Spurs’ organised resilience

Sharing the points with Tottenham Hotspur is no fiasco, but Chelsea’s dullness was unexpected, writes Kevin McCarra.

The transfer window is an invitation to peer into an enticing and elusive future, but Tottenham Hotspur’s supporters could not peel their gaze from the joys of the present. There was no inclination to start wondering what Roman Pavlyuchenko or signings yet to come might achieve when the existing line-up was conducting itself with such care and competitiveness.

While the equaliser from Darren Bent had its element of luck, there was an organised resilience to the visitors that merited the draw against Chelsea.

When Juliano Belletti gave Chelsea the lead, Tottenham looked bound for a third consecutive loss. It was proof of the recovery by Juande Ramos’s team that much of what ensued raised questions about Chelsea. Sharing the points is no fiasco, but the hosts’ dullness was unexpected.

Nicolas Anelka must have been dismayed. There are sound reasons for using a single outright striker. Chelsea themselves were devastating in the rout of Portsmouth with precisely that system. At Stamford Bridge, by contrast, the weaknesses of the approach were highlighted. Tottenham, for whom Didier Zokora was significant, snipped the connection between the midfield and the forward.

Anelka is not equipped to be a lone battler. In the wake of the match there were immediate inquiries about the return of the injured Didier Drogba. He assuredly has the height, weight, speed and skill to harry an entire defence by himself, but the Ivorian’s knee problem had been an issue for a long time before it became acute early this year. The 30-year-old cannot be confident that the aches and pains will ever leave him entirely.

The outcome of Chelsea’s bid for Real Madrid’s Robinho was still inscrutable, but the Brazilian bears no resemblance to the sort of centre-forward whom Anelka needed badly as a partner in this game.

Of course, there were also some mundane reasons for Chelsea’s mechanical football. With Michael Ballack injured, Michael Essien took a more advanced midfield position to which he is not really suited and Belletti, who is considered a full-back, was placed in the holding role. The outcome was that Luiz Felipe Scolari’s team did not move fluently and Deco, in particular, seemed frustrated.

For all that there were omens of a standard win for Chelsea. Belletti, for instance, split the defence with a devastating pass in the 26th minute and Anelka tamed it with his first touch, only to bash the finish over the bar. Two minutes later Scolari’s team took the lead. Tottenham were aggrieved that Joe Cole was not ruled offside before a corner was awarded, but they should have coped with the set-piece. Deco took it and Bent failed to clear before Belletti diverted the ball into the net.

The leveller came peculiarly in first-half stoppage time. Bent headed down and Frank Lampard, tackling Luka Modric, inadvertently fed the ball back to the Tottenham striker. He finished with a shot through the legs of Petr Cech. Were it not for the transfer market machinations that kept Dimitar Berbatov away from Stamford Bridge, there might have been minor involvement for the scorer.

The part Bent will play in the longer term is still in doubt, but that goal could be seen as a telling episode in Tottenham’s season. Ramos’s team did not put Chelsea in all that many difficulties and Modric, specifically, was unable to show the zest expected of him.

A share of the points, nonetheless, will make Tottenham feel they can return to normal business with fewer accusations of instability at White Hart Lane.

The team, after all, was far from brittle. After the unfortunate decline and sale of Paul Robinson it would have been a comfort for Ramos that Heurelho Gomes was commanding in goal. His handling of crosses was adhesive and while a couple of Lampard attempts to chip him were entertaining the tall Brazilian dealt with them.

Tottenham, of course, may not have taken as much credit if they had been under any obligation to attack. Berbatov’s subtlety would have been missed in a different type of match, where this side was supposed to hold the initiative. Equally, it was apparent why Tottenham have been so keen to buy Andrei Arshavin, considering how he links midfield to attack.

For Chelsea there was a reminder that Scolari is not the guarantor of verve. The efforts were highly reminiscent of lacklustre afternoons under Avram Grant and, indeed, Jose Mourinho. Both clubs will have left with a sense of the long haul ahead. For once, Tottenham must have been feeling cheerful about it.

The resultsAugust 31:

August 30: Arsenal 3 (Van Persie pen-18 & 41, Denilson 59) bt Newcastle 0. Half-time: 2-0; Bolton 0 drew with West Bromwich 0; Everton 0 lost to Portsmouth 3 (Defoe 12 & 69, Johnson 40). Half-time: 0-2; Hull 0 lost to Wigan 5 (Ricketts o.g. 5, Valencia 13, Zaki 63 & 81, Heskey 68). Half-time: 0-2; Middlesbrough 2 (Alves 37, Sanli 85) bt Stoke 1 (Hoyte o.g. 71). Half-time: 1-0; West Ham 4 (Davenport 12, Samba o.g. 20, Bellamy 90+3, Cole 90+5) bt Blackburn 1 (Roberts 22). Half-time: 2-1.

August 25: Portsmouth 0 lost to Manchester United 1 (Fletcher 32). Half-time: 0-1.