Sunderland   1   Tottenham Hotspur    0      (Half-time score : 0-0)

  1  Gordon

12  Nosworthy
  6  McShane
33  Wallace
  8  Whitehead (c)   

  4  Etuhu
  8  Yorke (36  Miller 78)
  7  Edwards
10  Richardson (15  D. Collins 72)

11  Murphy
  9  Stokes (34  Chopra 72 )

Unused subs: 
13  Ward
31  Connolly

  1  Robinson

  2  Chimbonda
30  Gardner
  5  Kaboul
  7  Stalteri

  6  Tainio (23  Bent 59)
  8  Jenas
  4  Zokora     (22  Huddlestone 87)
15  Malbranque

  9  Berbatov (18  Defoe 77)
10  Keane (c)

Unused subs: 
12  Cerny
33  Rocha

Chopra 90 (+4)

Tottenham Hotspur

None

    
Whitehead (foul) 51   

    
Zokora (foul) 42   

Three aspects of the club's play last season came back to haunt us.  Failure to take the game to our opponents, as, with Sunderland being there for the taking,  Tottenham decided that they would not go for the kill, but try to pick them off with a single goal that never really looked like arriving.  Secondly, the lack of points away from home in the last two seasons has cost us making the step up to fourth in the Premier League.  Many more performances like this and we will be looking at the same situation once more.  Lastly, the inability to keep a clean sheet, which is the minimum that Spurs should have managed in this match ... especially against a team which barely features in most pundits top half of the table predictions.

It is not that I am anti- the team, but their showing today was lacklustre to be kind and poor to be more realistic.  Sunderland were up for it, as expected, but they did not have the quality to hurt Spurs on more than a couple of occasions.  Whereas, Tottenham had a wealth of stars, but few shone in the Stadium of Light.

With a large share of the possession, Tottenham really ought to have more to show for it than a weak Keane shot and a late drive from Tom Huddlestone.  A claim for a penalty looked like one which would have been awarded for Man U at Old Trafford, but we are not in the habit of profiting from these decisions. 

It was interesting that Steed Malbranque was chosen to start on the left, where he had a good pre-season.  When the ball was played out to him in a wide position, there was a useful situation created and two crosses caused concerns in the Black Cats' back four.  The failure to capitalise on this useful source of balls into the area was perpetrated by Malbranque being pushed inside to firm up the centre of midfield, with Tainio doing the same on the other side.  This left Spurs narrow down the middle and when they did get the full-backs forward, there was no midfield man wide to support or cover them.

A lot of Tottenham's attacking play was too easily picked off by Nosworthy and McShane (who was probably the man of the match) as we tried to hit Berba, with nobody playing up alongside him.  Sunderland's forwards were limited to scraps as Kaboul used his strength and Gardner shepherded them well.  A Stokes long range effort and a blocked Richardson shot were the only incidents in the first half apart from the Murphy opportunity.  As for Spurs, Jenas dragged a 25 yard shot well wide after Berbatov had touched it back for him, then the Bulgarian jinked around new keeper Craig Gordon and was then floored by a challenge from Whitehead, but referee Wiley, was not interested.

Keane struck a 20 yard daisy-cutter at Gordon with little pace and the other end saw Dickson Etuhu have three efforts; one was a header well off target as he reached behind him and the others were shots - one wide by a yard and one blocked for a corner.

At half-time, there should have been the chance for Jol to instruct his players to open the play more and to up the tempo.  However, a half-paced performance followed and in the end, it was inevitable that the coup de grace would hit Tottenham.

Jol's assertion after the game that it had been a boring one is a bit of an indictment of his side, who are supposed to be the entertainers of the Premier League.  I know that last season that came from letting in almost as many goals as we scored, but it might be preferable if they could get a few for themselves first.

