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Ratings v Fiorentina (Home)

MOTM?


  • Total voters
    214
  • Poll closed .

nedley

John Duncan's Love Child
Jul 28, 2006
13,942
28,069
Paulinho practically shits himself when he has the ball at his feet. He takes 4 touches when he should take 2.

Technically very poor. I'm positive a lot of that is down to confidence. If he when to Chelsea he'd become the new Lampard.

VERY poor player for us though.
 

225

Living in hope, existing in disappointment
Dec 15, 2014
4,563
9,064
This might sound unpopular, but although Bentaleb played well overall, he had far too many moments of ball watching whilst we were defending.

Townsend was the best player for us tonight, constantly annoyed Fiorentina down the right and should have won more free kicks than he got.
 

nuttynoah

Arbiter elegantiae
Jul 21, 2004
8,175
7,432
Pauli plays like a player scared of doing the wrong thing, thus he loses his ingredient x
 

eddiebailey

Well-Known Member
Oct 12, 2004
7,452
6,672
Soldado started brightly but seemed to go back into his shell after his mistake for the goal; Paulinho also lost heart too quickly. Eriksen showed none to start with.

Bentaleb was a beast, and I thought Townsend was our best attacking outlet, even after they remembered to mark him. Chadli was slightly above meh.

Vertonghen did his job, as did Walker and Davies. Fazio was not as bad as Hargreaves made out. Lamela was.

Terrible, terrible subs by Pochettino once again.
 

TEESSIDE1

Married, new job and Spurs on the up!
Jul 3, 2006
15,089
18,780
Verts and Bentaleb were a class above.

Paulinho was absolute horsehit. AGAIN.

Yep, on a par with the days we played Sig in central midfield lol

I'm hoping he only played because Benji was possibly not match fit.
 

Flobadob

Well-Known Member
Jul 22, 2014
3,617
12,315
Toss up between Vertonghen and Bentaleb for MOTM. Gave it to Vertonghen, as i just thought if he wasn't there to put a foot in where it mattered we may have lost tonight.

Players that came away with credit- Lloris, Walker, Vertonghen, Davies, Bentaleb, Townsend and maybe Soldado for his first half performance.

Players that went down in my estimations- Fazio, Paulinho (how that's possible, i don't know!), Lamela.

Eriksen would be in the list above if he wasn't so quality most of the time. Chadli was okay, should have scored at least one tonight though. Kane was brought on in the wrong position, he's a striker, plus we needed the ball to stick up top and Soldado was struggling. Mason didn't have enough time to effect the game.

Sidenote- Pretty pissed off with Poch for the reserve team line up and giving the waster Paulinho a place in the squad over Stambouli or Capoue. Tonight was a big game and we should have had our first 11 out there that has performed so well recently. Paulinho vs Stambouli is an absolute no brainer to anyone that's ever watched even half an hour of the two of them, i can't excuse that decision, at all. Paulinho vs Capoue is a closer thing because of Capoue's nonchalant attitude, but still Capoue is still a better player when he gives zero fucks than Paulinho ever will be. Tonight was a big missed opportunity. If we had our first 11 out there tonight we would be going into the second leg with a healthy lead probably as Fiorentina were bloody poor overall despite a better second half. Very frustrated!
 

eddiev14

SC Supporter
Jan 18, 2005
7,173
19,679
So, so poor from a number of the fringe players tonight. Such a frustrating night.

We play a team who - after going 1-0 down in the first half - pretty much bent themselves over and said 'go on, do us!'.

This is where a smart, ruthless team would accept such an invitation, exploit the obvious weakness and kill the game.

How do we react? Typical Spurs.

We overplay in situations that require a simple pass, cross or shot. We have midfielders and defenders aimlessly galavanting up the field to try to get a goal, jogging back into position in the arrogant assumption that we are superior and in control.

The sort of reaction that you'd expect from a team 5-0 up against 10 men.

I've decided that 'hiding' is the perfect word to sum up the coward that is Paulinho.

I'd be hard pressed to remember a top flight central midfielder with no notable passing ability who pulls out of tackles as often as this guy and has such little fight.

How on earth does he expect to play in the Premier League if he can't physically stand the test of a powder puff Serie A team?!? Has he just given up? We paid £17m for this waster, someone seriously needs to give him a proper kick up the arse.

