mourning papers cc final

Telegraph:
Woodgate winner signals Spurs' new dawnBy Henry Winter at Wembley Stadium
Tottenham Hotspur 2 Chelsea 1 Aet 1-1
Jonathan Woodgate should be able to climb on to the London property ladder now. In the house of the rising sums, the £757 million Wembley residence that is the symbol of an exorbitant market that has so shocked Woodgate, the new arrival from Middlesbrough surely earned the deposit for a 'des res' in the capital.
Having surprised many with his comments about how even wealthy footballers found London expensive, Woodgate will not be short of offers of spare rooms in the Tottenham area. Goals pay the rent and match-winning headers like Woodgate's are priceless.
To Woodgate the spoils, to Avram Grant the brickbats. Like a profligate heir, Grant has now squandered half the family silver he inherited from Jose Mourinho. Like a startled fawn, Chelsea's manager failed to react when the team cried out for guidance, for inspiration. Steve Clarke delivered the rallying cry before extra-time. Grant listened.
A manager who never lost a cup final in England, Mourinho would have raged against the dying of the light, exhorting his players to find something extra, enacting one of his substitute master-strokes to vary Chelsea's danger. The Blues' huge army of support, who became so used to trophies under Mourinho, deserve better than Grant.
An authority figure? No chance. When Michael Ballack, Didier Drogba, Petr Cech and John Terry lost it with the excellent referee, Mark Halsey, at the final whistle, Grant froze again.
Only a timely run from his assistant, Henk Ten Cate, defused the tension. For all the recent eulogies to Grant about his being a high-class manager, even a worthy successor to Mourinho, the Far-From-Special One has faltered when the pressure has been most intense. Grant's decision to start Frank Lampard ahead of the fitter Michael Ballack certainly backfired. Lampard is a magnificent thoroughbred, but he needed a few more runs on the gallops before such a demanding race as this.
Grant's tactics were patently flawed. It is hard to believe Nicolas Anelka joined from Bolton simply to mark Alan Hutton, the Spurs right-back. Anelka is an exceptional attacking talent, capable of destroying opposing defences when unleashed through the middle but he was allowed to support Drogba properly only after Spurs made it 2-1. Juande Ramos promptly introduced another defensive sentry in Younes Kaboul to help weather the long-ball storm.
With the quality of personnel at his disposal, Grant should be reaching finals. So he has failed his first big test. He was also asked by Roman Abramovich to make Chelsea more entertaining but there is a joylessness about Grant's teams, a machine-like quality that will never endear Chelsea to neutrals or purists.
Unlike Spurs. Yesterday was a fabulous day for football, one that those onlookers whose pulses are quickened by vibrant attacking should mark in their diaries and celebrate every year. Spurs, the team with the more constructive intentions, went home rewarded with the ultimate in footballing 'bling', winners' medals dangling around their necks. The players who finished with champagne poured over their sweat-stained features were entertainers like Jermaine Jenas, Aaron Lennon, Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov. Good. Here was football in keeping with the Tottenham tradition, that Bill Nicholson would have approved of, that Glenn Hoddle, Ossie Ardiles and Danny Blanchflower, would recognise. Until the final passage of play, when even the back-tracking Berbatov proved you can be famous defensively for 15 minutes, Spurs brimmed with attacking desire.
Even Ramos' defenders exuded adventure at times. Hutton looked to give Spurs some much-needed width. Ledley King, comfortably the man of the match for a series of immaculate interceptions, also stepped into midfield. Woodgate scored. Pascal Chimbonda clipped the bar with an early header.
Enterprise ruled. Anchorman Didier Zokora also moved to an upbeat tempo, although the club should write into his contract that he must lay the ball off the moment he crosses halfway. Some of Zokora's shooting was a danger to traffic on the North Circular. Yet his willingness to race between boxes encapsulated the reality that Spurs wanted victory more. So did the tears cascading down Keane's face. The chants emanating from the Spurs faithful were almost visceral in their intensity. One club, one hunger. Spurs craved this chance to escape the shadows of Arsenal and Chelsea lengthening across the London skyline.
