Vertonghen MOTM
Anyone who thinks he wasn't, can lick my balls.
They're salty.
Don't understand the slagging of Chadli. Was at the game and he seemed for large parts to be our only attacking outlet. Dembele on the other hand did what he normally does and slow it all down and doesn't get forward enough to play in that position.
We were dominant through most of the match and should have won 2-0, but very good Everton defending and poor shooting cost us 2 points.
People tend to notice defensive mistakes, of which here were very few (Everton's only ones leading to our two obvious spurned chances), but overall both teams' defences had a grip on the game, Everton defending deep and filling every gap, Spurs, largely thanks to a fine space-consuming performance by Dier, keeping the opposition attackers almost entirely out of our penalty area and in front of them. This is why we need to play with a controlling/defending/passing midfielder. If Dier continues to play like this, he may find himself in that role on a more permanent basis.
Lloris - 6.5 - not much to do; one fine save; erratic distribution
Walker - 6.5 - defended well, attacked sporadically
Vertonghen - 7 - good match, including one ambitious and impressive sortie forward
Alderweireld - 7 - similarly good match to Vertonghen - solid partnership
Rose - 7.5 - close to MotM, positionally sound, raiding effectively, tackling fiercely and always an outlet for Lloris
Dier - 8 - MotM - dominated large areas of the midfield, spent a great deal of time on the ball and used it wisely; he is learning that, as a DM, you have to confront the opposition, not wait for them to come on to you - this made a great deal of difference
Bentaleb - 6 - many good touches, but sometimes a good bit of play would be followed by lack of concentration
Chadli - 7 - the focus for all of our attacking play in the first half; faded somewhat after an hour
Mason - 7 - there were a lot of people moaning, in anticipation of the match that we would move the ball slowly, but we didn't, we were usually direct and fluent when an opportunity arose; much of the reason for this was Mason playing in an advanced position
Dembélé - 6 - before his injury, he did little wrong, but also spent little time in his notional position on the right, leading to all of our attacks coming up the opposite side, as Walker had no support and no one to overlap with - I only counted two occasions when I was calling out for him to pass the bloody ball, which is relatively few for Dembélé
Kane - 6.5 - did everything right except score - the fluffed one-on-one was a key moment early in the match - I knew it, the crowd knew it and Kane knew it - but his hold-up play and team work were exemplary
Alli - 7 - energetic and direct
Pritchard - NET
Subs
Correctly made
That was not hard!Bentaleb had his best game this season