Here we are again: another entry and another massive emotional contrast to the last one. It's probably getting boring to read and it's certainly heart-rending to write about.

I wrote in my previous entry that we needed to maintain the momentum built up by wins over West Ham and Liverpool by getting something against Tottenham. It turns out we didn't even get a performance. Although we actually managed more shots than Spurs the only one that went in was an offside effort from Tuncay, and a defence that I have been praising for its solidity was smashed to pieces by Robbie Keane, Aaron Lennon and the other members of Spurs' ludicrously expensive forward line. It was, in short, a capitulation.

The fan reaction has been a mixture of disappointment and anger. We've seen Boro take apart the Top Four one weekend only to be similarly dismantled by a lower level team the next for years now, and whenever it happens we're always reminded that the quality is there but the mental aptitude clearly isn't. A lot of people are angry because the complacency I warned against in the last article seems to have set in regardless of our position within the relegation zone.

This defeat is even more painful than usual not only because it was a kick in the teeth of optimism or because of how heavy it was, but because we lost to Spurs. Us Boro fans, if you'll excuse the vernacular, don't half hate Spurs. The club is obnoxious enough in its own right, with its huge yet largely impotent cash outlay every single transfer window, the arrogance of the fans towards clubs like Boro and their general pretensions of being a "big club", but we have more reason to despise them than most due to their constant attempts to steal Stewart Downing from us.

Every time the transfer window opens the papers are full of "Downing to Spurs" speculation, and the London club have tried to unsettle him in the past by putting in pitiful cash offers just to make him aware of their intentions. The England winger could very well have turned out against us on Wednesday night if things had gone differently back in January, and there's a good chance Downing will follow Jonathon Woodgate down to White Hart Lane in the summer, whether we stay in the Premiership or not. These transfer tactics are even more riling due to their massive hypocrisy. You may remember that Tottenham complained extensively in the press in the summer about Manchester United supposedly "tapping up" Dimitar Berbatov, which didn't go down well up at Teesside. I personally was cheering Man United all the way in their Carling Cup victory over Spurs on Sunday, and I probably wasn't the only Boro fan.

Tottenham's 4-0 demolition job showcased a few of these complaints in the flesh. While we spent January keeping our best players from the clutches of teams like Spurs, they went out and spent another £30million on players, even though they've no chance of silverware or European football this season due to persistent underachievement and their inability to score penalties. It was the attacking talent that made the difference on Wednesday night. Aaron Lennon may be a youth product, but Robbie Keane, Luka Modric and Roman Pavlyuchenko alone cost around £40million, and our main error was giving that much talent the space and freedom to show their class. Robert Huth had a shocker and was substituted at half time, but we were too open everywhere. We missed Didier Digard's tough-tackling, energetic presence in midfield. Liverpool had little attacking presence and West Ham were missing Craig Bellamy and a fit Carlton Cole so we got away with his absence, but Spurs had far too much attacking talent for makeshift replacement Matthew Bates to cope with.

Gareth Southgate stuck with a winning team, but with hindsight he should have set us up to stifle Spurs. We didn't press them enough and they had far too much possession. This was a team that had played 120 minutes on Sunday evening, but they weren't made to work hard to keep the ball. Of course, luck played its part- we were unlucky on occasions while everything went right for Spurs- but you don't lose 4-0 because of luck. Southgate admitted our error was to let better footballers do their stuff, but it was his job to stop that happening in the first place.

The best thing to do would be to learn from our mistakes and put this result behind us as quickly as possible. Everton are up next in the FA Cup and that will be a very different game to this one. As I've mentioned before, our cup form has been consistently better than our league form, so we could still spring a shock at Goodison Park. Everton were really uninspiring against Blackburn Rovers, even with a proper striker in the shape of Jo. They haven't looked nearly as creative since Arteta was injured and Tim Cahill is their only really scary player still fit. With this in mind we could see a really drab match on Sunday and quite possibly another replay. I wouldn't bet against a 0-0 draw, although another replay will be really testing. We're playing Saturday-Wednesday-Saturday as much as any Champion's League side right now, and it's going to take its toll before long.

Then again, who knows? With the current mood swings this team are inspiring amongst the Boro faithful, we could well be celebrating an FA Cup semi final place on Monday. The way this season's been going, it really wouldn't surprise me at all. I'll see you then.