Rating vs Real Madrid (a)

Cravenspurs said:

What a game. That plane ride home, knowing how Poch coaches and carries himself, is full of high heads, family love and the desire for more. Today the team proved they can hang with the big boys and although our team hasn't changed much, the mentality of the team has. They continue to grow and with every match, despite the ugly nature of some, we get stronger as a unit; which is the mark of a champion even without the silverware.

Poch - Interesting set up and I understood that it was a reaction to knowing Real would dominate possession and Fernando was there to help release some of that pressure. Didn't really play out that way IMO, but we maintained shape and Poch again shows his ability to adapt.

Lloris - MOTM (b) - Pulled one his best performances out his hat and his distribution wasn't half bad. What a save with his foot.

Serge - B+ - Serge shows why he should be starting ahead of Trippier IMO. He has so much more ability on the ball, defensively and moving forward. Outside his contact with Kross, which we wouldn't have been whining about if he blocked a shot, he was fantastic. Has great shape on his crosses and can get them in early, which is something Walker struggled with.

Sanchez - A - Controlled everything they through at him and is pretty calm on the ball. Best game in the lilywhite.

Dier - A- - Best game this year and for me shows where his true position is. He is strong airily and isn't required to move the ball as much.

Toby - A - He is back in form and for the most part won the majority of his battles with Ronaldo.

Verts - A- - LB isn't his best position and he made it look relatively simple. Dealt with a pacey RB and is 10 years his elder.

Winks - MOTM (A) - So happy for this kid. He is pure class and for me he is a starter even ahead of the beloved Dembele. He makes the ball move and there were multiple times where he made Modric like passes from one side of the pitch to the other. The only player in our CM that can pick a 50 yard pass out via the floor.

Sissoko - A - Great shift and played a very solid game. That heel tho. He still makes me laugh with his heavy touch, but his best game by far.

Eriksen - B - Defensively he covered his ground and held his position but offensively he was anything like the player of the past couple months. That 5 on 2 break where he just sat on the ball was something we haven't seen in awhile. Big stretch of games coming so little rest available, but I he looked tired to me.

Kane - B+ - The way he shook Ramos in the first half made me so happy. He could have given us the 3 pts, but that was a worldy save from Navas. That was going right into the bottom corner...maybe just need a bit more pace. If Eriksen picked his head up on his second half shot, Kane would have had a simple tap in.

Fernando - B - His defense comes in the form of hold up play and honestly, I didn't see much of that all game. He is a presence though and we finally saw it come through in the second half of the second half. He will come in handy, but felt Son could have come on earlier.

Rose - NET - Happy to see that loud mouth back out there honestly. Saw the way he uses his body a couple times and I miss that.

Son - NET - I hope he finds his place soon cause I feel like he is being sacrificed for Sissoko. I personally think Son puts in just as much of a shift defensively and well we know he is that much more effective going forward. Had that late turn on goal that looked to be a classic Son left curler, but blocked in the end.

Overall - A++++ what a performance.

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thinktank said:

Hugo - back to his best.

Eriksen - absolutely shocking. He let himself down. He made it look like it was too big an occasion for him, where it should have been one for him to rise to and show the world what he can do on one of its biggest stages, especially having Modric on the pitch opposite him.

Sissoko -

We drew at the Bernabeu only playing at 70% - gave them a pen and still could have won it. @RM

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Bus-Conductor said:

Known Knowns, Known Unknowns, Unknown Unknowns

I don't know.
I am genuinely not sure what I have just watched. It was a bizarre team selection, an even stranger tactical set up and the game itself continued that sequence. I would probably need to watch that game another 2 or 3 times to figure out what happened. Were we tactically shrewd, were they tactically poor ? Both ? Neither ? I honestly don't know.

This wasn't a pragmatic masterclass, of that I am sure about, it was more like parking a bus at one end, simultaneously trying to drive a bus through the gates at the other end, and leaving the guy in the middle riding a unicycle up the M1 at rush hour. Whether that was tactical genius or tactical Redknappery, I still honestly don't know.

