Spurs under 21’s 1-1 PSG (Spurs win 4-3 on penalties) : (match report)

Spurs kicked off their defence of the Tournoi Europeen with a 4-3 win on penalties against French giants Paris Saint German this morning in Ploufragan in north west France. It was an excellent team performance from Burnett’s side who really took the game to the Parisians. We played some lovely attacking football and were the more potent side throughout the 50 minutes of normal time. Following on from their comprehensive 2-1 victory over Enfield town earlier in the week, Burnett’s young side expressed themselves more from an attacking perspective and it paid off for them. After an enthralling 50 minutes which was end to end, Spurs and PSG battled out a 1-1 draw with both teams earning a point in the process. This meant that the game would go to a penalty shootout to decide who would earn an extra point. Fortunately it was Burnett’s side who came out on top, winning the penalty shootout 4-3, with 17 year old Paris Maghoma cooly slotting home the winning penalty to give Spurs an important advantage over the best team in group A. What was particularly striking about Spurs’ performance was their intent at running at the PSG defence, they played intricate attacking football with the likes of Marcus Edwards and Connor Ogilvie playing a prominent part in this. But they were decisive and that’s what gave them that all important edge over what is by all accounts a top PSG side. Burnett opted to go for the unfamiliar 4-3-2-1 formation, with Jonathan De Bie starting in goal. Followed by a back four of Hinds, Dinzeyi, Lyons-Foster and Ogilvie (c). The combative Dylan Duncan (the more defensive of the three) partnered up with Maghoma and Bowden in the middle of the park. Whilst Marcus Edwards and Shayon Harrison started out on the wing with Shilow Tracey playing as an out and out centre forward.

Spurs got their first group game underway on the main pitch here at the Henri Guérin centre. Wayne Burnett’s side almost fell behind in the opening minute or so of proceedings after Sabri Hadadou decided to run at the Tottenham defence before unleashing a powerful low effort at goal which struck the base of De Bie’s post. Thankfully Connor Ogilvie was there to clear the loose ball behind for a corner kick, although Spurs were playing some decent football during the early stages of the game they were still vulnerable to being caught on the counter. The prominent Connor Ogilvie could often be seen galavanting down the left wing but he was also a force to be reckoned with defensively, and he made an important headed clearance in the opening couple of minutes. Paris Maghoma conceded a free kick in a dangerous position a couple of moments later after he brought down Haddadou on the edge of the penalty area. Abdallah Yaisien played the free kick short to Issac Hemans whose low effort was blocked by Bowden inside the Tottenham penalty area. However, the frantic nature of the game threw up an early surprise when Spurs took the lead from a set piece in the eight minute of the game. After Connor Ogilvie won a free kick out on the left wing, midfield craftsman Jamie Bowden elected to take it, he whipped in a peach of a cross deep into the box. The alert Jonathan Dinzeyi was lurking at the back post and the Tottenham defender leapt high in to the air to just nod the ball into the bottom left hand corner of Garrisone Innocent’s goal, 1-0. It was a terrific header from the young centre halve. Spurs grew in confidence after having taken an early lead and they fancied their chances of getting a second. Ogilvie was proving to be really useful for Burnett’s side out on the left. The 22 year old was constantly getting forwards at every opportunity, and his power and crossing ability was troubling the PSG defenders.

Only a couple of moments after taking the lead Connor Ogilvie won a free kick in an almost identical position out on the left wing. However, this time Bowden opted to play it short to Shilow Tracey. The centre forward powered his way into the box before forcing a save low down to his left from Innocent. Despite their good spell Burnett’s side couldn’t afford to lose focus against PSG. Junior Dina Ebimbe almost caught out De Bie with an effort from range but the Belgian managed to beat the ball away, the game was being played at a frantic pace as PSG went in search of an equaliser. Spurs were fortunate not to be punished when PSG caught us on the counter. After winning the ball off of Bowden, Lucas Bernadou sped towards a vulnerable looking Spurs defence, but Bowden did extremely well to get back and break up the attack. Soon afterwards Spurs almost doubled their lead in exquisite fashion, a wonderful cross field pass from Ogilvie found Hinds out on the edge of the penalty area. He delicately volleyed the ball into the feet of Edwards who darted into the penalty area, turning his man wonderfully before dancing past a further two PSG defenders inside the box. Less than four yards out from goal and one on one with the goalkeeper you would have expected Edwards to just tuck the ball home. However, his side footed effort was spectacularly saved by the foot of the PSG goalkeeper Garrisone Innocent, Spurs would rue to regret that missed chance. Spurs produced another good passing move a couple of minutes later, this time culminating in Dylan Duncan having a go on the edge of the penalty area. The Tottenham midfielders effort was however blocked by a PSG body. Then in the 21st minute of normal time PSG found an equaliser through Lucas Bernadou, Spurs had only dropped their heads for a fraction of a second. But it was enough for speedy fullback Arnaud Luzayadio to sprint down the right wing. Luzayadio continued all the way to byline before whipping a sumptuous cross into the area which was met by the unchallenged Lucas Bernadou inside the six yard box.