The reasons to be cheerful here contained additional verses. Sharing the silverware around is healthy for football. For those who admire Paul Robinson as a person and as a keeper, who respect the professional way he has focused on rebuilding his career after setbacks for club and country, the sight of him making some fine saves was uplifting
But when Chelsea took the lead seven minutes from half-time, exploiting Robinson's solitary mistake, romantics and Spurs lovers feared the worst. As cleverly as Drogba disguised his intentions, as swiftly as he placed the ball around the wall, the goal could have been prevented. Keane leapt across, unintentionally freeing up some space for the ball to carry through. Robinson also went to his right, and was caught flat-footed as Drogba's strike curled into the other corner: 1-0.
Spurs players, thrillingly, were certainly prepared to stand up and be counted. Tom Huddlestone arrived to bring better distribution into midfield. Chimbonda, shamefully, walked slowly off and disappeared straight down the tunnel. When Chimbonda learned the English language, he must have missed the lesson teaching words like loyalty, team-work and grace.
With Malbanque now left-back, Ramos' change worked. Lennon sprang to life, running at Chelsea's defence far more potently. Cutting in from the left after 70 minutes, Lennon lifted the ball across to Huddlestone. In a whirl of limbs, Wayne Bridge handled, his offence spotted by the alert linesman, Martin Yerby. Terry ranted away but Halsey was not for turning. And Berbatov was not for failing. The Bulgarian seems to play the game at his own speed, and this penalty was no exception. Berbatov moved in slowly, waiting for Cech to commit himself, and then sweeping the dead-ball the other side: 1-1.
Zokora should really have settled the final during normal time, but never exuded confidence when released through by Keane, allowing Cech to save superbly. Zokora, following up waywardly, accidentally caught the keeper, who required smelling salts.
Whether Cech was still groggy four minutes into the additional period remains a matter of conjecture. What is certain is that one of the world's most respected keepers was strangely uncertain as Jenas' free-kick swerved across. Cech was beaten by Woodgate, whose eventual house-warming promises to be some party.
Man of the match Jonatahan Woodgate (Tottenham) • 3 shots, one winning goal• 89 per cent pass accuracy
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The TimesFebruary 25, 2008
Jonathan Woodgate displays a nose for successTottenham 2 Chelsea 1 (aet: 1-1 after 90min)
Martin Samuel, Chief Football Correspondent, at Wembley
Jonathan Woodgate may not be able to find a house in London, but he will always have a home at Wembley after this. A winning goal in extra time to deliver the first trophy for Tottenham Hotspur this century should ensure that next time he searches for accommodation in the capital, the northern suburbs hold particular appeal.
Woodgate was widely ridiculed last week for complaining that London property prices were exorbitant, even on £65,000 a week, so his estate agent will be hoping that he is also eligible for a trophy, a win or at least a goal bonus, having seen his client qualify for all three in one match.
Woodgate was slightly lucky to score in the third minute of extra time yesterday, the final touch that sent the ball into Chelsea’s net coming off his nose rather than his forehead, but it was no more than Tottenham deserved, having been considerably the better side for almost all of the 120 minutes. Even Chelsea’s first-half lead came against the run of play.
If this was a triumph for Woodgate, Tottenham and Juande Ramos, their head coach – who has been at White Hart Lane less than four months – it was a catastrophe for Chelsea’s regime under Avram Grant. There was nothing to suggest that Grant has advanced the club one iota since the departure of José Mourinho, who, Chelsea fans will recall, never lost a final in three seasons. Grant’s team bore more than a passing resemblance to the one that got Mourinho the sack in September. They played dull, direct football, with their most inventive player, Joe Cole, stranded on the sidelines. And they lost. This is what happens when an owner phones a friend instead of a manager with vision, which is what Tottenham sought once it had been decided that Martin Jol was not the man for the job.
In Ramos, they have secured an experienced coach at the peak of his powers, and with a place in the last 16 of the Uefa Cup already safe – albeit with a difficult tie against PSV Eindhoven, the best team in the Netherlands to come next month – who knows what will have been achieved by the end of his first season?
Tottenham are the most improved team in the country under his stewardship and on this evidence will clearly be stalking the top four next season.
They snuffed out Chelsea defensively and overran them in midfield, and it was only in the final 15 minutes that Grant’s players came to life. Between Didier Drogba’s goal in the 38th minute and a free kick from an acute angle by Frank Lampard nine minutes into injury time, Chelsea offered nothing. As Drogba’s goal was a dead ball, too, in terms of memorable chances from open play, Chelsea had none between the 22nd second of the match proper, when Juliano Belletti had a shot deflected, and the 112th minute when Paul Robinson, the Tottenham goalkeeper, saved at the feet of Salomon Kalou, a substitute.
