Pacos de Ferreira (Away) 19.08.2021

Not having Premier Sports, this match report has been cobbled together from the BBC London commentary on the THFC site and the small highlights packages that have popped up on YouTube.  To be honest with you, I’m pretty pleased I didn’t shell out £9.99 to see us lose in a poor game and to a TV company who had three of our players down in the team list as Giovani Celso, Nille John and Dan Scarlett.  Do your homework Premier Sports !

A 0-1 defeat isn’t perhaps the worst result in the world, as Paco de Ferreira had other chances, but the nature of the performance and the lack of respect for the opposition ended in an embarrassing loss, when other teams are already looking forward to a place in the groups after big first leg wins.  Nuno Espirito Santo (Premier Sports got his name right !) chose a starting eleven that had our three new signings, some players who didn’t feature on Sunday and a couple of players who had been plucked from the Academy.  The bench comprised solely of youngsters, who totalled a handful of first team appearances among them (although only Clarke and White).

While Spurs were looking OK at the start and went at the Pacos defence, there were few worrying moments for the home team, but Gollini had to be alert to claim a throw-in that came into the box and he was comfortably down to a side-footed effort from Santos’ shot from an angle on the left side.  We were looking to get Doherty into the match and finding space on the right wing, his low ball into the box was behind Bryan Gil.  Both sides had solidly defended set-pieces and when a Spurs corner was headed up in the air, Davies challenged Baixinho for it and got booked.  Ironically, it looked like a challenge for the ball, whereas Helder Ferreira’s yellow card for a foul on Lo Celso appeared much more calculated.

When Winks passed forward to Bryan inside the Pacos half, the new man’s marker picked it off, fed it Eustaquio and he found a pass in behind the Spurs defenders that sent Lucas Silva away on goal.  As Pierluigi Gollini came out, he was exposed and the striker slipped the ball to his left and handed Pacos the lead with 46 seconds remaining in the first half.  It was a poor goal to give away and it had not been without merit, as Pacos had done most of the dangerous attacking.  Starting with a back three allowed space between and around them with insufficient cover from the midfield.

Nuno brought on Clarke for John at the start of the second half in an attempt to step up the attacking, but apart from a couple of early corners, any forward moves were let down by over-hit or misplaced passes.  Halfway through the half, the Spurs website said we had swapped to four at the back, but the opposition defence was holding firm and there looked a lack of urgency in Tottenham’s play that left us vulnerable to the breakaway and towards the end of the 90minutes, Cameron Carter-Vickers conceded a free-kick, but looked to be hobbling, with Romero joining him in added time.  There was a late chance when Gil lifted the ball to the far post, where substitute and debutant Maksim Paskotsi came in, but the ball was headed away from him.

This match was not too different to the second leg of last season’s Dinamo Zagreb tie.  A lack of response to going behind is not really good enough and while the potential money on offer and the lack of kudos this competition brings, you still think that the club feel they can win it or go as far as possible.  Will Nuno field a stronger side in the second leg ?  Well, I hope so, as £20 won’t cover Harry Kane’s wages, but it should cover the cost of watching this round of a third tier European competition that the team want to go further in.

Sparky Mark

There were Spurs debuts for Pierluigi Gollini, Bryan Gil, Nile John and substitutes J’Neil Bennett and Maksim Paskotsi.

In addition for the firs time in the club’s history they selected identical twins in the squad although Michael and Matthew Craig were unused subs.