Each season offers up its particular challenges, determined by the vagaries of the fixture computer, the luck of the draw in the cups plus the team’s form as it ebbs and flows, as it always does whatever standards we set. It becomes a set of sequences, groups of matches joined together by importance or chronology. The Nine Games of Christmas were not one of those connections that would have leapt out of supporters’ ritual pre-season scrutiny of the fixture list. However, as the good ship Tottenham starts to take on water and sit lower in the water, circumstance has given Christmas a new meaning for Spurs fans.

How Villas-Boas addresses the problems in December on and off the pitch will determine our fortunes for this season and for at least the next few. It’s Tottering Hotspur with the focus squarely on the faltering effectiveness of his tactics and team selection. On top of which, sections of the media are at his throat, a combination of unjustified venom festering ever since he was ridiculed at Chelsea then had the nerve to get another job in the Premier League, and indignation that our boy has the chutzpah to challenge their wilful misinterpretation of the inclusive phrase, ‘we are ashamed’.

What makes this sequence so fascinating is that it is a real mixture: winnable home games after Christmas versus West Brom and Stoke, enticing away fixtures at Fulham and Sunderland where again three points are possible but you never know with away games, and three matches against top six rivals in Southampton, Liverpool and United. Add a home league cup tie against West Ham that will played with real ferocity and it’s got everything. Anji, play the ground staff and tell everyone else to put their feet up.

It’s vital we pick up some momentum after the crushing indignity of defeat at City. Comparing AVB’s expression after Fulham went a goal up on Wednesday with his exuberant relief at the final whistle gave a hint of what this all means to players and manager. 70 minutes in he was as white as a sheet, dead eyes staring blankly as once again it looked like a decent Spurs effort had fallen apart. Shifting from first half containment to second half attack, we had the better of a belting game and playing some fine football. All undone after another defensive cock-up. In a sick and twisted replay of goals conceded this season, Dawson’s pass into midfield found everyone in place for the transition from defence to attack. So when it was intercepted, Fulham could run through and score.

Building up some momentum dictates how matches turn out, and the outcome of those sequences. Hard to put your finger on what exactly makes the difference. In games, it’s certainly to do with pressure and possession but sometimes a single comparatively minor incident like winning a 50/50 tackle or a poor refereeing decision can set the pulses racing for players and fans alike, and so the game turns again.

Goals help – that’s an understatement if ever there was one, and this goal undid all our good work and AVB’s cunning plan. he was over-cautious in the first half. The selection of two DMs did not have to be negative. Rather it gave our attacking players some freedom. Lamela took advantage. Given a more free role (or perhaps he wasn’t paying attention to the manager’s instructions), his runs from midfield and interplay were effective for a time – and he got back to defend. Not a great performance but for the first time he looked as if he was getting to grips with the English game, appearing somehow more muscular and grown up. Or perhaps my stream was playing up, who knows?

More missed chances, Defoe and then Paulinho wasting good moves that would have justified AVB’s set-up. However, we did not pressure Fulham enough – given their recent problems we should have gone at them from the start but it was half-hearted.

Second period, AVB changed things – see, he does you know – and we looked much better. Again we missed chances – I would have played Soldado for this one, he can rest later. We look good on the counter – our best efforts all came from breaks at pace. We have the players for that and it’s a set-up we should try more often, at home as well as away, starting attacks from deep rather than leaving men upfield.

The Fulham goal changed all that. We bunged on everyone to get the goal, (three wingers at one point?) but momentum shift come from unlikely sources. Chiriches kept his long range shot down but no one expected that to go through so many players without a touch. fortunately the Fulham keeper was one of those bystanders. Holtby won it with a fine long range Bale-esque effort cutting in from the right and left-foot, top corner.

We still can’t score from inside the box and this nearly went badly wrong but it worked out and for the moment that’s enough. Add this to the performance against United and the players are feeling good again. When you think things are going your way, sometimes that indefinable quality, that certain something where it all works, can mean more to fragile psyches than sustained periods of good football.

But in the end, it’s good play that counts and in that respect, Hugo Lloris excelled. Several fine saves won this one for us. It was a great second half, bonkers end to end thrills and spills. If only I was able to enjoy watching Spurs play….

The criticism most often levelled at Spurs manager Andre Villas-Boas is his lack of flexibility. He sticks rigidly to his ideas, tactics and formations come what may, so the stroy goes. At this point his more snide detractors add something about clipboards and never having played professional football.

I’ve never fully bought that. Tottenham have tried different formations, although always with a back four, and the permutations have seldom included the classic 4-3-3 that was supposed to be his trademark. He persists with certain players but then again being accused of giving players a chance to prove themselves over a run of games is laudable. When he chops and changes, he gets it in the neck too.

However, his capacity to change will never be tested under as much pressure as over the coming month. How he responds in the nine games of December will define not only this season but the longer-term future of the club. Spurs are slipping down the table, we can’t score and sections of the media will pounce like starving hawks on the slightest sign of weakness. And in our last league match, we were slaughtered.

Early signs are positive. From first to last the team’s attitude was exemplary. They all played for each other and, as ‘we’ is an inclusive pronoun, presumably for the manager too. After the City debacle, what I feared most was a slump in morale but the opposite was the case, with a fighting determination to do the right thing that will see us through if it continues. For long periods we were the better side and imposed our pattern on the game rather than reacting to United. We made the chances too, but missed them when it mattered.

