Match Ratings Ratings vs Watford

[werty]

Please, please stop playing 352, especially against teams who don't want to dominate the ball against us. If you want to go 3 at the back, go with a 3421 (and before someone says it again, no, they aren't the same.) If you want to go two up front, play a diamond or 4222. Fuck, play a narrow 442. Anything but 352.

Vorm 6 - No hope with the goals. Didn't have much else to do.

Alderweireld 6 - More creative than the front 5.
Sanchez 6 - Had a terrible 10-15 minutes. He really needs to stop trying to outmuscle people. It rarely works and he often end up on his arse, or at least the wrong side.
Vertonghen 5 - Not good.

Tripper 6 - Some decent crosses that didn't pan out. Defended fine unless I'm forgetting something...?
Davies 5 - Not a wing back. Offered nothing going forward. Didn't have much to do defensively but I was still worried about it.

Dembele 5 - Wasn't at the races. The majority of it was his fault, but the formation doesn't help his cause (did I mention I hate 352?).
Eriksen 6 - Always probing but very little quality.
Alli 5 - Held onto the ball longer than Elizabeth II has held onto the crown. Done some good things (pass to Kane, pass to Moura, unlucky with the header), but was awful with the rest. Needs to be played higher to utilise his best traits.

Moura 6 - A lot of endeavour, not a lot of end product.
Kane 5 - Nope.

 

[Gareth88]

Dier should have come on after we scored Ali and Erkisen had shocking games

 

[JCRD]

Ive always backed Dele and even when he has been poor he has always done something worthwhile and always could see what he was trying to do... however today? wow he was shit, like uber shit. I dont even know what he was trying to do, dilly dallying about, taking ages to pass, even for our goal what was he doing chipping it THAT high.

Worst performance from him in our shirt

 

[ILS]

Played completely into their hands, no real cohesion (or indeed midfield) at any point, and a deserved loss.

Worst I've seen us play in a long while.

Since WBA last season away and guess what we played the same ponderous formation and got done by a set piece.

 

[double0]

From winning at Old Trafford one week to losing at Vicerage let's hear all the doom mongers come out of the wood works.

A defeat at this stage could be a blessing in disguise. We haven't been playing that well and certain players have really been coasting. Although it is a shit losing just before an international break, the players will have to step up next against Liverpool.

 

[Japhet]

Vorm 5 Could have done a bit better both goals.
Trippier 6 One good cross.
Toby 5 Caved in when they scored.
Sanchez 5.5 Average.
Vertonghen 5 Got rattled.
Davies 4.5 Poor going forwards and poor defending.
Dembele 5.5 Sloppy and slow. At least he looked like he gave a fuck.
Eriksen 3.5 Hid. Can't remember anything of substance.
Alli 4 If he'd limit himself to 3 touches he'd be twice the player, but coughs up possession over and over.
Moura 6 Worked hard but Watford did their homework.
Kane 4 Lethargic and badly off colour.

Horror show. Flat as a pancake and threw in the towel. Started off like a stroll in the park and never picked it up. We should expect so much more from our senior players which is why I gave them such low scores. Maybe we caught something up at Old Trafford because it looked like we couldn't be bothered.

 

[parj]

I'm sure Sanchez will get blamed but Toby and Jan were equally pathetic the minute the pressure got put on us.

Only Trippier played reasonably well. Lucas was patchy and thought he was poor after we fell behind. Dele all over the place and not in good way, Eriksen strolling around sleepwalking, Kane appalling.

Llorente pointless sub, Dembele should never have started on his own in CM and should have been taken off earlier. Davies should have been subbed at HT.

For me, Sanchez proved that Toby has to win his place back, not be given it.

 

[alexis]

Football: 0

I’ve got more jovial things to do this afternoon, such as picking up dog shit.

And I don’t own a dog.

Pop round here when you’re done cos I do

 

[Bulletspur]

Why on earth do we play Rose who is a wing back when we play 4 at the back but then bring back Davies to play as a wing back which he most definitely is not ? The number of wasted balls he played from good positions was appalling.
We got out muscled in the last 30 minutes and can we go back to using Dembele in his cameo role for the last 30 minutes ? Playing him as our only DM was asking for trouble. He was clearly exhausted and should have gone off way earlier instead of giving away a clumsy free kick which sparked their fight back.
Still at least Son escaped his military service so the weekend wasn’t a total disaster.

