Tottenham 1-2 Sunderland, unlucky Modric

Unfortunately for the Spurs fans, the second game of the season resulted in a second loss as well. This was in large part thanks to Sunderland ’star of the day’ Djibril Cisse. He scored the winning goal at the 83th minute with a header. Earlier Tottenham Hotspur managed to draw level after Luka Modric, fed by Jermaine Jenas, had a long shot blocked but showed class in accelerating to the rebound, dribbling past two men in the box and trying again, but this time - despite Gordon’s parry - Jenas was on hand to score.

Middlesbrough 2-1 Tottenham

Unfortunately for Tottenham Hotspur, Middlesbrough beat them 2-1 in their opening game of the 2008-09 Premiership.

The new signings David Bentley, Giovani Dos Santos and Luka Modric showed some individual brilliance, but they failed to click together, while Aaron Lennon was work hard but didn’t yield the desired result yet either. However after they will have played a few games, that will get the opportunity to glue together, don’t forget this is almost a whole new team!

Middlesbrough: Brad Jones, Andrew Taylor, Gary O’Neill, Emanuel Pogatetz, Jeremie Aliadiere, Afonso Alves (Mido 83), Robert Huth, Mohamed Shawky, Tuncay Sanli (Didier Digard 72), Stewart Downing, David Wheater.

Tottenham: Heurelho Gomes, Didier Zokora, Benoit Assou-Ekotto (Jamie O’Hara 77), Michael Dawson, Jonathan Woodgate, Aaron Lennon (Gareth Bale 66), Jermaine Jenas, Luka Modric, Giovani dos Santos (Dimitar Berbatov 65), David Bentley, Darren Bent.