Tottenham put on a lovely footballing display this afternoon, their best stuff in the first half when they moved the ball around the pitch with ease, linking through van der Vaart and even getting peripheral winger David Bentley in on a good amount of the action.

The game ended in a draw and should’ve really gone to Spurs. Of particular interest were Bale’s lack of accuracy serving the ball from the wing (he needs more consistently excellent play before he can rightly be called one of the best wings in the world), and the amount of time the home side spent moving up the right wing, through the oil-coiffed Bentley.

I hadn’t seen Bentley in a long while. I’d forgotten about him in fact. The last time I think was 2007, he had just fallen over after having the ball swept away from him, and he stood up to adjust his hair before trotting back to look for an outlet pass. I was flabbergasted. Shouldn’t a professional athlete be prepared for the rigors of the game, and apply a sufficient amount of styling gel to keep his hair in place throughout the match? For shame.

No such acts of vanity today (at least not on the pitch, something must’ve happened in the dressing room to achieve the evening’s look). Bentley looked sharp, playing intelligent balls that kept up the pressure on Sunderland’s rearguard, and his set pieces suggest that he hasn’t lost much in terms of accuracy. Bale on the left, Bentley on the right, all’s well that ends well — in that they didn’t lose…