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Ratings vs Burnley

MOM

  • Lloris

    Votes: 12 4.0%
  • Walker

    Votes: 2 0.7%
  • Fazio

    Votes: 2 0.7%
  • Verts

    Votes: 2 0.7%
  • Davies

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Bentaleb

    Votes: 1 0.3%
  • Mason

    Votes: 8 2.7%
  • Lamela

    Votes: 171 56.8%
  • Eriksen

    Votes: 68 22.6%
  • Chadli

    Votes: 6 2.0%
  • Kane

    Votes: 21 7.0%
  • Stambouli

    Votes: 1 0.3%
  • Soldado

    Votes: 1 0.3%
  • Rose

    Votes: 2 0.7%
  • Undecided

    Votes: 3 1.0%
  • None Deserved

    Votes: 1 0.3%

  • Total voters
    301

davidmatzdorf

Front Page Gadfly
Jun 7, 2004
18,106
45,030
Lloris - 6 - Good in goal, but truly dreadful distribution: not just the inaccurate kicks into touch, but also his decisions to sail the ball forward in the closing stages when we needed to retain possession.

Walker - 7 - Having Walker back is making Lamela's life a hell of a lot easier, because Walker's pace means that the opposition have to mark him in case he goes on the overlap, which means that Erik isn't constantly having to dribble through three opponents - good positional sense and calm play from Kyle today.

Davies - 6 - A decent game, without much exciting to talk about - sound in defence.

Fazio - 6.5 - beaten for pace several times, but strong as usual in winning headers and free of brain-farts.

Vertonghen - 6 - Competent and reliable.

Mason - 6.5 - he wasn't especially noticeable before he went off, but the longer the second half wore on, the more obvious it became how isolated Kane was getting without Mason to link things up - others tend to play better when Mason plays.

Bentaleb - 5.5 - Not his best performance - he was OK most of the time, but guilty of giving the ball away too often and his normally pinpoint passing rangefinder was off.

Lamela - 7.5 - Scintillating throughout the first half, with creativity and a sensational finish in the Bale style - faded after an hour. MotM.

Eriksen - 7 - Industrous as well as creative - solid, with flashes of inspiration, and constantly involved.

Chadli - 6.5 - Good, robust contribution and an assist - not the flashiest player, but gets it done.

Kane - 7 - Took awhile to get started today and was a bit inconspicuous until his goal - then played very well for the central part of the game, but sometimes got isolated after Mason went off - could have scored 2 or 3 today.


Stambouli - 6 - played OK, but in the absence of Mason and with Bentaleb being a bit sloppy, there was no one controlling the tempo.

Soldado - 6 - didn't do anything especially wrong or right.

I expected Burnley to play a negative, defensive game, but they didn't. They look a pretty decent team, with good defenders and solid organisation, but they lack real quality, so they lost - much like three of the last four sides who tried to outplay us. Our defence sometimes looked under strain, but actually Burnley got very little in the way of shots and chances from their pressure - we had 20+ shots and they had about 9.

We really should have scored more than 2 goals today, but bad shooting wasn't to blame, bad decisions and bad final balls were at fault. A lot of players passed when they should have shot or vice versa.

For my eyes, the main theme at the moment is that we have, in the last 4 or 5 matches, started to shake off the hesitancy and inhibition when approaching goal - we are moving the ball more quickly and decisively and, crucially, there is a change of pace that is resulting in players getting through the back line, instead of passing interminably in front of it. Only against the massed ranks of Palace did we fail to do this. When we can start to deliver this against defensive opposition, then we wll start producing more consistent results.
 
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TEESSIDE1

Married, new job and Spurs on the up!
Jul 3, 2006
15,089
18,780
I was one the 1st to jump on Lamela's back for what looked like a loose challenge in midfield leading to their goal. However, I hold my hands up and commend him for the way he reacted, instead of letting his head drop he got stuck in, tormented their left back and scored a wonderful goal.

