Source: Telegraph
Spurs defeat to West Brom paints gloomy outlook
It was such a splendid start, but recent results suggest that Harry Redknapp's honeymoon at Tottenham has drawn to a close. Losing by two goals to West Bromwich Albion, who sit bottom in the league, has ensured that Redknapp's side are now just two points clear of their opponents here, and outside the relegation zone only by virtue of goal difference. No one said the Redknapp revolution would last for ever. [LNB]The Spurs manager will be desperate for the new year to arrive, and the transfer window with it. Spurs were blunt, and the arrival of a new striker looks all the more essential on the evidence from this performance. Redknapp was so eager to divert from a discussion on Tottenham's obvious shortcomings after the match, for example, that he embarked on a rant about the match referee instead. [LNB]With David Bentley looking sluggish in contrast to his marker, Gianni Zuiverloon, the pacy Dutch right-back, and Darren Bent isolated in attack in the absence of Roman Pavlyuchenko, who was ill, Spurs lacked penetration and panache. It took Bent 22 minutes to produce Spurs' first effort on goal, which was dealt with easily by Scott Carson. [LNB]Bent's only other noticeable contribution, it seemed, was on the half hour mark, when he was brought down by Jonas Olsson. The forward crumpled to the deck as if he had been shot, but failed to convince referee Steve Tanner to oblige with a free-kick. [LNB]Tanner wasn't so reluctant to take action a short while later when Benoit Assou-Ekotto stamped on Zuiverloon's ankle, and produced a straight red. [LNB]One man down, Didier Zokora moved to left-back, and Luka Modric went deeper. The quality of the match, or lack thereof, stayed the same. [LNB]Indeed, in an unusually quiet Hawthorns, the only source of mirth for the travelling support was watching while a frantic steward tried to return the match ball from the crowd to the pitch for a throw in, and then crowing with delight: 'You've only got one ball.' [LNB]Things had improved two minutes into the second half, however. Valero was brought down on edge of the area, and Chris Brunt sent his free-kick swerving towards the top right corner. But Spurs goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes supplied a spectacular leap, tipping the ball over the bar to the elated applause of the travelling fans. [LNB]With the sniff of goal, Albion looked a new team, and continued to press forward. But by now Gomes had got a taste for the acrobatics, and when Zuiverloon had a go from inside the area a couple of minutes later, the Brazilian launched himself at the ball and gathered once again. [LNB]The crowd, until now so silent, suddenly sensed that their team was in with a chance, and implored action. But how often have Albion been unable to come up with the goods? [LNB]Back came Spurs, with Lennon acting as their lifeforce. If rumours are true that the winger is going to be traded, either for Stuart Downing at Middlesbrough, or Jermaine Defoe at Portsmouth, it would be absolute madness. He bobbed and weaved, but was unable to conjure the perfect pass to release Bent on goal. [LNB]It was Albion, however, who found what they were looking for, with ten minutes left on the clock. Marek Cech sent a superb diagonal ball into the box, and Bednar climbed above Dawson, with a little help from a surreptitious shove, and headed beyond Gomes into the net. Only two weeks ago Tony Mowbray had said he wished he had a player who could use his head to good effect. That was the second time that Bednar's bonce has come to his side's rescue. [LNB]An incensed Redknapp, meanwhile, couldn't have been more scathing of the referee's failure to award a free-kick in his side's favour for the push on Dawson. 'I couldn't even put into words what I thought of his performance today,' he said. 'I walked in the referees room at the beginning of the game, saw who it was, and knew what was coming. I expected that sort of performance.' [LNB]Foul or not, Albion had again produced a late goal to seize success. Could they really be masterminding another Great Escape? 'We've done it before and we'll do it again,' rung out around the ground. [LNB]As if to emphasise the point, the marvellous Cech went off on an individual run, threaded the ball to Morrison, who drew Gomes wide before passing to Beattie, who put the ball into an open net in the last minute of injury time.[LNB]
