Kane was our best player, I thought, even though he missed a pen and a couple of other good chances. He created chance after chance. Paulinho started off actively bad, then had a good assist and an excellent goal, and was decent to good. He does turn the ball over too much, but played as an attacker he produces goals at a good clip. This was the third straight time he's scored when he started at WHL. Both Lennon and Townsend did not look comfortable or effective. They might well be better on the other sides, but there are various explanations. Dembele, Sandro and Chiriches were our best players after Kane (in no particular order). Davies and Kaboul were solid if unspectacular. Naughton drew two penalties, which is quite impressive, really, so you'd have to say he was dangerous going forward. And he had a good game, strictly speaking. But he just makes me nervous every time he has the ball. Lloris didn't have much to do but did it very well. But overall, for a second team in its second game learning a new system, pretty damn good. Limassol were better than any of the first 4 Europa teams we played last year.
Spot on. Really impressed by Kane and really glad he bagged the goal after missing the pen. He's got a lot of critics on here but personally I really enjoy watching Dembele.
"Read through the comments and it's interesting how things must seem different when you see the whole pitch and not just the TV screen. Lots of moves broke down with Paulinho- apart from the assist and goal he wasn't great." Yes his passing wasn't great (2nd half especially IMHO) . But he showed a lot more energy (not enough pre-season) and was pressing well (as Pochettino requires) . I still think he will be sold, because IMHO the box to box MF role he played so well in the summer of 2013 is only possible when you have a fast CM carrying the ball back up to the other end (Neymar etc) . The current Spurs MF is not playing like that at the moment.
Full game stream: http://livefootballvideo.com/fullmatch/europe/uefa-europa-league/tottenham-hotspur-vs-ael
I'm always a tad concerned when strikers miss easy chances, they're strikers after all and should score easy chances. It makes me wonder about their form when they do that.
Can't blame Kane for that penalty miss. Had to wait 7 minutes and the keeper wouldn't usually save those straight down the middle. Was a bit of a freak save in my opinion, with his ankle, didn't know much about it.
Thought it was a very efficient performance last night (sign of a top of the table side ). Limassol barely caused a single problem for the defence or Hugo and despite us playing at about 75% capacity with what you'd class currently as "B" team, we looked very assured and confident. Thought Kane and Paulinho had good games, even though Harry had his penalty saved he was full of running which caused the Limassol defence problems and it was nice seeing him put the pen behind him with his cool finish before half time. Paulinho started off a bit sluggish but grew as the game went on and bagged himself an assist and a goal, so there's certainly no complaints there. Interesting that in the Spurs TV interview, the guy behind the mic mentions about Paul's lack of rest since the Confed's cup - something myself and a couple others have touched on a good few times - which to me gives the idea that he may have been instructed to mention that in the interview by the clubs' hierarchy to remind fans and others alike that what we saw of Paul last season was for the most part, a fairly fatigued one "and still scored 9 goals" - again, a reminder that Paul did find the net a fair few times. Here's hoping we can see "the real Paulinho" who should be nice and fresh now, push his way back into starting contention and become the player we all expected him to be when he signed for the £17m fee. As I said before the season started, I'm very excited about this campaign. I was confident that most of the new lads will come good and even though it's early doors, Chadli and Lamela already look like they're finally finding their feet, Capoue has picked up from his early form from last season prior to the injury at Arsenal and Paulinho put in the sort of performance we'd expect from him last night (albeit against inferior opposition) which now hopefully gives Poch a lovely headache for upcoming games.
Someone mentioned the lack of vanishing spray last night. Watching the draw now, some UEFA suit has just said they'll be bringing it in for the group stages. If anyone wants to watch: http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/season=2015/draws/index.html?v=1409310034265 Dudek doing the draw
