I'll gloss over the recent north London derby.. Not because of the disappointing performance and result, but because I sat in front of the match in a hugely inebriated, semi conscious state as the vast quantities of alcohol and sleep deprivation took their toll as I attempted to stay up until 6am Melbourne time to watch it. My impression of the game, from what I can piece together was that we set up with the intention of causing more problems to Arsenal than we had done in the league game early in the season, but in fact we were barely more threatening than we had been under AVB and an Arsenal victory was largely inevitable.
The Palace game I watched in an altogether more coherent state, and I can't escape the feeling that we were fortunate to win the match. In the first half they were certainly the more threatening team, Hugo Lloris was called upon once or twice, and Palace, like virtually every team we play nowadays were able to exploit the masses of space that exists between our back four and Lloris. This was most evident when Chamakh ran through and was fouled clumsily by Moussa Dembele for a clear penalty. Fortunately for us Jason Puncheon had been watching his Italia 90 DVD box set in the week and attempted to emulate Chris Waddle's disastrous penalty miss in the semi final shootout against West Germany, only succeeding in hitting even higher and wider. The second half was very different (insert cliche here), as we came out full of attacking intent, Christian Eriksen should've already put us ahead before he did so five minutes after the restart. The goal was a long punt forward by Kyle Naughton (on for the injured Walker), nodded on by Adebayor, and well controlled and finished by Eriksen. The type of goal which simply wouldn't have been possible under AVB, with just Soldado up front as the lone striker. From then on it was a case of us chasing the second goal to kill Palace off, with them remaining very much in the game until we did get the goal 18 minutes from time. How appropriate it should be Jermain Defoe (on for the ineffective Soldado) to score the crucial second goal, a day after it was announced that he was leaving to join FC Toronto. All in all a decent win, with Sherwood showing he can have an impact with his half time team talk seemingly making a big difference.
Defoe's goal was his 143rd for the club in all competitions, coming in 362 games. Which is a good if not outstanding record. Though it must be said a lot of these games will have been substitute appearances as he found himself down the pecking order at various times, behind everyone from the telepathic partnership of Berbatov and Keane, to solo strikers Adebayor and Soldado. Indeed he holds the record for most Premier League goals as a substitute with 22, five ahead of Solskjaer. The ability to come off the bench and have an impact on games is a precious commodity, and one that will be missed at White Hart Lane. It's not the only thing the fans will miss; Defoe is undoubtedly a fans favourite, he is someone who clearly loves the club, has played for us for 10 years - with a short break in the middle - and has always scored goals. I've often remarked to friends in the past that I feel he is unlucky that he played in the present era, had he been around in the mid 90's when a good strike partnership was essential for any team hoping to be successful, I think he'd have had less problems fitting into a starting eleven. Looking at the Spurs side of that era, I could certainly see him benefiting from playing alongside Teddy Sheringham. Having said that, he did have the opportunity to play in a couple of partnerships at Spurs, with Berbatov, and latterly alongside Crouch, they just never lasted long before personnel or tactics were changed. Defoe was a crucial member of the team when he first arrived in 2004 to a mid table Tottenham, and slowly but surely we perhaps outgrew him as we became regular members of the top 4 or 5. Throughout all his ups and downs at the club, he's always shown a strong desire to play for us, always worked hard, and always scored goals, so I think we Spurs fans should make the most of watching him during his last month and a half with the club.
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