For a third of this match Tottenham Hotspur stroked the ball around in style and played with swagger and purpose, but as a perfect snapshot of their season, the remainder threw up the same old issues. How could a team so dominant and with so much quality stop playing? When will Dimitar Berbatov stop having tantrums? Does Pascal Chimbonda have a left foot?

Juande Ramos, the head coach, must be counting the days until he can start shaking up his squad and his summer’s work will be intriguing. The opening half an hour showed the potential that Ramos, whose team have won three out of nine matches since their victory in the Carling Cup final in February, has at his disposal, but after that they demonstrated why they are in the bottom half of the table and 11 points below Blackburn Rovers.

Jermaine Jenas, the Tottenham midfield player, preferred to look on the positive side and said: “The football we played was encouraging. It was entertaining, free-flowing, but sometimes we need that cutting edge or killer instinct to put games to bed. It’s not been a bad season with the Carling Cup win, but we know we can improve on where we are in the league.”

Tottenham took the lead in the seventh minute after good movement and one-touch passing resulted in the impressive Steed Malbranque setting up Jenas in the area, with the England player squaring the ball for Berbatov to score his 22nd goal of the season.

The Bulgaria striker had two opportunities shortly after and then Blackburn equalised just before the half-hour. Tottenham forgot what was working and Berbatov, waving his arms regularly, earned a ticking-off from Robbie Keane, his captain.

Chimbonda made the key error when he failed to block a sweeping pass from Steven Reid, giving David Bentley the chance to move in on goal and cut the ball back for Morten Gamst Pedersen to sweep the ball past Radek Cerny, who was playing in goal in the place of Paul Robinson, who was out through injury.

Shortly after the interval, Brad Friedel pulled off decent saves from Berbatov and Malbranque and Blackburn had a late penalty appeal turned down after Bentley ran into Gilberto, leaving them behind Aston Villa in the race for the Intertoto Cup place.

Mark Hughes, the manager, thinks that European football is key. “We are always talking about European football and if we don’t achieve it people get disappointed,” he said.

Blackburn Rovers (4-4-2): B Friedel 8 – A Ooijer 5 (sub: B Emerton, 46min 6), R Nelsen 7, C Samba 5, S Warnock 6 – D Bentley 7, J Vogel 5, S Reid 8 (sub: A Mokoena, 86), M G Pedersen 7 (sub: B McCarthy, 73) – R Santa Cruz 6, J Roberts 6. Substitutes not used: J Brown, M Derbyshire. Next: Liverpool (a).

Tottenham Hotspur (4-4-2): R Cerny 6 – A Hutton 7, M Dawson 6, J Woodgate 6, P Chimbonda 4 (sub: Gilberto, 72) – A Lennon 6, J Jenas 7, D Zokora 5, S Malbranque 8 (sub: T Huddlestone, 72) – D Berbatov 6, R Keane 6 (sub: D Bent, 78). Substitutes not used: T Forecast, T Tainio. Next: Middlesbrough (h).