A dream debut for Spurs youngster Anthony Georgiou:

“It feels amazing to make my debut and to do it in the Champions League as well is a dream come true really. It’s also nice to do it in Cyprus as I have a lot of family from here. It’s unbelievable! Everybody dreams of playing in the Champions League, it’s the biggest competition in club football, so it’s really a dream come true. It’s a proud moment for me and family.” (Anthony Georgiou)

A couple of weeks ago Spurs youngster Anthony Georgiou was playing in front of a couple of hundred enthusiastic spectators on a cold night in Stevenage, as Spurs’ development squad drew 2-2 with Swansea. Last night was a completely different matter for the promising 20 year old winger from Lewisham. Georgiou, who has represented Cyprus at youth level, came on as an 84th minute substitute to make his Spurs debut in the UEFA champions league, in a country which he has strong links to. You couldn’t have scripted it any better, Georgiou making his Spurs debut in front of hundreds of thousands of football fans across the planet. The 20 year old who missed the majority of last season with a knee injury, has fought back over pre season, highly impressing Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino who went on to include him in the first team squad that travelled to the USA in July. From there Georgiou has seized his opportunity, clearly impressing Pochettino with his performances on the training ground, so much so that he seems to be exclusively training with the senior squad since the beginning of the season. Only featuring in a handful of under 23 games, the left winger who joined Spurs’ academy as a 13 year old. Is one of the hardest workers on a football pitch that you’ll find. From my many years of seeing Georgiou play for Spurs across a variety of youth levels, what has struck me time and time again, is the endless amounts of energy he puts into games.

A creative left winger who can also slot in at wing back, Georgiou possesses blistering pace, (something that our squad lacks) a brilliant delivery and a work rate of the highest quality. He is the kind of impact player who as I’ve said before, could become a very useful option for Pochettino over the course of the season. Georgiou’s a confident player who isn’t afraid to take defenders on down the flank, something that impressed Spurs fans during the friendly with Roma in pre season. When, up against a quality right back in Bruno Peres, Georgiou impressed and seemed unfazed by the quality of the opposition. He becomes the ninth academy player to make their Spurs debut under Pochettino, a number which will only increase as the season progresses. My congratulations go to Anthony, on his first team debut for Spurs, the first of many more to come. COYS

Spurs 3-0 APOEL Nicosia: Some thoughts on the game

There was little time for Mauricio Pochettino to prepare his side for our important champions league group stage game with APOEL Nicosia on Tuesday night. A pulsating derby day victory over West Ham on Saturday showed little signs of sapping our players energy for our trip to Cyprus. It was on a warm September evening in the Cypriot capital Nicosia where Spurs would continue their fine start to this seasons champions league campaign. Following on from last Saturdays hard fought victory over West Ham which was made much harder by Serge Aurier’s second half seconding off, Pochettino had just the seven first team absentees for last night’s game. However, he got his tactics spot on last night against a fine APOEL side. A side for which Pochettino highlighted pre match, the importance of not underestimating APOEL, a side who have a rich history in European competition. The much rotated Spurs side which saw players such as Moussa Sissoko and Son come into the team. Battled out a closely knit first half, which saw few clear cut chances come the Lilywhites way. In fact, it was the home side who came the closer of the two sides to finding the lead, Belgian Igor De Camargo’s fierce strike rattling Lloris’ crossbar on 19 minutes as Spurs escaped an early scare. The home team tested Spurs on a couple more occasions as they continued to impress going forward.

However, a slightly concerning lack of chances for Spurs was to be resolved on the stroke of half time. When man of the moment Harry Kane latched on to Alderweireld’s superb long pass, before calmly slotting the ball past Waterman, to eradicate those early Spurs worries. It was a much smoother second half for Tottenham barring a crucial reflex save from Lloris to stop the hosts getting an equaliser shortly after the interval. Kane got his and Spurs’ second of the game shortly after the hour mark to reassure the Spurs faithful. Kane clinically converting from Sissoko’s cross to double our advantage. We confirmed our victory soon afterwards when that man Harry Kane scored the perfect hat trick to head home Trippier’s pin point cross to cap off a remarkable team move, to ensure a vital three points. Pochettino’s side had dug deep and got that all important victory in fine fashion last night, it’s even more impressive when you consider the numerous key players that were all absent. Regardless of our key absentees, I thought we done a fine job at the GSP stadium, the players worked well as a team to create the goals we craved, they were focused and got the job done.

