In dreamland....

Man City 0 Spurs 2 (Carling Cup)

I can hardly believe it! Are things finally looking up for us?

JD got his first start for ages and scored within five minutes - say no more. It's gotta happen more often as Bent has proved he's not worth his price tag. However, it all turned sour after 20 minutes when Zokora (still a makeshift centre back) was sent off by referee Bennett. Unfortunately, the internet froze at that moment so I didn't see the tackle but from what I gather from the commentary, it sounded extremely harsh - I will watch the highlights on TV later. If this red card wasn't warranted, that'll be two players wrongly sent off in a matter of weeks (Keano has now served his three match ban). So down to ten men for another 70 minutes of the match and poor old Jermain gets subbed for Tainio. I can understand his frustration but he did unfortunately show some descent to the manager.


Our defence has suffered a lot this season. So many injuries with King, Bale, Gardner, Assou-Ekotto and Rocha. The latest casualty is Dawson who is ill but hopefully he will be back for the Gooner game this weekend. Zokora has slotted into the centre back position okay, but without him, Tainio also has to fill in. Taking all that into consideration, I think they did a damn fine job tonight - a vast improvement.

Other things that stood out for me was how they got to the ball first and their determination. Unfortunately this resulted in some yellow cards and at times I felt like it was going to fall apart. But miraculously it didn't. With ten men, Spurs showed magnificent resilience and Robbo made two fantastic reaction saves.

The pressure was eased dramatically when a superb long range pass from O'Hara found Malbranque in the centre forward position, and he kept his composure to put Spurs 2-0 up. Berba could have made it three when he turned the defender with great skill but then shot too near the goalkeeper.

Another clean sheet and through to the semis. I'm really proud of my boys.

EDIT: True enough, the red card was ridiculous. Yes - Zokora's studs were showing but he actually won the ball; he didn't even touch the player! (see pic below). Unfortunately, after another appeal, the FA has rejected it. What a surprise!