So, I don't consider it a conscious decision by the manager to play a more attacking type of game.  It's more of a through gritted teeth acceptance of Spurs not being competent enough to hold out and therefore making the best of it by saying "it was a great game for the fans".  The marking of Alan Smith, not a big player (in many senses), was abysmal, allowing him to score with two headers.  The fact that three of the goals came from set-pieces will also not please the manager, despite what he says.  It is now all about what he does in private to rectify these deficiencies.  With Sol missing and Vega the only option as a replacement, the defence is starting to creak.  Sullivan has done well enough in goal, but in front of him, the lack of cohesion has lead to chances being offered up to the opposition.  The fact that Mark Viduka was given space for both his goals (both predatory goals - the sort that we could do with scoring) also raises questions about the attentiveness of our back four.

Many have noted that Sergei Rebrov's body language indicates that he is not happy with his role in the team.  That is understandable with limited supply reaching him, but has anyone else noted Stephen Carr's gestures of late ??  Not the sort of thing we would want to see, when pour most consistent performer over the last two seasons starts exhibiting the same shrugs and despair that Sol began demonstrating before he became cheesed off with things at Tottenham.  Hot on the heels of that came the news that his contract extension talks have hit problems over his demands, apparently.  Well, Spurs pay him all he wants before he sees Sol go and follows suit.  We need to sort this out before he gets into the same position as Campbell did and can walk away from the club ... and for nothing at that.

The heartening thing to take away from the Leeds match is the fact that we scored three goals away from home.  It has long been my contention that Tottenham play far too defensively away from White Hart Lane, making the home side's task a whole lot easier, because we can't hold out for 90 minutes.  The constant barrage makes it hard for the team to prevent the opponents scoring, so why not take the game to them.  If we score, then at least they have to get two.  Up until the return of Anderton from injury, the playmaker role in midfield had been missing, but his appearance as sub on Saturday made a welcome supply of decent passes and shots, which had been sorely missed.  It is saying something when a man who has been so hit by injury is our only salvation, but until some fresh creative spirit is introduced into the Spurs side, Darren will be the main man.  Perhaps al those rumours about him not getting on with Ginola were true and he now feels that he can express himself better, without the Gallic genius taking all the kudos.

As for Les ... well, he wouldn't be Les if he didn't get injured would he.  Especially getting knocked out against Leeds - it's his specialist subject, after all !!  It did mean that the side looked better balanced after Anderton replaced him.  It might signal a change in set-up within the team as the three forward idea didn't seem to be working.

With GG tightening up the defence (surely his specialist subject !!), things might be going in the right direction.  It will need a shift in the manager's footballing philosophy to make sure Spurs keep going forward, but surely he can see that now and sharpen up the players to make that style work.

GRAYLING BARRACLOUGH