UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE
GROUP C
THURSDAY 2ND OCTOBER, 2014
(8.05pm)
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 1(1) BESIKTAS 1(0)
Spurs scorers:-
Kane, 27
Besiktas scorer:-
Ba (pen), 89
Attendance:- 24,300
Referee:- Manuel Grafe
Assistants:- Guido Kleve & Christoph Bornhorst
Additional assistants:- Tobias Stieler & Robert Hartmann
Fourth official:- Mike Pickel
( All officials from Germany)
Teams:-
Spurs (4-2-3-1):- Lloris(Capt.); Dier, Chiriches, Fazio, Davies; Stambouli (sub Dembele, 65), Bentaleb; Paulinho ( sub Lennon, 60), Kane, Townsend; Soldado (sub Adebayor, 79)
Subs not used:- Vorm; Kaboul, Naughton; Lamela
Booked:- Davies (foul on Sosa), Bentaleb (foul on Hutchinson), Fazio (unsporting conduct during build-up to corner), Chiriches (Handball)
Besiktas (4-5-1):- Tolga Zengin (Capt.); Serdar Kurtulus, Tomas Sivok, Pedro Franco, Ramon Motta; Gokhan Tore (sub Kerim Koyunlu, 82), Atiba Hutchinson, Veli Kavlak (sub Oguzhan Ozyakup, 65), Jose Sosa, Olcay Sahan (sub Mustafa Pektemek, 72); Demba Ba
Subs not used:- Cenk Gonen; Ismail Koybasi, Necip Uysal, Ersan Gulum
Booked:- Ba (foul on Chiriches)
Demba Ba grabs a deserved point.
Quite why Jose Mourinho let Demba Ba go to Turkey, signing Loic Remy from QPR as his replacement, I do not know. In my match preview, I mistakenly suggested that Ba was on loan, but he is a fully fledged Besiktas player.
Ba had an excellent game, in my view. His hold-up play, speed, movement, anticipation and accurate passing was everything any manager could want in an outfield player. Probably his only fault, and that of his team-mates, was an inability to hit the net on several occasions.
Spurs keeper Hugo Lloris (also captain tonight) will probably win another Spurs Odyssey man of the match vote for at least three excellent and crucial saves, which kept the Turks at bay until Vlad Chiriches gave us one of his clownish moments, committing a stupid handball to concede the penalty which Ba put away clinically.
As we reached the closing stages, I was concerned about Spurs' ability to hold on to their lead gained in the first half with their first effective attack, and a goal by Harry Kane (his fourth in our colours so far this season).
Spurs mounted one or two more good first half chances, but looked sharper at times in the second half, when training ground slick and swift passing moves paid off. Soldado was to the fore in this play, and sadly, when he was replaced by Adebayor, Spurs lost their momentum. By this time too, Townsend and Kane were looking tired.
Mauricio Pochettino fielded the "B Team", with a strange shape, with Paulinho starting on the right flank, and Harry Kane in the middle of the midfield three behind Soldado. Townsend started on the left, but late in the half switched flanks with Paulinho.
I have shown Besiktas as a 4-5-1 formation, but it was an attacking style with Gokhan Tore, Olcay Sahan, and Hutchinson all offering support to Ba when Besiktas were going forward. That was most of the time then, with Spurs struggling to close their men down, and to keep up with them as they strode forward.
A Spurs win, and a couple of good results against Asteras Tripolis might have meant that Spurs would not be needing much from their last group C game in Istanbul. If they do need a point or more on that day, Pochettino will need a stronger defence than that fielded today. Ben Davies offers something when going forward, but I am struggling to see the £10 million worth in him as a full back at this time.
Basically, Besiktas looked sharper than us in most areas.
There was a full contingent of Turkish fans in the lower tier of the Park Lane stand, and of course they made plenty of noise. There were Turkish fans in home sections too, and ticket sales had been stopped a few days ago on Police advice, because of course, there are plenty of Turks in and around London. One Turkish fan got on the train with me at Newark this afternoon.
In the second half, a long banner was unfurled in the East Upper, which had some sort of message about ISIS. It took the stewards a while to deal with that issue.
