Bite Hart Lane

We all have learned a couple of things from Sunday’s match between Tottenham and West Ham at White Hart Lane. The first is that West Ham’s offense has no bite. The Hammers failed to score in their 1-0 loss and now have gone 668 minutes without a goal. Those Argentine signings could be playing in the Championship next season if their club continues at this pace.

The second thing we learned is to stay away from Jermain Defoe when he is hungry. The Tottenham striker has confessed to biting Javier Mascherano’s arm but is downplaying the seriousness of his action

“It doesn’t look great on TV and I accept that I have a responsibility to conduct myself in the right way.”

Defoe added: “When the West Ham player fouled me, I reacted in a bit of a mischievous way – my character is a little like that at times.”

Mischievous is certainly one way of describing the choice to bite your opponent. Childish, stupid and absurd are other adjectives that also come to mind.

Spurs boss Martin Jol sees it a different way, of course. He finds great humor in the notion that his player bit the opposition.

“He was nibbling his arm – there will be no mark. Ask Mascherano if he has got a mark,” said Jol.

“It is part of the game. They kicked him three times from behind in 10 minutes and he wanted to show his frustration in a nice, comical way.”

Somehow I don’t think the curmudgeons in the FA share Jol’s sense of humor, but the Tottenham striker might avoid further punishment because he was booked during the match and because they are busy ridding YouTube of Premiership highlights.

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Category: English Premier League