Not that the situation in Chelsea’s goalmouth was exactly a siege, but Tottenham demonstrated greater ambition, created better chances and could have wrapped the game up without the additional 30 minutes had Didier Zokora not missed the chance of the game with ten minutes remaining, when set clear by Robbie Keane. With Chelsea’s defence horribly square, Zokora had only Petr Cech, the goalkeeper, to beat, but his hesitation belied a man gripped by fear and he blasted the ball directly at Cech, striking him in the face before sending the rebound soaring high and wide.
At other times, there were opportunities for Pascal Chimbonda, Dimitar Berbatov twice, Woodgate and Steed Malbranque. Cech was called into action on three occasions while, at the other end, Robinson, who is plainly still vulnerable after a traumatic season, was scarcely troubled. Had Chelsea demonstrated more purpose, it could have been interesting because, despite good reaction saves, there was frailty in the performance of the England man. There is a trend to pick at every goal Robinson concedes, yet questions deserve to be asked about the way Chelsea took the lead.
Zokora fouled Drogba roughly 20 yards out, but the sight of goal he was given from the free kick was laughable. Keane tucked in on the end of the wall as the kick was being taken, leaving Robinson’s left side exposed, and the goalkeeper had positioned himself behind his wall, which seemed bizarre. The result was a huge unguarded target and Drogba could as good as side-foot the ball into the net, with power, and did. There followed a dismal passage of play in which Chelsea were content to bore their way to victory and Tottenham appeared incapable of stopping them, until Wayne Bridge, the defender, handed them a lifeline.
Bridge, whose previous start at Wembley was a dismal performance in the European Championship qualifying group defeat by Croatia, did not so much stop the ball with his hands in the 68th minute as juggle it in a tussle with Tom Huddlestone and the resulting penalty was feathered to Cech’s right by Berbatov, a fine display of bravado that gave Tottenham deserved equality. Still, Chelsea did not awake from slumber and when Woodgate won the game in the 93rd minute, the pleasure was not so much in seeing one of the elite cartel vanquished, but of justice being done.
Jermaine Jenas slung a deep free kick into the penalty area, Woodgate lost his marker, Belletti, and got to the ball before the advancing Cech. His header struck the goalkeeper, but it rebounded, hit Woodgate and dropped into the Chelsea net. By the time Chelsea became alert to the crisis, it was too late. Joe Cole was introduced in the 98th minute and made a difference, but Chelsea’s frantic urgency was in stark contrast to the somnambulant performance that had gone before.
At the end, John Terry and Drogba had to be pulled away from Mark Halsey, the referee, claiming that he had blown the final whistle with Chelsea on the attack through Kalou. The point was moot. Chelsea had two hours to do that and chose not to; anyway, Kalou’s shot hit a post.
No worthier was Chimbonda, the Tottenham defender, who went down the tunnel in a huff having been substituted in the 60th minute for Huddlestone. He returned for the celebrations after the final whistle, as if team spirit can be switched on and off like a tap, an incongruous William Gallas figure on a day of celebration.
Referee M Halsey
Attendance 87,660
Petr Cech 6
Having come for free kick that led to second goal, should have made sure he took the ball.
Juliano Belletti 5
Uncertain and slipshod, easily beaten three times early on. Offered nothing going forward.
Ricardo Carvalho 5
Hesitation and uncertainty led to some confusion with his partner at centre back.
John Terry 6
Strong and resolute but showed signs of rustiness after an extended period out.
Wayne Bridge 6
Allowed Lennon little space but handled to give away the equalising penalty.
Frank Lampard 5
Largely quiet. On his only opportunity to drive forward from midfield, blazed over.
Michael Essien 6
Superb pass late on to Drogba. Was his usual bossy, imposing self in midfield.
John Obi Mikel 5
Powerful but not very mobile, influential or adventurous. Booked for a block on Jenas.
Shaun Wright-Phillips 5
One low cross apart, was as anonymous and uninventive as his teammates.
Didier Drogba 6
Rarely escaped the shackles of Woodgate, though scored from direct free kick.
