Match Ratings Ratings vs Burnley

[punky]

Davies: 5
Son/Sissoko: 6
Kane: 10
Everyone else: 9

Davies was all-round poor today. Thankfully, Burnley didn't really exploit that flank, preferring to go through the middle. Twice he inexplicably skied a cross (both from identical balls from Son)

Son's finishing was poor, but his general passing,build-up and effort was good. I don't think Sissoko's miss was as bad as people make out. He kept his head and the keeper made an excellent save with his (very) outstretched leg. His workrate and general passing was good, but nothing spectacular.

Kane: his final goal shows what an all-round class act he is. Wins the ball next to the box, lays it off, collects it and cooly slots home. Really helped out in defence when Burnley had corners as well.

Everyone else: I thought the passing was beautiful at times. Real push and run stuff. Just breathtaking. On another day it could have easily be 7. I think Sanchez and Aurier are showing to be immense purchases.

 

[rambu]

Great to see Sissoko doing good as a CM - to lesser team anyway, as he got me nervous when receiving ball from Lloris facing our own goal; quite frankly Lloris shouldn't go to him. Happy for him nonetheless.

Aurier, again with an error that can turn in a goal today, almost a habit from him now passing/dribbling the ball to the middle of the park and got picked up by opponents - really don't think it got anything to do with settling in or being in a new league or whatever, just seems to be against basic positioning principles...hope he gets better but man...please get better.

 

[spids]

I thought Sissoko played well, a decent 7/10 away from home. His ‘miss’ was more a good save than a miss and Son’s was much worse.

Kane MOTM by a mile. The Guardian’s annual survey has him as the 5th best player in the World, and his performance was of that ilk.

Nice to see Dele back on form. Sanchez was a rock.

Imagine Wanyama and Aldeweireld coming back in the next few weeks!

 

[Gaz_Gammon]

Pleased to see Undecided didn't get a game today.

 

[whitesocks]

Those not voting for Kane as MOTM today

Are you seriously being serious?

I reckon there is a 50% chance we’d have dropped another 2 points without him and probably a 50% chance we’d have dropped all 3

Also if Harry hadn’t played I think a lot of player ratings would be a little different!!

Agree.
Burnley did not look up for this right from start - I think they decided to save their energy for the other xmas fixtures (including liverpool and manu - good luck with that).
We had so much space and it was criminal that we had so few shots on target. It was a long time before the game was safe.

But alls well that ends well, and Kane deserves his motm for the last goal alone - incredible.

 

[Bus-Conductor]

XGr

There has been a strange tangential divergence of the fortunes of Burnley and ourselves going back to the start of the season. Both teams kind of bucking their match by match Xg equations, they keep picking up points despite having massively inferior Xg most weeks to their opponents, we keep dropping them despite having superior Xg to our opponents most weeks.

I hope very much that today sees those fortunes diverge again and if they do, although it will be tempting to see the crossover point being the day when Xg's of the two teams finally aligned themselves with reality, I think a bigger reason for the reversal would be that we bucked another trend, that of XGr - Expected Graft. Something we've been sadly lacking in for much of this season.

Although the scoreline and shitlaod of chances we made suggested this was all about flowing creativity and class, it really wasn't, this was a victory for graft. We really earned this win, and it was fucking nice to see us get back to that kind of performance. Chances came out of us doing the basics, competing for the inches, winning little battles everywhere, doing the ugly, shitty things and doing them cohesively as a group.

We came out of the traps with purpose and intent, and that first 25 minutes we were excellent, pressing from the front, winning duels everywhere and Burnley couldn't get near us.

As any good grafting, pressing system should, the press was led by Kane, who had his best game for a couple of months, maybe all season, and it's amazing how much better he is when he's actually working hard off the ball, how much more falls our, and his, way when he and we put in the hard yards. Nothing typified this more than that third goal, where Kane runs back to win the ball, then sprints back into the box to finish the move, tucking the ball away sweetly with his left.

