Ratings vs Chelsea

I'm going to try to rate everyone objectively, but that's tough after this win.

Team performance - 9
Impressive defensive performance and clinical finishing. In the past, we probably would have conceded just after the break, when Chelsea threw everything at us. So much for Cahill saying Chelsea weren't quite on it tonight...we didn't let them play! I think it's fair to draw comparisons to how Mourinho teams play in the "6 pointers", with a noticeable emphasis on defensive discipline.
We didn't try to take it to Chelsea in the same way as last spring, resulting in fewer chances created but a far more mature and controlled performance.
Although we defended very well, we were fortunate that Hazard failed to punish us on either of the two occasions that we were breached. There were also a few heavy touches and stray passes in the final third, where we would otherwise have put Chelsea's defence under even more pressure.

Pochettino - 10
Got the tactics and selection spot on, including logical and well-timed subs.
By setting up with the same formation as Chelsea, he showed a lot of belief in the ability of our players. They had to go out and match / out-perform their opposite numbers. For me, the way in which Wanyama and Dembele outclassed Matic and Kante was decisive. Also, Alli scored 2/2 chances while Hazard missed 2/2.

Lloris - 7 - Good save from Costa's effort, but otherwise barely called upon. Decent passing and distribution.
Walker - 7.5 - Strong performance, but very restricted going forwards in the first half. Chelsea had more success attacking down his flank than Rose's (couple of decent crosses and Costa cutting in to shoot).
Dier - 8.5 - Solid and not shy going forwards.
Alderweireld - 8.5 - A rock, as always.
Vertonghen - 8.5 - Solid and not shy going forwards.
Rose - 9 - Dominated his flank and unlucky to be booked (while Moses somehow wasn't!).
Wanyama - 9.5 - MOTM. Executed his defensive duties fantastically. A couple of stray passes and his booking prevent me giving him 10.
Dembele - 9 - Combative and industrious. Tactically very disciplined.
Eriksen - 8.5 - Beautiful deliveries for Alli and good overall play.
Alli - 8.5 - Clinical finishing and great movement/awareness for the goals. It wasn't actually his best all-round performance, but he was a constant nuisance.
Kane - 6.5 - Chelsea policed him well, so his main impact on the game was to occupy players and create space for others. Some sloppy passes and heavy touches, but worked hard.

Winks - 7 - Not on long enough to make a huge impact, but was tidy and disciplined. A couple of key defensive contributions.
Sissoko - NET - Some heavy touches, but his fresh legs helped us to keep pressing.
Son - NET - Did he even get to touch the ball?

Wanyama by a mile for me!

He was an absolute beast!

I've said it so many times on here but he really was a fantastic signing

Seems I'm the only one to vote this way but I've gone for Vertonghen, I thought he was absolutely immense and beasted the defence. Loved his John Smiths "'Ave it!" clearance at the end as well.

Overall great performances but through well honed accomplished techniques and veracity of thought, Dele ushers himself into a new platform of quality. The guy announced himself this evening in a way that hasn't been done for some time. Madrid, go fuck yourselves- this player has more to prove here

fortworthspur said:

to be fair, Chelsea was just as good defensively. there just wasnt much space to work in.

Click to expand...

The main difference was in how clinical we were rather than how many chances each team created. Hazard will be lying awake wishing he had scored, while Alli sleeps like a baby.

YiddoBirdy said:

Nope, everyone's getting carried away with this victory tonight. We were very good defensively and every player put in a shift but imo we could of used the ball better in the final third and created more chances and I don't think we dominated the game which seems to be the general opinion.

Bring on the disagrees

Click to expand...

Agree with that. We did dominate the first half though imo.

But yeah, total team performance, solid all-round, very professional.

2 great strikes from Dele and 2 quality balls in from Eriksen but Wanyama gets MOM from me. Dembele put in a great shift as well and they completely bossed Matic and Kante. Honourable mention for Danny R as well - just gets better and better.

Neon_Knight_ said:

The main difference was in how clinical we were rather than how many chances each team created. Hazard will be lying awake wishing he had scored, while Alli sleeps like a baby.

Click to expand...

agree, which also speaks to how special Alli is. He carved out two chances in the middle of excellent defensive play all around and won the game. None of Chelsea's superstars could do the same.

Never have we been a team to bully other teams. We've always been the team to have a few flair players but a soft underbelly. Well not anymore.

Bobbins said:

Seems I'm the only one to vote this way but I've gone for Vertonghen, I thought he was absolutely immense and beasted the defence. Loved his John Smiths "'Ave it!" clearance at the end as well.

