Asteras Tripoli vs. Tottenham Hotspur: Lessons Learned from Europa League Game
Tottenham Hotspur retained their share of first place in Europa League Group C, Thursday, thanks to a 2-1 win away to Asteras Tripoli.
Andros Townsend opened the scoring with a 36th-minute penalty, and shortly before the break Harry Kane continued his excellent run in the competition with what proved to be the match winner.
Asteras made a bright start to the second half and hit the woodwork on two occasions, but in the 89th minute Federico Fazio was judged to have fouled Jeronimo Barrales inside the Tottenham area, and the Argentine pulled back a consolation marker from 12 yards.
Spurs are now likely to go through to the round of 16, along with section co-leaders Besiktas, who beat Partizan Belgrade 2-1 in Istanbul.
No doubt both Asteras boss Staikos Vergetis and Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino will have learned a thing or two from Thursday's encounter, and the following slideshow will highlight the takeaways for each of them.
Harry Kane Will Soon Be First-Choice at Spurs
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He has yet to start a single Premier League match, but Tottenham Hotspur's Harry Kane has already scored nine goals in all competitions this season.
Impressively, his last three tallies have come in three different competitions, including Spurs' 2-1 Premier League win over Aston Villa in which he came off the bench.
As FourFourTwo's James Maw pointed out on Twitter, Kane has now scored as many goals in Europe as former Tottenham attacker Gareth Bale.
He'll surely be part of manager Mauricio Pochettino's starting XI going forward.
Erik Lamela Still Runs Hot and Cold
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In Tottenham's 5-1 win at home to Asteras Tripoli on Matchday 3, Erik Lamela kicked off a two-goal performance with a memorable rabona-style strike.
On Thursday, however, the Argentine was a shadow of the attacker who had dominated the same opponents just two weeks earlier, and his evening ended at the half-time break when manager Mauricio Pochettino decided to introduce Roberto Soldado.
There are times it seems Lamela is ready to take that next step and become an everyday player; there are others when it's hard to notice him.
Pablo Mazza's Future Lies Beyond Asteras
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In both matches against Tottenham, Asteras Tripoli attacker Pablo Mazza was his side's most effective attacker.
Although he didn't find the back of the net in either game, the 24-year-old proved a handful for the Spurs defense. On Thursday, he hit the woodwork and narrowly missed the far corner with a shot from in close.
Mazza's pace and dribbling ability will no doubt see him move to a bigger club before long.
Michel Vorm Is a Worthy Deputy to Hugo Lloris
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Michel Vorm didn't have all that much to do on Thursday, but when called upon the Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper came up big for his side in Greece.
Vorm made important saves on each of Pablo Mazza, Khalifa Sankare and Giorgos Zisopoulos, and but for his efforts the Premier League side might have got out of Tripoli with only a point.
The Netherlands international has shown himself to be a worthy deputy to number-one goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.
And with Brad Friedel also in the ranks, manager Mauricio Pochettino is certainly spoiled for choice between the sticks.
Spurs Continue to Struggle on the Back-Foot Against Every Opponent
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Heaven forbid Tottenham Hotspur keep a clean sheet.
Everton are the Premier League's only top-half side to have conceded more often through 10 rounds than Spurs, who have also allowed goals in three of their four Europa League matches to date.
That Asteras attackers Pablo Mazza, Martin Rolle, Facundo Parra and Anastasios Tsokanis were able to cause plenty of problems on the counter-attack will have been extremely troubling to Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino, who is yet to strike the right balance on the defensive side of the ball.
Although Jan Vertonghen and Federico Fazio played reasonably well in tandem on Thursday, Fazio conceded a penalty and got himself sent off with just a minute of normal time remaining.
