Young Spurs give hope

Friday, 16/09/2011

by James Willis, Shoot’s Tottenham blogger

As was largely expected before the game, Harry Redknapp sent out a very youthful side for Tottenham's match against PAOK Salonika in their opening Europa League group stage encounter.

The Spurs fans could have been forgiven for expecting the worst, when a starting XI with an average age of just 23 were sent out into one of the most intimidating stadiums in the competition. The home support at the Toumbas spent the whole game roaring on their team, leaving the Spurs youngsters having to battle mentally as well as physically.

The starting line up for Tottenham had Cudicini starting in goal, with Corluka, Bassong and Walker playing directly in front. Jake Livermore, Iago Falque, Tom Carroll and Andros Townsend made up the midfield, while Giovani Dos Santos, Roman Pavlyuchenko and Harry Kane provided a three pronged attack.

Despite the presence of Heurelho Gomes on the bench, the squad numbers there were even larger than those on the pitch. Players like Kevin Stewart, Jack Barthram, Dean Parrett, Jake Nicholson, Ryan Fredericks and Alex Pritchard were also on the bench, all hoping for some competitive game time.

Despite the team's inexperience and the opposition's huge support, it was Tottenham who actually settled into the game first. The young line up looked assured on the ball and, although they may not have been creating as many chances as a more experienced line up would, they were not letting themselves down either.

PAOK struggled to take advantage of being the home side in the match, despite their passionate support. It left the opportunity for Tottenham to take the lead and control the match. It looked like the North London club were about to do just that when Jake Livermore managed to work his way past Dario Kresic in the PAOK goal and square to Falque, whose tap towards the net was desperately cleared off the line by Pablo Contreras, the PAOK captain.

Tottenham continued to press with Harry Kane earning what looked to be a certain penalty before the referee waved away appeals. It was just a matter of minutes later that PAOK earned a penalty of their own, which they proceeded to score and then have to retake due to Cudicini moving off his line too early. The retake was then drilled wide and left Tottenham fans thankful after they'd had a stonewall penalty claim of their own turned down just minutes earlier.

Although PAOK soon worked their way into the game a bit more in the second half, Tottenham still had their fair share of chances with Pavlyuchenko and Falque both shooting just wide from good positions. Despite both teams looking to create opportunities in the second half, it seemed like goals just weren't to be as the overall creativity in the final third just wasn't enough.

Tottenham will no doubt leave Salonika happy with a point from a tough away game with a ​very youthful side, while PAOK will also be undoubtedly happy to earn a valuable point against what could be the groups toughest opposition.

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