Wolverhampton Wanderers 3 Tottenham Hotspur 3: Strikers come to life as defence goes to sleep

After twenty minutes Kevin Doyle nipped in front of Heurelho Gomes and headed in a Nenad Milijaš cross. It was poor from the keeper, although the failure of William Gallas or Michael Dawson to marshal and mobilise the defence was no surprise.

Ten minutes later Jermain Defoe took a couple of steps and from 25 yards out whipped the ball round Christophe Berra. It hit the back of the net before Berra knew what had happened. Within five minutes Defoe had a second. After a quick Spurs break he had the ball on the left wing and when he got it back from Luka Modrić on the edge of the box he curled a stupendous shot past Wayne Hennessey into the top corner.

Defoe has been out of form and not scored nearly enough goals this season, but it is ridiculous that anyone could regurgitate the stat that he hadn’t scored in the Premier League for 10 months with a straight face. He has scored in the FA Cup, the Champions League and the World Cup in that time, a period that silently includes three months of non-playing time and another three months of injury.

The lead didn’t even last until half time, Alan Hutton demonstrating his capacity for calamity once again, pulling Milijaš down on the edge of the six-yard box with only Gomes between the Wolves player and the goal. Astonishingly Hutton wasn’t sent off and Doyle buried the penalty in the bottom corner.

As soon as the second half got going Jermaine Jenas got a vital touch a Benoît Assou-Ekotto ball over the top sending it into Roman Pavlyuchenko’s path. Despite a heavy touch he hammered a cracking shot past Hennessey into the roof of the net.

Milijaš hit the post with a shot along the uneven ground that Gomes got his fingertips to. Wolves players kept popping up in the area, too often unmarked, but they constantly missed the target.

Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon came on and added an edge to the midfield. Bale looked a little rusty, but still managed to create a handful of chances and force Hennessey into a close-range save. Sandro, who was excellent, capitalised on a mistake in the Wolves defence and laid off a very scorable ball for Defoe, but he the best he could do was hit the post.

With ten minutes to go Milijaš ‘s free-kick went sailing toward Gomes, Richard Stearman was also in the vicinity, Gomes got more of the player than the ball before it went in, but the referee gave a freekick in the keeper’s favour. If anything it was Gomes who’d committed a foul.

Luck like that should serve as a reminder of how easily a lead can slip, but we didn’t learn and Wolves equalised in the 87^th minute. Matt Jarvis hit a cross into the box and despite the fact that Assou-Ekotto and Dawson have played together more times than I care to count Steven Fletcher got in between them and headed in.

Blackpool 3 - 1 Spurs

With Alan Hutton mysteriously missing from the squad and Vedran Ćorluka out after Mathieu Flamini’s violent challenge the Spurs back four underwent another change in personnel. William Gallas can do a job at full-back, but if there is an alternative to playing Sebastien Bassong surely it must be used. In the first minute he dwelled on the ball putting the defence under pressure and in the 18^th he needlessly kicked DJ Campbell in the box to give away a penalty. It was a calamitous effort, even by Bassong’s standards. Charlie Adam whipped his spot-kick to the left and beat Heurelho Gomes.

Spurs had two efforts cleared off the line in the first half. The first came when Richard Kingson came charging toward Defoe getting a hand to Defoe’s dink, which sailed over him and was dipping in before Craig Cathcart headed it on to the bar and out. The second was from another Defoe effort. Aaron Lennon chipped the ball toward the back post, Kingson could only parry, Roman Pavlyuchenko laid it off to Defoe and his strike was cleared by Alex Baptiste.  Steven Pienaar also had a deflected shot go narrowly over.

Blackpool broke with a devastating counter attack that left the Spurs defence shell-shocked and another goal in arrears. Campbell ran with the ball, gave it to Sergei Kornilenko who back-heeled to Beattie. Beattie crossed and Campbell, who’d got in front of Gallas, volleyed the ball in from a few yards.

Commentators and pundits love a bit of juxtaposition and insisted on contrasting the glamour of the San Siro with whatever ring-ding little ground Blackpool play at. There was still hope – Spurs are comeback kings this season and Blackpool were in similar position against Manchester United and came away with nothing.

