Ratings vs Southampton

[kursaal]

Dier with two assists and another couple of good crosses. Are you watching Kyle Walker?

 

[Jamturk]

Kane looks (and has since the England game) dead on his feet. That U-21 tournament can do one

Last week as well?

 

[Bus-Conductor]

The Battle for Middle Earth

That's the only one we are really winning. We are a very decent side in the middle third of the pitch. We had the best midfielder on the pitch in Bentaleb today, and I really don't get the overt criticism of Mason either. These two made 83 and 82 passes respectively (twice as many as Schniederlin, Soton's most prolific passer), Mason made more tackles than anyone on the pitch (6) and both covered shit loads of ground.

Mason's not perfect, but his performance today was pretty decent for a CM, away from home to a top 6 team. It really isn't our CM's fault that the players ahead and behind them do some inanely stupid things.

I am incredibly disappointed by Pochettino's selections. Yedlin is an international RB who's played in front of decent crowds for his MLS team and at the world cup against germany. This is not a completely green kid who is likely to be a rabbit in the headlights of the St Mary's crowd. He would have given us pace and width, the chance to get behind their defence and deliver balls to Kane, and would have given Bertrand a lot more to think about. It would have created space for Lamela and made choices for their defenders more difficult. Instead, by playing Dier we were unbelievably predictable and easy to defend against. We didn't get behind their defence once in the whole game, and I know Dier will get assists for the two goals but I think we were very fortunate to score the first (a cross that came in from in front of the defence) and the second was really poor defending/goalkeeping. And defensively, Dier really struggled to stop players toeing past him and getting crosses in. I also think Dier is a better CB than Fazio so tactically it was such a poor decision all ends up.

It's very easy to get fucking frustrated by games like today (and god knows I did), but we have to accept that Southampton are possibly the best organised side in the EPL, and without the ball are so much better than the sum of their parts. Certainly better than we are without the ball.

But even with that said, we really do make things hard for ourselves. Chadli is unbelievably frustrating. Capable of producing moments of really quality and productivity, but also capable of wasting situations with a poor touch, a stupid decision or poor execution. I can understand why he's picked, he produces, but for me I'd have him as a back up striker or wide striker in a 433.

The wait for Eriksen to produce something incisive goes on and this was probably his poorest game for quite some time.

Davies had a mare, all he had to do was clear the ball or even just toe it back to Lloris (which is why I think Lloris stood back) instead he dithered, tried to shield it and got fucked up the arse.

And for the second week running Fazio gets done by the only kind of ball you'd pick him to defend. I'm pretty sure Dier would have got some kind of challenge in for both Benteke's and Pelle's.

The substitutions were equally uninspiring, surely Yedlin had to come on.

I terms of the football we are playing, it's not bad, our approach play is pretty decent, but without the ball we are as bad as we were under Sherwood, and worse than under AVB. With 4 games to go, we have conceded 2 less goals than we did last season, including numerous slabbings.

And I a immensely disappointed that there was no Winks or Onomah on the bench.

I'm extremely non plussed.

Individual stuff:

Lloris - A couple of great saves, good to have him back.

Dier - Credit for the two assists, but I think he is a poor RB and we suffer greatly tactically with him their in all ways.

Dawzio - The improbable fruit of Michael Dawson's dad's Buenos Aires holiday encounter with a member of the Argentinian women's olympic beac volleyball team. Game but ponderous.

Vertonghen - Decent game for the most part.

Davies - Didn't know much about his strengths before we signed him. Still don't. Poor game, but I guess coming in for the odd game isn't going to help.

Mason - Decent game, worked his nuts off, saw plenty of the ball.

Bentaleb - Another very accomplished performance.

Lamela - As ever, worked hard, tried to get involved but produced very little of consequence. And I thought he was unusually found wanting defensively today.

Eriksen - As ever, involved in much, but really uninspiring with the ball and a bit weak without it.