Click to expand...

I felt that was a big move forward tonight defensively, no fkin about, clear the ball. Its how you win. Time and a place to play out from the back and its not every single time.

Wanyama.
Wanyama in the name of the lord.
Wanyama.

oh!!!

Was brilliant tonight as were all the boys but he gets mom for me Bob.

Kaboul'sForehead said:

Most rounded Spurs team of all time potentially...!

Click to expand...

Respectfully disagree. I wasn't around at the time, but the double winning side were no bunch of fancy Dans - Norman, Mackay and Smith all physical even for the time.

YiddoBirdy said:

Nope, everyone's getting carried away with this victory tonight. We were very good defensively and every player put in a shift but imo we could of used the ball better in the final third and created more chances and I don't think we dominated the game which seems to be the general opinion.

Bring on the disagrees

Click to expand...

I agree, but you could say the same about countless "6 point" victories by Mourinho's title winning teams.

I was a bit more generous with my ratings, because we delivered against such a strong and in-form team. Chelsea didn't allow us any space, so we were never going to play free-flowing attacking football. Had we put in only a decent/good performance, we may well have been thumped.

Lloris had one shot to stop, he stopped it. Somewhat better distribution on the whole.

Walker was involved in both goals and made no mistakes defensively.

Dier was strong and quick, never looked troubled. Enjoyed his calm WTF look to the ref when Costa got aggy with him because Lloris wouldn't pick up the ball.

Alderweireld had Costa in his pocket all game and passed the bell out well.

Vertonghen was imperious, best of the three. Read everything brilliantly.

Rose must have two hearts and six lings, he motored constantly and showed just how to play the wing back role.

Wanyama was a monster, he made Kane look like a child. Great tacking and strength, carried the ball well too.

Dembele's composure on the ball ensured our control in a battle of a game.

Eriksen made both goals beautifully and was our creative fulcrum, torturing their back line with inventive passing all game long.

Alli was not the most involved but he did score twice again, a nice habit to have.

Kane was a warrior. He never had an opportunity to score but he will have left their centre backs happy to see the back of him. Relentless with his physicality and efforts to unhinge them.

Winks came on, saw little of the ball but harried and chased every single Chelsea moment of possession.

Sissoko and Son came on.

slartibartfast said:

Wanyama.
Wanyama in the name of the lord.
Wanyama.

oh!!!

Was brilliant tonight as were all the boys but he gets mom for me Bob.

Click to expand...

It's almost spiritual how Victor does things.

Eriksen was the reason we won but Wanyama was the platform Eriksen had to work with. Wanyama MOM - one of the best CDM displays I've seen live at WHL.

Wonderful team performance. Well done lads! Dele showing why he is such a special player.

BC is probably working through the 12th version of his match review. All those snide comments about Walker and Dele and Dier damning them with faint praise having to be rewritten again and again

Go on, have some of this...

http://www.football365.com/news/tottenham-2-0-chelsea-16-conclusions

Maturing Nicely

I said at half time that was a really good half of football. Two well balanced teams, tactically proficient and well set up, making for a really tight tussle, no quarter given, but not in a reckless hell for leather way, more like watching speed chess, or an Italian league game from about 25 years ago. We were the team taking the initiative, moving the ball better, constantly probing but Chelsea were that well drilled machine who always carried menace, not allowing us to get carried away, and to our credit we never did, it was tactically a superb and mature performance. And that's the most pleasing aspect, as it was immaturity and naivety that saw us come unstuck the last two times we played them, at heavy cost.

I guess this would be called a 3421 in the playbook, but watching it and looking at the position matrix, I'd call it more a 313111 that played out more like this:

And it was tactically superb, Chelsea never got to grips with it. Our young coach went toe to toe with one of the best coaches in Europe, and came out on top.

Considering who we were playing, how strong they are tactically and what was at stake, the tensions this fixture carried, that first 45 minutes has to rank very, very highly in the Pochettino Oeuvre. This isn't a side that allows you to tear them apart, to try and do so would have been folly, they are designed for anything but that to happen, but what we did do in that first half was suffocate, play and probe, we showed patience; it was a grown up performance that despite not having much goal mouth action was hugely impressive and was thoroughly gripping throughout.

Also impressive was the phase after we scored our second goal, where instead of thinking "oh fuck we're two up, lets shell" Wanyama and Eriksen just kept us playing football and we just smothered any come back momentum at the embryonic stage.

