Spurs line-up: Gomes; Walker; Livermore; Bassong; Rose; Lennon (Modric); Sandro(Kaboul); Carroll; Dos Santos(Assou-Ekotto); Defoe: Pavlyuchenko
‘From Russia with love’
Roman Pavlyuchenko reclaimed his SuperPav tag, even if only for tonight, with a rocket-like free kick that was enough to claim the win for Spurs. Only 24,058 were at The Lane and in all honesty there was little to convince those that stayed home to fork out for PAOK’s visit next month. Spurs were on top for the first half but lacked any real cutting edge, which continued throughout.
Rubin offered little real threat either in the first period and no one could argue that Spurs had just about edged it and deservedly lead at the break. Pavlyuchenko’s strike came after a run by Danny Rose, raiding from left back, was halted illegally. As Pav lined up the kick, based on his previous from dead balls this season, those around me in the Park Lane got ready to duck. However the Russian showed what he is capable of from 20 yards as he leathered the ball into the postage stamp, leaving the keeper with no chance. Spurs other full back, Kyle Walker, played a key role in covering the keepers line of sight but the ferocity of the shot meant he’d have had no chance anyway.
Pav’s celebration was a joyous one although it would be easy for a cynic to think that he was also happy to have impressed a rich Russian club who may offer him a way home.
Jermain Defoe – who was otherwise anonymous – and Pavlyuchenko both had efforts that went close while Spurs makeshift back four performed admirably in ensuring Gomes had a quiet 45 minutes.
After the break Rubin came more into the game as Spurs tempo dropped. Spurs attacking threat wasn’t helped by a lack of width. Twenty minutes into the game Lennon and Dos Santos had switched wings and this continued into the second half. This led to both always cutting inside and narrowing the pitch. This clearly didn’t help young Tom Carroll. He showed the occasional glimpse of his talent but was too often wasteful in possession. No doubt the boy can pass but he was far too keen to go for the showbiz when easier options were available.
After his quiet first half Gomes seemed to want to liven things up by having a couple of nerve shattering (mine, not his) comedy moments but to his credit also pulled off a couple of good saves. As the half wore on Rubin seemed more and more likely to equalise. Harry Redknapp clearly felt this also and made the right move in bringing Kaboul and Modric on for the tiring Lennon and Sandro, both coming back from injury. Kabouls introduction allowed Jake Livermore to resume more familiar duties in midfield alongside Modric. Kaboul justified his growing reputation with three or four crucial blocks and tackles. It was in fact a good night for all of the Spurs defence, Walker was again strong and Bassong had arguably his best game of the season. Rose did well at left back, while Assou-Ekotto was cool as ice after coming on for Dos Santos who had a quiet game.
Redknapp will undoubtedly be happy with the 3 points and a clean sheet against the strongest team in the group. He’ll also be happy that Spurs seem to have developed a knack of getting points from games where the team isn’t firing on all cylinders. However, the Spurs faithful are demanding, wins are great but we want a bit more excitement to go with them! Daniel Levy might also want more thrills and spills to get ticket sales flowing for future Europa League nights!
COYS
Stuart Watts
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Little harsh on Carroll there. I Thought he was our man of the match. for such a young lad he played a fairly mature game tonight and also produced one or two lovely flicks and tricks which worked well. I also thought his positional sense was superb, often tracking back well and shielding the back 4. He was no more wasteful than Modric when he came on.
If I’d said he was rubbish it would have been harsh, just think he needs to work on his decision making. He’s clearly very talented and did indeed work hard tonight, but he definitely gave the ball away too much when easier options were on. As I said though much of that may have been due to Gio/Lennon drifting in and reducing his options. And agree that he wasn’t the only one to give up possession too easily.
Carroll was indeed our Man of the Match. I couldn’t disagree more with the statement that his decision making was poor last night and he gave the ball away too many times. What game were you watching? He got better and better as the game went on.
If you said this in relation to Lennon or Dos Santos then I would agree, Dos Santos in particular was woeful. Walker was very poor in the last 15 minutes, no mention of him almost gifting them a goal? That said, he was excellent up until then.
Have to say, Carroll had a good game, some neat passing, flicks etc.. Showed he has a level of vision which can not be trained.. Some players have it, some do not. But watch the whole game again. Time after time after time after time, our midfield, especially centrally, we failed to just hold the ball, gifting the ball back to them in inviting positions, causing some points of the game to just be wave after wave of their attacks. I’m not saying it was entirely Carrolls fault, but for half the game I was shouting at the central players, wanting them to just put their foot on the ball and keep it. We would have kept the ball far better had Modric or Hudd had been playing along side Sandro, no doubt. Which is obviously what Harry thought too, as he moved Carroll out wide right, with Modric coming into the centre, otherwise I am guessing he wouldnt have wanted to risk Modric. Not knocking Carroll, he’s obviously a very talented player with the ball. But he needs to know when and where to do certain things, because some of the times where we gave the ball away very sloppily, which against the Utds & Citys would have = goals. But hopefully this will come with experience. Some good youngsters coming through and we seem to be kicking ass in the NextGen series!
I actually agree that Carroll wasn’t MotM, not close even. Sure, he was good for his age and first team experience and I really look forward to him growing into the role and becoming a PL first team regular, but if someone like Gerrard played like he did last night, then people would say he had an average (or even bad) game. Why shouldn’t we benchmark players as equals against each other? This is probably harsh, but I felt other players on the pitch overall played better than him (Kaboul and Benny when they came on or Sandro) and people are probably a little blinded by the kid coming into the team and playing as well as he is.
Overall though, considering the experience of some of the players we started with (and the snoozefest of the Hearts home game to benchmark against) the match to me was more entertaining than many have said and felt there was some real promise for the future!
Oh, and Gomes kept another clean sheet! He did actually used to have a few of those you know).
COYS!
Share your opinion Stu, been interested to see so many mixed opinions of Tom Carroll. i thought Bassong and Livermore did well considering they are nowhere near the first choice CB pairing,
I ended up watching Carroll for quite long spells last night as I thought we needed Modric or to move Livermore in the midfield in the second half. We totally lost control of the midfield for long parts of the game.
I just think he’s too small to be playing at this level right now. He lacks the upper body strength you need to impose yourself in midfield, and win 50/50 skirmishes.
And moving his game forward Carroll needs to add some drive if he wants to play in centre attacking midfield, for me he looked sideways or backwards when he could of moved forwards with the ball, he almost seemed a bit afraid to carry the ball any real distance.