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Ratings vs Chelsea

MOTM

  • Lloris

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Walker

    Votes: 1 0.2%
  • Toby

    Votes: 5 1.0%
  • Verts

    Votes: 7 1.5%
  • Dier

    Votes: 1 0.2%
  • Rose

    Votes: 8 1.7%
  • Wanyama

    Votes: 240 50.2%
  • Dembele

    Votes: 2 0.4%
  • Eriksen

    Votes: 70 14.6%
  • Dele

    Votes: 98 20.5%
  • Kane

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Winks

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Sissoko

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Son

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • All Deserved

    Votes: 46 9.6%
  • None Deserved

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Undecided

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    478

Mr Pink

SC Supporter
Aug 25, 2010
54,770
99,328
Moses should have been sent off. Fouled Kane from behind but the ref bottled it and played the advantage. His 5th foul at least and in these crazy modern times of a non contact sport he should have gone

They took him off less than 5mins later but due to the refs incompetence he should already have been having an early bath

Totally agree mate, said as much in the match thread this morning when Bobbins was saying Atkinson had a good game, he missed fecking plenty.
 

SixtyFour

Well-Known Member
May 20, 2008
232
612
Magnificent. Still basking in that the evening after. 8's all round, 9's for action man Victor and deadly Dele. Can we stop calling him a midfielder yet? If he's a midfielder then Gareth Bale's a left back. He's an attacker, a co-striker, the two of of the two in an old fashioned four-four-two. One of the great things about the 3 at-the-backery is the way it has solved the Alli conundrum.

9.01 for Christian Eriksen. He is a joy to watch, his 360 degree awareness of the shape of the game around him is just top class, buying him pockets of time and space to deliver the pass he has long since seen....
 
Last edited:

monkeynick

Well-Known Member
Sep 3, 2007
1,244
2,255
Read virtually every post in this thread so can't respond in any semblance of order to bits and bobs that I'd like to so it's scattergun time.



The Ref was very good but might, just might, be bumming (or being bummed by) Moses (Victor not the one with the parting)

Vertonghen is having a standout season

I feel so bad about how much we paid for Wanyama I'm setting up a just giving page to Southampton

It's so great that Eriksen has returned to form, his ability to control the ball quickly under pressure is unrivalled in our squad and buys us so much time and is vital. Then there's the goals and assists, my MOTM

I'd still like to fight Cesc Fabregas in a pub car park - you know where to find me!

I don't understand Dele Alli, he looks a like he's always about to lose the ball or fall over (which he does quite a lot) but then just pops up and scores? It must be really easy, why don't more footballers just do the last bit the losers?

Mopo is the real deal, he improved us but now he's improved himself and in turn improved the team again, please let this continue.

The rest has been said
 

worcestersauce

"I'm no optimist I'm just a prisoner of hope
Jan 23, 2006
26,891
45,039
I'll give MoTM TO Victor Wanyama because he did what he did so well and he did it all over the park, close run thing though with, well, every other player to be honest.
Watched Toby in front of me in the second half and quite honestly he is immense, he just dominates the entire defence and the entire opposition attack as well and he does it without seeming to work up a sweat, he is absolutely world class.
 

Shadydan

Well-Known Member
Jul 7, 2012
38,247
104,143
Maturing Nicely

I said at half time that was a really good half of football. Two well balanced teams, tactically proficient and well set up, making for a really tight tussle, no quarter given, but not in a reckless hell for leather way, more like watching speed chess, or an Italian league game from about 25 years ago. We were the team taking the initiative, moving the ball better, constantly probing but Chelsea were that well drilled machine who always carried menace, not allowing us to get carried away, and to our credit we never did, it was tactically a superb and mature performance. And that's the most pleasing aspect, as it was immaturity and naivety that saw us come unstuck the last two times we played them, at heavy cost.

I guess this would be called a 3421 in the playbook, but watching it and looking at the position matrix, I'd call it more a 313111 that played out more like this:

Dier-------TA--------JV
Wanyama-----
Walker-------Dembele-----Rose
Eriksen---------------
----------------Alli
Kane
And it was tactically superb, Chelsea never got to grips with it. Our young coach went toe to toe with one of the best coaches in Europe, and came out on top.

Considering who we were playing, how strong they are tactically and what was at stake, the tensions this fixture carried, that first 45 minutes has to rank very, very highly in the Pochettino Oeuvre. This isn't a side that allows you to tear them apart, to try and do so would have been folly, they are designed for anything but that to happen, but what we did do in that first half was suffocate, play and probe, we showed patience; it was a grown up performance that despite not having much goal mouth action was hugely impressive and was thoroughly gripping throughout.

Also impressive was the phase after we scored our second goal, where instead of thinking "oh fuck we're two up, lets shell" Wanyama and Eriksen just kept us playing football and we just smothered any come back momentum at the embryonic stage.

