Spurs: Big Tom Shines

I'm not usually one to write a match report, but I must make a couple of comments about the Sunderland game for those of you that only saw it on MOTD. Firstly let me tell you that the first half was extremely entertaining. This may have been to do with the 4 pints of Stella I managed to consume before reaching the ground, but as a Spurs Club comrade dubbed it, Tottenham were playing "tissue football" (what can I tell you - he's in marketing). The passing, the flicks and tricks, the vision and the movement were all groin-achingly good. Spurs were on fire.

Jamie O'Hara had a cracking 45 minutes and to my mind looks to be getting better and better with every outing. The faithful love homegrown talent and if the boy continues like this he has the potential to be a fans favourite for years to come. More importantly, to my mind Tom Huddlestone was a revelation at centre half. Yes, I realise he played there for Derby occasionally, but with our well publicised defensive problems it is amazing to me that nobody thought to stick him there earlier.

His defending was more than adequate, but the effect of having someone back there that can consistently pick out 20-60 yard passes and have them hit their target was immense. Cerny had an outlet for the easy ball instead of the punt, and the time and space given to Huddlestone allowed him to really show what he does best. No longer were we treated to the lottery of Dawson's 50 yard diagonal balls, instead I lost count of the number of truly meaningful attacks that were started by having a defender with vision and accuracy in his passing.

Although he faded slightly in the second half as we came under more pressure, he was definitely my man of the match and if I was Ramos I'd think about moving the big guy back there permanently as we are hardly short on central midfielders - particularly if we move for Tiago, which is about the only deal being circulated that I give any credence to.

Lastly I want to say what a disgrace Chimbonda was. His performance reeked of someone who knows his time at the club is nearly over. He just could not be bothered, everything he touched turned to shit and he seemed completely unconcerned about losing possession or bad marking. Ramos made his second mistake in as many weeks when he decided to bring him on while we were defending a corner and Chimbonda promptly lost his man and allowed him a free header, which at only 1-0 up might have proved disaterous. In the dying minutes we came under lots of pressure and we may as well have been playing with 10 men. If he is still here in February then I will be amazed - and more than a little bit annoyed.

We lost our heads a little toward the end and Sunderland - a team known for their fight to the bitter end - were unlucky not to get back into it. We still have to learn how to hold possession when under the kosh, Lennon in particular should be looking to run into the corner rather than attempting silly through balls when there's only him and Berbatov in their half with a couple of minutes to go. However, in summary this had all the hallmarks of a game we would have lost 4 months ago so you can't argue with the improvement.

Lets just hope we show the same combination of silk and grit on Tuesday night, because we are going to need them both in equal measure if we are to stand a chance of turning over the Young Guns and making Spurs Club's February outing the most memorable in years.