What's new

Ratings v Leicester

Best player was...

  • Lloris

    Votes: 266 85.0%
  • Walker

    Votes: 2 0.6%
  • Vertonghen

    Votes: 1 0.3%
  • Fazio

    Votes: 8 2.6%
  • Rose

    Votes: 2 0.6%
  • Stambouli

    Votes: 1 0.3%
  • Bentaleb

    Votes: 2 0.6%
  • Mason

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Chadli

    Votes: 1 0.3%
  • Eriksen

    Votes: 10 3.2%
  • Lamela

    Votes: 6 1.9%
  • Kane

    Votes: 7 2.2%
  • Soldado

    Votes: 1 0.3%
  • Paulinho

    Votes: 2 0.6%
  • no one

    Votes: 4 1.3%

  • Total voters
    313

mpickard2087

Patient Zero
Jun 13, 2008
21,886
32,513
I often get accused of being overly negative in my assessment of our matches. Maybe so. This one though definitely isn't going to be pretty...

Firstly. Anyone still remember the Everton game just one month ago? I vaguely recall proclamations such as it being a watershed, the players had finally got it, we had the winning formula now blah blah blah. Whats happened since, guys...? Results are somehow going our way, but keep performing like this and it cannot continue.

I actually don't really class that as a win today, and if it was up to me then the club would hand back the points out of shame. We've had some lucky ones recently, but that we won that match was scandalous.

Lets be clear on one thing, this was not a good Leicester side nor was it a particularly battling one. This is a team that hasn't won a game for about 4000 days now and really, you could see why. They had a big lump up top and a couple of decent wingers, but the rest of the team was an absolute shower of Championship players. With the ball their game was littered with mistakes and defensively it looked like every time we got the ball we could score, in the first half. That we somehow ended up plummeting down way beneath their level was painful and embarrassing to watch.

After a lively first 20 mins or so, where we looked comfortable and really threatening on the break against their shambolic defence things after that were very, very bad. There were early signs of it coming though... If you go back and watch us in the middle of the half, you will get what I mean by 'sterile possession-ball' which has infected our game for three seasons now. The ball gets shuffled around across the backline, players are unable to turn and open up the game and instead have to play the way they are facing, its very slow, and its often inefficient and pointless passing for the sake of passing at times (for instance, one centre back can spread it to the other, instead the central midfielder comes and gets the ball off centre back 1, only to then make the pass to centre back 2, wasting 5 seconds. We have countless numbers of these 'pointless' passes that could be eradicated and instead go from A to B, instead of adding sub-routes C, D, E... etc. :banghead:).

When teams just sit off and let us do this, yes it isn't a great spectacle but at least we are untroubled. However Leicester eventually woke up and decided, like other teams previously, to give it a go at closing us down a bit. Unfortunately as we have also seen before, when the Tottenham team is unable to play pedestrian keep ball amongst themselves, and get the slightest bit of a hurry up, things fall apart completely. For a good hour of the game I don't think we managed to get the ball down and string together a composed period of possession. Against bottom of the league. Woeful.

What else...? Oh yes, tactics. I thought it was several shades of wrong today. On a good day, we just about manage to get away with the 4-2-3-1. But we don't really have the central midfielders for all the responsibilities in this cm2 and when they are having an off day its incredibly difficult for the team both attack-wise and in defence, and today was one of those days. I don't think Bentaleb/Mason is a good pairing on their own, Stambouli and Bentaleb in a cm2 seems even worse and if we do persist with 4-2-3-1 then we simply cannot afford to keep selecting three individuals who are all 'much of a muchness' in that they have similar tendencies - all three are a bit flimsy at times and are prone to having long spells out of the game and not really contributing a great deal. You can maybe put up with this from one individual, such as Eriksen, if he is chipping in with goals/assists, but not three of them...

Defensively we had a bit of a nightmare. Tactics and a struggling central midfield left us far too open. I presume Rose was picked in order to provide width and get forward down the left and this just left us even more open. The 4-2-3-1 needs looking at. Today was also one of those days where you saw no real gameplan in action and left feeling a bit disappointed with the efforts. We started off reasonably well nicking the ball back at times but there was no real pressing game, yet players were also not back in behind the ball and proving difficult to break down. You either do one or the other, do neither and you get the shit that we saw today. I was also incredibly perplexed with how narrow we defended at times. I'm not going to blame the fullbacks for this because its been a feature of our play in other games so I presume it is a tactical instruction, but by the time they get out to meet their man there is very little they can do often to stop a cross etc. and for me it was playing into Leicester's hands and allowing them to make use of the only really semi-dangerous players they had in the two wingers and targetman up top. If we did want to defend narrow, then it was imperative for the wide midfielders to be back in behind the ball and to defend the flanks but they were often nowhere to be seen. There was a lack of organisation, discipline and really it was all an incoherent shambles.

