Merely going from bad to worse would be too simple for Tottenham Hotspur. They go from great to horrible in the space of a summer, the width of a match. These chameleons can cloak themselves in the colours of a top-four team or a bottom-four one in quick succession.

The Barclays Premier League table says that Juande Ramos’s team are sixteenth. Birmingham, meanwhile, have risen to twelfth, although this was one of those occasions when performance and result are strangers. “I didn’t think it was fair,” the Tottenham head coach said. “We were much the better side.”

This was, briefly, a Tottenham second-half comeback as stirring as last Thursday’s 3-2 victory over Aalborg in the Uefa Cup. But, just as Birmingham cannot expect a heady brew of hard work, dubious refereeing decisions and stunning goals to compensate for their lack of top-flight quality every week, neither can Tottenham hope to progress with such a porous back line.

Ramos must wait until the January sales before he can do something about that. Perhaps figuring in the meantime that attack is the best form of obscuring Tottenham’s deficient defence, he began with three strikers, Robbie Keane operating in an advanced midfield role behind Dimitar Berbatov and Darren Bent. It was the first time since the second game of the season that the trio started together.

Ramos has banned his squad from eating junk food, though junk refereeing is out of his control. Midway through the first half, Phil Dowd contentiously pointed to the spot when Gary McSheffrey was tripped by Younès Kaboul. No doubt there was contact, plenty of doubt whether McSheffrey fell too easily. Paul Robinson dived to his left, McSheffrey’s penalty was down the middle, Birmingham had an undeserved lead and Alex McLeish, their new manager, clenched his fist in a style right out of the Tim Henman school of repressed aggression. The flow of the game – constant Tottenham attacking – did not alter one iota.

Foul aside, Kaboul had been virtually unemployed in the first half, but Ramos had seen enough and withdrew him at half-time, bringing on Tom Huddlestone and sending Didier Zokora into central defence. It was a calculated risk and it worked brilliantly, as Birmingham were breached less than four minutes into the second period. Johan Djourou, on loan from Arsenal, crassly fouled Berbatov and Keane converted the penalty. Less than five minutes later, Tottenham were ahead. Huddlestone deftly sand-wedged the ball into the area for the onrushing Keane, who volleyed in.

With the visiting team in chaos and Tottenham rampant, another goal seemed certain. One duly arrived – but for Birmingham, Cameron Jerome lashing in a low shot from the edge of the area after 62 minutes.

Frustrating? Keane must have felt so, since six minutes later he foolishly lunged at Fabrice Muamba just outside the Birmingham penalty area and was dismissed. It was a harsh red card.

Tottenham continued to threaten despite Keane’s dismissal and the departure through injury of Gareth Bale, who will have a scan on his right ankle today. Having absorbed so much pressure, Birmingham smelt late blood.

Two substitutes combined for the visiting team. Olivier Kapo smashed the ball across the face of goal and Mikael Forssell, inside the six-yard box, volleyed on to the bar and over. Then Robinson made a fine save from Kapo.

After Djourou’s gift from the Gunners, the more familiar smack in the mouth: Sebastian Larsson, a former Arsenal player, hit a screaming winner from over 30 yards deep into injury time.

Following your first defeat in charge of Tottenham and in such painful circumstances, Juande, how do you move on? “With complete normality,” he said. Nice try. Nothing about Tottenham is normal.

How they rated

Tottenham (4-3-1-2) P Robinson 6 P Chimbonda 6 M Dawson 5 Y Kaboul 4 G Bale 7 A Lennon 7 D Zokora 5 S Malbranque 6 R Keane R 7 D Berbatov 6 D Bent 6 Substitutes J Defoe 6 (for Bent, 46min), T Huddlestone 6 (for Kaboul, 46), Lee Young Pyo (for Bale, 75) Not used R Cerny, K-P Boateng

Birmingham (4-4-1-1) Maik Taylor 6 S Kelly 6 J Djourou 5 L Ridgewell 6 R Schmitz Y 5 D de Ridder 6 F Muamba 6 M Nafti 5 G McSheffrey 5 S Larsson 5 C Jerome 6 Substitutes S Parnaby 6 (for Schmitz, 62min), M Forssell 5 (for De Ridder, 66), O Kapo (for McSheffrey, 78) Not used C Doyle, G O’Connor

Referee P Dowd
Attendance 35,635