***Match Ratings v Norwich***

Really thought Walker Bale Sandro Modric Kaboul were exceptional

Friedel-7 Did the basics well

Walker-8 As Ray Wilkins said probably the best right back in the league now.

Kaboul-8 Has graduated with distinction, now has to be France best CB. Any how Harry puts Dawson in front of Kaboul will be if Dawson finds his next level (doubt)

Gallas-7 Experienced display. French international partnership with Kaboul.

Assou-Ekotto-8 First half bombed forward well and really defended the left side on his ow,n lung bursting display.

Van De Vaart-7 At times during the game I wanted VdV closer to Adebayor but due to the system played, VDV played his role with good discipline for once.

Modric-8 Silk.

Sandro-8 For me his better than Parker but lets not compare. Broke any sniff of threat from Norwich with those long leg and excellent positional play.

Parker-7 Tidy.

Bale-8 Has gone up a level this season. Enjoyed watching his forward play, his interchanging across the lines and in between the CF...excellent.

Adebayor-7.5 Another Assist we have to buy him. Nearly crapped myself when he pulled up...it suggested in my mind we need another type striker IE involved in game play, build up, assist etc and winger in the squad.

Subs Rose Kranjcar 6, Livermore 6

Redknapp-8 Tactical genius...Sandro Parker sitting..Bale Modric VdV floating around Ade.

Agree SP, Walker gets my vote. Bale was immense second half but I really thought Walker was fantastic tonight in every respect.

Friedel - 8 - Came and flapped at a few crosses early on but apparently that is something that Gomes did so well it makes some people want him to start.

Walker - 8 - Not bad for a 'very bad footballer with fast legs' or whatever it was that SC's resident tactical ambassador said after the Chelsea game.

Kaboul - 8 - Savage in the air

Gallas - 8 - Savage on the ground

BAE - 7 - Decent

Sandro - 7 - Decent
Parker - 7.5 - Bit more than decent
Modric - 8 - Savage

VdV - 7.5 - Savage apart from free kicks and corners which are gash
Bale - 9 - Savage patch doll. Everywhere.
Adebayor - 8 - His touch came back, and he was pretty savage.

We were very good, but as I said on the match thread, that was an immensely disappointing performance from Norwich, we get credit for that as well, but they just weren't savage enough.

double0 said:

Really though Walker Bale Sandro Modric Kaboul were exceptionable

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Eek

A great performance across the board. No weak performances, which is fantastic.

Friedel, Gallas, BAE, Parker, Ade and VDV - 8
Kaboul, Modric, Sandro - 9
Walker - 9.1
Bale - 9.5

What really excited me was how we controlled the game. These are games we used to slip up in. We don't anymore - the players are playing as a team and are working towards achieving champions league football next season.

Bale was simply brilliant tonight. His pace scared Norwich and they could not handle him. He is improving as a footballer and was able to play in 3/4 positions tonight. The main thing levelled at bale was that he had to come up with something new to get past his man when teams doubled up against him, but he is clearly adept at playing anywhere we need him to and that negates any tactic that teams put together to combat him.

Sandro MotM for me, closely followed by Walker. Modric was brilliant in the second half, and Bale had one of his best games for a long time, but I thought Sandro was immense from start to finish.

Thank god I'm not the one who has to pick the team when Lennon is fit again. Parker is too good to drop, and Lennon has been fantastic so far this season, but Sandro is just a skillful beast that makes us a significantly better team when we don't have the ball.

Bale 8.5 - wouldve given him a 9 if not for his wastefulness in the 1st half. MOM.

Ade, Sandro, Modric, Walker, Kaboul - 8.

BAE, Parker, Gallas, VDV - 7.

Friedel - 6. Not for being poor, but rather didnt have much to do.

Friedel - 6 - solid

Walker - 7 v. good game, crossing and shots however were mixed in success
Gallas - 6 - good game
Kaboul - 7 - brilliant
BAE - 6.5 - good passing range, brilliant cross for an offside Ade

Parker - 6.5- got around, one mistake which was a bit silly
Sandro - 6.5- solid, however Norwich should of made more out of his first half failed interception
Modric - 6.5- great after a shaky start

Van der Vaart - 7 - always moving, did well today
Adebayor - 6.5 - great movement for Bale's goal, overall did well
Bale - 7.5 - MOTM - always a threat

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Rose - 6 - solid
Kranjcar - 6 moved the ball well for the 5 mins he was on for
Livermore - N/A

Spurs_Bear said:

Bale - 9 - Savage patch doll.

