PAOK Salonika v Tottenham – live! | John Ashdown

• Hit F5 for the latest or use the auto-refresh button below • Follow all tonight’s European action on our live scoreboard • And email your thoughts to john.ashdown@guardian.co.uk Half-time email dept. “John, did you make it home in time to clean up before your girlfriend got home the other night, after the tennis?” wonders Eliot Crowe. “And, given that Spurs themselves aren’t even interested in this match, is there any chance you can entertain us readers by telling what happened on Top of the Pops ?” In answer to your first question, yes. In answer to the second, I think that particular story deserves better than this slightly underwhelming contest. Tell, you want – if there’s six or more goals in the second half I’ll spill the beans. If not, no deal. Half-time snack dept. Just a tea for me. White, no sugar. Peeeep! And the referee brings the opening 45 to a close. 45 min: Athanasiadis, whose name is causing me a few typing issues, does well to send a shot at goal under pressure from Corluka. It’s straight into Cudicini’s bread-basket. 43 min: Livermore, impressive thus far, is cynically chopped down by Pablo Garcia and picks up a booking. 42 min: “Thought I might tell you that Rubin Kazan just had a penalty brilliantly saved but, just before they got it, down at the other end Ryzhikov picked up the ball outside the box and it was ignored,” writes Brynmoor Pattison. “Interesting match underway in Tallaght! 0-1 to Rubin so far.” 41 min: Lovely work down the right from Spurs – Walker, Giovani and Falque combining to pick open the PAOK defence. The Spaniard dinks the ball back in and Pavlyuchenko whelps it off towards Macedonia. 40 min: … which Pavlyuchenko thumps into the roof of the net. On the outside of the goal. It was dipping, see. Cracking effort. 38 min: Bassong finds Pavlyuchenko with a lovely ball into the inside-left channel. The Russian gets the benefit of some Keystone Cops defending, cuts inside and wins a very dangerous free-kick … 36 min: Tottenham’s back four play a bit of keep-ball, before Giovani hops and pops forward once more and draws a free-kick. Arias gets a booking for his trouble. 34 min: The referee is doing his best to make this interesting – Tottenham concede a free-kick outside the PAOK area, but Livermore spanks a shot at goal. He gets a stern talking to from the man in yellow, who seems to fancy placing himself at the centre of proceedings. 33 min: And from the retake he drags it wide of Cudicini’s left-hand post! GO … NO! The Brazilian scoops it past Cudicini, runs off to celebrate … but the referee has ordered a retake! 29 min: PENALTY! And not to Spurs, but to PAOK! Cudicini pretty unnecessarily drags down Athanasiadis. 27 min: Giovani robs Vieirinha 30 yards from goal – the PAOK whistle their disgust. Kane goes down in the area … it looks like a penalty and quacks like a penalty … but it’s not a penalty. Kane gets a booking for simulation and replays show it wasn’t particularly deserved. It certainly looked like Contreras caught him. 25 min: … cleared away with little fuss. And on the break Giovani skitters and skips away from a couple of defenders, raising the pulse for just about the first time in this opening half. The move breaks down soon enough, but at least it was a brief injection of pace into a game that’s being played veerrrryyy slllooooowwwwllllllyyyyy. 24 min: Salpingidis wins a corner … 22 min: Former Uruguay international Pablo Garcia is the pivot in midfield for PAOK, but he’s operating in areas deeper than the Mariana Trench so struggling to cause any damage. 20 min: Townsend dinks in a cross, Kane heads straight at the keeper. It’s been a low key, middling-quality start here. And the match hasn’t been much better. 19 min: Vieirinha again causes trouble, shimmying his way into a shooting position, but then blazing over 18 min: … whipped in, but well held by Cudicini. 17 min: Vierienha again gets a little space, 25 yards from goal. Decent effort, deflected over. Corner … 16 min: Vierinha pokes a through-ball into the box, but it’s too heavy for his team-mate. 14 min: Tremendous atmosphere at the Toumba Stadium, despite Spurs monopolising possession. Kane gets down to the byline, but can’t work space for the cross. 13 min: “I wonder if a team from that Welsh railway station, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch will ever get a team in the Europa league?” writes Ben Bamford. “That would give these Greek chaps something to think about …” They’d have to go some to beat Bangkok Bravo (full name: Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit Bravo Association Football Club ), though I suppose they’d have to meet in the World Club Championship. 