Game Recap- Seville 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur

By: Lucas | April 5th, 2007

That was fucking terrible. I usually hate it when people say this, but i can legitimately say that I am embarrassed to be a football fan. Who knew that winning calls from the referee was simply a matter of gesticulating wildly? Moreover, who knew that it’s a penalty when the goalie dives out to grab the ball? Ugh.

I wouldn’t have as much of an issue with the abysmal game called by the referee if Spurs had played in any manner suggesting that they had male genitalia. You give up an equalizer and then pussyfoot around for the rest of the game? Weak. (Also terrible, by the way, was the obvious lack of knowledge about the teams shown by the announcer, who insisted on calling Michael Dawson “Matt” throughout the game. The guy’s a fucking English international, he was all over the pitch today, and you can’t get his name right? Come on.)

Also poor were Martin Jol’s tactics- I’ve been wondering when he would fuck the team next, and he pulled it off magnificently tonight. I understand the importance of not giving up another goal, obviously, but in a game when we were obviously being outplayed, why not at the very least use all our substitutions? In the waning moments of the game, as Robbie Keane was obviously tiring, and nobody was attacking the box on set-pieces and crosses, why not put in Jermain Defoe? It doesn’t hurt, you know, to switch a forward for a forward. Nobody should be surprised when Defoe leaves this summer for Aston Villa or worse, Chelsea.

Dawson, it should be noted, was marvelous throughout the game, with his only misstep, unfortunately, leading to that ridiculous penalty. What is it, exactly, that Rio Ferdinand does that Dawson doesn’t? The only center halves I’ve seen this season that have been definitively better have been John Terry and Kolo Toure- would it really be that painful for Steve McLaren to give Dawson a shot? Apparently, yes, it would be, as Dawson wasn’t even in the squad for the last set of Euro 2008 qualifiers.

I can’t help thinking that this is a team that will be much better when Ledley King comes back- and he’ll be back soon, apparently for the match against the scum. There’s a certain something missing from the mentality, the kind of thing that having a real leader on the pitch really helps. And Robbie Keane, for all his abilities, is not a captain. Dawson, perhaps, should be skippering the team in King’s stead, but it would pretty fucked up to take that away from Keane at this point.

It occurred to me, by the way, that perhaps Berbatov needs a rest- but how can you rest him against Chelsea? Fuck.

Despite the poor performance, we are only down one goal on aggregate, and we have that bitchin’ away goal. We’ll see how the shit goes when we get them at the Lane. COYS!