A good friend of this blog travelled many thousands of miles to be at White Hart Lane last night, his first ever visit to hallowed ground. He saw moments of dazzling skill, incompetent defending as Tottenham tried their best to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, three fabulous goals and extended periods where nothing very much happened at all. In fact, what being a Spurs fan is all about squeezed into 90 minutes.

Two fine goals were bookends to a busy if average first half where Spurs had to work hard to break down a well-organised Villa side, motivated to impress new manager Remi Garde. A couple of minutes gone, Rose knocked the ball down the left. Dembele, on a mission, swatted away repeated challenges, fair and foul, by the hapless Villa centreback, before drilling the ball through the keeper’s legs. It was a confident display of strength and skill from a player realising what he’s capable of, and what a revelation it is.

The game settled into a pattern. A goal up, Tottenham were forced across and backwards before we could get forward. Patience and possession weren’t pretty but the right approach. Sometimes you have to take one step back before you can move forward. It’s tempo, or lack of it, that’s the potential problem and only when we allowed it to drop did the crowd’s frustration become justified.

Youngsters are not renowned for their patience in general but this lot are more mature. They didn’t panic and tried to keep the ball moving. Eriksen and Lamela found it hard to make an impact so once again Dembele’s ability to draw in a couple of defenders to make space elsewhere supported by Dier’s alert tackling caught the eye. Anyway, if we lost the ball all we had to do was wait until Villa gave it back to us. It never took very long.

Packing the midfield denied space but it left Villa extremely short up front. Apart from an early shot straight at Lloris, the only other wound for the best part of 80 minutes was self-inflicted. Hugo dashed out to the edge of his box for no good reason but the ball was muddled away.

Not many chances – Rose shot over from the old Sherwood/Sheringham near post corner routine, Kane and Dembele came close but we had to wait until just before half-time for the second. Rose’s good cross was headed clear to Alli at the edge of the box. One touch on the thigh then a low volley before it hit the ground into the bottom corner. Coolness personified as three defenders closed in. The mark of true class is when it looks so easy.

Second half, busy but unproductive. Spurs well on top, Villa getting nowhere. Kudos to their fans for selling out their end and filling it with gallows humour, the only response left if your side has been managed by Tim Sherwood. They wildly celebrated first hitting the post then scoring, Ayew’s shot deflecting past Lloris after Mason, on as sub, gave the ball away unnecessarily.

They could easily have had some unlikely but real success to cheer when their team nearly pinched a point in the final ten minutes. The story of the game in this morning’s papers is all about the extent of Garde’s task ahead if he wants to keep Villa in the Premier League. This is of course true – they lacked creativity and were shaky at the back. The media have missed another equally valid narrative, that Spurs while being the clearly superior side very nearly threw the whole game away.

As the second half wore on, the game appeared to be drifting to a sedate close. If Spurs were guilty of sleepwalking, they were still in no danger. But they must have dozed off totally because Villa finally attacked and found it too easy to pressure the defence. Conceding ground, for the first time in several games Spurs looked rattled. After the goal, Villa should have equalised. They finally twigged that they were supposed to cross the ball to the muscular Gestede who came on at half-time. Lloris hurtled out 15 yards, missed but the centreforward headed wide of an unguarded goal. So close to ‘Plucky Villa Begin the Fightback.’ To ‘Spurs Show Soft Centre Again.’

Defensively the right hand side remains a problem, not because of Kyle Walker, on the contrary he was strong, quick and confident throughout, but he was not protected in the final twenty minutes as Villa sensed an opening. Lamela for all his praiseworthy recent effort does not present an insurmountable barrier at the best of times and there’s no sense of partnership with his defensive partner. It was no different when Eriksen swapped over towards the end.

All’s well that ends well. In injury time Spurs created a fabulous flowing move that began with the ball in Hugo’s hands, kept going with a Davies one-two with sub Onamah and ended with Lamela setting Kane up for a first-time curling shot placed into the corner. From one end of the field to the other, unchallenged, first-time finish, this was a gem.

