Martin Jol announced a starting XI that was less new Tottenham than old Tottenham, with only new signing Younes Kaboul meriting a starting line up in a defence that had been rocked by the loss of Michael Dawson, who went over on this ankle in training just days before the game. After scoring five times in pre-season matches, new signing Darren Bent found himself on the Bench with Defoe, as Martin Jol opted for this first choice strike pairing of Berbatov and Keane. The midfield, lacking any natural wingers, looked narrow on paper and so it was to prove during the game.
Both teams sparred with each other at almost walking pace for the first twenty minutes of the match, with no palpable effort to carve out chances with a scuffed Jermaine Jenas effort the only shot of any note. Tottenham's lack of width was painfully obvious from the start, as Malbranque's tendency to drift infield left the middle of the park distinctly congested. Jol decided to leave Wayne Routledge, the only fit winger at the club, out of the squad entirely and it would seem that unless he was injured, he has no future at the club.
Meanwhile, a man who is thought to be so important to the clubs future, Dimitar Berbatov, sauntered around for most of the first half, with occasional flashes of technique and guile doing little to disguise a markedly disinterested attitude from the Bulgarian striker. Loping around pulling faces when you don't get the ball given to you exactly where you want it is just about tolerable during pre-season but against a hard working team like Sunderland, who got everyone behind the ball when they lost possession, it's extremely frustrating. Berbatov did, however, seem to have a decent shout for a penalty when he latched on to a Mlabranque high ball, lifted the ball over Sunderlands new number one Craig Gordon only to fall dramatically when clipped by Dean Whitehead. Television replays, however, showed the contact was minimal and that had Berbatov been quicker to make a decision, he may well have given his club the lead.
It was Sunderland who had the best chance of the first half just moments later. A weak attempt at a header from Dawson's deputy Anthony Gardner, who was woeful all match, allowed the ball to fall to Daryl Murphy whose touch let him down and Paul Robinson saved well. Later Sunderland's Dickson Etuhu came curled a shot past the far post as the home side pressed again. They were best moments of a dull first half.
Those hoping that the half time break and team talks would revitalise the two sides were left disappointed, as the second half began much like the first. Berbatov managed to muster enough effort to curl a free kick over the cross bar and the Black Cats continued to have the best chances, with Robinson having to be in top form as Etuhu squandered a glorious chance to clinch victory before Chopra found space in the box to slot home the winner.
Though it's difficult to draw much from the opening game of the season, Martin Jol will leave the Stadium of Light a very disappointed man. Despite massive investment during the summer, injuries and selection preferences meant that the side who took to the field today was almost identical to the wingless wonders who struggled to make chances away from home last season. It's just baffling that when injuries deny the team of our best winger, Jol doesn't even give Routledge a chance to be on the bench.
Away from the selection issues (it was also disappointing not to see Taarabt on the substitutes list as he clearly offers an unpredictable option late on in games) the were several very poor performances throughout the team and the balance in midfield is next to abysmal. Jermaine Jenas faded so dramatically in the second half that Jol would have been better replacing him with a cone from the training ground for all his weak flicks and poor ball retention did. Anthony Gardener proved, yet again, that he is not a reliable deputy for either of our first choice centre-backs, as he stuggled to perform even the most basic of defensive duties. It remains lucky for him that for most of the game he only faced strikers like Stokes and Murphy, who lacked sharpness to say the least.
Other players didn't fair much better. Malbranque was the best of a poor midfield, but even he was all piss and vinegar without much end product. The fact that he came infield so often was a frustration and hardly helped the sides balance, but he can hardly be blamed for not being naturally left-footed. It's been said a thousand times before but performances like this show just how desperately we need a naturally left footed winger. Quite how we can be so confident going into a season when we start the first match with not one decent left footed player in the side is surely beyond even the most optimistic of fans comprehension.
Tainio, Berbatov and Keane were almost non existent, with the Teemu a particularly noticeable (or in this case not noticeable) passenger for most of the game. Zokora was decent but played so deep he was virtually ineffectual when we attacked. Probably the best two players of a sorry bunch were Kaboul, who generally looked solid and confident on the ball (with a few comedy forrays forward) and Robinson, who was helpless for the goal and had made a few important stops throughout the match. Those two plus points, however, hardly take away from one of the most insipid performances I've seen from the team in quite some while and will surely leave Jol, who set his stall out far too conservatively today, as if he had already settled for a draw, hoping that some of his injured players make a faster than expected recovery from their injuries.
I'm attempting not to be too doom and gloom because it's the first day of the season and something very similar happened last year. We seem to be slow starters, for sure, but that doesn't make performances like this tolerable. Credit should go to Sunderland, who showed that Keane has turned them into a well drilled and discipled side. They lack inventiveness and that cutting edge in the final third but they'll do well if they continue to play as they did today for the rest of the season.
Praise for Sunderland leads me to todays Man of the Match who was unquestionably defender Paul McShane who dealt with everything that Berbatov and Keane threw at him today (even some sly off the ball digs) and a veritable ball magnet in the air. Signed from West Brom, he showed the sort of fight and dogged determination that will serve Sunderland well over the next eight months.