Analysis of the goal conceded against Blackburn (23/10)

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Formica’s goal – a Pedersen free kick is floated into the box from just outside the centre circle. Samba beats Kaboul in the air and Formica, who had been marked by Parker, is left with a free shot from around the penalty spot.

A free-kick from Morten Gamst Pedersen is chipped in from the centre circle. Note Scott Parker, picking up the eventual scorer, Formica, around the penalty spot.

As was the case throughout the whole match, the kick is aimed at Samba – he is incredible in the air, and beats Kaboul and also Parker, who has now left Formica and attempted to pressure Samba.

But Samba cleverly heads down to Formica, who is left with a free shot from around the penalty spot.

And he plants the ball into the corner, leaving Friedel with no chance.

Spurs made hard work of this game and never looked secure. We failed to put pressure Blackburn in midfield, and had to defend against a nail-biting number of free kicks, corners and long throws.

A number of our normally reliable players – Modric, Parker, Adebayor – under-performed, and we were left relying on van der Vaart to win us the match with two superb finishes. Pre-match, I felt that Redknapp should have started Sandro, who was instead left on the bench. After the game, Redknapp explained that he had a calf injury, and the coaching staff had been warned that he was at risk of missing weeks of action had he played. Even so – Livermore could have come on at 2-1 to help beef up our midfield and reduce the amount of pressure that we were under.