The Lilywhites return.
Happy New Year Tottenham fans after a long wait our Tottenham women are back in action. So much has happened since our last match against Brighton, we have had matches against Chelsea and Birmingham postponed due to Covid cases, Alex Morgan left Tottenham after her very short loan deal expired. The good news is that Alanna Kennedy and Shelina Zadorsky have both signed permanent deals until the end of the 2020/21 season with Tottenham. I personally feel Alanna and Shelina have both settled in well and would like to see them sign longer deals at the end of this campaign.
London Derby.
2021 finally kicked off for our Lilywhites with an away game to London rivals West Ham. The last time Tottenham met West Ham was on the opening day of the season under former coaches Karen Hills and Juan Carlos Amoros where despite dominating the game, were only able to take a point thanks to a Grace Fisk own goal before Adriana Leon scored a fantastic goal to earn the hammers a draw.
New Year, Same goal.
The host’s sat in 10th place while our Lilywhites sat in 8th after back to back victories against Bristol and Villa under new coach Rehanne Skinner and were looking to make it 3 in a row against a West ham side in desperate need of points if they want to avoid a relegation battle. London derbies are always a HUGE occasion but given the current position of both clubs, this was the most important one in recent years. A huge congratulations has to go to Shelina Zadorsky who captained our great club today for the first time. Shelina is a natural leader and true inspiration to younger players and I hope to see Zadorsky Captain our Lilywhites more often in the future
Line ups.
West Ham lined up in a 3-4-3 with Arnold in goal, Flaherty, Fisk and Vetterlein in defence. kvamme, Cho, Longhurst and Svitová made up the West Ham midfield while Van Egmond, Dali and Thomas made up the Hammers front three.
Tottenham lined up in a 4-2-3-1 with Spencer in goal, Percival at right-back, Godfrey and Captain Zadorsky in the centre of defence with Neville in at left-back. Green and Kennedy occupied the slots ahead of the defence while Davison occupied the right-wing position, Jessica Naz made her first start for Tottenham since returning from injury and Rachel Williams was in the number 9 position.
Match Report.
It’s been a month since these two teams have taken the field and it took some time for the game to get going. Tottenham started slightly stronger of the two teams but the first chance of the game fell to West Ham’s Emily Van Egmond in the 8th minute when Van Egmond latched onto a Svitová pass before shooting from range but her effort was comfortable for Spencer in the Tottenham goal. That chance gave West Ham confidence as they began to grow into the game and gain control of the midfield. Tottenham tried to get back into the game and in the 16th minute what seemed to be a wonderful counter by Tottenham’s Rachel Williams turned into a nightmare when Williams seemed to pull something when on the counter and had to substituted by Lucy Quinn. The game continued to be quite even with both sets of midfielders battling for possession. Tottenham battled to dominate possession and in the 30th minute, Jessica Naz took on two West Ham players to create herself a chance after a wonderful solo run only to have her shot blocked. Two minutes later a pass from Josie green found substitute Lucy Quinn but put her effort over the bar untroubling Arnold in the West Ham goal in Tottenham’s first clear chance of the game. Two minutes later in the 34th minute, a great run by Ayane down the right-wing, centering into the West Ham box but Kennedy was unable to meet Ayane’s cross which was put back into the West Ham box by Gemma Davison and knocked in by substitute Lucy Quinn to give Tottenham the lead.
Both sets of midfielders continued to battle for possession making it difficult for either team to create any clear chances.
Second Half.