This type of collective ethos is when we are at our best under Poch, it overrides any quibbles of team selection or tactical structure, neither of which were perfect today, but when you have 11 guys out there all putting it in for each other, it makes them better than the sum of their individual parts. Sanchez was great, I've said this before, but he embodies what Poch's system is at it's best in a CB, he's quick, he's aggressive, he can press like a fucking limpet without fear of being spun like a cumbersome CB often can be, and means we can play that high line so well, but he's also calm on the ball. He was outstanding today.

Another player who was back to his quietly effective and influential best today was Eriksen, I know he perhaps went under some radars, but on a day when our CM pairing of Sissoko and Dier really needed some help with the footballing, Eriksen stepped in, frequently dropping back into midfield and providing the conduit needed to link back and front; nobody saw more ball on that pitch today than he did (65 passes, 84.6%) and nobody in our team gave it away less or made more key passes.

Fair play to Sissoko, who wasn't far off Eriksen for output and also played a great through ball for that vital second goal that set everyone's sphincter back to amber, just when we were beginning to believe that football would play it's Xg joker on us once again, as we missed so many great chances. He's never been lazy, but I still want different things from a footballer than Sissoko brings, ability wise, and I will never warm to seeing him on he team sheet, but he did a job today.

Alli's was, as ever, a roller coaster of a performance. Stupid at times, reckless even, a bit careless occasionally, but also a real thorn in their side, played some decent stuff at times and also had a hand in two of the goals.

There were a couple of phases, such as the last 15-20 minutes of the first half and just before we got the second goal where Burnley were pressing our defenders and trying to stop us building out, where Sissokomand especially Dier went a bit awol, the ball's a hot potato for these two under pressure, but that was when Eriksen dropped back in to help, kept us just about ticking and once the second goal went in Burnley were fucking putty in our hands.

I can't say I agreed with everything about the team selection, the shape or the in game subs (why the fuck are we leaving Kane on there when he's run his arse off and got his hat trick) but the meat and potatoes of football were there for me today, and that's what matters most. The reason we love Pochettino is because he's the first Spurs manager for a few decades who's brings an expected graft, and when it's not there we are just the Tottenham that we were before him.

Individual

Lloris - Worries me immensely, some of his decisions today, particularly in the first half when he played Sanchez in all sorts of trouble with two men up his arse.

Aurier - Poor first half, very good second half, unlucky not to have an assist or two.

Sanchez - Outstanding performance. Quick, aggressive, if Kane leads the press from the front, this guy turns us into a concertina by squeeing from the other end. They way he played out of the shit Lloris put him in was fantastic too.

Vertongen - Good game.

Davies - Poor game with the ball. As someone pointed out, he seemed better when he was playing every game and in a rhythm.

Dier - OK. Brought some aggression to the middle, but not too much football and tends to go a little awol when defenders are being pressed and need an outlet.

Sissoko - OK, the bar is very low, but definitely his best performance in a Spurs shirt by a country mile. Did waste a great chance to put us two up with a slight lack of composure but at least worked the keeper I guess. Great ball for the assist.

Eriksen - This was Eriksen at his quietly effective best, in amongst all the graft, was his constant metronomic presence, dropping, offering an outlet and moving the ball around.

Alli - This was the Alli smorgasbord from last season. A bit of carelessness, a little bit reckless, a constant threat and a couple of very important assists. This Alli we can live with, this Alli pays his way just about. That early challenge was very lucky not to be red IMO, but after that he was worth having out there.

Son - Energy but a bit short on composure when it mattered.

Kane - He did a couple of poor things, the greedy moment first half when he should have passed when he had two team mates (Alli and Son) in the clear and the poor pass that should have set up Eriksen, but those moments aside he was at his best, and his best always, always comes when he's leading the graft.

 

[mano-obe]

I thought Kane and Alli were excellent today along with Sanchez.

Which is funny because on another day Kane and Alli may well have been suspended for this game!

 

[fortworthspur]

coulda been 7-0. everyone good but davies - just not his day. kane motm.

 

[fortworthspur]

btw kudos to oliver for getting both the calls on alli right. never a red and yes a pen. burnley fans carried on like whiney teenagers the rest of the game but he got it right.