Chadli - As ever, very frustrating. A couple of good moments, including the goal, but many annoying moments too.

Kane - Southampton are well drilled defensively and our creative inadequacy doesn't help, but he wasn't great either.

 

[Bulletspur]

@GodGomes You can WTF my post all you want but its interesting to see that the five out field players I gave any credit are the only ones being voted for MOM

 

[Archibald&Crooks]

While I agree I do not know if you are being sarcastic or not

No, I meant it.

 

[southlondonyiddo]

Nabil - Different Gravy

 

[fortworthspur]

first game Ive watched in a month and we look the same. Only 5 or 6 players out there today that I enjoy seeing as regular starters. sadly, we are lacking in quality and 6th is about right.

Dier MOTM for me.
Bentaleb very good, too.

 

[For the love of Spurs]

Lloris 7.5 - lovely save or two
Dier 8 - set up two goals out of position and overall top class.
Fazio 6.5 - would have given a higher score but for getting totally done for the second goal
Vertonghen 6.5 - typical verts good with the ball but dodgy without it
Davies 4 - bad injury but was poor today
Mason 6 - slip up on the wet pitch but ok performance
Bentaleb 7.5 - class again
Chadli 6 - credit for the goals and some play, needs to link better though
Eriksen 5.5 - not able to impose himself
Lamela 6.5 - frustrating but kind of good
Kane 6 - not sure why people are voting so low for Kane, some great hold up play under pressure and given absolutley no service

Dembele 7 - need him to start offer greater physical prescence and hold up play
Soldado NET
Vlad NET

 

[DaSpurs]

Lloris 7.5
Dier 7.5
Fazio 6.5
Vertonghen 6.5
Davies 5
Mason 5.5
Bentaleb 7.5
Chadli 7
Eriksen 4
Lamela 7
Kane 4

Dembele 6.5
Soldado NET
Vlad NET

Agreed exactly, and I just noticed your signature for the first time

 

[fortworthspur]

we'd be better if Dembele was in the central 3. Either Mason or Ericksen need to make way.

 

[For the love of Spurs]

we'd be better if Dembele was in the central 3. Either Mason or Ericksen need to make way.

Mason plays further back so it would be Eriksen moved to the left. I get your point though, Eriksen gets bullied in the central role I think while Dembele doesn't score goals he offer power and hold up play that none of the other front three have and we kind of look more balanced when he is on.

 

[Atarrier]

Been on travelling for 5 months now so first game I've seen since the cup final. My thoughts are more with the people for Nepal as met a lot of people who were there are if it wasn't for a last minute decision I would have been there to. sorry if this seems odd but I have a relatively small outlet for the emotions I'm feeling, but I digress. Recently I've been relying purely on you brilliant lot for supplying me with a player by player analysis for each game. So today I got my first chance to see what you were talking about. And it's helping me take my mind of it until I've found out more (4 out of 19 friends have reported they are safe).
Bentaleb was brilliant in my opinion seems to float with the ball at his feet. So calm under pressure. I can see why he's gained such recent praise from you lot even if the media never seem to realise it.
Fazio seemed fairly solid enjoyed some of his last ditch tackles.
And Verts was doing an alright job.
Lamela if you ignore his price tag seemed to do well and he doesn't half try.
First time I've seen Kane play for a while as mentioned but he seemed pretty well dealt with.
Eriksen had some nice flicks at time but seemed to lack a decent through ball. Which I think someone brought up last game.
Dier did well with crossing on his go for Chadli was great but lacks that instinct to overlap.
Chadli as you guys have said before dips in and out games but seems this time he scored and fair play it was a great goal.
Davies was awful in my mind. Lack that defensive solidity we bought him for.
Mason seems to try very hard but did a Stevie G and is sloppy with instances of nice play.
Mane ran our back for riot and Pelle was brilliant at holding the ball and fair play to Bertrand and ward-prowse
Overall raitings:
Loris-8
Dier-7
Davies-4
Verts-7
Fazio-7
Bentaleb-8.5
Mason-6
Eriksen-6
Chadli-6
Lamela-7
Kane-6
Dembele-6
Soldado-6
Chirches-6.5

