Monday, October 26, 2009
IT was not quite a shot that could be heard around the world, but the ripples created by Glenn Whelan’s fine winning goal here were almost certainly felt in France.
Raymond Domenech’s spies were unlikely to have been at White Hart Lane to check on Whelan’s progress and, even if they had, the chances are they would have departed before he delivered the match’s decisive moment with five minutes remaining.
Giovanni Trapattoni, watching alongside Fabio Capello in the directors’ box, was already on his way to the airport when Whelan swept regally into the top corner, but when he reviews the video footage, it is easy to imagine his craggy features splitting into a smile.
Whelan’s development into a player of genuine international class is one of the very good reasons France should be nervous ahead of next month’s World Cup play-offs.
The Stoke midfielder is not one of those footballers whose careers have been sprinkled with stardust, having been deemed not good enough to be kept on at either Manchester City – when the club still played at the plain old City of Manchester Stadium, not Middle Eastlands – or Sheffield Wednesday. But, as Gianluigi Buffon and now Heurelho Gomes can testify, he still does a neat line in conjuring tricks.
The finish he propelled past the latter on Saturday was not quite in the same class as that which brought Croke Park to its feet and the Italians to their knees, but it was plucked from the same top hat: a measured yet powerful shot, struck with the instep so the ball curls and dips away from the goalkeeper’s outstretched hand and into the top corner. It was, in short, a moment which had class stamped all over it.
Yet Whelan is a footballing curio. For much of the last two seasons, his sprightly performances for his club were largely ignored by Ireland’s management; now, having been deemed indispensable by his country, he is not guaranteed a start at the Britannia stadium.
Whelan started Saturday’s game on the bench, just as he had done in the two Premier League games before that, and while Trapattoni will hardly complain if Whelan remains out of favour in the build-up to France’s visit on November 14 as he bids to keep his squad in peak physical condition, it will be a concern if Ireland qualify. World Cups, after all, are no place for footballers bereft of match sharpness.
Whelan, for his part, is not complaining – not yet, at least. "He’s a great professional," said his manager, Tony Pulis. "We left him out a couple of weeks ago because he looked tired. He played in all the Irish games and he just seemed a bit leggy in training. But his attitude has been first class since he’s been left out. There hasn’t been one word of complaint and there are no problems with him at all, He’s a good player and maybe he encapsulates us a bit – the way he has come along in the last couple of years."
This was, to some degree, a textbook example of the smash-and-grab raid, Stoke plundering the points despite having been swamped for at least three-quarters of the afternoon. They also greedily accepted a generous dollop of good fortune which saw Spurs forced to play the last 15 minutes with 10 men, Aaron Lennon hobbling off with an ankle injury after Harry Redknapp had already deployed his full complement of substitutes.
But to deny Stoke’s worthiness in victory would be churlish. Their defending was heroic, particularly from Abdoulaye Faye and Ryan Shawcross, and in Steve Simonsen they had a goalkeeper who was in the kind of form managers must wish they could bottle and store in the deep freeze.
The 30-year-old, only playing after Thomas Sorensen was taken ill 20 minutes before kick-off, saved smartly from Aaron Lennon and Peter Crouch but saved his best for early in the second period, when he tipped aside Robbie Keane’s strike. When he was beaten, as in the 26th minute by Crouch’s header, James Beattie hooked off the line.
"It was a difficult situation but it has happened before," Simonsen recalled. "It was at Blackburn, although then we were 3-0 down after half-an-hour. I wouldn’t say it didn’t go through my mind but you can’t think about things like that. Thankfully it was a positive result which typifies what our club is about."
Redknapp was less effusive in his praise, rather churlishly refusing to acknowledge that, in the last 30 minutes at least, Stoke’s football was at least as polished as Tottenham’s. "They’re okay, I suppose," he shrugged. "They were taking a long time over throw-ins and goal-kicks but we were prepared for that."
Those comments were indicative of Redknapp’s foul mood. Whether it was annoyance over the defeat, frustration with Lennon’s refusal to play on, Jonathan Woodgate suffering concussion just four minutes into his comeback game or a row with Sandra, he did not look like a manager revelling in his one-year anniversary.
"I still get really low, even now," he suggested, with a sigh. "It’s crazy, really, but there you are."
REFEREE: Lee Probert (Gloucestershire) 7: Calm and decisive when he had to be.
MATCH RATING: ** Far from a classic, but Stoke’s resilience and counter-attacking thrusts made for impressive viewing.
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