I hate to be definitive when it comes to signings but he is a shockingly poor and - worse - an embarrassingly lazy player.

If you're going to be that bad at least do what other shit players like Robbie Savage did - get really fit and damn well put yourself about a bit. You never know, it might give you the adrenaline required not to play like a sloth on ketamine.

Good finish from Soldado for the goal but the rest of the game I thought was pretty bad again from him.

Stupid, idiotic decision to give away that free kick and I'm not buying this argument that we're playing the wrong sort of football for his game. There were some lovely crosses put in for him tonight and he rarely looked close or even interested in attacking the 6 yard box to get on the end of them.

Also, just look at the work Kane put in when he came on. To me this just highlights how lazy Soldado can be.

If you're a poacher, ok fine be a poacher - get in the box and get on the end of things. If you're not going to do that then do what Kane does - work hard and get yourself into the game.

As I said, Kane is the benchmark for all of our players when it comes to this. When he is on the pitch everyone else around him just starts working harder.

Anyway, rant over! :)

Other players...

I love Eriksen but he struggled tonight. He looks a different player when he has Kane dragging defenders out of position in front of him.

Lamela, once again poor cameo but I've got used to that.

Bentaleb looked really good on the whole but, like at Liverpool, he was a bit sloppy on a few occasions. His improvement has been amazing this season though and I'm sold on him now. Especially when he plays alongside someone with energy like Mason.

I thought Townsend played pretty well too but my MOTM was Ben Davies.

Put simply, I think he's a really solid defender and you never really worry that he'll do something stupid.

He did almost everything right tonight, didn't complicate things and also put in a few great forward runs. A small positive in an otherwise incredibly frustrating evening.

Anyway, onwards and upwards. We're still in the tie but, other than Davies and Townsend, none of the second string have done enough to force their way into consideration for our first team.
 
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prawnsandwich

Well-Known Member
Jul 19, 2014
6,035
4,064
I can understand why so many voted for Bentaleb but Andros was a thorn in their side all night. If we had 2 up front from the start those crosses he was putting in would have had men on the end of and goals scored.
Subbing him is another in a long line of dumb moves from MoPo.
 

Mr Pink

SC Supporter
Aug 25, 2010
54,774
99,336
I can understand why so many voted for Bentaleb but Andros was a thorn in their side all night. If we had 2 up front from the start those crosses he was putting in would have had men on the end of and goals scored.
Subbing him is another in a long line of dumb moves from MoPo.

I agree, I just wish you'd improve your crossing.
 

jezz

Well-Known Member
Aug 21, 2013
5,650
8,650
Game should have been over in the first half.
Townsend tonight for motm, him and walker need to learn how cross though.
Eriksen worst player tonight by a country mile.
Chadders sorry mate you should have scored.
First half great play at times.
Next time Poch, Paul, Eriksen, Bobby off and Mason, Dembele and Harry on.
Lamela shit 15 minutes, but so was everyone else.
 

idontgetit

Well-Known Member
Aug 21, 2011
14,404
30,804
Townsend had a great game, shame he went off. Need to buy a top CM in the summer to rotate with Mason and Bentaleb. Kane needs to play at 9, doesn't suit him being deeper or sharing space with another striker. Worst game from Eriksen in a while
 

Kirito

Well-Known Member
May 22, 2013
4,667
9,028
Eriksen had a few shooting opportunities but instead tried impossible through balls. Was a strange performance from him.

Bentaleb MOTM. Great player.
 

EdmontonJohn

Member
Feb 5, 2009
34
36
Sloppy first half goal to give away. but we were good in the first half against a form team. Most of the team played well in that half .. and Paulinho was fine .. actually good in the first half .. watch it again. Eriksen was not quite on the right wave-length, but that will hapen with him some times. Unlucky not to be 2/3 up against a good team

Second half they changed their system and we just struggled .. their flat back 4 and better shape meant we struggled. that was a shame and worrying we couldn't do more to get at them.

Bentaleb was absolutely top drawer (for a 20 year old). The speed and variety of his passing to keep the ball moving, plus some driving runs and improving positional sense .. he could be really rather special. It's the one really good thing Dim tim did for us last season .. and it could be a huge contribution for the next few years.
 

