MID-TABLE scraps are out of fashion these days. Teams are either fighting for a place in Europe or battling relegation, so it was quite a pleasure to watch a Premier League match not exactly devoid of meaning exactly but devoid of fear.
Despite losing once more to their north London rivals, West Ham still have pretensions of competing in the Uefa Cup — or the Europa League, as it will be known next season — which, as Spurs will tell you, is not necessarily a blessing. Harry Redknapp quietly guided his side to the exit of the Uefa Cup as fixture piled on fixture and Spurs’ plight in the league looked perilous. That was then.
Victory, sealed by Roman Pavlyuchenko’s fifth goal in the Premier League midway through the second half, has given Spurs another glimpse of European football at the end of another chaotic season. The pessimists among their supporters might also note that, by passing the magic 40-point mark, the spectre of relegation has also been banished.
“Staying in the league is first and foremost and we all but clinched that today,” said Redknapp. “But we’re three points behind West Ham, in eighth, that’s how crazy the league’s been. I didn’t think we’d be out of trouble so early.” Gianfranco Zola, the West Ham manager, will be wary of the extra European workload too, not least because yesterday a team without a number of regulars, notably Scott Parker, Carlton Cole and Jack Collison, looked lightweight in midfield and threadbare in attack against a Tottenham side still lacking conviction and, for long periods, critical balance.
Tottenham did, though, boast comfortably the best player on the field in Luka Modric, who drifted into central midfield when the mood took him and ran the game with a deft mixture of passes short and long. If Steven Gerrard ever watches the tape, he might note how the Croatian manages to combine both roles with aplomb, though he needed some encouragement from his manager at half-time. “I thought he could come off his line a bit more and get more of the ball,” said Redknapp. “That allows the full-back to get forward more and he did excellent. He’s improved out of all recognition.”
Inevitably, Modric was involved in the goal — as he was in most of Spurs’ best moments — picking up the ball on the right side and threading a pass to Pavlyuchenko, who had replaced the ineffective Darren Bent nine minutes earlier. The tall Russian still had a lot of work to do to turn James Collins and fire a low shot across Robert Green from a tight angle. It was a true striker’s goal and one that will bring Redknapp considerable hope for the future of his enigmatic striker. “I don’t want to criticise him because he’s done well at home,” said Redknapp. “I did feel he could change the game, but sometimes he has to work harder for the team.”
Zola’s priority for the future is in attack, where Diego Tristan is a shadow of his old self and David Di Michele insists on trying to do the hard thing when simplicity is the hallmark of the new West Ham. Once in the first half, he had time and space to put Mark Noble in on goal down the left, only take the shot himself. Noble vented his fury on the Italian, who squandered West Ham’s best chance when left one-on-one against Heurelho Gomes in the second half. “I thought, ‘This is the moment’,” said Zola. “We had a chance, but Tottenham are, on paper, one of the six best teams in the country and we stood up to them. We played without fear.”
In the circumstances, Zola has worked wonders in transforming an underachieving side into top-half respectability, relying on a steady supply of academy youngsters, another of whom, Junior Stanislas, fitted comfortably into the left side of midfield yesterday. “I know I can rely on them when I need to,” said Zola. “The only words I can have for my team are words of praise.” At Easter time that had a decent ring to it.
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