Tottenham Hotspur vs. Norwich City, Match Report: Another Disappointing Result

Tottenham Hotspur put together yet another disappointing performance and is now winless through its first three Premier League matches. This was really the worst the club has looked this season. There was no inventivness, no creativity, and seemingly no desire to win from the players. Tottenham's opposition, Norwich City, meanwhile, seemed raring to go and forced the action from the off.

Tottenham Hotspur looked especially bad in the first half and were very lucky not to go into the break down by a goal or more. Russell Martin had a header clatter off of the crossbar in the ninth minute. Jonathan Howson and Simeon Jackson were denied near the interval by a splendid double save from Brad Friedel.

Tottenham did manage seven shots compared to Norwich's five, but many of Tottenham's shots were from distance and went horribly astray. It took until the 30th minute for Tottenham to put a shot on frame as Gareth Bale struck the ball from 30 yards out. Norwich keeper John Ruddy could only punch it away, but the ball fell kindly to Sandro who fired right back down Ruddy's throat for an easy save.

Mousa Dembele made his Spurs debut at the half coming on to replace Sandro. Spurs started the second half a little more brightly, but Norwich quickly regained control of the game and Spurs were again constantly pinned deep in their own half. Before the hour mark Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas made a change in formation bringing on Emannuel Adebayor for Gylfi Sigurdsson.

The change didn't look like it was making much happen for Spurs as the North London side wasted a few set piece chances. The breakthrough finally came in the 68th minute as new signing Mousa Dembele scored on his debut with Spurs. The Belgian midfielder showed some good movement and struck the ball well from the edge of the area to put the North London club in front.

Tottenham then brought on Tom Huddlestone in an effort to kill of the game, but the Canaries had other ideas. Robert Snodgrass fired home following a scramble in the box and suddenly the two sides were back level. Matters only got worse as Tom Huddlestone was shown a straight red less than 6 minutes after coming on for a late sliding challenge on Norwich midfielder Jonathan Howson.

Spurs were forced to play the final few minutes of regular time and four minutes of stoppage time with only ten men. It was a nervy finish for Tottenham as Bradley Johnson had a couple of fierce shots at goal, but it all came to nothing as neither side were able to make a breakthrough. Tottenham now have two points from three games and sit 14th in the table.

The play of Mousa Dembele was a good sign, but I didn't see anything else redeeming from Tottenham Hotspur. Even Emannuel Adebayor has yet to produce anything even remotely close to the form he showed during last season. Tottenham will now have two weeks off to get things together before meeting Reading at the Madejski Stadium.