Nicolas Anelka 5
Looked anonymous and lost on left wing. Subdued even when he moved to centre.
Substitutes S Kalou (for Wright-Phillips, 72min), M Ballack (for Essien, 88), J Cole (for Obi Mikel, 99).
Not used: C Cudicini, Alex.
Booked: Mikel, Carvalho, Cech.
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Chelsea 1 Tottenham Hotspur 2 : Woodgate flies high as Spurs' new regime dares to conquer
By Sam WallaceMonday, 25 February 2008
The wonder of Juande. It has taken Tottenham's new manager just four months to end his club's nine-year wait for a trophy but for Spurs yesterday at Wembley it was about a whole lot more than just winning the Carling Cup.
This was the proof that Spurs, and their inspired manager Juande Ramos, can do more than just mix it with the big beasts of the Premier League. They can conquer them too.
The Football League's cheap fizzy lager trophy served up another champagne English cup final yesterday, in every one of the tense 120 minutes, that was decided by Jonathan Woodgate's winner in the first half of extra time. But it meant so much more to Spurs, because this was not the Arsenal kids or a half-interested Manchester United they beat, it was the full might of Chelsea. Ramos was tactically perfect and his players delivered in style.
For his Chelsea counterpart, Avram Grant, this was the defeat that not even his relative success in the Premier League will erase quickly. Tactically, he was slower to react than Ramos, even once Didier Drogba had given Chelsea a first-half lead, although this was no ordinary Chelsea performance. Frank Lampard was outstanding, John Terry too. Chelsea had the players to win but their formation was fundamentally ill conceived. Stuck out on the left wing, Nicolas Anelka was anonymous.
Grant deferred to Steve Clarke for the team talk after full-time and scratched his head while Terry did the same 15 minutes later – this was not the Israeli's finest hour. For Ramos, however, it was business as usual – this was the former Seville manager's sixth knockout trophy in the space of 21 months. Six minutes before Dimitar Berbatov's penalty brought Spurs back into the game, their manager made the switch that changed his team and, ultimately, the course of the game.
Audere est Facere as they say at White Hart Lane – or, to your average bloke on the Tottenham High Road, "To dare is to do". Yesterday Ramos took the old club motto literally. With a two-man attack of Robbie Keane and Berbatov it was the Spurs' manager's triumph of belief that his team could take the game to Chelsea. As the club's owner, Roman Abramovich, will have learnt yesterday, £578m buys a lot, but it does not necessarily include the courage to make difficult decisions in critical moments.
Never in recent memory has the Carling Cup made a group of supporters so absurdly happy as it did Tottenham's yesterday. This, they had to hope, was the start of something new and exciting even if their team, at times, took them to the brink of all that they could bear. His knee may be giving way beneath him but Ledley King, back for the first time since the Arsenal semi-final second leg, was commanding. Woodgate too. And Jermaine Jenas looked as much like an international midfielder as Lampard or Michael Essien.
But this final will be remembered for the change Ramos made after the hour that turned the game. His team were a goal down to Chelsea and it had reached the stage when the ruthless blue machine looked liable to squeeze the life from Spurs and close out the match in that remorseless style of theirs. Ramos summoned Tom Huddlestone from the bench, moved Steed Malbranque to left-back and switched Aaron Lennon to the left where he at last came alive.
The man to depart was Pascal Chimbonda, who proved himself again to be a charmless character by stalking straight down the tunnel. No prizes for guessing who was at the centre of the celebrations come the end of the game.
The substitution gave Tottenham fresh impetus, Lennon took the right side of Chelsea's defence by storm and Huddlestone won them a penalty. Grant froze. By the time he did the smart thing – got Joe Cole on and switched to 4-4-2 – his team were a goal behind and losing the battle.
The opening 30 minutes were cagey, but Spurs looked the more ambitious. Chimbonda's header struck the bar before Drogba's goal six minutes before half-time set them the sternest of challenges. The man at fault when Drogba stroked home a free-kick from 25 yards? Paul Robinson once again. The reinstated Tottenham goalkeeper made some heroic saves in the closing stages but again the lingering fear was that when it comes to the basic principles of goalkeeping he makes basic mistakes.
