Harry Redknapp's revival of this beleaguered club continued apace last night with the second victory over Liverpool in the space of 11 days. And there is no sign of the revolution stopping just yet.
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First time around, Liverpool were beaten by Redknapp's Spurs in the very last minute of their Premier League game on 1 November; last night the visitors were blitzed by three goals in the space of seven first half minutes. The holders of the Carling Cup are into the quarter-finals of the competition and Redknapp has to his name the best start of any Tottenham manager in 110 years of the club's history. No wonder he said last night that now might be a good time to pack it all in. "I've taken them as far as I can," he said.
He was, of course, joking and with Chelsea out the Carling Cup there is a sense that this competition is opening up for Redknapp's team in much the same way as the FA Cup did for his Portsmouth side last season. The Spurs manager made seven changes last night from the team that won at Manchester City but, in his current form, he does not seem capable of putting a foot wrong.
For Benitez, the dream of a team of talented young players picked from all over the world like Arsène Wenger's protégées seems more distant than ever. Damien Plessis scored one of his side's two goals but he, Nabil El Zhar, Lucas Leiva and David N'Gog who all started last night cannot be compared to the team coming together nicely at the Emirates. "We didn't play well," Benitez said, "to concede three goals in the space of seven minutes it's clear we didn't play well."
There was the first start for Liverpool for Fernando Torres since 5 October, but he was substituted after 55 minutes with the score at 4-1 which looked like the closest gesture you might get to Benitez raising the white flag. Three goals down at half-time, the scenario for Liverpool could be described as similar to that famous night in Istanbul although unfortunately for them their miracle-worker-in-chief, Steven Gerrard, was watching it at home on television.
It was honourable of Benitez not to complain about a penalty that might well have been given in the 81st minute when Gareth Bale brought down Philipp Degen, although the Liverpool manager made his feelings known to the fourth official. Bale might have scratched a shoelace over the surface of the ball but he also wiped out the Swiss defender right under Mike Riley's nose.
"In the second half, the commitment and effort of the players was much better," Benitez said. "We had opportunities and attacked, but they had good players for the counter-attack. We were really poor for the last few minutes of that first half."
That counts as fairly outspoken criticism by Benitez's standards and his team looked a lot better when, having scored two goals from headers from corners, they brought on Xabi Alonso to get hold of the midfield. Gomes was carried off after extensive treatment following a clash with Degen but the news is not serious. "Gomes has done his teeth," said Redknapp, sounding like a man who did not believe that was an injury that should bother a goalkeeper. "He should be OK for the weekend."
Pavlyuchenko took his first goal like a man who has been banging them in for years in England. Bale found Campbell on the left wing who cut the ball back for Pavlyuchenko to finish. He celebrated in front of the Liverpool fans which prompted the normally unflappable Torres to invite referee Riley to book the Russian. Instead the Spanish striker had his own name taken.
Campbell profited from a disastrous collision between left-back Andrea Dossena and goalkeeper Diego Cavalieri in the 41st minute for Spurs' second goal. Both Liverpool players were admiring Jamie O'Hara's hopeful long pass over the top as they came together on the edge of the area like two unwitting baseball outfielders - their clash allowed Campbell to put in the loose ball. For his second goal three minutes later, the Spurs striker did even better, completely wrong-footing Cavalieri to head in Aaron Lennon's cross.
Three minutes into the second half and Plessis headed in Ryan Babel's corner, then the 20-year-old French midfielder lost possession for Spurs' fourth goal. Didier Zokora charged at goal and got a shot in that Cavalieri could only push back into the six-yard area where Pavlyuchenko was to sweep the ball in. Hyypia pulled one back after the hour, again heading in a Babel corner with Gomes nowhere.
Just time at the end for Harry to make a joke about the name of his new grandson - son of Jamie - who was born on Monday and christened Beau. "I thought it was because I was born in Bow until I saw the spelling," he said. "Could have been worse, could have called him Stepney because we moved there after Bow."