Filed under: Stoke City, Tottenham, Premier League, Football, Match Reports
Peter Crouch put his Madrid misery behind him as his double helped Tottenham to their first win in almost two months.The England striker, sent off in Spurs Champions League quarter-final loss to Real Madrid, was a surprise inclusion on the Spurs team sheet after manager Harry Redknapp had claimed Crouch would start on the bench.
But he proved his worth after just 11 mintues, as he headed home off Roman Pavlyuchenko's cross, to score Spurs' first goal in 413 minutes of action. Pavyluchenko again turned provider six minutes later as he put through Luka Modric, who slipped past Robert Huth to slot into the net.
But as good as Spurs were on the attack, their porous defence let them down once again as Matthew Etherington was able to skip past Michael Dawson for Stoke's first of the afternoon.
But Crouch doubled his tally for the day - and in the process his haul for the Premier League season - with another header, this time off a cross from Tom Huddlestone.
But four minutes before the break Gareth Bale was robbed by Andy Wilkinson, who slid the ball into the path of Kenwyne Jones, who rifled home off the bar from 20 yards out.
Spurs had a goal disallowed on 66 minutes as Tom Huddlestone bundled the ball into the net after wrestling it out of Begovic's hands.
REACTION:
Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp feared Peter Crouch would come in for criticism from fans following his red card against Real Madrid:
"I was pleased for Crouchy, I wasn't sure what kind of reception he was going to get from the crowd. It did enter my mind. I have seen football crowds before turn on players who get sent off, they get this thing in their minds they have been let down.
"It was one of those things what happened to Crouchy, but the crowd were great with him and they made a fantastic atmosphere. That was important that they got on his side."
Redknapp was pleased with the response from the loss at the Bernabeu:
"It was the response I expected, we play like that most weeks. It was top-class and a pleasure to be involved and watch it. We moved the ball about the pitch fantastic today."
But he could not understand the mindset of some fans, after a supporter confronted Vedran Corluka after the match following a mis-placed free kick:
"I don't know why they want to give anyone here stick, I don't remember too many times we have lost here since I have been here.
"This team got into the Champions League and suddenly it seems like everyone gets stick."
On the incident in question:
"I wanted him to play it into Gareth Bale. We have to win football matches and we could have played short into Luka and they may have nicked it off us and scored.
"I wanted Corluka to stick it into the corner and Bale to get on it, but Gareth came up short and it didn't work, but I don't know why anyone would want to give their own players any stick."
Stoke manager Tony Pulis denied any of his players may be distracted by their upcoming FA Cup semi-final:
"We are fighting for our lives, we wanted to come here and win. We need as many points as we possibly can.
"There was no-one I could say they were trying to save themselves for the semi-final. We need to get to 40 points as quickly as we can then we can start looking over our shoulders and wait."
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Cristiano Ronaldo Daniel Alves Daniele De Rossi David Albelda David Beckham
No comments:
Post a Comment