Source: Team_Talk
Roman strike could be worth millions
TEAMtalk reckons Roman Pavlyuchenko's late goal in Bern could be priceless for Tottenham after their 3-2 defeat to Young Boys on Tuesday night.[LNB] Pavlyuchenko would probably have walked back to Moscow six months ago such was his disillusion at warming the bench so often at White Hart Lane.[LNB]But the Russian striker might just have earned Tottenham a £30million Champions League lifeline with a stunning goal in the Stade de Suisse.[LNB]Spurs still lost 3-2 to the Young Boys of Bern in the first leg of their qualifier on an artificial surface which saw them play anything but authentic top-flight football.[LNB]But there is every chance they will be too strong for the Swiss side on the green grass of home.[LNB]At least that is what manager Harry Redknapp will be hoping after a night when he saw his team play more sloppily than at any time since he began his Tottenham adventure almost two years ago.[LNB]Indeed, when Tottenham went 3-0 down within the first half hour it looked as if they might require the sort of 8-1 display in the return leg with which Danny Blanchflower's side beat Gornik Zabrze back in 1961 to rescue a first-round tie in which they had lost the first leg 4-2.[LNB]As it is, Tottenham's two away goals mean they need just a 1-0 win at White Hart Lane next Wednesday to progress to the Champions League proper for the first time in their history.[LNB]They are favourites, if only because they surely cannot play worse than they did for swathes of this entertaining encounter.[LNB]There is a school of thought, of course, which says artificial pitches should be banned to make a level playing field world-wide.[LNB]Redknapp no doubt would agree after his side were made to look like novices on a surface which the Young Boys themselves had failed to win on in their last five outings.[LNB]No excuses. It is no good wrapping it up. Tottenham were awful in that first half. Pale shadows of the team who had battled so grittily to fourth place in the Premier League last season.[LNB]Where was the pace and the guile? How could they be so fluid at White Hart Lane against Manchester City on Saturday and so sluggish at the Stade de Suisse just three days later?[LNB]For 40 minutes Young Boys were sharper, neater, quicker to the ball, full of creative intent. And ruthlessly clinical in front of goal.[LNB]Senad Lulic put them ahead, sliding a left-foot shot past Tottenham goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes after just four minutes.[LNB]Henri Bienvenu made it two with a precise finish and Xavier Hochstrasser snatched a third before the half-hour mark as Tottenham's defence went AWOL. No wonder an angry Redknapp hauled off full-back Benoit Assou-Ekotto and brought on Tom Huddlestone.[LNB]In truth he could have dragged off half the team.[LNB]Huddlestone's presence, with his quick feet and inventive mind, did, however, make a difference, although it took defender Sebastien Bassong's headed goal from a set-piece just before half-time to take some of the sting out of what must have been a paint-stripping Redknapp half-time team talk.[LNB]But European competition away from home requires discipline and spirit, and Tottenham at least showed that in the second half.[LNB]And so they should. This is the club, after all, with a European history. They won the European Cup Winners Cup, beating Atletico Madrid 5-1 in 1963, and have lifted the UEFA Cup twice, against Wolves in 1972 and Anderlecht in 1984.[LNB]After the heady days of last season they deserved their crack at the Champions League and logic says they should be too strong for Young Boys, European no-hopers if truth be told, in the second leg.[LNB]Thanks to Pavlyuchenko they can still dream.