Lloris also had a very good game in terms of his shot stopping, but still lots of work to be done on his kicking.

Walker was very impressive both defensively and offensively, and gave Lamela options.

Chadli was more involved and looked dangerous but let himself down a bit with not making the most of some very good attacking positions.

Eriksen played very well too and is once again starting to show he's a key player for us.

I didn't see all the game as I was playing with my 4 month old nephew but from what I did see, Kane scored a good goal and I firmly believe he's is now our number 1 striker.

I think we were a bit lucky at the back as there were times Fazio had to use his long legs to cut the ball out, which is a good thing, but we would have been exposed by the ball over the top against better sides with quicker strikers than the likes of Ings (good player but not particularly quick).

@Archibald&Crooks

********* Lastly, I apologise for some of my overly sarcastic/negative comments of late... I've just started a life long hormone replacement therapy for a serious genetics disorder and my mood and emotions etc are all over the place at the moment ********
 

mpickard2087

Patient Zero
Jun 13, 2008
21,886
32,512
A lot of people have disagreed across various threads, but I don't think we can take much out of that game. Throughout we saw an open game with space everywhere and a lot of time to do whatever we wished with the ball. First half was decent enough and we scored two goals that, whilst different, were both very good. Second half though I thought right from the whistle things were very sloppy and we had frequent errors. There were still plenty of opportunities, due to the woeful defensive capabilities of the opposition, but these were squandered by a poor final ball on numerous occasions. All in all we made pretty heavy weather of seeing them off.

I thought Burnley were even worse than QPR earlier in the season for space left in front of the defence. Yes we did put some nice passages of play together at times when we did pick up the ball in that area and players like Lamela and Eriksen had some nice touches, but I have never seen so many times where a player was able to get it, turn and then move at the defence. This will not happen on many occasions and really we should have been thrashing this lot. It might seem negative to some, I say I'm being realistic. When we come up against and see off a defensively disciplined side who make things tough for us is when I will start getting excited.

I really did think, especially second half, we saw some of the issues we have with playing the ball out from the back. There are several aspects that need to get better. Individually players need to be less hesitant and more confident with the ball, and allied to this we need to be much better at opening up passing lanes and options for the man. We also aren't great at moving up (and down) the pitch as one unit. Too disjointed. Too many times the opposition are able to channel us back and it ends up going all the way to Lloris. Today he was having a shocker with his kicking, but it was magnified much more because of the amount of times, often unnecessarily, that we have to go back to him.
Also on this point, we have too many players unable to play 360' and can only play the way they are facing. A number of times the ball would inexplicably be passed back and kill all momentum instead of opening up their body and in turn opening up the pitch and allow us to go forward. Its stuff like this that gives the impression of a passive team and just correcting a few things would change it to being one that looks like it is trying to take the initiative and looking to play forward. Work to do.

Defensively we also still need to tighten up, I thought some of the defending against Ings left a lot to be desired. Yet again Fazio and Vertonghen had some issues with who was meant to be picking up the striker and he was able to shake off both of them. I thought both fullbacks were 'meh' and did some stupid things with and without the ball. Lloris saved us on a couple of occasions and we cannot keep being indebted to him every week.

To round off on a positive note though, I really liked both goals in their own different ways. The opener was quick thinking from Kane, equally smart quick instinct from Eriksen to leave the ball alone and Chadli anticipating things and dashing on to it. He didn't do anything spectacular to work the half yard but once he made it he delivered a superb cross (I hope Townsend was watching this and paying note, you don't have to be twisty-turny, Cruyff turning constantly and tie yourself in knots. Just work the half yard and deliver, as a two footed player they will be unsure of what way you will go!) and finally Kane had shown the desire to get into the box up in support and applied the final touch.
The second was a great strike from Lamela after making use of the space afforded to him. Lets hope its the first of many and it does him some good confidence wise.

Points are on the board all of a sudden, need to work even harder though now. Address some issues and who knows what could happen...

Lloris - Couple of good saves. Rubbish kicking.

