Take a bow, Michael Dawson

Truth be told, when we set out to start this blog I don't think that we would have predicted that the first three posts would be about Spurs, and that two of the three would heavily focus on Michael Dawson, but North London is where the action is these days. That's where it was this morning at least (or afternoon over there) as Manchester United came to town.

Spurs last beat United in 2001, and the Red Devils came out on top in last week's FA Cup match thanks largely to some boneheaded plays by one Michael "RAWR" Dawson (see two posts down). Well, 6 days later, he did it again. Take a bow, you numbskull.

Spurs put together a fantastic team effort and stymied United for all but the final 20 seconds, when Dawson saw fit to leave one Carlos Tevez unmarked at the near post on a corner. The possibly insane Argentinian tapped it in to erase the earlier tap in from the Berbatov Cocktail (Shawn H. gets credit for that one) and leave all Spurs fans pondering for the 23448th time this season exactly how they should kill themselves.

When one steps back and looks at the big picture, it's really not all that bad. Taking a point off of Man U is good. The team played very well. The passing was sharp and the movement was cohesive. Aside from Dawson, the defense kept its shape and everyone tackled well. New signing Alan Hutton looked especially sharp, marking tight, making timely tackles, and springing forward when given the opportunity. But this game continues the Spurs disease of giving up late goals to blow leads and throw away points. And Dawson's mental lapses continue to be troublesome, especially in light of this report. It may be that we will never see the dream Spurs defense that I alluded to two posts ago - not for more than one match at a time, at least. For now, the team will have to take what consolation it can from its strong performance and move on.