Tottenham Hotspur 1-2 Sunderland

[funster]

What a load of s%$t. I honestly cannot work out how to describe this start to the season other than use obscenities such as this. Another summer of transfers, of players coming in, of building a team, of doing well in pre-season, and when the chips are down, what happens? The bloody same as always.

Played two, lost two, no points.

This was another tactically questionable and, for long periods, gutless, uninventive, unincisive performance.

In the lead-up to the game we heard that Berbatov had been left out of not only the starters, but also the squad. Not focused enough..... a negative influence on the dressing room..... a sure sign that he is on his way.

With traffic around The Lane a nightmare today we ended up arriving ten minutes late. A quick scan around and changes from last week included King starting (at last), Bale on the left wing, Bentley in the middle.

All a bit of an irrelevance however, since the first half was diabolical. Nothing much created - for either side - a total lack of incision up front (again), and while we looked better defensively in the middle, asking Zokora to play right back (again) was clearly not a smart move.

The closest anybody actually came to scoring was when Steed rifled a low shot from outside the box against the base of the post. Looked like Gomes had it covered, but there were questions asked (and rightly so) as to why he'd been given so much time and space on the edge of the box.

Steed had a decent half on his return. We let him dictate matters too much on the wing - BAE still less than convincing - but both sides lacked any real edge.

Playing Bentley in the middle really wasn't working, and while Lennon had one of his better games on the right wing, it really was plain for all to see that the ex-Blackburn lad was wasted.

We were also having the same problem at 'Boro last week with neither Modric nor Jenas far enough up the pitch to offer any support to Bent. Bentley had a tendency to drift towards either wing and that big gap between Bent and the midfield was just as big this week as last.

Not that it would have mattered too much I suppose. We were nowhere near good enough to get up in support!

Huddlestone warming up at half-time


Gio far side of the pitch obscured by the sprinklers


New reserve keeper Cesar - I think


All set for the second half


The second half started with a totally different tempo. Within two minutes we'd created the best chance of the game, Bale heading over from a free header no more than six yards out. That ball should have burst the net.

Still, we looked much brighter. Well, in saying that I should clarify..... we looked like we had more urgency and the midfield was finally beginning to get forward.

Sad, then, that as we began to assert some slight authority, Sunderland broke, fashioned a bit of space down the left, and Richardson let fly from probably twenty-five or thirty yards to score an absolute screamer. A very good strike indeed. Slightly against the run of play, but would have been difficult to suggest that the goal was undeserved.

The ranks of Mackems - and as usual, there were plenty - went nuts. It never ceases to amaze me how many travel away to watch Sunderland. It is impressive indeed and on the whole they tend to enjoy themselves. Taking the lead at White Hart Lane with a cracker of a goal on a sunny day would help I suppose.

The goal brought a swift change, which had probably been planned beforehand anyway. Huddlestone and Gio on in place of Lennon and BAE.

Huddlestone's introduction seemed to bring a bit more composure to the midfield, while Gio took up a position on the right wing.

We came close a couple of times before Jenas finally equalised. A scrappy bit of play in the six yard box following a corner saw Woody finally push wide of the post. Jenas made a determined run onto a bouncing ball and beat Craig Gordon to it, but his header ended up just wide.

The goal, when it did come, was scrappy again, Jenas netting from a rebound off a Modric shot that Gordon failed to hold.

Surely from here we would go on to win, having started to create the better chances, while not necessarily dominating the game.

Oh no. No chance.

Another Sunderland break down the left, a ball swung in and Cisse, on his debut, headed in what turned out to be the winner.

From there we just didn't get going again and the odd foray or two into the Sunderland box ended with no end product.

Another defeat then and we just were not good enough.

Defensively we looked much stronger - across the middle at least. King's presence makes a massive difference. Zokora at right back, though, is all wrong. Funnily enough, some of our best attacking moves in the first half actually came from Zokora making a couple of very direct runs. But that's not what he's there for as right back! Mind you, he isn't a right back.