The back four once again looked busy and accomplished. Both full-backs did well. Rose has the ability and inclination to pick up the pace if the tempo drops. It’s as if he sees it as his responsibility to perform this role. I’m pleased to see Walker upping his game. Lloris made those two errors, misjudgements coming off his line which have been rare this season. Perhaps he as skipper wanted to influence a game that for the most part was played well away from his box.

In midfield Dier is bringing back the art of good tackling. Alli was busy, all good touches as he worked hard to find a way through before he faded later. Needs a rest before Sunday. Lamela came into his own late on, expertly holding onto the ball to allow time to drift by so we could enjoy the win.

When Kane was knocked heavily to the ground, the groan of anxiety was audible. He then became the only player I have ever seen get an ovation just for standing up. What would we do without him.

Unbeaten since the first game of the season, up to 5th and a good feeling around that comes from a team working together to better themselves, close to the supporters and reaping the rewards of their hard work. That’s a good feeling to have. Not that any were needed, but good reasons to be a Spurs fan now. Pleased and proud of how they have played this season.

Vying for top spot in the THFC assist tables is Artur Boruc, the 35 year old Bournemouth keeper who looks like a throwback to bygone years when goalies who were getting on a bit usually carried a surplus pound or two. He’s the gift that keeps on giving, neatly wrapping three of the five goals in an act of boundless generosity that led to a thumping Spurs away win yesterday.

It all started so badly. A cross from the left, Vertonghen and Rose apparently mesmerised and drawn underneath it, Eriksen failed to pick up his man and Bournemouth were ahead after 47 seconds.

Past Tottenham sides would have dug an even deeper hole for themselves. This one picked itself up, dusted itself down and got down to business. On the attack since the restart, 10 minutes later Kane was in the box but drifting to a tight angle. However, Boruc’s mind was made up. He hurtled from his line and clattered into the centre-forward who picked himself up and put the penalty away. Then he dropped a straightforward cross at Lamela’s feet 6 yards out – good to see that Erik was in the right place for the ball regardless of any error.

In between, nothing he could do about our second, Dembele seized on a loose ball quicker than a mass of defenders and drove powerfully into the box before tucking in a low shot from the edge of the box. More please Moose.

So after conceding a soft goal in the first minute, after 30 Spurs were 3 up with a decisive grip on the game. Despite this superiority, we never coasted, keeping up the high pressing and effortless counter-attacking that gave our opponents no respite. Eriksen’s pass from the left to set Kane up was pitch-perfect. Other chances were made by pressure on defenders high up the field.

Bournemouth’s attacking intent is admirable but they leave themselves very open in the centre and Spurs took full advantage. Given that extra space, Eriksen was rampant and irrepressible. The forward three of Dembele, Eriksen and Lamela had the freedom to circulate. The Dane was at his best cutting in from the left where it’s harder for defenders to pick him up. If he comes inside it leaves the flank exposed but the Cherries could not take advantage, although other, better teams will. His inswinging cross for our fourth was simply perfect, curling away from the centrebacks and onto Kane’s boot. As I’ve said before about Eriksen, not everything he does comes off but any doubts are outweighed by his vision and ability to create that no one else in the side possesses.

Boruc coaxed Alderweireld’s header from a corner, two-handed, gently, precisely,  right at Kane’s feet for our fifth and ‘arry’s ‘at-trick, and got away with a blatant tug at Harry’s foot to deprive him of a second penalty. A delight to see Kane back in the goals and happy again. He has never stopped working, never hidden for a moment and his play outside the box is several notches higher than last season’s. To take the chances, however straightforward, he had to be there. All the great strikers, right place right time. In a football world full of cynicism and jealousy, is there anyone anywhere who truly begrudges Kane his success? If ever there was a player that you want to do well, it’s Harry Kane.