There were quite a few performances that caught my eye last night. But none more so than that of Mr.Harry Edward Kane who once again proved why he is one of the world’s very best. Kane was brilliant against APOEL, he was driven, determined and incredibly clinical in front of goal. Without waxing lyrical, he was just perfect last night he carried the team. Other performances which impressed me were those of Harry Winks who dominated the midfield with his guile and neat passing. I also thought Moussa Sissoko done a fine job, he attacked with real intent, was creative and held the ball up well. An all round brilliant night for Spurs, who face Huddersfield away on Saturday. Will that be a spectacular 7th consecutive away win? COYS

Spurs 1-0 Barnsley: some thoughts on the game…

Spurs booked their place in round four of the Carabao cup last night, with a 1-0 victory over Barnsley at Wembley. It may not have been a memorable occasion for those at the game, but it doesn’t matter in the slightest. As Pochettino’s second string side have achieved the win that we needed, and for that I am grateful. Though Spurs had the majority of possession throughout the game, they lacked creativity in the final third, and Barnsley’s tenacious defending made it harder for us to find the back of the net. Pochettino’s side passed the ball around well, a golden chance for Llorente to head home unmarked from a resulting corner kick, saw the new signing rise too early as his header flew over the crossbar on 26 minutes. A chance for Barnsley’s Ike Ugbo forced Vorm into making an important save at the beginning of the second half, the game was far from an easy win, as the Tykes gave us a couple of scares in front of goal. As Pochettino’s sides frustration grew, so did the anxiety of Spurs’ fans on the terraces. However, the razor sharp instincts of Dele Alli were to ease those worries.

When the England international scored what would prove to be the winner on 65 minutes, after some good work down the right side of the penalty area by Trippier. The fullback provided a pullback inside the area, which the aware Alli raced to, to calmly slot home. It was a pretty uneventful end to the game, as both sides went in search of goals at either end. But it wasn’t to matter how flowing or entertaining our football was, as Pochettino’s side had achieved their aim of getting into round four, where they’ll find out their opposition after Man United’s game with Burton this evening. Next up for Pochettino’s lads is a visit to the London stadium on Saturday, as Spurs face a tough and important London derby against West Ham. I was paticulary impressed with the performances of Juan Foyth and Walker-Peters last night. Foyth on his debut, put in a confident and composed display at centre half, and looked very solid and conformable. Whilst Walker-Peters done a superbly efficent job at left back. Special mention goes to young Tashan Oakley-Boothe (17) who became the first millenial to feature for Spurs, last night! COYS

Danny Blanchflower: A legendary association with both Spurs and Barnsley

Arguably the most influential player in Spurs’ 135 year history, to ever don on the famous lilywhite shirt of Tottenham Hotspur. Danny Blanchflower was more than just a footballing legend for our club, the captain of the famous double winning side of 1960-61, Blanchflower is an integral part of Spurs’ DNA, and the famous club that they are today. Later today Spurs and Barnsley go toe to toe in a league cup third round tie at the national stadium, when the draw was first announced the first thing that popped in to my mind was Blanchflower’s association with both clubs during his playing careeer. The Belfast born wing half made his first foray into English football when he signed for the Yorkshire club Barnsley for a fee of £6000 back in 1949 from Northern Irish club Glentoran. Blanchflower played 68 times for the Yorkshire club as they played their football in the then old second division. A visionary of a player, the highly intelligent footballer becoming an important part of then managers Angus Seed’s side before transferring to Aston Villa in 1951. The Northern Ireland international and former manager of the national team, Blanchflower’s Spurs career was one for which few could better. The on the field brains behind our famous double winning side of 1960-61. Captain fantastic as he was known won an additional FA Cup with Spurs in 1962 as well as a European cup winners cup before retiring at the age of 38. The late Spurs legend is my footballing hero along with many others, and that makes this evenings cup tie all the more special for supporters of both clubs.

