Ratings vs Chelsea

[TaoistMonkey]

Lloris- 8 - Kept us in it with a few vital saves, very good game

Walker- 7 - Played well, one or two Walker moments but defended soundly for the most part and was better going forward than usual. Sublime backheel in first half.

Dawson- 6 - Dawson performance, bullied a few times by Torres in the air, something you really don't expect. Does well to command the backline but gets twisted in and out by any tricky forward.

Vertonghen - 7 - Solid game, looking more like himself than of recent.

Naughton- 6.5 - Not as bad as I thought he'd be, a few wasted balls going forward but defensively he was much better than I feared.

Dembele- 8.5 - Wow what a man. So majestic and just shrugs off 6 foot blokes like they're nothing. He ran the show for me, let down by his normally excellent partner

Paulinho - 6.6/5 - Poor by his standards. Had a few good moments but lost possession a fair bit and didn't really boss the midfield in terms of ball retention and tackling

Eriksen- 6 - Aside from the movement in the goal he was very peripheral. I have huge hopes for him but the fears of him being a down hill skier could ring true. Time will tell, he's only 21. If he's going to be our playmaker he needs to be a lot more central to our play.

Townsend- 7.5 - Electric display and made Cole look an absolute mug. Great to see him passing as opposed to shooting non-stop. Perhaps guilty of overplay at times but didn't deserve to be taken off.

Sigursson- 6.5 - Scored but once again he doesn't offer much. Faded completely 2nd half but credit he keeps scoring. Just wish he had more athleticism.

Soldado- 6 - Some heavy touches and didn't look great. Worried our system still isn't suiting him, think Lamela will help rectify that. Needs to get a goal from open play soon. Got an assist though.

Subs

Defoe- 6.5 - Decent showing and some nice interplay; still don't think he should start a PL match.

Chadli- 6 - Poor display for me but just coming back from injury.

Holtby- 6.5 - Some nice touches but then lost possession a few times. Needs to start a game.

This for me is fair

 

[felmani26]

Middle 3 of Sandro/Kapow, Pauli and Moose against the other top 4 candidates for me. No use arguing that as that is so fucking bang on it hurts and you know it.

Moose was back his mazy-running best. No longer looks like he's carrying an injury. Lloris did well too despite not being hugely busy. But yeah, Moose MOTM. An all around 6 for the team. Good moments and bad moments. Their goal was far too easy. Disappointed with that.

We need to use the squad effectively and in that game we need to strangle the opposition more and our middle was too light to do it. Especially when a player who can keep the ball for fun in Mata came on. Getting overrun by Lampard and Mata FFS...

Good pt in the end. Wasn't sure we'd get that until the RC.

Bang on about the 3 man midfield.

These are the tactical decisions that Fergie was so adept at making in the big games and AVB still needs to hone his skills on this - no point thinking for the 90 it would be a stroll ala Cardiff with the same personnel.

As soon as Mata came on, they were so threatening through the middle and we needed to stem the tide first of all with Sandro brought on for Siggy and then we have a solid base to then tinker going forward, be it Lamela, Holtby or Chadli coming on.

 

[Chris12]

Bit harsh on AVB, was obviously we were losing the ball quite a bit in the second half so brought Chadli on hoping his physical presence would help hold up play, Defoe was needed and actually shouldve gotten the second goal but was too weak, and Holtby for Eriksen was right call since Eriksen went missing in 2nd half.. Agree with EnfieldYiddo's ratings though

 

[B0NZ0]

Lloris - 7 no controversial moment WTF?

Walker - 7 played well, that is the way to play a back heel.

Dawson - 5 I'm in two minds, he's regularly fit and leads the team, but I'd love to see Kaboul back.

Vertonghen - 7 thought he had a good game. Little disappointed with the red card antics

Naughton - 4 ok but offers very little.

Dembele - 8 what a difference a position change has made. Clearly more comfortable coming from deeper.

Paulinho - 7 brilliant brilliant player, solid as a rock.

Eriksen - 6 faded so badly.

Townsend - 7 best game so far, really intelligent play and not a single shot from distance.

Sigurdsson - 6 good goal not much else

Soldado - 4 can't decide if the assist was a bad touch or not. Seriously needs to up his game.

subs

Defoe- 6 done well with the 10 mins he had

Chadli- 5 I'm not getting this guy, would have preferred sig for lamela

Holtby- 6 done well.