 

[Shadydan]

Love how people continue to write shit about Sissoko when he actually had a good game, it just makes you look pathetic tbh

 

[yusrisafri]

Average positions ( its Dier and Sissoko in middle )

View attachment 34851

Wow this is a nice simple analysis. Where'd you get this?

 

[Tottenham_God]

Vorm is more of a safe bet than Loris. Taste it boys

 

[Gaz_Gammon]

XGr

There has been a strange tangential divergence of the fortunes of Burnley and ourselves going back to the start of the season. Both teams kind of bucking their match by match Xg equations, they keep picking up points despite having massively inferior Xg most weeks to their opponents, we keep dropping them despite having superior Xg to our opponents most weeks.

I hope very much that today sees those fortunes diverge again and if they do, although it will be tempting to see the crossover point being the day when Xg's of the two teams finally aligned themselves with reality, I think a bigger reason for the reversal would be that we bucked another trend, that of XGr - Expected Graft. Something we've been sadly lacking in for much of this season.

Although the scoreline and shitlaod of chances we made suggested this was all about flowing creativity and class, it really wasn't, this was a victory for graft. We really earned this win, and it was fucking nice to see us get back to that kind of performance. Chances came out of us doing the basics, competing for the inches, winning little battles everywhere, doing the ugly, shitty things and doing them cohesively as a group.

We came out of the traps with purpose and intent, and that first 25 minutes we were excellent, pressing from the front, winning duels everywhere and Burnley couldn't get near us.

As any good grafting, pressing system should, the press was led by Kane, who had his best game for a couple of months, maybe all season, and it's amazing how much better he is when he's actually working hard off the ball, how much more falls our, and his, way when he and we put in the hard yards. Nothing typified this more than that third goal, where Kane runs back to win the ball, then sprints back into the box to finish the move, tucking the ball away sweetly with his left.

This type of collective ethos is when we are at our best under Poch, it overrides any quibbles of team selection or tactical structure, neither of which were perfect today, but when you have 11 guys out there all putting it in for each other, it makes them better than the sum of their individual parts. Sanchez was great, I've said this before, but he embodies what Poch's system is at it's best in a CB, he's quick, he's aggressive, he can press like a fucking limpet without fear of being spun like a cumbersome CB often can be, and means we can play that high line so well, but he's also calm on the ball. He was outstanding today.

Another player who was back to his quietly effective and influential best today was Eriksen, I know he perhaps went under some radars, but on a day when our CM pairing of Sissoko and Dier really needed some help with the footballing, Eriksen stepped in, frequently dropping back into midfield and providing the conduit needed to link back and front; nobody saw more ball on that pitch today than he did (65 passes, 84.6%) and nobody in our team gave it away less or made more key passes.

Fair play to Sissoko, who wasn't far off Eriksen for output and also played a great through ball for that vital second goal that set everyone's sphincter back to amber, just when we were beginning to believe that football would play it's Xg joker on us once again, as we missed so many great chances. He's never been lazy, but I still want different things from a footballer than Sissoko brings, ability wise, and I will never warm to seeing him on he team sheet, but he did a job today.

Alli's was, as ever, a roller coaster of a performance. Stupid at times, reckless even, a bit careless occasionally, but also a real thorn in their side, played some decent stuff at times and also had a hand in two of the goals.

There were a couple of phases, such as the last 15-20 minutes of the first half and just before we got the second goal where Burnley were pressing our defenders and trying to stop us building out, where Sissokomand especially Dier went a bit awol, the ball's a hot potato for these two under pressure, but that was when Eriksen dropped back in to help, kept us just about ticking and once the second goal went in Burnley were fucking putty in our hands.

I can't say I agreed with everything about the team selection, the shape or the in game subs (why the fuck are we leaving Kane on there when he's run his arse off and got his hat trick) but the meat and potatoes of football were there for me today, and that's what matters most. The reason we love Pochettino is because he's the first Spurs manager for a few decades who's brings an expected graft, and when it's not there we are just the Tottenham that we were before him.