11 min: CLEARED OFF THE LINE! Livermore does superbly to wriggle his way in to the box, lays the ball off to Falque who manages to find the only PAOK defender on the line. 10 min: With Andros Townsend struggling, Etto gets clear down the right and drags in a low cross that reaches a PAOK shirt in the box. The shot is well blocked at close quarters. 8 min: The Greek side have definitely upped their work-rate and are snapping at Tottenham heels higher up the pitch now. And in doing so giving away a couple of free-kicks. 7 min: Salpingidis, a veteran of 50 caps for Greece, whups another ball into the penalty area, but this time it’s aimless. 6 min: Dangerous cross into the box from Salpingidis, after nice work from Etto, but there’s not a black and white shirt in the box. 4 min: Falque picks the pocket of a PAOK defender but his attempted one-two doesn’t come off. Plenty of eyes on 21-year-old Spaniard tonight. 3 min: Shamrock Rovers are already 0-1 down at home to Rubin Kazan. 2 min: Free-kick to Spurs over on the right, whipped in left-footed by Tom Carroll (whose team-mates presumably call Christmas. Or Lewis. Or Andy). Straight into the meaty paws of Kresic in the PAOK goal. 1 min: Bassong does a little tidying up at the back as PAOK break forward, but then there’s some early pass, pass, pass from the visitors. Peep! Off we go then. Spurs, all in what Dulux or Crown might call Space Lilac, kicking from right to left. Click-clack, click-clack … The teams are in the tunnel. Something that could be Highway to Hell belts out from the Tannoy. 5.57pm: An alternative view dept. “Last season Harry ran his top players ragged, playing them every game and giving little opportunity to younger players,” writes Martin Wills. “Maybe he’s learned something from that.” 5.55pm: PAOK Salonika’s full and proper name is Panthessaloníkios Athlitikós Ómilos Konstantinoupolitón. A mouthful, that’s for sure. But not quite Nooit Opgeven Altijd Doorzetten Aangenaam Door Vermaak En Nuttig Door Ontspanning Combinatie Breda ( otherwise known as NAC Breda ). 5.52pm: Harsh words dept. “I think this team selection, and Harry’s attitude towards this competition, betrays a real arrogance,” writes William Hardy. “They obviously think of themselves as a Champions League club, but they’re not going to be getting back in it any time soon, and they could win this if they took it seriously. Harry has only won one trophy in his whole career, and they could get a big draw if they stay in. One of Man City’s group will be entering, imagine Spurs getting Bayern, or Villareal or Napoli? Arrogance, that’s what I put it down to. Misplaced arrogance at that as well.” 5.49pm: Quite enjoying the fact that PAOK have got a Lino in there first XI. He’s a Brazilian – slightly disappointingly his first name isn’t “Oi!” and his surname isn’t “Getyourflagup”. He’s Dorvalino Alves Maciel. And it’s probably pronounced “Leeno” if we’re being honest with ourselves. Preamble: Evening all. Are we well? I’m dandy thanks, basking in the warm glow of a day’s work well done. Today I scrubbed the flagstones on my balcony and then re-pebbled the gutters – and, no, neither of those are euphemisms. And if that were not enough, there’s an evening of Europa League action to look forward to. Unlike many, I really like the Europa League. It’s full of big, old teams – names from the past that modern football has left behind: Anderlecht, PSV Eindhoven, Sporting Lisbon, Lazio, Dynamo Kiev, Besiktas, Paris St Germain, Malmo, Austria Vienna, Club Brugge, Celtic, Rennes, Atletico Madrid, Steaua Bucharest, AEK Athens … and plenty more. Tottenham don’t seem quite so enamoured. What makes me say that? Here are the teams: PAOK Salonika: Kresic, Malezas, Contreras, Lino, Etto, Pablo Garcia, Fotakis, Arias, Vieirinha, Athanasiadis, Salpingidis. Subs: Chalkias, Balafas, Robert, Papazoglou, Ivic, Sznaucner, Tsoukalas. Tottenham: Cudicini, Bassong, Corluka, Walker, Livermore, Townsend, Carroll, Pavlyuchenko, Giovani, Falque, Kane. Subs: Gomes, Fredericks, Nicholson, Pritchard, Parrett, Stewart, Barthram. Referee: Milorad Mazic (Serbia) Europa League 2011-12 PAOK Salonika Tottenham Hotspur Europa League John Ashdown guardian.co.uk

Posted by on September 15, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.