BringBack_leGin

Well-Known Member
Jul 28, 2004
27,719
54,929
A lot of overreaction in here. We played well, should have sewn up the game before they equalised and still had the majority of chances even after we dipped.

Lloris was unlucky on the goal.

Walker skinned their left back constantjy, played a few good crosses and wasn't troubled defensively.

Fazio was okay but his mere presence invited teams onto us in a way that doesn't happen with pacier Dier playing.

Vertonghen made some great tackles and blocks and played some lovely passes.

Davies was very good and of the fringe players did the most to put himself in contention for Sunday.

Paulinho was beyond dreadful. Cowardly performance lacking in any drive or responsibility, slowing us down constantly.

Bentaleb was okay, he started quite well but deteriorated towards the end.

Townsend was threatening and played a fair few good balls, linked well with Walker and tormented thejr defence. Might have earnt a start on Sunday in light of how poor Lamela looked.

Eriksen was terrible, he's been off the boil for a couple of games in fact and today nothing went for him.

Chadli had a couple of nice moments but I'd really have expected to put away his golden chance after Soldado's header was saved.

Soldado scored a superb goal, played some amazing through balls and controlled the ball very well, working hard too. Deserved another goal at least from one of his other great attempts (flick header/ bycicle kick).

Mason and Kane both tried to drag us forward but the malaise was overwhelming by then.

Lamela was horrendous, truly horrendous.
 

Bus-Conductor

SC Supporter
Oct 19, 2004
39,837
50,713
A game of two halves

Owen Hargreaves sounds like the cliché vomiting love child of Alan Shearer and the Queen of Duisburg, so I was quite surprised that he failed to spot the most obvious one of the night.

I actually thought the team selection was pretty logical and a good balance of the right players were rested and the right choices made to replace them.

And we came out of the traps all bright eyed and bushy tailed, aided and readily abetted by a Fiorentina side who were tactically woeful for the first 45 minutes. Unfortunately the second string understudies are even more wasteful than the fist teamers and failed abysmally to capitalise on Fiorentina's benevolent mood. They also don't work anywhere near as hard or as coherently without the ball as the first teamers they replaced had done recently and as a result the game become very open and we were lucky that more punishment wasn't dished out in the end.

This was the problem, not that they got organised or we ran out of ideas, but we didn't do to them what we'd done to Arsenal or LIverpool. We didn't throttle them. Soldado, Townsend, Chadli and Paulinho just don't press and harass like their first team counter parts and as a result tempo faded and our play became predictable, they came at us, fuck it up on our 25 yard line, we go at them, fuck it up on their 25 yard line. And so the second half petered out.

Townsend had yet another one of those eye catching games where he wheels out his full repertoire of step overs, flicks and jinks, sees plenty of ball, gets himself into numerous great positions and delivers almost nothing of tangible quality. If this boy could get his fucking head up and just deliver something with even 50% of the situations he has the chance to, he'd be a really useful player. I'm sure there'll be plenty bedazzled by his jinky flickery into giving him a MOTM. He's now played 73 times for us, 183 in his career. Surely it's time he delivered something of discernible quality. I could forgive him more if he worked off the ball to win it back but he's averse to defensive work and tackling. Enough with the smoke and mirrors now, needs to pull a fucking rabbit out of the hat more often.

For the record, Eriksen was even more disappointing on the night, wasting various situations with limp attempts at incisiveness and carelessly giving the ball away a few times.

Vertonghen was the stand out player, fucking loved his little stud roll in amongst 3 players. Atoubaesque. Bentaleb was damn good for most of it. Everyone else had a bright first 20 minutes but got steadily more insipid in ever decreasing circles.

I don't think the subs were as bad as some made out, but none had the required effect and I don't think going 442/4411 with Kane deeper is a great idea. Lamela was piss poor, but he was only on for 17 minutes

Individuality:

Lloris - OK

Arbi (the anti Ibra) - I think he had a pretty decent game but how many times does he get laid a ball that he could cross first time but because he doesn't trust his technique he stops and rolls it then the moment is lost and he ends up dripping it back inside. The one time he hit a first time cross it nearly got us a goal.

Dawsonazio - Somewhere between OK and iffy.