To top it all off I thought Poch's subs were pretty poor. Mason for Stambouli was an obvious one I'll concede, but he could maybe have gone to a cm3, and when you are under the cosh then i cannot think of many worse subs than Paulinho and Soldado and no changes to the shape. Really were a pretty dull set of decisions.

Very lucky win, must get better. Two big games coming up now, will the players wake up and rediscover the fight?

Lloris - <Insert standard 'Saved us on countless occasions. Motm' comment here>

Walker - Really poor display. To me he looks nowhere near fit and as if he has been rushed back, and this is just showing up the weaker parts of his game. Looks reluctant to get forward a lot of the time in my opinion, with the ball he's even more ponderous and erratic than his usual self and defensively some of the positions he is taking up are baffling. Chiriches, Yedlin, Fredericks... Your chance may be coming if this continues.

Fazio - A couple of errors but a decent enough game. Needs to pick and choose when he steps out of the defensive line better at times. At least stood up well to Ulloa compared to...

Vertonghen - I thought he was fucking woeful. Got done prison-style by Ulloa for 90 mins. There were a couple of occasions where he just backed off and left it to Rose/Fazio to get sucked in and try and close him down as he stood back and watched. The times he did get close he got rag-dolled around the pitch. I've also noticed that positionally he gets caught in no-mans land a lot in regards to balls in behind him that Fazio has to sweep round and deal with. Finally, I still dont think he is a great ballplayer, he's far too ponderous on it and his dithering, then eventually deciding to play some tippy-tappy pass gets us in trouble. On the plus side, things can only get better...

Rose - First half I thought he did ok, bar a couple of errors where he tried to nick in and win the ball. Contributed a couple of decent moments in attack. Second half was very shaky and he seemed in no-mans land tucked way infield and not close enough to stop the winger (though as i mentioned, I think for both fullbacks a lot of this is tactical instruction). If we are going to play him to bomb forward then we need to play a 4-3-3 and have cover for when he inevitably gets caught up the pitch.

Stambouli - An awful display and can have no complaints about being hooked at HT. Looked totally lost, the game passed him by and the times he did get his first touch seemed to hand it back to the opposition. Not a great audition if he has eyes on a more substantial role.

Bentaleb - I thought he started quite brightly but then as the team struggled so did he. Isn't ready to anchor the midfield and provide the defensive resistance. Barbequed a great chance in the first half to put us 2-0 up and for the goal that we conceded he was really poor. At times he has to show more urgency and show better defensive qualities than he does.

Lamela - Couple of good moments. Worked pretty hard - though committed a lot of fouls it seemed. Some infuriating moments though and he flitted in and out of the game and we cannot have three players doing this.

Eriksen - Another curious case from him. I thought he contributed fairly little with and without the ball, but yet again the stats show he scored the winning goal. As I said, you can accept this and accommodate him at No.10, but maybe not the two others.

Chadli - His involvement in the opening minute/goal aside, I cant recall him doing a huge amount.

Kane - Pretty quiet game as we were struggling to get the ball down and play. However he was guilty of some poor decisions and biting off more than he could chew at times. Took his early chance well but should have scored with the header.

All 3 subs contributed very little.
 

Tit&Ham

Well-Known Member
Aug 19, 2012
809
1,699
F*ck you negative shitbags! I've celebrated xmas with my family, watched football with a beer in my hand, and got 3 points!

Life is good!

Now bring on United!!!
 

arunspurs

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2012
8,807
35,543
Danny Rose was a horrific to watch today. He made Mahrez look like Messi.

I hope Poch rested Davies with a view to play United. If not I would seriously be worried.
 

