Craven Cottage Newsround

And so ends Ray Lewington’s interest in the manager’s job. His side were demolished by decent Spurs side today, a defeat that emphasises what an awful mess we find ourselves in.

Lewington went with a sensible 4-5-1, Kamara leading the line and Murphy sitting in front of the back four. Smertin was restored and Davis removed, with Seol replacing Bouazza on the left wing. None of these players had good games. The formation felt right, but Murphy, while constantly involved, had an uncharacteristically poor game as chief string puller. Smertin really struggled with the pace of things, and, as has been the case before, faded as time went on. Seol had an indifferent half and was replaced by Bouazza, who should never have lost his place in the first place. His introduction in the second half gave us some valuable spark. It made no difference, but with Bouazza you always feel that something could happen.

Also introduced at half time was Moritz Volz, on for the dizzied Chris Baird. Baird had been troubled by Malbranque and picked up an early yellow. A second seemed almost certain, so his substitution at the break made every sense. In a mean irony, Volz then was twice booked and saw red himself. Typical.

What a day then. It had started quite well with Lewington’s passing philosophy giving supporters plenty to enjoy early on. Dempsey hit an early piledriver that whistled over the bar, and the team passed the ball around quickly and accurately. Paul Konchesky seemed back to his best, and Davies in the midfield was having a good game. But amid this good spell Spurs took a lead; Malbranque’s drive flew past Niemi but thudded straight back off the post. Robbie Keane, alert as ever, passed the rebound into the empty net.

A second followed near to half-time: Huddlestone - who is not what you would call elusive - found himself in acres of space 25 yards out, and pinged a left-footed shot inside Niemi’s near post. The Finn appeared wrong-footed and did not dive.

This seemed to kill the game off, but hope was restored when Bouazza fired over a cross and Dempsey bundled home at the second attempt. Momentum was instantly lost though, as Keane knocked home from close range following a corner. 3-1.

Huddlestone fired another beyond Niemi’s stretch for four. We were falling apart.

Through all this we had seen the 4-5-1 become a 4-4-2, and then a sort of 3-5-2 as Healy joined the woeful Kamara up front and Dempsey dropped into midfield. Dempsey had another good game, but the weighting of his passes was dreadful today. He remains, however, our most threatening player by some distance, even when off form.

Volz’s second yellow, an uneccessary award following a clumsy challenge, saw the team having to reshuffle again. A fifth was tabled, but by then I had walked halfway up White Hart Lane to beat the traffic.

We’re in trouble.