Vertonghen - Classy.

Davies - Has his moments, but they are few and far between, the rest of the time he's pretty meh.

Mehlinho - Started ok, the mehometer was off the scale by the time he came off

Bentaleb - Very good for the most part. Liked that he bollocked Walker for not crossing the ball.

Townsend - I dig that he tries so hard to get on the ball and do his thang, but has a player's tomfoolery ever promised so much and delivered so little of actual...you know….stuff.

Eriksen - Very poor game. Careless with the ball a few times. I'm loving his work rate and ability to whack a ball from the D but for a guy with his ability and brain his inability to create at crucial moments is a little disappointing this season.

Chadli - mainly meh with patches of OK.

Soldado - Like others, started bright like a fucking samelar hound, finished dim like unsamelar hound.
 
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THFCSPURS19

The Speaker of the Transfer Rumours Forum
Jan 6, 2013
37,886
130,485
A game of two halves

Owen Hargreaves sounds like the cliché vomiting love child of Alan Shearer and the Queen of Duisburg, so I was quite surprised that he failed to spot the most obvious one of the night.

I actually thought the team selection was pretty logical and a good balance of the right players were rested and the right choices made to replace them.

And we came out of the traps all bright eyed and bushy tailed, aided and readily abetted by a Fiorentina side who were tactically woeful for the first 45 minutes. Unfortunately the second string understudies are even more wasteful than the fist teamers and failed abysmally to capitalise on Fiorentina's benevolent mood. They also don't work anywhere near as hard or as coherently without the ball as the first teamers they replaced had done recently and as a result the game become very open and we were lucky that more punishment wasn't dished out in the end.

This was the problem, not that they got organised or we ran out of ideas, but we didn't do to them what we'd done to Arsenal or LIverpool. We didn't throttle them. Soldado, Townsend, Chadli and Paulinho just don't press and harass like their first team counter parts and as a result tempo faded and our play became predictable, they came at us, fuck it up on our 25 yard line, we go at them, fuck it up on their 25 yard line. And so the second half petered out.

Townsend had yet another one of those eye catching games where he wheels out his full repertoire of step overs, flicks and jinks, sees plenty of ball, gets himself into numerous great positions and delivers almost nothing of tangible quality. If this boy could get his fucking head up and just deliver something with even 50% of the situations he has the chance to, he'd be a really useful player. I'm sure there'll be plenty bedazzled by his jinky flickery into giving him a MOTM. He's now played 73 times for us, 183 in his career. Surely it's time he delivered something of discernible quality. I could forgive him more if he worked off the ball to win it back but he's averse to defensive work and tackling. Enough with the smoke and mirrors now, needs to pull a fucking rabbit out of the hat more often.

For the record, Eriksen was even more disappointing on the night, wasting various situations with limp attempts at incisiveness and carelessly giving the ball away a few times.

Vertonghen was the stand out player, fucking loved his little stud roll in amongst 3 players. Atoubaesque. Bentaleb was damn good for most of it. Everyone else had a bright first 20 minutes but got steadily more insipid in ever decreasing circles.

I don't think the subs were as bad as some made out, but none had the required effect and I don't think going 442/4411 with Kane deeper is a great idea. Lamela was piss poor, but he was only on for 17 minutes

Individuality:

Lloris - OK

Arbi (the anti Ibra) - I think he had a pretty decent game but how many times does he get laid a ball that he could cross first time but because he doesn't trust his technique he stops and rolls it then the moment is lost and he ends up dripping it back inside. The one time he hit a first time cross it nearly got us a goal.

Dawsonazio - Somewhere between OK and iffy.

Vertonghen - Classy.

Davies - Has his moments, but they are few and far between, the rest of the time he's pretty meh.

Mehlinho - Started ok, the mehometer was off the scale by the time he came off

Bentaleb - Very good for the most part. Liked that he bollocked Walker for not crossing the ball.

Townsend - I dig that he tries so hard to get on the ball and do his thang, but has a player's tomfoolery ever promised so much and delivered so little of actual...you know….stuff.

Chadli - mainly meh with patches of OK.

Soldado - Like others, started bright like a fucking samelar hound, finished dim like unsamelar hound.
You forgot Eriksen.
 
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