How the Spurs players rated in their Europa League trip to Belgrade.
Tottenham Hotspur kicked off their 2014/15 Europa League group stage campaign this evening with a largely uneventful 0-0 draw against Partizan Belgrade on an awful pitch in the Serbian capital.
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Faced with a hostile crowd, Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino is likely to be relatively pleased to get out of Belgrade with a point. This is how his side rated in their stalemate:
GK) Hugo Lloris 7 – A largely quiet evening for Lloris, with Partizan’s shooting wild, made a couple of sharp saves.
RB) Kyle Naughton 7 – With the majority of attacks coming down the other side, Naughton looked like a picture of solidity.
CB) Federico Fazio 6 – A mixed debut from the Argentine, who was largely commanding but fortunate not to allow Partizan a goal with a couple of slips.
CB) Jan Vertonghen 7 – The more commanding of the defensive pairing, the kind of performance that Spurs expect from the Belgian.
LB) Ben Davies 5 – Caused real trouble by Partizan’s right hand side, Davies is yet to really settle since his summer move from Swansea City.
CM) Nabil Bentaleb 7 – Quietly effective, the Algerian has edged into the position of a key player.
CM) Benjamin Stambouli 6 – Another Spurs debutant, Stambouli played well defensively as they picked up a useful point but was quite wasteful on the ball.
CM) Paulinho 5 – They needed more from the Brazilian, the most attacking of the central trio, who continues to underwhelm.
ARM) Andros Townsend 5 – Playing on the opposition flank to his natural left side, Townsend was largely quiet, picked up a silly booking and was fairly fortunate not to get another.
ALM) Aaron Lennon 5 – As with Townsend, wasn’t able to get into the game and give Spurs a real threat going forward.
SC) Harry Kane 6 – Seems to be Mauricio Pochettino’s go-to man in the Europa League, but largely toiled on his own upfront, although he was unlucky to hit the bar early on rather than give his side the lead.
SUB) Erik Lamela 6 – Thrown on to give Spurs more attacking impetus and largely failed despite some neat touches.
SUB) Roberto Soldado 5 – Never really got into the game, delayed on a couple of occasions when he had the opportunity to shoot.
MAN) Mauricio Pochettino 6 – Will be reasonably happy with a point and how organised his team were, but worried by their lack of attacking threat.