Tottenham Hotspur 4-0 West Ham United

[funster]

"Four-nil, we're gonna lose four-nil!" sang the Irons supporters gathered at White Hart Lane yesterday. At that stage, early in the second half, they were already two-nil and a man down and looked to have little chance of recovering anything from the game. How right they were though!

Ha ha ha ha ha! Much as I refrain from laughing at others misfortune, West Ham really were not very good yesterday. Spurs were quite good. Not great. Certainly not a performance of the calibre against (say) the Arsehole or ManUre or Chelsea, but good enough, and against a side low on confidence and playing poorly that's all that was required.

Ramos put out what was to my mind a surprisingly strong squad. No doubt the defeats against the Brum and PSV, particularly the manner of those defeats, strengthened the resolve that a little proof was needed. Proof that we hadn't jacked in the season after the League Cup win.

Early in the game it was a bit close to call and the Irons should really have taken the lead after Robbo failed to take a Dean Ashton shot cleanly. It was a decent enough strike, but he really should've held it. Instead the ball fell loose and as Dawson threw himself at it on the six yard line, Robbo got down to block once, then twice and West Ham finally fired a deflected shot over the bar. It actually came off Boa Morte - more on him later - so why the ref gave a corner was beyond us all! A lax bit of goalkeeping, although he did make up for it with two very good blocks, moving much, much more quickly than I thought he could!

Not long after we were a goal up. The trend of scoring early had taken a bit of a battering lately, but we got back on track with Berbatov squeezing a superb header into the bottom corner from a lovely, flattish delivery by Huddlestone. It was a really good goal. Scoring from a set piece. Who'd have thought that was possible even six months ago?!

Just as the ball hit the back of the next the Irons fans had started singing "Stand up if you hate Tottenham". Ha! That shut them up, and more was to come soon after.

Ten minutes on the clock and it was two-nil. While the previous goal had come from a free kick on the right, the second came from one on the left. Another good delivery from Huddlestone, slightly more loft on the ball this time, and an equally (maybe even better) header from Berbatov, guiding the ball into the same side of the net.

Can't ask for too much more really. Two-nil up with ten minutes on the clock. I'd said to my sister that if we scored early we would have every chance of running up a decent scoreline. Given West Ham had been done four-nil in both their previous games their confidence can't have been good and a goal early on would do nothing to help that. Two goals? Even better!

The flow of the game was dictated by us. It looked like the squad had been jolted into life by the last two results. Probably more a factor of the management team giving them what for after two performances that really weren't of an acceptable level.

We could've added to the scoreline but there probably weren't any other chances in the half quite as well worked or as clearcut as the two we scored from. Sadly, Huddlestone's delivery from set pieces, corners in particular, went downhill. At least he got his two good ones in early!

What of West Ham? Well, while they attempted to channel a few things through Ljunberg on the right, they were quite limited really. Ashton, strong though he is, wasn't particularly mobile - no real surprises there - and they couldn't really get to grips with us in midfield. Defensively? Well, they conceded two from two set pieces so that says quite a lot.

Let's move, then, to Luis Boa Morte. What a dirty little b$£&^%d he is. It didn't take long for him to get involved. Nasty, niggly little tackles, mouthy to all around, including the officials. The only surprise was he stayed on for as long as he did. Having already picked up a yellow for a foul on Huddlestone, he then proceeded to hack down Berbatov. The ref waved that one on after about 35 minutes. It didn't take much longer before he was at it again, this time kicking Lennon up in the air with a very poor tackle (that's the kindest way to describe it) on the right side. Marching orders duly issued. Not sure anybody on the West Ham side of the fence could have had any complaints. I think Lennon looked genuinely shocked at what Boa Morte had just attempted! Anybody who's watched the replays will know what I mean.

You could question Curbishley for having left him on that long. It was really shaping up for a red card long before he actually picked up the second booking. Maybe he should've sub'd him after the Berbatov tackle. Maybe he should've pulled him over to the touchline and had a word. In reality though he's a professional footballer (although you could doubt that based on yesterday's performance) and should know better than to clatter into opposition players having already been booked with only five minutes or so of the half remaining.

Two down, a man down, effectively game over.

The second half followed much the same tempo and direction. Spurs in control, West Ham with the odd break here and there. They did threaten once or twice when a few defensive frailties were exposed. Most notable was Steed getting caught in possession on the edge of our box - where have we seen that before in the last week?! - when dwelling a bit too much. Clearly still plenty of room for improvement.

It was interesting to hear some of the West Ham chants during the second half. Leave aside the four-nil one I've already mentioned, I couldn't really work out who they were targeting the ones about "Sacked in the morning" at. Curbishley perhaps? They're not a happy bunch right now! Can't say I blame them either.

