It's all upbeat when it comes to 'Arry so far. And with the revitalised performances he's been serving up only rightly so.

Here's some gold from within the hallowed walls that may go some way to explaining where the feel good factor has come from.

In one of his first gatherings with the players, 'Arry said, "You boys look hungry" ...and proceeded to plant a bottle of ketchup on the table.

Huddlestone is being kept on a slightly shorter leash as 'Arry is determind to keep him 'lean and mean'.

This backs up what I was hearing from another source recently who told me that the Ramos food regime was so oppressive that a number of players were on more than one occasion sneaking off to a McDonalds after training.

'Arry was dumbfounded by the atmosphere in the dressing room. He felt the banter was 'criminal' and took immeadiate action. He instructed Pavlyuchenko and Modric to 'start taking the piss' out of the English players.

On player development some great news!

Lennon has been told not to worry about scoring. 'Arry wants all his attention on his final ball.

Bentley is well regarded. 'Arry sees him almost in the Ronaldo mould - going past players and the dead ball specialist.

Gareth Bale has had a bit of an earful. His development is a key concern. 'Arry is more than aware he hasn't been producing like he was.

Corluka has really caught 'Arry's eye and his progress viewed as a real positive. Hutton has not made such a good first impression but still very much being worked on.

That's all good in my book.

Viva 'Arry.

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A new dawn, another win. I could get used to this.

The difference is undoubtedly Redschnapps and the difference is these boys really believe they can turn things around. We're not quite out of the woods yet, but we're off bottom and able to start looking folk square in the eye again.

You see clubs come off the rails hit the relegation zone and and you watch them fight. You can see the fight has gone out of them. Drowning - not waving. Tottenham's performances since 'Arry came in have not been like that. More like masterclasses in common sense and a thing called ...will.  

Gomes 7 I predict a time when his critics will groan when he comes for a cross and he only catches it.

Woodgate 7 Kept them at bay using only a large broom and dustbin lid.

Ekotto 2.5 Hopefully we can appeal the card and get the ban extended so he can have a long think about what it is he wants out of life.

Corluka 7 Every game I see marginal improvement. Note to PSB: That is how you leave a club.

King 6.4 Uncomfortable viewing. The battery is going and it fell over at a crucial moment.  

Zokora 6.5 One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest time. Is he a patient or a doctor?

Jenas 6.5 I'm beginning to think he might be agoraphobic.

Lennon 6 Came on and didn't change the game.

Huddlestone 6.6 Class in a glass. Unfortunately it was a flute and we need him by the pint.

Bentley 6.5 A day where he had to battle to do anything. I'd say the lid on his hair wax wouldn't undo the first time and his earphones on his iPod were all tangled up like you would not believe.

Modric 8.1 Man Of The Match. He's a terrier. Twice as good as any City player. Inspirational.

Bent 8 Super Darren Bent. Would you Adam and Eve it? Me neither.

This will be a really interesting fixture and it must have been a while since anyone has said that and actually meant it.

Playing City was always a bit like facing Villa. The only guarantee was 90 minutes of pretty joyless hard work and with one lapse of concentration you could be you on your way with no points.

How times thankfully change. This game will present instead to rather revitalised teams and we might just might find ourselves promoted from the comedy tag item on Match Of The Day.

Needless to say but I will anyway, a win will catapult us out of the bottom slot. A draw may serve as a credible part of the healing process, but will be of little use otherwise.

It's all about goals. City have knocked in twelve at home in contrast to the rather lonely brace of Spurs' net rattlers away.

City's 'dangerman' is Robinho, but Ireland, Elano and Wright Phillips have all scored three league goals a piece so far. By contrast, Benty has five with Jenas and Pav sitting on two each...

City will give us the space so it's a question then of how we use it. I feel cautiously upbeat. City are as useless as us. Which is to say they can flatter to decieve and the right team can go in there and collapse them. Huddlestone or Jenas could open them up and Bentley and Lennon could really cause some trouble. Could. What a word.

