Agreed. Not very impressed with VdV so far, first game back in what is essentially a friendly and he is still getting angry. Just keep giving the ball to Bale
Bale looks to have the bit between his teeth, thats for sure. Best Spurs player on show by a country mile.
Haha love how commentator is ripping into Pav. He seemed to be making more of an effort earlier but has been pretty bad overall. Never thought I'd be saying Crouch has been our most effective striker today.
My one-word summation of this match? Rusty They look like they haven't played for a while for sure. That being said, Bale has looked pretty decent on his return from injury
I only saw part of the second half. Apart from a couple of efforts by Bale, which were well saved, our "strikers" looked like they could be out there for days, without scoring. Then, inevitably, we got hit on the break. 1-0 game over!
http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/new...edium=social-media&utm_campaign=report-160711 Kaizer Chiefs scored a dramatic late goal to win the first match of the Vodacom Challenge in Polokwane on Saturday. George Lebese struck in the second of three minutes added time to send the home crowd into raptures at the Peter Mokaba Stadium. Lebese will get the glory but the Chiefs' real hero was goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune, who somehow kept out efforts from Peter Crouch and Gareth Bale in the second half. We looked the more likely winners with Bale in flying form in the second half but Chiefs broke away from our corner and with a man over, substitute Lebese finished from close range. As expected, Chiefs provided a real test in our first pre-season friendly. The match started at a high tempo and Khune had to be on his toes to deny Keane in the fourth minute. Siphiwe Tsahbalala - who famously scored the first goal of last summer's World Cup for South Africa against Mexico - flashed a shot wide 10 minutes later and Niko Kranjcar went even closer at the other end, firing a yard wide with Khune scrambling. We got into some decent attacking positions but couldn't create that clear-cut chance. David Bentley's cross from the right was just too far in front of Keane and Defoe and then Assou-Ekotto, released by Jenas, cut the ball back just behind the front two. However, Chiefs gave as good as they got and carved out the best two chances. The first arrived on 31 minutes when Carlo Cudicni got down low to parry Josta Dladla's shot, only to see Lehlohonolo Majoro bearing down on the rebound - but the striker placed his side-foot wide. Five minutes later and Kaizer Mataung Jnr won possession from Alan Hutton and fizzed in a cross to the near post that Majoro met but somehow angled his header over from six yards. We made seven substitutions at half-time. Vedran Corluka and Younes Kaboul replaced Hutton and Michael Dawson at the back, Aaron Lennon, Rafa van der Vaart and Bale came on for Bentley, Tom Huddlestone and Kranjcar while PCrouch and Roman Pavlyuchenko took over from Defoe and Keane up front. Majoro had another chance this time turned around by Cudicini at the near post and van der Vaart was straight into the action from his central role, drilling a 25-yarder at Khune. Bale's influence on the game grew by the minute and he carved out our best chance when his cross was met by a textbook downward header from Crouch only for Khune to get down and claw out from his goalline. Van der Vaart curled a free-kick just over and Bale, seemingly caught between a cross and shot, angled his effort just over. The match was bubbling to quite a finale. Lebese lashed just wide, Bale went even closer from 25 yards and he then looked certain to score in the 90th minute, playing a one-two with van der Vaart and connecting sweetly with a volley that Khune tipped wide. Then the drama. The corner was cleared, Chiefs broke quickly and suddenly Lebese had the game at his mercy and made no mistake from 12 yards. Next up it's South African PSL champions Orlando Pirates at the Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit, on Tuesday. Kaizer Chiefs (4-1-3-2): Khune; Tau, Isaacs (Mashamaite, 64), Sweswe, Jambo; Nengomasha; Letsholonyane (Lebese, 64), Dladla (Yende, 64), Tshabalala (Nale, 64); Mataung (Musona, 64), Majoro (Mateba, 64). Spurs (4-4-2): Cudicini; Hutton (Corluka, 46), Bassong (Khumalo, 74), Dawson (Kaboul, 46), Assou-Ekotto; Bentley (Lennon, 46), Huddlestone (van der Vaart, 46), Jenas, Kranjcar (Bale, 46); Keane (Pavlyuchenko, 46), Defoe (Crouch, 46). Subs: Friedel, Naughton.
We were a better team in the second half, but we couldn't have been worse to be honest. Even though its the first pre-season game, it must be said that the players (with notable exceptions) were exceedingly poor, distribution was woeful, and we played with no urgency, no class, no imagination. This is exactly what Modric brings to the table, I'm afraid (and I don't want to turn this into another Modric article BTW) Anyhoo. Second half ratings Corluka - 6, an improvement on Hutton defensively, and shows a bit of understanding of Lennon Kaboul - 6, an improvement on Bassong, but not by much, rusty Lennon - 6, ever the speedster, caused more problems in 5 minutes on the pitch than Bentley did in 45 Van der Vaart - 7, still a class act, but is easily frustrated and needs to focus his emotions in these sorts of games Bale - 8, without him on the pitch, I may well have turned off the game Crouch - 6, one chance of note on target, held the ball up, but still Peter you're a striker, come on... Pavlyuchenko - 6, wayward but put a shift in (no matter what the commentator may have said) and was at least willing to have a pop at goal, even though it wasn't always the correct choice. All in all, save a few moments of light, we were dire in the second half but that was still an improvement on the first when we were diarrhoea oops, I forgot one: Khumalo - 3, Mbulelo Mabizela the sequel
