Sky TV were quick to give the champagne to Scott Parker last night and while it’s hard to argue with that assessment, were there other, more worthy candidates at the heart of Spurs defence?
Speaking after the game, TV pundit Gary Neville pointed to a previous ‘soft centre’ in the Tottenham side which would have seen us lose a match like that in the past and that’s why he agreed with the Parker decision.
Just behind Scott however, Ledley and Daws were pretty immense while Brad Friedel had a solid performance on one of his busiest nights at the club.
Moving up through the midfield and attack there were few opportunities for the front men, although Bale and Kranjcar showed occasional flashes of their best form.
So is it Scott Parker for you or is there a better candidate for man of the match?
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The cat.
happy with a solid performance and valuable point…. back 4 were steady and good to see Daws showing he wants a place in this team… Parker was immense , always there to mop up any missed tackles by his team-mates… truly England ( and Spurs vice ) Captain quality… Niko showed his silky skills specially when setting Bale free, and also showed much better work rate winning balls in defense… will improve given more playing time…has true final pass potential besides a decent shot… Bale just not himself yest, whilst Ade’s first touches again disappointing… Modric & Jake worked hard in midfield but no creativity in oppo area….
BRING ON THE BARCODES… COYS
Parker has to take the Man of the match but the bravery medal goes to the under cooked Dawson.. He had Carrol to cope with three inches taller and spitting venom and swearing at every tackle and missed header at the timid Oliver. He also hurt his ankle you could see him wincing in pain at one point and i hope its not the Achilles injury flaring up again. This was only his second league game and he is a credit too our team also Livermore was Mr cool head with Spearing and Adams snapping like pit bulls . One bad mark on Scotty was giving away silly free kicks that could have cost us dear but he made up for this by his overhaul game a true Captain in my eyes.. Overhaul a good result but bad marks for Bond or Harry for taking Ady off when we need a pair of strikers for our last 14games
Of course Parker took the plaudits and rightly so, however my MOM was King, not performance wise, but for his sheer presence. How the guy can make Dawson play like that is beyond me? Walker and Livermore were both outstanding as were all the defence.
Finally-when many are moaning about Levy not spending fortunes-ask the owners of Liverpool if throwing money around is the answer..I think not!
It’s also good see Spurs fans, berating Bale for ‘going to ground’ a little easily-I wonder if Goons, Chav’s or Scousers would do the same to their star players???, nah, they wouldn’t
Parker was the best man on the field but Kranjcar deserves recognition. He’s not looked so good in a Spurs shirt for a while. His defensive work was really impressive too.
I think for the amounts of injuries we had and the somewhat negative game plan we played great. Other than a few little mistakes everybody was great for me, incept for Gareth Bale. He was flopping all night long which all started during the Swansea game. Then he absolutely didn’t do anything threatening at all until he made that fantastic run but he goofed up his finish. I know I shouldn’t be complaining about Bale because he’s been our best player this season but seeing him miss that opportunity drove me over the edge because he finish it everyday of the week. But Bale’s performance shouldn’t take anything away from the excellent performance the rest of the team put in.
Parker might have been the man of the match but Niko really showed that he should be moved up the pecking order a bit.
We do suffer without natural width, though, which Niko doesn’t offer. I think he’s a perfect backup for VdV. This summer I’d like to see a new outside mid, ideally who could play either side.