Attendance:- 21,000

Referee:- Alon Yefet (ISR)
Assistants:- Amihay Yehoshua Mozes (ISR) , Mahmud Mahagna (ISR)
Additional assistants:- Eli Hacmon (ISR) , Ziv Adler (ISR)
Fourth official:- Yehiel Levy Haluba (ISR)

Teams:-
FK Partizan (4-5-1):- Lukac; Vulicevic, B. Ilic, Stankovic, Volkov (sub Petrovic, 55); Grbic (sub Luka, 85), Drinkic, Cirkovic (sub Markovic, 68), Pantic, S. Ilic (Capt.); Lazovic

Subs not used:- Kljajic; Zivkovic, Ninkovic, Fofana

Booked:- B. Ilic (foul on Townsend), Luka (foul on Capoue)

Spurs (4-2-3-1):- Lloris (Capt.); Naughton, Fazio, Vertonghen, Davies; Bentaleb, Stambouli (sub Capoue, 72); Townsend (sub Lamela, 59), Paulinho (sub Soldado, 60), Lennon; Kane

Subs not used:- Vorm; Chiriches, Dier; Eriksen

Booked:- Townsend (Dissent), Davies (foul on Grbic)

Spurs survive difficult pitch and atmosphere

Spurs survived a difficult night in Belgrade on what was described as a bobbly and uneven pitch, some of which had only very recently been re-laid. The turf could be kicked up with ease, and in no way matched the lush green pastures Spurs are used to both at White Hart Lane and Hotspur Way. As usual, in a fixture in Eastern Europe (not the farthest East we have to travel in this phase), the home atmosphere was incredibly loud for most of the time, although as far as I am aware, no specific hostility was offered to our players. Remember that Danny Rose had suffered racist abuse here in Serbia, when playing for England’s under-21s a couple of years ago. One of Partizan’s unused substitutes – Ninkovic – was involved in that incident, and had to serve a one year ban given by the Serbian FA as a result.

As mentioned in my preview, Danny Rose was amongst those Spurs players left at home, all of whom will probably start Sunday’s game against West Brom. Hugo Lloris was captain for the night, whilst Mauricio Pochettino had the luxury of making 10 outfield changes from the team which drew at Sunderland last Saturday.

Both Fazio and Stambouli made their full debuts. Fazio was strong beside Vertonghen at the back, whilst Stambouli had a lower key appearance, in my view. All the Spurs players had to put up with several instances of over dramatising by the home players, not least off whom was striker Lazovic, who is the second top scorer so far this season for his club. The man ahead of him, Petar Skuletic, was in fact suspended tonight having been sent off in their last Europa League game.

Spurs had the brightest start and could have opened the scoring after only one minute. It was in the end, their best chance of the game, coming from a corner won by Harry Kane, which reached him via Vertonghen beyond the back post. Kane hit a powerful rising shot, which rebounded off the bar. Kane was not to be seen enough in the game thereafter, which is probably more the fault of those trying to serve the ball up to him. Townsend started on the right wing, and was good with the ball in front of him, at his feet, but too often ran into trouble and was out-muscled. Paulinho in the middle played a couple of very intricate Brazilian touches, but those in receipt of the ball were unable to develop the situation.

Spurs had to defend a free kick conceded by Townsend after two minutes. The ball was hit into the 6 yard box, but defended well by Fazio, who stands no less than 6ft 5 ins tall. Partizan regularly attacked and found space down Spurs’ left flank, where Ben Davies was exposed. The fact this he was Spurs’ right-hand corner taker did not help, if the home side counter-attacked. Fazio blocked a shot by Lazovic, who had been served the ball well by Grbic, who was a handful for Davies all night. Fazio was right behind Lazovic after another such attack down the Spurs’ left side.

Naughton got ahead of Townsend after 22 minutes, and Townsend did send a delightful chipped pass to the right back, who crossed deep beyond the far post to nobody. A Partizan throw, taken on the left, was missed by Fazio, and cleared thanks to Vertonghen and Bentaleb. Townsend won a corner, with a shot that had been going wide anyway, but took a deflection. The corner was taken by Davies, and the goalkeeper was not convincing. After a little head tennis, the ball reached Kane on the left of the box, but his shot was well over the target. Partizan captain Sasa Ilic hit a shot high, after yet another attack down the right.

Townsend got frustrated at a decision not going his way, and was shown the first yellow card of the night for dissent towards the touch-line assistant. Soon after, he was perhaps lucky not to be further penalised, when his flailing arm led to more Partizan dramatics. Townsend’s caution was one good reason for his substitution after 59 minutes.

Kane won a corner, after collecting one of Paulinho’s clever touches, but Partizan countered, and Lloris had to make a good save from 17 year old Danilo Pantic.

After the break, Spurs had to deal with a fair amount of home pressure. Davies got booked for a challenge on Grbic. Soon after that, the home side benefited from a dodgy no-offside decision, from which Lazovic fed Grbic, whose shot was held by Lloris.

Townsend was replaced by Lamela, and Soldado replaced Paulinho, going ahead of Kane. Lamela showed clever feet and wizardry, but there was not enough support around him. Lloris made a great close range save from Lazovic, who this time was called offside – correctly. Lamela spread the play with a good ball to Soldado on the left, who crossed, but Kane could not quite reach the ball, which I feel he could have headed with a bit more application. The cynic in me did notice that Harry’s hair still looked nice towards the end of the game!

The Partizan captain had another chance on goal, after a poor clearance by Davies, but the shot was skied. Whilst the pressure was more on Tottenham, Lloris was rarely troubled. Grbic was the supplier again and Sasa Ilic headed over. At the other end Bentaleb was fed by a neat back-heeled pass by Soldado, but his cross was easily held by the keeper.

I can’t honestly say that Spurs looked comfortable, because at times they struggled to pass accurately out of their own half. Towards the end, Vertonghen was demonstrating caution with good long clearances. At this stage of the competition, if you can win your home games, and draw away, then progress is assured really. Therefore, Spurs have successfully negotiated this step on their path towards qualification for the knock out phases.

Besiktas drew 1-1 at home to Asteras Tripolis, so all four teams in Group C are level after one game.

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