Individual

Lloris - Worries me immensely, some of his decisions today, particularly in the first half when he played Sanchez in all sorts of trouble with two men up his arse.

Aurier - Poor first half, very good second half, unlucky not to have an assist or two.

Sanchez - Outstanding performance. Quick, aggressive, if Kane leads the press from the front, this guy turns us into a concertina by squeeing from the other end. They way he played out of the shit Lloris put him in was fantastic too.

Vertongen - Good game.

Davies - Poor game with the ball. As someone pointed out, he seemed better when he was playing every game and in a rhythm.

Dier - OK. Brought some aggression to the middle, but not too much football and tends to go a little awol when defenders are being pressed and need an outlet.

Sissoko - OK, the bar is very low, but definitely his best performance in a Spurs shirt by a country mile. Did waste a great chance to put us two up with a slight lack of composure but at least worked the keeper I guess. Great ball for the assist.

Eriksen - This was Eriksen at his quietly effective best, in amongst all the graft, was his constant metronomic presence, dropping, offering an outlet and moving the ball around.

Alli - This was the Alli smorgasbord from last season. A bit of carelessness, a little bit reckless, a constant threat and a couple of very important assists. This Alli we can live with, this Alli pays his way just about. That early challenge was very lucky not to be red IMO, but after that he was worth having out there.

Son - Energy but a bit short on composure when it mattered.

Kane - He did a couple of poor things, the greedy moment first half when he should have passed when he had two team mates (Alli and Son) in the clear and the poor pass that should have set up Eriksen, but those moments aside he was at his best, and his best always, always comes when he's leading the graft.

Do you live alone per chance?

 

[BringBack_leGin]

This was much a much better, more committed, more purposeful performance. The press was effective, we were fluid on the hall and the players answered a week’s worth of questions about their character. It wasn’t our Rolls Royce best but it was a very good display away to a side who had conceded a mere 12 league goals before this match.

Lloris was dependable on crosses and mopping up balls down the middle, but to say his distribution was erratic would be too kind. Really needs to exercise better judgements and not put our defenders under so much pressure.

Aurier had a good game bar one attack of the Walkers. Linked very well with Sissoko and Eriksen, used space well and didn’t falter defensively. Deserved an assist for his lay off to Son.

Sanchez again looked 5 years older than he is. Great reading of the game, quick and strong, timed everything well and very composed on the ball.

Vertonghen, one silly free kick aside, was mr cool as ever. Very dependable and measured against forwards whose key skill set is to be awkward.

Davies had a poor game, especially going forward where he lacked his usual composure and wasted several very good opportunities. Defensively he wasn’t overly exposed but he gave away a few stupid free kicks.

Sissoko was the best version of himself. Still erratic in possession, still unable to take a great opportunity, but very effective driving the ball forward and very hard working in winning it ball. An Essien-lite if you will. Lovely reading of the play and then through ball for a key second goal when the game threatened to escape us. I wish he wouldn’t constantly look so disappointed in himself, he’s doing okay.

Dier was fine, added much needed steel to a midfield which has lacked it recently and was generally good on the ball.

Eriksen won’t get the headlines but he was key to our fluidity. Not quite a free role, more just going wherever he was needed, but his constant dictating of play and variation of passing meant we shook off our recent predictability. Made a central three when he needed to help Sissoko and Dier, made an attacking midfield three when he needed to support the forwards, very Iniesta like.

Dele gave a much more mature performance, keeping his head in the face of constant riling and rattling, letting his football do the talking. Nice link up with Kane throughout including a simple but intelligent lay off for the third, constantly kept their defence guessing where he’d attack them (including for the penalty) and never relenting in his endeavours to create something. Way too much was made of his early tackle, and fair play to BT pundits for not vilifying him, but it shouldn’t have even been a discussion. Both players went in hard, theirs was at the wrong end, yellow for Dele, move on. Wouldn’t be a discussion if it was Burnley’s player who fouled Dele.