We now know Dembele wasn’t injured but has spent 3 weeks in some sort of cryogenic regeneration tank, emerging transformed as a whirling midfield colossus. My goodness me he wants to play, doesn’t he. Finally. Carry on like this and we’ll give him a pass on all the ineffectual performances, the wasted talent. I heard this week that Martin Jol described him as the hardest to shake off the ball that he’s ever seen. Many times this blog has lamented his wasteful ways, plaintively pleading for someone in the club to be able to do something with that talent. I had almost given up: Pochettino didn’t and look at what we now have.

Alli and Dier good in the middle, Alli learning so fast, when to move up and when to hold back. Mason back as sub. Rose at fault for the first goal, later, after Kane’s second, Bournemouth lumped in a similar ball to the far post but Danny got there first. Wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice.

Unbeaten since the first game of the season, three points after a lacklustre defeat in Belgium and I read we’ve taken 7 points from 9 in the games following Thursday nights in the EL. In truth it’s unlikely that we will have an easier time in the league this season but the progress continues.

Given the hysteria surrounding Jurgen Klopp’s first match as Liverpool manager, many in the media must have been surprised that another team actually turned up at White Hart Lane on Saturday. Yet once the furore died down, the match said far more about Spurs’ progress under Pochettino than it did about the new kid on the Anfield Road.

Klopp’s good, mind. Because of the international break he only had his players for a couple of days but he certainly got through to them. From the kick-off Liverpool launched a ferocious onslaught, hurling themselves into tackles and blocks as soon as a Tottenham man got anywhere near the ball. For the first 10 or 15 minutes we could barely move, let alone get the ball out of our half. This wasn’t so much a press, more a vice and Spurs were being crushed. The Shelf was shrouded in dark muttered foreboding.

Not only did Spurs not cave in, they gradually came to terms with what was required. You could almost see the players working it out. Rose lost out, Walker lost concentration and Njie, on as early as the 11th minute for the injured Chadli, had no idea what had hit him, his head still firmly on the bench. With remarkable ingenuity, Eriksen and Dembele in midfield responded to the pressure. Eriksen thrived on the challenge. No time on the ball so play it quicker, pass and move, ready in space if needed. Others followed their example, Kane running ceaselessly into channels or dropping deeper, first touch to move it on. Dembele and Alli working hard in central midfield then Rose offering some respite wide left.

By the end of the half, we’d got past working it out, we were on top. We pinched the ball off them, Alli I think and Kane set up Njie whose shot was well saved. Njie just over, Kane missed the best chance of the game, shooting low straight at the keeper and Alli’s shot from the rebound was blocked. Not everything Eriksen tried came off but the angst inspired him to be energetic and creative, looking for the telling pass when he could have justifiably played it safe.

It shows how far we have come. The old Spurs would have folded like Brits on a picnic at the first sign of rain. Less than two years ago (it seems like another era) Rodger’s Liverpool started this fixture in the same manner. Spurs lost 5-0, had a man sent off and AVB was sacked. This was the most mature performance I have seen from Tottenham for a long time. Resilience through flair has become a hallmark.

To underline the point, Mason, Dier and Bentaleb were all missing from our defensive midfield. Once Dembele and Alli sorted themselves out, you wouldn’t have noticed. Alli played his most disciplined game, diligently holding his attacking exuberance in check unless he was free to move up. He didn’t get booked for a rash challenge either. He’s learning.

Dembele was a dervish of the midfield, tackled, holding and spinning on the ball like a man possessed. Holding onto the ball has been his weakness but on Saturday his ability to keep it and not be knocked off the ball gave his team-mates precious moments to find space so he could move it on. I know what you were thinking – he’s going to hang on to the ball once too often and they’ll break away…but he didn’t, not once. More evidence of the committment of this squad. Earlier in the week Dembele was tipped to leave the club in January to fund the purchase of a striker but this was the performance of a player determined to stay, to be part of something.

