24 hours on from Sunday's cup quarter final, and the dust has finally started to settle on a pulsating game full of incident, drama and discussion points. Top of the tabloid press are the alleged comments from Jose Mourinho casting doubt as to the honour of referee Mike Riley's mother - but as usual with the chosen one, its deflecting the attention away from argueably the best away performance by a side at Stamford Bridge this season.
Spurs, for 70 minutes at least - were mesmeric. Despite a raft of injuries, including the absence of our own talismanic defender, Spurs outclassed Chelsea in every department for over an hour. The champions, with home advantage, two days more preparation time and boasting a first eleven priced at in excess of £200m, were unable to cope with the guile and craft of Mssrs Berbatov, Lennon, Ghaly and Zokora, and were forced into finishing the game with just two recognised defenders on the pitch, such was the need for power up front. Strikers Shevchenko and Drogba were largely ineffective, and while Robben seemingly had the ability to ghost past Stalteri at will, the end product from the dutchman was largely disappointing.
Chelsea elected to field Michael Essien in central defence, in preference to Khalid Boularouz - memories of the dutch defender's pedestrian performance against Spurs at White Hart Lane still lingering in the mind of Mourinho. At half time, this decision looked to have backfired with spectacular consequences - Essien had put through his own net, been part of a "yours" no "yours" slapstick routine with two team-mates allowing Hossam Ghaly to burst through and score Spurs third goal, and been slow to react to Aaron Lennon's through ball for Dimitar Berbatov to open the scoring after just 5 minutes. The ghanaian must have wondered which way was up at times during a game where he played in four positions - centre half in a back four, right of a back three, left of a back three and for a brief time in his preferred holding midfield position.
Spurs lined up with 4-3-1-2 formation - Tainio, Zokora and surprisingly Ghaly playing narrow in midfield, with Aaron Lennon roving in the hole behind the front two. Ricardo Rocha played alongside Michael Dawson, with Stalteri at right back in for Pascal Chimbonda. Given the nature of the game the inclusion of Rocha, Stalteri and Ghaly raised a few eyebrows with Spurs fans....but all three showed great determination and belief, in a first half that should have ended 5 or 6 - 0 to Spurs. Instead they had to settle for 3-1 - a Lampard toe poke stabbing a fortuitous equaliser on the quarter hour mark. Catalyst to Spurs dominance once again was Dimitar Berbatov - another high class performance full of control, vision and confidence, qualities which sadly seemed to leave the pitch with him when injury forced him off just past the hour.
The second half started with stories of a spat between referee Riley and Mourinho , however if you want to read about the latest soap opera story eminating from Chelsea Village, buy the Sun. In footballing terms, the tie became much more even, and once Berbatov had departed, increasingly one sided, as Mido was unable to emulate the bulgarian's hold up play, looking distinctly off the pace at a time when he was needed most. Mourinho had four forwards on the pitch by now, with Kalou joining Robben, Shevchenko and Drogba. With just Carvalho and Boularouz as recognised defenders, chances to hit Chelsea on the break were going to be there for the taking, and but for the width of the cross bar late on, Jermain Defoe might have snatched a fourth, having earlier missed a great headed chance when set up by Ghaly.
With Lampard taking advantage of a miscue from Drogba which fell kindly for him, and Kalou capitalising on a defensive lapse by Dawson, the game was levelled at 3 all, an outcome that leaves both managers contemplating yet another fixture log-jam. Credit to Martin Jol for sending his team out with such an attacking desire, and credit to Mourinho for pulling his side back into the game. The replay - on Monday 19th at White Hart Lane, promises to be another fascinating tie, and one that Spurs will fancy they can get a result from.