From time to time life throws up serendipitous pleasures. I remember years ago, half listening to a poetry programme on the car radio and hearing Wilfred Owen’s Dulce et Decorum Est for the first time. Or, occasionally, receiving an unrequested Christmas present that just hit the button. This match was one such happenstance.
My expectations were low. Granted we had won a couple of games away from home, but both victories were against pretty rubbish teams and reports suggested we hadn’t played particularly well. Memories of the Stoke game remained and Tottenham had scored a pan full of goals recently and were looking like serious intruders into the upper regions of the Premier League. Perhaps the awful weather might prove a leveller.
Well I’m delighted to say that for the first time in ages, writing this report will be a pleasure. There were things that I might criticise, but there was far more to praise. It was a rip roaring game with lots of good football from both sides. It must be true; even Match of the Day said so.
The first indication that this might be something completely different came when the teams walked out. Yes, Mego had picked Chung-Yong Lee to start. And, wonder of wonders, Ricki was also there. I felt a long forgotten tremor of excitement; we had two players in the side that might make something unexpected happen. We still began in the familiar formation with Jussi; Ricketts, Cahill, Knight, Samuel; Muamba; Chung-Yong Lee, Gardner, Cohen, Taylor; Davies. But it looked like a more attacking proposition than most of the manager’s recent offerings. With so many left footed players in the side, Ricki found himself on the right of central midfield, an unlikely, but happy, placing as it put the two most gifted players together.
But, well as they both played, it wasn’t just CYL and Gardner that contributed to a scintillating thirty minutes of football, as dazzling as it was unfamiliar. Cohen was prominent in most of the moves, Davies was bossing the Spurs centre backs, and Cohen and Knight were keeping the recently prolific Tottenham strikers in check. Indeed, the whole team contributed to a display of the kind of skill and invention that we might have expected from the visitors. In view of this, it was ironic that our first goal came from a set piece; a long throw by Samuel, headed on by Gardner, a shot from Lee that was parried by Cudicini only for Gardner to drive home the rebound. The score came early, but having gone ahead, we continued to attack, and, when we played the ball on the floor, we attacked with accurate passes garnished with flashes of inspiration from CYL and Gardner.
Consequently, it came as a nasty surprise when Spurs equalised with a typical ‘Bolton goal’. A long ball from the right was headed back across the area by Crouch and Kranjcar’s volley gave Jussi no chance. Simple, effective, and against the run of play.
Thereafter, Wanderers maintained the forward momentum, though there was now a tendency to revert to balls to the head of Davies. We still conjured up a couple of half chances but at half time the score remained even. It had been a thrilling and entertaining forty five minutes. Could we keep it up?
Amazingly we did. Tottenham came more into the game in the second period and, themselves, played some lovely football. However, Bolton continued to match them and, Cahill should have scored with a clear header from a corner. Our second goal, when it came, was a delight, the result of a move involving five players. An accurate ball out of defence was passed on by Gardner to CYL. The Korean’s back heel gave Cohen space for an accurate cross to the far post, where Super Kev bundled it in. It was our first Premier League goal this season from open play; it was worth waiting for.
By this time the game was very open and both teams went close to scoring. Jussi made one of his incredible double saves to deny Crouch (who really ought to have scored) and, at the other end, Cudicini just managed to scoop away a header from the irrepressible Cohen. Unhappily, it was the visitors that produced a goal, and it was another soft one. Lennon’s corner went long to the far post and the unmarked Corluka headed home. Both teams made substitutions in attempts to win the game but the contest ended with the teams level. After the last home draw, Bolton left the field to a chorus of boos; now they departed to cheers and applause. It was still only one point, but who cared? We had matched a money bags team, not only in effort and work rate, but in skill and entertainment.
How to distribute the individual plaudits? Kevin Davies was at his best and was a constant trouble to the Spurs defenders; Tamir Cohen was everywhere, more on him later; Gary Cahill was commanding and had the better of Crouch in the air. But the catalyst to the improved display was the slight, dark haired figure on the right wing. Chung-Yong Lee was involved in most of what we did well. He has much to learn, but I hope the obvious natural inventive talent isn’t lost when he is coached to track back and cover. His first touch is the equal of Djorkaef and his speed of thought reminiscent of JJ. He was at his best when paired with Gardner and later, in the second half, when we switched to 4-4-2 and he moved inside to provide a link between the defence and Davies. At other times he drifted out of the game and our overall performance declined; at others he made the wrong decision, for example, on one occasion turning back when he appeared to have the opportunity and speed for a clear run on goal. But he was the beam that illuminated the vastly improved performance.
Another shining light was Tamir Cohen. I remember dismissing Mego’s first signing by saying that all he seemed to do was run around and kick people. How wrong I was. His transformation this season is incredible. He conforms to the Megson stereotype in that he is industrious but he can also pass constructively and has the knack of finding goal scoring positions that seems to have deserted Matty Taylor. Twice he ran behind the Spurs defence and might have scored and his cross for the second goal was first class.
Is this the dawning of a new era? Who can say? This is probably the most positive match report I have written since ……… we played Spurs at home last season, an exciting game that proved to be a false dawn. Certainly, there were still problems, principally the untended acres of space between Davies and a midfield pushed deep by the opposing pressure. As I said, for a time this gap was filled by CYL, but as soon as we scored our second goal we reverted to playing with a loan striker. Another fairly obvious fault was in the handling of the gangly Crouch. When he failed to get much change out of Cahill and an improved Zat Knight, he drifted wider where he was tended by the relatively diminutive Ricketts. This ploy led to Spurs first goal and most of their other opportunities.
However there was so much more that was good than there was that was bad and credit to the manager for unearthing Chung-Yong Lee and Cohen and, also, for adopting a more positive approach. This was the first of a series of difficult tests. It was passed with honours. Keep it up Mego and all will be forgiven.
