I don't know who is more dedicated, the handful of fans that went to Salonika, or me for getting up at 5am in the morning to watch the Tottenham reserves hang on to a deserved away draw with PAOK Salonika...? My vote goes to the away fans that braved a 28,000 strong crowd of intimidating shirtless Greeks that didn't stop singing all match, but I come a close second.
Harry has always said that the Europa League was not a priority, and I guess the early group stages are even less so, and this was reflected in a completely changed squad from last Saturdays win at Wolves. With the likes of Andros Townsend, Tom Carroll, Falque & Harry Kane lining up for a start, this was very much a second string team. I consider myself a reasonably knowledgable Spurs fan, but even I struggled to recognise the Tottenham bench of
Gomes, Stewart, Barthram, Fredericks, Nicholson, Pritchard, & Parrett....?? Still, as long as we didn't get tonked, any result away from home could be salvageable in the home leg, so I was not expecting too much.
As it was the game got off to a good start with some neat passing and control from the Spurs youngsters, and more importantly, some good periods of possession. We even had a couple of chances to press for the lead, particularly Townsend crossing in from the left, and Livermore made some progress down the right, cutting back inside and setting up Falque for a shot that was cleared off the line. Five minutes later, we had a 'nailed-on' penalty when Kane was brought down in the box, but the ref waved it away and even booked poor Harry for simulation....!
Missing out on a penalty at one end, Cudicini immediately gave away one at the other end, with an unecessary ankle tap on Athanasiadis. As is generally the case with Spurs, penalties are rarely straight-forward, and this was no exception. Lino stepped up and firmly planted the ball in the back of the net and wheeled away in celebration, only to find the Ref had blown up for encrouchment. Take two, and the striker out-thought himself by tryiong to go the other way and pushing the ball pash the right-hand upright. For once in a penalty situation, we came on top.
The rest of the first half of went by without too much incident. Pavlyuchenko went close from a free kick, but generally he squndered possession whenever he had it, and like Dos Santos, was rarely in the game. Half time came, and we looked comfortable, if somewhat unexciting.
The second half settled into a similar pattern, with the heat maybe playing a part in the slowing down of the game a touch. Pavlova wasted another couple of free kick opportunities, before handing over to Harry Kane to do the same. As the game wore on the Greek players started to come into the game and look a little more dangerous, with a couple of good efforts on the Tottemham goal. As the game entered the last few minutes, PAOK came on strong, and if it was not for the heroic of Cudicini, who must have save or deflected a handful of goal-bound shouts in injury time, we would have come away with nothing. But as it was, the youngsters survived their first out in Europe and came away with a creditable draw and a point in the bag.
My Player ratings: -
- Cudicini - 8.5 - Very strong, made some telling saves to earn the draw
- Bassong - 6.5 - Solid defensive duties done well
- Corluka - 6.5 - Looked well in control
- Walker - 6.0 - Lots of industry, not a lot of results
- Livermore - 6.0 - A bit anonimous in the midfield
- Townsend - 7.5 - Very lively on the left, some great runs and crosses
- Carroll - 7.0 - Classy player, great skills, need to get forward more
- Pavlova- 5.5 - More of a pudding than a striker
- Giovani - 5.5 - Played too deep and never really made any impression
- Parrett - 6.0 - Not given enough time to do anything
- Falque - 6.5 - Looked good in the first half, faded in the second
- Fredericks - 6.0 - Had some good touched in the few minutes he was on
- Kane - 6.5 - Another classy player in the making, good showing from the 18 year old
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