One thing that we have been able to rely upon in recent games - when we have not been playing well - has been the ability to get back into games when required, something that has preserved our unbeaten run.
Not tonight though. Through a combination of our own lacklustre play (comfortably our most poor of the season) plus an impressive Tottenham performance, our unbeaten run came to a shuddering halt tonight at White Hart Lane as Tottenham laid their claim to be a far more likely candidate for a potential Champions League spot.
In the preview, I wrote that it was an intriguing match-up given how evenly matched both sides were. I was particularly interested in both sides going forward, given the pace and urgency available. Apart from the opening fifteen minutes though, the absence of Bellamy and Wright-Phillips ensured that it was only Tottenham who carried any purposeful threat in attack. Our lack of pace was telling, and Tevez and Ireland aside, we had little in the way of creativity or threat to carry the game to Tottenham, who played exactly the game I expected, and it was one we simply couldn't match.
Tottenham's wide players - Kranjcar and Lennon, emerged as the first half wore on, and aided by the industry of Huddlestone and Palacios were able to create opportunities. The first was scored by Kranjcar, after Lennon had again got the better of Sylvinho, and the second, a smart finish from Defoe after a long ball bemused both Onouha and Toure.
At 2-0, for a long time the game merely drifted, and it was only with the introduction of Santa Cruz, and latterly Petrov, that we managed to muster a threat to the Tottenham goal - most notably through Petrov's free kick and a good opportunity that Adebayor couldn't convert, and it was Tottenham, again through Kranjcar, who capped what was in truth a deserved and convincing victory.
From the highs of last week, we have come down to earth with a bump with only one point from two games which has now seen us slip to eighth place in the table and six points outside of the top four. There were more than a few home truths tonight about exactly where we are as a side, something that has been perhaps staved off in recent weeks.
The TV cameras focused heavily on Mark Hughes tonight, and post-match attention will inevitably fall on him too. Plenty to contemplate for him then as we now head into a crucial month or so of the season, a period which will really define the remainder of 2009/10 - and possibly, his future.
Not tonight though. Through a combination of our own lacklustre play (comfortably our most poor of the season) plus an impressive Tottenham performance, our unbeaten run came to a shuddering halt tonight at White Hart Lane as Tottenham laid their claim to be a far more likely candidate for a potential Champions League spot.
In the preview, I wrote that it was an intriguing match-up given how evenly matched both sides were. I was particularly interested in both sides going forward, given the pace and urgency available. Apart from the opening fifteen minutes though, the absence of Bellamy and Wright-Phillips ensured that it was only Tottenham who carried any purposeful threat in attack. Our lack of pace was telling, and Tevez and Ireland aside, we had little in the way of creativity or threat to carry the game to Tottenham, who played exactly the game I expected, and it was one we simply couldn't match.
Tottenham's wide players - Kranjcar and Lennon, emerged as the first half wore on, and aided by the industry of Huddlestone and Palacios were able to create opportunities. The first was scored by Kranjcar, after Lennon had again got the better of Sylvinho, and the second, a smart finish from Defoe after a long ball bemused both Onouha and Toure.
At 2-0, for a long time the game merely drifted, and it was only with the introduction of Santa Cruz, and latterly Petrov, that we managed to muster a threat to the Tottenham goal - most notably through Petrov's free kick and a good opportunity that Adebayor couldn't convert, and it was Tottenham, again through Kranjcar, who capped what was in truth a deserved and convincing victory.
From the highs of last week, we have come down to earth with a bump with only one point from two games which has now seen us slip to eighth place in the table and six points outside of the top four. There were more than a few home truths tonight about exactly where we are as a side, something that has been perhaps staved off in recent weeks.
The TV cameras focused heavily on Mark Hughes tonight, and post-match attention will inevitably fall on him too. Plenty to contemplate for him then as we now head into a crucial month or so of the season, a period which will really define the remainder of 2009/10 - and possibly, his future.