Don't disagree Tim, but I think there has been a shift on the way Spurs have played this season.

Last season, we were scoring for fun, but this season, with teams now regarding Tottenham as a top four club, have made things a lot more difficult for us.  As good as Bale and Modric have been, there has been an approach adopted by opponents to stifle the attacking instincts of the side.

This has made playing the way we did last season more problematical.

With Rafael van der Vaart coming in late in the August transfer window, it also posed a tactical issue for Redknapp to sort out, with the Dutchman playing a free role behind the front one or two.  This has meant that neither Pav nor Crouch have had a regular starting place in the line-up, although the VDV/Crouch partnership has paid dividends.  To accommodate VDV, we have had to lose one of the strikers and without a run in the side, it is hard for them to strike up a rhythm that they seem to get from scoring regularly.

As Defoe has been out injured for a long time, it is perhaps unfair to judge him on what he has done since he has come back.  Yes, he got two against Charlton and has had chances which he hasn't taken in the games against Blackburn and Bolton, but we have won them both ... perhaps not as comfortably as we might like, but then that's a good sign too.  Winning games when we haven't played to our full potential and when some players aren't firing on all cylinders, but we will need them to hit the net soon.

It looked like the club decided to try and get someone in during January, but left it to the last minute, to try and get a bargain, but nobody was willing to sell unless we paid a premium, so we were probably left with what we had to work with.

Harry has been emitting some less than complimentary remarks about Pav lately, so perhaps he will be only used as a last resort, while Crouch has been used more since your e-mail, including against Blackburn, when he got his second goal of the season.

There is no reason we can't win games, when Modric and Bale are back, as they make things happen more often than the remainder of the side, but the fact that the bulk of our goals have come from midfield is a real turnaround as we have been light in that area for a long time.

Get the forwards scoring too and we will be on the road to "the next level".

Sod's Law Tim that as soon as you write about Crouch he scores.

Apart from him being a good straight man for VDV, he does not score enough goals and with others struggling to hit the net, one forward has to step up to the plate.

But the service has been lacking in the last few games, with even Aaron Lennon looking fed up on Saturday v Bolton.  Sometimes, he looks like he has moved on from a couple of seasons ago, when he would waste good positions, but then on other days, he holds the ball for too long or plays the wrong pass.  His blistering pace is a massive asset and with Bale on the other flank, they must terrify opponents, but the final ball is all their tem-mates will worry about when they are waiting for it to come in.

Twenty-goal a season strikers don't grow on trees and maybe, Harry was just planting a seed or two for the summer with his efforts to tempt players in Spain in the January window.  With Pav saying he wants out in the summer, Harry's shopping trips might become a bit more regular towards the end of the season.