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Match Ratings Match Ratings v Watford (H) (League Cup)

MOTM

  • Gazzaniga

    Votes: 60 42.6%
  • Aurier

    Votes: 18 12.8%
  • Alderweireld

    Votes: 2 1.4%
  • Sanchez

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Davies

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Wanyama

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Winks

    Votes: 3 2.1%
  • Sissoko

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Alli

    Votes: 3 2.1%
  • Lamela

    Votes: 53 37.6%
  • Lucas

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Dembele

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Son

    Votes: 1 0.7%
  • Llorente

    Votes: 1 0.7%

  • Total voters
    141

SdB

Well-Known Member
Aug 23, 2013
1,367
1,878
I really want to give it to Lamela for the goal and assist (that reverse pass into Dele was a thing of beauty) and Gazz for the two pen stops but I’m actually going to give it to Aurier for being on point all match. Completely different player this season and should be first choice RB in my opinion.

On a negetaive side I thought Davies was shocking in every aspect and Sanchez looked a complete mess, some of his clearances at the death were almost comical. Aside from that Aurier going off injured was bad news. There’s not much point bad mouthing Sissoko at this point, his technical ability does not match the style of football we play so is completely out of his depth. Not his fault.

As for Poch, another dodgy as fuck line up that offered 0 until he brought on a focal point for our attack. I think if Llorente had started we would have won easily.

Can’t be assed to go into anymore detail as the game was pretty dull on the whole and most of the team were meh.

Oh and we won a penalty shoot out... who would have thought that was possible!?

Just watched a replay of Watford's second and not sure if Sanchez was injured are just knackered but he was running back like a pub player who'd played 90 minutes after a heavy session the night before.

Might be suffering from the rotation.
 
Jan 28, 2011
5,646
78,675
Just watched a replay of Watford's second and not sure if Sanchez was injured are just knackered but he was running back like a pub player who'd played 90 minutes after a heavy session the night before.

Might be suffering from the rotation.

I saw Dav after the game and asked why he didn't 'Get Back'.

He said 'I'm So Tired'.

I said I appreciated that, but that the defence needed 'Help'.

He apologised and said he was 'Nowhere, man'.

I acknowledged this and said 'We can work it out'.

He asked why we kept referencing Beatles songs in our conversation about the Watford equaliser.

And I said

 

Yid121

Well-Known Member
Aug 9, 2008
3,463
3,139
Gazziniga 9 won us the match with the pen saves and not to blame for their goals. Warrants being our No 2

Aurier 8 Good going forward and looked fine defensively. Sanchez more to blame for their first goal.

Alderwiereld 8 Solid and decisive in some key moments
Sanchez 5 Wordt performance in a spurs shirt. At fault for both their goals and looked rattled with some rash clearances
Davies 6 Average at best despite some good movement off the ball

Wanyama 7 did okay
Sissoko 6 Mainly anonymous m, gets in good positions but his touch ruins it
Winks 8 our bright spark in midfield, used the ball well at his feet and when passing

Lamela 7.5 well taken goal but sloppy at times demonstrated by their 2nd goal
Lucas 6 Quiet, marked out the game
Alli 6.5 Same applies as to Lucas but took the pens well
 

yankspurs

Enic Out
Aug 22, 2013
41,883
71,188
Gazzaniga - 7
Aurier - 8
Toby - 6
Sanchez - 6
Davies - 2
Sissoko - 2
Wanyama - 5
Winks - 2
Lamela - 7
Dele - 7
Lucas - 6

Son - 7
Dembele - 7
Llorente - 6

Last seasons preferred fullbacks should be nowhere near our first XI anymore. Trippier and Davies have been abysmal this season. Shame about Aurier’s injury. Winks continues his poor form since returning from injury. Sissoko is hot garbage but we all knew that. Wanyama’s poor form continues from last season. Lamela continues to be brilliant.
 

mpickard2087

Patient Zero
Jun 13, 2008
21,886
32,513
Just back from the game. First half was just way too cautious, and had bad balance to the team. Sissoko is playing his right sided holding position, alongside him also are Winks and Wanyama, Lamela and Alli are doing whatever they want, whilst Moura is isolated up front and showing if he is going to play up there he has so much to learn. We enjoyed a lot of the ball, but too slow, too cautious, and when we did have half an opening were often (especially Lamela and Alli for the first hour of the game) guilty of dicking around and being over-elaborate.