The best chance of the half prior to the our final two goals fell to Huddlestone who, with typical ease, belted one just over the bar first time from the edge of the box. Bloody hell! He really does have a shot on him.

Oh yeah, my wish to see Berbatov take a free kick also came true. Sadly he blazed high over the bar. More work required there!

The third goal when it did come was very well worked. Progress down the left from Chimbonda, a low ball angled into the box, dummy from Lennon, lovely bit of work by Gilberto (who'd been introduced at left wing rather than left back - less chance of getting caught and conceding!) and he fired into the far corner having turned neatly. At first I thought it was Darren Bent! Oops!

Still, didn't take long for him to get on the scoresheet either. At three-nil and with minutes left, the West Ham fans were departing in large numbers, but there was still time for us to add a fourth. Strong running from Hutton down the right in acres of space - no surprises given they were down to ten men - and a superb cross, hanging in the air for Bent to bounce one in off his head, into the ground, and into the back of the net.

Four-nil! Come on!

That triggered Spurs chants of "Four-nil, you always lose four-nil!". Lovely stuff.

Game over, job done. This was a good, solid, strong performance against a West Ham side who are in a very poor run of form.

I was impressed with the level of effort and determination on display yesterday. Exactly what was needed to get us back on track after a couple of very poor performances, never mind the results.

Defensively we weren't really tested, but generally did OK. Got caught out once or twice - goalkeeping issues and people dawdling in possession - but Dawson looked confident enough on his return. My sister reckoned that Woodgate was limping a bit after a burst of pace in the second half that saw him run almost the length of the pitch on the right side and promptly saw him withdrawn. Got to hope he's OK for Wednesday. Hutton took no prisoners again. Like his attitude a lot. Chimbonda was reliable enough at left back, although when they were down to ten men it was frustrating losing momentum as he had to switch to his right peg to swing the ball in.

In the middle Zokora had his best game for a while. He is a bloody menace when he picks the ball up and runs with it. One particular run yesterday showed how good he can be with his acceleration. He beat four or five West Ham players easily although the end product, as is so often the case with him, was lacking. Huddlestone contributed well, even leaving the two lovely early free kicks aside, although his delivery quality declined as the game went on. Steed didn't get into the game quite as much as he has recently, but I put that down to Lennon looking like he really wanted to deliver yesterday.

Bloody hell! At last! He looked eager to receive the ball and run with it. OK, his delivery was still not at the level it needs to be, but he did run yesterday. It gives us another dimension and he needs to do it more often.

Up front, Keano was as energetic as ever, but Berbatov was a class apart. Like Lennon he looked bang up for it. This was a quality performance. Two super headers to give us a good early lead and his level of effort was right up there. In fact, I'd go as far as to say this was his best Spurs performance since Charlton away towards the end of last season. His first touch was sublime, his close control unparalleled, and he had no issues about throwing himself about to win tackles and, can you believe this? He even looked determined to come deep and win the ball when we weren't in possession! If he can deliver that kind of performance on Wednesday night we'll be a totally different proposition up front than last Thursday.

The subs? Well, Tainio got stuck in, Gilberto scored (although still looked off the pace), and Bent scored too! He did well to get to the ball first. In the little time he had on the pitch no more could be asked of him. He displayed a decent bit of pace and to win the race for the ball from Hutton's cross and direct it in..... well, if it hadn't been for some rather indifferent displays so far in his Spurs career, you could've said he had a good game!

The fact that West Ham were down to ten men for more than a half of football made a telling contribution too. While we didn't exploit the spaces too much in the minutes after Boa Morte's red card, we did so more and more as the second half went on. There were acres of space across midfield for us to exploit and a number of times it was embarrassing to see how much space the full backs and wingers had. No complaints though! Thanks very much Luis Boa Morte.

This was a good, solid performance and it gets us back on track in the Premier League. Exactly what was needed, but we shouldn't get carried away for a minute! The result is great. The scoreline fantastic. The real job comes on Wednesday though.

[yidno1]

Great report as usual old bean. did you see any of the in fighting between the inbred west spam supports in the stands around the 60th minute lol?

[funster]

Great report as usual old bean. did you see any of the in fighting between the inbred west spam supports in the stands around the 60th minute lol?

No. Ha ha ha! That's quality. Did see the police moving in in some numbers around that time. Funny.

[Essex Spurs]

Great report buddy.

[funster]

Cheers for the kind words all. Fingers crossed when I write my match report for tomorrow's game when I get back from Holland on Thursday there'll be a similarly positive tone!

Come on you Spurs!