 

[mpickard2087]

Bang on about the 3 man midfield.

These are the tactical decisions that Fergie was so adept at making in the big games and AVB still needs to hone his skills on this - no point thinking for the 90 it would be a stroll ala Cardiff with the same personnel.

As soon as Mata came on, they were so threatening through the middle and we needed to stem the tide first of all with Sandro brought on for Siggy and then we have a solid base to then tinker going forward, be it Lamela, Holtby or Chadli coming on.

The warning signs were there first half, before they even brought their best player off the bench to really exploit it. I hope there was a reason for Sandro not coming on, such as him having a knock etc, because I cannot believe he didn't come on, actually I'll go further, I cant believe he didn't start the game.

 

[felmani26]

And in spite of recent criticism on this site, Dembele proved he's still one of the first names on the team sheet - great performance from the big man!

 

[idontgetit]

Middle 3 of Sandro/Kapow, Pauli and Moose against the other top 4 candidates for me. No use arguing that as that is so fucking bang on it hurts and you know it.

Moose was back his mazy-running best. No longer looks like he's carrying an injury. Lloris did well too despite not being hugely busy. But yeah, Moose MOTM. An all around 6 for the team. Good moments and bad moments. Their goal was far too easy. Disappointed with that.

We need to use the squad effectively and in that game we need to strangle the opposition more and our middle was too light to do it. Especially when a player who can keep the ball for fun in Mata came on. Getting overrun by Lampard and Mata FFS...

Good pt in the end. Wasn't sure we'd get that until the RC.

Massively disagree with the highlighted part. Chelsea completely got hold of that game by taking off a tall destructive player for a tiny creative one. If you play three destroyers in the middle of the park the passing is slow, the movement is poor, the forwards get isolated and you just end up doing more defending. We tried that in 3 games at the start of the season and looked offensively poor in all 3, even if we were dominant across the midfield. It cost us massively at Arsenal

 

[Misfit]

Massively disagree with the highlighted part. Chelsea completely got hold of that game by taking off a tall destructive player for a tiny creative one. If you play three destroyers in the middle of the park the passing is slow, the movement is poor, the forwards get isolated and you just end up doing more defending.

If only we'd already played that exact system against a midfield of tricky, possession footballers - at their ground no less - and seen the exact opposite eh?

 

[EnfieldYiddo]

Lloris - 7 no controversial moment WTF?

Walker - 7 played well, that is the way to play a back heel.

Dawson - 5 I'm in two minds, he's regularly fit and leads the team, but I'd love to see Kaboul back.

Vertonghen - 7 thought he had a good game. Little disappointed with the red card antics

Naughton - 4 ok but offers very little.

Dembele - 8 what a difference a position change has made. Clearly more comfortable coming from deeper.

Paulinho - 7 brilliant brilliant player, solid as a rock.

Eriksen - 6 faded so badly.

Townsend - 7 best game so far, really intelligent play and not a single shot from distance.

Sigurdsson - 6 good goal not much else

Soldado - 4 can't decide if the assist was a bad touch or not. Seriously needs to up his game.

subs

Defoe- 6 done well with the 10 mins he had

Chadli- 5 I'm not getting this guy, would have preferred sig for lamela

Holtby- 6 done well.

You're meant to judge based on the game today. 4 for Naughton is fucking well harsh and I'm by no means a fan of him as a player.

 

[felmani26]

The warning signs were there first half, before they even brought their best player off the bench to really exploit it. I hope there was a reason for Sandro not coming on, such as him having a knock etc, because I cannot believe he didn't come on, actually I'll go further, I cant believe he didn't start the game.

It was a game tailor made for him and for games against Chelsea, United, City et al we absolutely need to go 433 and have a triumvirate of Dembele/Sandro/Paulinho/Capoue - any permeatation of these.

It was also inevitable that Chelsea would shut down the right hand side and sure enough they did and Townsend hardly had a kick second half which is exasperated by having Siggy in front of Naughton down the left. We should have switched Townsend to the left and brought on Lamela for Siggy down the right but there didn't seem to be much tactical nous in our subs today or certainty not enough to counter Mourinho's tactics and take the momentum away from them.

