Tuesday 17 April 2012

THE TACTICAL PLOT : SPURS NEVER HAD A CHANCE !

Forget about all the talk of controversy surrounding the FA cup semi final clash between Spurs and Chelsea due to Chelsea's erroneous second goal .
Discount the fact that the major match official let a lot of people down with that decision , Spurs would never have beaten Chelsea , even if that match carried on for the rest of the evening .

Here is why : Both teams lined-up to a similar tactical formation - 4 - 3 - 3 /  4 - 5 - 1 ( all the same , really ) The difference being the sort of performance individuals put on  in the first place - notably in mid-field . Chelsea's quintet of Mikel Obi ; Frank Lampard ; Ramires  ; solomon Kalou ,  and Juan Mata   played broadly in mid-field , when Chelsea had possession  , and also ,  maintained sufficient compactness at all times

Then throw in  the ability of Ramires to burst into space ; mata's  poise, guile , and invention - Spurs not only were second best , but could not fashion a counter threat  in midfield .  The icing on the cake for Chelsea being Didier Drogba  , who played like a proper centre forward- with attitude , and effectiveness . His goal being a snapshot of his performance .     Spurs were too wide apart - their wing wizards - Bale and Lennon isolated and sporadic ; Modric , supposedly the  Fulcrum of their attack gave a weak performance..... Van der  vaart  and Adebayor were certainly out-performed  by Mata and Drogba.   Harry Redknaap said Spurs were "too open " in their defeat to Norwich , allegedly because of the formation he employed for that game ( 4-4-2 ) it was much the same on sunday night.  Harry knows best , but  in my humble opinion , Lennon ought to have been sacrificed for Sandro to make for 3 central mid-fielders. Particularly , when you consider Ramires' flight into space , and mata's poise on the ball...... it seemed to constantly allow  Chelsea get behind Spurs' defense - a recipe for defeat .

For long i had wondered how Adebayor compared to Drogba ! On the evidence from a big game like sunday's ,  history lent me a hand too ,  Drogba is certainly the better striker , and he has the capability and attitude to make the difference when it matters. Eat your heart out Manu .

Well done Roberto Di -Mateo ! He has shown that sometimes , management is about dealing properly with simple , but crucial aspects of a team's tactical approach ;  and wise man-management too.  I tip Chelsea to win the FA cup , the care taker manager to get the job full time ;   and folks shall be surprised Chelsea will not be mince meat for Barcelona tonight . I expect a much closer contest , even if Barcelona ultimately prevail on the tie .

3 comments:

  1. Patrick,

    You might be right that Spurs may have been tactically inferior on the night to Chelsea. We can even make a case that the Spurs players wilted under the klieg lights - on a night they needed to be close to perfect.
    However, my grouse stems from the sheer incredulity of the error by the referee. It's the principle of not changing the fortunes of such a high-profile game by such a blatant and egregious mistake. Do we have any definitive proof that Spurs would have won the game without that error? Probably not! But can we also say without the shadow of a doubt that they could have still pulled it off without this bitter (at least to the Spurs' fans) error? The answer would be know.
    Sometimes, I can't help but feel that the Americans got it right with the use of video technology in some of their more high profile sports. While it introduces elements alien to the natural flow of the game, it also (for the most part) ensures fair-play and equity in such a way that the game is decided only by the victor and not the men-in-black.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sensus communis ,

    your point on video technology is a poignant reminder to the governing bodies of the game . For sure , history is replete with such unwarranted circumstances changing perhaps the outcome of many games . One of the more famous ones being England's third goal that never was in the 1966 world cup final . This is 2012 , and for some weird reason , almost 50 years on , FIFA and it's cohorts have not sorted it out. Obviously , it's more than due for soccer to borrow a leave from American sports , as well as Rugby's use of similar technology , and other sports , in dealing with this issue . However , i must hasten to add that any such solution must form part of a comprehensive reform on incidents match officials may have missed , and standards harmonized , and equally applied at all levels of the game globally . What would be a shame is if we start to hear : " if that incident happened in the German Bunduliga , their use of goal line technology would have dealt with the issue , but we cannot afford it in all League J games " . Did i hear you say double standards ? watch that space !

    ReplyDelete
  3. There's no doubt that this would be a thorny issue to tackle - at least on a global scale. However, what is so disappointing is that the egregious mistake by this referee did not even rise to the level of the debate of video technology. It was just a bad officiating job that should not go unpunished.
    But I understand your point on instituting goal-line technology on a global scale. I guess some of the less buoyant leagues would have to be supoported by the millions of $$$ FIFA continues to amass everyday and in every way.

    ReplyDelete