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:lol:

those ratings are a bit mean ^

Friedel 7
Walker 8
BAE 6
Gallas 6
Kaboul 7
VDV 6
Modric 8
Bale 8
Sandro 7
Parker 6
Ade 7

Adebayor

Adebayoooooooooor

This is the best team

You've ever played for!

Friedel 7

Walker 7
Gallas 7
Kaboul 8
BAE 7

Sandro 9
Parker 8
Modric 7
VDV 7
Bale 9 MOTM

Adebayor 8

Subs.
Livermore N/A
Kranky 5
Rose 5

Friedel - 7, not a lot to do but really good distribution
Walker - 9, really has improved defensively.
Kaboul - 8 dominant
Gallas - 7
BAE - 6.5 still not his best imo, not very good crossing

VDV - 6.5, not his best.
Modric - 8, runs the show.
Sandro - 9, he's a beast, amazing player
Parker - 7
Bale - 9 world class player

Ade - 7, good assist for the first goal and worked hard.

Spurger King said:

Sandro MotM for me, closely followed by Walker. Modric was brilliant in the second half, and Bale had one of his best games for a long time, but I thought Sandro was immense from start to finish.

Thank god I'm not the one who has to pick the team when Lennon is fit again. Parker is too good to drop, and Lennon has been fantastic so far this season, but Sandro is just a skillful beast that makes us a significantly better team when we don't have the ball.

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I thought this too, voted Sandro as motm.

I think the choice should be between Lennon, Parker, and VDV (2 of them) depending on the opposition. I think our team would be most solid with Lennon and Parker as Lennon is fast and tracks back and I think he is better on the right than VDV and had a strong partnership with Walker + tracks back and defends.

I'd like to see Parker, Sandro, Modric midfield with Adebayor, Lennon, and Bale as an interchanging front 3. Maybe even Huddlestone instead of Parker when fit as his range of passing would be a great strength in our team.

dont get the love for walker - he had a little defending to do, but thats sort of his job. most of his touches were on attack, and it wasnt impressive. he either pulled up outside the box and made a poor cross or went outside and didnt even get it in.

Brilliant, that's probably the most consistent, coherent and flamboyant 90 minutes I've seen us put together away from home, it was at times a joy to watch.

It was, for me, a product of a central midfield which combines pretty much everything you could want from a central midfield. Modric provided the tick, Sandro is like a giant Pacman hunting down opposition players with the order to eliminate, and Parker is then allowed more licence to get forward and support attacks whilst also making a nuisance of himself, crunching into tackles and also using the ball with intelligence. There are few better CMs in Europe than that. This is what I've been saying about VDV maybe having to play from a wider position on occasions (not always, Mod/Parker or Sandro is fine sometimes), it means Modric is the hub of activity in the centre, but he is given more freedom with Sandro and Parker munching all before them. This is the key, several SCers whose posts I enjoy reading have questioned Modric's effectiveness away from home, but for me it's often been how he's been deployed in a Cm2 where it is easy to overrun him. Give him a solid backbone, but keep him central then he will run games like he did today. It's just a measure of his class that he runs games in a Cm2 at home, away from home and in games at home that demands it - give him Sandro and Parker to earn him the right to play.

Once that midfield battle is won, as Harry noted after the game, Bale and VDV have a platform to be free, fluid and do their thing. VDV sees passes no others do, and is a matchwinner, Bale is utterly ruthless.

Today everyone played well, there was a small period in the first half where we sat a little deep and their 2 man lump strikeforce created a few problems but I am nitpicking. Glorious weekend for us, if we don't finish comfortably in the top 4 this season, something will have gone seriously wrong.

Friedel 7 Once he should have come out and collected a tame ball in, but he did come out a few times and avert potential danger.
BAE 7 Good performance.
Kaboul 8 Excellent all round.
Gallas 8 Excellent all round.
Walker 8 Best display for us so far.
Parker 8 Wins the ball well, drives forward well, intelligent on the ball.
Sandro 8 Just an utter beast, there will be many eyes on him around Europe this summer.
Bale 8.5 Ruthless, devastating etc etc etc. Gave us the pleasure of working hard today too.
Modric 9 Glorious footballer, the heartbeat of our side.
VDV 8 A compromise having to operate from the right side, but he got on the ball, played a quite ridiculous through ball to Ade, and the ball in the build up to our first was great too.
Ade 8 Complete forward, great performance all round, work for the goal was sublime.