As for BAE..... he's just not going to convince me I'm afraid. He still stands too far off the winger and a couple of times in the first half he got caught hopelessly out of position, on the wrong side of the Sunderland player when crosses were put in deep to that side of the pitch.

The midfield today was better. Marginally.

Lennon had an OK game. Not difficult I suppose when you compare it to a generally poor performance through the middle of the park. Bale was as willing as ever on the left and his delivery will, I hope, set us up for plenty of goals. It looked like he might have picked up a bad injury late in the second half, but thankfully he just nutted one of the Sunderland player's boots as he fell while challenging for a header.

Modric gave glimpses, again, that he can pull the strings in the middle, but for too long in this game he played much too deep. Just like last week. When he got forward and started to marshall things at the edge of the box the contribution he made was much enhanced.

Jenas had a thoroughly inconsistent game. He was missing in the first half and it took him too long to get going in the second, but for the last half hour he drove us forward with some decent runs, scored the equaliser, and made a reasonable contribution. But sixty minutes of performance lacking in all those qualities and the remaining half hour just can't make up for it.

As for the subs, well, Huddlestone brought some stability to the centre of the pitch. Kept the ball and played it around well, not misplacing short passes which he has so often done in the past. It was strange, though, that a couple of times when he had time and space a few yards outside the Sunderland box, he elected not to swing that boot into the ball.

Gio was bright. Bit like last week, though less involved.

And as for Darren Bent..... oh dear. Made no contribution that I could discern. He won one, maybe two headers, and just didn't get going with any runs. Having said that, we really didn't offer him any balls to run on to either! The one time he picked the ball up and beat Sunderland defenders for pace to get into the box there was nobody in midfield busting a gut to get up in support. Result? Shot into the side netting, although he did win a corner!

The dissatisfaction was all too evident. While the Mackems had their first win for ages at The Lane, for us, the results mirrored those of a year ago.

We are a long, long way short of what's expected. Sure, the Berbatov situation does nothing to help, but we really should not be losing points without him in the side in the way we have so far.

I have no doubt he will be gone before the window closes and that there will be one, two, maybe even three players brought in. Problem is we've already surrendered points and go into a game at Chelsea lacking form. Its all too easy to see us being rock bottom three games in.

My biggest gripe is that tactically it just looks wrong. Bent on his own up front is simply not working. We aren't playing balls through for him to run on to, and he isn't really offering that much as a target man to knock high balls down. Worst of all though, the gap between him and the two men in the centre of the pitch - Modric and Jenas - is massive. It took fully seventy minutes for us to close it today, but when you can't get your central, attacking midfielders up to support your lone striker you need to be delivering precise balls in from the wings.

Oh, and there we have another problem with Bentley playing left wing and central midfield but drifting to a semi-winger (inside half?) position. It just is not working.

There is much work still to do. This is not the start to the season any of us were looking for, and even knowing that we are slow starters, this is poor.

Like I said, for Tottenham Hotspur, there is still much work to do.

[berby999]

Thanks for the report funster, as good as ever even tthough there isnt much to shout about.

[Kyle]

GDS has looked quality every time he's been given space along the wing, and Modric looked fantastic today during the few moments he spent up by Sunderland's box. What really frustrates me is that, like Funster mentioned, Modric is hardly ever up the pitch and GDS has to come of the bench and is somehow a second choice at wing to Bale and Lennon. And why on Earth are Spurs playing Bentley out of position and not on the right wing? Several players on Spurs need to be put in better positions to succeed. Spurs are handicapping their own talent with weird formation choices before matches have even begun.

[Hamenaglar]

Just seen the goals, ugh, the first one was a terrible mistake by king and jenas. As for Modric it seems he likes to play to deep at times, I've noticed that for croatia lately he gets forward much more rarely than he used to, Ramos will have to sit down and fix it.

[KarlW]

Ramos is a bit conflicted with positions. If he plays the wingers in their proper positions, we won't have enough quality in the centre. By switching them, the wingers can cut in to the centre on their stronger feet. We can't rely on crosses, because we have Bent up front by himself.