In the end, a deserved point, a pearler from Sandro and the optimism that it could have been more. The result was less important than the performance. This was never the ‘must win’ game that many named it because we have a lousy record against United. This fixture has meant nothing but frustrated hopes and soggy disappointment for a decade or more, so three points are an aspiration rather than a benchmark.

AVB changed the team too, with Lennon on the right and Chiriches at the back alongside Dawson, who looked the most vulnerable of the defenders after last week but I doubt Kaboul is fully fit, or indeed if he will ever be again. The inclusion of Chadli was the most surprising. We’ve seen a bit of him looking ripped and hanging around on the left but little else. He started at Palace and now he’s back after injury so safe to say his manager rates him.

However, some things don’t change. The way the team was given to me, I assumed Dembele was playing further forward – regular readers will know I firmly believe his considerable talents are wasted as a DM. In fact, it was just a random order of the midfielders so there he was, with Paulinho pushed up into an unfamiliar advanced role as the link between striker and the rest of the midfield.

After the early skirmishes Spurs took the game to United. With Paulinho in that advanced role we were better able to press high up the pitch. Dembele got stuck in too and the United midfield never had time to settle, looking dangerous only when the excellent Rooney got on the ball or when Valencia powered towards Vertonghen. The Brazilian enjoyed his work near the box without ever appearing entirely comfortable. He was part of the best move of the game, returning Soldado’s first time ball with a pass of his own that sliced through the defence to give the Spaniard a precious chance deep inside the box. As we’re on the subject of defining moments, as he took aim and without hesitation hit a first time shot, you knew this embryonic goal of the month could resurrect his reputation, silence the doubters and send his flagging confidence sky-high. But into the crowd and the moment had gone.

Still, he played well, encouraged by his manager to adapt to the English game by increasing his movement and work rate. As a result he got on the ball more and played an instrumental role in fashioning our other great chance. Lennon’s shot was saved and from the rebound his perfect cross to the far post found Paulinho hanging back when he stood have been idling near the goal-line for a tap-in.

Paulinho made our opener, Walker slamming home a direct free kick after the Brazilian was fouled at the edge of the box. I like to think we had scouted the fact that the United wall jumps as the kick is taken and that’s why it was a low ball straight at, then through, the wall, rather than a slightly scuffed effort. Positive, that’ the approach…

Walker has been playing better recently. If only he could concentrate for 90 minutes. He seemed surprised a cross came to him and sliced his clearance straight to a grateful Rooney. He put everything into this game and I feel for him even though his howler put United on level terms and back into a match that was at that point slipping out of their grasp. His positioning and body-shape were a tiny bit off and that’s all that is needed for a mistake.

However, that cross would not have come if Dembele had not lost the ball in midfield. His good game was spoilt by repeating this error on several occasions, each time it gave the impetus back to United.

Lennon was outstanding in the first half. Townsend essentially gives us a single angle of attack – Lenny gives us several, going outside like a proper winger or whizzing directly into box in a series of dangerous diagonals. Pleasure to see him do so well.

Walker’s error took the wind from our sails and we were becalmed until half time. We picked up again after the break, then we were lifted by the gale-force blast from Sandro’s right foot, a classic top-right-corner-keeper-rooted-to-the-spot from 25 yards.

And now – an official TOMM apology to referee Mike Dean. When Lloris dived at Welbeck’s feet, I was convinced he reached the ball first. I, like many in the stands. were frankly uncomplimentary about his powers of decision-taking. But I was wrong. Welbeck made the most of it as is the modern way but there’s no defence if the keeper doesn’t touch it. Penalty, and United had both the goal and renewed momentum.

So the lead lasted only three minutes. Mind you, I really enjoyed those 180 seconds, among the best of the year so far, but hey ho.

Spurs performance never recovered but we were steady enough to see it thorugh for a point. The ball shot across our box a couple of times but otherwise we did not look like losing this one. I can’t recall Lloris making a diving save.

Trouble is, perhaps we could and should have done more to win it, and back we come to Villas-Boas’ inflexibility. Both his subs – Defoe Soldado, Townsend for Lennon – were like for like, thus United did not have to confront anything new and uncomfortable. Later that afternoon, his fallen mentor Jose Mourinho turned deficit into victory with his substitutions. Perhaps AVB was legitimately cautious after last week but there were opportunities to change things around with Paulinho remaining on the pitch to the end despite a fading contribution.

Sandro had a good game, dropping back into the back four when necessary to shore up the defence. Dawson tackled and blocked, while Chiriches looks accomplished with timing in the tackle, dare I say it, reminiscent of our dear Ledley. My imagination or did we defend deeper for the most part? I wonder if AVB wants to dump the high line. Interesting to see if that is permanent.

AVB has certainly changed his tactics when it comes to sections of the media, firstly tucking into Alan Sugar’s bid to install Alex Ferguson as his replacement then going on the offensive with journalists like Neil Ashton who interpreted his use of the word ‘we’ in the analysis of the City defeat as meaning that he blamed the players, not himself. Taking on the media is a dangerous game but good luck to him on this occasion at least. It’s a fine line between appropriate assertiveness and outrageous paranoia (see Mourinho, J. and Wenger, A.) but this was the right time to take a stand. More on this later in the week but we think the boy done good.