Spot on! I have always questioned this. This from my point of view is why the jury is still out on Poch's game management and selection. Todays absence of any tactical substitution guidance and strategy after they equalized, confirmed it for me

 

[alexis]

Vorm 5 Could have done better both goals.
Trippier 6 One good cross.
Toby 5 Caved in when they scored.
Sanchez 5.5 Average.
Vertonghen 5 Got rattled.
Davies 4.5 Poor going forwards and poor defending.
Dembele 5.5 Sloppy and slow. At least he looked like he gave a fuck.
Eriksen 3.5 Hid. Can't remember anything of substance.
Alli 4 If he'd limit himself to 3 touches he'd be twice the player, but coughs up possession over and over.
Moura 6 Worked hard but Watford did their homework.
Kane 4 Lethargic and badly off colour.

Horror show. Flat as a pancake and threw in the towel. Started off like a stroll in the park and never picked it up. We should expect so much more from our senior players which is why I gave them such low scores. Maybe we caught something up at Old Trafford because it looked like we couldn't be bothered.

Get being royally pissed off but a bit unfair on verts and vorm. Chose this game to really watch Ali as I have been r curious about his hype and he was awful.

 

[Yid121]

Vorm 7 - goals weren't his fault

Alderwiereld 7
Sanchez 6 - looked slightly nervy and bullied by Deeney at times
Verts 7.5

Trippier 7
Eriksen 7
Dembele 6
Alli 6.5
Davies 6

Moura 7
Kane 7

 

[Timberwolf]

I think we need to stop with the Lucas/Kane experiment. Especially against teams that sit back. While Lucas's pace is a weapon and can cause damage, why mess with the entire system just to put him up top? He was great against Utd, but most of the damage was done when Utd were behind and he had acres of space to run into. Against a team like Watford we're betting the house on him receiving an absolutely perfect pass. It might work but it's such a low percentage tactic and forces other players like Kane, Eriksen and Alli to drop deeper and diminishes their attacking threat. We should be building a system that maximises the threat of our most lethal weapon: Kane, not copying the exact tactic that gave him little to no service at the World Cup in partnering him up top with a little speed merchant.

It's frustrating that the one manager in world football who watched England at the World Cup and thought "they're really onto something there..." seems to be Pochettino.

 

[coy-spurs1882]

vorm 3
trippier 4
toby 5
sanchez 3
verts 4
davies -3
dembele 3
eriksen 0
dele -5
lucas 6
kane 0
poch -10

just stop using 352 poch, it didn't win us a trophy even when we had walker and rose. dembele is not either dier or wanyama, at least one of them should start. maybe poch wants to keep sanchez happy by starting him, but at the moment he is not better than toby. i thought davies improved a lot at the beginning of last season but after he recovered from injury he had been useless. actually we had been poor even we won the last 3 games, especially the first half against yanited. poch has to fix this asap or we will see another AVB-esque defeat against lolpool

 

[THX2208]

Michel Vorm

His only real moment of the first half was to somehow send a goal kick out for a corner, slicing a sideways pass to Alderweireld. Could only watch Watford's two headed goals fly by. 5

Kieran Trippier

Plenty of neat interceptions and touches of the ball but didn't offer as much going forward as on his previous visits to Watford with his crosses failing to find their mark. Offered little as a wing-back. 5

Toby Alderweireld

Launched some early trademark diagonal passes and he picked out Alli on 12 minutes but the midfielder looped his header just over. Was fortunate to see his header in his own box bounce off the woodwork and away. He mistimed his leap for Watford's second which Cathcart headed home. Came off for Llorente with ten minutes to go. 5

Jan Vertonghen

He made a big interception to stop Hughes in the box six minutes before the break. Struggled at times with Deeney as did the others around him. 6

Davinson Sanchez

The Colombian made a couple of important interceptions and was the designated man to mop up in the air. Did well on the whole on his return, but still gets turned too easily by strong attackers. 6

Ben Davies

Tried to get down the left and sliced a shot well wide of goal from the edge of the box before the break. Same as Trippier, didn't offer enough going forward for a wing-back. 5


