Heartbreak

This is the life of a Tottenham fan, look great one day, awful the next, and have your heart broken in the process. In the first minute we looked good, a nice shot from Bentley, but from then until Bent brought us back level, I thought we looked totally out of sorts. Our problem all season has been free kicks and that was in evidence again today. I don't know about zonal marking on free kicks, it doesn't seem to be working too well for us, now does it? We showed a lot of heart coming back from two goals down, but another late goal is crushing. This game would have made us all feel a bit better about our place in the league, but as it is, we could drop down to 17th is things fall a certain way. With ARSEnal coming to the Lane next week, we desperately need at least a point, hopefully three next weekend. With 14 games to go, we still have to travel to Man United, Liverpool, and face Chelsea at home, so there will be some scraps to come.

Player Ratings:

Cudicini- 6.5 Couldn't be faulted on any of the goals, played his area well, but was left out to dry. With Gomes still injured, there's no competition, but even when he's fit again, I think Carlo could be first choice.

Corluka- 5.5 A poor performance from Vedran today, surprisingly. I've felt he's been one of the best signings this year, but never looked comfortable today, missed some tackles and gave the ball away several times. Probably did not help his confidence that Chimbonda was brought on for him, but still certainly a first choice for me.

Dawson- 6 You can never question his heart, and he put everything he had out there today. Was missing in the goals, but with the zonal marking system, can't really fault him. Stuck with his mark throughout the match.

Woodgate- 6 With King out for some time, I keep hoping for Jonathan to take the team by the scruff of the neck and lead them to safety, but so far he hasn't done it. Played his normal game, good, not flashy, I just really wish we would go to man marking on free kicks and let he and Dawson rule the area.

Assou-Ekotto- 5.5 Still not my favorite player, did a decent job today. Gave away the free kick that eventually led to the second goal, but really not the worst performance I've seen from him.

Lennon- 6 Ran at the defense, but never looked totally threatening like he did against Stoke, or even against Portsmouth. Has to work on his crossing, and then he would be totally dangerous.

Zokora- 5.5 Subbed at half-time, and I don't know how often we'll see he and Palacios paired together. They're the same player in essence, and we showed little imagination in the first half today.

Palacios- 5.5 Not the most auspicious of debuts, now was it? Gave away quite a few free kicks, I will say he's not afraid to tackle. I think nerves played a part, made some poor passes, but I think he will settle, we certainly need him to.

Bentley- 6 The boy is putting forth some effort now, I will give him that. A couple of good attempts at goal, he disappeared mainly in the second half, and he was the man on the post when the third goal went past. But, he is tackling and showing some effort, so I will give him credit.

Modric- 5.5 With the blow that he took from Pavy he never really looked the same. As brilliant as he was on Tuesday, just was not on his game tonight, and the substitution was probably good, hopefully we'll see the Luka of Stoke against Arsenal next weekend.

Pavlyuchenko- 6 Took some good chances, and was active all night. Still not quite where I would like him to be, but put forth a good effort.

Subs:

Jenas- 6.5 Came on and made some bad passes yes, but was all over the pitch, and got stuck in trying to bring us back. I think he makes us a better squad, and his effort seemed to unite the team today.

Bent- 7.5 Took his two goals well. They were not great goals by any stretch, but he took what he could, and was active and almost brought us a point.

Chimbonda- 6.5 Not my favorite player, I didn't want him brought back. But, he created one of the goals, and made some great runs forward from the right back slot, a good sub by Harry I think. We'll probably see him in the starting 11 next week.

I would write more about the team, but I am still so disgusted by the late goal that I am going to leave it at that.