[dropcap]A[/dropcap]fter taking a couple of weeks off due to the international break that featured the first round of qualification for Euro 2016, Tottenham Hotspur is back on the pitch this week with a busy schedule.
Partizan Belgrade 0-0 Tottenham Hotspur – Europa Matchday 1
Depending on who you ask, this is either a good result or incredibly disappointing. First, it’s important to note that this was a long trip for Spurs to make and five first-teamers were left in London, though I had a hard time trying to figure out why Hugo Lloris made this trip, let alone started the match.
Spurs ended up pulling a point out of this long trip in what was, generally speaking, a fairly uneventful match. Spurs played a heavily rotated side that saw Harry Kane start up top with Aaron Lennon, Paulinho, and Andros Townsend playing in the attack with him. We did get to see the debut of both Federico Fazio and Benji Stambouli as the two new signings made their first starts.
Highlights are few and far between in this match, but here’s a summary:
- Andros Townsend was not good in this match. He had several terrible giveaways and generally looked to be reverted back to his selfish style of play from last season. The potential is there, but more and more, I’m now wondering why Daniel Levy didn’t pull the trigger and jettison him to Southampton for the £12 million that they were offering.
- That being said, Townsend had every right to be upset with the officiating in Belgrade, which was absolutely awful. Flopping was rampant by the hosts that allowed for almost zero flow in the match
- Harry Kane was okay up top, but he is nowhere close to what he was doing in the preseason. He’s still raw and needs some time to develop.
- This attack dies without some form of Christian Eriksen or Erik Lamela on the pitch. Lennon is not the player he was four years ago while Paulinho is serviceable at best at the ten. Townsend can improve once he stops sending shots into the stratosphere.
- The back line was solid for most of the night, though Ben Davies didn’t have a great match overall.
Spurs’ next Europa Matchday will be October 2 when they host Turkish side Besiktas, which will not be an easy match. Besiktas was not far from qualifying for the Champions League group stage but fell short against Arsenal.
West Bromwich Albion makes a trip to the Lane
Spurs will host West Brom on Sunday, with kickoff set for 8:30 AM EST. Currently, West Brom sits 19th in the table, only ahead of bottom dweller Newcastle United on goal differential. It’s been a turbulent start to the season for the Baggies, opening the season with a 2-2 draw against Sunderland, followed up by a 0-0 draw with Southampton. The Baggies then got whacked by Swansea 3-0 and succumbed to the Toffees of Everton, 2-0 before the international break.
The Baggies’ attack currently lacks teeth, as Saido Berahino is literally the only player to score for the club. Their play has been pretty much awful and it’s hard to see anything other than three points for Spurs in this matchup. Then again, we thought the same thing against Sunderland, and that resulted in a 2-2 draw thanks to a couple of mental errors by Spurs.
Capital One Cup starts next week
A quick note that Spurs will start their Capital One Cup campaign next week against Nottingham Forest. Expect a heavily rotated side to take the pitch in that match, hopefully including Michel Vorm in net to give Hugo Lloris a break.
That’s it for this week! Next week we will recap league play and look ahead to the North London Derby!