I have to doff my cap to Poch, for much of last and the start of this season I was saying that he has to be more flexible tactically. After a couple of games of watching Wanyama, I said he was a player who could facilitate this, and tonight was the best evidence of that against the best possible test. He was fucking outstanding tonight, he was a voracious animal, hunting, gathering with a dynamism that none of our other CM's can match. The first half his tenacity was always initiating offensive actions, the second half it was breaking up Chelsea's momentum, unflustered, he also footballed his (and our) way cooly out of trouble at times with a panache under pressure that was a joy to watch.

Eriksen is so under rated, not just by some spurs fans, but by football's fanfare machine too. This guy is only bettered creatively over the last couple of years by players like Hazard and Ozil (and Payet last year), but none of those come anywhere close to having the metronomic influence that he has on team performances. None of the other players of his ilk in this league get through so much of the ball, work all over the pitch, like a CM/AM hybrid. This was another masterclass from Eriksen, and he's not a flat track bully either, he does it in the big games too, none bigger than tonight, and he delivered, the industry, conducting play then providing the two moments of precision that put the opposition to the sword.

I thought Vertonghen was also superb tonight, and is having a really good season, probably his best (he's always been a bit under rated too IMO) in his Spurs career. He set the tempo early on with a steaming interception and then carrying the ball forward and was authoritative throughout. He's been our best CB all season, even when TA has been playing.

Pochettino deserves the biggest credit though. This was yet another feather in his managerial cap. Few coaches manage to combine being good coaches and tactically proficient. We've seen the evidence of Poch's coaching ability. I've been watching Spurs for nearly 50 years and he's the first coach we've had (maybe bar Pleaty for a year) who has this team consistently and habitually doing the ugly stuff, and doing it cohesively, playing like a team without the ball as well as with it. But this season he's adding tactical variety to that coached ethos and has now added the scalp of Conte to Guardiola's. This is my favourite Spurs side of any I've watched, and we are what we are entirely because of him. And despite calling the flaws and errors (as I see them) let me make this clear, he is the best coach I've seen at this club.

Individual

Lloris - Not loads to do. Still wish he wouldn't scare us every game with at least one or two dodgy kick outs.

Walker - Not so great first half, coughed up the ball a couple of times sloppily, but got better and had a decent game defensively.

Dier - Good game.

TA - Good game.

Vertonghen - Excellent game, best CB on the pitch tonight.

Rose - He didn't deliver much in terms of actual attacking quality or product but nights like tonight you just love his feistyness and dynamism, it sets a tempo, adds a delicious friction that unsettles the opposition, gets the crowd going, and you know he's fucking up for it and it makes the night crackle. Good game.

Wanyama - Fucking marvellous. 90 minutes of cool headed rapacity. MOTM 1

Dembele - He had a couple of moments but was a little bit disappointing. This was a tough game to come back to, and I think he just always seemed a little bit off the pace, still did a couple of decent things and was generally robust defensively but second half seemed to be reduced to a slow amble in deeper areas.

Eriksen - He did bottle a challenge early on, but after that was outstanding, like a little maestro, popping up wherever a pocket of oxygen appeared, always available, deep areas, middle of the pitch and forward areas. Two delicious balls for the goals. MOTM 2

Alli - I thought this was his best game of the season. Not because he contributed loads and loads all over the pitch, he didn't, and he's not going to, but he was efficient tonight, much less of the silly bollocks and more concentration on doing what he's best at, which is keeping it simple and ghosting into the box from hard to pick up positions, and he finished his chances with aplomb. That first goal was real class, harder than whacking a volley from 20 yards. He also worked better without the ball tonight as well. Good game.

Kane - Got to be honest, he wasn't wanting for effort but, footballing wise, he was really poor tonight. Like he was playing in flippers.

Bus-Conductor said:

Maturing Nicely

I said at half time that was a really good half of football. Two well balanced teams, tactically proficient and well set up, making for a really tight tussle, no quarter given, but not in a reckless hell for leather way, more like watching speed chess, or an Italian league game from about 25 years ago. We were the team taking the initiative, moving the ball better, constantly probing but Chelsea were that well drilled machine who always carried menace, not allowing us to get carried away, and to our credit we never did, it was tactically a superb and mature performance. And that's the most pleasing aspect, as it was immaturity and naivety that saw us come unstuck the last two times we played them, at heavy cost.

I guess this would be called a 3421 in the playbook, but watching it and looking at the position matrix, I'd call it more a 313111 that played out more like this:

Dier-------TA--------JV
Wanyama-----
Walker-------Dembele-----Rose
Eriksen---------------
----------------Alli
Kane
​

And it was tactically superb, Chelsea never got to grips with it. Our young coach went toe to toe with one of the best coaches in Europe, and came out on top.

