true faith : TIFOSI (Spurs (a)) -

As soon as is possible, the true faith TIFOSI will be filing their thoughts on the doings at White Hart Lane and we hope to have everything up here fine and dandy for you to read and that.

SAM DALLING

What an afternoon. Glorious sunshine bettered by an even more glorious result. Remy once again showed his class, but it was Tim Krul who stole the headlines. At times in the 12 months the Dutchman has looked shaky at times. Yesterday the shot stopper was back to his stunning best, denying Tottenham on no fewer than 14 occasions to keep a clean sheet and help us to three points. (Aided, I must add, by a spectacular clearance off the line from MYM) In that sort of form he’s easily one of the best in the league. Another cracking team performance saw us play some intricate football in the first period, before showing our newfound resilience after the break. Captain Colo was forced to look on from the bench as the back four once again displayed its aptitude. This must have been a tough call for AP, but ultimately it proved to be the right one. With Debuchy picking up a 5^th booking of the season it may be that our skipper returns sooner than he might have otherwise. Despite the result starting Shola is still criminal in my book. On 3 occasions in the first 10 minutes the big man failed to trap easy balls. I get the fact that he’s a battering ram, but his lack of movement is incredibly frustrating to watch. What little Vernon has to do for a start I will never know. The next two games could make or break our season. Pick up a couple of wins and momentum will really be on our side – people will have to take us seriously. Lose though and our bubble will be deflated once again. While I agree with the decisions to leave him out of the last two games, Hatem should now be chomping at the bit. Let’s just hope he gets the chance to shine.

CHRIS LAWS

Another absolutely wonderful day following NUFC, yet still just as baffling as all the rest, as we went to the home of a Spurs side who could have gone second with a win, and came away with three points ourselves. All the plaudits will be on Tim Krul, and deservedly so, as our Dutch stopper was fantastic, repelling everything that came at him, and when one threatened to sneak past him, Mbiwa was on hand to somehow shift the ball away when it was destined to hit the net. We started really brightly, and had peppered them for ten minutes before Rémy ran past Friedel and knocked home. Gouffran isn’t the best player in the world, but he is turning opinions every single week. He’s like a Gutierrez but with a bit of end product. Grafts his nads off for the side, but his through ball for the goal was a bit of class. Defensively, like I say, Krul was the main man, but once again Mbiwa and Willo were solid enough. Can one be dropped for Colo against Norwich? Debuchy lunged in a few times, got a yellow and will miss that game, Santon RB and Mbiwa LB, perhaps? Once again, Shola being upfront worked, and as I’ve said, he isn’t the answer, but his type of player that can soak up some of the game is fantastic. It proves you can have a big player in the side and not just continually smash it long. I sincerely hope we stick with Shola/Rémy for Norwich. It’s working! I’m not his biggest fan, but for me Pardew got it right again. He invited too much pressure for my liking in the 2nd half, but he can justifiably point to the result as the main point. I like Anita, but we can’t change a winning midfield. Keep the lad out until we hit a sticky patch, then get him in. For now, we can hit the international break on a high.. Just hope the fat one isn’t up to anything.. 3 – Krul (Save. After Save. After Save. After Save. Aft….) 2 – Gouffran (Got far more graft in him that I gave him credit for. Has carved his spot into the team by himself) 1 – Rémy (Goal. After Goal. After Goal. Aft..)

STEVE FARRELL

To pick up seven points from Liverpool, Chelsea and Spurs is an absolutely magnificent achievement. It goes without saying that we owe a huge debt of gratitude to the man in nets who was superb all game. Just about every save was worthy of any highlight reel. Additionally he had some great protection in front of him from Mbiwa and Williamson. Debuchy was brilliant once again too. Tiote and Cabaye put in another excellent shift; which reminded us of a couple of years ago. On top of that we had a great showing again from Gouffran who ran himself into the ground – coupled with a brilliant first half from Remy. I’m out of breath just typing this.

