The prospect of Tottenham Hotspur playing Champions League football next season is beginning to fade. Defeat at Wolves tonight made it one win in six league games for Harry Redknapp's misfiring team, a run of matches during which, despite for the most part not playing particularly badly, they have scored just three times. So ordinary were they last night, however, that they could not even live up to the charge of being flat-track bullies, an accusation levelled against them for their record of success against sides from the bottom half of the table.
Asked if he had any theories as to why they had given what he acknowledged was their worst performance of the season, Redknapp had as little to offer as his team. "Not really, no," he said. "We've been playing very well, we've been away from home and played well, but … I don't know, it was difficult to put your finger on it tonight. They competed well, played the extra man in midfield, made it difficult for us and we ran out of ideas."
Before the game, his opposite number, Mick McCarthy, had suggested, perhaps a touch hopefully, that Spurs might be so intent on revenge for the 1-0 defeat Wolves had inflicted at White Hart Lane in December it could work against them.
A more likely motivation for the visitors should have been that their failure to break down Aston Villa on Saturday had allowed Liverpool to retake fourth spot, which made it four wins from 13 matches against sides currently in the top ten.
Not surprisingly Redknapp chose to shake things up, his five changes including leaving Peter Crouch, Vedran Corluka, Wilson Palacios and Luka Modric on the bench – Ledley King, unable to play two games in a week, was the other absentee – and pairing Jermain Defoe with Eidur Gudjohnsen up front. There was also another chance for David Bentley to impress, although the longer Aaron Lennon's troublesome groin injury keeps him out, the higher Lennon's stock rises.
The manner in which Bentley waltzed past Wolves' left-back, Stephen Ward, in the opening minute suggested a productive evening might be ahead for the former England international, but Wolves quickly began to apply themselves to the task of pressuring the visitors into error. Even so, Spurs should have opened the scoring when neat touches from Gudjohnsen and Defoe put Niko Kranjcar clear. As Marcus Hahnemann came out, the Croatian shot hard and low, but the American goalkeeper got enough on the ball to divert it wide.
For all they were being kept on the back foot, when they broke Wolves did so with purpose. Sébastien Bassong's mistimed attempt to play offside gave David Jones the chance to play Kevin Doyle into the Spurs penalty area, but the former Reading striker delayed his shot long enough for Michael Dawson to block.
The warning went unheeded by the visitors. Two minutes later Jones concluded a passage of Wolves possession by picking up the ball deep in the Spurs half, and was given the time to pass to Matt Jarvis on the left. No Spurs player then bothered to pick up Jones's run into the penalty area, allowing him to meet the subsequent low cross unhindered and sweep it first time beyond Heurelho Gomes.
Now Spurs really did have to push on, and Jarvis in particular continued to benefit. He was unlucky to be denied a penalty for what looked like a push by Dawson.
Redknapp's half-time reaction was to send on Palacios for Jermaine Jenas, but while his team appeared better balanced as a result, Wolves still looked comfortable at the back. Crouch replaced Gudjohnsen – having told his manager he would like to move to Lokomotiv Moscow as soon as possible, Roman Pavlyuchenko remained on the bench – but for all Spurs dominated possession, still Hahnemann was relatively untroubled. Redknapp played his final card, sending on Modric for Kranjcar, but though Wolves began to defend more deeply, they continued to restrict the visitors to shots from distance, none of which required Hahnemann to save.
"Teamwork was the key," said McCarthy. "We were terrific. I've never once doubted the character of my players; we might lack other things, but one thing we have is team spirit. It's not like that performance came out of the blue – we have been playing really well."