That game could have ended 3-0 to Spurs, 3-0 to RealM or 3-3, and in those circumstances it's hard to say it was genius.

Right up until Kane's chance, the decision to play Llorente and that structure was looking pretty poor, there was very little joined up play between him and Kane, and playing Son to exploit counter attacks, and link up and compliment Kane would have seemed far more logical to me. Then in quick succession Llorente sets up our two best chances. But I still can't help but feel for most of that game, Son would have been a better choice.

The CM3 was a little bit "Sherwood" for me. Even Real play Casimiro FFS. It didn't really protect our defence at all, completely surrendered control to RM. Not outplaying that Madrid CM 3 is no crime at all, but allowing them so much free, unhindered, possession, could and possibly should have been more fatal, but for the real heroes of that game, the back 5, it could have cost us dearly. Aurier blotted his copy book a little, but in hindsight, thinking about it and watching it again, with Kroos a few yards out and bearing down on goal, I'll give him a mulligan. He wasn't to know Kroos would take a heavy touch and Alderweireld would clear. It was a desperate situation that called for a desperate action, an action he didn't really get right, but hey ho. Him fucking about and trying to dribble out which lost the ball in the first place was less forgivable. That aside, the back 5 were pretty damn good, and saved our arses many times. Young Sanchez deserves a shout as well, good effort from the kid.

Those of us who spent a chunk of last season saying Winks should be getting more starts will chose to say recent events, including tonight, support that theory. But I'm sure those calling us heretics for doubting Poch knows best will no doubt claim Poch new Winks wouldn't be ready until exactly the 8th week of the following season and held him back as part of the masterplan. Pay your money, take your pick. Either way, the boy was pretty good again tonight. I still think he needs to be defensively a little more tenacious and positionally astute, but he's only a few games in, and with the ball he's a breath of fresh air after some of what we've seen in our CM.

Genius, or gung ho ? I really don't know, maybe a bit of both. I think playing a back five was tactically clever, it stopped them getting Marcelo on the ball in those dangerous areas beyond our full backs, and combated the inevitable overloads a team like rm get in attacking areas, I’m just not sure every aspect of the rest of the plan was as clever. But this was a good result, a good night.

Individual

Lloris - Good performance, some good saves.

Aurier - Some not so clever stuff but some decent stuff too.

Sanchez/Dier/TA - Very good games all of them, read danger pretty well, snuffed it out pretty well, and stayed switched on all night in a fiery atmosphere against some great players.

Vertonghen - Another very good performance, defensively mucked in, was calm on the ball when it was needed, and got forward a couple of times well too.

Sissoko - Decent game, good ball for Aurier in the build up to the goal, worked hard.

Winks - Another decent knock. Initiated the goal with a piece of typical desire to move forward and make something happen, worked hard and won't have had a bigger test than this.

Eriksen - Probably the worst I've seen him play in terms of his touch and execution at several important moments. Set pieces were poor too. This was not the set up for him, RM's world class CM3 are way too strong to be sticking him in a CM with Winks and Sissoko. That was never going to get the best out of him and it didn't. He still saw nearly as much ball as Winks, had a hand in Kane's chance, nearly scored himself, and on balance he probably contributed as much as Sissoko and Winks with the ball, but by his high standards it was still a poor performance.

Llorente - I don't now. Just before the Kane and Eriksen chances many, including me were screaming for him to be taken off, we were getting outplayed and having a spare wheel up there doing a Micky Quinn impression wasn't seemingly helping the team cause much, and he wasn't working defensively at all. Then he sets up two great chances.

Kane - Not a great night all in all. I though both he and Llorente could have worked harder without the ball. He pretty much telegraphed where he was putting his shot when clean through too. (Still the save of the game though).

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THFCSPURS19 said:

I was looking forward to your post, turns out you praised us more when we scraped past Bournemouth at home.

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Wellspurs said:

The penalty decisions apart that could have gone either way, the ref had a good game with only one booking. Verts was close to being booked several times.
He let the game flow and to their credit RM didn't do the usual play acting etc

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