 

[gp13tot]

Lloris 5

Dier 7
Davies 3 awful
Verts 6
Fazio 7

Mason 6
Bentaleb 8
Chadli 6
Lamela 6
Eriksen 5

Kane 4

 

[L-man]

Agreed exactly, and I just noticed your signature for the first time

Haha just a laugh. Glad you've taken it well

 

[davidmatzdorf]

Lloris 6.5 - Good saves, dodgy distribution

Dier 7.5 - Playing out of position and occasionally got beaten for crosses, but defended well otherwise, delivered some superb crosses himself and was involved in our goals - joint MotM

Fazio 5.5 - Should have been a good rating, but getting beaten to that header by Pelle was Not Good. What is Fazio there for, if not to win headers against physical strikers?

Vertonghen 5.5 - Failed to organise the defence, which looked chronically chaotic today, in great contrast to Southampton's tight team defending. We have a team full of good defenders who defend badly as a group. Vertonghen is supposed to be their leader, but he isn't.

Davies 4 - You can't fuck up twice that badly and get a good rating. Unimpressive throughout and now presumably out for the season.

Mason 6.5 - Good performance, featuring a lot of passes and a lot of tackles. That slip looked negligent, until 6 other players also slipped during the course of the match. Overwatered pitch? Wrong studs? Whatever, it plainly wasn't Mason.

Bentaleb 7.5 - Very good yet again, coordinating our midfield and spinning the ball all over the pitch. Joint MotM.

Chadli 6.5 - Pretty decent; extra half point for the precise finish.

Eriksen 6 - OK-ish for much of the match, but lacking inspiration when it counted and unable to get the ball anywhere near Kane. Smothered by Southampton's expert defensive organisation.

Lamela 6.5 - Did well; rarely dribbled into trouble, got a jammy goal, but got into position to earn his jam. Could have tracked back better during the first half, but otherwise a good day.

Kane 5.5 - Hard day at the office. No service, marshalled well by the Southampton defence, didn't really get a sniff until the last 20 minutes. Played much of the game in midfield to get on the ball, but lacked penetration.


Dembélé 6.5 - Controlled possession well, but lacked inspiration as usual.

Soldado 5.5 - Didn't get much time, but over-hit the only key pass he could have made.

Chiriches 6 - Not clear why he was chosen in preference to Yedlin. The insertion of Soldado indicated that Pochettino wanted to win the match, so why not put in a fast, attacking right back when you are forced to reorganise the defence? Chiriches did OK out of position, but it was a thankless task.


The class act of that game was the Southampton back four. It was an object lesson in the difference between an organised defence that works well as group (them) and a collection of talented defenders who cannot maintain the correct shape, are prone to Keystone Kops moments and always look as if they are defending at the last ditch, even when they have 20 seconds to set themselves up (us).

EDIT: Oh yes: a special mention for Mané. I counted seven definite dives. He got away with every bloody one. Very inattentive referee.

 

[double0]

Lloris 6.5 - Good saves, dodgy distribution

Dier 7.5 - Playing out of position and occasionally got beaten for crosses, but defended well otherwise, delivered some superb crosses himself and was involved in our goals - joint MotM

Fazio 5.5 - Should have been a good rating, but getting beaten to that header by Pelle was Not Good. What is Fazio there for, if not to win headers against physical strikers?

Vertonghen 5.5 - Failed to organise the defence, which looked chronically chaotic today, in great contrast to Southampton's tight team defending. We have a team full of good defenders who defend badly as a group. Vertonghen is supposed to be their leader, but he isn't.

