Match Thread Vs Società Sportiva Lazio S.p.A.

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Thursday 20/09/2012
Kick Off @ 20:05 BST

bring it on.

hugo
walker dawson caulker naughton
stig jake hudd bale
dempsey ade

Last season Spurs were one of three teams to pick up 10 points in the group stages of the Europa League and still be eliminated (W3 D1 L2).

Tottenham have only won two of their last five games at home in Europe (D1 L2).

The Lilywhites are unbeaten at home to Italian sides in Europe (W2 D1).

Lazio have only won two of their last 11 European matches (D3 L6).

The Italians have only won on one of seven trips to England in European competition (D1 L5): 2-1 at Chelsea in the 1999/00 Champions League.

Last season Lazio made it past the group stage of the Europa League, the first time they had made it out of a European group stage in seven attempts.

Tottenham had the highest passing accuracy in the Europa League last season (87.9%).

I'd like to see Townsend & Caulker from the start and maybe if things are going well, Carroll off the bench . I'd also play the new signings from the start even Verts as I want to see him paired up with Caulker before Kaboul returns and see how they do.

I hope Parker and Adybayor will have their first starts ..

So I'm hoping to see

________________Lloris

Walker ___Caulker__ Verts___Naughton

__________Parker____Dembele

___Townsend____Dempsey_____Siggy

_____________Adybayor

Nice to actually get details rather than the nothing we used to get from Harry

Andre Villas-Boas reports that Emmanuel Adebayor is out of Thursday night’s Europa League clash against SS Lazio.

The striker has a hamstring injury and joins Benoit Assou-Ekotto, Younes Kaboul (both knee), Jake Livermore (groin) and Scott Parker (Achilles) on the sidelines.

Better news sees goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes improving after his recent ankle problem.

Andre said on Wednesday: “Ade has been struggling with a muscle injury, so he will be out of the game.

“Benoit is still out, we’re waiting for the specialist to see his knee.

“Jake is making a good recovery from his groin strain, we’re looking to have him back in 10, 15 more days.

“Scotty is still a bit far off, maybe three weeks before he returns to first team training, so slowly making progress and Younes is out for some time.

“Gomes is now training at medium to high intensity with the team and will soon be back 100 per cent.”

Must be the strain of carrying his wallet!

TEAM NEWS

Manager Andre Villas-Boas has praised Hugo Lloris ahead of the goalkeeper's expected Tottenham debut.

Villas-Boas vowed to make changes from the side which beat Reading on Sunday, which could see Brad Friedel rested.

But striker Emmanuel Adebayor will miss their opening Europa League Group J game against Italian side Lazio because of a hamstring injury.

Scott Parker (Achilles), Heurelho Gomes (ankle) and Jake Livermore (groin) remain sidelined by injury.

Younes Kaboul and Benoit Assou-Ekotto (both knee) are also out.

Villas-Boas would not confirm whether Lloris would start his first game since his £11.8m move from Lyon, but stated he has been impressed by the France captain's impact on the training ground.

"The first two days after the international week (and before the Reading game) were more like recovery days for him," Villas-Boas said.

"From then on he was training more with (goalkeeping coach) Tony Parks to get used to his methods, which is very, very important. And obviously he mixed in with what we were doing on the pitch.

"The only thing we can say is that his talent is immense and easily visible from the time he has trained with us."

Villas-Boas, who won the Europa League in his last act as Porto manager in 2011, is adamant he will take the competition seriously this season and says he sees it as a chance to secure his first piece of silverware since that triumph.

"It does seem a long time since I won it with Porto," Villas-Boas said. "A lot of things have happened since then. The memories are still present but at this time I can't live off the past.

"In our position we can't think too much about the past. In this life you constantly have to motivate yourself and put pressure on yourself to win more trophies.

"This time it would be wonderful to win it again for Tottenham."

Spurs winger Aaron Lennon is relishing facing Lazio, who have made a 100% start to the Serie A season, winning their first three games.

Lennon told his club's official website: "It's a big game against a massive club.

"It will be a hard game but we're looking forward to it. I think the Europa League has improved as a competition over the last few years and playing in these big games improves you as a player."

