9 August 2009

Pavlyuchenko outshines Crouch in Spus Victory

Tottenham Hotspur beat Olympiacos 3-0 at White Hart Lane this afternoon in their final pre-season match before the new Premier League season begins.

For the 26,000+ fans that bought tickets, it was a rare chance to see some marginal squad players put in a decent shift.

Spurs lined up with Gomes in goal, Naughton and Assou-Ekotto at full-back and King and new signing Bassong in central defence, in the absence of Michael Dawson and Johnathan Woogate.

Youngster Danny Rose started on the left wing, forgotten man Bentley on the right, with young Englishmen Tom Huddlestone and Jamie O'Hara in central midfield.

Another new signing, Peter Crouch, joined Robbie Keane in attack.

Ina fairly bright start, wingers Bentley and Rose were heavily invloved, with both setting up chances for Crocuh and Keane respectively in the first quarter of an hour.

In between, Olympiacos midfielder Dudu flashed a good shot marginally wide from 25 yards.

Crouch then linked neatly with Huddlestone, only to shoot narrowly off target.

In the next fifteen minutes, everything became more disjointed until Diogo fired wide from 12 yards just before half-time, having been played in by full-back Domi.

There was much change in the second half as Cudicini, Chimbonda, Corluka, Modric, Lennon, Pavlyuchenko and Defoe repalced Gomes, Naughton, King , O'Hara, Rose, Crouch and Keane.

Defoe and Lennon forced decent saves out of visiting 'keeper Pardo as Tottenham began to dominate the match.

After 57 minutes, Mitroglou met a good Zairi cross and forced a smart save from Cudicini, but Spurs would take the lead deservedly a few minutes later.

Modric played in Lennon down the left, who cut back to Pavlyuchenko. The Russian finished with aplomb into the top of the net from 14 yards.

Another outcast came on with 20 minutes remaining for the impressive Bentley as Spurs fans finally caught a glimpse of the 'Ghetto Prince' Boateng, who almost immediately added to the score as he had a shot well saved, before Olof Mellberg denied Chimbonda a goal with a desperate block on the goal line.

30 seconds later, Pavlyuchenko added an assist to his goal as het set up Corluka in front of goal, following a Bassong flick header from Mordic's well weighted corner.

Defoe then finished off the Greek side with a great third as he sprinted clear of two defenders and drilled the ball into the bottom corner from just inside the box. Defoe and Pavlyuchenko almost added further goals in injury time.

A convincing win for Tottenham that showed two things: having four good strikers is essential in modern football; Tottenham have a lot of underused players with something to offer.

Result: Tottenham 3 (0) 0(0) Olympiakos
Scorers: Pavlyuchenko 66', Corluka 69', Defoe 78'

Ratings: Gomes 6 (Cudicini 6), Naughton 6 (Chimbonda 7), King 6 (Corluka 6), Bassong 7, Assou-Ekotto 6, Bentley 7 (Boateng 6), Huddlestone 7 (Bostock 5), O'Hara 6 (Modric 7 (Livermore 5)), Rose 7 (Lennon 7), Crouch 6 (PAVLYUCHENKO 8), Keane 5 (Defoe 7)

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