25 February 2008
Carling Cup Final Review
Cwoff takes a marginally less extensive look back at the Carling Cup final which saw Tottenham outplay and emerge victorious over a powerful if one-dimensional Chelsea team.
Chelsea now have only the three competitions to look forward to while Tottenham have the UEFA Cup to win and an assault on next season to plan.
The match was not a classic but it was a triumph for attacking endeavour versus defensive will.
After a nine year wait, there are few at Tottenham who will mind.
The teams were not entirely as anticipated with Chelsea springing several surprises (notice I did not say Avram Grant). John Terry and Frank Lampard both played when it was expected that they would not be fit enough following injury and replaced two in form players in Alex and Michael Ballack. Initially it looked as though they might be playing a 442 with Nicholas Anelka partnering Didier Drogba for the first time but with Mikel Jon Obi and Michael Essien both in midfield they reverted to the 433/451 completed by Anelka occupying the left flank instead of Joe Cole. The much anticipated Aaron Lennon v Ashley Cole duel never materialised with the latter dropped in favour of Wayne Bridge.
Tottenham were largely as expected with Paul Robinson retaining his place and Ledley King returning. Ramos’ big decision was to task Didier Zokora with winning the midfield battle against Lampard, Mikel and Essien.
In the tunnel both teams looked focused as the noise outside began to reach a crescendo, at the head of each team stood the managers. Grant attempted to catch Ramos’ eye with a short, nervous flicker of a smile out of the corner of his mouth. Ramos returned with a beaming grin. The Spaniard has said before that cup finals are like war with no room for emotion and where every act must be planned and enacted to the slightest detail. The first act was won in the tunnel.
The game itself fell into four distinct phases. It started much as most matches do involving Tottenham and as usual they asserted their attacking intent. Chelsea were the ones showing nervousness and it was Tottenham who were first to any loose ball, pressuring the opposition in possession and from the start the intent of both sides was clear. Indeed the hunger of both sides was clear and it was a pattern that really never changed for the rest of the game.
Chelsea’s strength, their defensive central midfield was not actually challenged; Tottenham concentrated their early attacks on the left flank with Steed Malbranque at his evasive best against Juliano Belletti. Pascal Chimbonda was wary of Wright-Phillips and provided only cursory support in the Chelsea half but for the first half hour Malbranque did not him. Movement down the other, more balanced flank was conspicuous in its absence. Lennon received the ball maybe twice in the entire half and Alan Hutton’s preoccupation with watching Anelka meant he was less adventurous even than Chimbonda.
As Chelsea’s defence settled centrally so they attacked narrowly and a pattern began to emerge in their attacking play. As predicted, Jonathan Woodgate was tasked with challenging Drogba’s role as the Chelsea attacking fulcrum and the Ivorian will rarely have been more completely dominated in the air. In simplest terms an aerial encounter between a striker and a defender depends on two factors; the height and strength both protagonists. At 6 ft 2 inches, Woodgate is half an inch shorter, slower and certainly no bigger than Drogba yet that he won all but maybe two of their contests all game long suggests a more tactical element, possibly from the striker taking a position cue from the defender which Woodgate used to deceive the striker. Conjecture of course, but such a complete man on man defensive display must surely have been down to more than mere skill and determination (which is something Drogba certainly never lacks).
Next to him, Ledley King orchestrated both the defence and the frequent play emerging from the back. Tottenham were playing a continental-style build up almost to distraction. Robinson’s accurate kicking was used sparingly as the ball was worked with zen-like patience backwards and forwards across the back four and deep-lying midfielders. Such was the extreme patience there was little chance of a swift attack catching the six defensive players out of position. Indeed such was the lack of intent from their opponents that any counter-attacking strategy was kept firmly in the realms of the theoretical which was perhaps where Lennon and the right flank were to have been employed. Chelsea are not a team renowned for their smooth interplay in midfield unlike Arsenal and any notion that they could work it patiently through the midfield was being stamped out by the immense stint being put in by Zokora.
