Dortmund 1-1 Tottenham

----------------Robinson---------------
Lee---Dawson---Davenport---A.Ekotto
Lennon----Jenas----Zokora----Murphy
----------Keane-----Berbatov----------

Goals
Spurs: Berbatov (43)
Dortmund: Frei (36)

Spurs: Robinson, Lee (Stalteri 62), Assou-Ekotto, Zokora (Huddlestone 76), Dawson, Davenport, Lennon (Defoe 57), Jenas (Ghaly 62), Berbatov (Routledge 75), Keane, Murphy (Ziegler 57). Subs: Cerny, Gardner.

Dortmund: Weidenfeller, Brzenska, Kehl, Kringe, Valdez, Pienaar, Frei, Dede, Metzeldwe, Kruska, Degen. Subs: Meier, Amedick, Amoah, Odonkor, Smolarek, Ricken, Sahin.

Berbatov goal link:
http://rapidshare.de/files/28290368/BerbatovGoal.avi

The penultimate game of preseason was a drab affair which probably raised more problems than solutions with two weeks of preparation remaining before the big kick off. Furthermore, those quandaries were not, for the most part, new ones. The problem of Jenas' team contribution once you remove his goals is certainly a long standing problem, and whilst the fact that that goal threat was not forthcoming in this game can be put down to the fact that this was only his second game of preseason, his poor defensive positioning and general reading of the game surely can not.

The lack of width on the left handside remains a problem. Murphy was deployed on the left of midfield, and turned in a decent performance by his Spurs standards, but as you'd expect this came by drifting centrally. With, the otherwise excellent, Assou-Ekotto seemingly reluctant to get forward, the left side was devoid of penetration, whilst Lennon's contribution on the right was to expertly identify several blind alleys and proceed down them at pace. It says a lot for the progress that Lennon needs to make on his final ball, that Routledge managed to provide more quality service into the box in his 14 minutes than Lennon managed in 57. Defenders this season will be well prepared to counteract Lennon's pace on the ball, so it is imperative that he adds more to his game if he is to overcome the 'difficult second season syndrome'. Thankfully, Lennon himself has already acknowledged this.

Lennon's return to the first team lead to a switch back to last season's 4-4-2/3-4-3 hybrid, from the 4-3-1-2 than Jol had favoured in the previous preseason games. That return lasted some twenty minutes. With Dortmund dominating the midfield, admittedly with little penetration, Jol was forced to revert to 4-3-1-2, with Lennon playing in the hole. The change brought about a slight improvement, but were it not for a brilliant individual goal that drew applause from his team mates by Berbatov, Spurs would have deservedly been behind at the interval to Alexander Frei's excellent free kick.

The second half was disjointed through numerous substitutions, with both teams only managing to create a couple of half chances to win the game. Paul Stalteri made a return after a couple of weeks out injured, and looked much more comfortable at rightback than Lee. I doubt that will have been enough to discourage those clamouring for Lee to be given that role permanently though. Stalteri is a target for a number of fans now, and the fact that he is both a very capable rightback and improvement on his predecessors Pamarot and Kelly, has not been enough to convince them that he deserves the chance to build on his first season in the Premiership.

This week's developments in the transfer market will probably give a greater insight into the kind of season Spurs fans can expect than this match will have. Wit this in mind, positivity can be drawn from the fact that the three signings, Berbatov, Assou-Ekotto and Zokora, that constitute the bulk of the club's transfer dealings this summer looked far more assured against Dortmund than the veterans of last season. If the three players who are probably needed to balance out the squad can be obtained, at this calibre, we can surely expect a season of real success.