Ricardo Rocha made his Premiership debut as Martin Jol was forced to change his central defence yet again. Anthony Gardner missed out due to a calf injury. Benoit Assou-Ekotto replaced Young-Pyo Lee at left back.
Gardner said: "It is only a minor calf strain. I thought I had a dead leg after the Manchester United game, but it didn't settle down and it turned out to be a small strain. These things happen, you play tough games and you can pick up a knock that keeps you out for a game. It was a little bit annoying but the main thing is it was nothing long-term."
Spurs were also without Aaron Lennon but Martin Jol welcomed back Teemu Tainio and Jermaine Jenas in midfield.
Jenas replaced Tom Huddlestone who missed out with a sore throat. Robbie Keane started in place of Jermain Defoe, who had failed to hit the target in any of Tottenham's previous five games.
Tainio, Jenas and Keane were all involved as Spurs made a bright start, which was rewarded with an opening goal inside the opening two minutes.
Goalscorer Jenas, said: "It was a good start and it was up to us to maintain, but we didn't. They didn't create too much, it was the set pieces that cost us and we gave away too many corners."
It was from one of Sheffield's 13 corners that they levelled the score just before the half hour mark. It was their top scorer this season Rob Hulse who was on the end of it as Neil Warnock's side showed the kind of determination Jol would have liked to have seen from his players after going a goal behind at home to Manchester United less than a week earlier.
The Spurs boss had been pleased with his team's performance in general but was left pondering afterwards why a foul wasn't given as Spurs were consigned to missing out on keeping yet another clean sheet. Prior to kick-off Jol's assistant Chris Hughton had described Hulse as ‘a real handful', and Tottenham's defenders were about to discover that for themselves.
"Hulse was all over Michael Dawson but the referee didn't give it," said Jol, who couldn't hide his disapproval that his players conceded so many set-pieces to their hosts – something they thrived on, and the two sides went in level pegging at the break instead of being comfortably in front. A minute earlier Ricardo Rocha was denied a goal when Dimitar Berbatov was penalised for holding back Jonathan Stead.
He added: "I felt Ricardo Rocha's goal was legal so that was a bit unfortunate but with a bit more quality and a bit more luck we could have been up two or three-nil. We had two chances with JJ and Robbie Keane and if we'd have scored twice against Sheffield United, with their style, it would have helped us. But I thought we did okay. Sheffield United just kept going and made it difficult for us. The only thing was that we gave away a lot of corner kicks, free-kicks and throw-ins and that's how they scored. Vidic scored against us last week from a corner and Hulse did this time - almost scoring another goal from a free-kick."
Jol made his first change of the afternoon, taking off Tainio a minute after he gave away a penalty from which Phil Jagielka scored. "We were unlucky with the penalty decision because Teemu Tainio couldn't pull out of the situation, but it was also unnecessary to make such a challenge and it then turns events against you," Jol said. On came Defoe, for slightly longer than he was afforded in midweek with England. He was joined on the pitch a few minutes later by Mido, back after completing a one-match suspension, on for another midfielder, Steed Malbranque.
Next up in the league, it's Everton away. Spurs will be desperately hoping the victory at Manchester City shortly before Christmas transformed their bad luck in the north-west this season.
Source: TottenhamHotspur.com