ClintEastwould

Well-Known Member
Jul 3, 2012
4,748
9,845
Not exactly the performance you would want preceding two tough home matches against United and the rent boys but we'll take that, thanks. We are relying on our counter attacks and physical fitness to win matches I'm afraid. We just are not dominating the ball for large periods of the match and when we actually do it's because the opposition sits off (Chelsea, City etc). In flashes throughout the season so far, from the likes of lamela and eriksen and even Chadli and Kane, we can display some of the most intelligent and tight spaced play we've played for years. We just cannot hold on to the ball long and convincingly enough to be able to do that with consistency. When we are - Mason is spreading the play, Lamela is cutting inside getting off shots or playing reverse passes, Eriken is shooting from 20 yards, Kane is getting on the end of a fullback cross. The system and philosophy(*gag*)is there to see, it's just not being implemented for the 90 mins. When the opposition eventually tire out, we scrape a late goal and run away with the points. We'd be the perfect team to play ourselves because that's exactly what punishes us at the lane.
The central midfield is where we should be focusing in January. I like Bentaleb and he'll be a fine player, but you can tell he is a young player despite his somewhat scary appearance. He can have some matches where he looks the coolest player in midfield but when he starts to send a couple of passes astray you can see the confidence draining. Mason is also great in terms of moving the ball about with pace and purpose, it's just his presence on the field needs to be more imposing. Don't get me wrong he's no daisy, I just feel he needs a proper DM sitting with him as opposed to Bentaleb. We already know Paulinho and Dembele aren't good enough so I'll take these growing pains on the chin for the youngsters. I would love an experienced CM to come in January though and cut some slack for our young midfield.

Lloris - 9 that save from schlupp won us the game.

Walker 4 - his head was gone today especially during the second half. Very poor choices in possession and positioning.

Fazio 7 - generally okay bar that mad moment very late on

Vertonghen 7 - same as above

Rose 4 - for such a huge specimen he gets shrugged off the ball way too often. Needs to be more discliplined defensively and ignore the rushes of blood

Stambouli 5 - noticeable difference in terms of our possession play when he was starting as opposed to mason. If he's not going to do anything with possession then he should at least be a commanding DM

Bentaleb 5 - I was hoping that having a DM next to him would free the reigns for him and get him playing more progressively but it just seems he is content with making very safe passes. He also let's midfield runners bypass him way too often

Lamela 6 - a couple of nice touches. No bad giveaways and a great through ball for our first goal.

Eriksen 6.5 - great free kick. Starting to have that gareth bale sort of play like crap but will still win you a game thing going on.

Chadli 5 - similiar performance to the other 3 AMs except no real tangible contribution (very lucky to get an assist on Kanes goal)

Kane 7.5 - the living legend perseveres. Not my favorite player in terms of style of play but he is a proper Tottenham hero these days. Love the guy. Getting a bit greedy on occasion but when you extrapolate that in to a match where we didn't really offer a threat in any sort of capacity otherwise then it's fine by me.

Subs

Mason 5 - couldn't influence the match. Leicester already had the upper hand.

Soldado 4 - not an impact sub at all. He starts or he doesn't play.

Paulinho - NET
 
Last edited:

stevenqoz

Well-Known Member
Apr 10, 2006
2,776
553
Lloris 9 Outstanding
Walker 5.5 Poor decision making not least his ability to kill a breakaway dead
Fazio 7 Has heart and willing to put his foot in....best outfield defender today
Vert 6 Mental lapses relating chiefly to his superiority complex
Rose 4 Never within five yards of any opposition attacker...like Walker mentally weak
Lamella 6 Tried hard...all effort from a super skilled player ...must have thought he was in a losing team today
Eriksen 6.5 I see him as a Modric talisman type player....quiet apart from the goal moment
Bentaleb 6.5 A gifted footballer but needs an experienced gritty player in his vicinity...Yorath?
Chadli 5 Cold wet tough conditions...even gloves don't help when you don't fancy it
Stambouli 5 Not up to the job today
Kane 6.5 Hard to criticise but a few poor decisions that may have cost us....
Paulinho NET
Mason 5.5 Back from sprained ankle too soon?
Soldado 5 See Chadli

Always a struggle today against a lively mobile Leicester side. A classic example of a side literally scoring 'too early'....we rapidly lost heart for this one. Poch needs to seriously look at why we were increasingly ineffective in this oneand what it was that enabled Leicester to give us so much trouble. To me it was the three or four players they had that were willing to control the ball and immediately drive on to the heart of our central area. The ineffective Walker and abysmal Rose were the starting point for Leicesters best stuff. Fortunately Fazio continues to improve but Vert displayed a casualness unsuited to this opposition. Our midfield which looked so comfortable initially were eventually being overun at the end. Changing the disinterested Stambouli and Chadli was the right move at the time but Mason Soldado and Paulinho barely got a touch or landed a blow.
Of course in the end this could have ended anything up to 6-6. Harry made a few poor choices while we resembled the occasional Arsenal side which tries to walk the ball in to the net. How did Leicester fail to score more than one today? That is a secret of the universe... suffice to say, that that stuff happens to sides with zero luck. They look to have enough to stay up. For us three points again on the road. I think underestimating Leicester was a big mistake but fortunately Chelsea and United will allow us no such mental luxury. Ben Davies in for Rose next game and Mason for Stambouli.
 
