Blackburn 1 v Spurs 2 - Report & Player Ratings. Sloppy But Successful

VDV celebrates his first.

That's 5 wins out of the last 6 now for us. A brilliant run by Kyle Walker down the right allowed him to get into the Rovers penalty area. He cut it back for Rafa to slot home from inside the area. 0-1.

Endless sloppy tackles and defenders climbing on Blackburn strikers resulting in endless free kicks. One of which, given away by Parker, was floated into our box, and fell to the completely unmarked Formica, who lashed the ball into the roof of the net. 1-1.

The second half was better, as Spurs continuously added pressure until one such passage of play led to VDV's second goal. Great teamwork by BAE and Adebayor harassing a Blackburn defender into losing the ball, BAE sent the cross in, Lennon received it and pulled it back to Bale who was in the middle of the area, but had a complete air shot allowing Blackburn to clear the ball. Only temporarily however, as it was rapidly send back to BAE who burst into the area, with the ball breaking to VDV as BAE was tackled. Rafa then stroked the ball into the top corner of the goal from the edge of the box. Sheer class. 1-2.

The rest of the match had Blackburn continuously knocking on the door, some good saves from Friedel and a lot of offsides from Adebayor until the final whistle went after a nervous 4 minutes of stoppage time. Job done. Up to 5th.

Player Ratings
Friedel 8 - Marshalled the defence well and dealt with the majority of the free kicks, throw ins and corners his defence kept conceding, except obviously the goal, and one occasion where he dropped a free kick ball ala Gomes. Luckily we got away with it. Some top tips over the bar as well and kept his head under intense pressure from Blackburn, definatley not ala Gomes. His long kicks were way off their marks today if I had to pick a negative point.

Walker 7.5 - His pace set up our first, and allowed him to get back and make tackles even when a yard or two behind an attacker in a running battle. Good attacking and defensive performance today.

1-1

Bassong & Kaboul 7 - Both performed well under the constant pressure of free kicks and long throws. I was pleasantly surprised this pairing managed to keep it to just one. Some frustrating Dawson-esq long balls up front to nobody from both of them though.

BAE 8.5 - Some amazing passes from Benny today. 10, 20, 30 or even 60 yard passes were pinpoint accurate. One 40 yarder on 39 minutes from the left wing to Adebayor on the edge of the box, should have put us 2-0 up, only for Ade to get the ball caught between his legs and fail to get a shot off in time. Excellent build up play, pressuring, and an assist led to our second goal.

Lennon 6 - Completely anonymous but for one or two good crosses. One of which was in the build up to our goal. It should have been converted by Bale, unmarked in the area, who took a swing and missed.

Parker 7.5 - Gave away a silly free kick that led to their goal and made a few really sloppy passes throughout the game. But on the other hand, he was constantly breaking up Blackburn play and making some key tackles all day. Captain today, and led the team admirably.

Rafa mobbed after the second.

Modric 8 - No matter what area of the pitch the camera was on, Modric was no doubt there picking the ball up and driving forwards with it. Some brilliant runs and had two fairly decent shots saved. One of which after he picked up the ball near the half way line, ran past 3-4 Blackburn players before unleashing a shot that was palmed round the post by Robinson.

Bale 6.9 - In and out of the game. Some lung busting runs at times, but quite a few more failed attacks. Did provide a few good crosses that weren't Converted. One along the ground for Ade in the centre of the box, only to see him scuff it tamely into Robinson's hands. And another 50-60 yard pass from to Ade in the corner of the pitch which saw him yet again miscontrol it out for a goal kick. Other than those two examples, he was pretty quiet, save for the occasional blasted shot over the bar.

VDV 8 - Had a fairly quiet game except for his two cool as a cucumber goals. Lasted 87 minutes before being subbed.

Adebayor 5 - Spent more time offside than on and wasted numerous chances.

Subs
Rose 4 - Came on for the ineffective Lennon, and was dangerously worse. Sloppy passes, gave the ball away numerous times and made a rash sliding tackle that led to a yellow card late on. Fortunately the resulting free kick was sent way over everyone’s heads and came to nothing. Made errors early on and never recovered his confidence.

Defoe N/A - Came on late and didn't have much time to do anything as we were too busy with our backs against the wall.

Overall, a well fought win, if a bit sloppy in places.

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