The way the midfield played, Malbranque in the first half and Zokora excepted, there was too little decent service to the front two and in the second period, both Berbatov and Keane were dropping back as far as the halfway line.  While it did not affect the pattern of the game too much to start with, as time went on Sunderland pushed higher up the pitch and Spurs were forced back.

Just before the hour, Chimbonda, sporting his new, un-corn-rowed hairstyle, was fouled twice as he was approaching the Sunderland goal and a free-kick right on the edge was taken by Dimitar, but he could not get it to come down quick enough after getting it over the wall.  With half an hour to go, Darren Bent came on for his debut, as Jol tried to get something going up front.  The big two almost produced a chance for Keano, but his dallying on the ball saw him easily dispossessed.

Just after 70 minutes, Collins and Chopra came on for Sunderland, while five minutes later Defoe replaced Berbatov.  With Spurs having the stronger forward line, we hoped that it would pay dividends, but Liam Miller's earlier introduction gave the home team a bit more guile in midfield.  By this time, Tottenham had also suffered ankle injuries to Chimbonda and Kaboul, so were not fully mobile at the back.

Defoe almost seized on Bent's click on and a cleared corner fell to Hud, who struck it well, but with not enough venom to beat Gordon from 25 yards.  With two minutes until full time, it was Tottenham's first real shot in anger, which says much for the display.  If we fail to create chances against Sunderland, what hope is there against the big boys ? 

A free-kick generously awarded, for a foul against Chimbonda, gave Whitehead the chance to swing the ball into the Tottenham area and left to sneak in, Etuhu had the chance to win it for Sunderland, but he took the ball on his thigh and it ran away from him, but made Robbo dive and palm out from the in-running forwards to prevent a goal.  It should have been a sign of things to come, but as the clock ticked past the three minutes time for stoppages, a ball down the right pulled Kaboul from the middle and the resulting cross from Wallace on the right went over Gardner and dropped at Chopra's feet.  The signing from Cardiff took one touch and from eight yards out slammed it into the bottom corner to score with virtually the last kick of the match. 

While it was gutting to lose in such a way, especially having conceded a last minute goal on our last visit to the Stadium of Light, it was not something that perhaps you might not have expected from Spurs.  Bringing on Bent did liven things up a bit, but again, the passes he was getting were not designed to bring the best out of him.  It is no use having four strikers who have everything, if you haven't got players who can make that everything happen. 

From before the off, it was obvious that this would not be as straight forward as it might have seemed, as Michael Dawson ricked an ankle in training and was replaced in the line-up by Anthony Gardner.  To be fair to the lanky central defender he didn't do too bad.  An early step on the ball in his own area when he should have hoofed it away was replaced by a performance where he extended his Go Go Gadget legs to nick the ball away in front of their attacker.  However, he did duck to miss a left wing cross in the 38th minute, leaving Daryl Murphy at the far post in a good position, but a poor first touch allowed Robinson time to come out to close him down and save.  The only other part of his game he needs to beef up is his strength in the air.  Tall and pacy he may be, but he gets knocked off the ball too easily, as the goal proved, when a Sunderland player jumped at him to clear the way for Chopra's late winner.

With Kaboul having a sterling game at centre-half, Stalteri chipped in with a decent enough showing, but again, he gets panicked in possession.  Unfortunately, two other players might have not been playing.  Jenas, who I admire, had a mare of a game, with his all action dynamic runs missing and every time he got challenged, he fell to the floor looking for a free-kick and then sat there whingeing about it.  The other player who should have done a lot better was Robbie Keane.  Again, appealing for fouls on him and then giving the ball away regularly throughout the match made his contribution minimal.  With Berbatov having one of the games where he fails to show sufficient strength against the opposition's central defenders and then starts giving away petty free-kicks, we did not need Keane to drop deep and then be ineffective there.

Once more, as poor first game means Tottenham will be playing catch-up and it is a game that they will have to get used to very quickly, as Everton are next up on Tuesday.  And that won't be an easy one.

BARRY LEVINGTON