Tottenham Hotspur (1) 5 Eriksen 31,48 Janssen 51 (pen) Onomah 65 Lamela 68
Gillingham (0) 0
Attendance: 26,244
Entrance: £15 Senior
Programme: £3.50
Mileage: 120/2,811
Match Report
In past years FA Cup ties against the London giants have also seen Gillingham concede five goals, but each time I left the stadium feeling comfortable that they had done the best they could under the circumstances. In 2000 Chelsea put five past the Gills without reply in the sixth round of the FA Cup, but two goals in the last seven minutes gave a scoreline that didn't reflect the performance. Also, the Gillingham supporters were wallowing in the glory of a sixth round place for the first time. Two years later, and it was Arsenal at Highbury. Once again, five goals were conceded but nobody from Kent will ever forget the moment that Gillingham went 2-1 up and Arsene Wenger was forced to summon Thierry Henry and Robert Pires from the bench to rescue the situation.
I'm certainly not going down the road of some social media accusations of a lack of effort and I don't think any of the players should feel embarrassed at the performance but, even a Tottenham side with only five regular starters, exposed a gulf in class. In recent years, I haven't heard the probably outdated term "they ran rings round us" used but that is exactly what happened. A quick, accurate, short passing game from the middle of the park left me dizzy in the stands whilst our midfield just chased shadows.
In the first half, move after move in this fashion had only one ending, the ball at the feet of either Vincent Janssen, an £18 million pound signing from AZ Alkmaar, who couldn't hit a barn door from three yards or Lamela, who was similarly misfiring.
The chances continued to mount without troubling the scoreboard operator, by the time it got to double figures we gave up counting.
The principle criticism that can be levelled at Gillingham on the night was not that they allowed Tottenham to weave patterns of 15, 20 or more passes around them, but when the move foundered, they just gave the ball straight back to them and almost said have another go.
Gillingham suffered a bad start to the evening when goalkeeper Jonathan Bond, who made a great second minute to save to deny Christian Eriksen and Erik Lamela after ten minutes, went down injured and was unable to continue. The reception that substitute goalkeeper Stuart Nelson received from the travelling support bristled the hairs on the back of your neck.
Just as we started to dream of an unlikely journey to half-time without conceding, Eriksen cracked in a shot from 25 yards of which the movement of the ball appeared to beat Nelson as much as the pace.
In fairness to Janssen he was doing everything else but score. After 38 minutes he rounded Nelson only to see Deji Oshilaja clear from the line. Gillingham actually got a sight of the Tottenham goalposts just before the break but Jay Emmanuel Thomas' effort was in greater danger of clearing the stand than the goal. Never mind, considering the one-way traffic, it had been a monumental effort to get to the break just a goal in arrears. Having lulled our Premiership hosts into a false sense of security, we could take the game to them in the second period (half-time toilet humour).
Slightly more than five minutes into the second half the game was over as a contest as a superb passing move sent Eriksen through one-on-one to slot past Nelson and when Oshilaja brought down Kieron Trippier in the box, Eriksen passed up his hat-trick opportunity to offer Janssen the chance to do better from 12 yards with only the keeper to beat. This is duly did for his first Tottenham goal.
Two goals in two minutes from the 65th minute left me wondering whether the penultimate day of the cricket season might yield a cricket score. Joshua Onomah curled a shot past Nelson and Lamela also proved that he had a rough idea where the goal was when he shot into the bottom corner.
The chances were now arriving with such abandon there were far too many to list.
Those of you who know White Hart Lane would also know that it is a pig of a ground to get away from, so with 13 minutes remaining and Emmanuel Osadebe sending a shot into the night sky, we shamefully took our chance to depart the scene. I plead mercy for the crime by reason of the fact that I managed to catch a train home an hour earlier than I expected.
This is Tottenham's last season at White Hart Lane before it is demolished, with this phase underway with part of the North Stand already bulldozed. There is no doubt that it is long overdue. The stadium is outdated and tired with the stairways very close, in my opinion, to being a health and safety risk. The toilets at Priestfield (which are very good) are like the penthouse in the Savoy in comparison to those at Tottenham, which really can be classified as the bogs.
Outclassed on the field they might have been, but the near 3,000 Gillingham supporters who sang their hearts out throughout, were different class.
No comments:
Post a Comment