I preface this by saying that prior to the season starting, the majority of us would have happily accepted a draw at Goodison Park. Whilst we have a good record there, it is undoubtedly a tricky place to go, and David Moyes has assembled a very tough unit. However, when looking at the starting line-up yesterday, and certainly the line-up once Yobo had been replaced by 21-year old Coleman, you have to feel a little disappointed that we couldn‘t take advantage.

For the majority of the game, Spurs were dominant – we had 19 shots, 11 on target, whereas Everton had 15, 6 on target. Our patterns of play tended to be one and two touch, relatively fluid football, with the occasional long ball to Crouch. We broke forward at pace, and with creativity, and looked like a real threat. Everton’s main route was a high ball into the channel, attempting to turn our defenders or, once Saha and Yakubu came on, a high ball directed towards them (they were, admittedly, playing without two of their best creative players, Arteta and Osman).

We carved out some really excellent chances, and we should have been clear. I am disappointed that Defoe hasn’t shown more consistency since the Wigan game; for the third game running, he missed some good opportunities. He was up against a makeshift centre back in Hibbert and, on the whole, he didn’t test him enough in my opinion. Crouch also looked very short of confidence in front of goal, and the one-on-one to make it 3-0 was the one that should have really put us out of sight.

In essence, we only have ourselves to blame for 1. not finishing Everton off, and 2. allowing them back into the game; yes, there were individual errors from the likes of Bale (1st goal in particular) and Palacios and Bassong (2nd goal) – more on these later – but Defoe and Crouch’s misses were as bad as those errors, and so we shouldn’t just be pointing the finger at our defenders.

Many people on forums this morning are criticising a lack of fight/spirit – personally I thought we gave as good as we got. Dawson could easily have been shown a second yellow for the elbow on Fellaini, and Assou–Ekotto was cutting it fine when shoving away Cahill/Fellaini after the incident where he arguably dragged his studs across Cahill’s head. Frankly, I’d rather see us being more clinical – staying calm and emotionless is just as important as showing fight in my opinion. For example, all three of our Croatians have that quiet calmness, which I think has helped us as a team generally, although clearly you need a good mix of qualities in the squad.

We must also remember the ages of some of the players that have been regulars this year – we have a lot of players that are still young and still learning the game, and we don’t have too many older, experienced heads in the squad. Our players aren’t as experienced as the likes of Chelsea (who incidentally let a lead slip this weekend and missed a penalty too, but actually lost) or United, or even Villa.

Yesterday we ended with the following back-line:

Corluka 23
Dawson 25
Bassong 23
Bale 20

And our starting midfield:

Lennon 22
Huddlestone 22
Palacios 25
Kranjcar 25

These players are as young as the “kids” that certain other teams have, yet don’t seem to get the same breathing space.

I think the point that I’d like to end with is that I see in this team, for the first time in a fair while as a Spurs fan, signs of improving individuals (Lennon, Huddlestone, Assou–Ekotto), and signs of a team growing together as a unit. We need to be patient with them, allow them time to develop, and accept that 6th or 7th is not a bad finish – I would have taken that before the season started. If we don’t finish in the top 4 or 5 this year, it won’t be the end of the world. We don’t need to go and replace half the team again in the hope that it will push us two places higher up the league next year because, mark my words, we will end up setting ourselves back yet again.

Full highlights.

United play some cracking football, no doubt about that. Even their “second string” are capable of some slick play – one and two touch, sharp, plenty of movement – it’s hard to defend against, but you’ve got to at least have a go.

First goal.

The move for the first goal develops down United’s left – Hutton goes with Park, who nudges the ball to Anderson. Hutton does the sensible thing, and goes with Park. Notice Palacios with Wellbeck (covering for Dawson, who’s gone out to meet Anderson), Bassong furthest right, and Jenas taking up a decent position too.

Anderson has dragged Dawson away from the box, and gets past him very easily. Bentley is our player furthest left in the shot below, and he comes to make a challenge. At this point, Gibson comes into shot in acres of space.

Technically, Gibson is Palacios’ man, but Palacios has tracked Wellbeck. Jenas and Palacios would be reasonably positioned if Lennon or Bale had seen the danger and come to cover.

