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THFC1882 presents Mike Hooley with a match report from a less than glorious night for Tottenham Hotspur:

Any hopes or expectations of progression to the knockout stages of the Europa League were all but extinguished last night, with Spurs never recovering from perhaps their sloppiest start to a game since the 4-0 reverse at Fulham in the FA Cup back in January.

Just five minutes were on the clock before a horrendous touch from Gallas gifted the Greeks possession on the half-way line, and from their first attack, Georgiadis crossed from the left for Salpingidis to head into the bottom corner.

The Greek fans – taking up a large chunk of the Park Lane end and around the side of the West Stand – were making themselves heard and just eight minutes later turned near-delirious after Athanasiadis added a second, following a ball played inside the exposed, sluggish Corluka, before Georgiadis again sent over a precise cross to leave Athanasiadis with a simple finish.
For an experienced home defence, it was all ridiculously easy for PAOK.

The question now was what did the boys in white have in the locker. Spurs did gradually play their way into the game, with Modric inevitably at the heart of most of it, trying to coax a response. The first real effort of note was a shot wide from Defoe, but too many moves were breaking down, often from the left through the rusty, returning Rose and perhaps White Hart Lane’s current least favourite son, Pienaar.

With half an hour gone Spurs finally upped the tempo, with first Kane sending a side-foot snapshot wide, before Defoe finally warmed Chalkias’s hands in the PAOK goal. From the resulting corner, a clearance off the line was followed with what looked like a trip on Defoe, though it was apparently handball, and the referee awarded a red card to Stafylidis and a penalty. Modric opened up his body and stroked the ball to Chalkias’s left –a textbook penalty from the midfield maestro.

Unfortunately that penalty kick was to prove the highlight of the night. There were a couple of other attacks of note down the left side before the break, with Rose involved on both occasions as he finally made an impact. On the second occasion though, Pienaar badly overplayed the return pass.

Spurs inevitably began the second half strongly, and in fact Gallas scored shortly after the resumption, only for it to be deservedly ruled out for offside. But just a few minutes later a cross by Rose gave Kane a headed chance at the back post, which he put well over the bar – though it looked like he was stretching, he should have done better.
Approaching the hour and another fine chance came and went, after a one-two between Corluka and Kane presented Pienaar with a chance from 16 yards, which he screwed horribly wide. It was clearly not Pienaar’s night, and the South African has yet to supply any meaningful contribution during his time at the club.

Rose’s last contribution was a woefully overhit cross, before Bale entered the fray, initially at left-back. Spurs continued to pile on the pressure, as Livermore tried his luck, shooting narrowly wide. (Livermore has taken some criticism for his performance but overall he had an okay game – there were certainly a few worse performers out there).
On 65 minutes Walker replaced the (apart from a couple of neat first-half flicks) ineffectual Pienaar, allowing Corulka to switch to left-back and allowing Bale to play in his usual position.

Bale started to make his presence felt, and shot too high after a reverse pass from Gallas allowed Walker the chance for a run and cross.

Redknapp’s last throw of the dice was to replace Kane – who will be hoping for better times to come after a largely frustrating game – with Falque. Into the final quarter a trademark Bale run and superb cross saw Defoe’s shot cleared off the line by Contreras, before the defender then fell to the ground after a challenge with Defoe, before the England striker finally scored. It wasn’t offside and with no apparent whistle blown there was much confusion in the stadium as the referee and his assistant conferred. No goal; Defoe instead penalised for a harsh looking foul.

Frustration grew on the pitch and in the stands as the Dutch referee denied Spurs a quick corner, while the Greek fans grew louder, chanting at each other from the south and west stands, or whistling in unison.

Still more opportunities came and went in the final ten minutes, as the lively looking Falque curled just wide and Bale blazed over, while their looked a decent shout for a penalty after Lennon was upended.

And so I was left with the long walk up Tottenham High Road to Seven Sisters tube station, having left just before the end of injury time, where I was greeted with two separate groups of excitable, celebrating Greek fans with a couple of flares set off in the road, heading back towards White Hart Lane. One of the first group approached and advised me to ‘go home’. I sensibly decided to walk on and not to engage in conversation with him and his friends.

Not our finest night then, and a largely pedestrian performance where no player really shone. Some of the players must be rusty having not played much this season, but perhaps some may struggle to make any impact at all. It is certainly likely to be a while before many get another chance, barring injuries.

My marks out of ten are as follows: Gomes 5; Corluka 3, Gallas 4, Bassong 5, Rose 5; Lennon 5, Livermore 5, Modric 6, Pienaar 3; Kane 4, Defoe 5.

COYS

Mike Hooley (follow @mjhooley on Twitter)

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