Ben & Rob's preview - Pacos de Ferreira, second leg

Ben and Rob's preview is back as N17 Live presenter Ben Haines and Club commentator Rob Daly look ahead to the second leg of our UEFA Europa Conference League play-off against Pacos de Ferreira at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this evening (7.45pm).

Remember, we trail 1-0 from the first leg in Portugal last week, and away goals no longer count over the two legs of European competition.

First up though, reflections on our 1-0 win at Wolves on Sunday...

Molineux musings

Ben: "I'll try not to get too lilywhite tinted here - which is incredibly easy to do after two really good wins, but... I loved how dogged we were, how hard we fought, how committed everyone was. There's of course lots of things we can work on, but I think it's also really important to look at what an advantage playing at home is with fans back now. Against City we had a 12th man, against Wolves it was their turn and yet we managed to face up and manage the game really well. Swashbuckling and being super attractive on the eye can wait another week - the result comes first, and two wins out of two in the Premier League... you can't really argue with!"

Rob: "Ben's right. It's a great start to the league campaign. For me, Wolves were impressive and reminiscent of the Nuno version of their side that caused Spurs problems in recent seasons. But the team fought for the win, and it was particularly pleasing to see Spurs so full of energy and running right to the last. Having dropped 23 points from winning positions last season (only Brighton dropped more) it felt results were lost in the final 10-15 minutes of matches on too many occasions in 20/21. But after Hugo Lloris' one-on-one save from Adama Traore, there weren't many more Wolves chances. Sometimes the wins you have to grind out are the most satisfying."

Pacos de Ferreira

Rob: "Pacos were so well-drilled last week and seemed to relish the challenge. They pressed less aggressively than I expected, given how they've played in the league and against Larne in the last round, but stifled Spurs when they tried to break them down. Denilson Pereira Junior was clearly a handful upfront while Antunes and Marco Baixinho provided that experience and composure needed keep Spurs at bay. Their Brazilian winger called Lucas (Silva) took his chance too very well. Maybe Lucas (Moura) can reply on Thursday night!"

Ben: "I feel like we’ve been here many times before when qualifying for Europe, and while the result obviously wasn’t ideal it’s worth remembering that (a) it’s a two legged tie and that the only result that matters is the aggregate score come final whistle on Thursday and (b) Tottenham Hotspur are a club with a rich European history and Pacos were eager to throw everything at us. They were aggressive and completely up for the battle as we knew they would be at home. Have to agree with Rob here on Denilson, he was a real nuisance, equally I thought Baixinho and Fernando Fonseca did particularly well at the back - having said all that it’ll be an entirely different proposition at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium."

Rob: "Yeah, and no away goals either from this season!"

Ben: "I’m actually quite gutted about away goals!"

How will it play out?

Ben: "I think we win it, and win it well. For me this has shades of the fixture against Young Boys in our first Champions League campaign (2010/11) where we were tested away (lost 3-2 after being 3-0 down) but then came home and our quality shone through (won 4-0). With that in mind though I would love to see us push on here and lay down a marker as a statement of intent. Again, very much with my fan hat on, I would like to see a few players who are on the fringes pushing for minutes in the Premier League kick on and give Nuno lots to think about for the Watford game!"

Rob: "The younger players should be desperate to get chances like this, in front of a crowd at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Make no mistake, Pacos will be up for it. They've only reached the group stage of a European competition once before so it's a massive night for them, coupled with the chance to knock out Spurs. But I don't think Nuno will let things unfold again as they did last week. It'll be interesting to see if more experience will be brought in to the matchday squad, given Spurs are behind in the tie. I think you'd want to have that on the bench if Pacos are as resilient as they were last week. Ultimately, Spurs should turn it around."