1852:
Tottenham v Lazio (20:05 BST)

BBC Sport's Chris Osborne reports: "Despite forever being linked by their mutual connections to Paul Gascoigne, Tottenham and Lazio will be facing each other for the first time tonight.

"Spurs boss Andre Villas-Boas has insisted the Europa League is a priority for his side, but Lazio will offer strong resistance, having won all five of their competitive matches this season. And no, Gazza will not be in attendance at White Hart Lane, citing "personal reasons" for his absence."

1853:

As Chris rightly says there. when looking ahead to the Spurs v Lazio game, there is only one name that came to mind: Paul Gascoigne.

Gazza had an eventful few years in Rome with the Biancocelesti after leaving White Hart Lane in 1992 and is still hugely loved by the club's fans.

Lazio general manager Maurizio Manzini said: "Gazza is a mythical figure for Lazio fans and very popular in Italy. There is always a corner of Tottenham in our hearts."

What a player he was on his day...

Thoughts inevitably turned to Paul Gascoigne when Tottenham were drawn in the same group as Lazio in the Europa League.

It's two decades since his £5.5m move from the old First Division to Serie A, a protracted transfer which had been delayed and needed to be re-negotiated following the ruptured cruciate ligament he suffered in the 1991 FA Cup final against Nottingham Forest.

That he didn't become for Lazio what Diego Maradona had been for Napoli in the late 1980s and early 1990s - a hope expressed by former president Sergio Cragnotti following his signing - didn't matter.

He was adored by the supporters in the Curva Nord, the section of the Stadio Olimpico where the Lazio diehards reside.

They thought of Gascoigne as one of them on the pitch. And at a club where triumphing in the derby with Roma is often considered of greater importance than conquering the league, his equalising goal in that fixture, a header from a Beppe Signori free-kick, was enough, together with strikes in other important games against Serie A's big clubs and a wonder goal against Pescara, to earn instant iconic status.

Practical jokes, such as the time he brought a dead snake to training and put it into an unknowing Roberto Di Matteo's pocket certainly helped his legend. "I've never seen someone jump so high," he said.

The cult of Gascoigne has endured at Lazio long after he left the club in 1995 to join Glasgow Rangers.

"He is a mythical figure for Lazio fans and very popular in Italy," said Lazio general manager Maurizio Manzini. "I remember the Atalanta ultras who had a reputation for being really tough. They opened an enormous banner with a picture of a huge bottle of beer saying: 'This is for you Gazza'.

"There is always a corner of Tottenham in our hearts. I hope we will have the chance to see him in London and we will invite him to the match in Rome."

Meanwhile, his former club, the Aquile - or Eagles - as Lazio are known in Italy, have made a flying start to the season.

A hat-trick of victories from their opening three games in Serie A is a feat they haven't achieved since the 1974-75 campaign when Lazio, fired by the late Giorgio Chinaglia, began the defence of their first ever Serie A title under legendary coach Tommaso Maestrelli.

Few expected great things of Lazio ahead of the new season, which in some respects is strange considering they have been consistently in the upper echelons of Serie A for the last two years.

If it weren't for the overachievement of Udinese in the same period, they'd be talking about Lazio as the league's revelation. Recognition has been lacking.

In 2010-11, Lazio finished fifth, missing out on qualification for the Champions League preliminaries on goal difference.

Lazio fans display a flag of Paul Gascoigne ahead of the match with Palermo on 2 Sept 2012
Then in 2011-12, they improved again, ending the season in fourth.

In previous years it would have been good enough for entry into the Champions League preliminaries but, since the Bundesliga had overtaken Serie A in the Uefa co-efficient rankings and were awarded an extra place in the competition at their expense, Lazio have had to make do with the Europa League.

Still, why was there not much faith in their chances this season?

First, a veteran squad wasn't greatly rejuvenated or reinforced. The suspicion remained that, had Lazio not let Djibril Cisse and Giuseppe Sculli go to QPR and Genoa in the new year, they'd have been able to cope with an injury to star striker Miroslav Klose towards the end of last season, an injury that cost the club a higher finish.