With Fabio Capello in the stands, Robinson was positioned directly behind the defensive wall with no sight of the kick Drogba struck with his instep to curl the ball into the bottom left-hand corner of Spurs' goal. It felt like the softest of goals to give away and the powerhouses in the centre of Chelsea's midfield were beginning to tell on Jenas and Didier Zokora until Ramos made his crucial changes just after the hour. Then Spurs were unleashed.
Moments before Spurs' equaliser, a saving challenge by King on Anelka after Lampard played him in kept the game alive. Then, from the left, Lennon hit a cross toward the far side of the area where Huddlestone and Wayne Bridge contested the ball at chest height. Trapped between the two players the ball ricocheted off both but, critically, struck Bridge on the arm. The referee, Mark Halsey, relied on the judgement of the linesman Martin Yerby, who called it correctly.
Berbatov put the penalty away without blinking. Nine minutes left and Tottenham broke clean through on Chelsea's goal – a shame for their fans it was Zokora in possession. His first shot was saved by Petr Cech, he struck the rebound wide and it seemed that with that chance Spurs' opportunity to win had been squandered.
Instead their moment came four minutes into extra time. Jenas struck a free-kick from the left and Woodgate arrived before Cech to head the ball – it cannoned off the Chelsea goalkeeper, back off the defender's head and in. Spurs held on and when the dust settled it was not Grant who was emulating Jose Mourinho's first trophy victory in 2005. It was Ramos.
Goals: Drogba (39) 1-0; Berbatov pen (70) 1-1; Woodgate (94) 1-2
Chelsea (4-1-4-1): Cech; Belletti, Carvalho, Terry, Bridge; Mikel (J Cole, 99); Wright-Phillips (Kalou, 72), Essien (Ballack, 88), Lampard, Anelka; Drogba. Substitutes not used: Cudicini (gk), Alex.
Tottenham Hotspur (4-4-2): Robinson; Hutton, Woodgate, King, Chimbonda (Huddlestone, 62); Lennon, Jenas, Zokora, Malbranque (Tanio, 75); Keane (Kaboul, 103), Berbatov. Substitutes not used: Cerny (gk), Bent.
Referee: M Halsey (Lancashire).
Booked: Chelsea: Mikel, Carvalho Tottenham: Zokora, Tainio, Lennon, Jenas.
Attendance: 87,660.
Ramos reigns in cup competitions
Juande Ramos has added to his run of success in cup competitions. Since joining Seville in 2005, he has picked up a remarkable haul of silverware – winning the Uefa Cup twice, the Copa del Rey, the European Super Cup and the Spanish Super Cup, and now the Carling Cup with Tottenham.
Man of the match
Jermaine Jenas just edges out Ledley King because the midfielder held his own despite the extra man in the Chelsea midfield. Just got stronger and stronger and kept his side ticking over.
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Grant's silence is deafening as Ramos outwits 'Puzzled One'By Jason Burt at WembleyMonday, 25 February 2008
A figure in the background until earlier this season, Avram Grant was once again a marginal presence yesterday. It was not just that the Chelsea manager was outwitted, out-thought and eventually beaten by his more seasoned and undeniably astute opponent, Juande Ramos, it is just that he simply did not cut it on the sidelines.
Images from this Cup final will include the sight of Paul Robinson rooted to the spot as Didier Drogba gave Spurs the lead. Then there was the panic in Wayne Bridge's eyes as he handled to concede the equalising penalty and the determination in Jonathan Woodgate's as he attacked the ball to head the winner.
But there was also the vision of Grant, during the brief break before the vital final 15 minutes of extratime, with his team losing, scratching his head, walking behind John Terry as the captain suspiciously appeared to be giving the last team-talk. It wasn't just then. Before extra-time started Grant had also appeared silent, and a little bemused, as his assistant, Steve Clarke, geed up the players in their huddle.
Too much can be read into such moments but it didn't appear to be the case yesterday. By the side of the pitch Grant stood, almost motionless, hunched, while Ramos issued detailed, precise instructions. He's not Jose Mourinho – and in many ways that's a compliment – but he is certainly not the Special One either. The Silent One? Exactly.
Fortune should favour the brave rather than just those backed with an outrageous fortune and, for Spurs, it did. Their victory was founded on a willingness of their coach to make changes, and of his players to quickly adapt – Chelsea's defeat was rooted in the failure of theirs to do so.