Walker - At times offered a good option on the right and his overlap allowed Lamela a bit more space and time, which is something we have been missing. He did nothing of note with the ball though, including a couple of occasions where he got things spectacularly wrong. Defensively was a bit ropey. Ok just about.

Fazio - Won everything in the air as per usual. Lack of pace was highlighted again today and a couple of times we were lucky that it wasn't costly.

Vertonghen - I thought he had a poor game. First of all I'm going to come straight out with it; I don't think he is great on the ball. He's far too hesitant at times, always searching for a 'better option' and then we does move it on there is often no real weight on the pass which can put others in trouble. I thought some of his positioning today was very poor - At times when Fazio was getting left for dead on the chase it was where the ball had been played in behind Vertonghen who was caught in no mans land.

Davies - I really do not know why he was playing a home game like this. I'd prefer Rose's impetus, intent and that he is prepared to play higher up the pitch. Started off with a sloppy bit of play that earned a booking and whilst he was ok it was a pretty limited performance.

Mason - I thought he was having a very good game before his injury. Full of energy and popping up everywhere, whether that be breaking up play or bursting into the oppositions penalty area. That he had to go off was a real shame and lets hope its not a serious injury.

Bentaleb - Ok at best. Didn't have any real impact and a couple of times showed that his defensive vulnerabilities still need to be worked on.

Lamela - He was up against an awful opponent in the Burnley LB, it has to be acknowledged, and whether he will get joy every week dribbling past his man at walking speed remains to be seen... However he used the ball better today and as I have kept saying he looks a much better player when he keeps it simple and just passes and moves to receive it again. Scored one excellent goal and should have had an assist when he waltzed in down the right. Not as impactful second half but lets hope he has learned from today and what he needs to do to be most effective.

Eriksen - Had the freedom of London in that space in front of the defence, and so at times got some real joy and showed some lovely touches. A couple of passes in particular were pure class. Could maybe have had slightly more end product to show for his afternoons work in the end though...

Chadli - Good assist for the opening goal, and acts as a good foil for Kane. Could maybe have more impact over the course of 90 mins but he's popping up and contributing on a regular basis with goals/assists.

Kane - A quieter game than some he has had but that's another goal for him and like Eriksen at times he found acres of space just off the front that allowed him to turn and drive at the defence. Maybe a little greedy at tiems but he's confident atm and you cant begrudge him having a couple of extra shots at goal.

Subs:

Stambouli - Ok in patches but like Bentaleb didn't really get hold of the middle of the park in the second half and set the platform for us.

Rose and Soldado - N/A.
 
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prawnsandwich

Well-Known Member
Jul 19, 2014
6,035
4,064
Lloris - 6 - Good in goal, but truly dreadful distribution.
Walker - 7 - Having Walker back is making Lamela's life a hell of a lot easier, because Walker's pace means that the opposition have to mark him in case he goes on the overlap, which means that Erik isn't constantly having to dribble through three opponents - good positional sense and calm play from Kyle today.
Lamela - 7.5 - Scintillating throughout the first half, with creativity and a sensational finish in the Bale style - faded after an hour.
Kane - Took awhile to get started today and was a bit inconspicuous until his goal - then played very well for the central part of the game, but sometimes got isolated after Mason went off - could have scored 2 or 3 today.
I expected Burnley to play a negative, defensive game, but they didn't.
We really should have scored more than 2 goals today, but bad shooting wasn't to blame, bad decisions and bad final balls were at fault. A lot of players passed when they should have shot or vice versa.
Excellent assessment. Why no Kane points? Mason off made a big diff today and great news his injury is not long term. I was very disappointed that MoPo did not introduce a sub to change things.
I do not think Lamela deserved MOTM. Great goal but his overall contribution against one of the worst teams in the division over the 90 mins was not enough. Seemed to me like he rested on his laurels after half time and this caused issues for the team. We were poor for most of the second half and I was glad when the game ended and we had held on.
 

