A great night at the Lane in midweek – not a faultless performance by any means, but a 4-1 win is a 4-1 win, and with a missed penalty too! Rafael van der Vaart was a silly boy, picking up a needless second yellow, but having got us the all-important first goal (and having put in a fantastic first half performance), I think we can just about let him off.

And wasn’t it nice to have Gomes back?! That big right handed save in the first half, and his general presence – he has been badly missed. Unfortunately we still didn’t look entirely comfortable from set pieces, though, and one was our undoing again after a bit of pinball in the box…

Nacer Chadli’s goal.

We’re well set for defending this – Twente have a lot of bodies forward, but we have Pavlyuchenko and Bale near post, and plenty of defenders centrally.

It’s a dangerous ball in, but one that Bale should clear at the near post.

Bale misses his header, and it lands at the feet of a Twente player, who tries to get a shot away.

It comes out to Douglas, who has a strike. I think Hutton gets a block on it – notice how Chadli has dropped into space, whereas out players have either followed the ball or totally given up on defending (Bale and Pavlyuchenko).

When the ball comes out to Chadli, he still has a lot to do, but he does it beautifully, finishing with the outside of his right across Gomes as Bassong attempts to close him.

Gomes was quite close, but it’s a cracking finish.

So a scruffy goal but, in fairness to our defenders, Twente got the breaks.

Villa next at the Lane today – do we go with the the same team, or do we attempt to freshen things up? I can see King missing out (which would mean Corluka at centre-back), but I would be tempted to keep things as they were – it’s still early in the season, and the players should be able to cope with two games in a week at this point.

Last night I heard a West Ham fan on 606 saying what a fantastic match Daniel Gabbidon had at left-back. I couldn’t help but think that Aaron Lennon had made things easy for him.

Since returning from a spell on the sidelines last year, Lennon has struggled to re-find his brilliant form. So far this season he has looked nervous – he doesn’t seem keen to take on the full-back with regularity, and yesterday was a prime example.

Check out Lennon’s passes from yesterday – he frequently got into advanced areas, and yet passed backwards. This when he was up against a centre back playing out of position, who he clearly had the beating of (the cross for Modric showed him skipping round Gabbidon with ease).

Compare his passes to last year’s game away at West Ham.

Redknapp needs to put all of his famed man-management skills into action here, and attempt to coax Lennon back into form. I personally think the best way to do this is to use him as an impact sub in the short term, as against Wolves. Whether this means giving Rafael van der Vaart the right-sided berth for the time being, or bringing in David Bentley, I’m not sure, but things are not working out on our right at the moment, with Corluka also performing timidly.

Piquionne’s goal.

AAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!

And breathe.

That was a horribly frustrating game to watch as a Spurs fan – yet again we struggle to break down a team that defends deep and in numbers, and we looked slightly vulnerable on the break (as with the Wigan game).

With Crouch totally ineffective, we were badly lacking in the final third, and bar a brilliant Modric volley, a couple of efforts from Jenas and van der Vaart, and Huddlestone’s poor miss, we didn’t create enough chances. We need one of our forwards to step up and find some form.

West Ham’s goal came from one of their 14 corners – they were shooting from anywhere, and enjoying the rewards, with Cudicini generally rooted to his line at most dead ball situations (we probably miss Gomes most when defending set pieces).

On this occasion, it’s Corluka marking Piquionne, and he gets rather caught under the flight of the ball, whilst Piquionne gets a bit of a run on him.

Corluka and Piquionne are both positioned centrally. Notice that we have Modric on the near post, but nobody on the far.

Piquionne starts to make a run, and then checks – in this time, Corluka has stood still, trusting his standing jump.

Piquionne gets up well, helped by a slight run; this gives him the aerial advantage over Corluka.

He angles the ball well into the corner which is unguarded – whether that was intentional or otherwise, it was sloppy.

With Bale forced to play at left back in Assou-Ekotto’s absence, and Lennon lacking form and confidence, we lacked width for the majority of the game. Redknapp’s changes did nothing to solve this, with Keane coming on for Lennon, and then Pavlyuchenko and Giovani replacing van der Vaart (who had moved wide), and Crouch.

It’s easy to say in hindsight, but I think it would have made more sense to switch to three at the back – Hutton right, Corluka central, and Bassong left, giving Bale freedom to get forward on the left.

Two local derby defeats in a week – not a good one for us.

I don’t want to dwell too much on this, primarily because it’s not nice to lose, but also because I personally think Redknapp made the correct decision with his team selection (loosely correct anyway – I wasn’t a fan of the initial 4-3-3 formation), and I am not too worried about being out of the League Cup.

Lansbury’s goal.

This is an excellent move from Arsenal, but it’s yet another defensive switch-off from Spurs, which is very frustrating. Eboue picks out Gibbs with a cross-field pass, and Gibbs cuts inside. Spurs seem fairly well set to defend.

Gibbs shifts the ball outside to Nasri, who has plenty of room to operate. Notice Bentley – doing a good job of tracking Lansbury – and also Assou-Ekotto, who is central.

Nasri is overlapped by Wilshere, and plays him in. As Wilshere crosses, Lansbury is clearly onside, although is now ahead of Bentley, who has inexplicably stopped running! Also note Assou-Ekotto, totally unaware of Lansbury’s run.

Great ball by Wilshere, and Lansbury is left with the simple task of tapping home, thanks to Bentley and Assou-Ekotto leaving him totally unmarked.

Nasri’s first goal.

Arshavin lifts the ball into the box, where Caulker has Chamakh, and Bassong has Nasri.

Bassong has got too tight to Nasri, who turns him cleverly.

However, I can’t work out what the penalty is given for – there is certainly a very slight contact with Bassong’s chest on Nasri’s back, but I think it may have been given for the above. It’s very difficult to see whether Bassong makes contact with Nasri’s back leg (left hanging in the hope of contact). Regardless, Nasri is quick to go to ground – a soft decision.

Nasri he steps up and sends Pletikosa the wrong way.

Nasri’s second goal.

A flowing move by Arsenal, who are full of confidence, and against a team who suddenly look shell-shocked.

Caulker, who had a promising debut, is very naive here – you don’t give Premier League players any reason to hit the deck, and that’s just what he does.

This time, the referee gets it right – a clear tug on Chamakh.

Nasri sends Pletikosa the wrong way again.

Arshavin’s goal.

Yet another very frustrating goal to concede. Naughton gives away a foul, and just goes to sleep. Arshavin makes a run off him, and is found by Wilshere.

He makes his way into the penalty area and, despite not having much to aim at, he is confident, and strikes across Pletikosa.

Very crisp finish, and I don’t think Pletikosa can take any criticism.