AVB defends sloppy Spurs

Panathinaikos 1 Tottenham 1

Spurs were in complete control of their Europa League Group J game against the Greek side and took the lead after 35 minutes when Michael Dawson glanced Tom Huddlestone’s cross past Orestis Karnezis.

Jermain Defoe, Gareth Bale, Clint Dempsey and Huddlestone then all missed chances to put the game to bed and Panathinaikos took full advantage through striker Toche, who left Dawson for dead and turned in a Giorgos Seitaridis pass 13 minutes from time.

Villas-Boas, whose team now sit third in the group, two points behind Lazio, brushed aside suggestions his team switched off in the second half.

“I don’t think we were complacent,” Villas-Boas said. “We have to give credit to Panathinaikos, they pressed much more and started to gain belief from that and that led to the goal. I think the whole team felt a bit disappointed because the first half was so positive and we were in control.

“We were a bit sloppy in the second half. I understand the disappointment at not putting the game to bed, but in the end we congratulated the players because if it had been theother way round, the whole perspective would have been different.”

With Lazio beating Maribor in last night’s other game, Spurs may find it hard to qualify if they fail to beat the Slovenians in their next game.

PANATHINAIKOS: Karnezis; Andre Pinto, Seitaridis, Marinos (Sissoko 46), Vyntra; Triantafyllopoulos, Vitolo, Christodoulopoulos (Mavrias 85), Zeca; Toche, Owusu-Abeyie (Chouchoumis 90).

TOTTENHAM: Lloris; Vertonghen, Dawson, Walker, Caulker; Huddlestone (Sandro 81), Dembele, Dempsey (Sigurdsson 66), Lennon (Townsend 75), Bale; Defoe.

Referee: Florian Meyer (Ger).