Considering who we were playing, how strong they are tactically and what was at stake, the tensions this fixture carried, that first 45 minutes has to rank very, very highly in the Pochettino Oeuvre. This isn't a side that allows you to tear them apart, to try and do so would have been folly, they are designed for anything but that to happen, but what we did do in that first half was suffocate, play and probe, we showed patience; it was a grown up performance that despite not having much goal mouth action was hugely impressive and was thoroughly gripping throughout.

Also impressive was the phase after we scored our second goal, where instead of thinking "oh fuck we're tow up, lets shell, Wanyama and Eriksen just kept us playing football and we just smothered any come back momentum at the embryonic stage.

I have to doff my cap to Poch, for much of last and the start of this season I was saying that he has to be more flexible tactically. After a couple of games of watching Wanyama, I said he was a player who could facilitate this, and tonight was the best evidence of that against the best possible test. He was fucking outstanding tonight, he was a voracious animal, hunting, gathering with a dynamism that none of our other CM's can match. The first half his tenacity was always initiating offensive actions, the second half it was breaking up Chelsea's momentum, unflustered, he also footballed his (and our) way cooly out of trouble at times with a panache under pressure that was a joy to watch.

Eriksen is so under rated, not just by some spurs fans, but by football's fanfare machine too. This guy is only bettered creatively over the last couple of years by players like Hazard and Ozil (payed last year), but none of those come anywhere close to having the metronomic influence that he has on team performances. None of the other players of his ilk in this league get through so much of the ball, work all over the pitch, like a CM/AM hybrid. This was another masterclass from Eriksen, and he's not a flat track bully either, he does it in the big games too, none bigger than tonight, and he delivered, the industry, conducting play then providing the two moments of precision that put the opposition to the sword.

I thought Vertonghen was also superb tonight, and is having a really good season, probably his best (and I like him anyway, and think he's a bit under rated too) in his Spurs career. He set the tempo early on with a steaming interception and then carrying the ball forward and was authoritative throughout. He's been our best CB all season, even when TA has been playing.

Pochettino deserves the biggest credit though. This was yet another feather in his managerial cap. Few coaches manage to combine being good coaches and tactically proficient. We've seen the evidence of Poch's coaching ability. I've been watching Spurs for nearly 50 years and he's the first coach we've had (maybe bar Pleaty for a year) who has this team consistently and habitually doing the ugly stuff, and doing it cohesively, playing like a team without the ball as well as with it. But this season he's adding tactical variety to that coached ethos. And we are what we are entirely because of him. And despite calling the flaws and errors (as I see them) let me make this clear, he is the best coach I've seen at this club.

Individual

Lloris - Not loads to do. Still wish he wouldn't scare us every game with at least one or two dodgy kick outs.

Walker - Not so great first half, coughed up the ball a couple of times sloppily, but got better and had a decent game defensively.

Dier - Good game.

TA - Good game.

Vertonghen - Excellent game, best CB on the pitch tonight.

Rose - He didn't deliver much in terms of actual attacking quality or product but nights like tonight you just love his feistyness and dynamism, it sets a tempo, adds a delicious friction that unsettles the opposition and makes the night crackle. Good game.

Wanyama - Fucking marvellous. 90 minutes of cool headed rapacity. MOTM 1

Dembele - He had a couple of moments but was a little bit disappointing. This was a tough game to come back to, and I think he just always seemed a little bit off the pace, still did a couple of decent things and was generally robust defensively but second half seemed to be reduced to a slow amble in deeper areas.

Eriksen - He did bottle a challenge early on, but after that was outstanding, like a little maestro, popping up wherever a pocket of oxygen appeared, always available, deep areas, middles of the pitch and forward areas. Two delicious balls for the goals. MOTM 2

Alli - I thought this was his best game of the season. Not because he contributed loads and loads all over the pitch, he didn't, and he's not going to, but he was efficient tonight, much less of the silly bollocks and more concentration on doing what he's best at, which is keeping it simple and ghosting into the box from hard to pick up positions, and he finished his chances with aplomb. That first goal was real class, harder than whacking a volley from 20 yards. He also worked better without the ball tonight as well. Good game.

Kane - Got to be honest, he wasn't wanting for effort but, footballing wise, he was really poor tonight. Like he was playing in flippers.

Click to expand...

I saw someone suggest that Wanyama plays better when he gets an early yellow card because it focuses him, and there's much less of the reckless stuff. He got an early one tonight and against City (his two best performances IMO), so I think their truth in the theory.