Who's taking our corners? Two good ones on the trot. It must be one of our new boys, someone has forgotten to tell him that our corners are always ****.
Volkov dives again and Townsend blows up at the linesman and picks up a silly yellow. How the hell that's a foul, I'll never know. Dumb way to get booked, though.
Ridiculous decision, but Townsend can't react like that. Followed by a dive in an attempt to get Townsend sent off. I wouldn't mind seeing him subbed now, frankly. That was really poor from Davies. He should certainly clear the ball if he can't get control of it.
And he's gone down again from some minor contact, as Townsend's arm slips up his shoulder and clips his head. He needs to shift to the other wing, as he's very restricted, Lennon's absolutely invisible and this left-back's trying to get him sent off.
I haven't heard Lennon's name yet. He's not just invisible, he's inaudible. I'm afraid expecting Pochettino to play Lennon and Townsend on their footed side is a lost cause, though. It's an interesting question whether Pochettino should change his philosophy when those two are in the team, or whether they should learn to play the way Pochettino wants them to play. It's obvious their tendency to dribble rather than pass doesn't make either one a good fit for what Pochettino wants.
WTF is Pochettino persisting with Lennon and Townsend like this ?? It ain't working, and it probably never will.
You do get the sense of the rest of the squad trying with a fair degree of success to do what Pochettino wants, while Townsend blithely continues to play one on eleven and Lennon fades into the woodwork, seemingly unable to do anything useful on the left side. I wanted us to sell Townsend rather desperately. It turns out maybe we should have shipped Lennon on as well, as great a servant to the club as he's been. Kane should have done better there. Another scrappy Europa away game. So so for us so far. Decent passing, decent execution of the plan, but too slow in the buildup and some dodgy defending. Partisan are decent, tbf, and their fans are excellent.
Kane should've done better there. Didn't look sharp. Another Davies corner right in at the keeper, which he seems to be dealing with. Bit dangerous on the break and Lloris has to save a fairly tame shot. Not a bad first half, but far from great. Lots of fairly harmless possession on a dodgy pitch, but not a lot of penetration. The inverted wingers system isn't working, as Kane's isolated and getting no service, while Paulinho's crowded in behind him. Didn't cause them any real trouble at the back, barring Kane's early shot. I don't think that Davies should be taking our corners from the right. He's putting them in too close to the keeper and then he's miles out of position. I don't understand why we don't get Lennon up to a reasonable standard with them. He's no use in the box and he'll be able to get back quickly enough if they don't work.
Really enjoyable game so far. Some great misplaced passes, spectacular failed dribble attempts, immense diving and brilliantly boring gameplay. Can't wait for the second half!
Vertonghen had a quality moment, bailing out Fazio's blunder. Bentaleb's looked good. Other than that, it's hard to pick out any good performances. We may bring in Eriksen and/or Lamela.
Nothing wrong with Davis's corners, we just need someone to get in front of the keeper. At least he is beating the first man.
Davies goes in the book for an unnecessary foul. The ball was covered. Silly. Fairly decent delivery, but Lloris clears it reasonably well.
