MANSION

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Spurs Whack Dons

It seems that it is obligatory to have a biting related headline this morning, such as “Defoe devours Dons” or “Spurs sink teeth into Dons” etc, etc. The Waddler has opted for the Godfather-esque route that most of the lazy hacks would have opted for had little Jermain not gone for an early dinner on Sunday. It was the score line that was wanted, and it was ideal for the strikers as all three that played scored, and it means that all have put the ball in the net during the last week, leaving plenty of selection headaches for Big Martin Jol on Saturday.

The line-up picked showed the strength of the squad Spurs have assembled as BMJ went for his B team. You can make a case for the entire line up being replaced for a more important match given a fully fit squad. For last night’s line up of Cerny, Stalteri, Davenport, Gardner, Ziegler, Ghaly, Davids, Huddlestone, Murphy, Mido, Defoe you could replace each one with a more likely first team member: Robinson, Chimbonda, King, Dawson, BAE, Lennon, Jenas, Zokora, Malbranque, Berbatov, Keane. That’s assuming you prefer Keane to Defoe, but the message is clear, Spurs have strength in depth these days, and that is without mentioning YP-Lee or Tainio.

MK Dons certainly matched Spurs in the first half, and there were one or two moments early on where the memories of Grimsby came flooding back. This time though Spurs held firm and class told in the end, as we were able to put the ball in the back of the net. The first goal emphasised the importance of wide players as Ziegler whipped in a perfect cross that Mido steered into the net with ease. Defoe then followed with a chip over the keeper and in the second half latched on to a lovely Huddlestone pass. He then set about going for a hat-trick, ignoring his team-mates along the way and one of his attempts re-bounded to Mido who slotted in it. The evening was rounded off well by Robbie Keane who finally scored in a one-on-one situation, slipping the ball through the on-rushing keeper’s legs.

The draw has also been kind to Spurs with Port Vale at home coming out of the hat for the fourth round. It looks then as if Spurs will find themselves in the quarter-finals without having to do much at all. That’s how we like it!

The Waddler.