Both teams made substitutes at half time with Rianna Dean coming on for Jessica Naz and Canadian international Adriana Leon coming on for Kenza Dali. It was West Ham that started the 2nd half the strongest with substitute Leon making an immediate impact and almost scoring in the 46th minute with a clever backheel but her effort didn’t have enough power to beat Spencer. Tottenham got their first chance of the 2nd half in the 49th minute when a Gemma Davison corner almost went straight in had MacKenzie Arnold not been alert to tip the ball over the bar. West Ham continued to regain possession and pinned Tottenham back as our Lilywhites struggled to get out of their own half. Skinner must have spotted a weakness in the Tottenham attack because in the 57th minute she introduced Angela Addison for Davison but unfortunately Addison was unable to have much of an impact on the game. West Ham looked the most likely to score and in the 59th minute an Adriana Leon free-kick found Emily Van Egmond but her header was too soft and comfortable for Spencer. West Ham kept coming at Tottenham in search of an equaliser and in the 62nd minute Svitková came close again when she shot from the left but her effort was central enough for Spencer. 3 minutes later West Ham was again knocking on the Tottenham door this time Leon found Thomas down the left-wing and shot from distance but her effort again was too central untroubling Spencer. The 2nd half was all West Ham with Tottenham riding their luck at times but credit has to go to the Spencer and the composure of the Tottenham defence. In the 72nd minute, West Ham again broke this time Van Egmond had her effort bravely blocked by Godfrey for a West Ham corner. West Ham came close from the corner when Mayumi Pacheco shot from outside the box but her deflected effort was seen late and saved spectacularly by Spencer to keep the score at 1-0 to Tottenham. It took Tottenham until the 80th minute to create their first real chance in open play of the 2nd half when Kit Graham stole a ball in midfield, found Rianna Dean with a lovely pass but Dean’s effort just skinned Arnold’s right-hand post. 2 minutes later West Ham’s Grace Fisk came close to drawing the hosts level when she met Vetterlein’s free-kick but Fisk’s effort was well saved by Spencer to deny the Hammers.
Player of the match.
Our player of the match has to go to Becky Spencer in the Tottenham goal. This match was certainly a game of two halves. The first half was very tight with both teams battling in the midfield, but the second half was all West Ham. Spencer producer save after save and had it not been for her heroics West Ham surely would have taken 3 deserved points, therefore, our player of the match has to go to Spencer between the sticks.
Post Match analysis.
Given that Tottenham has not played since December 13th and have lost Alex Morgan, Tottenham looked in fine form in the first half and did very well to limit the host’s chances however the 2nd half was a completely different story, I am happy that Tottenham has created history by winning 3 WSL matches in a row. I do ask myself HOW did West Ham not take something from this game. I understand teams need to ride their luck at times and it has been a month since our Lilywhites have played a competitive match but had this been against the likes of Chelsea we most probably would have lost heavily. I’m hoping that our team was just rusty or saving energy for the Chelsea game on Wednesday because after some fantastic performances and results it would be a shame for the team to go backwards. It must be a strange feeling for Rehanne Skinner and the Tottenham players as all season they have been working with a plan to support Alex Morgan and now Skinner needs to find her new starting forward espeically after Rachel Williams sustained an injury which will add to an unwanted headache ahead of the Chelsea game.
We all knew West Ham would make it difficult for Tottenham as they also try to avoid a relegation battle and the 1st half was very tight with both sets of midfielders fighting for dominance. Even though chances were rare, I would say Tottenham just edged West Ham as the stronger of the two teams. Before the break we had Ash Neville as our player of the match as she was solid even though she was playing out of position she stopped Van Egmond in her attacks, got forward a fair amount as was overall our best player in the first half. I don’t know what Olli Harder said to his side at half time but West Ham came out completely rejuvenated and looked like a new team. Our defence did extremely well to remain solid the whole of the 2nd half and Becky Spencer deserves a lot of the credit because we believe she had her best game of her Tottenham career so far. Spencer has been a rock in many matches but the pressure West Ham piled on our Lilywhites in the second half I honestly thought West Ham were going to take the 3 points.
Losing William’s so early must have disrupted the game plan but there was no excuse for that 2nd half performance. I am still to see the Gemma Davison we all know as she is still underperforming. I am getting tired of saying this but again I feel Ayane needs to up her game, she seems headless when she gets the ball, yes she has speed but doesn’t know what to do with the ball in the final third. I will pay credit where credit is due and congratulate Ayane on her play in the build-up to the goal but that was all she did all game. Substitutes Rianna Dean and Angela Addison were extremely quiet and at times I forgot that she had come on for Davison and Naz but I can’t really slam their performance because none of the front players performed in the second half and a lot of credit has to go to Olli Harder whos gameplan to contain the Tottenham attack paid off. The strangest move of the game for me was Skinner’s decision in taking off substitute and goalscorer Lucy Quinn for Kit Graham, I understand that Quinn wasn’t seeing any play in the second half but that lies in the midfielders not doing their job in attacking and providing service to the forwards. I’m hoping this is just a blip or maybe us fans being in the ground gave the team more of a boost than we thought. Whatever the reason we hope to see Tottenham back to winning convincingly. COYS!!!!!
Next Match.
Tottenham’s next match is on Wednesday away to Chelsea in the re-arranged December fixture at Kingsmeadow before taking on Everton at the Hive next Sunday 24th behind closed door.
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