I fancy us to beat them by two goals. Bold as brass but there you have it. 0-2, 1-3 ...it's all the same to me. Huddlestone as an anytime scorer is 7/1, so it only makes sense to extend your loan and get on.

BIOYC!

Please don't get me wrong, four - nil against anybody is a good thing. And here's the 'but'. But be under no illusions this game needs to be filed along with the pre season friendlies in terms of form value.

Zagreb didn't really show up. Dinamo's fans turned up alright. They were the bare chested mentalists letting off flares and singing Wagnerian choral verses to the tune of Yellow Submarine. 

And a small group of Spurs fans will meet with the North London Sanity Commission today to explain why they felt the need to sing about Jermain Defoe when ...they had Darren Bent in front of them scoring repeatedly.

Oh how we chuckled when the issue of player confidence was raised...

Morale wise this game won on two fronts. 'Arry showed he could box clever and find the balance between Europe and the Premiership commitments. And for the squad, another cohesive performance and another game moving on from the Ramos quagmire.

And here's a torrent for the whole game CLICKY

Anyway, get your laughing gear round this. Ryan Mason, John Bostock  Dorian Dervitte are tipped, amongst others of course, to feature this evening.

Which will make this a game where 'Arry stamps his authority on proceedings and sends out a couple of clear messages. Our Premiership campaign will not be compromised by 'other' tournaments. And that we have talent beyond our first eleven which ought to be utilised.

Redschnapps told Sky Sports, "I'd love to get some of the youth team into the first team, that is the long-term aim. " Which is a far cry from Wendy's 'them and us' approach.

Of Bostock in particular 'Arry said, " He's on the bench and I'd love to get him on the pitch," Redknapp said. "He's only 16, a kid with terrific talent and a lovely left foot." I bet it's replusive compared to Miss Zagreb's,  but I digress.

'Arry's attitude is refreshing in that there is an air of openess and common sense. Not knocking him for a second bu saying this, but he's making the sort of decisions 90% watching the games would make. Despite the feel good factor we urgently need to stop mucking about and get out of the relegation zone sharpish.

'Arry is on the case. "I've never seen a tighter league and it may take more points than normal to stay up.

"At the moment the ambition is to make sure we get out of the bottom group of the table, then you can relax and play with less fear."

So to the game itself. Stats bore me be here's a goody.  This lot have never won on English soil.

I had a bit of luck with my last Lennon anytime scorer bet so we'll revisit that happy hunting ground this time out at 10/3. Score? Heart says 8-0 obviously, head says 2-1.

Oh yeah and the press to give Gomes a break.

COYS!

Gomes 6.5 Everytime other team's goalies make an error is it reported as 'ANOTHER ERROR!!', like the end is nigh and the fella has a fortnight to turn it round or he's sacked? I think not. Gomes is far from perfect. He's obviously carrying an injury. But the 'press' need to lose the idea we only recruit our keepers from Clown School. We have an exclusive deal in place with that establishment to source our defenders.

Woodgate 6 Not a bad game but he failed to boss it. Set pieces open us up like Christmas. 

Corluka 6 Again the gripe here is a collective failure to deal with set pieces....

Ekotto 7 If I catch you 'gettin' jiggy' on my TV again with gooners I'm going to cut off one of your hands and use it as an ashtray. Good performance on the pitch though.

Hutton 6 Disasterous temporary loss of brain function gifted 'that' goal.

Bale 6.6 Industrious enough. Much went through the right hand side so his fading out wasn't all his own doing.

Gunter 6 Wasn't on for that long

Lennon 7.5 Go on the Azza! I knew there was a goal coming and boy did he enjoy it. Thank you.

Jenas 7.6 What are we going to do about Maria? That song was written for him. Amazing, amazing goal.

Huddlestone7.1 Another excellent show. If 'Arry's 'go out and play your game' speech has struck a chord with anyone then it's Tommy. His distribution is great and he has finally found some space.

Bentley 8.1 What a season. Roundly booed by his own 'fans' and then by the shiftless herberts at the Emptycrates. what does he do? Puts his head down and grafts. Delivers a Goal Of The Season. Kisses the badge. Then goes bonkers on SKY.

