Sun 4 Nov 2001

Leeds United 2 Spurs 1

Martyn 7 - Quite a quiet game really. Had no chance with Poyet's
thunderbolt from 3km out. Why Hoddle thought Spurs were the better team
when Martyn was a virtual spectator compared to the overworked Scottish
No.1 Sullivan, defeats me.

Mills 7.5 - You know what you get with Danny these days. He's hard, he's
fast, he's bald. Not much class but he's as solid a fullback as you can
expect to get at this level. A vast improvement on last season. Didn't
give Ziege any real chance to get forward and made some good advances
himself.

Harte 7 - As bad as a defender as he is - he doesn't half pop up with
vital goals. I was interested in reading today that one year Sir Alex -
as a psychological game - told his squad that he had the names of 6
players in an envelope of whom he was worried about. He said he would
open it at the end of the season. Man U won the double. If O'Leary had
an envelope then Harte's name would be in it (six times). Today he
scored a great goal and we rightly forgot his couple of defensive
lapses.

Ferdinand 7.5 This lad is class. He can play it on the deck and is no
mean defender in the air. Uncle Les and Teddy are a handful and Rio
coped admirably. Still only 22 but Rio is as a complete a central
defender as I've ever seen in my days of watching the Whites.

Matteo 7.5 - the perfect partner for Rio. The 2 of them have a good
understanding and look very, very solid. Both had good games today.

Bowyer 7 - Went off injured early on but was starting to make some great
runs when his nose fell off. Missed a couple of chances and seemed to be
drawn into the middle too much. His departure allowed Seth Johnson to
make his debut. The tinderbox had been lit....

Johnson 9 (sub for Bowyer) - what a debut ! 9 might be a tad high but he
showed no nerves and slotted into the game with ease. I was amazed at
the power of this lad. He looks related to Millsey in both
slapheadedness and in strength. He reminded me of Batty 10 years ago. He
is raw but has amazing speed and agility in the tackle. When he won the
ball he played it early, he played it forward and he played it
accurately. If anyone had doubts about this guy then forget them. He is
excellent. On the downside he is ugly and will get lots of bookings.
This signing spells the end of Stephen McPhail - power and pace is part
of the modern game and McFrail has neither. Jacob Burns - pack your
bags.

Dacourt 7.5 Had a real fight in the middle today and he helped Leeds win
the midfield for long periods and force Spurs back. This was no mean
feat as Tottenham were one of the biggest and most menacing looking
teams I've seen in a long while. Went off for Batty with 10 to go...

Batty 7 (on for Ollie) started where Ollie left off. A great sub to
bring on although I'd much rather he started than Bakke. Had a shot
which had it not been blocked may well have gone in and taken the net
with it. That would have been his first goal for 396 years.

Bakke 7 - a real enigma. One minute useless, the next sublime. O'Leary,
rightly or wrongly, has decided to invest some time in Eirik this
season. He's getting an extended run in the team and hopefully he will
mature into an excellent player. He needs to be more consistent but
today I thought he played pretty well. All O'Leary's man management
skills need to be used on this lad to convince him that he IS actually
good enough. Eirik still seems unsure.

Kewell 7.5 - Thankfully he seems to have abandoned his obsession for
dribbling the ball 'til he's lost it. Much better team player today and
really worked hard at times. His pace and presence made the 2nd goal out
of nothing. We'll miss H in the next few weeks without a doubt.

Keane 7 - his name suggests it all. When he was substituted he was
Robbie Livid. He had every reason to be. His shinpads flung out of the
dugout in a fit of rage. On the park he ran about like a hot tin roof on
a cat ! Missed a one-on-one 2nd half but his movement caused havoc in
the Spurs defence at times. His was replaced by the young and charming
Mr.Smith.....

Smith 10 - well I never. If England ever wanted a centre forward to play
with Michael Owen then we have one here. What a star this lad is. Its
not easy to judge a player on 20 minutes but the effort he put into this
period and the fear and uncertainty he put into the minds of the Spurs
defence was devastating. All of a sudden Robbie Livid went to Robbie Oh-
shit-i'll-never-get-in-the-team-when-Smiffy's-fully-fit. Unless...

Viduka 7 - In Mark Viduka we have the strongest centre-forward in the
Premier League. We also have one of the best hold-up players in the
league. He also possesses an abundance of neat turns and flicks. If only
we could utilise these positive attributes in more dangerous areas of
the field (i.e in their box) then we would have a prolific striker. At
the moment The BIG MAN does all his best work near the half way line and
with his back to goal. This was certainly one of Fatty's better all
round wasteline displays but there is still something missing. I was
pleased with his lack of movement in the 1st half as he blocked the
midday sun streaming into the Kop's eyes.

All in all an excellent performance against a very big, strong and well
organised Spurs team. Once Spurs took a shock lead early in the 2nd half
Leeds' tempo was upped to frightening level. Spurs were blown away and
Harte's 15 yard strike was scant reward for our play. The ball pinged
off the post then off Sullivan and into the net. The winner came as
Smith had scared the life out of Perry and Co. and Kewell nipped in on a
short backpass and tucked it home. Oh how we rejoiced.

It was no more than we deserved and Hoddle blaming 2 poor defensive
lapses must realise that when pressure is applied in abundance to
defences they are liable to crack. They cracked and cacked it.

Seth Johnson you are a god.

Alan Smith you are THE God.

--
stotty

http://www.astott.demon.co.uk

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