The opening goal seemed part poor defending, part unlucky with the run of the ball. It fell kindly after deflecting up off Winks (I think), but Sanchez is wrong footed by it and yet still decides to try and nick it, and then Aurier is a bit weak and burned for gas too. Oh, and Toby loses the initial header. Wasn't great all round.

We then finally woke up and, even though it wasn't of high quality for the most part, we at least started chipping away in our search for the equaliser and kept going. I thought we looked much better for the changes 4-2-3-1 (and then, 3-2-3-1!) with Son on the left stretching the play and I thought, if only on a basic level, Llorente up front gave us more structure, an actual striker on the pitch, and a focal point who could get it down and bring others into play.

Eventually that even played a part in the equaliser, as a nice move saw us cut through them, win the penalty, converted, game on. A clinical counter minutes later and the comeback is complete, and I thought deserved for our effort. However the goal for 2-2 looked weak again, and again game management seemed to be lacking. Lamela makes a fucktarded choice and coughs it up, all of a sudden we have players stranded up field and facing a counter, a bit of pressure, ill fortune with the deflected shot, and penalties await. Yes there was bad luck involved, but it was avoidable.

Credit to the guys in the shootout though. Gazzaniga made the saves when needed, and all four of ours stuck theirs away nicely and got the job done. Eventually..........

Gazzaniga - Loose kicking at times. Made some routine saves, no chance for the goals. Did his bit in the shootout.

Aurier - Put some good crosses in, at times I felt he was a bit slow on the ball though. Defending was pretty solid, but looked like he got burned for the opening goal, and maybe had a chance to clear(?)

Sanchez - Didn't look great for either goal.

Alderweireld - Bit ropey at times I thought, and his passing was either a) off or b) missed opportunities, particularly countless times to play Son on a diagonal in behind.

Davies - Continues to be mediocre. Offering very little.

Sissoko - First half played his useless right sided holding role. Second half at least had a little bit of impact when the shackles were off. First touch is still horrendous....

Wanyama - Quiet.

Winks - Looked a bit lost first half. I'm not sure if he was supposed to be playing as a side midfielder in a cm3, but more evidence this isn't a role for him. I thought he had a better second half and two or three really nice moments. Has to sharpen up off the ball though.

Lamela - Mixed bag. First hour really sloppy, finally woke up as we pressed for the equaliser, scored himself, then was partly at fault for the goal at 2-2, before finally sticking away a penalty in the shootout. Rollercoaster.

Alli - Much the same I thought. Over-elaborate and poor choices to start with, but started to knuckle down and stepped up twice for spot kicks.

Moura - Bar very brief flashes couldn't get into the game. Has no idea when to run, and everything he does well is very individual, I'm struggling to recall many examples where he links up with others.

Subs:

Dembele - Ok, did his midfield thing. Good forward burst and pass for the Lamela goal, never seem him move so quick.
Son - Provided some width. Good pen.
Llorente - Provided a focal point. Very good pen.
 

Bulletspur

The Reasonable Advocate
Match Thread Admin
Oct 17, 2006
10,690
25,246
I have now seen the goals. While I admit Lamela was culpable for being disposed, we had enough time and players to defend so that goal should not have been scored. I blame a very poor defence
 

SlotBadger

({})?
Jul 24, 2013
13,751
43,099
I have now seen the goals. While I admit Lamela was culpable for being disposed, we had enough time and players to defend so that goal should not have been scored. I blame a very poor defence
I blame the guy being paid several thousand pounds a week to prevent a leather sphere filled with air from entering his team’s goal for turning his back as said sphere gently came towards him.
 