Davies 4 - You can't fuck up twice that badly and get a good rating. Unimpressive throughout and now presumably out for the season.

Mason 6.5 - Good performance, featuring a lot of passes and a lot of tackles. That slip looked negligent, until 6 other players also slipped during the course of the match. Overwatered pitch? Wrong studs? Whatever, it plainly wasn't Mason.

Bentaleb 7.5 - Very good yet again, coordinating our midfield and spinning the ball all over the pitch. Joint MotM.

Chadli 6.5 - Pretty decent; extra half point for the precise finish.

Eriksen 6 - OK-ish for much of the match, but lacking inspiration when it counted and unable to get the ball anywhere near Kane. Smothered by Southampton's expert defensive organisation.

Lamela 6.5 - Did well; rarely dribbled into trouble, got a jammy goal, but got into position to earn his jam. Could have tracked back better during the first half, but otherwise a good day.

Kane 5.5 - Hard day at the office. No service, marshalled well by the Southampton defence, didn't really get a sniff until the last 20 minutes. Played much of the game in midfield to get on the ball, but lacked penetration.


Dembélé 6.5 - Controlled possession well, but lacked inspiration as usual.

Soldado 5.5 - Didn't get much time, but over-hit the only key pass he could have made.

Chiriches 6 - Not clear why he was chosen in preference to Yedlin. The insertion of Soldado indicated that Pochettino wanted to win the match, so why not put in a fast, attacking right back when you are forced to reorganise the defence? Chiriches did OK out of position, but it was a thankless task.


The class act of that game was the Southampton back four. It was an object lesson in the difference between an organised defence that works well as group (them) and a collection of talented defenders who cannot maintain the correct shape, are prone to Keystone Kops moments and always look as if they are defending at the last ditch, even when they have 20 seconds to set themselves up (us).

They still conceded two goals to Tottenham

 

[tooey]

Excellent - Bentaleb, Dier
good - Fazio, Lamela, Chadli, Dembele
average - Vertonghen, Mason, Lloris
poor - Kane, Eriksen
bad - Davies

I keep banging the drum but I really despise the Mason/Bentaleb combo.

 

[double0]

Excellent - Bentaleb, Dier
good - Fazio, Lamela, Chadli, Dembele
average - Vertonghen, Mason, Lloris
poor - Kane, Eriksen
bad - Davies

I keep banging the drum but I really despise the Mason/Bentaleb combo.

Do you think Schderlinen will be a good addition If we went for him?

 

[fortworthspur]

Excellent - Bentaleb, Dier
good - Fazio, Lamela, Chadli, Dembele
average - Vertonghen, Mason, Lloris
poor - Kane, Eriksen
bad - Davies

I keep banging the drum but I really despise the Mason/Bentaleb combo.[/QUOTE]

Indeed. If Poch gets the players he wants I expect to see much less of Mason.

 

[yankspurs]

The Battle for Middle Earth

That's the only one we are really winning. We are a very decent side in the middle third of the pitch. We had the best midfielder on the pitch in Bentaleb today, and I really don't get the overt criticism of Mason either. These two made 83 and 82 passes respectively (twice as many as Schniederlin, Soton's most prolific passer), Mason made more tackles than anyone on the pitch (6) and both covered shit loads of ground.

Mason's not perfect, but his performance today was pretty decent for a CM, away from home to a top 6 team. It really isn't our CM's fault that the players ahead and behind them do some inanely stupid things.

I am incredibly disappointed by Pochettino's selections. Yedlin is an international RB who's played in front of decent crowds for his MLS team and at the world cup against germany. This is not a completely green kid who is likely to be a rabbit in the headlights of the St Mary's crowd. He would have given us pace and width, the chance to get behind their defence and deliver balls to Kane, and would have given Bertrand a lot more to think about. It would have created space for Lamela and made choices for their defenders more difficult. Instead, by playing Dier we were unbelievably predictable and easy to defend against. We didn't get behind their defence once in the whole game, and I know Dier will get assists for the two goals but I think we were very fortunate to score the first (a cross that came in from in front of the defence) and the second was really poor defending/goalkeeping. And defensively, Dier really struggled to stop players toeing past him and getting crosses in. I also think Dier is a better CB than Fazio so tactically it was such a poor decision all ends up.

