Fulham v Spurs: Media Reaction

Here is a rundown of how the Sunday and Monday papers saw our draw with Spurs, along with web links to the relevant articles where possible.

Thankfully most papers were more concerned with speculating about Martin Jol’s future and reporting on the robust defence of his tactics in the post-match press conference than reflecting on what was a fairly woeful performance from us.

When Jol emerged from the tunnel before kick-off he was serenaded with a “now familiar outpouring of love” from the Tottenham supporters, noted David Ornstein in The Guardian. By the time he departed, such affection was “conspicuous by its absence”. A fact that will be noted by chairman Daniel Levy.

The Spurs boss knows time is rapidly running out, agreed Mark Irwin in The Sun, but yet he is not losing any sleep over the prospect of his “back-stabbing board stepping up their search” for a successor. “I don’t feel vulnerable because I’m a strong f*****,” the big Dutchman said afterwards, while denying charges of “tactical suicide”.

For almost the entire duration of an “unequal contest”, it was solely in Tottenham’s gift to sacrifice victory, so emphatic was their superiority, thought Nick Townsend in the Independent on Sunday. “It was only in the final, frantic few moments when an overhead kick from Fulham’s Diomansy Kamara eluded the goalkeeper Paul Robinson that this represented the six-goal thriller the scoreline may suggest”.

In fact, Tottenham should have gone in at half time three or four goals to the good, said Daniel King in the Mail on Sunday, such was the embarrassing ease with which they “repeatedly exposed Fulham’s chaotic, error-prone defence”.

Antti Niemi was restored to the home starting XI, he added, but using three goalies in your opening six games – and a different one for each of three games in a week – is “hardly conducive to defensive harmony and Fulham soon paid the price”.

Stuart Barnes, writing in The Observer, said the former Finnish international was “all at sea” when Keane delivered an inswinging corner and was fortunate to see it scrambled behind. “Unfortunately, he was not so lucky when Gareth Bale curled in a second one, from the opposite flank,” he added. “Again, Niemi failed to make any contact with the ball, which, this time, dropped for Younes Kaboul to stab it over the line, from no more than a yard out, to open his Tottenham account”.

The home defence was certainly in disarray from the start, agreed Jim Holden in the Sunday Express, and relied on the offside trap even though Dejan Stefanovic was in the side - just 24 hours after signing from Pompey. “He couldn’t possibly be attuned to the Fulham system and the result was Spurs had a string of first half chances.”

As it happens, they took only one of them, he added, when Keane’s smart flick forward sent Dimitar Berbatov striding clear on goal. “The Bulgarian shot fiercely and unstoppably into the net to put Tottenham 2-0 up within half an hour”.

Yet Fulham managed to reduce the leeway, pointed out Patrick Barclay in The Sunday Telegraph. “Davies flighted a corner and Clint Dempsey, inadequately marked by Chimbonda, rammed a solid header under the crossbar”.

Tottenham soon regained the initiative, said the Mail on Sunday’s King, with Jenas drawing an impressive save from Niemi and Steed Malbranque hitting a post, before Bale scored just after the hour. “Tom Huddlestone touched the ball on but it was Keane who played the killer ball behind Chris Baird which allowed the teenager to race clear and use Berbatov as a decoy before shooting past Niemi”.

The turning point of the match came in the 68th minute, said Rob Shepherd in the News of The World, when Jol replaced skipper Robbie Keane – who, together with Berbatov had been “running Fulham ragged” - with Jermaine Defoe. “As Keane lamely shook Jol’s hand on the touchline he raised his eyebrows,” he wrote. “The expression said it all, along the lines of ‘What the hell are you doing?’”

After Smertin’s drive deflected off the challenging Rocha and dropped behind Robinson, the game changed, agreed Barclay in The Sunday Telegraph. “Fulham’s direct approach – which had hitherto cried out for the absent Brian McBride – induced worried expressions on the visitors’ faces”.

Those fears were realised in the final minute, said Holden in The Sunday Express, when a throw-in caused panic in the Spurs defence and Kamara “went for a spectacular overhead kick that again looped over the head of Robinson”.

It was a comeback that saw Lawrie Sanchez liken his Fulham team to James Bond films when the villains fail to finish 007 off for good, according to the website Football365. “It’s a similar story in life,” it reported him saying. “You never give people a chance and they gave us a chance to get back in it”.

Even though Spurs clearly threw away the three points, Duncan Castles of The Sunday Times touched on the views of many home fans when he wrote: “As a team that had suffered three last-minute defeats already this season, there was more than an element of payback for Fulham yesterday”.

Unfortunately, that’s little consolation to Martin Jol, pointed out Steve Stammers in the Sunday Mirror. The look of disbelief on his face as he trooped across the Craven Cottage pitch said it all. “Just how his Tottenham team conspired to twice surrender a two-goal lead was beyond him,” he wrote. “Now his job at White Hart Lane may depend on a win against a rejuvenated Arsenal in two weeks’ time – and that is not a scenario to be relished”.