Match Ratings Ratings vs Stoke City

[DenverSpur]

Winks MOM for being the most consistent over the 90 minutes but if Lamela had been in from the start might have been different.
Once again a distinct lack of intensity. We were slow on the ball, very static and easily knocked off the ball. For a club renown for playing stylish football it always amazes me how poor our passing is. Never seems to be in the path of the player, always slightly behind them which continually breaks up the flow of the move. Thought Dele did quite well but he, Sanchez,Doherty, Bale andLucas all looked rusty from a lack of recent game time. A less rusty Dele would have converted one of his chances.
Agree with Trix Dier was at fault for their goal. Totally out of position meaning Sanchez had to come over to cover for him leaving his side exposed. Very clear from this game why Jose has us playing the way he does. We are not defensively solid enough to go toe to toe against any half decent team.
It was good to see that some of the usual scapegoats made the telling contributions to the win:- Davies a goal( he’s been due one for some time, he’s got a shot on him) and Winks and Sissoko assists.
Why no VAR in this cup? Son was easily inside. I thought he was level with the defender nearest to him but was definitely behind the defender over on the right. Really poor decision.

 

[DannyNZ]

Winks gets my vote, solid performance and Looked to get us going forward. Lamela brought a bit of urgency that had been missing with Moura, Bale and Dele.

Stoke were poor and if they’d known how poor our defence was they might have pushed harder in the first half. not a great night for Dier who was wandering aimlessly for their goal and sprayed the ball around aimlessly. Doherty was competent and won a lot of high balls but otherwise largely irrelevant and could have done better on their goal. The list of honours for their goal is quite extensive from Dele through to Lloris.

Bale’s moment of magic was a taste of what could be if he can lift the intensity a few levels.

 

[SpursSince1980]

Winks MOM for being the most consistent over the 90 minutes but if Lamela had been in from the start might have been different.
Once again a distinct lack of intensity. We were slow on the ball, very static and easily knocked off the ball. For a club renown for playing stylish football it always amazes me how poor our passing is. Never seems to be in the path of the player, always slightly behind them which continually breaks up the flow of the move. Thought Dele did quite well but he, Sanchez,Doherty, Bale andLucas all looked rusty from a lack of recent game time. A less rusty Dele would have converted one of his chances.
Agree with Trix Dier was at fault for their goal. Totally out of position meaning Sanchez had to come over to cover for him leaving his side exposed. Very clear from this game why Jose has us playing the way he does. We are not defensively solid enough to go toe to toe against any half decent team.
It was good to see that some of the usual scapegoats made the telling contributions to the win:- Davies a goal( he’s been due one for some time, he’s got a shot on him) and Winks and Sissoko assists.
Why no VAR in this cup? Son was easily inside. I thought he was level with the defender nearest to him but was definitely behind the defender over on the right. Really poor decision.

Very much agree with this assesment. Winks took his chance well, and shows why maybe he should play alongside PEH in the middle when we play teams outside of the ‘top 6’. He adds a bit more vitality to the way we play, and in a rather dull, passive match, he showed determination and focus.

I still think Jose is struggling to get the balance right. Odd that he has tried a few formations, but seems to stay away from a 433. Or a variation thereof. Maybe it’s the players at his disposal. But at this rate, why not try it, and for that matter, I feel like Lamela could be converted into more of a midfielder. But, that is a very unlikely scenario.

Still seeing we have about 4 key roles we still to find a lot more consistency out of, and greater impact.

And yes, today, like the Foxes game really are standout examples, including a couple of our Euro group stages games, of why Jose goes ultra defensive... cos we fucking suck in defensive transition, because of a whole variety of reasons.

 

[TEESSIDE1]

Sorry, but that's just an agenda against Winks. Assist, another key pass, 55 forward passes from 77, 9/10 accurate long balls and from defensive perspective 1 interceptions, 2 clearances, 10 possessions gained, 2/2 aerial duels won

I’m not a fan of Winks but he played very well last night.

 

[Ionman34]

how about some actual ratings?

Lloris -6 - felt like he could have been better positioned for their goal. Outside of that he had little to do.

Doherty - 6 - I think he needs a solid run of games to shake off some rust. Was okay going forward. Was actually decent defensively, yet their goal...
Big Dav - 6 - Speaking about short on confidence. You can see he seems so hesitant on the ball in particular. Also couldn’t prevent Fletcher from winning every header once the latter came on.
Dier - 6 - He floundered a little bit. But overall did fine enough to keep them from dangerous areas. Distribution was erratic.
Davies - 7 - He gets the extra point for a lovely goal. But overall his game today was meh.

Winks - 7.5 (mom) - Had a solid game. And showed that when he is willing he can be more progressive with the ball. Sadly seemed to lose a bit of confidence in the 2nd half.
PEH - 6 - Needs a rest. Look puddled for much of the match. But even on an average day, he still sticks to his task well.

Dele - 6 - first half was really good. thought he showed more vim and vigor than some of our other attacking players.

Bale -6 - ok. Nice goal. But just does not seem to be able to get out of 2nd gear.
Lucas - 6 - handy at times. Seemed to be more comfortable on the left. but my lord, his first touch is laughable sometimes.
Kane - 6 - speaking of needing a rest. Apart from his goal, he looked shattered and isnt playing with much intensity.

subs

lamela - 7 - changed the tempo and gave us a shot of adrenaline
sissy - 6 - didn’t do much great, didn’t do much wrong either. Nice pass for Kane goal aside, he was very average.
sonny - 4 - was non existent.

