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*** Tottenham Hotspur vs Panathinaikos OMT ***

OK, I gave up trying to read what other posters thought when I saw the picture of that politician.
AVB did not play our first XI tonight. He said he respects the competition and wants to give Euro experience to our players. They got it tonight. A half empty stadium on a pitch surrounded by a running track with loads of nutty locals sporadically going mad and being silent. That is experience given not to kids who will never play for Spurs in top games but to likely candidates.
 
does anyone else think Dempsey just looks a bit brick. probably a good player for fulham but not at our level

Anyone else noticed Dempsey and Lennon looking very unhappy and almost reluctant to come off when being replaced ? Even when Freund hugged them, they still appeared upset. Don't know what they are upset about as they were shyte and were rightly replaced. If anything they should be upset with themselves.
 
I think the major question coming out of last night's game is, is Aaron Lennon growing an Afro?
 
What was the point of that 'effort'? I will not get those two hours of my life back. Pointless little go nowhere passes through midfield, it was if the players were taking the tinkle. Baffling.
 
Disappointed we drew - should have wrapped it up with a second early in the 2nd half.

Very few stand-out peformers except Dembele's movement in the middle - a joy to watch. And yet we were the better team for most of the game which shows out the level of opponent we faced

We have also become a little predictable at the front with JD doing his default impression of Mr.'I won't pass for fudge'. We desperately need Ade back for height, physical presence and most improtantly - some technical guille - aspects which with Defoe, as much as he's running well this year - are forever absent.
 
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Villas-Boas, whose team are now third in the group, two points behind Lazio, denied that his team had eased up prematurely.

“I don’t think we were complacent,” the manager said. “We have to give credit to Panathinaikos, they pressed much more and started to gain belief and that led to the goal.

“The whole team felt a bit disappointed because the first half was so positive and we were in control of the situation.

“We were a bit sloppy in the second half. I understand the disappointment at not putting the game to bed, but Panathinaikos came at us very strong in the second half.

“They made a change with Ibrahim Sissoko. He improved the quality of their game and we could not stay in control.”

Dawson is club captain but has found first-team opportunities limited since Villas-Boas’s appointment. The 28 year-old is effectively fifth-choice centre-half and started the game only because Villas-Boas rested William Gallas.

Dawson’s lack of match sharpness was evident in the first half when Toché and Lazaros Christodoulopoulos outpaced him.

“It leaves us with two points,” Villas-Boas said. “Maribor have three and Lazio have four so everything is open. It’s only after the fourth game that you tend to know who will go through. Normally 10 or 11 points to qualify.”

Villas-Boas, who won the competition with FC Porto two years ago, reiterated his desire to lift the trophy again. “The ambition we set for this competition is to win the trophy,” the 34 year-old said. “We will try to *qualify and take it from there.”


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competitions/europa-league/9587444/Spurs-manager-Andre-Villas-Boas-denies-side-were-complacent-as-Panathinaikos-come-back-to-snatch-draw.html
 
What a load of brick, Panathinaikos were at no point "strong" we just allowed them to play over us.
 
I have to say, the goal they scored, it was a peach of a pass.

Disappointing night though.

It was that, however, they were at no point strong. I think the grass might have been a bit long and alluring as we just flopped over to scratch our back and have our tummies rubbed and Pana obliged.

This pretty much sums up why we aren't a very good team. Who reckons United would have had fun times in the changing rooms at half time if that was them strolling about the place last night? They'd have cleaned the game up with at least 3 goals against that competition.
 
It was that, however, they were at no point strong. I think the grass might have been a bit long and alluring as we just flopped over to scratch our back and have our tummies rubbed and Pana obliged.

This pretty much sums up why we aren't a very good team. Who reckons United would have had fun times in the changing rooms at half time if that was them strolling about the place last night? They'd have cleaned the game up with at least 3 goals against that competition.

i can imagine arsenal would have hit this side for 4 or 5 for sure.
 
