Goalless, guileless and gormless

Manchester City 0 Tottenham Hotspur 0: The past-life sins of the 36,000 who paid entrance money must have been serious to merit this punishment.

Goalless, guileless, gormless, this was a game of sustained and tedious ineptitude. For those who believe in karma, this was Glenn Hoddle's revenge.

Ultimately it was not the heavy defeat for Spurs that it should have been and which would have left their fans with a dilemma had Hoddle still been in charge: whether to cheer the point that lifted them out of the bottom three, or despair at another performance that lacked heart or soul.

Had Hoddle been present the players could again have wallowed in the convenient excuse of not playing for their manager. That was the reaction after Manchester City easily did for Tottenham at White Hart Lane at the end of last season, a display regarded as an attempted coup d'etat by the players.

But Hoddle is gone now. Personal pride should kick in at such points, but even that minimum requirement was missed by all except Kasey Keller. This was the goalkeeper's point.

On this evidence, why anyone would want to succeed Hoddle is as pertinent a question as is the identity of their new manager. Potential recruits must surely have turned over, because this was look-away bad. Awful at the back, awful in midfield and awful up front, Tottenham were awful.

David Pleat, the caretaker manager, took comfort in the point without justifying the style of it. "Something to be said for resolution," he said, "technically we didn't play at all well."

He then avoided queries about his interest in the vacant position but stressed Tottenham remain "a big club, always in the news, great potential, can only go forward".

This match was the opposite of those "great advert for the game" cliches. City could have gone fourth had they won. There will still be people who insist that this is the best league in the world.

The dreadful tone was set in the first worthwhile attack, with Robbie Keane failing to control the ball in the six-yard box. City then set about showing they could be every bit as poor.

With Steve McManaman lonely in his invention, Paulo Wanchope (twice), Nicolas Anelka and Trevor Sinclair all missed first-half invitations to score. Keller also made a fine save from McManaman and Stephen Carr lashed an Anelka stab off the line.

"If it'd been a boxing match the ref would've stopped it at half-time," said a rueful Kevin Keegan. "I wouldn't say our finishing was woeful, that'd be a bit unkind. But we chose the wrong options. It was the most unlikely 0-0 I've ever seen but then, that's football."

That was kind. Cue the second half and, put through by Anelka again, Wanchope could have fallen under Dean Richards' rugby tackle but admirably kept going but his shot careered off Keller. Keegan must have thought "wrong option" once again.

It was a phrase everyone departing the stadium must have been muttering, though one wag said: "Did you have a bet on who wouldn't score first?"

MAN CITY: Seaman, Jihai, Sommeil, Distin, Tarnat, Wright-Phillips, Bosvelt, McManaman (Reyna 85), Sinclair (Sibierski 72), Wanchope (Fowler 76), Anelka. Subs Not Used: Weaver, Bischoff. Booked: Tarnat, Jihai.

TOTTENHAM: Keller, Carr, Richards, Gardner, Taricco, Anderton, Bunjevcevic (Ricketts 61), Poyet, Konchesky (Dalmat 78), Kanoute, Keane. Subs Not Used: Burch, Postiga, Doherty. Booked: Gardner.

Referee: N Barry (N Lincolnshire).