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Impressive First Half For Ghaly vs Villa

Date: 14-10-2006
Wrote: EP's webmaster

Spurs faced Aston Villa in an away clash this afternoon. Mido did not play due to thigh injury while Ghaly played from the start as right midfielder and almost scored a goal in the first half but the keeper denied his attempt. The game ended in a 1-1 draw as Angel scored inside his own net while Barry equalised for the homeside from a well placed shot.

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Impressive first half for Ghaly but a late challenge cost him a yellow card in the 2nd half

Tottenham faced Aston Villa on Saturday afternoon in another clash in the English Premiership. Mido and Ghaly's side almost won the match but a late equalizer from Barry ended the game in a 1-1 draw.

Egyptian striker Mido and Ledley King were both unavailable for the match as they both failed a fitness test on matchday. Mido had suffered a thigh injury and was doubtful for the game because of that.

The other Egyptian at Tottenham, Hossam Ghaly played from the start as a right midfielder and showed good performance especially in the first half. The Egyptian started very sharp, his anticipation and passing were both good and he almost scored for Tottenham in the 28th minute when he volleyed the ball from close range at goal but the Villa goalkeeper made the stretch and turned Ghaly's shot away for a corner.

The downside about Ghaly was his timing in tackles as he made two late challenges in the game. The first came in the first half when he made a late tackle on Angel but he was lucky to go away with just a warning from the match referee. However, in the 2nd half, the Egyptian made another late challenge on Baros and this time he received a yellow card.


Hrsh tackle from Ghaly on Baros


Yellow card for the Egyptian

Although Ghaly showed some good football in the game, he gave the ball too easy in some occasions as he tried to dribble past opponents instead of passing quickly. Apart from that, everyone was impressed with Ghaly's performance especially the club fans who gave him an average rating of 7 while Skysports rating was 6.

Tottenham were generally the better side in the first half and they got some real chances via Defoe, Ghaly and Dawson but they failed to convert. The 2nd striker Berbatov wasn't also in a good shape and if he kept performing like that, Mido will clearly get back to selection soon.


Juan Pablo Angel was the centre of attention in the game as he missed a penalty kick after a foul inside the box by Davenport on Agbonlahor. Not only this, but he also gave the Spurs the lead when he headed the ball oddly home in the 75th minute of the game while Spurs were down to 10 men after the sending off of Davenport after the penalty kick that he gave away.

Spurs almost won the match but Barry thought differently and dribbled past two Spurs players before placing the ball superbly into the far corner leaving Robinson with no chance to make the score 1-1 and to rescue a point for Villa.

It should be noted that Ghaly came off in the 59th minute of the game and was replaced by Lennon who recovered from his long term injury. With Lennon returning back to games, Ghaly might see less action. However, the Egyptian might play instead of Murphy in the centre of midfield as the latter wasn't i in a good shape lately.

Aston Villa: Taylor, Mellberg, Barry, Hughes, Ridgewell, McCann, Davis (Berger, 76), Agbonlahor, Angel, Baros (Agathe, 64), Petrov. Subs: Olejnik, Laursen, Bouma.

Spurs: Robinson, Chimbonda, Assou-Ekotto, Dawson (Stalteri, 51), Davenport, Jenas, Ghaly (Lennon, 59), Zokora, Murphy, Defoe, Berbatov (Davids, 75). Subs: Cerny, Keane.