weds v paok

Jeez Lought - you are going to explode with excitement

Thought you had a ticket tonight ?

just peed of that we have the bigest sqaud in the league and we now out of another comp.

Same old same old 1. soon as a team puts 10 men behind the ball we cant break them down 2. Arry got his tactics wrong should of brought Bale and Walker on at half time and had Adebayor on the bench too. Lought do we wish Pavy was playing what difference would he of made because we didnt create nothing make your mind up Lought old chap its midfield what was shocking apart from Modric who for some unknown reason was playing too deep didnt create much Livermore was poor Bassong sooner he goes the better Gallas il let him off no pre season needs matches Gomes he could of dived for the first one i think it was savable i should know ex goalkeeper Corluka is so slow its like the slow mo cam is on when seeing him oh well just hope Harry goes for the Fa cup now and top 4 in the league COYS

I'm actually having a bit of a guffaw at the reactions here. There are few so spectacularly impressive as the armchair managers. It's absolutely staggering just how often you guys get absolutely everything right after the fact, magical even.





Just wish I had these powers of Eagle eyed hindsight, nothing could stop me from TOTAL WORLD DOMINATION!!!

Come on Ion everybody loves to play arm chair managers whats your take on last night?

Tottenham 1 - 2 PAOK Salonika


Spurs relinquished their unbeaten home record in this season's Europa League

Tottenham's Europa League hopes hang by a thread after a controversial defeat by 10-man PAOK Salonika.

The Greek side raced into a 2-0 lead through a Dimitris Salpingidis header and a Stefanos Athanasiadis tap in.

Luka Modric's first-half penalty gave Spurs hope after Kostas Stafylidis was sent off for handling on the line.

Jermain Defoe had a goal ruled out, leaving Spurs needing to beat Shamrock Rovers and rely on Rubin Kazan dropping points in the final group game.

Spurs, who travel to Dublin on 15 December, also need a six-goal swing in goal difference if they are to sneak into the knockout phase, while PAOK - who host Rubin in their final match - have sealed qualification.

But manager Harry Redknapp will bemoan the contentious decision to disallow Defoe's late effort, with confusion reigning over whether it was chalked off for offside or Defoe's late tackle on Pablo Contreras 10 seconds earlier.

With the injured Contreras floored on the line, Spurs played on and scored, only for it to be ruled out after a period of chaotic indecision between the officials.

Redknapp only partially maintained his policy of blooding his youngsters in the Europa League as he sprinkled Modric, Defoe and Aaron Lennon to a team that also included Harry Kane, 18, and Danny Rose, 21.

But Spurs, whose sparkling form has seen them rise to third in the Premier League, looked fragile and languid against PAOK, who carved them open with their first meaningful attack.

William Gallas, making just his second start of the season, overran the ball in his own half and allowed Giorgos Goergiadis to exploit the vacant space down Tottenham's right.

Goergiadis coaxed an inch-perfect cross to Salpingidis, who wrong-footed home goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes with his header.

Spurs controlled possession but looked exposed every time they lost the ball - and were punished again eight minutes later.

Vedran Corluka allowed the lively Goergiadis too much space on the left again, and his low cross was steered in at the far post by Athanasiadis to give PAOK's raucous travelling support even more reason to be heard.

The sight of substitutes Kyle Walker and Gareth Bale warming up on the touchline seemed to give Spurs the jump start they needed, and Defoe and Kane each drew saves out of goalkeeper Kostas Chalkias.

With half time approaching, Spurs were handed the lifeline they needed when Kostas Stafylidis was dismissed when Kane's shot struck the defender's arm on the goalline and Modric calmly stroked in the resulting penalty.

PAOK possessed genuine attacking threats in Goergiadis and Giorgos Fotakis, but their influence diminished as Spurs ramped up the pressure in the second half.

Kane headed over from Rose's cross and Steven Pienaar slammed his shot into the advertising hoardings as Tottenham looked to make their dominance count.

Walker and Bale were introduced to add to some urgency to Tottenham's wing play, but PAOK defended heroically at times, throwing themselves in the way of the ball as Spurs maintained an extraordinary spell of pressure.

The game's defining moment came when Dutch referee Bas Nijhuis ruled out Defoe's effort, leaving Spurs needing an unlikely combination of results to progress.


DID YOU KNOW?
PAOK met Tottenham's north London rivals Arsenal in the 1997 UEFA Cup first round, winning 1-0 in Salonika then drawing 1-1 in London. That was their only previous tie against an English side

TOTTENHAM Vs PAOK SALONIKA
Possession
Tottenham 64% PAOK Salonika 36%

Attempts on target
Tottenham 9 PAOK Salonika 4

Attempts off target
Tottenham 10 PAOK Salonika 0

Corners
Tottenham 11 PAOK Salonika 1

Fouls
Tottenham 11 PAOK Salonika 9

Having picked a stronger side I think you took the Greeks a bit too much for granted. The lethargic opening was brutally punished and from the 13th minute it was a hard night.

Having bucked your ideas up you grabbed hold of the game, had a bit of luck with the red card but just could not get the second. Very solid defensive work from the Greeks. A few weeks ago you did the same to Fulham and got away with it.

One of those nights

My take is this, 3 defenders that could not give a toss and 4 defenders that were woefully unfit.

