Happy Days: Tottenham Hotspur 2 - Aston Villa 0

photo by UggBoy♥UggGirl [ PHOTO // WORLD // TRAVEL ]	via PhotoRee

 

 

He's baaaack. We're talking about Correspondent Ed, of course....:

 

I was all geared up for an article by Correspondent James after the Spurs beat poor United at Old Trafford for the first time since I was in college. I could taste the put downs of the boss-man. The zingers about RVP's petulance and Scholes' crazy big age. But unfortunately it didn't happen, and now the moment has passed. But Spurs followed up that victory with yet another win. So instead of lamenting the Spurs – comfort food to most Tottenham fans – let's give them some big love for a nice start to the campaign.

It all starts with the Manager, of course, and for now it's hard not to conclude that AVB seems to have found his home. Despite his somewhat bizarre handling of the Hugo Lloris / Brad Friedel mess, AVB has made the right calls of late. Part of that is due to Clint Dempsey, a player that's been an improvement over Gylfi Sigurdsson at the Number 10 position. Dempsey may be less of a pure distributor than Gylfi, but he's much better on the ball and more dangerous near the goal. He and Defoe have successfully opened up space for Bale and Lennon by virtue of their strong runs off the ball, something Gylfi is more reluctant to do as he seems more of a holder than a thrusting attacker.

With respect to Defoe, who would have thought that he would have more goals at this point in the season then Wayne Rooney ? Defoe has shown his critics yet again that he's a dangerous front man with a quick release. Will Defoe fade away once Emmanuel Adebayor returns from injury? Perhaps, but hopefully not.

Spurs defense has been notable as well. William Gallas, who Uncle Harry brought to Spurs for exactly zero pounds, has been tremendous at the back. I'm not sure what Arsenal saw as the problem with the defender other than his age. But age alone doesn't dictate ability, and clearly he's led the defense as well as most any center back in the EPL. Compare him to United's Rio Ferdinand, for example, and tell me who has had a better season.

Jan Vertonghen has also been very strong offensively as well as defensively. He's done a much better job than I thought he could at left back with BAE out of the lineup. He's marches forward still seem a bit awkward to me, but they're definitely effective.

Last but not least is Moussa Dembele. The guy can flat out play. He tackles well, he's great on the ball, and he's clearly a leader on the field. When people get in trouble they naturally go to him. In some ways, Dembele is in some ways the poor man's Ya Ya Toure – a player that's much faster than you realize that can play either offense or defense. But Ya Ya is probably faster and a better passer, while Dembele appears a stronger dribbler.

At this point for Spurs, injury is the most likely thing to slow them down. They've already had their share at the back, but they have depth there. They also have depth in the middle, especially when Scott Parker returns. The problem is on the wings. Injuries to Bale or Lennon would be very difficult to overcome because these two have no remotely similar replacement. And let's not be naïve – Lennon always gets injured, so we can only hope they have some solution to this likely event. 

 

This is farlieonfootie for October 11.