Partizan Belgrade v Tottenham Hotspur, Europa League: as it happened

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FULL TIME: PARTIZAN 0-0 TOTTENHAM

19.52 Right I can't hang around as I've got Everton v Wolfsburg to do in ten minutes. That was a pretty drab game, but Spurs will take the result.

Peep peep peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep! That's yer lot.

90 min + 3 Spurs are having a look, probing, but with no great interest. They're like a man on £30k/year walking past an estate agents in central London.

90 min + 1 There will be three more minutes. We can endure that, yeah? Jesse White emails. Are you a Breaking Bad fan Jesse?

Hi Dan! I'm your number one fan and even more so now you've included The Who! Keep up the great work on your live blog. My highly insightful football comment: I don't think either side looks like scoring anytime soon. Now can we have some more Who songs please?

Sure.

87 min The Partizan crowd (I'm so witty) deserve credit for maintaining an up-tempo atmosphere despite the muted football on display; Partizan have shown intent but created few clear-cut chances. Drincic whacks one a long way wide from 30 yards.

Here's an email from Vince Bailey.

This is the first time I've missed a spurs game in ages - this is looking less of a brave new dawn by the day. NEED A STRIKER. Finding it more watching arsenal, hoping they lose, than watching spurs these days.

You've picked a good one to miss, Vince.

86 min Luka hurls himself into a tackle and, getting the ball, is unlucky to be booked. Lazovic is found wide on the right with a long diagonal ball from halfway, because of course he is, but his cross is too close to Lloris.

85 min His name is Luka. It's not clear whether or not he lives on the second floor, but he's on for Grbic.

83 min Kane takes it -- it was actually more like 30 yards out -- but it hits the wall and goes out for a throw.

81 min Both sides have spent the last few minutes bombing crosses in from deep and seeing them headed out of the box. Spurs have a free-kick now on the right, about 20 yards out, as Ilic takes out Capoue (who has just replaced Stambouli).

78 min We have our first email of the night and it comes from regular reader Jonny, who -- I stress this again, Jonny -- really does have more pressing issues in his life right now.

I've proper [REDACTED] it this time Mr. Dan. I've done the rent on this Spurs game for Over 2.5 goals at 5/6. Normally I tell the wife, she kicks me out and I stay in a holiday Inn (not as fancy as Lenny Henry makes out by the way). I've saved her the bother and I'm on a train to Brighton as we speak. Be lucky fella and keep up the good work.

Lenny does Premier Inn ads, that's your problem, Jonny.

77 min A deft little through ball finds Grbic, on the right, timing his run to the byline perfectly. Back comes a lovely cross for Ilic, but his header from 10 yards goes comfortably over.

74 min Petrovic crosses from deep, wide on the left, and Davies scuffs his clearance straight to Sasa Ilic on the edge of the area, but the midfielder whangs it miles over. Davies is making Townsend look good.

72 min Another diagonal ball from deep finds Grbic in space on the right. This time though Davies gets back quickly and blocks it behind from a corner. The ball comes in, gets knocked around a bit then breaks to Petrovic on the left, but he fires high and wide.

70 min Good sustained pressure now from Spurs -- the switch to 4-4-2 seems to have got them pressing more rather than simply looking to retain possession. Despite some quite lovely footwork from Lamela, Partizan remain sturdy in defence and there's no way through.

67 min Branko Ilic gives the Spurs defence the eyes then changes direction and passes nicely straight, through for Lazovic. The striker doesn't hit it first time as he should and instead takes a touch, allowing Naughton to get back. It should be a goal kick as the ball actually bobbled off the striker's shin, but instead a corner is given. Nowt comes from it.

67 min Just working on my player ratings for Big Paper. Bentaleb's playing?

62 min Now a chance for Spurs as Lamela bursts forwards and spins a pass out wide for Soldado to run on to. In comes the cross from the Spaniard wide on the left but Kane can't get to it when he perhaps should have done. A minute later Stambouli knocks an excellent first-time diagonal cross from 20 yards out on the right to the back post, but Soldado can't control it.

61 min A long ball towards Davies should be easily dealt with but the Welshman miscontrols the bouncing ball and Lloris is forced to move across and slice it away. The ball comes back in from the left and Lazovic gets in front of Davies and draws a great save from Lloris. He's off-side though.

60 min Here we go, an attacking double change from Pochettino, which is a bold move given Partizan's dominance. Soldado and Lamela are on; Townsend and Paulinho are, like Buster Bluth's hand, hooked.

57 min Ilic gets a yellow card for a clumsy challenge on Townsend, both players going high and the former clipping the latter's ankle. Lamela is warming up now as Townsend is limping. Good news for the Spurs fans, who must surely be fed up of the frankly rubbish Englishman by now.

54 min Substitute! Me for him! Substitute! My coke for gin! Substitute! Volkov off, Petrovic on.

