I feel like Mr Pink after the dust settles in that brief, but oh-so-memorable shoot-out. I'll
just tip-toe around the bloody mess, pick up the case full of loot and hot-foot it out of here.
The bloody mess is Bentley to Man City, Petrov the other way, David James splattered all over
the place, and even Anton Ferdinand, sitting lifelessly on a chair minus an ear.
Before beginning the gruesome business of the post-mortem I think it's worth doffing my cap
towards Man Utd – they were a quality act yesterday. I demonstrated in my preview that
mathematics is hardly the academic subject of choice at AANP Towers, but nevertheless it really did
seem that being reduced to 10 men made them play as if they had 12.
No-one does fickle quite like we do at Tottenham, yet despite this, the reaction to last week's
defeat has by and large retained a sense of perspective. 12 points from 5 games still represents a
ruddy good start to proceedings, and with forthcoming fixtures involving Burnley, Bolton,
Portsmouth and Stoke we ought to be chugging along nicely by the time the clocks go back.
Well we can call off the missing person's search. Head down to Deepdale tonight and you're
likely to be treated to rare glimpses of Giovani and David Bentley, last seen being surreptitiously
airbrushed into the background as 'Arry's favourites went through their pre-match warm-ups. There
has been some clamour for Giovani's inclusion in recent weeks, and after the two woeful attempts by
'Arry to compensate for the absence of Modric, it would really warm the cockles tonight to see the
Mexican put in a virtuoso performance on the left.
Two consecutive defeats it may be, but even the most pessimistic amongst us have struggled to
make a convincing case for this being a crisis. Man Utd and Chelski are the best two teams in the
country, and amongst the best handful in Europe. Losing to them is not exactly to be welcomed, but
neither is it a cause for alarm.