Our first move of the second half was quick and elegant – Luka Modrić running with the ball, passing it between two Blackpool players to Lennon who hit the byline and crossed for Pienaar. Rather that bury it with his laces Pienaar got very little on it, although a late arrival and a bad pitch may have contributed to his feeble side-foot.

Lennon was our best player leaving defenders panting in his wake. He put a ball on to Pavlyuchenko's head, unmarked on the penalty spot, and another at the back post later in the game, but both times Pavlyuchenko only gave Kingson elementary tests. Modrić cut inside and put a curling shot over the bar and Defoe and Niko Kranjčar struck low crosses across the face of goal in quick succession. In the 72^nd minute Baptiste cleared yet another one off the line, this time a Modrić lob. The Blackpool goal might as well have had a forcefield around it. 

With ten minutes to go Blackpool put the game to bed with a shambolic third. Benoit Assou-Ekotto impressively muscled a Blackpool player off the ball in the box, but rather than lamp it into the stands he casually knocked the ball into Brett Omerod's path and he tapped it in.

We got on the score sheet in the last minute of stoppage time. Pavlyuchenko got hold of Crouch's header, took it on his chest, let it bounce and spanked a deflected shot into the net. It was the only one of his potshots that went anywhere near the goal.

Missing the opportunity to go third is disappointing, but it was still only three points at stake and if at the end of the season there are only a couple of points in it I won't be looking back at this result as the one that cost us. Our mid-season form has been very good all things considered and last night was a bit of a freak result.

What’s worrying is that the complete impotence of the strikers. The midfield has played so well this season that we’ve gotten away Defoe, Pavlyuchenko and Crouch misfiring, but there’s only so far you can go with the forwards making such a small contribution. Which makes the decision not to pick Kranjčar all the more odd. With a lack of goals in the team you’d think the man that scored the winning goals and our last two league games (and how!) would be the first name on the team sheet. From Kranjčar’s point of view it must be the final straw. It’s one thing being behind Gareth Bale in the pecking order, but if you can’t get in the team on current form and with Bale out its time to move on.

Genaro Gatuso 0 - 1 Joe Jordan (or Milan 0 - 1 Lillywhites)

All the match previews focused on one key factor – Tottenham’s injury-hit midfield. It’s the strongest area of the team and with Gareth Bale and Tom Huddlestone out and Rafael van der Vaart and Luka Modrić at half fitness it looked like we were going to the San Siro trying to keep the score down. With Jermaine Jenas suspended Redknapp finally had to put some faith in Sandro. He partnered Wilson Palacios with Aaron Lennon on the right and Steven Pienaar beating Niko Kranjčar to the left midfield spot, Redknapp opting for the hard-working South African over the thunderbolt-hitting Croatian. Van der Vaart played off Peter Crouch and half of the defence that got hammered last time they visited Milan (William Gallas and Benoît Assou-Ekotto) were joined by Vedran Ćorluka and Michael Dawson.

We should have been awarded a penalty in the first minute – Alessandro Nesta leaning into Pienaar’s shot and stopping it with his arm. It was the start of a fantastic quarter of an hour for Spurs, bombarding the Milan goal and playing good passing football too, with Ćorluka and Lennon getting a lot of joy out wide. A period of dominance punctuated by Christian Abbiati’s injury. He went off with concussion after clashing with Crouch.

At the start of the second half Van der Vaart picked up the ball with his back to goal on the edge of the area, swiveled and sent a delicious chip narrowly wide. Substitute keeper Marco Amelia had tipped his shot over in the first half. Alex Pato replaced Clarence Seedorf at the break and eventually Milan found some rhythm. On 50 minutes Mario Yepes rose highest from the melee and forced Heurelho Gomes to palm the ball away from the top corner. Gomes made an even better save ten minutes from another Yepes header.

In the interim Mathieu Flamini sent Ćorluka off on a stretcher with his ankle strapped up after a two-footed lunge that somehow only got a booking, and Rino Gattuso got Joe Jordan round the throat on the touchline. He pushed Crouch shortly after, but got away with that too. He eventually got booked for a late tackle and will miss the second leg, but that doesn’t absolve the officials who had a very poor game.

