Tottenham Hotspur   1    Everton   3      (Half-time score : 1-3)

  1   Robinson

  2   Chimbonda
  5   Kaboul (33  Rocha 19)
30   Gardner 
  7   Stalteri (21  Routledge 68)

15   Malbranque   
  8   Jenas   
  4   Zokora
10   Keane (c)

  9   Berbatov
23   Bent (18 Defoe 62)

Unused subs: 
12   Cerny
22   Huddlestone

24   Howard

  2   Hibbert
  5   Lescott
15   Stubbs
  4   Yobo

10   Osman
  6   Arteta
18   Neville (c)
26   Carsley

  8   Johnson
28   Anichebe (16  Jagielka 81)

Unused subs: 
30   Ruddy
11   McFadden
19   Valente
20   Pienaar

Gardner 26

Lescott 3
Osman 37
Stubbs 45

    
Malbranque (foul) 12
Jenas (foul) 58

All the claims about the "Fantastic Four" and finishing in the fantastic four top places seem a bit hollow now.  But it is still only two games into the season, so not all is lost although six points have been.

With Dawson still ruled out, Younes Kaboul and Anthony Gardner started in the middle of defence, with Marcus Bent coming in up front, with Robbie Keane dropping back into midfield on the right for the injured Tainio.  The team had hardly had a chance to get a kick when s rash foul on Arteta lead to the Spaniard swinging in a free kick from the right wing and Gardner got under the ball, with his man Lescott rising unchallenged to head past Robinson to open the scoring with just over two minutes on the clock.  It was just the start to the game that Tottenham did not need after their abysmal start to the season.

While Spurs had set up in quite an attacking formation, the service to Berbatov and Bent was not of the quality expected and neither threatened enough in the first half.  The lack of width also led to a few opportunities to get wide, which were not able to be realised and the full backs in blue had a reasonably easy time of it.  One good break from his own half by Kaboul saw him enter the final third and after playing a pass to Malbranque, the French midfielder's ball to Berbatov was easily picked off, leaving the young defender out of position.  Some sloppy work when we were in possession meant that we gifted Everton a fair amount of possession and their ability to break quickly was a constant threat.

When the ball was finally passed ahead of Bent to run onto, his pace took him beyond Stubbs and his low drilled effort was kept out by a diving Howard and as the ball was left by the dithering Everton defenders Yobo and Hibbert, Berbatov closed in, but a defender blocked his shot.

I am not sure if there is history between Steed and Arteta, but the Spurs man went right through him from behind in the 12th minute to earn a clear yellow card.  It seemed as though Halsey had got his anti-Spurs head on, as Anichebe, who is a difficult opponent, kept backing into Tottenham defenders and also committed a string of offences, leading to two talking tos by the ref, but no card.  Strange that.

The Toffees were in the ascendancy and Johnson chased down a long ball before pulling it back to Anichebe to hit a low shot that Robinson got down to save, but it was shortly followed by Kaboul limping off with a pulled hamstring, thus precipitating another change in personnel.  Rocha came on to play alongside Gardner in central defence.

It seemed that this inspired Tottenham to push forward and keep the ball at the right end of the pitch.  A throw-in near the corner flag saw Keane pop the ball over Carsely's head in the area and just reach it before Yobo to touch it back for Dimitar.  Unfortunately, it was a bit behind him and his shot went too high.  As Spurs were enjoying their best period of pressure in the game so far, Malbranque won a corner, which Jenas played into the heart of the box and in a reverse of the first goal of the game, Lescott left Garner for a free header which he headed down and into the roof of the net, although for a while it looked as if it might go over the bar.

The goal gave Spurs some impetus and a coupe of crosses almost found white shirts, but the closest they came was from a cleared Everton corner, which went up to Steed, who held it up well and his cross was just a bit too fierce in front of Darren Bent.  As it all seemed to be going well, the ball was moved out to the right of the Everton midfield, where Arteta crossed to the far post and Rocha did really well to appear from nowhere to nod away as Anichebe looked favourite to head in.  The ball came back out into the penalty area about 12 yards out to Leon Osman, who stood unmarked and he had time to take a touch and fire past Robbo, who was still getting out of the back of the net.

