Saturday's visit to Portsmouth was remarkable in that each side fielded three players who were facing a former club. Most of the media hype had, of course, focused on Harry Redknapp's return to Fratton Park but in the event the manager got a relatively easy ride from the home fans, at least partially as a result of his having said all the right things prior to the match. Defoe, Kranjcar and Crouch (who suffered added abuse as an ex-Southampton forward) were not let off so lightly but, like the three former Spurs players in the Portsmouth line-up, all had a role to play in what was an exciting if not entirely comfortable victory.

Defoe made the biggest impression, scoring Spurs' second goal before being sent off for a petulant stamp on Aaron Mokoena. Redknapp was furious with his striker, saying that,

"I said it was a day for cool heads - don't react if you get fouled, just get on with the game. Don't start kicking people or over-reacting and I repeated that to him at half-time on four or five occasions and he did react and he disappointed himself and I was disappointed with that as well."

Defoe could have no complaint about the referee's decision to issue a straight red card, which now means that he misses the next three games, including a trip to Arsenal. (He justifiably could complain about Mokoena's laughable overacting.) The one consolation is that Defoe's enforced absence may present an opportunity for Roman Pavlyuchenko - although having said that, against Portsmouth the manager once again opted to start with Robbie Keane, who once again delivered a totally ineffectual performance. An hour had passed before Keane was replaced by Crouch, and England's two-goal hero in midweek showed why the substitution was long overdue, leading the line skillfully, especially after Defoe's dismissal.

As far as the ex-Spurs players in the Portsmouth team are concerned, it is hard to regret that they are no longer at White Hart Lane. Younes Kaboul was comprehensively beaten in the air by Ledley King for Spurs' opener, while Michael Brown's deficiencies were plain to see, not least in his last-minute sending off. Kevin-Prince Boateng was praised in some sections of the media after the game, which was a surprise given the crass immaturity of his performance. Portsmouth had twice as many attempts on goal as Spurs, but most of them were off-target and most of those were from the boot of Boateng. So anxious was he to prove that Spurs were wrong to let him go that he shot at every opportunity - including one ridiculous attempt from the half-way line - when his teammates were clearly better placed. His profligacy, allied to Dindane's ineptitude up front, was a major factor in Spurs taking all three points.

The result keeps Spurs in third, although it was not a convincing performance against the bottom club. The conventional wisdom says that the mark of a good side is that it grinds out results even when not playing particularly well. A somewhat sterner test of that theory awaits later this month at the Emirates Stadium.