Modric 7.1 Less dominant than against Bolton - what a shock - but nevertheless still exhibiting all the buzz and determination that was clearly missing under Wendy.

Pavyluchencko 6.8 Another game of fighting and half snatching with little to show for it. I maintain it's a service issue and refuse to give up on this guy.

Bent 6.9 Another happy chappy this morning. Well done son. Condsidering he's supposed to be awful he's slowly knocking a few in. Another on 'Arry needs to put his magic arm around.

Sky Sports 2 And that was for the catchy title sequence and not broadcasting anything out of focus.

Listen, you lot need to buck your ideas up. Andy Gray on 29 seconds 'read out' what was obviously a pre match scripted line to the effect that Tottenham looked nervous. I think we'd cummulatively seen only five or six passes on the pitch from both teams at that point.

When Jamie Redknapp at half time wanted to look at the footage of Bentley being fouled he had to repeat his request three times to the production gallery over Keyes guffawing that he was 'clutching at straws'.

Your content - not the football - has become an insidious, tiring joke. There is a patent bias toward the 'top four' clubs. Do they lay on better sandwiches? Are they chucking you courtesy cars and tabs in hooker bars?

I'd actually be fine watching a show where the commentator said 'I support Chelsea and I hope we stuff you lot today.' I like passion.

What gets my goat is the sniggering and toadying up behavour that we have endure that bookends Premiership football. Great to see you boys stripped of so many games this season. Long may it continue.

Oh, Richard. Next time thousands of us switch over to Setanta - I want you to think of us all.

Winking at you.

You monkey pawed schmuck.

Bolton aren't big on aesthetics,are they? Their kit looks like it's rugby league and I couldn't work out if McCann's haircut was a haircut, alopecia or a homemade attempt to incorporate the two. Oh well. I didn't see any of their lot smile, but I can confirm that Bolton were also toothless.

The real threats were self inficted and much will be made of Gomes' contribution here. Don't confuse two very separate issues with this Brazilian. He is a very good goalkeeper. Also, he is quite odd. The sooner some are able to embrace the fact that these two things aren't mutually exclusive the better. Paul Robinson for example, is normal as normal can be. As a goalkeeper he is quite poor.

Elsewhere we looked half good. 'Arry and Clive clearly told them to maintain some class of shape whereby the should aim to pass the ball about. Largely that worked.

What also worked was the removal of 'Arry's predecesors. There was a sense of invigoration about the team almost as if a weight were somehow lifted. Or maybe Zokora wrapped in duck tape on the bench played a part. 

Bentley was much improved and Modric looked like a man renewed. This is very early doors so I shall swerve the opportunity of laying it on too thick, but on the strength of this one game we may just be getting our Tottenham back.

Cpl Clinger. 6.5 Either carrying a fracture ....or the watch his grandfather gave him up his harris. We'll probably never know. Discharge denied. See you Wednesday night.

Ekotto. 6.0 His touch improved with every yard he took away from his own penalty area. Which is fab if you're a striker but raises serious issues for a defender. A worry.

Hutton. 6.8. Quality score for a quality guy. Has real strength and going forward he obviously puts the fear into 'em.

Corluka. 6.8 Looked the business. Had some hair band thing going on. Very continental. Appears to be faster and more focused than he was. So settling in handsomely then.

King. 7.1 Had a very good game. Noticably slower than he ever was but his positional play is so good he's getting away with it. For now.

O'Hara. 6.4 Much better performance than we've seen in a long while. His passing had a bit more zip to it and his movement was great. Dead balls still only producing 'ooooooohs'.

Huddlestone. 6.6 Dearly needed to score. His contribution was superb. He chased and tackled and pinged the ball around and was a general menace to them. More please.

Bentley. 6.6 Laid off fiddling with his syrup and laid on some eye catching crosses. If he can maintain and improve on this performance then he'll get his England shirt back. Eventually.

Lennon. 6.7 Has stepped up to the plate when others went a bit 'thingy' on us whilst Ramos was muttering instruction to the bewildered. He came on and looked as vibrant as ever. He deserves something. Perhaps a goal.