It’s always good going into an international break with a win under your belts. We then have two home games in a row where there is no reason why we can’t pick up another two wins. That said, when you look at the form book this season, we never make it easy for ourselves against the little teams like Sunderland and Hull. It is important that we don’t make hard work of last month or so go undone if we want to have a decent season and stay away from that drop zone.

For the second week running, well done to everyone involved.

MATT STARK

Pundits and commentators looked to each other, panicked, wide eyed and bereft of inspiration. This occured both before and after today’s odious ‘hattrick’ of games which saw Mags travelling to London at god-knows-what-o-clock on a sunday morning at the mercy of Sky TV. Before the game, there was no Gareth Bale to talk about and afterwards because Newcastle United (usually referred to in pundit-speak with sentences that begin ‘with no disrespect to Newcastle…) went and made the media’s darlings, Spurs, look utterly shit for 90 minutes.

There was not one member of that squad who didn’t work their socks off and it was a true team effort, capped by an outstanding display by Tim Krul.

Remy opened the scoring after fifteen minutes or so and we had the ball in the net not long afterwards which was chalked off for an offside. Spurs were utterly devoid of any sort of creativity and this was reflected in their fans, who, when they occasionally attempted some noise, their repertoire consisted of ‘Booo!’ (directed at their own players) or ‘Penalty!’ (when the ball went into our box).

Debuchy and Gouffran followed up their fine displays against Chelsea with another shift of pure graft, rendering the odious Kyle Walker utterly useless and causing Christian Eriksen to give up on being a footballer, ten minutes into the game.

The second half was slightly different; Spurs changed things around and had a real go. United sat on their laurels a little and tried to absorb pressure, which we all know, never works and it was terrifying viewing for the last 20 minutes as Tim Krul pulled off save after save. The referee did his best to get Spurs a goal, or at the very least, send one of our players off for the crime of being stronger than the opposition. It was not to be, however and a jubilant United left the capital with a deserved three points.

Things are starting to click and we’re starting to look like the team we should be all along. There’s nothing more pleasing than taking points off inexplicably universally adored teams like Spurs and Chelsea and whatever we’re doing right…lets keep doing it, eh?

NEIL GATENBY

Krul 14 – Spurs 0….what a performance? I’ve not seen a goal keeping performance like that since errrrrr Tim

Krul against Palermo on his debut. Save after amazing save. I’ve tried to pick out my favourite but I am struggling. Class show.

That is successive wins against top four teams with no goals conceded? Unlucky not to beat Liverpool, matched Man City for 90 minutes so where do the aberrations against Hull and the Great Unwashed fit? I’ve been a big critic or Pardew’s over recent weeks and I certainly don’t think some of the utter rot he comes out with in interviews helps but he has got it bang on the last few matches. We pressed for the first time in ages in the first half and it clearly upset a lacklustre Spurs side who looked rattled by Remy’s movement, Goufazzzz chasing and harrying and Shola just generally being a lolloping annoyance (he still couldn’t trap a fart in duvet though).

I bang on week in week out about Goufran and many of my mates think he is just an average squad player…that’s as may be but his work rate doubling up down the right hand side to nullify Walker and Townsend was no fluke. It was no coincidence that it was Goufran’s pass that set Remy up for a quality finish either. Where would we be without Remy as well?

Second half was ‘backs to the wall’ stuff but we dug deep and it was great to see that Iron Mike retained his place in the back four to put in a commanding performance. The guy comes across as an infinitely likeable guy and he’s grabbed his chance with both hands….no nonsense defending and a colossus over recent games.

All in all a very good performance in difficult circumstances, made even better by the Spurs fans booing their team off at the end…maybe Fat Mike will change his allegiances now to the club he actually owns? Doubt it like.

Now lets not go and undo all this good work against Chrissy H and then West Brom.

Pretty, pretty good.