The Daily Dose is our unique nightly round-up of all things Spurs. Catch the e-Spurs Daily Dose each night!Tonight's Dose by Matt Tumminia
Romp at Villa Park, Debut for Vlad, Nacer opening his account and other news
Yesterday, we travelled up to Birmingham to face a young Aston Villa side in the third round of the Capital One Cup. It was a match-up against two sides who 5 years ago were mentioned in the same breath as contenders for the 4th place spot in the league yet our two clubs fortunes have been going in opposite directions since those comparisons were made. Tottenham are considered a dark-horse candidate for places higher than 4th while Villa would be more than happy with a top half of the table finish and a bit of stability. Using this comparison, it would be naïve of someone to witness the gulf in class between these two sides based upon yesterday’s match. Spurs completely outclassed a young and visibly tired Villa side that was missing some big names due to injuries, not to mention a club who was probably more focused on the league than on a cup competition as survival and consolidation are its main targets. This being said, Aston Villa presented some stiff opposition for the first half and at times during the second but our depth and the quality in our depth was there to be seen as a brace for Jermain Defoe as well as goals for Paulinho and Nacer Chadli saw off Villa and allowed us to progress to the next round of the Capital One Cup.
Talking Points
-Lewis Holtby was an absolute monster in the midfield, creating chance after chance and assisting on three of our four goals including a delicious chip over the Villa backline for Defoe to head, yes he scored via his little noggin, near post for the opening goal. Lewis has done so very well in the matches he has played and is giving AVB a dilemma for whom to play in midfield this coming weekend.
-Sandro was back to his beastly best. Tackling, breaking up play, covering gaps and gliding past the opposition, The Beast was our rock, acting like Gandalf in the Mines of Moria, shouting “You shall not pass!” to all of our claret-clothed opponents. Again, AVB has a few selection headaches to deal with this Saturday.
-A debut for Vlad Chiricheş in the center of defense was finally allowed due to his work permit problems and although he looked a little nervous at times, you cannot doubt the fact that he has skills to take the ball up the pitch and start attacks, similar to his backline partner on the day, Jan Vertonghen. A few rushed passes aside, the Romanian looked very composed and comfortable playing in Andre’s system.
-Nacer Chadli got his debut goal, coming on for the last 20 minutes and scoring near post with a rocket of a shot from the left side of the box. A sweetly struck shot and bit of luck, but a goal is a goal and I am glad to see the tricky Belgian winger open his account. As long as he stays healthy, I do not see why he cannot score 8-12 goals for us this campaign.
-The rest of the squad played great, no concerns anywhere with special praise for two of our younger players in Zeki Fryers and Harry Kane. Both players looked comfortable in their respective positions, Harry playing on the left wing and cutting inside numerous times for shots from his favored right foot and Zeki looking strong defensively, cutting out all threats on his side. I have high expectations for Zeki as he has the defensive instinct needed to play at left back and the speed required to become more of an attacking threat. Overall, a great performance for a squad that has been forced to play 3 matches within a short period of time.
In Other News
I think the best, and most embarrassing moment during yesterday’s match was when Jan felt like “pantsing” one of Villa’s players as he got past the Belgian international, pulling his shorts down to his ankles and yet, incredibly, the Villa player continued on and got his shot off, which was off target. Possibly one of the funniest things I have ever seen on the football pitch but the most incredible part of the whole sequence was that the referee didn’t award a penalty, call a foul or even talk to Jan about the situation. It was like he was too busy laughing or too mesmerized by the fact that someone just got “pantsed”. Hilarious, absolutely hilarious.
Some news outlets are running with the story of how this weekend we take on Chelsea and how AVB will be taking on his former employer as well as his former friend turned enemy, Jose Mourinho. They are calling it “Pupil vs Master” as Andre worked under Jose at Porto, Chelsea and Inter before defecting back to Portugal to start his own management career. Whichever way the media wants to spin it, it is a big match between two sides who have very large goals this season. While we are able to boast a side that has only conceded one solitary goal over 9 matches, Chelsea are able to score at any moment given the attacking talent they possess and have shown their discipline when traveling to a hostile environment, setting themselves up to play strictly on the counter while “parking the bus”, to coin a Mourinho phrase. It should be an interesting match which both bosses will try to win, not just for club, but for a little bit of personal retribution as the once friends are no longer on the warmest of terms and both would love the chance to stick it to each other.
I would like to know more of why they turned enemies, is there any news article to shed some light on this?
ReplyDeleteAVB wanted to do more for Jose, he felt that he could be his number 2, Jose didn't want this so AVB left to coach a small club in Portugal where he rescued them from relegation, then moved to Porto, then to Chelsea and finally us.
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