Krul result is no need for Spurs to hit the alarm button, yet

MAN the lifeboats, pull the emergency cord and take up your allotted panic stations immediately.

Spurs have lost at home again and no matter the performance, the number of chances or the opposition keeper, we must be at crisis point.

Why? Because this is what football fans do.

In the grand scheme of things, Spurs lost 1-0 to Newcastle and are three points off second place but you would be forgiven for thinking the banks had crashed.

The frustrated and popular outcry is that this profligacy in front of goal can not go on and something has to change.

And those clean-and-efficient 1-0 victories that started our season are now being painted as a barren wasteland of goal-starved good-fortune.

Those who praised the arrival of Roberto Soldado are screaming for Jermain Defoe, and even Emmanuel Adebayor, to get a chance.

This is despite the fact that everyone spent last season panning Manu's attitude, and despite the fact that Defoe scores for fun until he reaches the Premier League squad and, as against West Ham, he curls up in a ball like a hedgehog.

The nail-biters do have one thing right, this can't go on. But change is not the way forward, change is the cause - patience is the way forward.

Spurs' display in the first half against the Toon was nervy, reserved and verging on impotent - certainly lacking verve and urgency.

But the second half was driven and creative with an abundance of well-worked chances that either weren't finished well enough or somehow clipped Tim Krul's outstretched appendages and bounced clear.

We had 31 shots. 

Some of those we're a waste of time, possession and ticket/Sky TV money.

But some - like Soldado's first-half header from a Christian Eriksen free-kick, Jan Vertonghen's header that rattled the woodwork, and the clever Townsend-Soldado-Defoe move that led to Paulinho's must-score chance late on - were inspired.

In flashes- albeit all too rare - Spurs' football is a joy to watch. It just needs an end product. The longer these players play together, the better it will get and the goals are bound to come. 

If they don't, and come christmas we're languishing around 14th, then panic permits will be issued.

But this is an unpredictable season where anyone can beat anyone at anytime. Newcastle, more than anyone, have proved that.

We just hope the performances in front of goal turn before the fans do.

Spurs v Sheriff is more important than some think

TONIGHT is the very reason many folk question the size and worth of the Europa League. 

Spurs host not-quite-Moldovan FC Sheriff in their fourth consecutive game against European minnows having already clocked up three straightforward victories and heaven knows how many air miles.

The crowds will start dwindling as fans realise they only need to work out the channel number for ITV4 in order to watch it at home with a beer (UEFA rules prevent sale of alcohol in the ground for Euro games).

But, regardless of your take on Europe's second tier, it's nights like this that can ultimately help us towards sustaining a Premier League challenge.

That sounds bonkers, but bare with us... after the 3-0 defeat at home to West Ham, Mousa Dembele highlighted the importance of raising our performances for the "small games".

Bad choice of words, but he's right.

It's all very well if we can go out and hold Chelsea to a draw or beat Manchester United but if the first team is not motivated for every single game, no matter how easy it is on paper, then there is no point in fighting on four fronts for trophies.

Even the Champions League can be a squad-juggling exercise as clubs play a similar number of games to us.

So if that is our aspiration, we need to be well used to the workload. 

But most importantly, our football is nothing like the finished article just yet. Any chance to refine it in a real-match scenario should be welcomed.

While AVB tries to get the new players used to his ideas, it is vital that games like tonight are treated the same as any others, so that his controlling style becomes second nature.

There is also a fair bit at stake tonight. Jermain Defoe can break Martin Chicers' Euro goals record and we can make the knockout stage with a win - and that should all be ample motivation to see off Sheriff.

Will AVB's comments come home to roost?

ANDRE VILLAS-BOAS last week pointed a finger at Spurs fans claiming the tense atmosphere made it easier to play away from home.

The fans upped the ante for the repeat fixture against Hull in the League Cup on Wednesday but it made very little difference. 

While we took an early lead, the team again sat back and found themselves having to come from behind to draw before winning 8-7 on penalties.

We face Everton this afternoon and Spurs fans are all hoping that AVB's chickens aren't about to come home for a good roosting session.

Whatever happens at Goodison Park, it shouldn't be seen as make or break - we don't have a particularly good record up there lately anyway.

But after two unconvincing displays at White Hart Lane and AVB's verbal rocket still ringing, a lot of supporters will be thinking, "Come on then, show us what you can do away from home."

And it hardly helps that Arsenal are sitting pretty five-points clear at the top when many of us were swept away in the "shift-of-power" talk at the start of the season.

New Toffees boss Roberto Martinez likes his teams to attack, so at least we should not come up against a 6-4-0 wall of defenders.

Even penalties have a habit of deserting us at Everton, although at least now we seem to have a team that's more than capable of taking them!