| Match report
Spurs overcame difficult
opposition in hot conditions to take a 2-1 lead back to White Hart
Lane from their trip to Larnaca where they met AEL Limassol.
However, there were a few moments of discomfort which didn't come
from the high temperatures, but with slackness borne of players not
quite up to scratch in this early part of the English season.
In the heat of the early
evening of Cyprus, this match wasn't even being televised in the UK
and the wonderful new MySpurs match commentary was thinking
endlessly about whether it was going to tell us what was happening,
so this report of based on nothing more than the text feeds on
various websites and various limited highlights. The pitch was
green with grass, but appeared to be bobbly under that, which
affected the passing on the surface, so when Spurs went over-ground,
it improved the efficiency of their passing.
And they started well, with
some confident moving and passing, with Kane being involved.
Andros Townsend's cross found him, but he couldn't bring it down
before AEL keeper Fergouch intervened and then the forward
fired in a fifth minute shot from Davies' pull-back from just inside
the box, which the goalie could shovel out in front of him, but,
following up, Roberto Soldado could only knock it over the bar from
the edge of the six yard box. It was a disappointing finish,
but he looked at his boots and the pitch (don't they always) to
indicate that he felt there was a bobble that affected his shot.
Holtby was busy in midfield and took a return pass from Paulinho to
drag his shot wide, then Kane was in the game again, hitting a 25
yard shot over the bar.
With Spurs looking in
control, they got a little bit over-confident and played a short
pass to Paulinho, 15 yards inside their own half, which was picked
off by Sardinero, who burst forward through a flat back four line
and struck a low shot past Lloris as he came out to close the
forward down. 14 minutes into our European campaign and we
were 0-1 down to the team who finished second in the Cypriot league
!! It was a well-taken goal and showed Spurs that they should
not be complacent with what appears on the surface to be lesser
opposition.
Spurs did slip back into
their attacking groove, with Davies finding space on the left and
Kane forcing another sprawling save from Fegrouche, who almost pulled
the ball back in front of goal with Soldado sniffing around, but
managed to gather it in before the Spaniard got there. The
home side were not sitting back, but failed to trouble Lloris much
more, with a free-kick into the wall and a header over the top, only
calling him into action with a low cross that he fell on. Our
captain for the day needed to be on his toes when the AEL
goal-scorer burst into the right hand corner of our box, with Hugo
darting out to almost the edge of the are to block his shot in the
33rd minute.
Little else happened in the
half, other than each team picking up a yellow card and the
half-time break would have given Poch an opportunity to re-organise
the side with the players getting a chance to get out of the heat.
The side came out for the second half without change and found AEL
keen to add to their score, with an attack seeing Vertonghen block a
shot from Barcelos and then Naughton doing the same to Guidileye's
follow-up. Five minutes into the second half, Carlitos hit a
low shot into the side netting after being slipped through by
Barcelos.
While Andros Townsend was
lively on the wing, his final ball was lacking and when he got away
down the right in the 52nd minute, his cross took a deflection from
out wide and the ball looped onto the top of the bar and to for a
goal-kick. Harry Kane was still trying his luck and when he
drove a shot in from the edge of the box in the 71st minute, after
Soldado had headed down substitute Nacer Chadli's cross, the Spurs
youngster's effort was just about touched by Fegrouche, which was
enough to direct it onto the underside of the bar and bounce out to
safety.
With changes made on both
sides, the game had stuttered through a fifteen minute period, but
the entrance of Erik Lamela seemed to make the defining difference
for Tottenham. He got on the ball from the moment he came on
for Townsend and within a minute, he had chipped a pass from the
left of centre 25 yards out, over the last AEL man for Roberto
Soldado to hit a fine and firm volley as he stretched forward just
outside the six yard box, which left the keeper with no chance.
It was a classy finish and one I hope inspires Soldado, as he is a
fine gaol-scorer when given the right ammunition.
So, a draw was what
Pochettino would have been happy with before the game, butt hat got
even better in the 80th minute, when Lamela ran down the middle and
slipped a pass to his left, where Kane got to it ahead of a defender
and shifted it out of his feet enough to shoot powerfully into the
roof of the net from the edge of the penalty area, leaving Fegrouche
grasping at thin air.
Although the game was played
in 30 degree heat and it comes early in the season for Spurs, the
one thing that shone through was the way that they kept going to the
end and the fitness of the players. When Kane played a
ball wide left to Chadli, Lamela was in the box to hit a falling
shot just wide and then tried his luck from a narrow angle on the
left, but the keeper blocked his shot. The defence were not
unduly troubled, with a sole block at his near post as Lloris kept
out Tagbajumi with about 11 minutes left.
Slightly worrying that we
had gone behind, but a professional performance and one better than
AVB's Zenit St. Petersburg, who had lost there 0-1 in the Champions
League qualifier already this season. Handy to have two away
goals and a win to go back to the Lane with, but lessons need to be
learned for coming matches against stronger sides.
At the end of the match,
which might not have been the greatest performance by Spurs, the
stats showed Spurs were more attacking with more shots, so in boxing
terms, they would have won on points, but the two goals were taken
well, while AEL did well to capitalise eon some sloppy play in the
first half, so it probably ended up being a fair result.
However, it does indicate that Spurs need to be on their mettle in
the second leg, as there will be a sizeable support for AEL in
London from the Cypriot community to cheer them on.
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