So who next? Michael Carrick? Sol Campbell maybe? Or perhaps Darren Anderton could be persuaded to come out of retirement.

With the return of Defoe, Chimbonda and now Robbie Keane, it would seem that no-one can bear to be parted from Tottenham Hotspur. Keane’s deadline day signing is the most high-profile of the three and, in some ways, the most puzzling. The player is well-liked by the fans, is a proven Premier League goalscorer and no doubt will be, as Harry Redknapp has said, a positive influence in the dressing room.

Yet while Keane’s move has generated a lot of excitement at White Hart Lane, it may not be universally welcomed – especially by one Mr. Jermain Defoe. Assuming that Redknapp will look to play mostly 4-4-2 for the remainder of the season, then presumably Keane and Defoe are now in competition for a starting place alongside Pavlyuchenko or Bent. In the same way that the latter two cannot – or so we are told – play together, Defoe and Keane looks like an equally mismatched striking partnership. Even if Redknapp were to persist with the largely unsuccessful 4-5-1 formation, then Keane’s inclusion behind a lone striker has implications for Luka Modric. Had Defoe not suffered an injury – which is going to keep him out for at least several weeks – it would be have been interesting to see whether or not Keane would have been back at the club. Certainly the deal looks attractive from an accounting perspective and helps balance out the money lost on Defoe’s transfer, yet the wisdom of it needs to be proved on the pitch. Redknapp has complained about inheriting an imbalanced squad, crammed with players bought by Damien Comolli with apparently little regard as to how they would fit together as a unit. Hopefully the manager has a defined role in mind for Keane long-term, since the Irishman no doubt has had his fill of warming the bench. Once Defoe is back to fitness, that is not a position he will relish either.

That reservation aside, there is no doubt that Spurs can use all the help they can get in terms of putting the ball in the net. Darren Bent may have scored twice against Bolton, but his ascendancy in the goalscoring charts belies his considerable limitations. Pascal Chimbonda set up the first goal with an inch-perfect pass to Bent on the six-yard line, yet he almost contrived to make another howler, swinging with one leg and somehow deflecting the ball in off the other. His work rate remains unsatisfactory, although that particular complaint could be made, week-in, week-out, against a number of other players. After a bright start on Saturday, Bentley once again reverted to type, the nadir being reached when Kevin Davies scored Bolton’s winner with a near-post header – the post that Bentley was “guarding”.

Harry Redknapp was clearly watching a different game than the fans when he observed that Spurs “dominated proceedings”. The defeat was particularly troubling since Bolton are a poor side, who prior to the match had taken 11 points out of a possible 33 at the Reebok. With the obviously winnable games getting thinner on the ground and £43 million now spent during the transfer window, the idea of relegation doesn’t bear thinking about.