The Tigers followed up an impressive start to their Premier League campaign with a limp showing at home to Tottenham Hotspur. Spurs lit up the KC with an exciting display but City made it all too easy for the talented visitors and were deservedly gubbed.
The Gaffer
Phil Brown chose to replace the injured Dean Marney with Daniel Cousin. The manager was obviously looking to improve on last seasons poor home form by being brave at the KC but I thought it was a mistake for two reasons. Firstly, the 4-5-1 we played against Chelsea was very successful and for all their talent, Spurs can also be narrow, so outnumbering them in midfield would’ve been the way to go. We’ve also seen from previous outings that Cousin and Folan just don’t go together, they don’t play off each other, they both play a similar game and they both want to play with their backs to goal. PB was brave in his substitutions to react to the set backs but probably too brave because instead of riding out the game and living to fight another day, we left ourselves open to taking a right hammering. That attitude isn’t necessarily wrong but in a squad that could easily lose confidence quickly, it’s not an ideal approach.
The Defence
Defensively, we were poor all night. It wasn’t just the back four at fault either. We were out played in midfield, we had absolutely no idea how to pick up Robbie Keane when he dropped into space and no-one tracked the men running from midfield. Myhill did nothing wrong, he didn’t have a chance with any of the goals, he was exposed far too easily and often. Mouyokolo looked uneasy at full-back. He’s certainly not an attacker, he looked uncomfortable whenever he strayed into their half and he was drawn inside too easily, leaving lots of space to be exploited. Dawson struggled against Lennon, as most people tend to do these days, but made a good fist of it and tried to counter the threat by getting in and winning the ball early which he did often but struggled in open play. The centre back pairing had a mixed night. Gardner was excellent, while Turner was appalling. It’s the worst we’ve seen of Turner in a long, long time. I won’t speculate that perhaps his head is elsewhere at the moment, except I just have.
Spurs looked excellent, they’ve got pace to burn, they use the ball well, they can play under pressure, they switch the tempo easily and quickly and they’ve now got balance and steel, in the shape of the outstanding Wilson Palacios. That being said, they cut through us far too easily and some of the goals were of our own making. The first came directly as a result of Boateng passing straight to them in midfield, it was fed into Defoe and Turner stood off him and let him have a free shot into the corner. The second was another quick break, everyone got sucked inside and Palacios marched freely down the left and scored. The third was the worst of the lot, we’d just rallied and needed to get in at half time at 1-2 but Turner misjudged a ball through and let Defoe run in on goal. It was calamitous stuff and far too easy.
Gardner stood out from everyone else, he was determined to impress and did so. He got tight on his man, usually Defoe, timed his tackles well and got blocks in. We looked open when he came out of defence to try and track Keane. Turner was just the opposite, didn’t get close enough to them, misjudged through balls and was easily beaten in the air when Crouch came on. On the positive side, we finally reacted to short corners by getting 2 players across to defence.
The Middle
We looked outmatched in the middle from the kick-off. I can’t believe that PB saw Spurs outplay Liverpool on Sunday and thought we could match up against them one for one. If we’d played the 4-5-1, Boateng could’ve sat on Keane and stopped a lot of their threat but instead, Keane was allowed to dominate the area between defence and midfield and cause all sorts of problems. For all their industry, Olifinjana and Boateng couldn’t get near Spurs and didn’t protect the ball when we had it. Neither got close to supporting the front line either. Mendy was pathetic on the right, he was starved of any decent passes in front of him but didn’t look like worrying anyone when he had the ball and didn’t track Modric at all.