The second half was tense rather than exciting. The pace dropped, understandably, and it ended up with the teams cancelling each other out. A mistake looked likely to settle it as the ball stayed resolutely away from both penalty boxes. Near the death Eriksen set Kane up at the edge of the box but his shot was saved. At the other end, Alli conceded a free-kick – I feared that was the mistake but we cleared easily.

A touch of regret at the draw because Spurs had the better chances. Kane’s lost the magic in front of goal. It’s tempting to say he’s taking a fraction longer, one touch too many but last season he often had two or three touches while closely marked before scoring. Elsewhere his play has improved – he never hides, never stops working off the ball and twice barely perceptible shimmies plus a sublime first touch set up good moves, a third saw him chopped down mercilessly.

He could have done with some help, and that’s the problem. Too often he was isolated 15 yards from the nearest team-mate, dealing with a long ball against two defenders. Njie is raw talent, he’ll take a season at least to get used to the pace. So with Son injured, no one to share the goalscoring or for that matter anyone on the bench to make an impact or replace tired legs. The failures of the window leave us short. My fear, expressed at the time, was that it was both shortsighted and placed undue, unfair burden on the young squad however willing they are. I don’t want to be proved right.

Writing this blog I’ve come to the conclusion that the perspective from which fans  view the game significantly changes their perception of the performance. Television encourages a critical interpretation. It distorts what is humanly possible, makes the game look easier than it is. I’m not excusing basic errors early on in this game but from my viewpoint, centre Shelf 14 rows up, the speed of the first 20 minutes made me wince. The players had no time to react. I suspect social media was by and large flat after this one. As far as I’m concerned, I take my hat off to those Spurs players, each and every one. I don’t know how they can think straight let alone play that well. It’s unfashionable to make a comment like this and it’s not something that applies every week as regular readers know but there are times when mortals like myself don’t know how they do it. Perhaps we’d all enjoy modern football more if expectations were not so unrealistically high.

I’ve always reckoned that Spurs and Everton fans had a lot in common. Both sets of supporters have remained steadfast through the doldrums of recent times even though loyalty has been sorely tested by the success of their neighbours and bitter rivals. Once members of the so-called ‘Big Five’, the five most influential clubs from the mid-sixties to the mid-eighties (the others being Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool), now no longer movers and shakers.

To a large extent it still holds true but over the past three seasons the comparisons with the other Merseyside club, Liverpool, have been unavoidable. Both Spurs and Liverpool were in the process of rebuilding, both appointed youngish managers, Andre Villas-Boas and Brendan Rodgers, within 2 days of each other in June 2012 whose reputations had gone before them. In the background, both clubs were itching for success and prepared, so it appeared, to invest heavily in the transfer market but looming over them was the expense of rebuilding famous but aging grounds.

No matter – these young coaches were the new breed, their methods and tactics compensating for any shortcomings in the market. Rodgers seemed to settle best but in the end AVB’s Spurs finished 2 places and 11 points ahead of Liverpool even though our side had several weaknesses.

Times change – the following December Liverpool ferociously tore into Spurs at White Hart Lane and ripped us apart as instinctively as a lion tearing the throat out of its prey. We lost 5-0, AVB was sacked and Liverpool’s thrilling attacking football nearly won the league.

Now it’s Spurs who have stabilised and Rodgers who is unemployed. Pochettino has so far succeeded where Rodgers failed. Comparisons are instructive as we pause for breath during the international break.

Pochettino’s choice of tactics is pretty much fixed to a 4-2-3-1 although the system itself has built-in flexibility, especially with the movement of the 3 and varying the attacking freedom given to the full-backs. One justified criticism is that he doesn’t have a Plan B if after 70 minutes things aren’t working, However, he knows what he wants and, above all, so now do the players. This has been at the root of our progress this season.

Also, he chooses players to fit that system. I think he is wary of the challenges that can be presented by players with experience who may have influence in the dressing room and different ideas about how they should play and what they should do in training. That’s why he goes for youth, because he can mould them, and why he was an attractive option for Levy when it came to choose AVB’s replacement.