52 min Ilic find Grbic with another good long pass, but again the final cross doesn't get past the first man. The pitch is pretty dreadful to be honest and the bobbling ball is making passing hard work.

50 min Extended pressure now from Belgrade as Lazovic steps inside Davies well but can't get his cross past Fazio. It's half cleared but back they come. A long ball finds Lazovic in space yet again, this time on the inside left of the box, and he pulls back for Grbic who scuffs a poor shot into the arms of Lloris.

48 min Grbic holds it up nicely in the bottom right hand corner and is felled by Davies, who gets a deserved yellow card. Lloris punches the cross clear well.

47 min Fazio heads clear and Vulicevic hits it on the half volley from 35 yards. It's weak, along the floor and moving ever further wide of goal. Other than that what an effort!

46 min A tangled mess on halfway on the lefthand touchline sees Spurs lose possession. Partizan come forward but Volkov is tackled into touch. He gets the ball back though and his cross is blocked behind for a corner.

19.02 Peep! Again. The teams are back out, unchanged.

Half time: Not awful from Spurs against tricky opponents, but there's little to inspire there. Perhaps Spurs first team has a shot at winning this tournament -- it's too early in the season to say -- but this lot look very ordinary and their gameplan a bit 2010.

45 min This is nice from Paulinho. He plays a lovely little one-two then rolls it in for Kane, who looks to take a touch and step inside, but his shot is blocked. It goes behind for a corner, which the keeper takes nicely. Route one stuff ensues and Partizan break, a lovely diagonal ball picking out Lazovic in space, but he shoots low from the edge of the area and into the arms of Lloris. That's yer lot for the half.

43 min Townsend picks it up on the left with space in front of him, so cuts inside and knocks a pass backwards. He then runs into Aaraon Lennon. Naughton picks the ball up on the right, about 20 yards from the byline, and crosses but it takes a deflection, loops up and is easily claimed.

41 min Buoyed by the recent success of Spain at the World Cup, Spurs are playing a lovely game of keep-ball here. Passing a lot but not really in the right direction.

39 min Harry Kane looks like a cross between Peter Crouch and Joe Hart.

36 min Partizan win a corner down the right and a dangerous cross is headed out very well by Fazio. I've been impressed with the debutant centre half. One almost-costly mistake aside, he's played very well.

35 min Townsend has again caught Volkov with an elbow here. Nothing really in it, I don't think.

34 min Stambouli gives it away with Davies stranded high up the field, but the central midfielder recovers with a good tackle. Townsend then gets a yellow card for going all Malcolm Tucker and delivering a b------ing to the assistant referee after being penalised for a foul. It was a harsh decision, but that was pretty hilarious to see.

30 min Ben Davies isn't having a good game. He's out of line with the other three in defence and once again Grbic gets in behind him. He pulls it back but his cross is just behind the former Charlton Athletic goalie Sasa Ilic, who volleys high over the bar.

29 min This was a really good chance for Kane from the corner. After the ball pinged about in the box one of the defenders mistimed his jump, allowing the ball to fall for Kane, who had plenty of time and space. The striker hit it first time high and wide though.

28 min Twenty-eight minutes folks, is how long it's taken Townsend to dribble down the right, cut inside on to his left foot and shoot from 25 yards. It's deflected wide.

27 min Corner to Spurs after Paulinho ambled forward with good strength and had a 20-yard shot deflected wide. It's aimed in at Verthonghen but the danger is, after a fashion, cleared.

25 min Pantic turns down the left and outfoxes Naughton. Townsend gets back and disposses him, but the ball is thrown long into the box and Fazio mistimes his jump leaving Lazovic unmarked. The striker turns and shoots from six yards and Lloris is forced to make an excellent block.

22 min Whistles and jeers as Spurs go all tiki-taka; don't they know that's dead? Naughton gets in behind the defence again and loops a cross up above Kane's head.

20 min Partizan are on top, just about, I'd say. They're certainly no mugs as you can see from this stat.

18 min Lazovic is bundled over on the left and it's a free kick out wide, about 15 yards out. Drincic's delivery is poor though and Naughton heads away.

16 min Crikey! First Vulicevic goes down the right again and, on the side of the area, is met by another good challenge from Fazio. It's not cleared though and here comes Vulicevic again. He crosses but Lazovic is well pressured by Fazio again and heads wide.

15 min The ball is knocked over the top of Davies and Grbic skips down the right-hand side of the box. He steps nicely back inside after feinting to shoot and pulls back to Lazovic, but the striker's shot is well blocked by Fazio.

12 min Oh chance here as Naughton goes down the right. He gets to the byline and crosses towards Kane. It doesn't make its destination but the clearance is poor and Vertonghen goes on a Yaya Toure-esque run up the edge of the box. He holds it up and knocks it to Townsend, who steps on to his left foot and curls it into the first defender's body.

10 min Lazovic, Partizan's best player but isolated without his suspended strike parter Skuletic is tripped up by Vertonghen. Not a lot has happened.