Perhaps those ratings are a bit OTT for a 2-0 win over Norwich, but that was the performance top teams make a habit of. Norwich to their great credit worked hard and never gave up, but they were thoroughly outclassed all over the pitch.

ShelfSide18 said:

Brilliant, that's probably the most consistent, coherent and flamboyant 90 minutes I've seen us put together away from home, it was at times a joy to watch.

It was, for me, a product of a central midfield which combines pretty much everything you could want from a central midfield. Modric provided the tick, Sandro is like a giant Pacman hunting down opposition players with the order to eliminate, and Parker is then allowed more licence to get forward and support attacks whilst also making a nuisance of himself, crunching into tackles and also using the ball with intelligence. There are few better CMs in Europe than that. This is what I've been saying about VDV maybe having to play from a wider position on occasions (not always, Mod/Parker or Sandro is fine sometimes), it means Modric is the hub of activity in the centre, but he is given more freedom with Sandro and Parker munching all before them. This is the key, several SCers whose posts I enjoy reading have questioned Modric's effectiveness away from home, but for me it's often been how he's been deployed in a Cm2 where it is easy to overrun him. Give him a solid backbone, but keep him central then he will run games like he did today. It's just a measure of his class that he runs games in a Cm2 at home, away from home and in games at home that demands it - give him Sandro and Parker to earn him the right to play.

Once that midfield battle is won, as Harry noted after the game, Bale and VDV have a platform to be free, fluid and do their thing. VDV sees passes no others do, and is a matchwinner, Bale is utterly ruthless.

Today everyone played well, there was a small period in the first half where we sat a little deep and their 2 man lump strikeforce created a few problems but I am nitpicking. Glorious weekend for us, if we don't finish comfortably in the top 4 this season, something will have gone seriously wrong.

Friedel 7 Once he should have come out and collected a tame ball in, but he did come out a few times and avert potential danger.
BAE 7 Good performance.
Kaboul 8 Excellent all round.
Gallas 8 Excellent all round.
Walker 8 Best display for us so far.
Parker 8 Wins the ball well, drives forward well, intelligent on the ball.
Sandro 8 Just an utter beast, there will be many eyes on him around Europe this summer.
Bale 8.5 Ruthless, devastating etc etc etc. Gave us the pleasure of working hard today too.
Modric 9 Glorious footballer, the heartbeat of our side.
VDV 8 A compromise having to operate from the right side, but he got on the ball, played a quite ridiculous through ball to Ade, and the ball in the build up to our first was great too.
Ade 8 Complete forward, great performance all round, work for the goal was sublime.

Perhaps those ratings are a bit OTT for a 2-0 win over Norwich, but that was the performance top teams make a habit of. Norwich to their great credit worked hard and never gave up, but they were thoroughly outclassed all over the pitch.

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Absolutely spot on and I'm pretty certain that Harry will go this way for quite a lot of games now, certainly it will be the blue print away from home and perhaps some of the bigger games at home.

My ratings

Friedel 6.5 Not much to do, but there was one moment were he could of come

Walker 8.5 MOM I thought he was truly exceptional tonight owning that whole right flank. Opened up some more space second half with surges forward but every single time the ball came down our right he dealt with it using his pace and was generally very diligent in his defensive work. Produced at least 3 stunning crosses in the first half as well...very good performance IMO.

Kaboul 7.5 imperious in the air and everything he did was assured and composed, really good game.

Gallas 7 good game all round, but if I'm being ultra picky a couple of stray passes.

Ekotto 7 got into some fantastic positions second half, generally was threatening.

Sandro 8 shielded our back four superbly by mopping up and nullifying Holt and Morrison when ball came to feet and winning balls in the air. Off the ball our most important performer tonight.

Parker 7.5 supported our attacks more, distribution was clean and effective, and like always he got stuck in.

Modric 8.5 pulled the strings all night long, would love to know how many touches he had tonight - lovely ball for Bale's second, plays the game the way it should be played. Thrilling.