It’s a shame in many ways but it’s working. The players know it’s Poch’s way or the highway. Those that didn’t buy into the philosophy were ruthlessly jettisoned. Now we have a group of players who can do what their manager wants. Also, the teamwork and attitude of those who are left has forged an excellent team spirit and a side working together for each other. Without any natural standout leaders, nevertheless the culture of hard work and high tempo has taken hold firmly in the squad, witness Lamela’s recent performances. A beneficial culture that exists independently of any individual is hard to establish but once created, it’s powerful and lasting precisely because it does not depend on the character of a few fist-pumping heroes.

Liverpool have spent an astronomic amount on players since Rodgers became manager. However, he’s fatally changed his tactical approach and bought players who don’t fit and/or aren’t good enough. Too many changes, players who are not the right fit for what their manager wants them to do, players who are not right for the intensity of the PL. There’s no spine, whereas our development this season is founded on the axis of Lloris, Vertonghen and Alderweireld, Dier (and Mason until he was injured).

Mulling this article over, Pochettino’s approach comes out in a positive light. The coach making the whole greater than the sum of the parts is at White Hart Lane, not Anfield, whatever Rodgers’ reputation may be. Some of it is refreshingly familiar though. Players with the right skills, the right attitude, playing in the right position, the one that suits them and team best. This applies to every successful side football has ever produced but it’s a lesson many managers and clubs easily forget, including Liverpool. Caught up in tactics, false nines, inside legs, registas, the essence of a manager’s job is player judgement. Still is, always has been. Right player, right attitude.

Rodgers’ experience at Liverpool also highlights a real potential problem, who takes decisions. Much has been said about Liverpool’s transfer committee. Informed sources point to players being bought who Rodgers did not want and an over-reliance on analytics, which provided skill but did not assess their attitude in the highly competitive PL.

Spurs have been here before. Martin Jol did not have full control over player choice and it seems suspiciously likely that Baldini’s bunch, the less-than-magnificent-7, were bought without full consideration of their ability to survive the physicality and intensiveness of 90 minutes in the PL, week in, week out.

It’s vital that we don’t repeat the same mistakes. Although we have Pochettino’s men leading the hunt for players now Baldini has gone, Levy showed in this past window that he has not dealt with a fatal reluctance to support his manager properly. The Berahino fiasco left us with one striker, Son is injured, it only takes one knock and Chadli’s up front…

Pochettino won’t repeat Rodgers’ other error, going public with his criticism of his employer. It does mean though that he will have to make do with what he’s given. Right now, I’d take the talent and attitude in or squad over anything Liverpool can offer.

Swansea – a reasonable performance and reasonable point, all in all. Blunt up front with chances missed. Kane’s fluency has eluded him but he never hides, even after the catastrophic unforced error when he sliced a corner into his own net, having been so reliable at that near post set-piece defensive position. Chances gone but not quite true to say ‘last season he would have hit that first time’, because last season he would often have a few touches and still score, but there are times when he’s thinking too much now.

Eriksen picked us up with those two free-kicks, the first the keeper should have covered, the second just about perfect. Good movement in the front three with Lamela and Eriksen offering some lovely angled balls from centre mid, Lamela really picks those beautifully. Son makes things happen in the box, maybe a different result if he had been on the end of one of them.

At the back, we let too many runners go in the first half especially. A fine header for their first but three Swansea players advanced unaccompanied on the back four. Dier looked weary at the end, still brooding about an unjustified booking. He deserves a rest over the international break plus I think he misses the Liverpool game through suspension. His frustration bubbled over at the end. After a fine 20 minutes when we should have scored, a point seemed enough, then Dier chopped down an attacker. The free-kick imposed needless pressure and all our efforts were about to go waste when Hugo arced into the top corner to miraculously tip a header onto the bar and away.