Minty

As I said at 5-0. Anyone reckon 7 is possible?!

No, scratch that, it was going in anyway...

Mannone saved it and I don't think it would've gone in but for Bridcutt's contact, so that'll be an OG.

lol, more comedy defending, 4-0!

More great link up play, Tadic' effort cleared off the line. So close to four.

Although Adam Johnson coming on could be a threat... he likes playing and scoring against us.

Some lovely link up play in the final third... fancy us to get another couple if we can keep this up.

I think Franny's diving header is still my favourite even if it was obviously for us!

My gut feel is that it should've been a penalty, but I wonder if there is something in the fact that Fletcher got his shot away and it was going wide, so he wasn't denied the opportunity... so the only question remains if the ref thought it was a foul, and if he felt he jumped over him, then that can only be the reason why he didn't give it?

O'Shea is holding Pelle pretty much every time the ball comes in the box... dangerous game, the ref will see it sooner or later.

No, we're not. Sunderland moved the ball around fairly well in our half, but didn't create that much. They then defended shockingly and we're 2-0 up and comfortable now, and looking the better side.

And herein lies one of the problems of modern human existence. We are one species on one planet. We cannot seperate ourselves from what is happening in Africa, nor should we be leaving to 'Africa' to sort it out. Diseases do not respect borders. We have a treatment for Malaria, yet over 300,000 have died from it since the Ebola outbreak began. DOUBLE that have died from TB. Yet people are not up in arms about those because they are effectively 'out of sight, out of mind'. Ebola IS concerning, and we must take it seriously. But the real tragedy is that 'developed' nations such as ourselves only seem interested when it might affect us in our own country, and in the mean time we obsess over things like immigration and growth and let 'Africa' get on with dealing with disease on their own, leading to the deaths of thousands, which barely raises an eyebrow. On that basis, are we really 'developed'...?

It's not the story I mind (that tends to just report the public reaction, even if they should know that they fan the flames) so much as the initial ignorant reactions of people who don't understand the history of Morris dancing. Now, I wouldn't expect many people to know about it to be honest - and this gets to the crux of these issues - so what people need to do is actually learn why their faces are black before making these stupid comments. Not knowing about something is fine, but not making any effort to learn before commenting is, at best, lazy and inflammatory and, at worst, the key to why society has so many problems these days. From immigration to benefits, to the environment and race relations like in this case, problems are made MUCH worse by such ignorance. And for those who, like me, genuinely did not know: I thought the Independent was better than that, but sadly not.

NI 2-0 up again this evening, but against Greece this time... would be an excellent result if they can hold on.

Would've been interesting to see how Matt would've fared in modern formations... the 4-2-3-1 we play now could've been ideal for him as the central player of the supporting 3 behind the main striker. And with England playing similarly, I wonder if things may have been different.

I met Beatts on a few occasions and also worked with Sarah his then girlfriend, now wife, at some charity events for Sophie's Appeal. He was a good guy, very confident and outgoing at times... and when mixed with alcohol that comes across as arrogance - just as it does for a large number of young people who go out drinking. We've probably ALL come across as not particularly nice people when out on the lash, especially as young ish lads. But he's been doing generous work for Sophie's Appeal and other charities for years and isn't an arrogant person at all IMO - it's just that people make up their minds based on small snippets of what they see, usually at extremes.

Branfoot? I'm sorry...

All things are relative... I wouldn't actually rule that out.

Interesting that Koeman didn't even think Kaboul fouled Mane, let alone the debate about it being a red or yellow card. I actually quite like that - hopefully he'll be encouraging Mane to stay on his feet a bit more as a result, as he is clearly a tricky player with pace and skill, and if he stays on his feet, maybe he'll be a bit more productive.

Of all the things we could be talking about after that game, the goalkeeper was the least significant in terms of impact on the result. Such a pointless discussion IMO.

Re Forster - yes he wasn't as composed collecting a few crosses/shots, but he also made a few very good saves. Nothing to worry about there.

They had nothing to work with. I think the strikers, Pelle inparticular, should be the last people we should be highlighting in a game where we could hardly get the ball too them other than 50/50 balls in the air due to clearing our lines.

Yes, in possession Spurs were average, but when we had the ball, they did EXACTLY what we did to teams last season - sometimes we couldn't punish sides last year, but we stopped the opposition from playing. Mane's poor finish did indeed cost us.

Plus - Mane should've scored, Wanyama could've done better with his effort, too close to Lloris. Chadli hit the post though, but Spurs barely tested Forster second half. Mane is still getting up to speed, but looks promising. Tadic had an off day, Pelle had nothing to work with because the supply line was cut off. Put it down to experience.

Some wonderful irony on here. Spurs did to us what we did to many teams last season. They didn't let us play, and smothered us. Last season when we did that, we kept calling for people to recognise the fact that it wasn't the teams we beat who had played badly, but that we didn't let them play. Well, QED - that just happened to us. Credit to Spurs. Just a shame that the first game when Poch really got them going had to be against us. Onwards and upwards.