Mousa Dembele

His radar was off in the first half, sending simple passes too far from Vertonghen who had to scramble to get them and either side of the break he handed the ball to Watford on the halfway line. He gave the ball away in his own box soon after Spurs' opening goal but got away with it. He was yellow carded for a foul soon after and from the free-kick Deeney headed home the equaliser. The Belgian then lost Cathcart who headed home Watford's second. Not a good day at the office for the Belgian. 4

Christian Eriksen

Sent a couple of shots at goal early in the second half after a quiet first 45 minutes and another with ten minutes to go. Couldn't make anything happen. 5

Dele Alli

Sent an early header over the crossbar after running on to Alderweireld's diagonal ball. Almost played Lucas through on 21 minutes. Struggled to get the final ball away too often. 5

Lucas Moura

Couldn't quite get away in the box to get a touch on Alli's ball through midway through the first half. Sliced an effort wide from the edge of the box just before the half hour mark. It was his cross that was chested home by Doucoure for an own goal to put Spurs into the lead. Was Spurs' most dangerous attacker. 6

Harry Kane

Skipper for the day, Kane struggled for space in the first half but early in the second was free in the middle if only Lucas had passed. Tried to set the Brazilian through in a two on one in the Watford box but couldn't get his pass through. Headed over with four minute to go. At what point do we start to get worried about the lack of penetration in his performances? Although to be fair to him he had little service. 5

Subs

Fernando Llorente

Came off the bench with ten minutes to go and almost got on the end of a Ben Davies low cross soon after. 5

Harry Winks

Came on with five minutes to go and tried to put Spurs on the front foot with some quick passing and one dribble through the middle. N/A

Danny Rose

Replaced Davies in the final minutes and sent a shot well over with the last chance of the game. N/A

 

[Timberwolf]

I thought the most positive thing about the entire game was Winks' cameo at the end. It was so refreshing to see one of our central midfielders pass the ball forward quickly and run directly with intent. If he can stay fit and not lose confidence he'll be one of our most important players this season.

 

[Rout-Ledge]

We’re becoming the next Arsenal, but without the trophy years.

 

[St José Dominguez]

He had a horrible game today but not sure why Kane suddenly needs help up top. Starting Lucas from the right or left isn't going to stop Lucas from having an impact on the game. All that's happening is Kane keeps dropping deep to get involved. I think we need to abandon two up top along with 3 at the back and get Kane as lone ST again how he performs best.

 

[doctor stefan Freud]

Bad day at the office, chaps- I’m sure we’ll bounce back.
Some of us were talking about measuring being a ponce lately, so I’m both proud and ashamed to make this claim: I was watching the game, ignoring my family as usual when by the start of the second half I made the call to drive my daughter’s boyfriend home (an hour and a half round trip) because I could see exactly where the game was going. This is only a little bit poncey. It gets worse. The real reason I decided to drive him home during and not after the game was because I’d become distracted by the prospect of watching Les Enfants Du Paradise, an epic French film about romance and desire, love and loss. It’s a long film and getting back in good time would impact on my ability to watch it. In short, I prioritised watching a 1945 French romantic film over Spurs. Both exceptionally poncy and a damning indictment of today’s performance. C’est la vie

 

[Colonel_Klinck]

Hmm what a let down. Dele, Kane and Eriksen underperformed. Kane is becoming a concern, since that ankle unjust he's lost that extra something that made him world class. Not sure what he needs to get him back there, hope they figure it out.

Dembele isn't a holding midfielder. I was happy with starting lineup but once they turned the tide and really came at us that was the time to make a change. Victor or Dier on to shore up midfield.

Not like us to concede like that from free kicks. Bad day at the office all round.

Poch should have made changes earlier. In the end it was shit or bust and it came up bust.

 

[dannythomas]

He had a horrible game today but not sure why Kane suddenly needs help up top. Starting Lucas from the right or left isn't going to stop Lucas from having an impact on the game. All that's happening is Kane keeps dropping deep to get involved. I think we need to abandon two up top along with 3 at the back and get Kane as lone ST again how he performs best.

I agree with this. Kane has become our throw in specialist for some reason. Next thing we’ll see his him taking corners a la Hodgson.

If we can have both Son and Moura attacking from wide positions Kane can do what he does best and we also won’t need wingbacks because those 2 will give us the width.

I also hope Lamela is back soon because when Eriksen plays total shit like he did today he can be subbed off and Lamela can provide a viable option.