Gallas moved to right-back and we saw, for the first time since the 9-1 victory over Wigan, that glorious sight – Jonathan Woodgate taking the field for Tottenham Hotspur. He blocked a Flamini shot as Spurs defended deep and for the first time in the match got a little sloppy.

But the Milan attack was uncharacteristically blunt and up against a defence playing out of their skin. With ten minutes left we got a well-earned winning goal. Modrić, who came on for the excellent Van der Vaart with a third of the game left, played a quick ball to Lennon after Sandro’s interception and Lennon had his very own Bale moment galloping up the pitch, hurdling a Yepes tackle and squaring to Crouch who tucked a side-footed shot into the bottom corner. Lennon is due some recognition. Seen by so many as quick, but without a final ball, on the same level as Theo Walcott, when he’s actually much more consistent than he gets credit for. Tonight he showed on the biggest stage what he is capable of. As for Crouch, well, his contribution to the successful Champions League run is as big as anyone’s and he caused Milan all kinds of problems last night. If anyone dares chant ‘super Pav’ next time Crouch is playing in his place, turn round and give them a clip round the earhole from me.

Sandro made a sliding tackle on Zlatan Ibrahimović with five minutes to go, one of many vital stops in a fantastic performance. His partnership with Palacios looked potentially calamitous, but they were combative, energetic and they passed the ball well. Sandro could be a big player for Spurs and his season starts here. There were understandable concerns that he might be out of his depth, but let’s not forget that he has won the South American equivalent of this competition.

The referee added a paltry four minutes and halfway in Dawson and Palacios let a dangerous ball bounce, Dawson then getting in the way of Robinho’s shot. Ibrahimović’s overhead kick a minute later hit the back of the net, but he’d pushed Michael Dawson before the strike.

After the final whistle Gattuso continued his ill behaviour, ‘very shameful’ Gallas said, hitting Sébastien Bassong and going back to ex-Milan Joe Jordan and head-butting the man. It prompted an angry outburst from Graeme Souness in the studio calling Gattuso ‘a little dog at best… go get the ball, scuffle around’. He said Gattuso was past his sell-by date and wouldn’t last ten, no five! minutes alone with his former teammate. Gattuso apologised saying that Jordan was busting his balls throughout the second half. Flamini also apologised to Ćorluka for that appalling tackle. When asked if Flamini should have been sent off he replied, ‘He should have been sent to jail’.

The job isn’t finished yet, but with so many players due back optimism abounds. A victory at the San Siro. Astonishing stuff. A superb performance all across the team. There’s no doubt about it, Spurs are one of the best teams in Europe.

Sunderland 1 - 2 Spurs

For once, when Redknapp talked about being down to the bare bones he was only mildly exaggerating. The whole of the first choice midfield was out except Aaron Lennon who started on the bench. Having played 20 minutes for Brazil against France midweek Sandro partnered Jermaine Jenaas, with Steven Pienaar and last week’s goal hero Niko Kranjcar out wide. Roman Paylyuchenko and Jermain Defoe played together up front, with neither looking particularly dangerous.

William Gallas was on the sidelines changing his boots (for the second or third time) when Sunderland got the opening goal 11 minutes in. Keiran Richardson, inexplicably linked to Spurs last week, whipped a cross in for Asomoah Gyan. He took a touch, turned and buried it in the bottom corner. The commentators seemed to think Gallas had wandered off not interested in the game, on the touchline changing boots like a Super Sweet 16 trying on different outfits, but he clearly had a problem and someone should have filled in in his absence.

It was not an entertaining match, typified by Spurs’ equaliser. Michael Dawson wandered away from his marker, Titus Bramble (now captaining a team in the Europa League spots would you believe), and headed Pienaar’s corner towards goal. Gallas got in front of Craig Gordon, let the ball run through his legs and subsequently Gordon’s.

Sunderland started the second half the better side, but didn’t give Heurelho Gomes much of a test. Spurs also played some decent football and just before the hour, Sandro, who had a very good second half, broke away down the right putting in a cross which John Mensah headed away. Kranjcar arrived to hit a right-footed volley into the bottom corner from 20 yards.