In a way this played into some of the strengths of both teams. Chelsea could organise on the flanks by lying deep and pulling Wright-Phillips and Anelka back positionally; their presence prevented any notion of the Tottenham fullbacks attacking which was perhaps slightly over cautious, this concentrated much of the play in central areas where both Chelsea and Spurs frequently crowded their opposition out. Tottenham, who had started the game almost not needing a defence could rely on Woodgate’s dominance to negate the most frequent form of attack and with the midfield - particularly Zokora - almost completely neutralising the attacking intent of the Chelsea three, the ball almost never found its way to either flank. Perhaps here Tottenham could have shown more adventure but instead left both fullbacks remained in position instead of complimenting the attack.
The pattern of play had been set, Tottenham without any real fluency getting into dangerous positions and creating some promising openings due to the inevitable result of their highly skilled front five and attacking intent and Chelsea making occasional forays into their attacking half but finding neither space nor rhythm to threaten the goal, content to restrict their opponents. This would have please both managers to an extent with Grant believing that his side’s strengths from long range and free kicks would eventually break through which then would allow them to play to their defensive strengths and wait for counter attacking opportunities. Ramos would have been delighted at how he had succeeded in neutering the opposition’s attacking threat and would have been quietly confident that his front five would continue to create chances from which they would surely score at some stage.
Then came three free kicks in quick succession. Against a team with such demonstrable strength in that area it would not have pleased Ramos that his team gave Chelsea one chance, let alone three. The general opinion is that Robinson was at fault for covering the wrong side of the goal. Certainly, if you set the wall up on one side the goalkeeper should be covering the other. However Drogba had a short run up suggesting he was going to aim the ball rather than go for power and at that distance it was certainly within his ability to go either over the wall or to the side he scored from. The biggest error then was in not having a player on the post behind the wall which would at least have given Robinson peace of mind to man the left hand side of his goal.
After the goal the game entered its second phase as Chelsea’s tactics were vindicated and there was a clear upsurge in their confidence and determination with the midfield battle immediately becoming more competitive. Consequently the general play began to even out and Tottenham had less time on the ball and less space to exploit. Still they were the more offensive but Chelsea were now playing more as you might expect them to with their solid back six unit; Tottenham’s openings began to become scarcer.
This continued into the second half and with the match meandering towards Chelsea, Ramos did what any good manager does in that situation; he changes it. Tom Huddlestone came on for Pascal Chimbonda who stormed off to the changing rooms but was back on the bench by extra time. Malbranque went to left back and Lennon took his place on the left wing. Huddlestone is not the most mobile in defence but with Zokora still exerting huge pressure centrally it was a smaller risk than it might normally have been. His passing provides different angles of attack and his medium range passing in particular is exceptional. However it was a short spell of about ten minutes from Lennon which turned the game. Twice he surged from inside his own half, beat three men and suddenly Chelsea realised that they had two new problems to counter; Huddlestone’s passing and Lennon’s running. The third act of Lennon’s was to cross the ball to Huddlestone in the box after Belletti cautiously stood back from Lennon having been beaten twice by him in quick succession. Huddlestone’s control was poor and Bridge’s was worst. Good eyes from the linesman and great composure from a Bulgarian did the rest.
The game continued with Tottenham in the ascendancy, creating chances. Even when Zokora missed what would have been a well-deserved winner his team kept driving forward. Then, at the end of the 90 minutes came the second vignette of each manager’s psychology. The Tottenham players were visited by the note-wielding Guy Poyet and every player got words of encouragement from Ramos. Words and concepts that were delivered to closed mouths and wide eyes and heeded to the very letter.
On the other side, Grant stood alone, silent amongst his players and watched as Jon Terry delivered the rousing words he assumed they needed to hear. Much conjecture has been made as to how good a manger Grant really is. That image of a silent man spoke volumes for his authority if nothing else.
Three minutes later and Tottenham had the lead as the result of poor marking and another superb Jenas free kick; the balance of the match was finally reflected in the score line. Grant now responded by switching to 442 and (extremely belatedly) bringing on Joe Cole. The pattern of play changed little however, such had been the monotony of the Chelsea attack for over 90 minutes they seemed incapable of finding a different route to goal and continued to seek Drogba from the other side of the pitch. Ramos countered quickly by bringing on a third, large central defender and going 532.