When the ball finds it’s way to Gibson, Jenas and Bassong are left with a lot to do. Gibson lets the ball run across his body, virtually taking Jenas out of the game.

You can see just how much room he has from the shot below.

Also notice Lennon and Bale – caught out with the quick switch from right to centre. Our players have been dragged around, and there’s a lack of cover – I guess it doesn’t help that this eleven are not used to playing together.

Bale’s position is too wide to allow him to defend the situation, Bassong has made up ground, but not enough, and Gomes is giving Gibson quite a lot of the goal to aim at, encouraging him to shoot across goal.

Make your own mind up as to whether Gomes should have done better.

Second goal.

Another poor team goal to give away.

The move starts with Park (what a cracking little player he is) again. He plays the ball forward, between Palacios and Hutton, to Wellbeck.

Palacios at this point is caught ball-watching (see previous blog posts for more examples of this!). Gibson in this shot is alongside him.

By the time Wellbeck has slipped the ball back to Park, Gibson has gained a ridiculous amount of ground, and is now well ahead of Palacios. It’s 4 against 4.

Berbatov has drawn Bassong out and, in true Berbatov style, he turns out, and picks out a colleague who can now really “get at” the defence, with one of the centre backs out of the equation.

Also notice Palacios again – he’s got back goal-side of Gibson, but, strangely, is standing off him.

You can’t see it so well in the pictures, but in the highlights video, you can see Palacios ball-watching yet again, and Gibson losing him with a change of direction.

Gibson receives the ball, and plays around Palacios through a neat one-two with Wellbeck.

It’s a really lovely finish from Gibson, but is another avoidable goal – you simply have to keep switched on against teams that pass the ball as quickly and accurately as United do.

After a drab international break, Spurs are back in action on Sunday, playing Wigan Athletic at White Hart Lane. We stuttered to a 2-0 win against Sunderland – only our 2nd clean sheet in the league this season – but should be boosted by the return of Aaron Lennon for this one.

If Lennon starts, Redknapp will surely drop the narrow diamond that he started with against Sunderland, in favour of a more orthodox 4-4-2. It was a strange selection – we’re not blessed with the attacking full-backs that Chelsea have (well, we do have two, but they were both on the bench!), and it was clear to most in the stadium that it wasn’t working.

Roberto Martinez uses the 4-2-3-1 formation, and now seems to have settled on Jason Scotland leading the line, Hugo Rodallega playing from the left, and the left-footed Charles N’Zogbia playing from the right. Paul Scharner, initially unhappy at being left out the team (due to the relatively successful centre back partnership of Bramble and Boyce) has been one of their star men of late, playing in an unusually advanced position just off Scotland, with Hendry Thomas and the impressive Mohamed Diamé adding muscle and energy behind him.

Their last away game resulted in a 4-0 battering at the hands of bottom-of-the-table Portsmouth, but before that they beat Burnley 3-1 at Turf Moor. Hugo Rodallega has already managed 5 goals this year and, now he’s settled, he looks a really decent player (and one that I’d love to see at Spurs in the future).

The two deep-lying holders will mean that Keane won’t find as much space as he may normally expect and, therefore, it must be tempting for HR to start with Crouch and Defoe. However, we then have the question of whether our centre backs will resort to lumping the ball long every time they are under the slightest pressure. I’d personally start with Keane and Defoe up front, but ask Keane to play a more advanced role than usual.

The other main selection headache is central midfield. Fresh from England duty, Huddlestone and Jenas will both expect to start, whereas Palacios has played poorly of late in my opinion, and can perhaps expect to be on the bench. I still think Wilson has an awful lot to offer us – he has attributes that no other player at the club has, and his partnership with Jenas was, for me, the best thing to come of last season. However, whilst he’s on this run of form, I see no harm in dropping him (it’s just a shame that O’Hara, probably his most natural replacement, is out on loan). Another option, given that Wigan tend to play with one up front, is to accommodate Huddlestone at centre back, and use him as a libero.

So long as we try to play our natural game, keep the ball on the deck where possible, and get Lennon on the ball in advanced areas, I fancy us to win convincingly.