If you want thrills in the Premier League at the moment then
Tottenham is the place to be as Aaron Lennon's winner in the last
throes of injury time kept Spurs' 100% record intact with a 2-1
win over Birmingham City.
Tottenham were the better team. They played the fancy football.
They showed all the ambition. And it would have been cruel in the
extreme if Lee Bowyer's second half tap-in had mugged them just
when they had appeared to have done all the hard work.
The truth is Tottenham should have won this wonderfully entertaining
match by a landslide. They rained shots in on Joe Hart's goal all
afternoon. Ironic, in the end, however, that they were thankful
to the Route One option provided by substitute Peter Crouch - who
came on and gave them the lead with a trademark towering header.
Grateful, too, that Birmingham striker Garry O'Connor found the
side-netting instead of the back of the net in the last few minutes.
Give credit to the visitors. They provide a strong physical presence
and are no pushovers as they proved on the opening weekend of the
season when they were narrowly beaten at Old Trafford. They are
not pretty. Not pleasing on the eye like Tottenham. They will bore
out results this season, like punching your way through the walls
of White Hart Lane with a Black and Decker.
But in James McFadden and Bowyer and Lee Carsley they have the
granite-like characters who just might keep them in the Premier
League at the end of the season.
But they did not deserve anything on an afternoon when Redknapp's
side clocked up 12 points from their first four matches, a stark
contrast from the two collected from the first eight games last
season until Redknapp took over. Tottenham, Harry-style, is night
and day compared to the rabble under Juande Ramos.
There is a pleasing balance to their work. Lennon gives them width,
Sebastien Bassong a solid base in the continued injury absence of
Jonathan Woodgate and Michael Dawson. Jermain Defoe and Keane are
a darting twin menace up front. |
