Mido exposes flaws in the Ramos revolution at Tottenham

Middlesbrough 2 Tottenham 1

No wonder Middlesbrough fans gloated at their rich London opponents' discomfort, with one burly fan summing up their joy as he yelled: 'Forty-six million and you can't even beat a bunch of lads.' How right he was.

On target: Middlesbrough's Mido celebrates scoring his sides second goal against Spurs.

Many of the Spurs supporters who made the 500-mile round-trip in expectation of a new dawn left long before the end, baffled and bewildered. They had watched in frustration as their smooth-passing team achieved nothing and vented their anger by booing the arrival of striker Dimitar Berbatov as a second-half substitute.

It is obvious that, until his situation is resolved, Tottenham cannot move forward and become the power in the game they believe is their right.

The sulky Bulgarian looked top class, even if he was not too interested in running himself into the ground for a club who pays his wages. But his partial involvement in the game only jeopardised Spurs' prospects.

Middlesbrough boss Gareth Southgate was delighted to see the Manchester United target on the bench at the kick-off. 'It was a relief. He's an outstanding player and it was a bonus for us that he wasn't playing,' he said.

Manager Juande Ramos chose to shed precious little light on the mystery. 'For the moment he is a Spurs player,' he said. 'We are happy with him as part of the squad. There's nothing to say.

'I decided to put him on the bench because we opted for Giovani dos Santos, as I thought that his speed would trouble Middlesbrough. However, as they tired we decided to throw him on. Do I want him to stay ? Of course, I love great players.'

But while he has a great player whose heart is not in the club, the glory, glory days will not be rushing back to White Hart Lane in the immediate future.

Some of their football yesterday was a joy to watch. Luka Modric is a genuine star, whose clever touches will light up the Premier League this season. But there was no cutting edge.

'We watched Spurs pre-season and no one pressed them or got at them', said Southgate. 'We had set ideas on where we were happy for them to have the ball and where we didn't want them to have it.'

Middlesbrough showed them how it should be done with goals of classic simplicity, exposing a defence that could be another worry as the season progresses.

After David Wheater had seen a first-half header ruled out by the referee Martin Atkinson, the defender had the last laugh by volleying in, after Afonso Alves's shot from Stewart Downing's cross had come back off the bar.

The irony of a local boy who cost nothing scoring against the moneymen of Spurs and being set up by a player in Downing that they had wanted to sign, was increased when Mido, a former favourite at the Lane, added a second late on.

Not even an injury-time goal, headed into his own net by Robert Huth from David Bentley's freekick, could salvage a miserable day for Spurs. Tottenham have a mess to sort out before they can start to be taken seriously. But they do play lovely football.