Match Report: Spurs 3 Norwich City 0 (what a Sunday, in more ways than one!)
Match Report: Spurs 3 Norwich City 0 (what a Sunday, in more ways than one!) The Sunday started off cold and ended in a disaster (but more on that later).…
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The Sunday started off cold and ended in a disaster (but more on that later).
I had no heating at home and water on the floor because I had problems with my radiator, but still, I left at 8 in the morning and arrived at 10am at the Tottenham stadium. All good so far (well, apart from my trickle/ leak). This time, there was no Mel, as he had a prior engagement and couldn’t get out of it… so it was just me, myself and I. And trust me, you can get a good conversation by yourself… the psychiatrist does her part (lovely girl, that Bertha) by giving me the correct dose of medication, and you become… anyway, back to the day in hand and the real world.
So arrived, went to the Spurs shop (it has become a tradition for over 60 years plus… they must have got a fortune out of me, probably enough to have paid for the stadium toilets!) and then waited for the witching hour and through the sliding doors at our stadium entrance, got my programme and up to two flights of escalators. Once there, I got something to eat and a pint. Terry and Janet turned up, and the others followed… and the lovely Shannyn (she used to look after us in Premium before being promoted) gave us a visit. A lovely girl!
As we are entitled to as much food as we want, it wouldn’t be amiss not to take a few more portions (just to warm the stomach lining to keep away the cold!). Terry purchased a bottle of Malbec, which helped everything go down. Then to the talking point… how will we do against lowly Norwich Titty. Yes, these brave souls are taking on relegation battles.
In my Match preview, I predicted 4-1 with a Kane hattrick, and as we all know, that didn’t happen, but we still won comfortably.
An outstanding goal by Lucas Moura helped propel us to victory over bottom club Norwich Titty. Antonio Conte had said we faced a season of “hard work” despite moving to within two points of a top-four spot with a third successive Premier League win. So under Conte, we’ve drawn against Everton and beaten Leeds United, Brentford and now Norwich City. In the Europa Conference, we beat Vitesse; the only blemish on Conte’s record was a humiliating defeat at the hands of NS Mura. That was fucking humiliating… However, Conte isn’t getting carried away after taking 10 points from our first four league games, and rightly so. Those teams are all struggling at the wrong end of the table. In a couple of weeks, we’ve got Liverpool, and that will be a tester. Before that, we’ve got our last game in our group stage of the Europa Conference League, which we must win. Then Brighton and Leicester away.
Conte commented after the match, “We have to build a solid base and a good foundation if we want to try to be competitive in the future and fight for something important. I know for Tottenham, it will be a season of work. Hard work.”
Moura opened the scoring brilliantly by finding the top corner from 25 yards following a move in which he beat two opposition players and then played a one-two with Son. As for Norwich, well, they should have gone ahead when Teemu Pukki fired straight at our goalkeeper before Moura scored his first Premier League goal since February. Then surprise, surprise Davinson Sanchez, yes him (often criticised by the fans) doubled our lead by lashing home as City failed to deal with a corner before Son made it 3-0 with a neat finish. To be honest, we should have got more.
Thoughts/ analysing
At 1-0, Kane missed a chance to score when he spotted Tim Krul off his line, but he lobed over the keeper, which fell wide of the target. Overall I thought we did well, considering the opposition, however, this all helps Conte tactically build our ramshackle team he inherited, as we move closer to the January transfer window. Before all that, as I said, we face Liverpool on the 19 December (Sunday). After that, and before Christmas, we’ve got the Spammers, and then Santa Clause comes down our chimney and rings our bells, all for the pleasure of a mince pie and a glass of milk. Trust me, Big Bertha would have settled for a lot less.
So, where does that lead everybody? The flying Canaries are fluttering in the relegation RedZone and are three points from safety after their first defeat under Dean Smith. Newcastle and Burnley are bedfellows with them.
We were drifting in eighth spot in the table when Santa (no clause, but Nuno) was sacked last month, but are now two points off a Champions League spot with a game in hand (yippee!) after we leapfrogging the Gooners (another yippee!). But we’ve still got a long way to go before we can talk ourselves up alongside Liverpool, Chelsea and City. We are a work in progress, as they say.
We were very fortunate not to concede, notably when the defence opened up to allow Idah a chance he failed to take. The likes of Liverpool, City and the Russians would never have missed such an opportunity.
Although Conte knows there is plenty of awkward work ahead, at least we are building impetus and re-experiencing the habit of winning games.
Kane
His lack of goals remains a talking point; Son is flourishing under Conte after finishing the game with a goal and an assist. Personally, I think Kane should have been sold in the summer. He is 28, and we should have been looking forward to the future, not backwards. But it is what it is!
As for Son’s performance, Conte commented, “I think he scored an amazing goal, but he has the quality to score more goals – and he has to score more goals in the rest of the season.”
All well and good (overall), but as I said, a long way to go, and we haven’t really played against anybody significant in the Premier League. But I feel that the longer Conte has with the squad, we should limp on and see what magic Levy and co can conjure up for Conte In the January Transfer window?
As for my disaster; after the game, we went into the Premium lounge for a wind-down (it is traumatic watching Spurs nowadays), then I got a phone call from my daughter (she pops in to check on my dog) to say that the house was flooded (Ok, a bit dramatic; bathroom and downstairs ceiling and the carpet was soaked). So you can imagine what I went home to. Monday morning John Lewis (who fitted the bathroom) came around to sort out the problems. The story is still ongoing.
The next game will be against Rennes on Thursday and Brighton on Sunday.
COYS!
Glenn
