3 games, 3 wins, 3 goals of a new hero

It's been a promising start to the season for us following the disappointment and uncertainty surrounding our lack of transfer business and move to the new stadium respectively. We've seen that familiarity can breed contentment, with the Fulham game in particular providing evidence of the advantages of continuity in a squad, with the away side attempting to bed a number of new recruits into their starting XI. Whilst we may not have any actual signings, we do have a number of players that could fit into the cliched 'like a new signing' category. Toby Alderweireld and Danny Rose were left out of the team for large parts of last season following reported disagreements with the manager. Both have now been given a shot at redemption, and in the case of Toby, he has grasped it with both hands. His performance on Monday night at Old Trafford was imperious; the kind of performance we missed during his exile from the first eleven. Davinson Sanchez is an excellent young defender, and a huge prospect for the future, but because of his lack of experience he lacks the composure and assuredness of his senior team mate, and those qualities surely spread through a defence to give the team a sense of tranquility when under pressure. We don't often see Alderweireld making last ditch tackles because his positional sense is so good, but we did a couple of times on Monday night and they were timed to perfection. Rose's return to the side was less seamless, he looked to be lacking a little sharpness - which is hardly surprising considering how much football he's missed - and it manifested itself in the form of the poor back pass played to Hugo Lloris that was interepted by Lukaku and really should've been punished with the opening goal. It was heartening to see Pochettino putting his arm around Rose's shoulder shortly after that incident and then hugging him at the end along with the rest of the team. The hope is that their relationship can be repaired and we can see Rose playing his best football again, I still believe he's our best left back when on top of his game. The third artificial summer signing is Lucas Moura. When he first arrived in January, I recall thinking he seemed like a rich man's Aaron Lennon; very quick and tricky, but with a little more end product. Frankly I was happy with that, but I think a reassessment might be required judging by Monday night's performance - easily his finest in a Spurs shirt. Even before the two goals, he'd played very well, pressing relentlessly, winning the ball back in good positions, and running at the United defence when in possession. Indeed he really should've had a penalty when Phil Jones continued his pursuit of the world's clumsiest man award by barging him over. And then came the goals, the first he took well as he sprinted onto Eriksen's pinpoint cutback, but the second really showcased what a player he can be. Picking the ball up 10 yards inside the opposition half and running at the heart of United's defence, before surging past Chris Smalling, and whipping the ball beyond De Gea with ease. In the temporary absence of Son Heung Min, we needed someone to provide the secondary threat behind and around Kane, and Lucas has stepped up magnificently with 3 goals in 3 games. Watford await us in our fourth game, and they will need to be respected as one of 3 other teams that have also made a perfect start to the season. Last year we drew at Vicarage Road after Sanchez was sent off for a clumsy swing of his elbow, perhaps this time Alderweireld's calmness will help us gain another 3 points.

Managers; Past, present, and future

Spurs are currently halfway through a tie in the Europa League which has brought them head to head with former manager Juande Ramos, with his side Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk gaining a 1-0 advantage from the first leg. Prior to the game Ramos did an interview for the Guardian, in which he attempted to defend himself, and explain some of the reasons for the poor start to the 08/09 season which led to his sacking. One of his main complaints was the sales of Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov, and the failure to adequately replace them. He states that he wanted us to sign David Villa and Samuel Eto'o, but we ended up with Fraizer Campbell and Roman Pavlyuchenko, I can understand his disappointment there, though I'm unsure how realistic his targets were. He also argues that unless Spurs are prepared to spend in the way that Man City and Chelsea do, then they're never going to challenge for major titles, which is hardly a massive revelation. None of the above explains why we were bottom of the league with 2 points from 8 games when he was sacked (unfortunately for him this predicament that he left the club in will never be forgotten due to Harry Redknapp using it as his first line of defence for any bad result suffered during his time at the club). It can be argued the squad was weakened during the summer with the sales he mentions, but surely not to the extent that we would now contest a relegation fight. Indeed once Redknapp arrived results turned immediately, it's true that the club then invested heavily during January to help sustain the revival that had started with Redknapp's arrival and was faltering slightly, but nonetheless it's tough to argue that Ramos was getting the most out of the squad during the opening couple of months of the season. He also mentioned the difficulty in only being able to play Ledley King in the important games due to his troublesome knee. At the time Ramos was playing him in all the UEFA Cup games, and resting him in the league, it seems he was placing importance on the wrong games.