It's very easy to get fucking frustrated by games like today (and god knows I did), but we have to accept that Southampton are possibly the best organised side in the EPL, and without the ball are so much better than the sum of their parts. Certainly better than we are without the ball.

But even with that said, we really do make things hard for ourselves. Chadli is unbelievably frustrating. Capable of producing moments of really quality and productivity, but also capable of wasting situations with a poor touch, a stupid decision or poor execution. I can understand why he's picked, he produces, but for me I'd have him as a back up striker or wide striker in a 433.

The wait for Eriksen to produce something incisive goes on and this was probably his poorest game for quite some time.

Davies had a mare, all he had to do was clear the ball or even just toe it back to Lloris (which is why I think Lloris stood back) instead he dithered, tried to shield it and got fucked up the arse.

And for the second week running Fazio gets done by the only kind of ball you'd pick him to defend. I'm pretty sure Dier would have got some kind of challenge in for both Benteke's and Pelle's.

The substitutions were equally uninspiring, surely Yedlin had to come on.

I terms of the football we are playing, it's not bad, our approach play is pretty decent, but without the ball we are as bad as we were under Sherwood, and worse than under AVB. With 4 games to go, we have conceded 2 less goals than we did last season, including numerous slabbings.

And I a immensely disappointed that there was no Winks or Onomah on the bench.

I'm extremely non plussed.

Individual stuff:

Lloris - A couple of great saves, good to have him back.

Dier - Credit for the two assists, but I think he is a poor RB and we suffer greatly tactically with him their in all ways.

Dawzio - The improbable fruit of Michael Dawson's dad's Buenos Aires holiday encounter with a member of the Argentinian women's olympic beac volleyball team. Game but ponderous.

Vertonghen - Decent game for the most part.

Davies - Didn't know much about his strengths before we signed him. Still don't. Poor game, but I guess coming in for the odd game isn't going to help.

Mason - Decent game, worked his nuts off, saw plenty of the ball.

Bentaleb - Another very accomplished performance.

Lamela - As ever, worked hard, tried to get involved but produced very little of consequence. And I thought he was unusually found wanting defensively today.

Eriksen - As ever, involved in much, but really uninspiring with the ball and a bit weak without it.

Chadli - As ever, very frustrating. A couple of good moments, including the goal, but many annoying moments too.

Kane - Southampton are well drilled defensively and our creative inadequacy doesn't help, but he wasn't great either.

Completely agree with you regarding DIer. He really didnt play well today at all defensively. He let everything go by him in the first half, and if Saints had anyone in the box, they would have had 2 or 3 goals from his side, at the very least. He was responsible for multiple crosses and sitters that they had. Mind boggling to me that everyone thought he did well today. If it werent for his assists, I would have given him a 5.

Dont agree on Mason. He was poor today, I thought and does nothing to help shield the defense. Him and Davies were directly responsible for their 1st goal also.

Lamela played well today and was clearly our best player in attack.

Regarding Yedlin, he should have started, IMO, but I understood not starting him. However, when Davies got hurt, it was a fucking stupid decision to bring on Vlad and to me, was one of the worst subs I've seen Poch make in a string of shitty ones, mind you. It was a great opportunity to create more space for Lamela and also give Kane more chances to score. All he had to do was bring on Yedlin, and move Dier, Fazio and Verts over one. Yedlin's pace would have stretched the defense and attracted attention opening up space for him to operate, and also Yedlin lays in good crosses. It would have been a great ambitious sub that had good potential to be a game changer. But, alas, Poch bottled it.