Son was fine, yes he missed a sitter but he was dangerous throughout and a big part of keeping their defence on the back foot. No more or less erratic than usual and if he’d taken his chance we’d be saying he played well. Much better pressing and tracking back from him too.

Kane lead the line well and as has been noted, if he presses like that the team tends to follow suit. Great first touch, great passing on the whole, strong with his back to goal and three classy finishes. The way he win the ball to start off his third goal was Kane at his best.

Dembele sat deep and added a pinch of composure as we saw the game out.

Lamela seemed pretty in sync with the fluidity of our play and looked to get into their box constantly.

Llorente had a couple of nice moments holding up play in limited time.

 

[Hengy1]

Wow this is a nice simple analysis. Where'd you get this?

Spurs web site

 

[tiger666]

All good apart from Davies and Kane. Kane was amazing, Davies poor. Kane obviously motm.

 

[coys200]

I do think Aurier has the potential to be better than Walker especially going forward.He’s just a better footballer. Walker is a bit of a one trick pony basically just push it down the line and out pace on the outside. He would never have done things Aurier was doing in 2 nd half. Just needs to cut out the sloppy passes and he will be a real asset.

 

[doctor stefan Freud]

I do think Aurier has the potential to be better than Walker especially going forward.He’s just a better footballer. Walker is a bit of a one trick pony basically just push it down the line and out pace on the outside. He would never have done things Aurier was doing in 2 nd half. Just needs to cut out the sloppy passes and he will be a real asset.

A year or two with Poch and he should be very good

 

[bomberH]

Love how people continue to write shit about Sissoko when he actually had a good game, it just makes you look pathetic tbh

Isn’t it just as pathetic not to accept other people’s views on his game? He had his best game for us certainly, but most believe that because the bar has been set so low with him, his best game for us doesn’t mean too much in terms of quality. I didn’t mention him today but can understand why people get so frustrated with him.

The critics may say.... did anyone honestly expect him to finish those 2 chances during the one on one. It didn’t even cross my mind that we’d score. I didn’t even get excited at that moment because I believed I knew the outcome already. The critics may also say that often, as seen again in this game, his second touch is a tackle. The critics may also say that his pass to Kane right at the end of the game that would’ve put Kane through, but instead went out for a goal kick as he over hit the most basic of forward passes, sums Sissoko up. Yes Kane did similar with Eriksen but Kane also scored 3 goals.

Sissoko’s effort today was very good. His pressing was good and his attitude, as always, was good. And he did well to set up Kane’s second. Sissoko was spoken about in detail on the first post of this thread so I’m not sure why people get the hump when they talk about him and rate his performance. To call it pathetic that people have criticised some of his performance is pretty pathetic too. He deserves praise for the good things he did (as mentioned above) and he deserves criticism for the bad things he does, mainly because he does them too often in most games. No one minds a mistake here and there, but if it’s constant then surely you can see why people get frustrated with him?

Anyway...

Lloris - 7 - sometimes just needs to kick long. Every team knows how we try and play out of defence so press like nutters at our goal kicks.

Aurier - 7 - first half dodgy, second half great. Excellent run for Son’s miss but brain fart for the pass to Burnley first half.

Sanchez 9 - immense.

Verts - 7.5 - Reliable as always.

Davies - 6 - Effort was good, crosses were crap,

Dier - 7-5 - good game after a couple of dodgy ones. Solid.

Sissoko - 7 - Best game for us, did well for the assist. Still a few Sissoko moments and it seems quite obvious in my opinion that he is a very limited footballer, but if he plays like this every time he plays then it will be an improvement on how he has been for us.

Eriksen - 7 - Not as creative as usual but dug in and kept things flowing.

Dele - 8.5 - Back to his best. Def not a red and very much looked like a pen. Creative and worked hard too.

Son - 6.5 - Worked hard but not much came off for him today. Awful miss.

Kane - 9.5 - That 3rd goal was one of his best ever and sums him up as a player.

 

[Gilzeanking]

Thank fuck for that . We got our press back .

Its such an important source of goals .