 

[mpickard2087]

Massively disagree with the highlighted part. Chelsea completely got hold of that game by taking off a tall destructive player for a tiny creative one. If you play three destroyers in the middle of the park the passing is slow, the movement is poor, the forwards get isolated and you just end up doing more defending.

Yes but it was 4-2-3-1 vs 4-2-3-1, an open game that became a bit 'lottery football' and in effect by matching up exactly comes down to individual quality and who can use the ball better.

Ramires, Lampard, Hazard, Oscar and Mata is of greater quality than Paulinho, Dembele, Townsend, Eriksen and Sigurdsson when it comes to using and moving the ball and finding the holes in a defensive line. Especially when the game is open like it was.

An extra man in the centre of the park may have sacrificed some attacking threat, but offers an extra body both defensively and as an option to give the ball to in our third/middle of the park.

 

[seanwhite1961]

Lloris - 7

Walker - 6

Dawson - 6

Vertonghen - 7

Naughton - 6

Dembele - 7

Paulinho - 6

Eriksen - 6

Townsend - 7

Sigurdsson - 7

Soldado - 6

Subs:

Chadli - 5
Holtby - 7
Defoe - 6

 

[ilikeost]

Did soldado play?

Yes, got an assist aswell.

 

[idontgetit]

If only we'd already played that exact system against a midfield of tricky, possession footballers - at their ground no less - and seen the exact opposite eh?

I have literally no idea which game you are talking about? Arsenal we lost without scoring a single goal and Swansea was at home?

 

[mpickard2087]

It was a game tailor made for him and for games against Chelsea, United, City et al we absolutely need to go 433 and have a triumvirate of Dembele/Sandro/Paulinho/Capoue - any permeatation of these.

It was also inevitable that Chelsea would shut down the right hand side and sure enough they did and Townsend hardly had a kick second half which is exasperated by having Siggy in front of Naughton down the left. We should have switched Townsend to the left and brought on Lamela for Siggy down the right but there didn't seem to be much tactical nous in our subs today or certainty not enough to counter Mourinho's tactics and take the momentum away from them.

Yep I agree, these games for me are 'don't lose' matches where a draw is fine and we go with 4-3-3 to give us better control, but possibly slightly less attacking options. We have already seen the signs that we can be an efficient machine and hoover up the points in the other games against lower teams, where 4-2-3-1 can come into play.

 

[Misfit]

I have literally no idea which game you are talking about? Arsenal we lost without scoring a single goal and Swansea was at home?

We controlled the assnal game. What we were missing in that game was Holtby, Eriksen and Lamela in the final third to give us that creativity. We certainly weren't under the pump defensively though. We won the ball time and time again only to have the attacking players create virtually nothing until the final 5 minutes.

Our FBs did get caught on the counter though.

If that middle 3 could replicate that much possession again, especially the early ball they won, and give it to the likes of Eriksen and Lamela to do something with in the final 3rd, we'd be laughing, imo.

 

[OmarsComing]

You're meant to judge based on the game today. 4 for Naughton is fucking well harsh and I'm by no means a fan of him as a player.

4 is below average, which he was.

As was Dawson

Soldado was average for himself, but way below what we had expected.

 

[Chris_D]

Probably Dembele who I'd been critical of earlier in the season so glad to see he's back to his best. Paulinho was good too as was Lloris but maybe Dawson and Soldado won't be so pleased. I have been tempted to give Lamela a go to see if he could pull anything off for us. Honestly though a draw isn't bad and I'd have taken that this time yesterday.

 

[Bulletspur]

Bit harsh on AVB, was obviously we were losing the ball quite a bit in the second half so brought Chadli on hoping his physical presence would help hold up play, Defoe was needed and actually shouldve gotten the second goal but was too weak, and Holtby for Eriksen was right call since Eriksen went missing in 2nd half.. Agree with EnfieldYiddo's ratings though

Harsh my arsh?! Sandro should have come on the minute Mata came on and started to dictate play. Chelsea is not Cardiff.

 

[radkovic]

I'd give Naughton a five. He didn't do anything special or anything wrong. Didn't even had the chance to. Mainly because Vertonghen and Siggy spent a good proportion of the match covering his area of play.