Triffic Tottenham – Spurs News Blog and Forum

Spurs started their CL campaign with a bang tonight playing as good a game of football in the first half ever seen in the competition. Scintillating Spurs stretched the home side to the very limits, probing for any weaknesses, bewildering the boys from Bremen with precise passing and  movement and continually terrorising the opposition down the flanks.

It seemed only a matter of time before the German side capitulated and so it proved, inevitably created from a Bale cross the Welsh wizard bombed down the flank on one of his trademark runs tormenting an exasperated defence with a wicked curling cross destined for a waiting Peter Crouch to slot in the net.

Replays afterwards confirmed a despairing lunge from Werder’s Pasanen touched the ball just before reaching Crouch but the result was the same 1-0 to the Spurs. Before you had time to slap yourself  back to full conciousness within 6 minutes Tottenham were 2-0 up and cruising, Bremen were tottering.  The goal arrived resulting from another precison cross, this time from VDV, Crouch rose highest (did I just say that?) beating Pasenan to the ball this time and powering a header past a despairing Wiese.

Werder appeared to have no answer to a confident, slick spurs side and with the home crowd beginning to lose patience it took a superb save from the German keeper to prevent them falling further behind by palming a powerful left-footed strike from the edge of the area by Bale.

If Gareth had scored it would have been like YSB in reverse and I don’t think the Germans could have recovered from it.  Counting down to the half time whistle BAE gave the ball away by inexplicably hitting a wayward hoof across  the entire width of the field, so wayward in fact the ball went backwards and almost gave the opposition a free corner. As it turned out the resulting throw and crosss were just as effective and the hosts pulled one back to give them hope for the second half even if it was undeserved. It was a poor goal to give away at a crucial time and both defender and goalkeeper should have done better.

Within a minute of the restart Marin levelled the scores, unleashing a powerful 20-yard left-footed strike past Cudicini as Vedran Corluka gave the 21-year-old too much space to exploit. The Bosnian-born forward, a virtual passenger in the first half, controlled the tempo of the second half, using his exceptional dribbling skills to cause havoc in the Spurs box. Marin, who twice featured for Germany in the World Cup this summer, slammed another robust strike just wide of Cudicini’s right-hand post.

However, the industrious Bale carved out Tottenham’s a rare second-half opportunity eight minutes from time, cutting a superb left-footed cross into the box, only to see a Bremen deflection divert the ball away from Crouch’s path. The England striker spurned a glorious opportunity to seal the match three minutes from time courtesy of a superb pass from substitute Wilson Palacios, but his chip over the onrushing Wiese just evaded the far post. I think all Spurs fans would have taken a draw before the game it’s just a shame we couldn’t repeat (once again) our first half performance in the second, all in all though a great nights work and with the other group match ending in the same score all honours are even going into the next match. COYS

FT.  Werder Bremen 2 Tottenham Hotspur 2

Werder Bremen (4-1-2-1-2): Wiese; Fritz, Pasanen, Prodl, Silvestre; Frings; Bargfrede (Hunt, 37), Marin; Wesley (Borowski, 68); Almeida (Wagner 79), Arnautovic. Unused subs: Meilitz, Boenisch, Husejinovic, Jensen.

Spurs (4-4-1-1): Cudicini; Corluka, King, Kaboul, Assou-Ekotto; Lennon (Palacios, 75), Jenas, Huddlestone, Bale; Van der Vaart (Keane, 48); Crouch. Subs: Pletikosa, Bassong, Gallas, Kranjcar, Pavlyuchenko.

Tottenham kick off their CL campaign on Tuesday evening with an away visit to Bundesliga outfit Werder Bremen. Bremen is situated in North West Germany and the football club is housed in the 42k capacity Weserstadion stadium. Known as Die Grün-Weißen (The Green-Whites) to their friends and the Fischköppe (fishheads) to their rivals, Werder are managed by Thomas Schaaf and have been since 1999.

Winning the German league 4 times is complimented by a cup winners cup win in 1992 and more recently the reaching of the uefa cup final a tie they lost  2-1 aet to Shakhtar Donetsk. Finishing 3rd in their league last season has earned them the right to participate in this years CL and their average attendance over that period was 36k.

When looking at their history stats you can’t help notice how similar they are to Spurs with regard to success, support and current standing. This week end Werder held out for a well earned away 0-0  draw to Bayern Munich and stand on 4 points having played 4 games already this season. From reading the match report it seems Werder have a disciplined and organised approach and are difficult to break down, despite the fact they are currently experiencing what is described as a ‘defensive’ crisis.