Ramos brings his side to the lane next Thursday to take on Tim Sherwood's Spurs. Sherwood will be hoping to avoid a third cup exit in a row following the defeats to West Ham in the League Cup and Arsenal in the FA Cup. He's been doing rather better in the league, with 7 wins, 2 draws, and a defeat from the the ten he's taken charge of so far. This has been acheived against a backdrop of speculation about who will take his place in the Spurs dugout in the summer, despite his contract running to the end of the 2014/15 season. When asked about the speculation he's been realistic and good humoured, stating that he's well aware he will be out of a job unless he can meet the club's targets for the season, and joking that there are only two types of managers; those who've been sacked, and those who are about to be sacked. If he can lead us to a top four finish, you would think he will surely be kept on, if not, you would have to think one of the names being linked as his potential replacement will arrive.

On the subject of replacements, the current Italy coach Cesare Prandelli has become the latest name to be linked, with some media outlets reporting that he has jumped to the front of the queue. My thoughts immediately turn to the last time we appointed a national team coach back in 2004. Back then it was France's Jacques Santini who arrived fresh from a quarter final exit from Euro 2004. His tenure was mediocre, and extremely short lived as he resigned after only 13 games. But other than that fact that they're both national team managers, there's really no reason to compare the two. Prandelli became Fiorentina's longest serving manager, during his spell in charge from 2005 to 2010, in this time he led the club to two Champions League qualifications either side of the club being implicated in the 'Calciopoli' match fixing scandal and punished with a points deduction. If nothing else the longevity he acheived there is certainly admirable, particularly in Serie A where managers are fired more frequently than contestants on The Apprentice. The other two names believed to be on the club's radar are the dutch duo Frank De Boer and Louis Van Gaal. At opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of experience, they both have impressive records. Van Gaal was the man behind the all conquering Ajax team of the early to mid 90's, and has gone on to win titles at Barcelona and Bayern Munich, amongst other successes, while De Boer has already won three dutch league titles in his spell at Ajax, his first managerial position. The latter matches the template of a young intelligent manager who could commit to a long future with the club. While Van Gaal would be a unique appointment for Spurs, with his proven record of league titles at multiple European clubs, along with a Champions League win to his name incomparable to any previous occupant of the manager's job at White Hart Lane.

Guarded Optimism

Having only seen the first half of the Hull game in which we were poor, putting in a performance that was very reminiscent of the most disappointing league display so far under Sherwood; the 1-1 draw at home to West Brom. And then only seeing highlights of the Everton game, in which it appeared we were fortunate to win the game, I was looking forward to watching the Newcastle game. I was very pleased with what I saw. At last we started a game well, getting on top and creating chances in the early stages, though we were still grateful to Hugo Lloris for making an important save from Cisse's point blank range effort. But we looked the better side and deserved our early goal (for us this season, the 19th minute is very early) through Adebayor, who continues to make AVB's decision to freeze him out of the first team picture look preposterous. At half time the only disappointment was that we were only 1 goal ahead. This was rectified early in the second half when a slick move involving Paulinho and Adebayor ended with Krul palming the ball straight to Paulinho six yards out, allowing him a simple finish for 2-0. Having got the two goal cushion, the Spurs players then appeared to switch off, allowing Newcastle to enjoy their best spell of the match, forcing Lloris into a string of saves, including an excellent reaction tip over the bar from a Mathieu Debuchy header. Momentum was regained late on and the result was put beyond doubt when a swift break away led to Andros Townsend seeing his shot pushed back out by Krul straight to Adebayor, who directed a volley into the ground and perhaps a touch fortuitously the ball bounced over Krul and into the far corner. Nacer Chadli added a bit of gloss to the scoreline with a glorious 4th goal, struck from just outside the left corner of the box into the far corner of the goal, in what was without doubt his best contribution since his £7m summer arrival.

