Bridge Over Troubled Water?

New columnist Mark Tilley on the what the future holds after the Chelsea draw

Bare facts always tell a story - Tottenham are 19th in the table with just one point from three games. They are currently ranked below the likes of Hull, Wigan and Stoke and are way behind the established pack looking for European places.

But that single, solitary point tells another tale. Spurs, with two terrible defeats to mediocre teams, went across London to Stamford Bridge and to Chelsea, where they would surely find another defeat. Instead, they showed courage and resilience and gained a creditable 1-1 draw. It may just be the result that kick starts their season. Or it may be yet another false dawn, another tantalising sign of what we are capable of when we really, really want it.

Although they were on the back foot for most of the game, Tottenham played well. Refusing yet again to play want-away forward Dimitar Berbatov, manager Juande Ramos stubbornly stuck with the lone striker idea, employing Darren Bent up front by himself. However, Chelsea struck first, as they always seem to against us. Darren Bent, defending a corner, failed to clear and the ball struck Juliano Belletti before going in, rather fortuitously. Given their pressure, you could argue it was no less than Chelsea deserved.

Tottenham then showed a side of themselves that had been vacant in the first two games - they showed courage and endeavour. They seemed to put aside the fact that their star striker was left out of the squad with a huge question mark over his future. They gelled, new players and old, and it brought a reward, just before the break. Luka Modric's pass was inadvertently deflected into Bent's path by Chelsea's Frank Lampard and Bent remained cool to slot the ball home, in front of the long suffering Spurs fans.

If it was a lucky goal, then Tottenham deserved it, for the way they refused to bow down to the clearly superior strength of Chelsea. Half time must have been a godsend for Ramos. And what he told his players must have broken the translation barrier because, although Chelsea flooded the Spurs defence, the men in white refused to buckle and comfortably repelled anything Chelsea had to offer. In particular, Jonathan Woodgate and Ledley King were excellent.

When the final whistle went, Tottenham fans tried to put the result into context. Normally, a draw away to a big four side should be applauded. But given the awful start to the season, the feeling was that Tottenham still need to do a lot to impress their faithful. And they should be capable of it in the coming games.

The defence, so shaky and under prepared at Middlesbrough, was compact and solid at the Bridge. The return of King cannot be understated, while his partnership with Woodgate continues to flourish. It suggests Spurs have a defence of substance at last after the shambles of last season, where game plans at times revolved around simply scoring more than the opposition scored against us, no matter how many.

The midfield looked promising although players struggled to get forward enough. Modric is clearly a talented playmaker but he needs to get into the final third a bit more and use his undoubted talents. The same can be said of David Bentley but it is painfully obvious that Spurs need two strikers up front. Bent looked far too isolated by himself and hopefully the arrival of Roman Pavyluchenko and Frazier Campbell will change Ramos' line of thinking.

In all, it was a good Spurs display but the players and the fans will know that much, much more is needed to convince this season. They can start against Aston Villa next Monday night.

(contributing article for www.tottenhamhotspur-mad.co.uk)