With 10 minutes to go Richardson hit the bar with a deflected punt, but ultimately all three points went to Spurs. Steve Bruce is always incredulous when his team don’t get any points, but the fact is they weren’t’ clinical enough and were punished. One of the stats of the season is how many points Tottenham have recovered from losing positions. It currently stands at a staggeringly impressive 19.

Spurs 2 - 1 Bolton

Michael Dawson returned from suspension and replaced Sébastien Bassong as the only change to the team that beat Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park on Wednesday. Bolton Wanderers may play better footballer under Owen Coyle, but they still seem to have the attitude ‘why just take the player when you can take the man as well?’

In the third minute William Gallas became the second Spurs centre-back to try a Cruyff turn without success in a week. Luckily we weren’t punished. After five minutes Gary Cahill bear-hugged Jermain Defoe just outside the box. Rafael van der Vaart swung a free-kick in and we won a fortuitous penalty in the aftermath when Kevin Davies fell on the ball with his arm, stopping Vedran Ćorluka’s poke. Van der Vaart’s penalty was confident and out of Jussi Jaaskelainen’s reach.

Two minutes later we got a second penalty, which Van der Vaart scored, only for a retake to be ordered. Wilson Palacios and Defoe had encroached. Van der Vaart went left again – wide this time. Lennon had burst into the box and gone down under a Sam Ricketts challenge. The replays were not conclusive, but it looked to me like Ricketts got neither the man nor the ball.

A lovely move finished with an offside goal. Benoit Assou-Ekotto made a run from the left-back position to just outside the area where he hit a splendid pass to Van der Vaart, who crossed and Defoe headed in, but he was a yard off. Bolton’s most notable efforts of the first half were Johan Elmander’s header against the crossbar and Daniel Sturridge’s shot at the side netting at an angle he was never going to score from.

A couple of minutes into stoppage time the referee pointed to the spot for another penalty, but the decision was quickly reversed when he saw the linesman’s flag. Peter Crouch knocked the ball down to Van der Vaart and he struck the ball against Cahill’s hand. Crouch was correctly adjudged to have been offside.

Van der Vaart went off at half-time with a thigh strain (he’s only completed 8 of the 20 games he’s started this season) and was replaced by Steven Pienaar. Ten minutes later the team briefly lost its shape at the cost of a Bolton goal. Dawson’s soft clearance was dismal and Mark Davies picked up the ball and charged at him. He ended up on the floor, Assou-Ekotto was somewhere near the centre circle slowly jogging back when Davies’ pass found Sturridge on Bolton’s right. Palacios and failed to catch up with him and Sturridge made it two goals in two games with a shot straight at Heurelho Gomes that somehow went underneath him.

Pienaar had a good game even if his challenge on Cahill should have resulted in a penalty (to add insult to injury Cahill was booked for diving). He linked up well with Defoe seeing his shot saved from close range and Defoe hit the side netting after impressive exchanges. Jenas struck the post with a free-kick (he’s quite good at them, remember?).

I always had the feeling we would get a winner and we finally did a minute and a half into stoppage time. Niko Kranjcar came on for Palacios in the 78^th minute and his goal was superb. He picked up the ball from Roman Pavlyuchenko, another second-half substitute, cut inside Zat Knight and hit a belter from 30 yards, right into the top corner.

When Kranjcar started making noises about leaving early in the season I thought it mighty short sighted. The only thing standing between him and a place in a potentially successful Spurs team is Gareth Bale. That’s quite an obstacle, admittedly, especially with Bale playing all but 49 minutes of European and league football this season before the Newcastle game two Saturdays ago. New boy Pienaar has been preferred and we may well have lost Kranjcar, but the Werder Bremen bid came to nothing. He would have been foolish to leave (what’s the hurry? It isn’t a World Cup/European Championship year), his chance was never that far away and yesterday he took it with both hands.

Arsenal became the first team to lose a four-goal lead in Premier League history. I say this not because they’re our local rivals, but potentially rivals to a top four spot. In the past making up 6 points on Arsenal has been beyond our capabilities, but we’ve won two league games in a row against them and if we make it three and they continue to show fragility they could find themselves battling Manchester City, Chelsea and ourselves for Champions League places.