Hunt had fine game on the left. His touch lets him down at times and he’s going to spend a while lot time suspended at this rate but he never, ever stops. He’s incredibly persistent and is certainly all action. It’s not just a case of constantly running, he’s always trying to make something happen. He spannered an awful cross straight into the South Stand in the second half but it doesn’t phase him, 2 minutes later, he’s out there delivering a beauty onto Folan’s head. He scored from a well delivered free-kick that evaded everyone and bounced into the top corner, and his delivery from corners was superb all night. Unfortuantely, our running off the ball doesn’t match the delivery. Three time, Hunt delivered the ball right on the money onto the six yard line with great pace that left the ‘keeper stranded but each time, it was easily cut out by a Tottanham man with no-one anywhere near him. On the last occasion, Corluka was able to control the ball, stroll out of defence and launch a counter attack that saw Keane score their fourth. Was anyone else slighty worried when they realised it was Barmby up against Lennon in space on the wing? We’ve got this fantastic delivery and we’ve got Gardner, Turner, Folan and Olifinjana attacking the ball and we don’t win one header, that’s got to change and change quickly, especially considering who the weekend opponents are.
Barmby was chosen to try and make an impact from the bench but barely got involved. I say this with heavy heart (and with a massive desire to be totally proven wrong) but Little Saint Nick is looking old and broken at the moment and in a game that is all about athletes these days, he looks out of his depth. I would say that as a while, we definitely missed Dean Marney. That’s scary.
The Front Line
After taking the odd decision to start Folan and Cousin, Browny chose to change things before the 20 minute mark, sending Geo off to warm up and brining him on after 25 minutes. I was surprised Cousin got the hook because he’d been the only Striker in the game to that point, challenging in the air and holding up the ball on the left. I can only imagine that Brown thought he wouldn’t last the game and that leaving him on would eat up another sub. If he genuinely thinks Folan is the better option up front, then I’m quite scared. Folan worked hard, that goes without saying, but we are far, far beyond the level where running around a lot and trying to harass defenders is going to do any good. Their defenders were better footballers than our strikers and it told. Folan won nothing and only looked effective when the ball was played into his feet. Even then it was just a case of laying the ball off a few yards. Geo looked up for the game after he came on and threw himself into it. He really sparked a recovery, won the free-kick for the goal and caused them problems. We were on top for 15-20 minutes and had them rattled. Folan was denied a goal when he was harshly adjudged to have fouled Bassong when the Spur was giving as good as he was getting. The ref was Chris Foy and he was OK other than being far too quick to give every 50/50 decision to Spurs. We had a shout for a penalty in the second half when Geo went down in front of goal. I was sat in the north Stand for the night, so too far away to judge but I did think the referee was very poorly positioned; he was closer to half-way than the goal area so could never have made a decision.
After that little spurt, we conceded a poor third right on half time and it killed us. We chucked Barmby on to no effect and then Ghilas came on, far too late to change the game, and was stuck out on the right. Browny should have taken Folan off and let Ghilas lead the line in front of Barmby and Geo. It was probably irrelevant by that point. A decent second half was thrown away by conceding two killer goals and Spurs were far too good to let things slip. The last goal came when City were already in the dressing room.
There are few positives to take from the game, other than the individual performances of Gardner and Hunt but plenty of worrying aspects. Our continued inability to pass the ball is worrying, as is the lack of a proper right-back and lack of depth up front, albeit with the pending arrival of Jozy Altidore. The performance of Turner was also worrying but at the moment has to be put down to a rare exception. Hopefully he’ll bounce back on Saturday. I’d also like to think that PB picked the side he did because of a misguided belief that it would get three points rather than in an attempt to please the home crowd. Against a team with the strength going forward of Spurs, we have to out number them in the middle because we aren’t going to match up to them, we don’t have the legs or the ability. Not everyone likes 4-5-1 but it’s effective when played well and is often a necessity for a team like us. Even when we were playing well last season, we were doing it on the back of having 3 in the midfield, which we will have to do until we have 4 guys across midfield that we can trust to match the opposition. As long as Boateng and Mendy are in that 4, one lacking pace and stamina and the other lacking brains, we’re going to struggle.
Ratings: Myhill 6, Mouyokolo 5 (Barmby 6), Dawson 6, Turner 5, Gardner 8, Mendy 5, Hunt 7, Boateng 6 (Ghilas), Olifinjana 6, Folan 6, Cousin (Geovanni 7).