Always Offside

Ardent Aussie
Oct 31, 2013
781
1,282
Gotta feel for Llorente. Kane out (rested) and he still can't get a start in a League Cup match .... I wonder if he'll push for a move, or just see out his contract.
 

gavspur

Well-Known Member
Jun 24, 2004
5,255
8,686
I do wonder what has happened to Wanyama? Is it just fitness, or is it the fear mentality of getting hurt again? He’s nowhere near the player in his first season. He won everything, no one got past him, he even scored a couple of goals. He quite often looks lost on the pitch over the past year now. Such a shame, and even more confusing as to why we didn’t get a new CM in.. I’m not sure we need a destroyer anymore, we needed a Carrick type holding and picking forward passes quickly - Jorginho would have been a perfect fit for us, but we were never even at the races there - the transition is key to us.
 

PLTuck

Eternal Optimist
Aug 22, 2006
15,855
32,964
Gaz and Lamela the 2 standouts for me. We have really missed Lamela's tenacity (and yet some still fucking moan about it!) Serge had a really good game. I didn't think Dele was as bad as others do. Winks was tidy enough in the 1st half but gained in confidence and played some beautiful balls in the 2nd. Toby seems to be coasting a bit to me and seems to be making a couple of errors a game at the moment. Perhaps vs Watford it was because Davies was so poor.

Hard to choose between Gaz and Coco but went for Gaz for the 2 penalty saves, and the way he was calm as fuck after them, like saving 2 pens out of 5 is an everyday occurrence for him :LOL:
 

JonnySpurs

SC Veteran
Jun 4, 2004
5,345
12,398
Tricky one for me cos I didn't see any of the first half and then stumbled across a stream just after they'd scored. I think some are being rather negative.

I got the jist from twitter that the 1st half was generally pretty poor. I'm personally gonna put that down to Poch trying to give minutes to the likes of Wanyama and Sissoko which ultimately backfired because Wanyama is a shadow of his former brilliant self and Sissoko is just flat out limited. I think this probably also brought out the worst in Winks as well because I thought he was excellent in the 2nd half once alongside Dembele. The suggestion he wasn't good overall is just plain wrong in my view.

The double substitution on 64 mins that brought Son and Dembele into the game and switched us back to a 4-2-3-1 was the difference. We immediately started to improve and then got even better once Llorente came on after 70 mins. Dembele and Winks were both excellent in possession, positive and energetic. Winks was passing forward as much as possible and showed how much more progressive we can be if he plays with that kind of confidence and bravery.

Son was also very good IMO. Lively, brave, took on his full back over and over again. From what I saw of Aurier he was good again and that bodes well for the rest of the season assuming he's not badly injured although Poch's reaction when asked about him wasn't good. His crossing has really improved and Llorente should've better with his header.

I absolutely love Lamela in the 10 role. The change of formation allowed for him to be in position to pull the strings in advanced areas. His cut back pass for the the penalty award on Alli was class and he's shown before that he has such an eye for a pass from those areas. He was then involved right at the start of the counter that he finished with a truly brilliant, composed finish. I would honestly love to see him get regular mins in the 10 role for us even if it means that Eriksen plays wider or deeper, particularly whilst he's lacking form.

Defensively is where I have my issues. Sanchez was all over the place and I feel like whenever him and Toby have started together it's not worked well. He seems to need JV alongside him to maintain better composure. Davies has well and truly lost his way. He's been bad all season and Watford's equaliser just epitomised this with a totally wayward shot going miles wide, whacking him on the arse and going in. Rose very much has the chance to re-claim the first choice spot and hopefully he can do that.

Overall we are still far from our best but it was a much changed side with players lacking both in fitness and form so I'm not going to overreact. No joke, at 1-0 down after only 46 mins, I saw people on twitter (I know, I know) saying things like "oh just let this season end already". Mind blowing. I'm confident that we're starting to turn the corner now and as long as Poch sticks with the 4-2-3-1 at the weekend then it won't be long before we're back to playing the way we expect from this Spurs side.
 
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