There was plenty of good news for Spurs in addition to the result. Younes Kaboul returned to the starting line up and completed the 90 minutes, despite an injury scare mid way through the second half. Andros Townsend came off the bench again, as he continues his return from injury, he looked a bit rusty, which is probably understandable following a fairly lengthy absence from the team. Possibly the most pleasing thing of all was that Sherwood made changes once again to the starting eleven, changes which worked well. He is starting to show flexibility, having initially looked like he was a stubborn 4-4-2 man, he has recently played an extra midfielder in certain games, and against Newcastle he brought Etienne Capoue back into the team to provide some steel and solidity alongside the craft of Bentaleb, and the energy of Paulinho. So with those three in the middle, he moved Dembele out to the right, in what looked like another shrewd move. Moussa Dembele is a bit of a conundrum, I think if you asked 100 Spurs fans their opinion of him, 90% would say they like him, but find him frustrating. He seems to have almost every attribute you could want for a midfielder, he's big, strong, can win the ball, and can use it well too. He has excellent technique, can beat players, and has shown in rare glimpses an ability to create and score goals - he just hasn't done this enough. So you could say consistency is his weakness, and if that is the case then it makes sense to use him out wide, where perhaps he can drift in and out of games, making telling contributions going forward, whilst not causing as many problems for us defensively when he does go missing. Although they are very different players, his predicament reminds me a little to that of Luka Modric when we first signed him. On arrival he struggled massively to settle in the Premier League, it was clear he had talent but there were question marks over his ability to adapt to the pace and physicality of the league. Juande Ramos had attempted to integrate him straight into central midfield in a 4-4-2, a pivotal position, and an unforgiving area of the team for someone struggling to adapt to a new league to play in. When Redknapp arrived he initially played Modric in a less responsible role behind the striker which immediately saw improvements from him, before switching him to the left wing, again a position where he could use his natural talent for creation, without having the same level of defensive responsibility. As we all know he eventually progressed into one of the leagues best central midfielders and is now establishing himself as one of the finest in Spain following a slow start to his time at Real Madrid. It will be interesting to see whether Sherwood can make similar progress with Dembele using the same methods that Redknapp did with Modric.

Different Manager, same outcome

For Manchester City at home, Tim Sherwood decided to retain the 4-2-3-1 formation after successfully switching to it for the victory away at Swansea. City opted to be more attacking and went with a 4-4-2, playing both Dzeko and Aguero up front. From the outset it appeared City were the team who believed they would win, and played in that manner, immediately creating chances. They could and should quite easily already have been ahead by the time Silva slipped the ball through for Aguero to clip the ball past Lloris. In the 20 minutes that followed it was remarkable that the score stayed only 1-0, City were dominant, controlling possession and creating numerous chances, and Spurs were left thankful for their wastefulness and to Lloris for a couple of very good saves. Having rode their luck Spurs got stronger as half time approached, and had the ball in the net when Dawson side footed in off the bar at the back post from a vicious Christian Eriksen delivery, but the goal was ruled out for offside, with Adebayor challenging for the ball in the middle of the six yard box having been standing a yard offside when the ball was delivered.

At the start of the second half, when Dzeko went through on goal, Danny Rose launched into an inadvisable last ditch tackle, the referee Andre Marriner hesitated but the linesman flagged for a penalty, cue the City players surrounding Marriner demanding Rose be sent off, and they got their wish. Replays showed that Rose played the ball, and was therefore very unfortunate to earn a red card and concede a penalty, indeed the FA have since rescinded the card so we can safely say the wrong decision was made on the day. The frustrating aspect of it was that the linesman was the man in the best position to see what had happened, and he was the one to give the penalty, initially there was no reaction from Marriner. Captain Kompany led his team mates in calling for a red card in the unedifying scenes that followed. Of course this is nothing new, players have been applying pressure for decisions to be made in their favour probably since football began, but it's never nice to see, particularly when they're calling for someone to be sent off. I recently watched the ITV Roy Keane Patrick Vieira documentary; Best Of Enemies, at one point Keane is shown looking at a photo of himself aggressively shouting in a referee's face, for which he rightly expressed regret. Anyway back to the match, and City unsurprisingly went on to dominate against 10 man Spurs, with Dzeko (who for the rest of the match was giving a masterclass of poor finishing) adding a third goal. After a brief show of defiance by Spurs in which they got a goal back thanks to Capoue's first for the club, City added two more goals with Jovetic cutting in from the left far too easily for the fourth goal, and Kompany tapping in a fifth in the dying minutes.

