Bentaleb puts us 1-0 up against Arsenal at Underhill after 12 seconds of the restart after HT. Mini-Bale with the assist. Sounds like we dominated the first half, according to our Twitter feed.
Looks like there was some good support for this game: http://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/s...here-at-u21-win-over-arsenal-video-pictures/? please log in to view this image
An astonishing crowd of 2394 at Underhill last evening with hundreds and hundreds of Spurs fans, saw us gain a thoroughly deserved 3 points taking us to the brink of winning the group. We sit 8 points clear of Manchester United who have 3 games to play. We finish at Southampton next Monday afternoon. The conditions were not ideal with the pitch very bumpy and of course the famous Underhill slope. I was a tad concerned before the game as this team has been blowing on empty recently, but the selection of Tom Carroll invigorated the side as Luongo's creativity and Parrett's work ethic have been sorely missed. For all his talent, Carroll has not always "bossed" games at this level, but last night he was clearly relishing the opportunity to have 90 minutes football and was my MOM. There was the usual impressive performance from young McEvoy who seemed to appreciate the chant of "there's only 2 Gareth Bales" and as always, Cristian Ceballas showed he deserves to be playing at a level above this one. Coulthirst, who has been blowing a bit recently, showed signs of his promise and did hit the woodwork late on and Zeki Fryers continues to look a decent player going forward yet not so decent when being required to defend. One really piece of positive news was the sight of young Jake Nicholson wearing a Spurs shirt again. Fans will recall his appearance in our European game against Hearts and the midfielder has been out of the game for 11 months with injury. As for Arsenal, well they had a few moments, competed to the end, but this Spurs side showed a determination on the night and fully deserved to complete the double over our rivals. The real memory of last night though will be the unbelievable level of support the 1882 group gave to the team, there really was a terrific atmosphere in the old stadium, something which the entire squad were quick to acknowledge at the final whistle.
Thanks OS. It was really fantastic how the players came over to us at the end of the game and celebrated with us. I would also like to put in a shout for Miles who I thought did well.
Yes, I should have mentioned Jonathan Miles. He has been away on loan recently and Lawrence Vigoroux has stepped in. In general, Vigoroux has done ok, but he doesn't give the defence the same assurance that Miles has done this season. I thought that extra calmness was back again yesterday with Miles returning and he fully deserved his clean sheet.
Great to hear, guys. They mentioned on the Twitter feed that Nicholson was coming back from a long injury but another I was thinking about the otherday was Lancaster who made a sub appearance for us in the league last season(?). Has he been injured all this time or has he just dropped out of favour?
Superb support from the 1882 mob. Game in general was a bit meh (compared to the high standards the U21 have set this season) . The Goons more or less couldn't get out their own half for the first 45. When they went behind and tried to chase the game, their chances came cos Spurs started faffing about. They were a bit unlucky with their shot off the bar and follow-up. Miles however was <standard> for all the other threats they had. For me, Gallifuoco in the first half was great with his passing and control. Bentaleb continues with his part Sandro part Dembele play, so was nice to see him get on the sheet. Best part of the game for : ickle Barthram ( +/- Carroll) vs Jenkinson on the left in the 2nd half. Teeny tots 1 - WC Gooner 0.
Arsenal fielded a fairly experienced side, from what I've read. Jenkinson and Coquelin will be familiar names to everyone, but I think that they had about 7 players with first team time under their belts. So much for Wenger's kids.
"Arsenal fielded a fairly experienced side, from what I've read. Jenkinson and Coquelin will be familiar names to everyone, but I think that they had about 7 players with first team time under their belts. So much for Wenger's kids." And but for more clinical end product overall, and less faffing about in the 2nd half, they would have been demolished by what is about half of the best lineup the U21s could field this season. The dilemma for me, having seen 8 odd U21 games myself this season, is : Are our U21s really so much better than the rest, or have the excellence of other clubs academies (the G00ns, the Academy of Hoof etc) been well and truly exposed as utter myths ??
That picture reminds me of a real gripe I had about Monday. Spurs versus Arsenal should always see us wearing white and them in their red. I do like our current blue away kit, but it should never ever be worn in a North London derby.
The U18s won 6-3 at Sunderland today, which means that a win in the final game tomorrow would see them top the group. They need to match the Mackems result, basically. Zapata-Caicedo (x2), Michael-Percil, Lameiras, Ball and McQueen were our scorers.