I have to doff my cap to Poch, for much of last and the start of this season I was saying that he has to be more flexible tactically. After a couple of games of watching Wanyama, I said he was a player who could facilitate this, and tonight was the best evidence of that against the best possible test. He was fucking outstanding tonight, he was a voracious animal, hunting, gathering with a dynamism that none of our other CM's can match. The first half his tenacity was always initiating offensive actions, the second half it was breaking up Chelsea's momentum, unflustered, he also footballed his (and our) way cooly out of trouble at times with a panache under pressure that was a joy to watch.

Eriksen is so under rated, not just by some spurs fans, but by football's fanfare machine too. This guy is only bettered creatively over the last couple of years by players like Hazard and Ozil (and Payet last year), but none of those come anywhere close to having the metronomic influence that he has on team performances. None of the other players of his ilk in this league get through so much of the ball, work all over the pitch, like a CM/AM hybrid. This was another masterclass from Eriksen, and he's not a flat track bully either, he does it in the big games too, none bigger than tonight, and he delivered, the industry, conducting play then providing the two moments of precision that put the opposition to the sword.

I thought Vertonghen was also superb tonight, and is having a really good season, probably his best (he's always been a bit under rated too IMO) in his Spurs career. He set the tempo early on with a steaming interception and then carrying the ball forward and was authoritative throughout. He's been our best CB all season, even when TA has been playing.

Pochettino deserves the biggest credit though. This was yet another feather in his managerial cap. Few coaches manage to combine being good coaches and tactically proficient. We've seen the evidence of Poch's coaching ability. I've been watching Spurs for nearly 50 years and he's the first coach we've had (maybe bar Pleaty for a year) who has this team consistently and habitually doing the ugly stuff, and doing it cohesively, playing like a team without the ball as well as with it. But this season he's adding tactical variety to that coached ethos and has now added the scalp of Conte to Guardiola's. This is my favourite Spurs side of any I've watched, and we are what we are entirely because of him. And despite calling the flaws and errors (as I see them) let me make this clear, he is the best coach I've seen at this club.

Individual

Lloris - Not loads to do. Still wish he wouldn't scare us every game with at least one or two dodgy kick outs.

Walker - Not so great first half, coughed up the ball a couple of times sloppily, but got better and had a decent game defensively.

Dier - Good game.

TA - Good game.

Vertonghen - Excellent game, best CB on the pitch tonight.

Rose - He didn't deliver much in terms of actual attacking quality or product but nights like tonight you just love his feistyness and dynamism, it sets a tempo, adds a delicious friction that unsettles the opposition, gets the crowd going, and you know he's fucking up for it and it makes the night crackle. Good game.

Wanyama - Fucking marvellous. 90 minutes of cool headed rapacity. MOTM 1

Dembele - He had a couple of moments but was a little bit disappointing. This was a tough game to come back to, and I think he just always seemed a little bit off the pace, still did a couple of decent things and was generally robust defensively but second half seemed to be reduced to a slow amble in deeper areas.

Eriksen - He did bottle a challenge early on, but after that was outstanding, like a little maestro, popping up wherever a pocket of oxygen appeared, always available, deep areas, middle of the pitch and forward areas. Two delicious balls for the goals. MOTM 2

Alli - I thought this was his best game of the season. Not because he contributed loads and loads all over the pitch, he didn't, and he's not going to, but he was efficient tonight, much less of the silly bollocks and more concentration on doing what he's best at, which is keeping it simple and ghosting into the box from hard to pick up positions, and he finished his chances with aplomb. That first goal was real class, harder than whacking a volley from 20 yards. He also worked better without the ball tonight as well. Good game.

Kane - Got to be honest, he wasn't wanting for effort but, footballing wise, he was really poor tonight. Like he was playing in flippers.

You, BC are ironically the Dele Alli of SC, sometimes you write beautiful pieces like this and can show a complete masterclass then there's other times you show your lack of consistency and you bumble about with your posts.

Keep it up, more of vintage Dele please ;)
 

Ionman34

SC Supporter
Jun 1, 2011
7,182
16,793
I'll give MoTM TO Victor Wanyama because he did what he did so well and he did it all over the park, close run thing though with, well, every other player to be honest.
Watched Toby in front of me in the second half and quite honestly he is immense, he just dominates the entire defence and the entire opposition attack as well and he does it without seeming to work up a sweat, he is absolutely world class.

Interesting when you think about it, Lloris is already considered World class, Toby and Jan are amongst the best CB pairings in Europe, World class? I'd say so. Danny Rose is being regularly compared to Marcelo and is, IMO, in the top 5 fullbacks in Europe... World class. Walker is a bit marmite for many, but I don't think you could name many more than 5 RB's in the game as better than him currently. Borderline World class?
Dier is the one I'm not totally sure about. Undoubted quality, but potentially World class, I'm not convinced... Yet.
Wanyama is up there with the best DM's in the game atm, World class?
Dembele, displayed the best cm stats in Europe last season and seems to be gradually getting back to his best. In all honesty, he's not WC for me but is close to it when in form.
Harry Kane? Already there AFAIAC. Another 20+ season in the offing underlines that.
Eriksen? Not yet for me, though he is on the cusp and I enjoy watching him play more than probably any other Spurs player.
Then there's Alli. He has a way to go yet, but if he continues his learning curve then he will be the best of the bunch.

