Harry Redknapp’s Tottenham beat Man City
Harry Redknapp’s Tottenham Hotspurs came out on top for the battle for 4th champions league spot in the English premier league, as they beat cash rich Manchester City one nil, at the city of Manchester stadium, thanks to a late goal from the lanky English striker Peter Crouch.
The tall striker who made his way to London from Liverpool scored a winner with only 8 minutes left on the clock, which could be worth 30 millions pounds, as he pounced on to a save made by city kepper Marton Fulop from Younis Kabouls cross.
The one nil victory secured 4th spot in the premier league for spurs, which all will agree was well deserved, Spurs were by far the better team on the night, compared to Manchester City who must apply their trade next season, not in champions league, but in the 2nd tier European competition known as Europa league.
A place in the champions league for Tottenham is a big tribute to the restructuring that Harry Reknap has made since arriving at the London club, at a time when spurs were in danger of being relegated from the top flight football.
Harru Redknapp has put together a team which is capable of playing attractive football, while showing grit and determination when needed. Which was evident on Wednesday when they went out to get the 3 points which they knew will seal their place in Europe.
For long it had looked like the champagne would have to be put on ice in London, as it had remained goalless for most of the match, and Spurs were almost settled to wait another week to celebrate when they take on Burnley, but finally Crouch capitalized on one of series of chances that the away side had missed, to finally seal the win, and sent the traveling Tottenham supporters into raptures.
Peter crouch had prior to that had diverted a good header which was saved by Fulop and minutes before that also hit the post, Jermaine Defoe was also denied by the city Keeper in the 2nd half as Spurs started to squeeze the home side.
While Manchester City were never in control of the game, even though Frontman Adam Jahonson did cause gomes some problems, while Gareth Bale was also close to putting the ball into his own net, which was saved by Hurelio Gomes. And for England manager Fabio Capello there was a reason for concern as Gareth Barry who is a strong candidate to travel to South Africa in 5 weeks for the world cup, was injured and replaced in the 2nd half.
While Manchester City Manager Roberto Mancini’s future is quite uncertain as the minimum expectation from the fans and specially the cash rich owners form Abu Dhabi was a place in Europe next season.
The directors at City who were present at the match applauded the team and manager at the end of the game, but the disappointment of their faces told a whole different story, while there have no such worries and can start planning for a big European campaign next season.
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