Spurs fans arrived at the final game of last season unsure which – if any – of our strikers would reappear in the shirt. Would it be Rossi, Forlan, Hulk, Falcao or Leandro Damiao lining up come August? Surely not Emmanuel Adebayor.
We needed to win to secure a Europa League spot and Roman Pavlyuchenko delivered the goods in style with a long-distance brace that condemned Birmingham to the Championship and left us all thinking, "Why can't you do that every week?"
This was a player who had sulked most of the season about not getting enough games. The manager in turn would routinely question his attitude and focus, only throwing him on late as a last resort. So was Pav's performance against Brum a show for the shop window or had he just pulled his finger out and saved his skin?
"When he is on form he is fantastic," said Redknapp afterwards. "I have been to France to watch players three times this week and I’m looking at them and thinking they’re not as good as Pav is."
The summer seemed to herald a new dawn for the Russian, the gaffer was blowing his trumpet and even Pav's agent was claiming, "Roman wants to stay in London. His heart belongs to Tottenham." Strange for an agent not to be pushing for a lucrative deal elsewhere, we thought.
They say you're only as good as your last game and, if the start to this season has been anything to go by, the maybe agent Oleg Artemov was desperate to trade on his client's Birmingham brace and secure a lucrative contract extension before Pav shattered the illusion in his next game.
Last night, Roman was arguably the most experienced pro on the field. The opposition was, to put it mildly, rubbish, and the stage was his to shine.
Needless to say, Soo-pah Pav missed two decent chances and was twice flagged offside and got himself booked just to top it off. The sight of Adebayor in the stands was a huge relief.
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