Hearts vs Tottenham - A Stylish Performance from Spurs or Pathetic Opponents?

So the famous Tottenham Hotspur belatedly kicked off their season up in the Land where the Men wear Skirts and the Women look like Men ( Apologies to any Scottish readers who might have stumbled across this but given your natural hatred for all things English, we got to give a bit back right??).

I don’t know much about the Scottish Premier League, even though my brother in law is a Rangers fan. My knowledge is limited to Celtic and Rangers win everything and want to come to England and Aberdeen used to be good when Fergie was in charge. Oh yeah and of course it was Robbie Keane’s dream to play for Celtic, alongside his other boyhood clubs ( Wolves, Coventry, Liverpool, Inter Milan and the most recent addition LA Galaxy). But apart from that nada.As for yesterday’s opponents Heart of Mitholodian, all I really knew about them was being bemused by their name as a kid, when going through the Scottish section of the Panini sticker albums (remember them? ) and for buying the legend that is Dave Mackay from them.

I’m just about old enough to remember when Scottish football was still competitive, I even remember at some point getting upset because England lost to Scotland in a friendly and Spurs have a history of great Scottish players, from the likes of White, Brown and Mackay in the sixties side, through to Gilzean, Archibald and Gough before of course ending up with modern day legends Durie, Calderwood and Hutton (ok I jest about the last three but I did think Hutton would be amazing when he first joined). Even the first ever trophy we won, the FA Cup in 1901 (still the first and only non league side to win a major trophy of course) was dictated by the goals of our Scottish forward Sandy Brown, who scored in every round. So in many ways for a country that has played such a huge part in our illustrious history its a shame to say that Scottish football is now pure tripe. The SPL of course can’t compete with the Premiership in money terms but I never realised how utterly abysmal the teams were.

Yesterday I honestly expected that with a partisan crowd behind them and an unprepared and most likely disinterested Spurs facing them, Hearts would have the upper hand. Given Redknapp’s pathetic grievances over the Europa League I couldn’t see him even bothering to send out a decent team. Luckily I got all those predictions wrong. Spurs, for the opening thirty minutes, were exhilarating. It was a pleasure to watch. This is the way a Tottenham team should play. We invented the pass and move game in England, its our trademark and when Tottenham are in full flow , no one does it better. We were three up inside the opening half hour, with superb strikes from Rafa, JD and then Livermore with a great one two. The latter pleased me no end as Jake is a local lad, and its always good to see players with the club truly in their hearts prosper, especially when compared to a certain mercenary Croatian chasing the plastic. At the start of the second half Hearts gave a bit more of a performance and a few scares from corners until a great ball from Huddlestone set Bale free for an easy finish. Any nerves were then settled and a beautifully worked goal on the counter attack with Azza providing the finishing touch capped a good night’s work and setting next week’s second leg at the Lane up as what should be a formality . Mind you I’m Spurs and being Spurs means being a pessimist and if any football team anywhere in the world could find a way of throwing away a five goal first leg lead at home, its Spurs. A special mention for Nico, a player so criminally underused by Redknapp last season….he was superb in the centre of midfield, lets hope we don’t let him go and he gets more playing time this season.

However let’s not get too ahead of ourselves, Hearts were garbage. Could that team be competitive even in the Championship? I’d have my doubts…they also in the first half had a distinct lack of any fight. So any excitement and joy at the result should be tempered with the knowledge that far bigger and tougher challenges lay ahead. Not least in our very next game where we face Yoo-Nigh-Ted, who at this moment in time look comfortably the best team in England ( even without Vidic and Ferdinand). As an aside how ludicrous is it that the press are already on De Gea’s back and calling him a flop? No doubt he’ll make a few world class saves at crucial moments against us!

Anyway lets savour the result for now. Hopefully there will be some new faces in our ranks. I’m not too worried about the Modric situation, despite Harry’s best efforts to undermine his employers in public, I’m confident Levy won’t back down and Luka will be with us this season. If he is sold as well, it certainly won’t ever be to London’s fourth Club I’d hope

PLAYER RATINGS:

Gomes – 6 – Little to do, but did look a little shaky during the mini onslaught from Hearts at the start of the second half

Walker – 8 – Class, hopefully our first choice right back and England’s for a good few years to come

Dawson- 7- Matches like this are made for him

Kaboul – 7 – Again not massively tested but what he needed to deal with he dealt with well.

Benny – 8 – My new favourite player. So damn cool, that he almost had to be a Spurs player and such an asset at Left Back. And what a great guy as well. Honestly Benny if I was a bird I’d be mother to your children.

Lennon – 7- Showed again why we would be mad to get rid of him, lightening pace, lovely skill, and a great little finish for the fifth goal, a move he started and ended. It continues to bemuse me why Capello continues to pick that overrated no mark Walcott. All I can think of is that he’s deliberately trying to sabotage England.

Livermore -7 – Very good debut, marked with a well taken goal

Krancjar – 9 – Another one who was just born to be a Spurs player…with the untucked shirt, the rock star looks and the superb skill. By the way I am married to a lovely woman, before it sounds like I have a bit too much man love. Ran the show in the centre of midfield and hopefully will be utilised more this season

Bale – 7 – Whilst he did nothing spectacular, he was solid and patrolled the left flank well. Shows how far he has come where we expect something amazing from him every match

Van Der Vaart – 7 – Started like a house on fire, and linked up brilliantly well with JD. However the injury in pre-season seemed to catch up with him and he was fading in the second half and was rightly taken off.

Defoe – 8 – Great game from the little man. I refuse to lose faith in JD, whilst the quality of the opposition should be taken into account, he looked hungry again. Lets hope he can carry on with that form through the season.

Subs

Huddlestone – 7 – quite simply we need Tommy fit and firing. His absence last season was the key reason why we didn’t make the Champions League, even more than Redknapp just being a highly incompetent manager. Great through ball for the fourth goal and once he got into the game, made sure we regained a semblance of control when Heart’s physicality threatened, however briefly, to be getting on top of us.

Townsend – 7 – Good little cameo, eager to get on the ball, some great deliveries, and a lovely ball through to JD for the fifth goal.

Pav- n/a. Did nothing but he deserves a ten for the artwork on his arm and still managing to look like a girl.

Please find the original article in my Spurs blog The Glory Game