WBA 1-3 Tottenham Hotspur F.C.

match text commentary





this match represented the extent to which the barclay's premier league can be cruel for those who have yet to establish themselves as regulars in the competition. while the final scoreline was testament to the individual skills in the tottenham side, it was flattering to the londoners and left me feeling much like i did after last season's early 1-0 loss at anfield. how can a team play this well and still get beaten?

so far this season, the baggies have made a habit of scoring goals before the game has had any chance to settle, and this encounter with spurs was no different. on pretty much the first attack of the match, youssouf mulumbu opened his account for the season with a goal just on 9 minutes. finding space between two tottenham central defenders - and directly in front of goal - the congolese midfielder rose to meet stephen reid's brilliantly placed cross from deep on the right wing and headed the albion into the lead with spurs keeper, brad friedel, left with no chance.





with 21 minutes of the match gone, disaster struck for the albion as zoltan gera, who had been instrumental in the first goal, turned awkwardly while chasing a ball deep in spurs' half and badly injured his knee. subsequent tests showed that it was serious enough an injury that the hungarian international won't be back this season, to the huge disappointment of baggies supporters everywhere. over the three games he had played since returning to the hawthorns, he has formed the best partnership of anyone yet with striker shane long, and will have to be considered a catastrophic miss to the team.

despite being the better side right through the first half there were at least two game changing decisions that went against the baggies in the first half hour. the first, and perhaps most important of these decisions, was a penalty call that helped put spurs on even terms at 1-1.





i'm not sure how much there was in the challenge, but nicky shorey was adjudged to have brought down aaron lennon in the box. emmanuel adabayor stepped up and delivered what was a really poor spot-kick which was initially saved by ben foster. however, the albion goalie wasn't able to get up quickly enough, nor get quite enough of the ball, to keep out adabayor's follow up.

it was harsh not only on the baggies, but i found it hard to tell if the foul was for a high arm or for an incidental trip. in fact, after having viewed the replay, it was hard to tell whether shorey had committed a foul at all. in addition, there was precious little difference between this incident and jerome thomas going down in the spurs' penalty area on a run that had tottenham defender, kyle walker, similarly turned and beaten ten minutes later, but which wasn't called.

perhaps the most contentious moment of the match, for me, was when brad friedel, after having pulled down a high looping ball coming in at goal - appeared to have turned in and walked the ball over the line. the referee signalled that it was a goal and a slow buzz started to mount around the hawthorns, as it was pretty obvious that the spurs' keeper, while trying to avoid the challenge of gareth mcauley, had indeed taken the ball over the line. for a moment everyone thought that the baggies had gone back into the lead. but the score was chalked off and the breaking cheers died down quickly when the ref deferred to the linesman who had signalled for a foul by mcauley on friedel. however, it wasn't apparent that the american keeper had been fouled, and the linesman's call seemed late in coming.

what i found interesting was how this passage of play - and its obvious controversy - was left out of any highlights that i encountered both on TV and online. nor was it mentioned on any of the radio news i listened to or any of the text reports i read.





while the baggies were the better team over the first 50 minutes, and simon cox probably should have scored in around the 51st minute from a free header in front of goal, tottenham responded immediately and dominated the attacking play from then on out.

jermain defoe made the first of a pair of dazzling solo runs from the middle of the park to cause havoc for the albion backline. despite having to take the ball to the bi-line after being driven wide and away from goal by the albion defenders, the diminutive striker's pace and skill pulled ben foster completely out of position, and if he'd been able to pull the ball back for a team-mate inside the box, tottenham would've almost certainly scored.

to their credit, the baggies defended well and with 9 minutes left to go, it was distinctly beginning to feel like a draw.

however, in the 81st minute jermain defoe made a second solo run out of midfield and with jonas olsson backing off, trying not to give the tottenham striker any room to shoot, defoe found the extra yard he needed by cutting a step to the inside just at the top of the box. the pacey striker finished with a low and accurate long-range strike which went just beyond the reach of ben foster to score what would ultimately be the winning goal.

emmanuel adabayor scored a somewhat scruffy late goal on the counter-attack to give the scoreline its gloss.

one of the troubles with playing in the premier league is that the albion can play as well as this and still not get a result. this is the third match of the season against top 5 opposition where it could be said that the baggies will probably play worse than this in a few matches this season and still manage to take all 3 points. it's all too common a feature of life in the top-flight for west bromwich albion.

i am anxious to see how roy hadgson manages the situation with zoltan gera gone - and especially with a critical run of three matches coming up, starting with a visit to loftus road on saturday. once again, the veteran manager has both need and opportunity to show that he knows how to earn his money.