You couldn’t summarise Blanchflower’s wonderful career in just a short article, so I’ll end it on an amusing story from his Barnsley days. The former tykes manager Angus Seed, who was the brother of former Spurs great Jimmy. Was approached by Blanchflower who had just come back from an international match having been unhappy with his ball control and skill due to the high opposition players he had faced. The wing half said to Seed that he wanted to come back to Barnsley’s training ground in the afternoon with a ball, Seed almost collapsed when Blanchflower made this unheard of request. Seed replying: ”We can’t have that here, we believe if you don’t get the ball during the week you’ll want it all the more on Saturday.” Blanchflower replied by saying; ”if I don’t get it during the week, I might not recognise it on Saturday.” There’ll never be another Danny Blanchflower in the game, he was light years ahead of his time, with his magnificent footballing ability and various ideas about the game. His great quote is still remembered so fondly to this day by our club; “The great fallacy is that the game is first and last about winning. It is nothing of the kind. The game is about glory, it is about doing things in style and with a flourish, about going out and beating the other lot, not waiting for them to die of boredom.”

Some thoughts on Spurs’ stalemate with Swansea:

Spurs’ goalless draw with Paul Clement’s Swansea at Wembley stadium, was the last thing Spurs fans would have expected following their energetic and highly impressive 3-1 victory over Borussia Dortmund in midweek. Having just come to yesterday’s game from our under 18’s victory over Leicester on the same afternoon, I was looking forward to seeing what I thought would be our first league win at Wembley. I expected us to play that same high pressing and penetrating style of football that we had seen over the past two games. Whilst we weren’t disappointing going forward, Pochettino’s side had come up against an impeccable Swansea defence. Clement had set his side up for one thing only, a draw. The back three of Mawson, Fernandez and Van Der Hoorn were immense. It was a dull game, the first half seeing Spurs have all the possession but unable to create any clear cut chances. The negative set up of the visitors stifled our creative play, the lack of pace down the flanks also not helping matters. Kane’s dipping long range free kick was our best effort of the half, only being denied by a fine stop from Fabianksi. Our penetrating attacking play didn’t really change in the second half, Pochettino’s tactical change. Which saw the swapping of make shift wingback Son with Sissoko, improving us going forward, the South Korean international was good going forward and had a couple of good efforts of his own. The second half also saw the introduction of Serge Aurier who had such a positive debut in midweek his pace and power helped us going forward, but the attacking trio of Kane, Alli and Eriksen just couldn’t convert.

When Kane’s close range effort cannoned off the crossbar on 56 minutes you just knew it wasn’t going to be our day. We lacked that spark or pace of a player that could turn a game on its head. It’s quite extraordinary when you take a look at the games statistics, 75% ball possession for Spurs to Swansea’s 25% and our eight shots on target to their zero are pretty mind boggling when you consider the outcome of the game. However, regardless of our domination of the game on a possessional basis, I still don’t feel that warranted us the victory. Pochettino’s side were on the back of a midweek high, with the excellent result against Dortmund taking a lot out of them. Spurs didn’t replicate that same dynamic style of play. Which absent players such as Dembele and Ben Davies were a part of. Whilst we were certainly unlucky not to have scraped a win yesterday, the impeccable defending of the visitors strangled our creative play, they were closing us down all over the park and for that you can’t help but give them credit for their point. Trippier’s excellent late, long range effort almost won us the game in spectacular fashion but despite all the lads effort, it just wasn’t to be our day. For all the criticism Moussa Sissoko got from yesterday’s game it’s worth remembering that crucial last ditch challenge that he made in the first half, which could of so easily swayed the game in the swans favour. Our captain Hugo Lloris sums up the game in a nutshell: “It was a good performance, yes, but not enough. Okay, we had some chances but we need to start the game in a better way and to be more aggressive in the first 10 or 15 minutes. Swansea came here for a draw and to keep it at 0-0 as long as possible. We tried and tried until the end but unfortunately we ran out of time.”

We’ve got an important league cup tie with Barnsley in midweek which I’m really looking forward to. And if we get back to winning ways against the championship club with a good display, then I for one will have already forgotten of the frustrating draw to Swansea. COYS