My thoughts on our Hull victory

Tottenham are currently the best team in England. OK, that may be a tad optimistic but the table doesn’t lie. 2 games, 6 points, 1st place. Sounds good doesn’t it.

I’d advise you take a good look at the table now because, somehow, I don’t think we’ll be perched there for long. But it is a bit of a morale booster. Not as morale boosting as our 5-1 victory over Hull though, which positively oozed with class and skill. The performance was how Tottenham should play in every game- fast, free flowing attacking football with an abundance of well taken goals and nifty wing play. On a slightly more negative note the goal we let in was pretty poor, but it wouldn’t have been a Tottenham game with at least one piece of shoddy defending. Hey, we might do 5-1’s but we don’t do 5-0’s. However I’d urge you not to focus on the bad and instead focus on the good. There won’t be many games which see us win 5-1 and top the table, so I’d urge you to enjoy this moment whilst it lasts.

Jermain bags a hat-trick

To be honest, I’ve never been Jermain Defoe’s biggest fan. I’ve long preferred Robbie Keane and I’ve always felt Defoe has never really given his all for Spurs. He was fantastic for Portsmouth and played well for West Ham years back, but I’ve always had a sneaking suspicion that Jermain Defoe was in the Darren Bent mode of “good for a smaller club but underachiever at a big(gish) one“. In the space of ninety minutes last night, Defoe proved me wrong. It seems he has overtaken Keane as the principal goal scorer of the club and it’s becoming increasingly apparent that Defoe has been working in the gym. He’s definitely stronger, as acknowledged by Harry in the press conference after the game, and his improved physique allowed him to win many 50-50 balls last night, a crucial attribute for any goalscorer with ambitions of banging in 20 goals plus in the Premier League. All of his goals were extremely well taken, the third being my personal favourite. Before the season begun, ‘Arry set JD a target of 20 goals. He has 17 left to score, and if he plays just half as good as he played last night that target will soon have been reached.

Keane comes out firing

Robbie Keane hasn’t had the best of years. Things looked rosy when he first joined Liverpool, tipped to become a key player in Liverpool’s title chase, but things never worked out for Keane at Anfield, and Robbie soon found himself sold back to Spurs. He finished the season in reasonable form but the juries been out on Keane with many fans feeling he’d be better of elsewhere. The Defoe-Crouch partnership was the front line many Spurs fans wanted to see in our season opener against Liverpool, but Keane started and put in a decent performance. Redknapp once again paired Keane and Defoe against Hull, and the decision immediately paid off. As discussed above, Defoe was in scintillating form but Keane was just as good as his strike partner, maybe even a tad better. Constantly buzzing around the Hull defence and leading by example, Keane ran his socks off until his withdrawal and also netted his first goal of the season with a well taken header. The last time Tottenham were in position to challenge for a top four spot we had Berbatov and Keane up front netting 30 goals a season between him. If we are too enjoy any success this season we will need Defoe to reach his 20 goal target, but we could also do with Keane putting in the kind of performances he put in a couple years back.

Corluka ‘aint no centre back

Charlie Corluka is one of my favourite Spurs players. Smooth, skilled and calm on the ball, Corluka is, in my opinion, one of Harry’s best Tottenham signings. However despite his skill and ability, Charlie isn’t a centre back. He looked out of his depth at times in the centre of the Spurs defence and his defensive partner, Seb Bassong, didn’t look as impressive with Corluka next to him then when he had King next to him at the weekend. Corluka’s probably best when playing in the right back position though his replacement for last night, Alan Hutton, put in a great performance last night, winning plenty of challenges. It will be interesting to see whether he regains his place at the weekend when King is playing again, or whether Charlie regains the spot. Either way it’s a nice conundrum for ‘Arry to have, and when Dawson and Woodgate are back, our defence will look very solid.

