KEEGAN NEEDS CHEERING UP, SPURS WIN CARLING CUP

 

 

Well we'd already faced Newcastle this season, and anhiliated them at Old Trafford under the caretaker managment of Nigel Pearson. Since then, Newcastle have decided to turn back the clock! Kevin Keegan is back on Tyneside - pity that he hasn't done much for the team since his return! Still, it was always possible that Newcastle could hit top gear against us at St James's Park. We were back to 4-4-2, Rio captain, Ronaldo right mid, Nani left mid, Carrick and Fletcher centre mid, Rooney and Tevez up front.

Credit to the Geordies, they had the opening attacks but United were never going to be kept back for long and though Keegan must have been optimistic midway through the first half United struck in the 25th minute when Ronaldo crossed to Rooney. That woke the home side up enough to turn up the heat again but they could find an equaliser and though they'd have been happy to go in 1-0 down the Reds had other ideas. In the 45th minute a fast break allowed Carrick to slide the ball to Ronaldo for 2-0.

The Magpies again opened the half up by attacking but that just allowed the Reds to hit them on the counter attack! And so it was that Ronaldo burned the home defence in the 56th minute to make it three. Credit to the Magpies - they proved to be a stubborn bunch though and while Saha replaced Ronaldo, our opponents looked to have found a way back, a 79th minute goalmouth scramble gave Abdoula Faye the ball and the Senegalese midfielder got on the scoresheet! The Reds quickly replied though an 80th minute Nani corner that found it's way to Rooney who fired off off one of his scorchers and Saha had the last word in injury time, having been set up by Rooney.

Elsewhere, Arsenal faced Birmingham at St Andrews. The big story turned out to by the injury to Gunners striker Eduardo in which the Croatian international nearly lost his foot but the stats will say that Brum went on to open the scoring through James McFadden before Theo Walcott turned the game round with two goals of his own and then McFadden equalised with a last minute penalty! That leaves United still second in the Premiership but now just three points behind leaders Arsenal and six points ahead of Chelsea and a detour through the Champions League preliminaries(though the Blues have a game in hand).

North of the border, Aberdeen faced Kilmarnock at Rugby Park in the SPL. Craig Bryson opened the scoring for Killie and Fraser Wright made it two with the Dons fans getting very unhappy with their team's current form. The gaffer responded by making various switches but none of them seemed to work with Bryson getting his second goal then to add insult to injury, when the Dons finally did get a consolation goal, it was an own goal with Killie goalie Alan Coombe! What has gone wrong up there?

Elsewhere, Hearts faced Motherwell at Fir Park. Motherwell's Steven Craigan opened the scoring there...but he put the ball in the wrong net! It was Hearts who did most of the attacking in the game with Motherwell more interested in ranting at the referee. The home side didn't even win a corner till the middle of the second half, I think the better side won here! Still, that leaves the Dons falling to 9th place in the SPL, three points behind Falkirk(who drew 0-0 with Dundee United at Tannadice Park) and the top half of the table but still twenty points ahead of Gretna(lost 4-2 to Rangers at Ibrox)and relegation.

Back south of the border, it's that time of year again. Carling Cup final day. Yes it's the weakest of the three main domestic competitions, but the final is still the biggest single match on the calender before May. As for United, well yet again the reserves messed it up for us! So I've been watching most of this competition as a neutral, and while the latter stages of the competition were an all Premiership affair, the big guns certainly haven't locked out the finalist spots.

Chelsea were here last season, and beat Arsenal 2-1 at the Millenium Stadium, with the Jose Mourinho Blues coming back from behind to beat an Arsenal reserves side. The last time Spurs were in the final of this competition, it was the Worthington Cup. Glenn Hoddle was the manager and they got beaten 2-1 by Blackburn in '02. The last time they won it was when George Graham was their manager, they beat Leicester 1-0 undser the twin towers and Allan Nielsen hit the winner. It was the only trophy the United treble winners failed to pick up in '99!

Well both sides have hired new managers this season so there was no lack of motivation at that level. Arvam Grant still had something to prove given that Chelsea are barely in the title race this year if at all while Juande Ramos was hoping to take his Cup winning record with Seville in Spain and transfer it over here. Chelsea were the obvious favourites but all bets were off at Wembley even if the Blues were bringing their big guns back to the party.

The first half started off fairly evenly with both sides seemingly feeling each other out though it was Spurs that were the first to get big ideas, but either the Chelsea defence got in their way or the chances just got ballooned over. That allowed Chelsea time to get their act together and their attacking yielded two three kicks. The second of these in the 39th minute proved deadly, Didier Drogba bamboozling the Spurs wall. Game over? Not yet.

It certainly looked like it had become Chelsea's show early on in the second half though and Spurs wound up having to dodge various Blue bullets to stop from going two down. However on a counter Spurs were given a penalty due to a Chelsea hand ball and Dimitar Berbatov slotting the ball in from the spot in the 70th minute. Then Juande Ramos's side took over the game and certainly had the chances to win it but were happy to setlle for extra time.

Extra time started with both sides cancelling each other out, resulting in an uneventful opening few minutes untill Spurs were given a freekick. Jermaine Jenas sent it into the box in the 94th minute and the ball found Johnathon Woodgate's head! Chelsea decided to switch to a more attacking style and it looked like it might pay off with Spurs having to go all-out-defence. Still, the half time whistle blew with Spurs still leading but there was another 15 minutes to go!

Spurs were happy to see out those 15 minutes just soaking up Chelsea. The Blues strategy was to send in a barrage of crosses but with most plays on the pitch in the Spurs box, it was pinball time! Soloman Kalou forced the best Spurs save of the period but with the team in white happy to add timewasting to their bag of tricks and on at least one occassion the Blues looked like falling victim to mind games, fine by Spurs fans though who saw their side hold out to win!

So, Spurs have won the 2008 Carling Cup! It's not only the first trophy of the Juande Ramos era but the first Spurs trophy this side of the Millenium! No one can claim they haven't earned it though, in theory the players have been there for a while and their displays in the semis and final were very impressive. Whether Ramos can do anying more in the near future(this'll almost certainly be it for this season) remains to be seen though.

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