Stars marked absent as Tottenham crash
Unfortunately for Harry Redknapp, Keane was nursing an injury as Tottenham plummeted back down to earth following their Champions League heroics against Inter.
After damaging his ankle in training on the eve of game, Keane was nowhere to be seen at the Reebok Stadium.
Yet there were 11 other Tottenham players missing as well as the team that won an army of new admirers for the stylish way they saw off Inter Milan four days earlier made Bolton look like world beaters.
Having taken all the plaudits after their wonderful performance against the Serie A giants, the likes of Alan Hutton, Younes Kaboul, William Gallas, Luka Modric, Peter Crouch and Benoit Assou-Ekotto were left asking themselves some searching questions on the journey back south.
Questions like: Will the Champions League campaign detract from their goal of finishing in the top four for a second straight season?
There is no doubt there were some tired legs on show yet this was the first time they had lost immediately after a Champions League group game.
Indeed, before the weekend, Tottenham had more points than north London rivals Arsenal in games played immediately after European group games.
But with all due respect to Bolton, Redknapp will have hoped for more from his players against a side which had won just one of their previous eight league outings.
And what of Gareth Bale, the 21-year-old who destroyed Inter in London and scored a hat-trick against them in the San Siro?
If Bale was wondering how his scintillating performance against the Italians had gone down with the rest of the Premier League, he did not have to wait long at the Reebok Stadium.
With barely five minutes on the clock, Gretar Steinsson left Tottenham’s man-of-the-moment writhing in agony after a challenge that screamed ‘don’t you dare make me look foolish, like you did Maicon’.
You could understand where Bolton’s Icelandic full-back was coming from.
After all, Steinsson had made the fatal mistake of watching Bale on television torment Maicon, one of the world’s best right-backs, as Tottenham scaled new heights to defeat the reigning European champions on a glorious White Hart Lane night.
That ought to have left Bolton’s former AZ Alkmaar defender quaking in his boots. Instead, it had the opposite effect as Steinsson inspired his side to a victory that was greeted with as much enthusiasm by the home fans as Tottenham’s supporters had celebrated their team’s triumph over Inter Milan.
“I have never received so many texts before a game, telling me to rest up,’’ Steinsson said. “I have played against Gareth before and he is a fantastic player and he has got a bright future in front of him.
“But I tried not to analyse it too much because if you do that then it just gets in your head. I just had a really good chicken korma and relaxed on the eve of the game. That helped me.’’
With Kevin Davies putting in another excellent shift in front of Fabio Capello ahead of England’s friendly with France on November 17, Bolton were able to make their opponents look very ordinary.
It was Davies who opened the scoring in an offside position, but there was nothing controversial about Steinsson’s finish which doubled the lead shortly after half time.
Assou-Ekotto summed up a miserable day for the visitors by fouling Chung-Yong Lee which allowed Davies to make it 3-0 from the penalty spot before goals by Hutton and substitute Roman Pavlyuchenko, who scored the goal of the game, set up a grandstand finish.
However Martin Petrov restored Bolton’s two-goal cushion deep into stoppage time.
“I didn’t know Fabio Capello was here until afterwards, but I have said before I have been in one squad and I’d like to be another one,’’ Davies, who started the day with two goals, said after doubling his tally.
“When you’re out there, there are so many split decisions to make, you don’t get a chance to think ‘what’s Fabio going to think?’ The game is so intense, you don’t have time.’’
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