For Tottenham the rot has stopped and that for now is perhaps the most important thing. After three successive league defeats, culminating in the embarrassment at Arsenal last week, any win is a good win – this one delivered when Matt Targett turned the ball into his own net under pressure from Lucas Moura. But, the result aside, this was an uneven performance in a game that lacked consistent quality, particularly before half-time, with the occasional poverty of the football highlighted by the grandeur of the stage.
There were flickerings of promise. Oliver Skipp continues to grow into a role at the back of midfield. Harry Kane, dropping deep far less than he has recently, nearly caught Emiliano Martínez out with an opportunistic free-kick. Son Heung-min looks as lively as ever. But still it’s hard to avoid the feeling that this is a team nowhere near as good as the stadium in which it plays. There remains an element of Florence Foster Jenkins at Carnegie Hall about this Spurs.