A contest in which the Cup holders' power and strength appeared, for a while, undeniable was lost.
It will be an indictment of Grant who, still, and despite the formidable statistical record he has accumulated during his so far brief improbable time in charge of Chelsea, has not won any of the big games that he has overseen. Defeats to Manchester United and Arsenal in the Premier League, and a draw at home to Liverpool, were results in which Grant could find mitigation. There was none yesterday. Mourinho's reign found this competition to be the springboard. Grant lined up on the edge of the board – and slipped off.
In bringing back Terry and Frank Lampard, Grant did what every Chelsea fan will have regarded as the sane thing. He didn't intend to do so earlier in the week but there are, once again, matters afoot at Stamford Bridge. Pressure has been exerted from some quarters, whether from the players or above, and the manager's plans were altered.
Prior to kick-off, rumour had circulated around the stadium just as vigorously as the waving of the club flags that had been lain on seats for that purpose. Not that either captain or vice-captain were at fault. Indeed they were, probably, Chelsea's best performers but there was just that feeling that the balance of the team had been tipped and Michael Ballack, in particular, cut a disgruntled, disenchanted presence as did Joe Cole. The exclusion of the latter, in particular, was an indictment while the deployment of Nicolas Anelka, down one flank and then the other, was unfathomable. Chelsea were turgid.
It is far too early to read the rites on Grant's regime but this is Chelsea. Murmurings have already started that this may be the single season that he is in charge, having calmed the hysteria around Mourinho, before he is asked to return to the job he used to do – in the shadows.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Tottenham's triumph of tactics leaves bruised Chelsea seeing stars
Kevin McCarraMonday February 25, 2008The Guardian
Some victories are worth more than the trophy itself. Tottenham Hotspur went against the standard operating procedure of English football by coming from behind to beat the supposedly implacable Chelsea. The losers have much left to play for in the Champions League, FA Cup and, just conceivably, the Premier League but no one in their camp felt last night that the Carling Cup was a cheap trinket dangling meaninglessly from the fixture list.
This game, with its half-hour of extra-time, lasted so long that it took on an obsessive power for both teams. The winner in the 94th minute, from Jonathan Woodgate, came through a mistake by the Chelsea goalkeeper, Petr Cech, but the result itself was no accident and Tottenham earned their first trophy in nine years. They had spells, particularly in pursuit of the equaliser, which embodied a brightness and excitement beyond the reach of these deposed holders.In knockout football, Juande Ramos generally ensures that it is the opposition who wind up seeing stars. The Tottenham manager understands how to stifle a game but here he showed how he can let talent breathe. Chelsea, who had Avram Grant in charge for a first final with them, did not cope with the critical passage, at the start of the second half.
Aaron Lennon, switched to the left, then preyed on Juliano Belletti, a full-back yearning to be a winger. Once Jermaine Jenas had hustled Michael Essien into losing possession, Lennon crossed deep and Wayne Bridge, harassed by the substitute Tom Huddlestone, handled the ball. The assistant referee signalled for the offence and, despite Chelsea claims that the contact had been accidental, a penalty was awarded by Mark Halsey. Dimitar Berbatov slotted it away with haughty indifference to mere goalkeepers at spot-kicks.
Tottenham did not swan off with the trophy and there were grinding spells, but Ramos got many decisions right here. The introduction of Huddlestone for Pascal Chimbonda was one aspect of a facility with substitutions. Once the match is over, tactical acumen often looks like little more than an exercise in common sense, but these alterations have to be contemplated under a pressure that can warp a lesser person's judgment.
By the close Ramos had made Tottenham as iron-clad as he could. Mindful of the fitness concerns over the captain Ledley King, who was appearing for the first time in a month, he had sent on Younes Kaboul as an additional centre-half. The practicality, ironically, was redolent of the modern Chelsea and in some ways the victors stole their opponents' clothes. Tottenham were the ones who persevered to get themselves in front and then declined to be overhauled.
The winner, it must be agreed, was absurd. Four minutes into extra-time, Jenas sent in a free-kick from the left which brushed past his team-mate Woodgate, only for Cech to punch the ball against the defender's face, from where it bounced into the net.
The Chelsea goalkeeper has suffered more accidents of late than he did formerly, but it was also he who had promised for a while to frustrate Tottenham. When Robbie Keane, for instance, sent Didier Zokora clear in the 81st minute, the Czech international closed on him so that the finish cannoned off his head, with the midfielder then smashing the rebound wide.
