Miserable day for Harry as Lamela earns his Spurs

Tottenham 4 QPR 0

Well there is now a new ringmaster in charge at White Hart Lane and this could be the year Mauricio Pochettino takes the club back into the Champions League. Redknapp could only watch with envy as his former club made it a miserable afternoon for the Premier League new-boys and he could only dream of having the talent which is available to Pochettino – in particular Erik Lamela who was the star performer for the home side.

QPR were simply outclassed in the first-half and their new 3-5-2 formation was torn apart as goals from Eric Dier, Emmanuel Adebayor and a brace from Nacer Chadli helped the north London club go top of the Premier League.

All the build-up surrounded the return of Redknapp to North London for the first time since his shock dismissal two years ago.

“I have full respect for Harry. He’s an unbelievable manager,” Pochettino said.

“For me, we are in the beginning of my first season at Tottenham. At the moment we want to put in place our philosophy and always try to convince we can play in the way Tottenham plays in their history.

“It’s important to keep the reality and stay calm. If you lose two games, you are in danger. I was very nervous for 45 minutes. I think we played well. It’s the way we can play. We deserved this win.”

Pochettino has brought through some of the best young talent like Adam Lallana, Luke Shaw, Jay Rodriguez and Calum Chambers but it could now be the turn of Lamela to take the Premier League by storm.

Tottenham supporters have been used to seeing a star player down the left hand side in recent years fans and could not have imagined they would see anyone who could compare to Gareth Bale.

But, following a nightmare first season in English football, Lamela is finally starting to show the potential which saw Tottenham fork out a club record £30m deal to sign him last summer. The QPR defence, marshalled by the experienced Rio Ferdinand, simply had no answers for the Argentine forward and Pochettino hopes he can finally fulfil his true potential this season.

He added: “It’s true that he can improve a lot, but he’s still young. Always, for the players and young players arriving in different countries, different cultures, different football, it’s difficult to adapt. But he has all the skills and we’re very happy with him. He played a very good game.”

Redknapp felt his team played like a group of strangers but despite the crushing defeat, he has no plans to alter his new 3-5-2 formation which new first-team coach and Tottenham legend Glenn Hoddle was brought in to work with.

“I played this way for a whole season at Portsmouth, that system, and at West Ham years and years ago. It’s nothing new.”

If things were not bad enough, Redknapp seemed to annoy the QPR fans even more when he waved to the home contingent even though his team were 4-0 down and was booed by his own supporters. But Redknapp was adamant he didn’t know who was singing his name.

“I’m sitting there, watching the game, I hear them asking me to give them a wave. I don’t know which punters are sitting up there. What’s the big deal if I give them a wave?”

Tottenham got off to a dream start when they opened the scoring after just 12 minutes when Adebayor’s cross fell for Chadli who chested the ball down and lofted the ball over the advancing Robert Green into the back of the net.

Christian Eriksen was denied by the woodwork on 24 minutes, but Tottenham soon doubled their lead on the half hour mark.

Lamela’s corner picked out Dier who got in front of QPR’s new signing Leroy Fer and powered a close-range header past the strander Green into the corner of the net to make it two goals from his first two games.

If Redknapp thought things could not get any worse for his side in the opening 45 minutes, he was badly mistaken as Chadli grabbed his second of the game and made it three for Tottenham on 37 minutes.

Redknapp had to do something at half-time to stop the Tottenham onslaught and reverted to a back four with Nedum Onuoha replacing Richard Dunne. But the home side continued to create the best opportunities and Adebayor completed the rout in spectacular fashion when he made it four on 65 minutes.

The glory days could soon be returning to North London.

TOTTENHAM: Lloris 8; Dier 8, Vertonghen 8, Kaboul 8, Rose 8; Capoue 8, Bentaleb 8 (Dembele 59mins 7); Chadli 8 (Kane 68mins 7), Eriksen 8, Lamela 9; Adebayor 8 (Soldado 78mins 7).

QPR: Green 6; Dunne 6 (Onuoha 45mins 6), Ferdinand 6, Caulker 6; Isla 5, Barton 6, Mutch 5, Fer 5, Traore 6; Phillips 6 (Zamora 74mins 6), Remy 5.

Referee: A Taylor.