HW61

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2012
680
3,620
Thought Eriksen was fabulous yet again today and gets my vote. Industrious and class. Covered so much ground, great awareness, technique and execution.

And showing some consistency.
 

ecce_tottenham

Well-Known Member
Jul 28, 2009
475
1,157
So pleased for Erik, but he should have kept attacking their left back in the second half - he faded a bit.

He comes a close second to Eriksen in my book, who was on another level today. MUST PLAY CENTRALLY!
 

yojambo

Well-Known Member
Jun 13, 2012
3,199
9,324
In 43mins Mason had 5 tackles and 2 interceptions more than any other player from either team!
 

jonathanhotspur

Loose Cannon
Jun 28, 2009
10,292
8,250
Hugo Boss-6.75 Some smart stops allied to some IBS kicking.

Walker-5 Looks like a prehistoric farmer fleeing from a UFO under diagonal balls. Very disappointing in the final third, where he lacked composure, and rash in possession throughout.

Fazio-4.75 Lack of agility and pace painfully exposed by Aguero, made a number of silly and potentially costly fouls, nervous under the high ball, dodgy in possession and botched some clearances. Have I missed anything?

Vertonghen-5 Jittery, dropped on his botty by Aguero. More leadership required. Poor use of the ball from a cultured defender.

Davies-5 Possibly rattled by a very early yellow card, offered nothing in the final third and poor distribution at times.

Mason-6.5 Energetic. His withdrawal cost us in both directions.

Bentaleb-4.5 Lacked conviction in his passing, did a poor job of screening the defence. He's a much better player than this, so what is the problem?

Chadli-6 Beige performance from the burly Belgian. Fine assist but offered little of genuine quality and should have been called ashore much earlier, IMO. Might have tried to find Kane instead of Eriksen in the 75th minute.

Eriksen-7 The brains of the operation. Sparkled but never caught fire.

Lamela-6.5 A pearler of a goal that left me open-mouthed. Had some bright moments in the game but loses the ball too often, he's more robust these days.

Harrikane-6.5 Like Augustus Gloop in a sweetshop. Worked hard and held the ball up well at times but his shooting was wild.

Subs

Stambouli-5.5 I thought his introduction was just what was called for after an uncomfortably open forty minutes. Although he broke up the play a few times and showed off a few nice touches, we didn't look more secure with him and really struggled to work the ball out from the back in the second half.

Soldado-5 Kept them pinned back.

Rose-NET.

Pochettino-6 Strange reluctance to make substitutions during a rocky second half. Taking Kane off made little sense.
 
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THFCSPURS19

The Speaker of the Transfer Rumours Forum
Jan 6, 2013
37,886
130,485
Lloris-6- Some good moments but his distribution was fucking awful

Walker- 6.5- We're much better on the right side with him in the team. Some of his deliveries were poor but I'll let him off because he's only just come back.

Fazio-6.5- Wins every header which is very useful. Still got caught out a few times by Ings who was simply much quicker.

Vertonghen-6- OK. Not his best game and seemed to be very close to making a few errors

Davies- 6- Didn't do much. Silly yellow card early on and they created a few chances from his side.

Mason- 7.5- He was doing brilliant before his injury. Great runs into the box (like Ramsey for the Scum last season), good passing, an assist and a lot of hard work. I hope he's back soon and my hope has been increased after Poch said it didn't look too bad.

Bentaleb- 5.5- Was pretty bad. Passing was poor- especially the failed pass after about 10 seconds of the match. Maybe he needs a rest but he's going to be off to AFCON next month anyway. Might as well use him while we have the chance. He was pretty much the opposite of Mason.

Chadli- 7- Good assist and he clearly looks settle. Some things didn't come off for him but I thought he played well.

