Sunderland vs. Tottenham Hotspur: Final score 2-2, football is dumb

Tottenham Hotspur turned on the style and played their best football of the season against Sunderland on Saturday. They also made two hilarious errors, drawing 2-2 in a match that just about anyone who is not Spurs would have won.

The start was frantic, with Spurs scoring just three minutes in. Nacer Chadli turned in a rebound after Vito Mannone saved a long-range shot by Emmanuel Adebayor, getting Spurs off to a dream start.

It only took a minute for their lead to be erased. Adam Johnson torched Eric Dier in the 4th minute, then hit a shot that took a nasty deflection, giving Hugo Lloris little chance to make a save.

Spurs didn't flinch and were on the front foot instantly afterwards, and throughout the first half. They were brilliant and should have scored two or three more goals. They didn't.

A goal eventually did come, though, with Christian Eriksen putting Spurs in front just after the halftime break. An attempted cross to the back post by Chadli was blocked, but Eriksen was in perfect position to clean up in front of net and smash in the rebound.

Mauricio Pochettino made an odd decision in the 70th minute, bringing on Benjamin Stambouli for his debut, replacing Chadli. It moved Mousa Dembele into an attacking midfield role, and it didn't work at all. Sunderland were aggressive and had a much easier time attacking from then on.

Eventually, their persistence paid off, but not because of anything they did. A routine corner kick fell to another Spurs substitute -- Harry Kane -- and he found a way to chest it into the back of his own net. The game ended 2-2. Everyone groaned.

I'm not going to tell you not to be upset about this game, because this is the kind of game that gets fans very upset. It sucked a lot. Tottenham should have won and did not due to a combination of bad luck and errors that are unlikely to be repeated. It was the kind of game that allows other fans to make fun of us for "being Spurs", and that seems to happen regularly whether or manager is a buffoon or model professional; whether we're crap or sensational.

But at the same time, most fans knew that top four was unlikely going into the season. The last two matches haven't changed anything. We are between the fifth and seventh best team in this league, and this game did nothing to make me feel we're better or worse than that. We played extremely well outside of the two silly conceded goals, and we'll get better. We'll do less of this, even if it does happen again. That's sports ... and that's very, very Spurs.