When the issue wasn't addressed in the summer, concern that Lazio were dependent on an ageing but world-class forward remained.

Second, finally accepting one of several of coach Edy Reja's offers to resign, Lazio appointed Vladimir Petkovic, a relatively unknown quantity outside of Switzerland, the country where he'd worked most, without any experience of Serie A or any other major league in Europe for that matter.

Tottenham supporters, however, will remember Petkovic.

He was the coach of the Young Boys Bern side that gave Spurs a real fright in the Champions League preliminaries in 2010. They won the first leg at the Wankdorf 3-2 before capitulating 4-0 at White Hart Lane.

Petkovic is an interesting character. Born in Bosnia, he left Sarajevo aged 17 to play in Switzerland. After a modest career, not sure what direction he wanted to take, Petkovic worked for Caritas, a Catholic relief, development and social service organisation.

Towards the end of his time in the job, he coached second division Bellinzona, gaining promotion and reaching the Swiss cup final where they lost to Basle.
But that aside, what, asked a sceptical Italian press corps, had Petkovic done to deserve a place on the Lazio bench and why had he been preferred to the front-running candidate Gianfranco Zola?

He hadn't won any major honours in Switzerland, after all, and had been sacked at Samsunspor in Turkey. "We chose Petkovic because of other qualities," Lazio president Claudio Lotito explained. "He is a polyglot."

Indeed he is. Petkovic speaks eight languages, a fact that has certainly helped his adaptation, the communication of his ideas and management of the dressing room.

His teams tend to play several formations too. Petkovic's influences are many and they include the manager of Tottenham's North London neighbours.

"I've watched how others coach," he told Il Corriere dello Sport. "Certainly I liked the ideas that Arsene Wenger had with Arsenal a lot. I have never copied, mixing things and ideas. I tried to steal everything that I found to be good from other coaches in order to develop my own ideas. For example, I have always liked the solidity of Fabio Capello."

So far Petkovic has proven to be an inspired choice of manager by Lazio. With more or less the same team as his predecessor, he has already given the impression that he has taken them on a level.

Tottenham should be wary.

Hmmmmmmmm so we should have been in the Chumps League and so should Lazio? A tough game indeed and a good test for both teams. Looking forward to this. Lazio have started their season really well and they should be good competition for us.
COYS . . . . . .

1907:
BREAKING TEAM NEWS - Tottenham v Lazio (20:05 BST)

Hugo Lloris and Clint Dempsey both start for Spurs.

1913:
Tottenham v Lazio (20:05 BST)

Just the three changes for Tottenham from the side that beat Reading 3-1 at the weekend. The most notable is a debut for goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. Steven Caulker comes in at the back for William Gallas for only his second ever Spurs start, while Clint Dempsey will make his full debut.

1915:

Spurs have named a very good side, who are captained by Aaron Lennon. AVB fancies this cup.


Intresting . . . . .

1927:
GET INVOLVED

Krishan Kumar Goyal on Twitter: "Spurs putting up a strong side today worries me. This shouldn't be our main focus. Even Magpies don't want the Europa. Top four please."

Sanj on Twitter: "Just the three changes by AVB, naming a strong line-up. FINALLY a manager that actually cares about the Europa League. Good for him."

Matt Cartwright on Twitter: "Spurs putting a really strong team out tonight. Looking forward to seeing Lloris making his debut."

strange no dawson

LINE-UPS- Tottenham v Lazio (20:05 BST)

Tottenham: Lloris, Walker, Caulker, Vertonghen, Naughton, Sandro, Dembele, Lennon, Dempsey, Bale, Defoe. Subs: Cudicini, Huddlestone, Gallas, Dawson, Sigurdsson, Townsend, Mason.

Lazio: Marchetti, Lulic, Dias, Biava, Cavanda, Ledesma, Onazi, Gonzalez, Hernanes, Mauri, Klose. Subs: Bizzarri, Ciani, Scaloni, Ederson, Zarate, Kozak, Floccari.

Referee: Ovidiu Alin Hategan (Romania)

1939:

So Miroslav Klose does start for Lazio tonight - has there been a finer goal poacher across Europe over the past decade. That man can finish.