It's not all about the new boys!
Much praise has been lavished upon Spurs' latest debutant, 21 year old Christian Eriksen from Denmark. Eriksen had a fantastic first appearance for Spurs and was voted man of the match with 8.4/10, edging out two-goal Gylfi Sigurdsson by two tenths only.
Eriksen is not 22 till February 14th (Valentine's Day!), and amazingly already has 39 caps for the Denmark senior side. His first senior International appearance came at the age of just (and it was just! ) 18 in March 2010, and his first start was later that year against Germany in August 2010.
The praise for Eriksen was of course deserved, and Spurs fans are looking forward now to his every appearance. Whether his next appearance will be on Thursday night against Tromso remains to be seen.
Spurs achievement so far this season (and it is our best start for four years) is not just thanks to the seven new signings. We've only seen six of them so far anyway, as for some reason Vlad Chiriches' work permit was not completed before the Norwich game.
No, a lot of credit should be aimed at existing Spurs players; not only the recognised stars such as Hugo Lloris, Jan Vertonghen, and skipper Michael Dawson, but also Danny Rose and Andros Townsend, both of whom spent time away on loan last season. Rose looked stronger and stronger in Saturday's game and made vital defensive contributions against the threat of Norwich's Van Wolfswinkel. Andros Townsend is relishing the chance to shine alongside the established and new talent, and after an outstanding man of the match performance against Tbilisi, the winger has maintained a good level of performance in each of his games to date. Townsend had plenty of shots on Saturday, and having gone off after 70 minutes, it seems likely he will have a part to play on Thursday night, with Aaron Lennon still on the sidleines.
Then there is Gyfli Sigurdsson, edged out for man of the match, and seeking to gain more of a foothold in the starting line-up after Gareth Bale's departure. The Icelander has done his prospects no harm at all with his two goals, but his performance was not just about his goals, as he put in effort all over the pitch for his 79 minutes.
At International and club level, Sigurdsson has yet to score a hat-trick, but he has now scored two goals in 6 games. This was the first occasion he did it for Spurs, and he was grateful to the creative juices of both Eriksen and Paulinho. That first goal was ever so well taken though, and it is a shame Ruddy deprived him of what would have been a well-deserved hat-trick.
One of my respondents on the survey described this as the "best performance in years", and another thought we were "oozing with quality".
Let's have some more of that then!
· See the spursometer in full here.
Results 14-16.09.13
Man Utd 2-0 C.Palace
A. Villa 1-2 Newcastle
Fulham 1-1 West Brom
Hull 1-1 cardiff
Stoke 0-0 Man City
S'derland 1-3 Arsenal
Spurs 2-0 Norwich
Everton 1-0 Chelsea
S'hampton 0-0 West Ham
Swansea 2-2 Liverpool
Barclays Premier League
P W D L F-A GD Pts
1. Liverpool 4 3 1 0 5-2 3 10
2. Arsenal 4 3 0 1 8-5 3 9
3. Spurs 4 3 0 1 4-1 3 9
4. Man City 4 2 1 1 8-3 5 7
=========================================
5. Man Utd 4 2 1 1 6-2 4 7
=========================================
6. Chelsea 4 2 1 1 4-2 2 7
7. Stoke 4 2 1 1 3-2 1 7
8. Newcastle 4 2 1 1 3-5 -2 7
9. Everton 4 1 3 0 3-2 1 6
10. West Ham 4 1 2 1 2-1 1 5
11. S'hampton 4 1 2 1 2-2 0 5
12. Cardiff 4 1 2 1 4-5 -1 5
13. Swansea 4 1 1 2 5-7 -2 4
14. Fulham 4 1 1 2 3-5 -2 4
15. Norwich 4 1 1 2 3-5 -2 4
16. Hull 4 1 1 2 2-5 -3 4
17. A. Villa 4 1 0 3 5-6 -1 3
=========================================
18. C. Palace 4 1 0 3 4-6 -2 3
19. West Brom 4 0 2 2 1-4 -3 2
20. S'derland 4 0 1 3 3-8 -5 1