Best bit of the night was when the cameras panned onto our fans, and there was our very own CAS (he who used to post) sat sprawled across a chair as if he was in his lounge.
Couldn't miss him. Big fella. White top, blue shorts. ;)
 
Best bit of the night was when the cameras panned onto our fans, and there was our very own CAS (he who used to post) sat sprawled across a chair as if he was in his lounge.
Couldn't miss him. Big fella. White top, blue shorts. ;)

I remember seeing that (didn't know it was CAS) and thinking - what a lazy arse :)
 
Examining Tottenham's passing at Panathinaikos reveals that the Londoners seemed to be targeting the Greeks' right-back. Gareth Bale, stationed on Spurs' left for most of the game, received 35 passes to right-sider Aaron Lennon's 14 – and note that Lennon received five of those during his cameo on the left.

5TotPan.jpg


Analysing that further, we can see that Tottenham made 24 crosses from the left – indeed, what seem at first to be crosses from the right are actually overhit left-flank corners. But note how the vast majority of these were in the first half. Evidence of AVB changing a tactic that wasn't working, or of his team trailing off in the second half? That depends on your interpretation of the facts Stats Zone will happily pump out for you…

6TotPan.jpg


http://fourfourtwo.com/blogs/statszone/archive/2012/10/05/europa-analysis-liverpool-s-death-by-football-spurs-changing-gameplan-and-the-unlucky-5-1-losers.aspx
 
They do mate, and there were some tired performances out there for sure. But in the grand scheme, we did not lose the match (I agree we should've won)...my biggest concern would be fatigue/travel affecting the Villa performance. As you said earlier, that is a vital game before the international break. But to be clear, when I see people saying this is one of the worst performances in blah blah, I feel a little sad because it patently isn't!

but why were they tired? We played our last game on Saturday afternoon - a full five days previously. Tiredness cannot be used as an excuse.
 
Re: Tonight's performance / UEFA Cup

Tonight was like a home game the way it turned out. And whilst we've cracked playing away, we still struggle at home.

Tonight we again lacked
1) Creativity in the centre of the park
2) A focal point for our attack

1) sandro's ball winning skills was sorely missed today. we attack best when the opponent is in disarray. Thudd is a luxury player and a passenger in much of today's game.
2) ade will have better runs and ball-holding ability than defoe. sure defoe is going great... i just think that ade will thrive with avb's sytem and he is going to be better
 
where did it all go wrong?!

In the build up to thursday's game, if you looked at the two teams results so far this season you couldn't help but assume our beloved spurs would record their first win in the europa league, following a great performance buit ultimately frustrating game against Lazio.

This was a Pana side in turmoil, a side struggling in their league. We've just come off one of our best ever results at old trafford, if not one of our best performances of the season so far.

Given AVB's desire to win the Europa league we went in with almost a full strength side as we could put out, with Daws comng in for Gallas, Hudd for Sandro and Lloris for Brad. We should have had enough about us to batter Pana.

But we inexplicably started off slow and though in control for most of the first half, struggled to make the breakthrough in open play, relying on a set piece and a top class header for daws to finally take us into the lead.

Second half we were still ponderously slow and it was no surprise when they scored and by the end we were having to hold on to that 1 pt.

Even their players have said today they were surprised given the pace in the side, in bale lennon defoe, how slow we played.

AVB to his credit said the players were fatigued after the game, but what I don't get is he is such an intelligent manager why did he not factor that in prematch. After the battering we got from united second half, it is understandable that some of the players who've played most games would be suffering.

IMO we should've started with Townsend for Bale and Falque for defoe with Dempsey up top leading the line, but hindsight is a wonderful thing. With bale and defoe on the bench to call on if it was going pear-shaped. It's one of the few things that I think AVB could do better at, and something his predecessor got hammered for at the end of last season, not rotating enough. Fair enough HR had a bigger higher quality squad with which to rotate, but unless AVB changes tactics we could be in for more lethargic performances.

And I don't buy the international break as an excuse to play a strong team- most of our first choice will be playing for their national teams so won't get much of a break anyway!

So what's to blame and what can AVB learn so we don't have as turgid a performance again?

Was it player fatigue? Was it poor team selection?Are the players really buying in to AVB's desire to win the Europa? Was it a bit of managerial inexperience from AVB- should he have given them the hairdryer treatment at half time? Was it the pitch? What do people think?
 
Re: where did it all go wrong?!

If this was player fatigue then sunday will be a definite struggle to perform at our best.
 
Re: where did it all go wrong?!

I think we just got tired in the second half and switched off.
 
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