The snag about football, as Keith Burkinshaw once mused from the White Hart Lane hot seat, is that Saturday always comes around.The previous weekend, Spurs had shipped five goals in the last 43 minutes to Chelsea. But the Liverpool of the mid-1980s, unlike the present-day Spurs, were a great team who required neither motivating nor castigating and were practically beyond coaching.Gross is reputedly full of self-belief. Gross repeatedly referred to “changements” and did not understand “collapse”, even though he had just witnessed another.Now a lack of communication skills does not preclude good management; Kenny Dalglish won the Double at a time when he needed sub-titles on television. It was just that the more Tottenham’s new Swiss- German coach talked, the more you feared for his prospects of surviving.

Phil Shaw

Coventry City 4
Tottenham Hotspur 0As clarion calls go, it was not exactly eve-of-Agincourt stuff. “Barnsley,” declared Christian Gross, looking ahead to Tottenham’s next six-pointer, “is a game we haven’t the right to lose.”You knew what he meant. Substitutes not used: Pedersen, Anderson, Valery, Fettis (gk).Referee: G Willard (Worthing)Bookings: Arsenal: Parlour, Adams, Bergkamp, Wright. Blackburn: Kenna, Croft, McKinlay, Hendry.Man of the match: Gallacher.Attendance: 38,147.. Substitutes not used: Bould, Anelka, Manninger (gk).Blackburn Rovers (4-4-2): Flowers; Kenna, Hendry, Henchoz, Croft; Ripley (Flitcroft, 68), Sherwood, McKinlay, Wilcox; Gallacher, Sutton. That’s something else for Wenger to think about.Goals: Overmars (16) 1-0; Wilcox (57) 1-1; Gallacher (65) 1-2; Sherwood (89) 1-3.Arsenal (4-4-2): Seaman; Dixon, Adams, Keown, Winterburn; Parlour (Vieira, 65), Platt (Boa Morte, 76 ), Petit, Overmars; Bergkamp, Wright. And no complaints from him about the intensity of English football.

“We had two wingers out there today and although they both work hard, we were, more, or less, playing 4-2-4 with the risk of being outnumbered in midfield. That was the reason for Arsenal’s goal, but once our players sorted that out we settled down nicely.”After his achievements abroad, Hodgson himself is settling down nicely in the Premiership. “Not much went for us at Old Trafford but a defeat like that can set a negative attitude in motion,” Blackburn’s manager said. The cross was nudged on by Chris Sutton and Wilcox drove Blackburn level.Kevin Gallacher’s goal, his 10th of the season, was a cracker. Taking Sutton’s flick wide of the stranded Adams, Gallacher whipped a volley into the top far corner.With Arsenal forced to gamble, Blackburn might have scored two more before Tim Sherwood rounded things off shortly after hitting the crossbar.When Blackburn lost heavily at Manchester United two weeks ago, Roy Hodgson knew how important it was to quickly restore confidence. First, David Platt gave the ball away, then Adams gifted it to Stuart Ripley.

As an example of how carelessness can bring a team down, Jason Wilcox’s equaliser was just about perfect. A fitful performance from Dennis Berg- kamp and not much of an overall contribution by Overmars, who still hasn’t proved himself as a creative influence in midfield.Once Arsenal’s defenders began to show their age under Blackburn’s intelligent counter-attacks there was only going to be one winner. Though they were a goal ahead in the 15th minute, when Marc Overmars took crafty advantage of uncertainty in Blackburn’s defence, it was soon pretty obvious that they weren’t going anywhere. On this performance you wouldn’t bet on Wenger’s team with someone else’s money.No wonder that Arsenal departed the scene to sounds of derision.