Initially it seemed that it was a move which would invite the incessant pressure that Chelsea would surely seek to exert and to a certain extent it did however given the unchanging angle of attack and the extra, aerially dominant Kaboul, it was a pressure that never became suffocating. Additionally, Berbatov was used in the lone attacking role supported by the still energetic Lennon and with the incredible ability of Jenas to keep running the length of the field long after others have expired, Tottenham were not without outlets to ease the pressure.
So Chelsea who started in first gear were never allowed to get out of it and could not reply to the perpetual endeavour, class and strategic intelligence of a Tottenham team who might perhaps have won the match earlier and more easily. For a first final of the new regime and all but one of these players though, it served its purpose as a precedent of achievement, a statement of intent and mantelpiece filler.
Tottenham, with barely two days to prepare came from behind to dominate against one of the most dominant teams of the era and win the Carling Cup after 120 minutes. It was far from a beautiful display of football but finals between two top teams seldom are such is the mutual fear top class attacking talent engenders in opposing strategies.
This episode of the attacking mentality versus the defensive had a happy ending for lovers of the aesthetic game and the belated rise of Levy’s Tottenham may finally see the elimination of the defensive era that Chelsea profited in.
It is amusing to note how increasingly frequent it is to hear that Tottenham’s opponents did not perform or were not at their best. Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea; it seems that the top teams no longer perform against London’s third team. This is a cry that may be heard less and less as results and performances as good and better as the final triumph become common place.
Certainly the pure talent at White Hart Lane has the potential to form a great team. The defence and attack already comprise four world class players in King, Woodgate, Keane and Berbatov and the two young fullbacks, Hutton and Bale have all the hallmarks. Lennon and Jenas will have long, successful careers if their upward curves continue and they form eight of a first eleven that stand up with the best that Europe has to offer.
They needed belief though. To know that beating the best on the biggest stage was not just in their power but in their expectations. The man that gave that expectation to them compliments his ability to build a great team ethic with analytical and tactical brilliance; this promises to take the core group of players to the highest echelon of European football. Add to that the magnificent support and a club whose innate identity is infused with cup tradition and glory and Tottenham Hotspur should soon return to where such an illustrious history of players, football style and achievement belongs.
Such a future is still precarious though. Some of it sits heavily on the oft-slumped shoulders of a Bulgarian who forms the fulcrum of such a potent attack. But maybe we do not have to worry too much.
As the final whistle went and their achievement began to sink in, a tearful Robbie Keane thrust his way through his delirious team mates and sought out his striking partner, Dimitar Berbatov. As the two hugged in an embrace that spoke volumes for how much their on-field chemistry is mirrored by a genuine affection off it, you could not help but wonder if Berbatov himself is beginning to realise, just as Keane did, that there are some things greater than money, serial winning and global acclaim; things that are whispered in the halls and stands of this magical club which are wakened when style and ambition collide.
He, his team mates, the fans and this famous club had tasted a slice of delicious, Tottenham-brand glory.
It is a taste that whets the appetite.
Brilliant article. May its prophecy come true for the sake of the most faithful of all football fans the world over.
I agree, Fantastic article, the sleeping giant is slowly awakening
dude great review, fantastic i’ve watched the game several times over and everything you say is spot on. i dont expect us to win every game, i dont expect us to play brillant football every time but i excpect and demand teams to respect us, to take us seriously, to not turn up at our manor expecting an easy game but above all to tremble with fear whenever the MIGHTY spurs turn on their patch knowing full well they must bring their A-game.
COYS COYS COYS to dare is to do
Ge
Great review, thank you.
The final was like a chess match, intriguing. Spurs deserved it.
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Love the review - spot on!
Sunday was an amazing day for the club. We have started a new era. Hopefully next season, if not already, all these statistics thrown about by pundits about us playing and losing to the big four will be forgotten and a new Ramos Revolution can begin in earnest.
COYS
This is just an insight to whats tottenham is all about and if this article whitch clearly highlights and reflects our team, Back room staff and intenligence of our masia(ramos) does not so however place fear into eyes of fans of the “Big top Four” then the only way to prove it will to outplay them once again on big stages such as the cup final ! hopefully then they will learn there are bigger clubs outside the top four and amongnst them surely the most largest TOTTENHAM.!
COYS!