That said, we were much better from set pieces than last season (thanks to Bentley). Modric played much better than last week, and looks like he's getting used to playing in the EPL. Santos is also much improved. Ramos doesn't seem to know what formation to play this team in - why not just play a standard 4-4-2, with players in their proper positions (Santos and Bent up front, Bentley on right, Modric on left, Jenas and Huddlestone in the center, back 4 as today), and see how they do? We could even switch Huddlestone with Lennon mid-way through the second half as an impact player.

[Croatian14]

I was watching whole match on internet and it pissed me off...What is with Ramos??Does he have eyes...Modric was playing on DM, most of time he was on our half of centre, whenever he gone to attack it would get interesting and a lot dangerous to Sunderland goal, thats how the goal was made...What is Santos doing on bench??He didn"t have a lot matches in Barcelona and he can"t get in his form without matches, whatever he played very good, and for Bentley lol, he isn"t on his position......I think if this 3 big big mistakes didn"t happend if Modric was playing on AMC, if Bentley was on right wing and if Santos started the match this bad result wouldn"t happen...Come on Ramos you can do better than that, we still belive in you

[MyGoula]

Quality Recap Funster I really enjoyed it and I like your views

At the end The Spurs fans were booing do you think that it will have a negative effect on our players or will it motivate them to do better:questionmark:

[Ledley4PrimeMinister]

I feel the blame is more on Ramos than the players. They gave it their best. But the team seems to be getting lead by the blind.

[dogger]

Nice report funster......can't give a decent opinion as I didn't see the game, but from what I read here it doesn't look good. Who told us Ramos was a good manager? Is it a case of the Kings's new clothes. So.....2 games no points, not looking good for top four is it. By the way, what is 20 million plus of asset doing not in the squad? He should either be playing or gone for good and we can sign someone who will play with pride for the club, preferably a defender, King won't last the season and Dawson....well it's too horrible to think about.

[baxta]

good one funster.. I was so amped for this game, 1st home game of the season, modric, GDS, Bentley, ohh i couldnt wait to see them unleash at the lane!! I stayed up till midnight to watch the game on tele, It wasnt a good start as fox sports australia (foxtel) lost connection for the first 10min of the game..

i really wish they hadnt bothered fixing it!!

What a shocker!! Couldnt really fault any player, they did ok, they just seemed so lost. There seemed no structure to the team, like a buch of chooks with their heads cut off.. Ramos really needs to fire things back up..

Im feeling how i did at the start of last season!! Not happy.. 'The curse' is coming back!!!

WHEN DOES THE CARLING CUP START??

[Swanny]

Well written Funster as always, what a shambles we looked I was never a fan of sacking MJ and looking at this makes me wonder what does Ramos bring to our team? certainly not cohesion this was awful same as last week, when will we ever learn to defend ...ok Cisse had a good header but lets be fair he never should have been allowed to get it in As for Gus talking about Berba's attitude not being right, how comes he bag's a brace for Bulgaria midweek then? looks to me as same old story and the best we can hope for is a good cup run and mid-table misery, don't get me wrong I love my club and always will, seen plenty of bad times before but the point is we are supposed to be fighting for a top 4 place and we are being fed all the same old promises and that's all we get:dontknow:

[Yid04Life]

Hopes of a top 4 finish will vanish for me when Berba heads north. Looking forward to that 11th place finish, thats if we don't get relegated. I cannot believe how **** Darren Bent is....

[foghorn leggy]

at the end of the day we just can`t defend no matter how good Cisse`s header was it was p1ss poor defending yet again

[funster]

.....At the end The Spurs fans were booing do you think that it will have a negative effect on our players or will it motivate them to do better:questionmark:

The booing was very restrained. I expected far worse. Will it affect their performance? Yeah, probably. But they don't deserve much more right now.

[Spurs_Fan99]

Another bad start to the season, I suppose it can only get better? :|