1) Yes, Spurs were poor. Yes, they probably should have had a penalty in the dying seconds when Salif Diao clumsily mistimed his tackle on Niko Krancjar. Take nothing away though, from Stoke City. This was perhaps the finest result, and most accomplished performance we’ve seen from the lads since our promotion to the Premier League. We’re seeing the team grow in stature, ability and top level experience before our very eyes. Last season, we were humiliated at White Hart Lane, three goals down inside the opening twenty minutes in that ghastly yellow kit. Yesterday, we put in a performance of supreme professionalism and came away with all three points against one of the biggest, richest clubs in the country. How’s that for progress?

2) Tony Pulis’ sides are often mocked for their “’aaaaaaaard working” ethos and the prizing of artisans over artists. While it would be nice to see a little more flair and invention, at home at least, the spirit, determination and fight that the manager instils in his players is something to be commended rather than derided. I was raised during the eras of Ball, Bates, Kamara, Little and Thordarson, and have seen some of the most cowardly, gutless Stoke City performances in history, so it’s with great pride today to see a group of players who will battle from the first whistle to the last. Yesterday our defending was typically stalwart, and while the personnel changed over the course of 90 minutes, there were never less than eleven heroes on the pitch. To a man, they played their part. Even James Beattie who some, myself included, have accused of looking disinterested this season, was twice back in his own area to save us and looked completely spent when we was withdrawn after 70 minutes. Compare this to Aaron Lennon, who allegedly defied the wishes of his manager by refusing to play on after picking up a knock after a challenge by Whelan, reducing his team to ten minutes in the process. The heart shown by the Stoke team at White Hart Lane will be remembered for a very long time.

3) Pulis got his tactics spot on yesterday. He hasn’t always got things right this season and at times has seen overly wary of the myth of “second season syndrome”. However, he succeeded tactically at every turn here. He picked the right team to soak up Tottenham pressure and sitting deep and trying to hit Spurs on the counter was the right way to approach a team with the pace of Lennon and Keane. Our manager also out-thought his old mentor Harry Redknapp with his substitutions. Redknapp’s replacement of Keane with Pavlyuchenko removed the last vestiges of pace from their front line and gave us relatively little to fear from that point on. Conversely, the introduction of Whelan (on the right, bizarrely) and Tuncay gave the team energy and attacking guile at a time when heavy legs were beginning to show. The changes emboldened Stoke and allowed us to open the game up. As we did at Everton, we showed the ambition to try and win a game away from home in the latter stages, and this time it paid the maximum dividend.

4) The biggest hero of them all yesterday was Steve Simonsen. Simmo only found out twenty minutes before kick off that he would be replacing the unwell Thomas Sorensen. Perhaps, as TP contended in his post-match interview, that gave him little time for nerves. Regardless, Simonsen rose to the occasion magnificently, repelling everything that Tottenham threw at him. He made an excellent early stop from Peter Crouch’s goal bound header and never looked back. His display was an inspiration to the rest of the team and he embodied the never say die attitude which earned us the points. Previously, Simonsen has looked a nervous and indecisive custodian at this level, and part of me still thinks that in the long-term it might be best to allow him to find regular first team football whilst bringing in a young keeper to be understudy to one of the best in the business in Sorensen - Peterborough’s Joe Lewis, say or Alex Smithies at Huddersfield. However, Simmo has been a loyal servant to Stoke City, one of our finest goalkeepers in recent years, and he richly deserves the plaudits he’ll get for his North London heroics.

5) Could Robert Huth’s suspension be a blessing in disguise? Huth is an excellent centre half but looks like a fish out of water at right back. Andy Wilkinson’s return brought balance to the side. Wilko, made to look a fool last January by Aaron Lennon, played very well in this return fixture. Very little got past him and he made a number of crucial interventions to prevent Spurs from exploiting the wide expanses of the White Hart Lane pitch. His distribution is still an issue, but until we sign a genuine right back with pace who can both attack and defend and use the ball well, Wilkinson remains the best option in that position. Wilko is more mobile than Huth, offers more going forward and hopefully can now stake a real claim to retain his place beyond the remaining games of the German’s suspension.

6) The Spurs game provided yet more evidence that our style of play is evolving. While there was still the odd big punt up field, usually from the right back spot, we seemed to realise that keeping the ball was the most effective way to defend. Once again, Salif Diao was an important part of that strategy, always looking for the right ball. Matty Etherington’s renaissance continued with another lively outing, again offering an outlet to relieve pressure on the defence and desperately unlucky with his third minute shot across goal. Also yesterday, for the first time in my opinion, the argument that Danny Collins’ distribution gives him the edge over Danny Higginbotham actually attained some credibility. Collins was excellent, intelligently passing the ball out of defence. Yes, Tottenham’s possession dwarfed ours - this was to be expected, but the fact that we now seem prepared to keep the ball on the ground more rather than exclusively clinging to our tried and tested route one formula bodes very well for our Premier League future.

7) I’ve been pretty rough on Dean Whitehead this season. I just don’t think he offers much and that there are several better options in the centre of the park. Yesterday, he still provided little in the way of passing ability, yet his bravery and energy were admirable. Whitehead’s willingness to put his body on the line to block shots, to make courageous clearances that were 40/60 against him and to risk injury in last-ditch challenges, were a big part of our rearguard action. His tireless dedication to the cause completely justified his selection at the Lane.

8) No more Rory Delap on the right please. It’s just not working. Even though our continued progression has lessened the reliance on Rory’s throw, his intelligence, anticipation and energy and still be an asset in the heart of our midfield. On the flank though, he’s become something of a liability. He lacks pace, his passing isn’t good enough and attacks down that side tend to splutter out as a result. Liam Lawrence has consistently shown himself to be a hard worker defensively as well as the best crosser of a ball at the club. Lawrence should be a fixture on the right side of midfield.

9) It’s a little bit scary, still, to see how utterly reliant our attacking threat is on Ricardo Fuller. The Jamaican remains our sole creative hub from open play, the only player capable of creating chances from thin air. While Glenn Whelan’s emphatic finish was superb, it was Fuller who created it from pretty much nothing. Seemingly well-shackled by three defenders and going nowhere by the right hand touchline, he suddenly slipped past two of them with a clever turn, withstood Assou-Ekotto’s crude hacking at him and calmly laid the ball into Whelan’s path. Simply put, until another player emerges who can offer the same level of craft and ingenuity, Ricardo Fuller is priceless…

10) …but could that man already be here? It was another exciting cameo from Tuncay Sanli, who made quite a contribution in both defence and attack in his 20 minutes on the pitch. Tuncay’s presence saw the team look more dangerous that at any prior point in the game, and he was unlucky not to score, once flashing a shot wide having turned a defender inside out, then putting just too heavy a touch on Etherington’s through ball. Concerns that the Turk’s identity as a “flair” player might be at odds with TP’s hard-working ethos are clearly unfounded if his performance on Saturday was anything to go by, as in his brief time on the pitch he covered every blade, at one point clearing the ball from his own penalty area and then sprinting 60 yards to latch onto it at the other end of the pitch! I’ll continue to bang the drum that Fuller and Tuncay CAN be incorported in the same Stoke attack, with the taller, stronger Fuller just behind as the target man. Our new-found willingness to keep the ball on the ground more makes such a partnership more viable than might previously have been expected. I’d love to see the Fuller/Tuncay strike duo unleashed next week to give Wolves a real Halloween fright, but I suspect TP will be slightly more cautious. Still, the results are speaking for themselves at the moment, and I’m sure he’ll pick the right team again next week.

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