On the player front, the move of  Mesut Ozil to Real Madrid is well publicised but they also have the likes of Aaron Hunt, Torsten Frings and Per Mertesacker to name a few. Latest news coming through suggests former Chelsea striker Claudio Pizarro looks set to join  defensive duo Naldo and Mertesacker on the sidelines with a thigh muscle problem. Another player known to us is former PL player Mikael Silvestre who will likely feature at some point and no doubt come in for some preferential treatment if the opportunity arises.

On the face of it a fairly even match by anyone’s standards and a game I think we can get something out of, so come on Harry get their heads in the right place and do the business. COYS

Having attended the match at the Hawthorns I thought I’d attempt to give you a travelling fans perspective of a visit to an away fixture.The first thing of interest to the visiting fan is the easy access and close proximity to the ground. Within a couple of hundred yards of exiting the M5 there is an abundance of free parking with the ground in full view. Parking up next to some home fans is followed by an accompanied short walk to the ground during which banter is exchanged and some useful local info received.Those who like a drink on the way to the ground will be disappointed as locals tell us all the surrounding pubs are closed down and sure enough we pass a number of boarded up buildings having once served the purpose of well frequented watering hole.

Arriving 2 hours before kick off my group has to make the monumental decision of following the stream of crowds towards the Hawthorns or take the ‘thirsty’ mans route in the direction of town in search of a place to wet one’s whistle? We opt for the dry route and mingle with home and away fans alike in what can be described as a friendly and relaxed atmosphere. Predictable food and drink booths pave the way backed up by the occasional scarf seller with an array of  club badges and the proverbial programme seller gives advance warning you are within touching distance of the stadium.

We arrive a couple of minutes before the Spurs team coach arrives and on-look from a prime position, as the players disembark muted cheers greet players as they recognise each one in turn (no boos for Gallas I’m happy to report) VDV is spotted to round applause but the biggest reception goes to Gareth and ‘Bale Bale Bale’. The heavens open as the last player leaves the coach and signals our entry into the ground. First stop is the refreshments on hand and we imbibe whilst discussing team tactics amid glances at the ‘in house’ monitors showing the Everton v Man U game.

As we take our seats there is a sense of anticipation and apprehension in the air and I get the feeling there is an absence of the usual optimistic and vociferous atmosphere you normally associate with your average ‘hard core’ fan. We are seated about  a dozen rows back from pitch side, right hand corner behind goal, the home fans are to our right and to our left.  The prematch warm up gives us the chance to see VDV and Gallas in Spurs colours for the first and they pause in their deliberations right below us to acknowledge our support.

 The match kicks off and we begin brightly with some sharp slick passing and movement with Modric and VDV right in the thick of things. We play possession football for the next 20 minutes or so leading up to the inevitable goal sweetly taken by Modric on 27 minutes. Five minutes later we experience a reversal of fortune, Modric is kicked the free kick is awarded against him and  to add insult to injury is unable to continue.  We continue to enjoy the lion’s share of possession but are not so incisive, its looking like we’ve lost our shape because of the change. Then just before half time Gallas is skinned the resulting cross is punched in the air and poor defending allows Brunt to scramble what can only be described as a soft goal in to the net…..time for a much needed drink.

The second half  saw WBA start with much more swagger as if they’ve realised our threat on their goal (albeit with an impotent strike force) as non existent and they immediately try to win the battle in midfield, the area they identify as the danger. The ineffectiveness of our strikers is worrying, a feature Harry attempts to put right without success. Save for a daisy-cutter effort from Kaboul and fortunate touch from Carson from a Bale effort Tottenham had very little to offer and second half  honours go to the Albion.

The match ended on a disappointing note with the main highlight of the game for Spurs fans occurring just after we’d scored. To the right of us there were quite a few empty unsold seats in the West Bromwich area and we noticed a bit of a commotion with stewards ejecting a few fans(turned out to be yiddos) and there was one irate midlander in particular going bananas giving us all the gestures. A  guy near me must have realised the uncanny resemblance this individual had to a notorious figure (shaven head, white goatee and tinted glasses) he shouted ” Sit down Gary Glitter” which provoked the biggest and loudest chant of the day “One Gary Glitter, there’s only one gary glitter”….. the guy shrivelled in his seat literally.

Thinking about the game driving home our demeanour changed from one of utter disappointment at not winning the 3 points to one of a little relief at drawing and gaining a point from a game we deserved to lose in the end. Not even  having Adrian Chiles pull alongside us in his black Mercedes with young children in transit, acknowledge our ‘kissing’ of the Spurs badge with a smile was enough to lift the gloom….it going to be a tough season methinks. COYS