Bernadou found himself in a bit of space and he had no problems in rising to meet Luzayadio’s cross and planted a header inside the bottom left hand corner of De Bie’s goal. The ball came off the post before nestling into the back of the net leaving De Bie with no time to react, 1-1. The sides went into half time with all still to play for ahead of the second half. The French giants got the second half underway in the warm morning heat. Burnett made the one alteration at halftime deciding to switch Tracey out onto the left wing whilst putting Harrison in his natural position of centre forward. PSG’s Dina Embime fired a long range effort narrowly over the crossbar shortly after the restart as PSG looked to stamp their authority on the game. The Parisians had started the half well and shortly afterwards Dylan Duncan was forced into making a good block to prevent Bernadou’s powerful attempt at goal. Then out of nothing Marcus Edwards made a superb defence splitting pass which allowed Harrison with a route through to goal from around 40 yards out. However, Innocent had read the move incredibly well and was already out to make a crunching challenge on the Spurs forward to put an end to that attack. The beating heart of Burnett’s side Edwards was terrorising the PSG defence and they had resorted to fouling him to try and keep him out of the game. Since moving onto the left wing Shilow Tracey hadn’t been as involved as he was in the first half, he did however try his luck with an audacious effort from range. After cutting inside onto his right foot Tracey tried to catch Innocent out with a long range attempt, but his wild effort ended up going well wide of the mark. As the half progressed both teams went in search of the winner leaving their defence wide open in the process. On another occasion Paris Maghoma could have found himself on the end of a spectacular match winning goal. After receiving a pass from Edwards, Maghoma decided to try his luck from 25 yards out. The midfielders side footed effort ended up flying a fraction wide of the right hand post.

Then a couple of minutes later Spurs managed to catch PSG on the break after Jamie Bowden won the ball in the centre of the park. He passed the ball to Edwards out on the wing, Edwards continued into the PSG penalty area. Despite having some space to test Innocent at his near post the seemingly under confident teenager decided to square the ball for Harrison in the centre of the box. But the striker completely missed the ball and the chance went amiss, the lively centre forward was doing a good job up top but luck wasn’t on his side. After finding himself with a route through on goal a couple of minutes later the 21 year old was denied a clean route through on goal by Timothée Pembele who made a crunching challenge to thwart the attack, you couldn’t predict the outcome of this game. Marcus Edwards continued to cause trouble when he embarked on a mesmerising attacking foray as he tricked his way past two PSG defenders before threading a lovely pass through to Harrison who was cynically brought down from behind. The referee pointed to the spot without hesitation but the linesman had already flagged for an offside on the Tottenham Hotspur man. Shortly before that incident Burnett had made his first substitution of the game, brining off Shilow Tracey for midfielder Jack Roles. Spurs were looking the more likely side to nick a winner as we reached the final stages of the game. Another intricate move from the Lilywhites saw Bowden thread a perfectly weighted pass for Marcus Edwards to latch onto inside the box. Edwards was just about to pull the trigger when a PSG defender caught him from behind (supposedly winning the ball !) the Spurs players fervently claimed a penalty.

Then, the newly introduced Samuel Shashoua won a free kick in the dying moments of the game. Shashoua’s resulting delivery picked out Jack Roles inside the danger zone but as the Cypriot youth international went to attack the ball he clattered into the outrushing Innocent who went flying to the ground, this resulted in the referee awarding a free kick against the Spurs man. The referee then blew his whistle for full time meaning that the game would be decided by a penalty shootout to determine who would get the extra bonus point. Nathan Epaillard stood up first for PSG and the midfielder had no problems at converting his penalty into the bottom right hand corner to give the Parisians the lead. Shayon Harrison then walked to the spot to take Spurs’ first penalty of the shootout, the striker confidently went straight down the middle to make it 1-1. Turkish youth international Güçlü Metehan then made it 2-1 to PSG before Tottenham’s Jack Roles drew level with a composed penalty which nestled in the bottom left hand corner of the goal. An important diving save from Jonathan De Bie prevented Isaac Hemans from converting spot kick number three for the Parisians. But Burnett’s side couldn’t capitalise on this as Samuel Shashoua’s resulting spot kick was well saved by Innocent. Dina Embimbe then scored for PSG, whilst Marcus Edwards made it 3-3 for Spurs. PSG’s fifth and final penalty kick of the shootout would be the one that would cost them. Emmanuel Attah saw his effort brilliantly saved by De Bie before Paris Maghoma wrapped up the win for Spurs with a classy winning spot kick which saw him totally deceive Innocent with a really clever and confident effort. The final score from the Henri Guérin centre was Spurs 1-1 PSG with Spurs winning 4-3 on penalties to temporarily top group A before they took on Nice later in the afternoon. Burnett’s side had really raised their game against the best side in group A.