Blackburn 0 - 1 Spurs

Ledley King (groin), Younes Kaboul (knee) and Luka Modrić (appendicitis) underwent operations at the beginning of the week and Steven Pienaar (concussion) and Alan Hutton (who knows what) were ruled out late on, but on the positive side Jonathan Woodgate was in the squad for the first time in a over a year and was joined on the bench by new signing Bongani Khumalo.

The system was very similar to the home game against Blackburn: two central midfielders (Jermaine Jenas and Wilson Palacios), two up front (Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe), a left-winger (Aaron Lennon) and Rafael van der Vaart nominally on the right, but free to roam, though not as much as he did at White Hart Lane.

The only goal of the game came after three minutes when Van der Vaart lofted a ball in to Crouch in the box and he towered above Christopher Samba and headed in. Blackburn created more chances in the first half, Crouch clearing a Junior Hoilett shot from a few yards out and Heurelho Gomes tipping a bouncing volley over the bar from the same player. David Dunn also put a couple of long-range efforts wide, while Tottenham created little.  

After half-time Spurs tightened up and threatened to score a second. Lennon ran 70 yards with the ball and laid it perfectly into Defoe’s path, but Paul Robinson got down low and made a good save. Still, Defoe probably should have scored. Robinson made another good save, from a 20-yard Lennon strike shortly after.

Míchel Salgado whipped a cross in and Gomes made a cracking save from Diouf and Gomes kept a Morten Gamst Pedersen free-kick out after Vedran Ćorluka had foolishly brought down Hoilett, Blackburn’s best player on the night, on the edge of the box.

In stoppage time Samba had a free header, but an unwitting Jenas got in the way and Gomes made a good catch, as he did throughout the game. It was three points well earned with a lot of good performances, especially from Van der Vaart who did a lot of the work Modrić normally does.

Woeful Misery: Fulham 4 - 0 Spurs

The only half of football in the Jol-Ramos-Redknapp era that compares to that is the first half against Inter Milan. We conceded four and were down to ten men then too, but Craven Cottage isn’t the San Siro and Fulham aren’t the European champions.

Ten minutes in Michael Dawson took a poor touch and under pressure from Andy Johnson passed the ball to Clint Dempsey. Dempsey charged into the box and Alan Hutton used his arm, leg and hip to bring him down. Danny Murphy consummately dispatched the spot-kick.

Three minutes later Dawson dawdled, Moussa Dembélé mugged him as he tried to make a turn and Dawson grabbed hold of his shirt just before Dembélé fired a shot at Heurelho Gomes. Another penalty was awarded and Murphy scored again. Dawson was sent off either for being the last man or for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity – both were true. Dawson was inept and cheated and we were punished for both.

With Tom Huddlestone out of the Milan game and beyond it’s vital that Sandro becomes something more than a novelty – a Brazilian international on the Spurs bench. Today he was given a rare opportunity, but it only lasted a quarter of an hour. He made way for William Gallas immediately after Andy Johnson had left him on his backside. The ball ended up with Dempsey and he should have scored, as should Dembélé minutes later.  

A midfield previously described by the commentator as ‘fluid’ was shapeless and offered little protection to a shambolic defence or support to a focus-less attack.  The inevitable third came when Benoît Assou-Ekotto gave away a cheap corner and made a pitiful attempt to challenge Johnson when it was taken. Johnson flicked the ball to the back post, Sébastien Bassong wandered toward the action leaving Brede Hangeland unmarked with an open goal. In stoppage time Dembélé got Fulham’s fourth. He picked up the ball inside our half and ran past Bassong without the need for any trickery. Gallas backed off on the edge of the box and Dembélé put the ball in to the bottom corner. 

I left the pub at half-time, which I very rarely do. The match was over. An absolute disaster. The second half would be damage limitation and nothing more. Aaron Hughes heading against the bar was the most significant action. Four nil to Fulham.

It was a defensive horror show and the honeymoon period is most definitely over for Harry Redknapp, but I’m not going to get into that now. The Champions League campaign distracts from humiliation in both domestic cups. What matters more than anything is the league. We go to Ewood Park on Wednesday with Dawson suspended and Kaboul in surgery, but hopefully with a brand new striker.