TBF, Son should have been on the scoresheet. That disallowed goal was NOT offside.

 

[BringBack_leGin]

Lloris had very little to do, and if I was being harsh I’d say he was a little soft in the goal.

Doherty was solid, he was pulled out of position on their goal but perhaps he was screwed either way after the rest of the defence totally lost shape.

Dier won pretty much anything that came at him in the air and played a couple of nice cross field balls, but on the goal he stepped out to intercept and was left behind as a result, which started the domino effect of the defence being pulled out of shape.

Sanchez equally was poor on the goal, choosing to close down but then making a feeble attempt to stop the cross. Used his pace a couple of times to kill their balls over the top.

Davies scored an absolutely belter and overall provided decent width while being solid at the back. Was nowhere for the goal so I assume that the quick turnover left him caught upfield, therefore I’ll cut him some slack.

Højbjerg was our most involved midfielder on and off the ball as ever, but felt he dipped a little in his strength and dynamism. Hope he’s not getting fatigued after player pretty much every minute.

Winks made our opener with a nice pass and was lively off the ball, while in it he kept us ticking over well and gave us more zip than we’re used to in midfield.

Bale I thought was our best player first half, all our best attacks involved him making an intelligent pass of some sort (including starting the move for his own goal with some good hold up play) and his header was delicious. Both Dele and Kane had shots saved off the back of good link play from Bale. Our most involved attacker per 45 by far compared to those he started with and also Son’s second half.

Dele did well, was unlucky not to score forcing two good saves. Movement good, timing good, execution a bit off. Silly flick to set them off for their goal when we were on the attack but really hard to pin out on him in my opinion, that’s what you have a defence for.

Lucas was our worst player in my opinion, I barely noticed him and felt that with Davies behind him he should’ve been more forward thinking than he was. Don’t know what’s going on with him.

Kane actually did little, apart from put it on a plate for Dele (saved) and Son (wrongly called offside) and score a really lovely goal himself which showed both strength and skill. Any other striker we’d say ‘wow’ so I guess I should be encouraged that he didn’t leave first gear, barely got involved and still had that impact.

Son was ok, not overly involved but scored a lovely goal which was clearly wrongfully ruled out.

Sissoko improved us, we didn’t seem to concede another attack after he came on, he got involved up pitch and showed some skill too, and his pass for Kane’s goal was very well weighted.

Lamela likewise improved us. A typical Lamela half hour really, some good link up, great pressing and almost caused a fight.

 

[mumfordspur]

Thanks to all of you who actually put up ratings and a little summary.
I didnt see the game and it is interesting to hear people's opinions

 

[SpursSince1980]

Lloris had very little to do, and if I was being harsh I’d say he was a little soft in the goal.

Doherty was solid, he was pulled out of position on their goal but perhaps he was screwed either way after the rest of the defence totally lost shape.

Dier won pretty much anything that came at him in the air and played a couple of nice cross field balls, but on the goal he stepped out to intercept and was left behind as a result, which started the domino effect of the defence being pulled out of shape.

Sanchez equally was poor on the goal, choosing to close down but then making a feeble attempt to stop the cross. Used his pace a couple of times to kill their balls over the top.

Davies scored an absolutely belter and overall provided decent width while being solid at the back. Was nowhere for the goal so I assume that the quick turnover left him caught upfield, therefore I’ll cut him some slack.

Højbjerg was our most involved midfielder on and off the ball as ever, but felt he dipped a little in his strength and dynamism. Hope he’s not getting fatigued after player pretty much every minute.

Winks made our opener with a nice pass and was lively off the ball, while in it he kept us ticking over well and gave us more zip than we’re used to in midfield.

Bale I thought was our best player first half, all our best attacks involved him making an intelligent pass of some sort (including starting the move for his own goal with some good hold up play) and his header was delicious. Both Dele and Kane had shots saved off the back of good link play from Bale. Our most involved attacker per 45 by far compared to those he started with and also Son’s second half.

Dele did well, was unlucky not to score forcing two good saves. Movement good, timing good, execution a bit off. Silly flick to set them off for their goal when we were on the attack but really hard to pin out on him in my opinion, that’s what you have a defence for.

Lucas was our worst player in my opinion, I barely noticed him and felt that with Davies behind him he should’ve been more forward thinking than he was. Don’t know what’s going on with him.

Kane actually did little, apart from put it on a plate for Dele (saved) and Son (wrongly called offside) and score a really lovely goal himself which showed both strength and skill. Any other striker we’d say ‘wow’ so I guess I should be encouraged that he didn’t leave first gear, barely got involved and still had that impact.

Son was ok, not overly involved but scored a lovely goal which was clearly wrongfully ruled out.

Sissoko improved us, we didn’t seem to concede another attack after he came on, he got involved up pitch and showed some skill too, and his pass for Kane’s goal was very well weighted.

Lamela likewise improved us. A typical Lamela half hour really, some good link up, great pressing and almost caused a fight.

Based on my ratings it would appear that two SC members saw the game exactly the same way... Christmas Miracles really do happen!!!