Hurry back Heurelho

Heurelho Gomes went off injured last night and I didn’t bat an eyelid. His withdrawal looked purely precautionary and the injury didn’t appear to be too serious. However I awoke this morning to rumours that Gomes may face a lengthy lay off. We have Carlo Cudicini as back-up, but the Italian ‘keeper is getting on and isn’t the player he used to be. Ben Alnwick is out on loan and it was revealed today that young Spurs stopper David Button has been recalled from his stint on loan to Crewe, so it appears that Harry might just make do with the ‘keepers at the club. I hope this is the case. Dear God, please say Harry doesn’t make a bid for David James. He’s too old and error prone to become our number one (temporary or not). If Gomes is to be out for say, eight games or so, surely it’s better to play Cudicini, or even give Button a go, rather than sign an eccentric goalkeeper who’s past it. Portsmouth will probably want a fair bit for him too. So hurry back Heurelho, if only to put a stop to these David James rumours.

Hull in trouble

Before the season began, I tipped Birmingham City, Portsmouth and Hull to suffer the pain of relegation. On current form, Hull aren’t really doing anything to make me change my pre-season expectations. They were sluggish against us and their defending was abysmal at times, whilst they don’t boast the strength in depth required to stave off relegation. They have a few good players such as Hunt and Bullard, but they don’t possess enough quality to make the transaction from relegation battlers to safe, middle of the table side. They nearly kicked of their season in glorious fashion at Stamford Bridge, but after acquiring a (slightly lucky) lead they didn’t attack Chelsea again and sat back, waiting for Chelsea to equalise, and eventually win. This season will be very tough for Hull, and they’ll need to be in top form to somehow stay in the Premier League.

Player Ratings:

Heurelho Gomes: 6 Went off early on with a injury. Lets hope it doesn’t keep him out for long.

Benoit Assou-Ekotto: 7. His performances have been very impressive under Harry Redknapp. He gets forward on regular occasions and can defend as well. He had a decent game and will be pleased with his effort.

Alan Hutton: 8. Got stuck in on a number of occasions and will have Charlie Corluka sweating on his place int he next game. Didn’t get forward a lot but held the right wing well, allowing Aaron Lennon to attack at will.

Vedran Corluka: 6. Didn’t have a bad game, but he’s not a centre back. Did the simple stuff well but looked exposed at times; having Ledley back for the weekend game will be a boost.

Seb Bassong: 6.5 Had a tough first half against Caleb Folan but recovered well. Looked more assured when playing with King but was solid throughout.

Tom Huddlestone: 8. He hasn’t had a game like this in a long time. Gutsy, strong and full of energy, Huddlestone has staked a real claim for a regular first team spot and was able to feed through Keane and Defoe on numerous occasions.

Wilson Palacios: 8. Another great game, this time with a goal. Such a good player, Palacios was effective when pushing forward and also dealt with the defensive stuff. He was caught in the first half on one or two occasions but recovered well and played well with Huddlestone.

Aaron Lennon: 7. Burst forward well and saught out Keane brilliantly for the skipper to head in Tottenham’s fourth. Whilst his running with the ball is fantastic his final delivery is still a little lacking and that was evidenced in this game on a couple of occasions, however Lennon can be proud of his efforts.

Luka Modric: 8. Not one of his better games but the Croatian is still so important to Tottenham. Kept the ball well and his distribution was sound.

Robbie Keane: 9. A performance that made the boo boys eat their words. Two assists and one goal capped a fantastic performance which saw Keane back to his brilliant best.

Jermain Defoe: 10. Superb. All three of his goals were wonderful and it’s hard to remember Defoe putting in a better performance in a Tottenham shirt. He looks stronger and fitter than he did during last season and this paid off tonight when he won a number of 50-50 balls and fired home powerfully for his last goal.

Subs:

Carlo Cudicini (Came on for Gomes in the 17th minute) 7. Unlucky with Hull’s goal but solid otherwise. Has a chance to stake a claim for the number one jersey with Gomes set for a spell on the sidelines.

Peter Crouch (Came on for Robbie Keane in the 81st minute) 5. Didn’t have much of a chance to impress.

David Bentley (Came on for Luka Modric in the 85th minute) 5. A rare outing for the disappointing Bentley. However he didn’t have much of a chance to impress (or let down).