Fulham flounder
SPURS 3
(Paulinho 35, Harry Kane 48, Younes Kaboul 62)
FULHAM 1
(Steve Sidwell 37)
Fulham are in trouble now.
After back-to-back Premier League wins under new manager Felix Magath, there was light at the end of the tunnel.
At White Hart Lane yesterday, the bulb went out and the Cottagers were plunged into darkness. A 1-3 defeat left them marooned in the drop zone and a missed penalty from Steve Sidwell only heightened the frustration.
It wasn't simply the defeat that hurt Magath; it was the manner of it all.
Fulham are more spirited than they were under Rene Meulensteen, but the defensive frailties that characterised his short reign are still too evident.
Twice, Fulham were undone by free-kicks whipped in from out wide. With no shortage of tall players at the back, the Cottagers should have been far more resilient.
Tim Sherwood acknowledged last week that Tottenham have made too many poor starts, but they were slow out of the traps again here.
First, Alexander Kacaniklic raced up the right flank and smashed a shot into the side netting.
Then Hugo Rodallega sprang the offside trap and spooned a wonderful chance.
The game was only two minutes old. But, if their starts are poor, their recoveries are outstanding.
Having withstood Fulham's initial exuberance, Tottenham began to settle and soon it was the visitors' defence that looked uncomfortable.
Aaron Lennon's scuffed volley was saved onto the post by David Stockdale, but the English stopper could do nothing eight minutes later when Paulinho tapped home from a metre out.
Having conceded a free-kick to the right of the penalty area, Fulham opted to leave Paulinho to his own devices and paid a heavy price. The Brazilian midfielder will never score an easier goal.
But, while Tottenham looked strong in some areas, they were hideously vulnerable in others.
Zeki Fryers, making only his third start of the season, never got to grips with the game. Within two minutes of Spurs' opener, he and Kyle Naughton allowed Steve Sidwell to go on an entirely unexpected jinking run into the box, and he finished with a deft chip over the head of Hugo Lloris.
Fryers endured a torrid afternoon, missing headers and losing his man too often for his manager's liking.
PROTEGE
Fortunately for Sherwood, his other young protege Harry Kane, also making his third start of the season, was in rather better form.
Kane may not be the most technically accomplished forward, but he doesn't lack desire, an attribute that Sherwood values. In the second half, he beat off a sustained challenge from Sidwell to nod Lennon's excellent left-footed cross past Stockdale. Fulham's vulnerabilities were laid bare on the hour when Younes Kaboul fired home, unmarked, from an Christian Eriksen free-kick.
Fulham were furious when Danny Rose's penalty-area push on Kacaniklic went unpunished. The Swedish winger picked himself up and approached Rose, seemingly telling him that he knew it was a penalty. Rose simply hung his head. He knew.
As luck would have it, Eriksen was in place to quite literally give them a hand a little later. In a moment that rather typified Fulham's afternoon, Lloris saved Sidwell's resultant spot-kick.
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