Went tonight (also went to Donny and Scunny) and found it a very surreal atmosphere. For cup games, we go a sit somewhere different and today we were in the Geoff Watling stand just behind the dug out. Was in touchline distance of Delia who had obviousness been on the sherry and TBH thank god as it it was not for her the atmosphere would have been dire! It was frankly embarrassing to out sung by about 3000 Spurs fans but credit to them. There has been much debate on the pricing and I tend to agree that they got it wrong tonight. £20 and the house would have been full. Did hear for the first time "there's only one Chrissy Hughton". The trouble was it was from the Spurs fans! The first half was a bit rubbish really. Neither side created much although Bale always looked threatening. Butterfield up front looked lively but never really went anywhere. I like Fox but he was Cliganesque (that will upset some!) tonight as the holding two left a big gap. Whittaker looked Ok and Bunn looked very solid. Can we please try Snodgrass on the left as he is LEFT footed!. That said he does deliver quality. Surman kept coming into the centre (as usual) but was OK. Morison again, same sort of performance we usually get if you do not get quality to him. Half time 0-0. Second half - continued much as the first with Spurs getting closer with Bunn making save after save but it was inevitable that Bale , who had looked dangerous all game,scored after cutting in from the left. Subs made the difference with Jackson, Holt and Tettey coming on. It lifted the crowd and City looked more up for it with Snodgrass again whipping the ball in when able. Two late goals from Tettey (although it deflected off a Spurs CB and a touch in by Jackson from a Snodgrass cross sent the home fans into a much more positive voice and the drama of a late penalty save by the excellent Bunn sent the home fans home happy. Bring on Villa!
Ratings Bunn 8 - good on the deck and in the air. Good penalty save and well worth MoM. Tierney 6 - solid but got caught out on occasion Turner 6 - solid R.Bennet 6 - solid Whittaker 6 - decent Cty debut Fox 6 - OK but did not create anything much Howson 6 - I did not really even know he was on the pitch for long periods of time! Buttefield 6 - Lively but tired Surman - 6 usual type of game Morison - 5 usual game. Snodgrass 7 - worked hard. Tettey 7 - great engine and broke up play Holt 6 - lifts the crowd Jackson 6 - nippy but first touch can let him down but he is a poacher!
Disagree with Snodgrass playing on Left, I don't feel he has the pace to beat defenders on that side, will probably get a lot more chances to deliver a cross on his left foot by cutting inside like he does. Think he is definitely most effective on the right hand side. I wasn't at the match, but interesting points. Wanted to see what people had to say about Butterfield and Whittaker.
Both were OK. Butterfield was lively but never really delivered anything. Looked a little tired when subbed but no one had a brilliance first half. Whittaker looked OK. A decent debut and would not be surprised if he was in on Saturday. Re Snodgrass, just now and then I would like to see him change flanks as staying on the right means the opposition left back shows him the outside all the time and often he does not deliver.
I would like to see Snodgrass big up the ball a bit deeper, give him more space to cut inside so the defender isn't showing him the outside. That's what I would do, would be interesting to see him on the left mind, Bennett on one side Snodgrass on the other.
Good result, deserved or otherwise and a home draw to Villa is the cherry on top If this one gets on to the TV I will make sure I watch it. Kind of gutted I am not in England now, would love to see this one live (and hopefully the semi's!)
