Spurs Earn Point from Scoreless Draw

May 12, 2009

Spurs traveled to Goodison Park Saturday to face Everton, knowing that a tough game was ahead of them. Spurs had several injuries to deal with as Aaron Lennon picked up a groin strain in their previous game, and Benoit Assou-Ekotto, Darren Bent, David Bentley, and Didier Zokora had minor end of the season injuries. Michael Dawson was still unavailable because of his ankle, Jamie O’Hara was having surgery on his knee at the time, and Wilson Palacios had to make a trip back home to Honduras. So, Harry brought Gareth Bale and Alan Hutton into the back and Tom Huddlestone into the middle. With a slight change of players, Harry felt they should try a new system. They went with a 5-3-2 shape instead of their usual, “classic” 4-4-2 form. Harry said, “We worked on it a few days last week and I thought, let’s try something different and see how it works.”

In the first half it worked perfectly to their advantage and Spurs seemed to have accomplished everything Harry wanted. However, in the second half, Everton changed their game play and Spurs were no longer able to “play from the back” as they had been. Harry ended, “I just felt like it was a good opportunity to change the system because we are perfectly set up that way. So it was worth a try.”

Both teams passed well throughout the whole match but neither side created any spectacular chances on goal. The home side put pressure on the visitors but Spurs help up and stayed solid in the back. Each team earned one point from the 0-0 draw. Harry is very pleased with their one point and “in the end a draw was a fair result”, he said. Harry stated, “If you go to Everton and get a point you are never disappointed. It’s such a tough place to play. I felt we dominated in the first half. We passed the ball much better than Everton, we had more possession, and the best of the chances.”

That one point moved the Toffees closer to Aston Villa in 5th on the table and Spurs climbed to 8th with 48 points, just two points away from 7th. This coming weekend, Spurs have another difficult game as they host Manchester City at the Lane. They are looking to hold up their fantastic home record and earn another three points. Then as a finale, it’s off to Liverpool.

Jill Guthrie

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