Charlie and Bassong given up the fight for a first team place and what was Gallas doing losing the ball on the half way line? and Lought you talk absolute rubbish, you make it painfully clear you have you favourites and having a go at Defoe when nobody created any chances for him. Where was Sandro? so light in midfield. Love this kneejerk reaction. So play a full strength team and pick up injuries to key players and go sliding down the prem or give the kids and fringe players time on the pitch to see if they have the talent/gonads to fight for a place in the first eleven. Lets face it nobody wanted to be in this competetion, even Liverpool lost to us at home last season so that did have to play in it. We all knew all along that we were not really interested in doing well in this comp, even Nics been on taking the p**s about us playing in it, but like I said the kids and fringe players have had some game time against teams that have played their strongest squads in every game, what did you expect?

djfitzo wrote:My take is this, 3 defenders that could not give a toss and 4 defenders that were woefully unfit.

Charlie and Bassong given up the fight for a first team place and what was Gallas doing losing the ball on the half way line? and Lought you talk absolute rubbish, you make it painfully clear you have you favourites and having a go at Defoe when nobody created any chances for him. Where was Sandro? so light in midfield. Love this kneejerk reaction. So play a full strength team and pick up injuries to key players and go sliding down the prem or give the kids and fringe players time on the pitch to see if they have the talent/gonads to fight for a place in the first eleven. Lets face it nobody wanted to be in this competetion, even Liverpool lost to us at home last season so that did have to play in it. We all knew all along that we were not really interested in doing well in this comp, even Nics been on taking the p**s about us playing in it, but like I said the kids and fringe players have had some game time against teams that have played their strongest squads in every game, what did you expect?

Lought says would have been different if Pav would have been playing but then says we didnt create anything agree with the above Dave but the fringe players should try for a first team spot or put them selves in the shop window cause potential clubs looking at Charlies Baffoon and Gomes performance will think hang on a min they look like they cant be arsed would they do that at my club if thing arnt going great

Defoe did seem to be feeding on scraps, very little quality ball and he faced banks of Greeks last night. I thought he put in the effort with very little reward.

Criticizing Defoe is a bit like telling Lought his posts are nonsense - if Lought got better service from Vis and Baz they might get better ;o

anicoll5 wrote:Defoe did seem to be feeding on scraps, very little quality ball and he faced banks of Greeks last night. I thought he put in the effort with very little reward.

Criticizing Defoe is a bit like telling Lought his posts are nonsense - if Lought got better service from Vis and Baz they might get better ;o

Quite right too Nic. I'll give myself extra training in an effort to make sure Lought gets better service. VIS? Extra training Tuesday nights son.

Yeah, and I was one of the mugs who went thinking we might give it a go.best excitement was the tension between supporters before and after.ain't seen so many police for years. Paok got quite a following .pretty intimidating. Few scuffles after.

Lets face it if we don't get champions league this season (I believe we will) this team, which is growing together, will break up and several players will move on to clubs in it. The money TV has poured into the game will kill it and Baz is right, a european league is almost inevitable for those elite clubs. But will that in itself kill the game because who will want to watch the same teams playing each other week after week with no promotion/relegation to vary it and then when people stop watching televised games the money goes. What then.
I've been to a couple of Barnets games this year and must admit have enjoyed the grass roots feel to them with the players seeming to enjoy themselves more than their premiership counterparts.

Unfortunately its a problem every team is faced with, how do you keep quality players happy when they dont play? For every team vying for champs league spots you need a large squad and balancing those players is very difficult. What I saw was fringe defenders giving up the fight for first team football. Pienaar did have a poor game, but a lot of that was not down to effort, but anxiety in pleasing the crowd faithful, who were not sure of him in the first place.

Seems to me too many fans, at too many clubs, are only too happy to put the boot into players. Take the player who is part of the squad but not a first choice, sits on the bench, comes on as sub as required, but then gets his chance - first start of the season - big night, tricky opposition

And lo and behold he makes a mistake

Do the faithful fans cut him a bit of slack - say never mind mate you need a few games to get really sharp ?


Do they f*ck - sell the useless b*stard in January

anicoll5 wrote:Seems to me too many fans, at too many clubs, are only too happy to put the boot into players. Take the player who is part of the squad but not a first choice, sits on the bench, comes on as sub as required, but then gets his chance - first start of the season - big night, tricky opposition

And lo and behold he makes a mistake

Do the faithful fans cut him a bit of slack - say never mind mate you need a few games to get really sharp ?


Do they f*ck - sell the useless b*stard in January

Or Nic, do some deserve it? Going to the papers and moaning instead of knuckling down and taking their chance.

Take Bassong, culpable for the Rubin goal that put us in this position and lacks the backbone to be even a quality
replacement.

Kaboul was not first choice when he came back and through hard work and taking his chance is now first on the team sheet in my opinion.

As you say all teams are gulity of it and having sat at the Emirates at the barcodes game last year, even Wilshere and Fabregas came in for stick from so called supporters behind me and the joker that gave a w**ker sign to the pitch on his exit at least 5 minutes before the end needs banning from the ground.

One big miss last night was a denfensive midfielder, anyone know if Sandro was injured, in the first 20 minutes they cut through the middle like knife through butter last night.

To be honest Dave I don't know whether they do "deserve" it.

If you are a footballer who is not interested in playing the the easiest thing in the world is to get that point across in training, or to pick up that ever so difficult to explain little niggle, and spend the evening on the bench or at home with your foot on a cushion.

The one's whop get on the pitch usually are there cos they want to be there

As I say what baffles me is the thinking of fans. We all know it is a squad game, and in a squad you have first name on the team sheet stars and you have lesser players who are on standby to cover, without these journeymen the stars would have to play 60 games a season.

If a star has a bad game then it is very rare they get any stick from fans.

If a back up player comes on for a rare game then god help em if they mess up - not good enough, sell him, not fit to wear the shirt etc.

No patience at all - everything is now , now , now

Baz was reflecting on what has changed in football for the worse

Well one thing that has changed is the hysterical demands of fans for instant gratification week after week