8 min Townsend now picks it up on the inside right and weaves around in a small circle, stepping over and making a cumulative zero yards before knocking it backwards. That was one of the most Andros Townsend things you'll see.

5 min Lennon and Davies link up down the left touchline and the former cuts back inside and delivers the cross, but it's easily gathered by the keeper. Earlier Volkov received a clumsy forearm to the face from Townsend. Not malicious, just inept from the former England winger. Yes, former.

3 min Grbic goes down the right but his cross is too high for everyone. Still, Volkov, the left back, picks it up and is wrestled to ground by Andros Townsend. A good free kick from Drincic wide on the left and Vertonghen thumps a header clear.

1 min Spurs are in yellow, by the way. Kane is crowded out down in the right hand corner but wins a corner. Davies takes and it's flicked to Kane by Vertonghen and he goes around the left inside the area and cracks a shot against the underside of the bar!

18.00 Peep! We're underway. As we kick-off, Uefa have announced that this season's final will be held in Basle.

17.55 Federico Fazio, the summer signing from Europa League champions Seville, makes his debut in the centre of defence for Spurs today, with Stambouli making his first start in the centre of midfield. Not travelling with Spurs today is Danny Rose, who was racially abused by one Nikola Ninkovic while playing for England under-21s a couple of years ago. The 19-year-old Serb is on the bench today for the home side and hopefully is no longer the same moron.

17.48 On ITV4, Peter Reid is one of the analysts, which reminds me of this excellent piece from our own Adam Hurrey on the Indian Super League. As someone whose main sport is cricket, I don't feel this bodes well.

17.39 So those teams in full:

Partizan: Lukač, Volkov, Vulićević, Stanković, Ćirković, B. Ilič, Grbić, Drinčić, S. Ilić, Pantić
Subs: Kjajic, Petrovic, Ninkovic, Zivkovic, Markovic, Luka, Fofana,

Spurs: Lloris, Naughton, Fazio, Vertonghen, Davies; Bentaleb, Stambouli; Lennon, Paulinho, Townsend; Kane.
Subs: Vorm, Chirches, Dier, Lamela, Eriksen, Capoue, Soldado

17.38 Great time to decide you want to do an automatic update and restart giving me no option to abort, Windows. Great effing time.

17.26 Here's the Partizan team: Lukac, Volkov, Vulicevic, Stankovic, Cirkovic, B Ilic, Grbic, Drincic, S Ilic, Pantic, Lazovic

17.02 Team news for you. No sign of the Partizan lineup yet, but here are Spurs.

On the telly, I'm learning that drink-driving is BAD. Who knew?

16.57 On ITV4 now, Magnum PI has just finished. What a theme tune! What a 'tache! Police Camera Action follows before the football and I'm seriously tempted to liveblog that. "Tonight, drivers losing all control of their senses," says the presenter, who is apparently control of his senses. Somehow.

15.08 Afternoon, folks. Take a well-earned break from Gaza, Ferguson, ISIS etc. (Incredibly, this borderline offensively glib opening was used entirely without irony by an NME editor to introduce a review of a Taylor Swift single.) and settle down as we go in search of the answer to one of the big questions. Nope, no referendum references here, but rather tonight we will determine once and for all which team is the greatest* in Group C: Partizan or Tottenham! Yes folks, the Europa League is coming to Belgrade. It's all here: fast kickin', low scorin' and ties? You bet! You'll see all your favourite stars, like Pantic! Lazovic! Marinkovic! Brasanac! And Fofana**!

Despite missing out on a Champions League spot thanks to away goals against Ludogorets, Partizan find themselves here on a decent run of form. They are unbeaten in six qualifying matches and domestically are sat pretty on top of the Serbian SuperLiga with four wins from four, 14 goals scored and just the two conceded. This makes them a better side than Manchester United.

The Serbians also have a man with experience of beating Spurs among their ranks: striker Danko Lazovic was in the PSV side that knocked Tottenham out of the 2007-08 Uefa Cup on penalties. That's about it as far as good omens go, not least because Lazovic actually missed during that shootout. Partizan are also without a win in their last three games against English teams and haven't picked up a home win against one since they beat Newcastle 1-0 back in 1998-99, in something called The Cup Winners' Cup, whatever that is.

Spurs, talked up by some as title challengers after the first two games of the season (seriously, the state of people these days), have stumbled recently with a 3-0 thumping as one-sided as it sounds against Liverpool being followed by an unconvincing 2-2 draw with Sunderland. Mauricio Pochettino is likely to rotate his side a fair bit tonight, with the former Swansea duo of Michel Vorm and Ben Davies set to start. There may also be a full debut for Benjamin Stambouli.

Kick-off is at 6pm BST. In the meantime, here's Annie Clark being dead cool. Also buy her album St. Vincent, it's absolutely brilliant.

*Of the two that are playing in this match. Over a period of 90 minutes. On 18 September 2014.

**You might not, if they don't play.