Finally Poch. All of the above is, I believe, primarily due to him. You can have all the talent in the World, but you need a coach to fulfil it and instill the required mindset. He too is in the fledgling stages of his managerial career and constantly shows that he is evolving. Of him I have no doubt that the tag "World class" is destined.

No doubt there will be disagreement and I accept that. I'll be interested to see the counter argument and, more pertinently, the reasoning.
 

dontsalebale

Active Member
May 12, 2011
441
571
And @THFCSPURS19

I think there's a tendency after a game like this to want to see positives everywhere, but if you want to know why Kanté had a poor game you should be watching Wanyama not Dembele. Dembele did not dominate that midfield, Wanyama and Eriksen did. If you're going to chuck numbers at me, then Wanyama made 9 ball recoveries to Dembele's 5, 5 tackles to Dembele's 3, 2 interceptions to Dembele's 0 and received the ball 36 times and passed it 44 to Dembele's 30 and 31. And Dembele noticeably faded and was labouring second half (12 passes and 0 tackles). Wanyama was relentless and when Chelsea did have more of the ball second half he didn't fade.

Wanyama gave Dembele the platform to actually do more than he did, but Dembele didn't grasp the nettle, instead played largely safe and within himself. Not terrible but not wonderful and certainly not dominant and not influential with the ball either.
Considering dembele was on 20 minuites less than Vic those numbers are disingenuous at best...................................
 

eddiev14

SC Supporter
Jan 18, 2005
7,173
19,679
One day I'll stop worrying about Wanyama getting a yellow card in the first half! :)

To play such a disciplined game, with such control, for over half the match after picking up a booking was absolutely superb, and that's not the first time he's had to do that this season.

In terms of MOTM, it really should be the team as a unit.

However, I voted for Dele Alli.

To find two brilliant finishes like that in such a tight, important game - without panicking or snatching at the chances - shows incredible composure for a player so young.

He was the difference.
 

eddiev14

SC Supporter
Jan 18, 2005
7,173
19,679
Had a look on ToffeeTalk.

A few compliments for Dembele, and a bit of a debate about how good Kane is. Basically one poster used last night's performance to say he's not that good and another bloke jumped in to tell him he was talking shit.

Generally complimentary about us and they dislike Chelsea and Liverpool so in my book that makes them a good bunch! :)
 

Bus-Conductor

SC Supporter
Oct 19, 2004
39,837
50,713
Considering dembele was on 20 minuites less than Vic those numbers are disingenuous at best...................................

Dembele was on for 74 minutes - In that time Wanyama made 41/46 passes, received the ball 36 times, 5 successful tackles, 1 interception, 7 ball recoveries. So put those stats against Dembele's and you still have pretty similar superiority in terms of those stats.
 

Bulletspur

The Reasonable Advocate
Match Thread Admin
Oct 17, 2006
10,690
25,246
One day I'll stop worrying about Wanyama getting a yellow card in the first half! :)

To play such a disciplined game, with such control, for over half the match after picking up a booking was absolutely superb, and that's not the first time he's had to do that this season.

In terms of MOTM, it really should be the team as a unit.

However, I voted for Dele Alli.

To find two brilliant finishes like that in such a tight, important game - without panicking or snatching at the chances - shows incredible composure for a player so young.

He was the difference.
I gave MOTM to him over Wanyama for the exact reason! (y)
 

KILLA_SIN

Well-Known Member
May 24, 2008
7,808
14,449
At some point the penny will drop for the pundits that it isn't coincidence that every team we play is deemed to play badly. We aren't just having a great run of luck where teams play badly against us in the midst of playing well. We are making teams look bad. Annoys the hell out of me that supposed experts can't see this.

Souness did sort of say that last night, that we were the best team that they have played and that we didn't let them play.

Also on another, note I think the Utd game last season, City this season and Chelsea last night are some of our best results because we have done it with clean sheets. Which a couple of seasons a go even though we beat the top sides we couldn't do it while keeping a clean sheet. And a couple of other things I picked up on last night neither Tyler or Smith ever said that Chelsea could get back in the game, In the 5-3 victory even at 4-2 the commentators kept remarking that Chelsea could still win but last night they didn't say that once and around the 80th minute Alderweireld went charging up the pitch and Tyler said that it was good because previous Spurs sides use to get too cautious and Smith said that it was quietest he had seen Costa in a long time and 'that it was all down to that Tottenham defence'. I got the impression from the Pundits, Commentators they had markedly more respect for us especially as it was when Chelsea were in top form, top of the league on a record run and fully fit.
 
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