There had been questions about whether the temperament of the Tottenham squad as a whole could remain intact over the course of a final with redoubtable adversaries. Warning signs were, quite erroneously, detected. Ramos's side, for instance, squandered openings at the very start. Keane and King might each have scored in the first minute and, not long afterwards, Chimbonda headed a Lennon corner-kick against the bar.
There were further opportunities, which made it all the more ominous when Chelsea took the lead in unsurprising manner after 37 minutes. Zokora bumped clumsily into Didier Drogba to concede a free-kick. The much-doubted goalkeeper Paul Robinson then organised a defensive wall before, in effect, leaving himself immured by standing unsighted directly behind it. Drogba was then assisted by Keane changing his position as the Ivorian ran up and the shot flew home comfortably.
In the late panic Robinson, after 113 minutes, pulled off a particularly good save from Salomon Kalou with his boot, but reservations are not cancelled out so simply and there must be a high probability that a new goalkeeper will arrive at White Hart Lane in the summer.
Ramos has already completed important work in the transfer window and Woodgate, purchased from Middlesbrough, was unsurpassed at Wembley. In open play the centre-back nullified Drogba and all other threats with his low-key authority. All the same, Chelsea will look for the deeper causes of the defeat.
If anyone still accepted that the club had parted company with Jose Mourinho to bring in an era of dashing football they must be seeing the error of their ways. Pragmatism was still the dominant philosophy at Wembley, but it no longer delivered the correct result. One weekend newspaper report claimed that Chelsea had edited an article about Grant in the match programme to remove references to Mourinho. Why would they cut out mention of the greatest manager in the club's history? Because, presumably, he is the greatest manager in the club's history and therefore puts Grant under strain.
The Israeli had a horrid day. His tactics, with Nicolas Anelka stuck on the left for much of the final, blunted Chelsea. Although Grant has chances left in more prestigious competitions, the return of his squad to almost full strength intensifies the scrutiny. Comparative obscurity served him better and when Chelsea did begin to be studied intensely the club had a horrible goalless draw at home to Liverpool which checked a revival in the Premier League.
Grant now has to start all over again to vindicate his appointment. Don't tell him the Carling Cup is an irrelevance.
Player ratings
Chelsea
Petr Cech 6 Sound handling when called upon. May have acted more decisively when free-kick came over for Woodgate's goal
Juliano Belletti 5 Could do nothing right in the early running, from loose passing to watching white shirts skip past him
Ricardo Carvalho 6 Read the game well but lost his way as Tottenham rallied in the second half. Rolled too easily by Berbatov
John Terry 6 When Chelsea were on top, he called the tune but he was exposed as Tottenham fought their way back
Wayne Bridge 6 Put forward case for extended run in the team but blotted his copybook with needless handball for the penalty
Mikel John Obi 6 Did not stray too far from his back four and struggled to impose himself. Shrunk as Spurs gained control
Michael Essien 6 Ceaseless running and energy levels, helped to stifle Tottenham in key areas but did little of any creative note
Frank Lampard 7 Spread the play well and rarely wasted possession. Moved well without the ball. One of his side's better players
Shaun Wright Phillips 6 Showed flickers of his threat with deliveries from the right. Tireless but did not get in behind Tottenham
Didier Drogba 7 It remains bizarre to see a man of his physique writhing on the floor but he showed his class with curling free-kick
Nicolas Anelka 5 Did not touch the ball for first 15 minutes. Was uncomfortable in his role out wide. Largely frustrated
Ratings: David Hytner---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Mail:
Woodgate caps brilliant Spurs fightback in Carling Cup FinalChelsea 1 Tottenham 2 (After Extra Time)
By MATT LAWTON
If Jonathan Woodgate moaned about the cost of houses in the south last week, he is unlikely to have too many complaints about London's most expensive property. Woodgate made Wembley his home yesterday, scoring the goal that not only secured a much deserved victory for Tottenham but proved there is method in the apparent madness of Juande Ramos.
It pays not to eat ketchup and mayonnaise, Tottenham's players must now appreciate, and not just in the pounds they shed but in the currency of trophies.