At this point, you could almost see the Spurs heads drop.  Free kicks were being given away and given to Everton by Halsey, something we cannot afford to do, as there are difficulties for the side defending them.  This time, Arteta curled his shot over the bar, but into the one minute stoppage time, a dodgy award for a challenge between Malbranque and Anichebe resulted in a dead ball situation 30 yards out, as the Everton striker lay holding his leg.  It was generous to say the least in my opinion and when Stubbs strode up to strike the ball, an Everton player on the end of the wall pulled Zokora away and he stuck a leg out that deflected the ball past Robinson, who probably had the drive covered.

Another injury time goal and another one which turned out to be the winner.

The reaction from the Spurs side in the second half would be the key to the rest of the game.  At the start of the second period, it looked as thought hey might stage a comeback, with Keane cutting inside Carsley to hit a low left foot shot that Howard had to fall on.  Then two minutes into the half, Chimbonda produced a cross that saw Berbatov get away from Lescott and thud a header past Howard, but against the post and as the ball came back, bent was bustled off the ball as he went for a low header.

It was becoming end to end stuff now, as the visitors moved up to the other end and the ball bounced off a Spurs defender to Arteta and only a flick off Gardner took the ball wide of the goal.  In the vital areas, the ball dropped kindly for the Blues and they almost scored another in the second half when it happened.

A rare free-kick close to the Everton penalty area gave Keane the opportunity to curl a shot on goal, which went just over the bar and on 65 minutes, another deep cross from Chimbonda found Defoe beyond the far post.  His first time effort from an acute angle was heading in until Howard did well to beat the ball out with a very good save.

With 24 minutes left, Jol had introduced Wayne Routledge to the action and although he did not have much chance to use his pace, he managed to produce some good crosses from the right wing, where he combined well with Chimbonda.  One from the full back saw Defoe sneak in front of his marker and turn the ball towards goal, but it did not have sufficient pace on it to beat Howard, who took it comfortably.

Jermaine Jenas seems to be the player in the team at the moment who can do no right in the eyes of the boo boys among the Tottenham crowd.  The free-kick he swung to the far post that went narrowly over the bar with Howard back-pedalling brought jeers and surprisingly, a similar one to Chimbonda at the far post saw the ball headed back, but only to the keeper's hands.  Jenas does himself no favours sometimes, losing the ball inside his own half, but he did get back to tidy things up, so he doesn't give up.

In fact, the nearest Tottenham came to a goal towards the end was when Robinson's kick up field caught Stubbs running backwards and he headed the ball up in the air, but it almost went over the stranded Everton keeper.  With Tottenham's luck, it obviously went wide.

It was left to Paul Robinson to maintain some semblance of decency with the score-line, as he stopped Johnson on three breaks.  Once after it fell to the England forward and Robbo jumped up to keep the ball out, secondly when the England Number One dived low to keep out a shot and finally, his legs came to the rescue with a block to keep it at 1-3 at the end.

While it is disappointing not to have registered a point so far, I cannot see why there is such doom and gloom among Spurs fans.  Yes, there are problems with the balance of the team and there are players yet to come back from injury.  Yes, there are problems with creativity from midfield and getting the right kind of supply to the front men.  Yes, there are issues with the way teams appear to be able to get through our defences, but after last season's lack of clean sheets and this season's injury hit back four, perhaps that it is not surprising.

The way I try and determine progress is who we have fared in comparison to last season's corresponding results.  So, last season we lost to two of the three promoted sides away - so losing to Sunderland can be counted as one of them - and we lost to Everton at home last season.  So on those two results  - no change.  I know that results will not follow from one seasont o another, but we need to start turning losses into draws and draws into wins to add to our points total.

We are looking to improve, but with the arrival of Derby on Saturday perhaps mimicking the visit of Sheffield United early last season, we could be in the same position points-wise, but it will need an improvement on this performance to do so.

KIRK HAMMERTON