The team sheet suggested one thing: goals. Southampton had both first-choice full-backs and their best two goalkeepers unavailable, while Mauricio Pochettino surprisingly opted for the error-prone Jos Hooiveld rather than José Fonte or Maya Yoshida at centre-back.

Tim Sherwood's first Premier League selection was even more startling: two centre-forwards, two attack-minded wide midfielders likely to cut inside, plus the playmaker Christian Eriksen and Mousa Dembélé, a mazy dribbler who has played as a forward, in the centre. "We're going to score one more than you," they suggested. Eventually they did.

Sherwood's selection had positive and negative consequences. Upfront, Emmanuel Adebayor and Roberto Soldado worked very effectively on their first start together. Against such a weakened backline putting continual pressure on Southampton was a logical approach, and both strikers worked the channels extremely well, drifting in behind the full-backs on the break, and pulling the centre-backs out of position. Soldado's movement was better than at any point under André Villas-Boas, and he had crossed dangerously for Adebayor even before the two combined excellently for the first goal.

Spurs tactics Photograph: Guardian

Without the ball, Adebayor dropped off into deeper positions to keep Spurs compact, and at some points in the second half both strikers played disciplined roles and prevented Southampton playing through the centre. The midfield, meanwhile, narrowed to compensate for the lack of numbers in the centre, inviting Saints to play through their reserve full-backs.Whether or not this was a deliberate approach from Sherwood, it worked nicely as Southampton's passing was noticeably poor throughout.

The downside to Sherwood's selection was that Tottenham conceded too much space between the lines. This was apparent from the opening moments, when Adam Lallana took up clever positions, and he opened the scoring when collecting the ball in space, turning, and firing home from the edge of the box.

Few Premier League playmakers use space as inventively as Lallana. He drifted laterally to find room behind Spurs' midfield, and was capable of playing through-balls from central positions, or hitting crosses when moving wide. Almost all of Southampton's good chances came from Lallana's advanced positioning including the brilliantly-worked second goal, scored by Rickie Lambert after Lallana's selfless cut-back left Hugo Lloris in no man's land. Tottenham will not get away with such an open system every week – but if Soldado and Adebayor demonstrate similarly good movement and continue to combine nicely, the 4-4-2 is workable. A holding midfielder, however, would not go amiss.