Snodgrass delivers the ball OK but I don't see him challenging the incumbents on last nights peformance. Butterfield looked totally lost at times as if he hadn't been told what his role was. Mind you it was an awful midfield combo if you ask me. Couldn't for the life of me see why that formation was picked other than to give them all a game. Looked totally different as soon as Tettey came on. Bunn has to get MOTM even though his Superman impression didn't impress at all. And I thought Bennet looked half decent at CB and covered Tina fairly well.
i watched the match on a feed, so not easy to assess, but it was a much better result than performance! only really played well in the last ten minutes but take bale out of that spurs team and it would have been dead even - he was the real standout player, as you'd expect, but spurs put out a stronger side than we did so to get through has to be seen as a very good day at the office. bunn was certainly man of the match and for £750k i think we can now see he's a very good keeper and a bit of a bargain should anything untoward happen to ruddy. he looks like he can put pressure on the bug man for his place, that's for sure. i thought bennett and turner at the back looked a decent partnership. both were calm and assured. whittaker impressed though tierney not so much - understandable when up against bale though - some of the best full backs in the world have been made to look poor by him. snodgrass produced some top deliveries (for once) from set plays, he buzzed in and out of the game. disappointed by fox - gave the ball away a lot and was timid in the challenge - he's better than that but maybe we can see why he hasn't been involved in the first team so far based on that performance. howson i thought played very well so i can't understand your rating on that one. every time we broke forward he was the man at the heart of the move. butterfield was quiet but didn't get much of the ball to use really. he's got a lovely first touch and will get better. surman did ok. again, harsh on morison who did lots of running. should have scored when one-on-one but didn't have the pace to get away from walker (not many do). he held the ball up pretty well and put a couple of tantalising crosses into the box. again, he seems to get criticised cos he's not holt. the subs were the reason we won the game. all three made an impact and turned the game - tettey just gets better and better. he played one absolute beaut of a pass with his first touch. lucky with the goal but if you don't shoot you don't score. jackson played very well and made a big difference along with the big man holty. playing three up front for those last ten minutes won us the game and it was great to see hughton make such an attacking set of subs. hughton deserves more credit than anyone for that result. to make ten changes against a spurs side who although not at full strength either were clearly taking the competition seriously, and still come away with the win is a cracking result. villa next (inevitably). it gives us a realistic chance to make our first semi final in any competition since 1992! suddenly, norwich city look a decent side again. and we've got good strength in depth too
Pinched this from twitter, have a look at Bale's reaction when he sees who is coming on! please log in to view this image
Nice to see I have noticed quite a number of fans of some of the bigger teams do actually show a healthy respect for Holty as they have now seen what he can do to their defences. Very reassuring not all fans have such a blinkered view of him.
The two players I was looking to for a "statement" were Fox and Whittaker. Like superman, I thought Fox didn't really step up. Spurs' midfield was distinctly average, but Fox put in a pretty insipid display and I thought was at fault for Bale's goal. Whittaker on the other hand played pretty well and in the first half kept the lid on the Spurs wide men. I also thought Snodgrass tracked back pretty well to give more of a hand defensively, which tells me he is adapting his game. As supers has said, Snoddy's deliveries from set pieces were generally excellent. Howson's main problem is the role he is being asked to play; it was only when we went behind that he had the license to get further forward, and he started to look like his old self. But overall he played well IMO. Tierney was OK overall -- he was up against Bale a lot of the time. But I don't think he did anything to impress CH. On the contrary he wasted a good attacking situation with a needless shove in Walker's back -- the sort of thoughtlessness that CH hates.
Which just shows how media people are affected by, and play to, the slightest little bit of controversy. Since Goreham had commented on the earlier CC rounds, he would actually have seen as many if not more empty seats. What he "saw" was the result of his knowing about the ticketing row.
to be fair though, the crowd probably looked more sparse because the spurs end was full. i've seen that happen in other grounds which aren't full but have one stand, usually the away team, having lots. its a bit of an optical illusion
Bit harsh on Morison I feel. I thought that he and Bunn were the stand out players until the subs came on as he consistently kept their defence at a stretch with his directness and power. On an overall basis I fear that with Ward gone he will now become the ' can't do anything right ' player our supporters seem to need. Of the new faces I thought Whittaker was solid but I think people are being over generous to Butterfield because he is new. He was useless and achieved nothing. Bunn and Tettey ( when he came on ) were the main reasons we won but equally Spurs without Bale would have looked very ordinary.
