Defoe stunned by Santini

Santini is almost certainly waiting for the return of Simon Davies before deciding whether to axe Redknapp and hand the captaincy to Noureddine Naybet or Ledley King.

Santini surprisingly opted to axe teenage right-back Phil Ifil and give Noe Pamarot his Premiership debut and he chose to leave new £2.75million signing Michael Carrick out of his chosen sixteen.

The 25-year-old tough tackling defender from Nice took time to settle but looks as though he will be a fine addition to the side.

Together with Erik Edman, the impressive Sean Davis, Thimothee Atouba and Pedro Mendes, Spurs now possess a side full of energy, guile and movement.

After going behind to a Zoltan Gera goal in the third minute, the Spurs of last year would have capitulated.

But there is a fresh resolve and creative air now and they took the game to Albion and their reward was Defoe's leveller.

It was a fine drive from 20 yards, although Russell Hoult was at fault as the ball squeezed under his gloves much to the disgust of a disappointed West Brom manager Gary Megson, who said: "He is disappointed and he has held his hands up and apologised, but it was an awful goal to give away all round.

"Neil Clement gave the ball away, allowing Defoe to drop into the area Neil had vacated and it allows the lad to turn, run and shoot, and Houlty makes a complete hash of it."

Santini, whose side play Birmingham on Saturday, said: "I am happy with Jermain's performance but he had a hard match at Newcastle and was a little tired and we have another tough game on Saturday against Birmingham.

"As for Carrick, I do not know his fitness level and I have been very happy with the midfield in the games we have played. We have ten months of the Premiership plus cup competitions to go, so he will get his chance.

"Pamarot did very well and I saw him play for Nice against big teams last season. Since Stephen Carr left for Newcastle, we have needed a rightback and I think he is the right player.

"We had two or three good chances to win the game and in the end it was a good point for us."