Eyjafjallajokullsen- 7.75- He's just bloody brilliant, isn't he? Ridiculously intelligent and when he stood still after the quick free-kick, you could see his clear awareness of the game. Creates so many chances but he still needs to improve his corners :p

Lamela- 8.5- MOTM- Worked hard, scored an outrageous goal, and was probably his best game in the PL so far (maybe with the exception of match vs QPR- on that note, contrary to what @mpickard2087 said, I think Burnley were far better than QPR when they played us). His dribble to create the chance that should have been scored easily was incredible. His one-touch play was good as well and no, he wasn't responsible for Barnes's goal. I do want to say two more things though. Firstly, he still needs to use his right foot more and secondly, he still needs to produce his best against better teams. His best two games have been against QPR and Burnley, who are both near the bottom of the league. The sooner, he does that against higher-up teams, and I'm not only talking about 'Top 7' teams, the better :)

Kane- 7- Good game. He got a goal and again worked hard and showed his intelligence on several occasions. I think he shoots too often, which is down to confidence so I can't complain too much, and he still needs to be more accurate but he's only young and I'll stay patient, like I have with the other players.

Subs:

Stambouli- 6- Meh. Had a few good moments offensively but I didn't notice him too much. Is that a good thing? We were worse when he came on defensively and attacking-wise but I'm not sure if that's only down to him. It probably wasn't.

Soldado- NET
 

WexfordTownSpur

preposition me arse
Aug 2, 2007
2,615
653
Mason was key? Mason was the weak link in midfield in the first half and the last two games. He is weak defensively and does not use the ball as well as Bentaleb. Mason needs to be replace for our cm to be solid and provide protection to our defence.
In the second half burnley was hitting long balls bypassing our midfield but stambouli and bentaleb provided better support for the defence allowing Fazio to attack burnley's long balls without fearing leaving a gap behind him.
I thought we were weak through the middle and fazio and walker were caught a few times. Kane did well as did Lamalla and Erikson. All in all ave performance against an average team. I think we should have done better. But I will take the win. But again against better teams with this performance we would struggle. Sorry I guess I would say we are getting the results but not a great deal of performance increase.
 

SpurSince57

Well-Known Member
Jan 20, 2006
45,213
8,229
I really did think, especially second half, we saw some of the issues we have with playing the ball out from the back.

I agree with most of your post, but will focus on this point.

The majority of us like to see the ball played out from the back, but it seems to have escaped many that Southampton under Pochettinho would be pretty much route one, with long balls into the opposition half and then very few passes—far fewer than they played under Adkins. In that context, I'm a little surprised that Pochettino kept Kaboul and got rid of Dawson.
 

mpickard2087

Patient Zero
Jun 13, 2008
21,886
32,512
I agree with most of your post, but will focus on this point.

The majority of us like to see the ball played out from the back, but it seems to have escaped many that Southampton under Pochettinho would be pretty much route one, with long balls into the opposition half and then very few passes—far fewer than they played under Adkins. In that context, I'm a little surprised that Pochettino kept Kaboul and got rid of Dawson.

Southampton did have a high rate of possession though last year amongst all the teams. I think that is something Poch took from his time playing under Bielsa... Really good accurate long passes (not aimless hoofs) from back to front that cut through the opposition and then you play off the front man. Look to do this and play forward, but if it isn't on then keep possession. Another example would be the Chile national team (Bielsa had a big effect on their football when coach) like when they played England a year or so back... They'd patiently keep the ball at the back, then all of a sudden they have pinged a long crossfield pass forward, gone through 5 gears and are tearing up the pitch in numbers towards the goal as the opposition.

With us though it seems a lot more intricate, and although we do see the play getting switched its not early on in proceedings. Maybe he thinks we aren't suited to pinging it into a focal point and playing off him. If we are going to keep playing out from the back though I think we have to speed things up and be a bit braver, we often take an extra touch or players are unable to open their bodies up to go 'either way' and so it gets stodgy and easy for the opposition to funnel us back towards Hugo and starting again.

Practice, practice, practice.
 

Flashspur

Well-Known Member
Jul 28, 2012
6,882
9,068
Hugo Boss-6.75 Some smart stops allied to some IBS kicking.