There were plenty of empty seats in the home sections, and once again, I ask how we are going to fill that new stadium when we get it. I don't see how Spurs fans can have a dig at Arsenal and West Ham over unsold seats when we don't fill our ground for these games.
Sahan had a good chance for the visitors in front of the Paxton Road stand after only one minute, but he hit his shot outside Lloris's left post.
The German referee had issued two yellow cards within 6 minutes. The first went to Ba for a foul on Chiriches. Then Davies took a booking, meaning he had to be extra careful throughout the game.
Spurs gave the ball away, playing backwards from a free kick, and the visitors' attack ended with a dangerous cross from the right by Gokhan Tore, leading to a corner. Gokhan was a threat all game, playing good threaded passes as well as making good crosses. A ball from the left fell to Ba, who hit a powerful rising shot, tipped onto and over the bar for a corner by Lloris.
19 minutes had passed, and Spurs hadn't managed a decent attack. Lloris was up in the air to catch a cross by Motta, with Ba threatening. Davies came off worse in the middle when challenging Gokhan Tore for a high ball. Tore got behind Davies, and made a run towards goal, thankfully firing wide.
Dier won a ball near the half way line and did well, making a run, before offering a good pass to Bentaleb, who sadly failed to make good use of this ball.
However, Bentaleb certainly redeemed himself in the 27th minute, when receiving from Townsend. Bentaleb turned and quickly sent the ball to Kane, who was in a central area near the box, with at least two defenders close at hand. Harry latched onto his chance to make space for himself, and to beat the keeper with a good low finish inside the keeper's left post.
Now Paulinho and Townsend switched, but Besiktas responded with another good low cross by Gokhan, which just passed Ba's feet. Sahan shot from the back post across the goalmouth, and Hugo made a great diving save at his left post, happy to concede a corner.
Spurs then forged a couple of chances, with Davies crossing for Kane to head wide at the back post, before Townsend cut in from the right flank, feeding the ball to Kane, whose shot across Zengin was well saved, at the expense of a corner. Another Townsend cross caused some trouble for the Besiktas defence, but the goalkeeper held the ball.
The referee's cards started to appear in the second half, with Bentaleb booked for a foul on Hutchinson, before Fazio and Ba were involved in a contretemps in a build up to a corner. Ultimately, Fazio saw yellow after the referee had warned both players. He had, of course, already booked Ba early in the game.
There were a couple of incidents in the second half, when both Dembele and Kane seemed to be fouled in good positions, but the referee waved play-on, to the consternation of all Spurs connections.
Kane, Townsend and Stambouli were involved in a move, which ended with Townsend's shot going well over.
Ba made a good run, anticipating the path of the ball well, and letting the ball do the work, as he advanced on goal, and teed up Sahan, who was in space with almost an open goal. Hugo Lloris made a quite spectacular save to deny him, conceding another corner.
After 58 minutes, Spurs had a good attack from their own half, started by a brilliant piece of play by Soldado, in his own half. He received, controlled and raced away with the ball, making ground as far as the final third, feeding Bentaleb, whose shot went wide. Soldado's efforts deserved better of his team-mate.
Paulinho was replaced by Lennon, who took up station on the left flank.
Sahan had a good effort at a scissor kick after a cross from the right, but his effort passed across the goalmouth. Zengin made a great save from Kane's driven shot, after Davies had cut the ball back from the left.
Sahan was replaced by Pektemek, whose first touch was to head over from a corner at close range. Soon after that, Ba had an effort from close range, which Spurs somehow deflected and saved.
Spurs had been under pressure, defending three consecutive corners, before, following another break, Chiriches committed his offence allowing Ba to equalise from the spot. Ba had a stutter in his run, and left Lloris with no chance. In truth, the draw was the least that Besiktas deserved.
In the other group game, Asteras Tripolis beat Partizan Belgrade 2-0 to go top of the group after two games:-
Europa League Group C
P W D L F-A GD PTS
Asteras Tripolis 2 1 1 0 3-1 2 4
Besiktas 2 0 2 0 2-2 0 2
Spurs 2 0 2 0 1-1 0 2
Partizan 2 0 1 1 0-2 -2 1