Last edited:

Shea

Well-Known Member
Apr 5, 2013
7,711
10,930
Lloris - 9 between him, the ref and the woodwork we managed to escape with all the points, some key saves
Walker 5- had a very poor game, to be expected perhaps having been out so long.
Fazio 7 - was doing pretty well for the bulk of the game but a couple of horror show moments that should have been punished but we were lucky to get away with
Vertonghen 7 - mixed, some good stuff but some poor errors and lucky not to be sent off
Rose 4 - All their best attacks seemed to come through him, including their goal. He was weak, positionally poor and showed why Davies has replaced him as the first choice left back
Stambouli 4 - I thought he was very poor, he offered no protection to the defense and no creativity moving forward, he was just there. His control from Eriksen's pulled back corner was commercially poor. I hope he settles in and improves dramatically but right now he looks a car crash signing and like Capoue, Paulinho and probably Dembele should be shipped out and upgraded for one quality CM the youngsters can learn from
Bentaleb 5 - One of his worst games for a while, lots of potential but as with Mason needs a top class CM in there to learn from and take the pressure off a little
Lamela 6 - Worked hard, played a role in the first goal and had an ok game......I would just like to see him doing something a bit special against a team like Leicester and he was only ok, still no signs he will ever be top class unfortunately
Eriksen 7 - Not his best game but once again he was our match winner, we owe a lot of points to him and Kane this seasons (and of course Lloris)
Chadli 6 - Wasn't overly effective, but he did get an assist for Kane's goal
Kane 7 - He didn't play to his best and he should have scored a second before the break but once again he worked his nuts off and he got his goal to help us win the game.....how can you not love Harry Kane?

Subs

Mason 5 - I thought he would help us regain control of the match being fresh but he really couldn't make any impression on the game and we were left just trying to hold on really
Soldado 2 - Did nothing, should never have come on really as he effectively reduced us to 10 men. I can only really remember him doing one thing and that was a wasteful pass in to the box which gave possession away when we were well placed
Paulinho 6 - had pretty much no time to effect the game but to be fair to him everything he did do was reasonable, he tried to get involved and had touches in the attacking end of the field which helped take the pressure off us


Very happy to come away with a win, we didn't deserve more than a point (if that) so it's games like that when you win ugly that show the hall marks of a team with some winning mentality (or luck, or both)

Hoping for a step up in quality against Man U and Chelsea, I think we will surprise a few - not least our own fans
 

parklane1

Well-Known Member
May 4, 2012
4,390
4,053
Lloris was MOM by a mile, both Fazio and Jan look a good partnership but we have to get Davies back in at LB. I still think we are wide open in CM and that is the position we really need to change sooner rather then later.
 

iluvsteffenfreund

Well-Known Member
Nov 5, 2004
2,078
2,465
I think poch must realise we are short of a commanding figure in central midfield ? Surely ? He got wanyama when saints were weak in there which allowed the likes of Lallana to play. We are crying out for that type of player. I just wonder whether levys remit of blood the youngsters will mean we will fall short. Frustrating as I feel we are only one or two away from being a side that challenges.
 

Phomesy

Well-Known Member
Aug 20, 2013
9,188
14,102
I often get accused of being overly negative in my assessment of our matches. Maybe so. This one though definitely isn't going to be pretty...

Firstly. Anyone still remember the Everton game just one month ago? I vaguely recall proclamations such as it being a watershed, the players had finally got it, we had the winning formula now blah blah blah. Whats happened since, guys
.

Loss to Chelsea. Then 10 points from 12?
 

Mediocrates

Well-Known Member
Mar 2, 2013
292
1,010
Dont watch games with rose tinted glasses and dont belive they hype, watch him properly and youll see the truth

I saw a 19 year old hold his own against Fabregas and Matic, I see a player who Pochettino clearly thinks is our first choice deep CM, and one who outshone all of our outfield players at the recent World Cup. A player who out of all the youth team players to have broken through (Rose, Kane, Mason), has the highest ceiling and will most likely have left Spurs for the elite in 5 years time. It's not rose tinted mate, most of my mates are Chelsea fans unfortunately and they are very excited about having him running their team in a few years time. Wankers.

Anyway, he's a baby, and he's looked a bit leggy and off colour last couple of games, but he's going to be a huge player. It speaks volumes that he was out for so long and has barely missed a game since he came on in EL against Partizan. Agree to disagree, but the overwhelming consensus is against you. The vast majority think he's proper, and not just Spurs. It's sad to see people dismissing youth team products before they're 21, especially when they're as good as Nabil is.
 