Walker-5 Looks like a prehistoric farmer fleeing from a UFO under diagonal balls. Very disappointing in the final third, where he lacked composure, and rash in possession throughout.

Fazio-4.75 Lack of agility and pace painfully exposed by Aguero, made a number of silly and potentially costly fouls, nervous under the high ball, dodgy in possession and botched some clearances. Have I missed anything?

Vertonghen-5 Jittery, dropped on his botty by Aguero. More leadership required. Poor use of the ball from a cultured defender.

Davies-5 Possibly rattled by a very early yellow card, offered nothing in the final third and poor distribution at times.

Mason-6.5 Energetic. His withdrawal cost us in both directions.

Bentaleb-4.5 Lacked conviction in his passing, did a poor job of screening the defence. He's a much better player than this, so what is the problem?

Chadli-6 Beige performance from the burly Belgian. Fine assist but offered little of genuine quality and should have been called ashore much earlier, IMO. Might have tried to find Kane instead of Eriksen in the 75th minute.

Eriksen-7 The brains of the operation. Sparkled but never caught fire.

Lamela-6.5 A pearler of a goal that left me open-mouthed. Had some bright moments in the game but loses the ball too often, he's more robust these days.

Harrikane-6.5 Like Augustus Gloop in a sweetshop. Worked hard and held the ball up well at times but his shooting was wild.

Subs

Stambouli-5.5 I thought his introduction was just what was called for after an uncomfortably open forty minutes. Although he broke up the play a few times and showed off a few nice touches, we didn't look more secure with him and really struggled to work the ball out from the back in the second half.

Soldado-5 Kept them pinned back.

Rose-NET.

Pochettino-6 Strange reluctance to make substitutions during a rocky second half. Taking Kane off made little sense.

are you copy and pasting someone's Man City Ratings thread post....who is Aguero? Doesn't he play for Man City :D
 

Gaz_Gammon

Well-Known Member
Apr 16, 2005
16,047
18,013
A lot of people have disagreed across various threads, but I don't think we can take much out of that game. Throughout we saw an open game with space everywhere and a lot of time to do whatever we wished with the ball. First half was decent enough and we scored two goals that, whilst different, were both very good. Second half though I thought right from the whistle things were very sloppy and we had frequent errors. There were still plenty of opportunities, due to the woeful defensive capabilities of the opposition, but these were squandered by a poor final ball on numerous occasions. All in all we made pretty heavy weather of seeing them off.

I thought Burnley were even worse than QPR earlier in the season for space left in front of the defence. Yes we did put some nice passages of play together at times when we did pick up the ball in that area and players like Lamela and Eriksen had some nice touches, but I have never seen so many times where a player was able to get it, turn and then move at the defence. This will not happen on many occasions and really we should have been thrashing this lot. It might seem negative to some, I say I'm being realistic. When we come up against and see off a defensively disciplined side who make things tough for us is when I will start getting excited.

I really did think, especially second half, we saw some of the issues we have with playing the ball out from the back. There are several aspects that need to get better. Individually players need to be less hesitant and more confident with the ball, and allied to this we need to be much better at opening up passing lanes and options for the man. We also aren't great at moving up (and down) the pitch as one unit. Too disjointed. Too many times the opposition are able to channel us back and it ends up going all the way to Lloris. Today he was having a shocker with his kicking, but it was magnified much more because of the amount of times, often unnecessarily, that we have to go back to him.
Also on this point, we have too many players unable to play 360' and can only play the way they are facing. A number of times the ball would inexplicably be passed back and kill all momentum instead of opening up their body and in turn opening up the pitch and allow us to go forward. Its stuff like this that gives the impression of a passive team and just correcting a few things would change it to being one that looks like it is trying to take the initiative and looking to play forward. Work to do.

Defensively we also still need to tighten up, I thought some of the defending against Ings left a lot to be desired. Yet again Fazio and Vertonghen had some issues with who was meant to be picking up the striker and he was able to shake off both of them. I thought both fullbacks were 'meh' and did some stupid things with and without the ball. Lloris saved us on a couple of occasions and we cannot keep being indebted to him every week.