Man City are averaging 4 goals per game this season, so to concede 5 when playing for 44% of the match with 10 men perhaps isn't so bad but the manner in which one or two of the goals were conceded after the red card was worryingly familiar. Over the last few years as Spurs have become stronger and established themselves as the fifth best club in a league where the top four places are the holy grail, they have always shown themselves to be capable of stunning collapses comparable to England's cricketers in the recent Ashes series. Under Harry we enjoyed relative success compared to what preceded his reign - albeit with one less trophy won than in Juande Ramos's short lived tenure - but we had games where an early setback would set in motion a full scale capitulation of the team. Away at Young Boys in the Champions League qualifier on a plastic pitch we went 3-0 down in the opening 30 minutes, before the team gathered themselves and fought back to 3-2, going on to demolish them in the second leg. Away at Inter in the Champions League group stages a couple of months later we were 4-0 down and had been reduced to 10 men within 35 minutes of kick off, this time Gareth Bale single handedly restored some pride with a magnificent second half hatrick. In the FA Cup fourth round that year we were once again down to 10 men and chasing a 4-0 deficit at half time, on this occasion there was no Bale to provide his San Siro heroics and the game finished 4-0. Our entertaining Champions League run came to an end that season when we were 1 goal and 1 man down inside 15 minutes at the Bernabeu in the Quarter final first leg, and went on to record another 4-0 defeat. Since then there have been two 5-2 away defeats at Arsenal in which we finished both games with 10 men, a 5-1 defeat to Chelsea in the FA Cup semi final, a 5-1 home defeat by Man City, and then this season a 6-0 loss to City, a 5-0 home defeat to Liverpool, and now another 5-1 humbling by City, with players sent off in the latter two games.

Some of these games I mention we were playing against superior opposition and you've got to accept heavy defeats are part of the game, and in other matches we've had off days, which all teams experience. It just seems to me that we have too many off days for a team that is always challenging at the top end of the table, it feels like perhaps there is a lack of mental strength in the squad, and has been for some time. There's nobody who can galvanise his team mates in adversity in the style of someone like Roy Keane or Steven Gerrard. Perhaps Jan Vertonghen or Sandro can develop into that kind of leader in the future, and Sherwood can foster a stronger mentality and team spirit in the dressing room, here's hoping, because I've watched enough severe beatings to last me a lifetime.

Happy Travellers

Under the guidance of Tim Sherwood, Spurs appear to be perfecting the art of playing badly and winning. Though perhaps I shouldn't jump the gun as I'm mainly basing this on the last two games. Against Swansea I felt we were once again far from convincing in victory, particularly in the first half when for large periods Swansea appeared in control of the match in terms of territory and possession. Though I did feel that we were slightly more dangerous than them when we counter attacked with pace. The main failing from us in this regard was the final pass, there were numerous occasions when broke quickly after winning the ball back, got into a good position with at least one man over, and then played a poor pass and let Swansea off the hook. Ten minutes from half time, Christian Eriksen alleviated the frustration brought on by the earlier errors by providing a delightful curling cross, which had neither of our two players queuing up to head it in done so, they would have been utterly negligent, thankfully in form Adebayor made no mistake from all of 3 yards out. Moments later it should've been 2-0, but after excellent work by Adebayor down the right, and unselfish play by Eriksen and then Bentaleb, the underwhelming Nacer Chadli lashed wildly over the bar. Had he found the net, the goal would've been reminiscent of Alan Shearer's magnificent second goal against Holland at Euro 96. The goal seemed to relax the Spurs players, and we went on to control much of the second half, albeit with the help of a Chico Flores own goal. The build to which was good play by Spurs, with Michael Dawson slotting a nicely weighted pass inside the opposing full back for Kyle Walker to run on to, and he flashed a dangerous ball across the face of goal, but sadly for Chico, he stuck a boot out and diverted it into his own net when there were no Spurs players in a position to apply the finishing touch themselves. After that we never looked like surrendering the lead and Adebayor slotted home with ease following good work by Danny Rose to make it 6 goals in 8 games for him since Sherwood brought him out of his AVB imposed exile. The late Bony consolation was of no real concern for Spurs as we recorded our fifth straight away win, which is the best run of away form for the club since 1960.

