| Gary Lineker used to pocket goals with a certain style. Never rough or
uncouth, but with cunning and stealth. His speed of thought made up for
losing a yard of pace and his innate ability to be in the right place at
the right time paid off for both club and country. Returning from
Italia '90, Lineker paired up beautifully with Paul Gascoigne to provide
Tottenham with a potent goalscorer. His proud record of never getting
booked might have been seen as held by someone who never tackled, but he
did a lot of work off the ball to help out colleagues and often took
the rough treatment without a flinch. Having played in Spain, he knew
how to avoid the bad tackles and rode them as they arrived. His record
of 80 goals in 138 games for Tottenham shows a top class strike rate,
but that doesn't tell the whole tale. His willingness to learn from each
game remained, even after all his success. Lineker's only domestic
medal came in the 1991 FA Cup final, which wasn't one of his best
matches for Spurs, having had his penalty saved. The semi-final against
Arsenal had been a Lineker master class in finishing. His first, a
poacher's goal - prodding home as the ball bobbled around the box - and
his second on the run, as Samways took a defender away from the England
striker, finished with a 25 yard shot past Seaman. Two very different
goals, but it didn't matter how they came to Gary. A goal was a goal and
he was always there to take the opportunity, however it arose. Any team
in any era could always do with a Gary Lineker. There can be no higher
praise than that. (WB) |