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by Brian Judson

I took the opportunity of watching tonight's friendly with Vitesse Arnhem.
As I am no longer able to travel to support the club anymore, I was
looking forward to seeing the revamped team.

The defence had a much more solid look to it from what I saw. I put that
down to Neil Sullivan's commanding control of the six-yard box. Unlike
Walker, he made it abundantly clear where he wanted his defenders.
Sullivan was rarely bothered by Vitesse Arnhem, whose shooting was poor. I
think Sullivan will be the automatic first choice goalkeeper. His saves
towards the end of the match blocked any hopes that Vitesse Arnhem may
have entertained of making a come-back.

Ben Thatcher and Sergei Rebrov are obviously still settling in. Some of
Thatcher's tackling was wild and some of his positioning was careless but
I think, given time, he will add some much needed and long overdue steel
to the back four. Rebrov looked lost at times but I think that is hardly
unsurprising given the complete change of culture, language and other
aspects of his life. He will probably not settle into the team properly
until he has a settled home life.

I thought the team was much more balanced now that Ginola has gone. Last
season, whenever I saw Tottenham on the box, I frequently despaired of
Ginola's attitude. OK, it is annoying to be frequently tripped for no
reason other than to disrupt one's playing rhythm but a great footballer
like Pele had to put up with that much more than Ginola has done. Instead
of looking to the skies and muttering French imprecations and looking
daggers at the opposition and the match officials, it would have been
better if Ginola had simply shrugged his shoulders and got on with it.

And, tonight, Tottenham's players did. Even Freund seemed to keep his
histrionics under control. As Tottenham tightened their grip on the match
with two very good goals from Steffan Iversen and Darren Anderton.
Arnhem's shooting became wilder, their distribution of the ball became
poorer and, in the end, they looked, in my opinion, a complete shambles.

The key player in the team looks like being Tim Sherwood. Before he was
substituted, Sherwood was completely in control of the Tottenham midfield,
telling the others where he wanted them to go. I'd be much happier if
Sherwood was team captain with Sol Campbell as club captain.

We have had a very good pre-season but the results will count for nothing
when we line up against Ipswich Town next Saturday. I have not forgotten a
similar pre-season in July and August 1968. Our first home game in the
League was against Arsenal. We played like world-beaters for the first
twenty minutes of that match and then Phil Beal conceded a stupid own goal
that left us floundering. We only won one and drew one of our first six
matches that season ........



by Paul Smith

NB:- this article is purely based upon TV observations.

SATURDAY 12TH AUGUST, 2000

VITESSE ARNHEM     0     (0)     TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR     2     (0)

Spurs scorers:- Iversen, 51
                Anderton, 73

Attendance:- Unknown

Referee:- Mr Van Der Elde

Teams:-

Vitesse (details to be confirmed)

Spurs (4-4-2):- Sullivan; Carr, Perry, Campbell, Thatcher (sub Taricco, 77);
Anderton (sub Young, 77), Sherwood (sub Davies, 77), Freund, Clemence;
Ferdinand (sub Iversen, 46), Rebrov

Booked:- Carr

    Spurs completed their pre-season programme with their unbeaten record
intact, but this, as anticipated was a much sterner test of their defensive
resources. Sullivan came out with flying colours, despite one or two shaky
moments in the first half. Thatcher was even more vulnerable as right winger
Fortes gave him a roasting in the first half. However, Spurs got their act
together in the second half, and Vitesse became the frail defensive side,
which will not have pleased their former Dutch International Ronald Koeman,
who now coaches this side, who are a top six outfit in Holland.

    The pattern of recent friendlies was maintained as Iversen replaced a
more impressive Ferdinand at the interval, and immediately, Spurs became
more threatening, as both forwards linked to their midfield players, and
Spurs enjoyed plenty of domination. It was not so in the first half, as
Sullivan made a two handed save from a 20 yard Van Hintium shot. One would
usually expect Sullivan to hold such an effort, but it caught him on the hop
so early in the game. Spurs responded with a pass from Sherwood to Thatcher
on the left. His cross ran to Ferdinand, who set up Anderton for a shot,
which he only half hit with his left foot.

    Ferdinand met an Anderton cross with one of his salmon leap headers,
that the keeper Jevric did well to hold low to his left. Fortes then turned
Thatcher too easily, and got goal-side of Sol Campbell, evaded Perry, and his 
cross/shot went in front of Amoah, with Sullivan out to close Fortes down.

    Steffen Freund almost got himself into a goalscoring position, when he
threaded his way into the box. He passed to Anderton, who could have shot,
but he gave Ferdinand a chance. Les hit a shot which forced a stretching
save from the keeper, to push the ball round to the left of his goal.

    Another cross from Fortes gave Amoah an angled headed chance, which
Sullivan saved at close range. Sullivan was beaten soon after when Diarra
cleverly controlled a through ball with his right foot, and swiftly shot
with his left, but put the ball round the post.

    Rebrov had been having a quiet game, but before half-time, he tried
three penetrating passes, one of which led to a good chance for Sherwood,
via Anderton, but Tim's shot was blocked by an unknowing defender. Fortes
had one more effort at the other end, but he headed wide.

    Steffen Iversen scored his seventh goal in eight pre-season games, when Tim
Sherwood just missed an Anderton cross from the right, and Iversen slotted
calmly home. Unusually in a friendly, Stephen Carr was booked for a niggly
foul by the high-profile Dutch referee Mr Van Der Elde.

    Spurs began to dominate, and the home side lost their composure and
shape, as they used several substitutes early in the half. With 68 minutes
gone, Spurs played the ball well out of defence, and Iversen passed to
Rebrov in the middle. Sergei found Clemence on the left with a superb ball,
but his cross intended for Iversen was wasted.

    Five minutes later, Darren Anderton increased the lead, when he and a
defender turned away from a loose ball. Anderton turned to face goal to find
that the ball had fallen for him, and he easily fired across the keeper into
the corner of the net with his left foot. Rebrov again had been a provider
as this time he had found Clemence on the right in a deep attacking
position.

    Sullivan had to be on his toes when a Zongo cross almost reached the
feet of an attacker in front of the Spurs goalkeeper. Zongo then tested Neil
directly after a powerful run through the defence, a good 1-2 pass, and a 15
yard shot, which Sullivan held diving to his left. Just before the end, it
looked like Rebrov had increased the lead, when he headed from 20 yards
after a Clemence cross. The ball went just wide and bounced back into the
net, deceiving some spectators.

    There was a healthy contingent of Spurs fans, and many flags and
banners. The support was pretty vocal, and this time, the chants for
"Ginola", and "We want Graham out" could clearly be heard.


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	Steffen Iversen, 50 (966 k)

	Darren Anderton, 72 (0.98 meg)