Borks

Well-Known Member
Jun 22, 2014
1,524
3,300
I saw a 19 year old hold his own against Fabregas and Matic, I see a player who Pochettino clearly thinks is our first choice deep CM, and one who outshone all of our outfield players at the recent World Cup. A player who out of all the youth team players to have broken through (Rose, Kane, Mason), has the highest ceiling and will most likely have left Spurs for the elite in 5 years time. It's not rose tinted mate, most of my mates are Chelsea fans unfortunately and they are very excited about having him running their team in a few years time. Wankers.

Anyway, he's a baby, and he's looked a bit leggy and off colour last couple of games, but he's going to be a huge player. It speaks volumes that he was out for so long and has barely missed a game since he came on in EL against Partizan. Agree to disagree, but the overwhelming consensus is against you. The vast majority think he's proper, and not just Spurs. It's sad to see people dismissing youth team products before they're 21, especially when they're as good as Nabil is.

Winner! Bentaleb will be at one of the top European teams in 5 years.
 

steve

Well-Known Member
Oct 21, 2003
3,503
1,767
I think Chadli is getting away with murder, Rose is getting hammered but Chadli's work rate in front of him was piss poor, didn't track back very well, or press, stuck a toe into tackles and didn't look like he fancied it at all without the ball.

He has all the attributes to be a top drawer footballer but like so many of our talented players it's the mentality that is missing. All our players are talented and most are really good footballers with a high degree of skill but most lack the mentality to fulfill their potential whether it be the drive or the intelligence or both. It's hugely frustrating but I guess that's why many of them are at Spurs.
 

iluvsteffenfreund

Well-Known Member
Nov 5, 2004
2,078
2,465
I saw a 19 year old hold his own against Fabregas and Matic, I see a player who Pochettino clearly thinks is our first choice deep CM, and one who outshone all of our outfield players at the recent World Cup. A player who out of all the youth team players to have broken through (Rose, Kane, Mason), has the highest ceiling and will most likely have left Spurs for the elite in 5 years time. It's not rose tinted mate, most of my mates are Chelsea fans unfortunately and they are very excited about having him running their team in a few years time. Wankers.

Anyway, he's a baby, and he's looked a bit leggy and off colour last couple of games, but he's going to be a huge player. It speaks volumes that he was out for so long and has barely missed a game since he came on in EL against Partizan. Agree to disagree, but the overwhelming consensus is against you. The vast majority think he's proper, and not just Spurs. It's sad to see people dismissing youth team products before they're 21, especially when they're as good as Nabil is.
19 year old held his own against fab and matic in a game we lost 3 nil ? Easy to play well when your 2 down after 25 mins. No pressure and they sat off allowing him all the time in the world. Easy to play In those conditions I'm afraid. When the going gets tough however and the likes of Andy king and mahrez and running past you and you can't make a tackle and you go missing and seemingly don't want the ball when again your under the cosh is when I start to worry. Young or not he needs to come out for a few. Burley and Leicester games he's been woeful, what does that tell you ? When it gets a bit physical he doesn't fancy it....
 

The Apprentice

Charles Big Potatoes
Mar 10, 2005
11,143
15,618
19 year old held his own against fab and matic in a game we lost 3 nil ? Easy to play well when your 2 down after 25 mins. No pressure and they sat off allowing him all the time in the world. Easy to play In those conditions I'm afraid. When the going gets tough however and the likes of Andy king and mahrez and running past you and you can't make a tackle and you go missing and seemingly don't want the ball when again your under the cosh is when I start to worry. Young or not he needs to come out for a few. Burley and Leicester games he's been woeful, what does that tell you ? When it gets a bit physical he doesn't fancy it....

Surely we can cut a young academy kid a bit of slack, eh?

He cost us nothing, he's already demonstrated significant potential, he clearly loves Spurs and he's 20. Players at that age (especially in his position) are very rarely the finished article.

The name calling is frankly pathetic.
 

iluvsteffenfreund

Well-Known Member
Nov 5, 2004
2,078
2,465
Surely we can cut a young academy kid a bit of slack, eh?

He cost us nothing, he's already demonstrated significant potential, he clearly loves Spurs and he's 20. Players at that age (especially in his position) are very rarely the finished article.

The name calling is frankly pathetic.
Name calling ? And the majority are not saying he won't be a good player for us just that of we want to go toe to toe with the big boys we need more than bentaleb and mason in the central midfield.
 

Tottenham_God

Well-Known Member
Nov 6, 2011
2,935
5,617
Name calling ? And the majority are not saying he won't be a good player for us just that of we want to go toe to toe with the big boys we need more than bentaleb and mason in the central midfield.
I believe he is referring to the clown calling him 'bentarubbish' rather clever fella.
 
Top