Player reviews: – Jonathan De Bie: The Belgian didn’t actually have that busy a game (in normal time that is) he made a couple of fine stops but apart from PSG’s goal which he stood no chance in stopping. De Bie didn’t have an awful lot to do, but that all changed when the game went for penalties. Somewhat of an expert at saving penalties, De Bie rose to the occasion once again to produce two important saves which would eventually help Spurs to achieving that extra bonus point.
– Tariq Hinds: Unfazed by the threat posed by Sabri Hadadou on the left wing, once again Tariq Hinds put in a strong defensive performance and did his job incredibly well and effectively, he is such a smart and astute defender.
– Brooklyn Lyons-Foster: It was the young centre halves first competitive game time since the Terborg tournament in May but the 17 year old slotted in with ease today and defended well against PSG. He had a such a calming influence on the game, he is so steady and composed at playing it out from the back. And like on so many occasions last season Lyons-Foster formed a formidable defensive partnership with Dinzeyi. It’s worth remembering that it has only been five or so months since Brooklyn suffered a bad ligament injury he appears to be making great progress ahead of the domestic campaign.
– Jonathan Dinzeyi: A strong performance in the heart of the Tottenham defence which was capped off with a fine headed goal in the opening couple of minutes of the game. Jonathan Dinzeyi made a positive impression against PSG making multiple blocks, challenges and interceptions against the French side. He kept good positioning throughout and the 18 year old was dominant in the air
– Connor Ogilvie: It was a typically excellent performance from the experienced 22 year old today. Ogilvie was the defensive lynchpin of Burnett’s side. His experience and leadership proved pivotal in dealing with the French sides attacking prowess, our skipper was immense at both ends of the pitch. His lung bursting runs caused havoc down the left wing as did his crossing ability. Ogilvie was so composed with and without the ball, he defended impeccably and read the game to perfection. How he hasn’t played for the first team I’ll never know!
– Dylan Duncan: Good competent performance from the midfield powerhouse. Duncan did the dirty work and mopped up well in the centre of the park whilst providing protection for the back four. He is looking incredibly sharp so far this season.
– Paris Maghoma: Another good outing for Maghoma at this level, the 17 year old midfielder had a positive effect on Tottenham’s game. He was involved heavily in play and held his ground against much older and more physical opponents (the oldest player in PSG’s team was 24!). He also wasn’t afraid to have a go at goal and he came close to getting on the scoresheet.
– Jamie Bowden: Another game for Bowden, another masterful performance in the middle of the park. Bowden who only recently turned 17 was terrific once again for the development side. He was relentless throughout the entirety of the match, he’s such an intelligent reader of the game. The Carrick-esque midfielder kept things ticking whilst providing a solidity to the Tottenham midfield he also made some lovely passes.
– Shayon Harrison: Operating as both a centre forward and a left winger I felt that Harrison had a good game on the whole. He was a really tricky customer for PSG and he managed to hold the ball up well and influence play from a creative perspective.
– Marcus Edwards: My motm, see below.
– Shilow Tracey: The 20 year old had a good game. He was hardworking and positive with the ball at his feet particularly in the first half when he played up top.
– Jack Roles: N/A
– Samuel Shashoua: Came on late but wasn’t given enough time to make an impression.

My man of the match: Marcus Edwards. If only Pochettino was watching young Marcus take on PSG today. The wizardry winger tore PSG to shreds he was electric, at times mesmeric and quite frankly unstoppable going forward. Hardworking and good at tracking back Edwards was the beating heart of Burnett’s side and he was pivotal to us taking PSG all the way to penalties. The 19 year olds days at Spurs may be numbered but he had such a positive impression on the game and created a plethora of chances and initiated a whole host of attacking moves. The way he danced past players and twisted and turned his way out of tight spaces can only be likened to that of the great Lionel Messi !
Goals: Jonathan Dinzeyi (8) and Lucas Bernadou.