Thanks to Ramos and the strict diet he has imposed on his squad, those who have lost weight made Chelsea look like lightweights in this final. They out-thought, out-fought and out-ran their much-fancied opponents, restricting them to so few chances that it was only in extra-time that they forced Paul Robinson to make a save from open play.
How much did they say Roman Abramovich had spent on Chelsea? Perhaps it was not the best week to be revealing such figures.
Their performance yesterday would suggest you do not get much for £578million these days (don't tell Woodgate but that is £200m less than the cost of the stadium he now adores), just as it demonstrated that it is better to spend £5m a year on a Jose Mourinho than the £3m salary they now pay Avram Grant.
If Grant deserves credit for the way he stabilised Chelsea in the wake of Mourinho's sudden departure in September, his deficiencies were horribly exposed on this occasion.
His team selection revealed a degree of weakness, his substitutions betrayed an alarming lack of tactical nous and his failure even to engage with his players during the brief interval between normal and extra-time was just embarrassing. It was Steve Clarke who delivered the rousing team talk. Not 'the manager'.
It was coach Henk Ten Cate who sprinted on to the pitch the moment this encounter ended and positioned himself between referee Martin Halsey and an incensed Didier Drogba.
The Chelsea striker was less than impressed with the official's decision to blow the final whistle when his team were on the offensive, having failed to realise that it was only because Tottenham's defenders were starting to celebrate that Salomon Kalou suddenly found himself with only Robinson to beat. As Halsey, and indeed Ten Cate, no doubt pointed out, Kalou missed anyway, driving his shot against the post.
Drogba would have been better off channelling his aggression in the direction of Grant. He, after all, is the player who has objected most to the departure of Mourinho and here was all the ammunition he needed.
Was Grant simply afraid to leave out John Terry and Frank Lampard when the latter, quite clearly, was not fit enough to make the runs that have long been his trademark? Did he not realise that the deployment of Nicolas Anelka to the left of Drogba, with Shaun Wright-Phillips to the right, just was not working?
Joe Cole should have been in this side and the fact that he had to wait until the 99th minute before he was allowed to leave the bench is one of the many charges that will be levelled against Grant. Mourinho, who won all three of the domestic finals he contested as Chelsea manager, would have made such a change after 30 minutes. Not midway through the first half of extra-time.
It was not the way to beat Ramos when five trophies in two years at Sevilla suggested he is something of a master when it comes to cup competitions. When he has instilled so much belief in these players, inspiring them to follow that 5-1 demolition of Arsenal in the semifinal with a victory that meant so much to players like Ledley King and Robbie Keane — not to mention supporters so often left disillusioned by a club who flirt with success but too often fall short.
From the very start yesterday, Tottenham possessed the ambition Chelsea so obviously lacked. They passed with more fluency, attacked with more urgency and dominated possession. In a first half that ended with a 1-0 advantage for Chelsea, Spurs enjoyed 60 per cent of the ball.
Tottenham had the chances that Chelsea simply could not create, but when the otherwise excellent Didier Zokora needlessly chopped down Drogba in the 39th minute, the Ivory Coast striker made him pay. It was a sweetly struck freekick, even if Robinson did make himself look a little foolish by moving the wrong way.
Ramos did not rush into making a response, eventually sending on Tom Huddlestone as a replacement for Pascal Chimbonda, who not only chose to walk rather than run off the pitch but then disappeared straight down the tunnel. Not for the first time, he has revealed himself to be as self-indulgent as he is petulant. Not someone, presumably, Ramos will tolerate for too long.
In his absence, Tottenham continued to battle and eventually earned the breakthrough their industry deserved when Aaron Lennon made a darting run down the left in the 70th minute and crossed a ball that fell to Huddlestone. He was met by Wayne Bridge who, with arms like a Harry Enfield Scouser, contrived to handle the ball not once but twice. Penalty to Tottenham and, thanks to Dimitar Berbatov, game back on.
Their fitness, and indeed their hunger, suggested extra-time would suit Tottenham more than it would Chelsea and so it proved when a tired Drogba failed to track Woodgate as he rose to meet a Jermaine Jenas free-kick.
It was Petr Cech who had to make the challenge, and Cech who punched the ball against Woodgate and then looked on as the ball bounced back behind him and across his line.
That goal's value to Woodgate and his Tottenham team-mates? Priceless.