I read an article this morning linking us with a potential move to re-sign Dimitar Berbatov. When taking into account the fact that Defoe will be gone by the end of February, which will leave us with just two strikers, I think this seems like a reasonably good idea. Berbatov is still a class player, he was never reliant on pace, so his advancing years shouldn't be a big problem. And if we fill the positions around him with pacey players like Townsend, Lennon, Eriksen and Adebayor, then we can utilise his skills at holding up the ball and bringing others into play with his good passing range. It feels like the kind of transfer that may work in a similar way to when Redknapp brought Eidur Gudjohnsen to the club in January 2010. An older attacking player with good technique and experience who can come into the side as and when needed and possibly make a difference. Gudjohnsen scored a couple of important goals that year as we qualified for the Champions League for the first and only time to date, along with a run to the FA Cup final, maybe Berbatov can come in and have a similar impact.

Contrasting London derbies

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.

Back to the future

Tim Sherwood has kick started his time in charge of Tottenham with a victory at Old Trafford, this came after a slightly uncertain, but promising start. Sound familiar? That's because it is. Andre Villas Boas started in a similar fashion, victory at Old Trafford for him - the first for Tottenham in over 20 years - won a lot of undecided supporters over. Sherwood is a cockney, and he seems a funny character, making jokes in his press conferences, enjoying a seemingly healthy relationship with the media so far. Tactically he's returned to a more basic, traditional 4-4-2 formation, he's been quoted saying things like; "It's a simple game isn't it?", and has been credited for bringing the best out of Adebayor, by using that most treasured of football man management techniques of putting his arm around his shoulder. Does all this sound familiar? Again, the answer is yes, because this kind of management style has been made famous by AVB's predecessor Harry Redknapp. Harry took over from a foreign manager (Juande Ramos) who, after a bright start, which included winning the Carling Cup, the club's first trophy in nine years, was sacked after a poor start to the season when he struggled to get his ideas a across to a new crop of players, brought in after the club had sold their best player, at the time Dimitar Berbatov. The deja vu's just keep on coming with Sherwood replacing AVB in similar circumstances. Tim has even been portrayed in certain areas of the media as Harry mark II, when asked about this, he said; "That's got to be a compliment, hasn't it?. "I wouldn't mind following his career and I wouldn't mind being a pound note behind him as well. "I am not trying to be Harry Redknapp but it is a simple game, though, isn't it? "If you can't pass the ball to your own team-mates, then you have a serious problem because you are going to have to keep on defending." Harry couldn't have put it better himself, I recall quotes from him when taking over at Spurs saying; "It's no good eating a bowl of pasta if can't pass the ball to your team mates", when asked about his players diets.

Maybe it's all a bit simplistic to be labelling Sherwood as the new Harry Redknapp, time will tell. He seemed to adapt his tactics slightly for the United game by asking Roberto Soldado to drop in and help the midfield in order to stop them from getting overrun, which was a good move. Next up is the North London derby at the Emirates in the 3rd round of the FA cup, if he can mastermind a positive result in that match, then he will certainly win over a lot of fans for the time being. Our last 3 results at the Emirates have been defeats by scorelines of 5-2, 5-2, and 1-0. In the latter match at the beginning of the season, AVB set the team up defensively, we crowded the midfield and made it difficult for Arsenal, but at the same time, we never looked like scoring in the whole 90 minutes. In the 5-2 defeats we were far more open, as the scorelines suggest. Judging by Tim's performance as manager so far, I think we can expect a more open game. Under Harry, playing a more open style we drew 4-4 and won 3-2 there, to go with 3-0 and 5-2 defeats. Personally I'd prefer to see us go there and attack, it may give us more of a chance of losing heavily, but at the same time, it's likely to be the best way for us to get a good result.