced that if he carries on like this he may even start to look like Didier Zokora...I know the guy has been through a lot and my heart really does go out to him, but he needs to start playing like the powerful box-to-box midfielder we signed from Wigan, not this liability who runs around giving away needless fouls (and possession!) like it is going out of fashion. Maybe I'm being harsh.
Didier was clearly confused by the concept of retaining possession...
As was the case with Wigan, We dominated the early exchanges, and then seemed to fade as the game progressed, with Brom very much dominating the second half of the tie. Our fitness worries me, but probably not as much as it would be worrying me if Luka had actually broken his leg again.
Despite our relatively poor start, we are only two points off fourth spot, which must remain our main target this season.
Let's hope the boys turn things around in Germany tomorrow.
COYS
Submitted by James McManus
13/9/2010