VDV 7.5 what a ball first time to Ade in the first half, putting him one on one with the keeper, another great ball to Ade in the build up for the first goal...ran the show with Modric for long periods coming deep when ball retention was important.

Adebayor 7.5 worked his balls off and sublime foot work for the assist.

Bale 8.5 epic second half after being a tad wasteful in the first although he was gettting in the right positions and one lovely touch to engineer the space for a shot. Explosive second goal and was immense through out that second half.

Lets start at the end. I listened to Redknapp's post match interview and it went something like:

Q: How many positions did Gareth Bale play tonight ?

HR: Yeah...I basically gave Gareth and Rafa free roles tonight, and said whoever's nearest to defend that channel and if they couldn't get over there one of the others (Modric, Parker, Sandro) will shuffle across.

I've finally figured Redknapp out. He's a born again hippy. He's probably telling Sandra to burn her bra as we speak, the next time the camera pans on him on the touchline he'll be wearing flares and Kevin will be sitting behind him holding a big chillum.

There were times, long times (me loved you long times) when this freedom resulted in complete domination of the ball - Parker 66, Modric 79, Sandro 49, Bale 46, VDV 78 - I don't think I've ever seen stats like these away from home.

But....and there is, inevitably a but, that freedom was, even in a game we dominated for just about 75 of the ninety minutes, held together by the sheer determined discipline of Sandro. I've never known a team be so in control of a game still look so oddly vulnerable. This is because the freedom is generally extended to all.

I thought Sandro was the vital cog in what turned out to be a well oiled performance against very, very poor opposition. Whilst everyone else was floating beautifully like clouds and doin' there thing man, Sandro was the swan's legs. The fellas discipline and engine is phenomenal, and without him there tonight, I'm positive that game would have ended up in an open end to end affair like so many did last year.

That said our passing was at times fantastic to watch, and I was very impressed that this side tends not to shrink when it goes a goal up, but often seems to grow. I don't know how much of tonight was down to Norwich's failings, but we are clearly a talented team that is a joy to watch at times.

Ratings:

Friedel 6.5 - Didn't have a lot to do but fumbled another one tonight, flapped at one and Kaboul was amazed he didn't come and get the dolly on his six yard line.

Walker 7 - He'll never have an easier game yet really didn't make the most of several great positions in acres of space. He defended OK, used his pace well to get in a couple of good tackles but didn't make the most of the space (and of course freedom man) he had at times. The kids got a good engine and I like his tenacity but he lacks finesse or intelligence.

Gallas 7 - Good game

Kaboul 7.5 - Very good game

Ekotto 7.5 - I couldn't understand him being taken off. Defensively he's a bit fucking casual, but in this game it was virtually irrelevant as he was playing as LM for most of the game and doing a really good job, seeing shitloads of ball and getting forward well. I thought he was playing really well and I don't think we were better as an offensive unit, or at ball retaining when he went off.

Parker 7.5 - Very good game

Sandro 8.5 - The only player who doesn't buy into the free love concept. He was outstanding tonight, one of his best performances in a spurs shirt, because he also showed some really nice touches in possession too.

Modric 8 - Good game offensively but defensively poor at times. Just stands there sometimes watching players walk past him. I think this is why Redknapp is no longer playing him cm in a cm 2.

VDV 8 - Man this fella sees so much ball. Second game running he's only been bettered by one pass by Modric. A couple of the passes he played tonight were superb (Adebayor clean through eg) and he has the extra bit of vision and ability to pull off that vision with an incisive pass.

Adebayor 7.5 - I was actually not bowled over by his first 45 minutes. I thought he wasn't working hard enough and was careless at times. But he worked harder second half and put in a good shift.

Bale 8.5 - Offensively he is having his best and most consistent season. He's seeing a lot more of the ball in games every week, which is an improvement, but I still wish he'd show a bit more desire to defend and help out his fb. It didn't matter so much tonight, but it does usually.


Redknapp 7 - With freedom comes responsibility. Only Sandro and maybe Parker dig it. If we could get everyone digging it we'd be genuine contenders, but this was still a performance with plenty to enjoy. A bit like watching a Brazil performance from the early eighties. And yet more evidence that Redknapp does do tactics, even if that tactic is to not do tactics.