A fourth striker arrived in the form of 21-year-old Mido, as the club stuck to its policy of bringing in youngsters. As the dust is finally allowed to settle exciting times must surely lie ahead.
When Tottenham coach Martin Jol said he was confident about keeping his forwards happy, supporters weren’t anticipating the Dutchman to actually field three at the one time. But that’s exactly what he did as he aimed to excite Match of the Day viewers who had watched England's dismal performance three days earlier.
Jol’s attack-minded formation in the FA Cup replay date with West Brom saw Robbie Keane operating behind the front pairing of Jermain Defoe and Fredi Kanoute. Mido was ineligible to play. Jol, as a BBC panellist, had criticised Sven Goran Eriksson for playing Andy Johnson out of position against Holland, which made the visitor’s early domination all the harder to accept.
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Spurs were mostly ineffective as the Baggies benefitted from having an extra player in midfield. At half time Jol had no option but to adapt the formation with either Simon Davies or Pedro Mendes amongst his options on the bench. Davies got the call.
The oncoming Welshman, who had been on the brink of a January move to Everton, where the prospect of a place in the Champions League remains a realistic possibility, changed the complexion of Tottenham’s performance.
The decision to keep the winger bought by George Graham for £700,000 in January 2000 may have been down largely to the club’s unsuccessful bids for Wayne Routledge, but it has so far produced a positive response from Davies three-and-a-half games into his comeback.
"It was nice to know Tottenham turned down the bid flat and they still want me. I thought it was a fantastic offer (from Everton) considering that I haven’t played much for the last two years. Tottenham would have been within their rights to consider it.
"The fact they didn’t gives me a huge boost of confidence that they still want me here. I don’t want to leave. We’ve got a fantastic young squad and there are going to be great times ahead if we can all stay together. I want to be part of that," said Davies.
Keane was sacrificed to make way for Davies on Saturday. After turning down moves to Aston Villa or Goodison Park last month, the 24-year-old, signed by Glenn Hoddle in August 2002, is now just two goals away from matching his 12-goal total from last season.
However, despite the wealth of new talent at the club Keane believes Tottenham's only route into Europe this term would be to qualify as FA Cup winners.
"It takes time to adapt and although we have a great squad it’s probably a little bit too soon for us to be talking about qualifying for Europe.
"I don't see any reason why we can't get into Europe next year and for years after that," said Keane.