To round off on a positive note though, I really liked both goals in their own different ways. The opener was quick thinking from Kane, equally smart quick instinct from Eriksen to leave the ball alone and Chadli anticipating things and dashing on to it. He didn't do anything spectacular to work the half yard but once he made it he delivered a superb cross (I hope Townsend was watching this and paying note, you don't have to be twisty-turny, Cruyff turning constantly and tie yourself in knots. Just work the half yard and deliver, as a two footed player they will be unsure of what way you will go!) and finally Kane had shown the desire to get into the box up in support and applied the final touch.
The second was a great strike from Lamela after making use of the space afforded to him. Lets hope its the first of many and it does him some good confidence wise.

Points are on the board all of a sudden, need to work even harder though now. Address some issues and who knows what could happen...

Lloris - Couple of good saves. Rubbish kicking.

Walker - At times offered a good option on the right and his overlap allowed Lamela a bit more space and time, which is something we have been missing. He did nothing of note with the ball though, including a couple of occasions where he got things spectacularly wrong. Defensively was a bit ropey. Ok just about.

Fazio - Won everything in the air as per usual. Lack of pace was highlighted again today and a couple of times we were lucky that it wasn't costly.

Vertonghen - I thought he had a poor game. First of all I'm going to come straight out with it; I don't think he is great on the ball. He's far too hesitant at times, always searching for a 'better option' and then we does move it on there is often no real weight on the pass which can put others in trouble. I thought some of his positioning today was very poor - At times when Fazio was getting left for dead on the chase it was where the ball had been played in behind Vertonghen who was caught in no mans land.

Davies - I really do not know why he was playing a home game like this. I'd prefer Rose's impetus, intent and that he is prepared to play higher up the pitch. Started off with a sloppy bit of play that earned a booking and whilst he was ok it was a pretty limited performance.

Mason - I thought he was having a very good game before his injury. Full of energy and popping up everywhere, whether that be breaking up play or bursting into the oppositions penalty area. That he had to go off was a real shame and lets hope its not a serious injury.

Bentaleb - Ok at best. Didn't have any real impact and a couple of times showed that his defensive vulnerabilities still need to be worked on.

Lamela - He was up against an awful opponent in the Burnley LB, it has to be acknowledged, and whether he will get joy every week dribbling past his man at walking speed remains to be seen... However he used the ball better today and as I have kept saying he looks a much better player when he keeps it simple and just passes and moves to receive it again. Scored one excellent goal and should have had an assist when he waltzed in down the right. Not as impactful second half but lets hope he has learned from today and what he needs to do to be most effective.

Eriksen - Had the freedom of London in that space in front of the defence, and so at times got some real joy and showed some lovely touches. A couple of passes in particular were pure class. Could maybe have had slightly more end product to show for his afternoons work in the end though...

Chadli - Good assist for the opening goal, and acts as a good foil for Kane. Could maybe have more impact over the course of 90 mins but he's popping up and contributing on a regular basis with goals/assists.

Kane - A quieter game than some he has had but that's another goal for him and like Eriksen at times he found acres of space just off the front that allowed him to turn and drive at the defence. Maybe a little greedy at tiems but he's confident atm and you cant begrudge him having a couple of extra shots at goal.

Subs:

Stambouli - Ok in patches but like Bentaleb didn't really get hold of the middle of the park in the second half and set the platform for us.

Rose and Soldado - N/A.

Some people have far too much time on their hands......:whistle:
 

Fergus

Well-Known Member
Jun 5, 2004
718
1,317
Vertonghen struggled against Ings. He's very talented, but he isn't a great defender. His body shape when one on one is poor, gets beaten too easily.

Very good point. As far as I can see it's the only real weakness in his game, but a major one. Ledders should take a few days off from coaching the kids to teach him how to be "clever in the tackle".
 
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