The Dutchman responded to the criticism of his midfield on Saturday by moving Robbie Keane on to the wing and dropping Teemu Tainio, who was ineffectual for large swathes of the defeat to Sunderland. Replacing Keane upfront with Berbatov was Darren Bent, who lined up along side the Bulgarian for his full home debut. With King and Dawson out, Gardner and Kaboul formed the heart a defence that also included Stalteri on the left and Chimbonda to the right. Despite a weak performance in midweek, Jermaine Jenas kept his place alongside Zokora in the center of the midfield and surprisingly there was even a place on the substitutes bench for the long forgotten Wayne Routledge. New Boy Kevin Prince Boateng and the exciting Adel Taarabt failed to make the squad.
With an impressive array of attacking talent fielded by both squads it was ironic that the first two goals came from central defenders. Unfortunately, it was Everton who seized the first advantage, as Joleon Lescott, so impressive for the Toffees last season, headed in an inch perfect Mikel Arteta cross, highlighting a key weakness in the Spurs defence. The goal stunned the White Hart Lane crowd but Spurs nearly drew level when Bent found space in the box only to see his effort parried to Berbatov who went close. The home crowd didn't have to wait much longer and there was great relief when Anthony Gardner, of all people, lost his marker to head in an equaliser rom a Jenas corner. That was as good as it was going to get for the Tottenham fans, who sat ashen faced as their team proceeded to conceded two unlucky goals before half time.
Even before Gardner's equaliser, Spurs had been the better side as the harassed an Everton side who were sloppy in possession. The pace of the game had been impressive from the off and at 1-1 Spurs looked the most likely to score the next goal. Unfortunately, Everton had other ideas. Breaking down the right, Arteta whipped in another superb cross. With the ball seemingly destined to dip under the top right hand corner of the goal and onto an Everton head, Ricardo Rocha, who'd replaced the injured Younes Kaboul, pulled off a fantastic defensive header only to crash straight into Robinson and for the ball to fall to Leon Osman, who made no mistake with the finish. There was further misery for Spurs when Alan Stubs free-kick took a nasty deflection to whiz past a noticeably flat footed Paul Robinson to make it 3-1.
In the second half Tottenham toiled with little success and despite Berbatov hitting the post and Howard saving impressively from Defoe, who'd replaced a largely disappointing Darren Bent, Spurs never looked like getting back into the game. In fact if it were not for some smart stops by Robinson at the other end, the scoreline would have been even more flattering for an Everton side who did not deserve such a healthy win.
So now we sit bottom having lost the first two games of the season. I'm sure I echo most Spurs fans when I say that though I should be surprised, I'm really not. We struggled at the beginning of last season and we are doing it again because despite spending vast amounts of money in the summer, we have not learnt any lessons. Granted injuries have cost us heavily in defence but it's in midfield that we are so markedly behind the standard of a top four side. I've criticised Jenas before and I'll do it again, he's just not good enough. At times he shows he has the ability but for the vast majority of difficult games he is a painfully ineffective. Notice with five minutes to go he dwelt on the ball too long and was easily dispossessed by Andy Johnson, who accelerated away and should have done better. It was like a grown man taking the ball off his five year old son. It's telling that I haven't even seen Kevin Prince Boateng play and I still think he'd be a better option in center midfield. As for his partner, Didier Zokora was better than Jenas but not significantly. So far he has posed more questions than answers to our midfield dilemma and has not looked like a worthwhile investment of £8m. Impressive performances toward the end of the last season suggest there was a lot more to come but as of yet we're yet to see the best of him, if we ever do.
The main issue remains that We just don't supply the forwards with enough chances and this comes partly from having no natural wingers (Malbranque just isn't fast enough to be a genuine threat on the wing) and having no creative spark in midfield. Though I have been less than impressed with Berbatov so far this season, there are only so many wonder goals a player can score. After his impressive first season every defender in the country will be wary of him and will mark him just that little more attentively. For this reason he needs the very best of service from the midfield, and that goes for all our strikers. At the moment our main tactic seems to be 'Give Berbatov the ball and sit back and watch him do his stuff'. He's good but he's not superman.
Man of the Match Talking of creativity and delivery, Mikel Arteta was by far and away the best player on the pitch last night and remains the sort of player we are lacking. His ball control, quality in possession and delivery from crosses was first class and he really was the architect of his sides win. One can only imagine how different the game would have been if Spurs had someone of such quality.