Jenas. 6.0 The running man. Ran his socks off. If he was a vegeatable he'd be a Runner Bean. In this game he was was a runner up. The good passes were levelled by the bad and had it been someone with more gumption than Bolton we may have been forced to pay more dearly for his iffier passes.

Modric. 8.1The comeback Yid. 'Arry described him as a 'fantastic footballer.' And rightly so on today's showing. Our first real glimpse at the Croatian International we were rumoured to have bought a while back.

Pavlyuchenko. 7.7 Showed some genuine heart out there. And I think genuine is the word for him. His work rate was punishing and his finish on a ball that was a good bit out was fantastic. The service was only a little bit better than 'normal' but he demonstrated he wants more.

Bent. 6.8 Has all the requisite bits and pieces, pace, technique, power etc  but just doesn't seem to be getting it together. Any penalty converted is a joy. So his overall contribution rightly bumped.

Well the patient is up and around and talking to others on the ward.

The early indications are that Senior Consultant Surgeon Levy's move to operate late last night was a shrewd and perhaps life saving decision.

The prognosis is a slow and steady course of common sense which may yet result in a complete recovery.

Matron Redschnapps tonight confirmed that Tottingham Hotspurs had gone from a Sick As A Parrot condition to being cautiously Over The Moon.

Gomes 5 The first signs of craziness are emerging. Watch this space. I hereby christen him Corporal Maxwell Klinger. It's not just the nose. The hem of a cocktail dress was quite visible in the second half.

Woodgate 4 Dafter than a brush, less daft than a Dawson. Ladies & Gentlemen, vetting process completed. Our next captain.

Bale 3 Even On the Planet Of The Apes where he would have been superior to the humans  and thus exempt from many laws he would have got a red for that. Imbecile. His match ban absences will be less amusing.

Dawson 0 If he had a brain he'd be dangerous. Or working in Burger King. You wouldn't miss him. He'd be the one in a McDonalds uniform.

Hutton 6.1 Looked quite out of place in that he appears to be a professional footballer.

Corluka 3 Left in an ambulance. The delay in getting him away was due to stewards having to coax other Spurs players out of the van and insist they stay and finish them game.

Zokora 4 Against the rest of them not a total disaster. What a comment. £8 million he cost. Did we get him off the Internet? Was it a scam? Dear Beloved, I am writing to offer you in confidence, a remarkable footballer, previously the property of my deceased client.... 

Modric 3 I'm terrifed. Is it the Premier League that's too much for him? Another world class footballer who turns into little more than a wide eyed holiday maker when he puts our shirt on. 

Jenas 3 Not good enough. Stop talking to the press and start talking with your feet young man.

Bentley 3 Rapidly becoming reliably useless. On an up note, Downing looks even worse if you can imagine that. So we couldn't have won either way. So we're ahead, really. Eh?

Lennon 6 Looked motivated, took a shot or two. But largely at it on his own. Sad times.

Bent 4 Thanks for the goal, by the way.

Pavlyuchencko 3 Has the look of a man who has woken up in his pyjamas and found himself on the London Underground at rush hour with absolutely no idea how he got there.

In conclusion then. Everything under the sun is in tune but the sun is eclipsed by the moon. Stoke, for those of you watching something good on one of the other channels, were lousy. No bitterness on my part, merely stating fact. They have all the classic hallmarks of a Championship side that came up on the back of hard work, good work ethic with players determined to gain access to Face's VIP lounge. Marginally more inventive than a pre Keane Sunderland.

It is damning then that the seemingly luckless ragbag of nancy boys that is our current first eleven were unable to string a few passes together and give them a game. There is a horrible malaise at White Hart Lane. Wendy described the place as being 'plagued with pessimism' when he got there. The faint niff of fag smoke in the air from BMJ has now been replaced with something equally stale. Defeatism with just a hint of paranoia.

I say hold her steady Mr Christain.

There is every reason a to start baying for the head of Ramos. But a combination of boring but never the less credble extenuating circumstances and the threat of 'god knows who' as his replacement make his walking the gangplank ridiculous.