UEFA Cup - Udinese pile on Tottenham woe

Eurosport - Fri, 24 Oct 09:19:00 2008

Udinese continued Tottenham's miserable run of form by inflicting a 2-0 defeat on the North London side, reduced to 10 men, in the opening match of UEFA Cup Group D.

2008-2009 Tottenham Hotspur Jamie O'Hara - 0

Antonio Di Natale scored a first-half penalty after a howler by Spurs goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes (pictured) to put the second-placed Serie A side in the lead.

Jamie O'Hara collected two yellow cards in a minute for tackles on Alexis Sanchez in the second half to see red and leave manager Juande Ramos in further trouble.

Substitute Simone Pepe made sure late on when he finished a breakaway move after excellent work by the impressive Fabio Quagliarella.

Tottenham looked a side lacking confidence, exemplified when Didier Zokora failed to control a simple ball on the touchline and, at more cost, when O'Hara moved well away from goal when in a great position to shoot close in with goalkeeper Samir Handanovic stranded.

Under-fire coach Juande Ramos had omitted winger David Bentley, who had earlier criticised his team-mates, from the squad.

It was his replacement Aaron Lennon who caused most of the problems for the home defence, repeatedly scampering down the right but unable to supply a decisive final ball.

After a couple of hairy early moments Spurs looked settled into the match, building their play from a solid base, only for Brazilian Gomes to make a hash of controlling a simple ball and allowing Quagliarella to steal in.

As the Italy star looked to turn and shoot, Gomes manhandled him - and down the striker went.

There were yellow cards for Gomes, perhaps lucky to stay on the field, and Alexander Lukovic for complaining too vociferously before Udine captain Di Natale struck the spot-kick into the corner.

Spurs did have opportunities to equalise - Darren Bent directed a pair of weak headers at goal and O'Hara had that chance - but their haphazard gameplan went out of the window when the midfielder made two rash challenges on Chile international Sanchez 10 and 11 minutes after the break.

There were further yellow cards, including one for left-sided midfielder Bale, who should have centred at least one of three attacking free-kicks he wasted through shooting.

Di Natale almost scored s sensational second with an outrageous lob with his instep after bringing the ball down; Gomes hauled his massive frame backwards to claw it away from on the line.

Substitute Giovani dos Santos looked lively although, with his side a man down, he had little space to work with. Nevertheless, he presented a gilt-edged chance to Bent from the byline with five minutes left to play.

The striker headed powerfully this time under the crossbar from outside the six-yard box, only to see Handanovic tip the ball over.

A minute later the second-goal cushion was added by Pepe, who scored off the inside of the post following a superb breakaway move to leave Tottenham contemplating a fifth game without a win.

Dinamo Zagreb 3-2 NEC Nijmegen

Dinamo Zagreb came from behind with two late goals to beat NEC at home.

Dinamo took the lead after three minutes through Marijo Mandzukic, only to concede an own-goal equaliser 20 minutes later through Carlos.

Tim Withelmus Janssen gave the Dutch side the lead with 12 minutes left, but Bosko Balaban and Ivica Vrdoljak hit two goals inside three minutes to seal the victory for the Craotian hosts.

Jonathan Symcox / Reuters

Comment 35 - 54 of 94

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  1. Fair points, gazandshev. Personally, never convinced that MJ was very highest class (Chelski FA Cup subs, over-cautious etc) but liked him as a bloke, and thought that Levy & Co treated him abominably, and wish him all the best at Hamburg. Agree completely about Comolli as DofF; exit asap. Still think JR will come good, but would like a win...any bloody win! Bolton crucial; after that, it's anyone's guess. COYS!

    From GW, on Fri 24 Oct 12:03AM

  2. its the board who need sacking, spurs had a good manager in Martin Jol, he may of upset a couple of prima donas, like the selfish arse Berbatof, but the board should have stuck by Jol and not the players whims, they totally undermined Jol.
    Spurs need stability or they will be another Newcastle changing managers every 6 months.
    Forget directors of football and let the managers rule the football desicions, the best managers are Wenger and ferguson....they operate and control the teams without interference , success was not immediate but prolonged.
    Time for Levvy and co to take resposibility, they have made huge mistakes.
    BY the way that very good Manager We abused is now top of the bundesliga

    From gaz, on Thu 23 Oct 11:41PM

  3. Like you did in the Carling Cup? Will concede that Big Phil has produced a more attractive side than the Special One - so far. But you're a fur coat and no knickers side. Cometh the Russian taxman - you're @#$%!

    From GW, on Thu 23 Oct 11:30PM

  4. Ugsy - Is there a sign of jealousy that our 2nd team could beat Spurs blindfolded with both legs tied behind their backs and only 1 player?

    Hope you enjoy your Spurs vs Southampton matches next year. Ha Ha Ha

    From H C, on Thu 23 Oct 11:21PM

  5. i think tottenham should try to buy Campbell, Henry , Viera and Pires

    From DELPHINE R, on Thu 23 Oct 11:17PM

  6. When u pay 17 mil 4 bentley , an Arsenal reject that's what u get in return.

    From DELPHINE R, on Thu 23 Oct 11:14PM

  7. as a Man Utd fan I think that the biggest mistake that Tottenham made was sacking Martil Jol, he broughht better players at Tottenham than Ramos, and u were a better team with him as a manager.

    From DELPHINE R, on Thu 23 Oct 11:08PM

  8. I'm spurs til the end, but we have no idea what to do with the ball when its at our feet, we play hospital passes and take an extra touch to shoot when its not required. Ramos hasn't played the same side twice and he diet fiasco is that bad, that reports in a national paper siggesed the lads are hungry before and during the game.
    however, I'dlike to see Ramos play a straight forward 4-4-2, with the following line up:- gk-sanchz, cb-king, cb-woodgate,rb-hutton,lb-bale,dcm-Huddleston,acm-jenas, rw-lennon,lw-o'hara,cf-bent and cf-campbell on the bench would be Gomez, gunter, dawson, assou-ekott, bentley, taarabt and Dos santos.

    If Ramos should be reading these posts, he may noice that the line up is made up of (except sanchz) british players.

    As for the board, nice to see that they have made money on the transfers market, but if they decided to keep said players, we may be in better postion ie the champions league and they could have made more money, geuss there not as greedy as we all thought!!

    From Charmedaj, on Thu 23 Oct 11:03PM

  9. big team , poor results..management and coach go away...Bilich ?

    From miki, on Thu 23 Oct 10:56PM

  10. Dinamo ante portas...fear on the door

    From miki, on Thu 23 Oct 10:51PM

  11. bad bad bad bad......Dinamo is near

    From miki, on Thu 23 Oct 10:51PM

  12. Spurs through and through, and good night Ramos I hope with all that unearned money you sleep well

    From Had Enough, on Thu 23 Oct 10:41PM

  13. What it boils down to is this,we got your best players(sunderland)and youve struggled since.....man city springs to mind,so does leeds,you are not a big club anymore get over it

    From philip w, on Thu 23 Oct 10:37PM

  14. Get rid of the @#$% summer signings and try and replace keane and berby. More fire power up front needed.

    From madadd13, on Thu 23 Oct 10:33PM

  15. coachdannymac & hc - used our giros to buy the Grauniad, did we? Bet you won't do that again. No cartoons or tits. I can't wait until Roman find another toy - Chelski will implode faster than an old TV. Average gates of 15k again. You heard it here first.
    Audere est facere!

    From GW, on Thu 23 Oct 10:21PM

  16. Spurs were pathetic tonight, how many can seriously say their earned their salary???
    How many deserve to wear the shirt. They should apologise to those fans that travelled and paid out to support them. They are a woefull Ramos Rabble. Glory Glory Halleujah, this Spurs team is the worse I have seen for 50 years. They will go Marching down not on.

    From ALLAN S, on Thu 23 Oct 10:20PM

  17. Spurs will be playing in the championchip next season and see how they get on then I don't think they will pull there fingers out if they want to drop down next season.

    From PETER, on Thu 23 Oct 10:17PM

  18. Juande Ramos should be arrested.

    From Wilson-M, on Thu 23 Oct 10:16PM

  19. i'm spurs till i die, but where do we go from here? no creativity, no leadership, no support from the bench, no goalscorers. and thats going from one of the best attacking teams in under a year!can't blame berbitove, didn't do anything for a year and a half anyway!lost keane, chimbonda, lee and malbranque, all good crossing wingers, brought, hutton,bale,bentley ekkoto and modric, can't pass or cross a ball for all the money in the world!no wonder bent and puschychenko can't score, no service!

    From stedy, on Thu 23 Oct 10:16PM

  20. Where are now Pavlyuchenko and Modric to say - We can cope without Berbatov and Keane?Or they are singing some other song after this @#$% start?!It's now obvious how valuable were the players they sold!Keep up the good work lads!

    From Rosen, on Thu 23 Oct 9:59PM
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