Match Ratings Ratings vs Watford

[TheHoddleWaddle]

Well, that was interesting. The first half was poor. Again. The lads seem.to have lost the ability to start a game at full capacity. At least pochettino mixed it up at HT and didn't wait wait wait. That was a mauling, Watford were poor and spurs battered at the door all the way to the end. Goes to show, our strength lies in high pressing attack.


For me, players of note.

Lucas really breathed some fresh air when he came on and Watford could only resort to orcish fouls. Great to see him so lively.

Son, thank goodness he is back. Smashed that goal.

Danny was great, his best cross led to.the goal. If he could cross like that continuously.... But really, he was brilliant. When he smashed into their player toward the end, I'm.sure he said something like "that's revenge for the other end".

Llorente, despite his goal, was abysmal. Sons goal was down to his miscontrol. But, he does need the ball on his head. As everyone was saying and look what happens. Credit to him for keeping going. But really, he shouldn't be starting games.

Winks. I love Winks.

Brilliant 3 points, but we did make.it an uphill struggle.

 

[double0]

One things for clear we need a total upgrade at wingback

 

[St José Dominguez]

Sanchez was excellent. Son motm for me.
Fair play to Llorente, he was hopeless mostly but he stuck at it and scored a huge goal for us.

Aurier showing much like Trippier there’s a good chance he isn’t the future either.
Surely now it’s time to give KWP his chance against Newcastle.

 

[spids]

10 goals in 16 starts for Llorente. He is bang out of form, but we need to play to his strengths more.

Son MOM by a country mile! Winks, Rose and Moura the others who stood out.

Lloris 5 - cost us a goal again.
Aurier 6 - poor before he went off.
Toby 7 - one of our most creative players.
Sanchez 7 - is starting to get to caught up in the wrestling for me which is a concern.
Jan 7 - he’d be an awesome LWB but he’d hate playing there!
Rose - 7.5 - apart from the winner his crossing was really poor.... but he kept driving up that left wing and also took out Success!
Winks 7.5 - kept ticking over and had belief ... some nice changes of pace.
Sissoko 7 - just concerned that when he plays CM in a two he hides when we have the ball.
Eriksen - 6 - woeful set pieces today and off the pace first half. Much better 2nd. But such crap corners!
Son - 8.5 - MOM - so much urgency, pace and determination.
Llorente - 7 - what a sitter he missed, but he scored the winner!

Moura - 8 - changed the tempo of the game when he came on.
Trippier - 6
Lamela - 6

 

[Sevens]

Got away with that one after labouring and creating sweet FA for so long. I thought Verts was outstanding tonight, he gets my vote. If Rose could consistently produce end product he'd be the best wing back in the world. Son did well in patches but also went missing. Pleased for Llorente that he scored (I don't think either of his misses were as clear cut as the commentators said they were) and I thought he showed some nice touches at times.

 

[carpediem991]

There was something in the air tonight...
a lilywhite...
FERNANDO

 

[theShiznit]

Lloris came, didn't see and got nowhere near the ball but Sanchez didn't exactly cover himself in glory either, his heading is still an issue for me often heading to opposition under little pressure (although not for their goal).
Jan was excellent and not sure the thinking in taking him off as he is a much better user of the ball high up the pitch than Toby and Sanchez.

Aurier, not great, hard to be in and out of the team but still needs to be better.

Eriksen's rest obviously did him the world of good... some good moments but anytime he had to put the ball into the box it was just woefully under hit

Same for Rose for all his great work committing his man/men his balls into the box were abysmal with one saving grace at the end.

Winks, not at his best first half, but grew into the game and drove us forward numerous times also had a great long range shot majestically saved

Son, showed what we've missed (luckily not for too long) received the ball on the half turn and was immediately at the defence, lovely goal too, that sent Wembley into raptures. And for all the talk of tiredness never stopped until the final whistle. MoTM

Llorente. his game is coming to him slowly, his link up tonight was much better, also those chances were not as easy as made out, striking the ball with the knee is going to take the ball up, and to add a delicate touch there with little time is not a simple matter. Also the header at the near post was a poor ball in from Toby that he had to come outside the near post to meet and try and impart power onto.

Moura had a li/o/vely cameo, caused them all sorts of problems and really helped to push Watford into full on retreat mode.


Lamela, endeavour but not much else of note.

Moussa; did ok in the first half but didn't really add much when he went to RB.

 

[BringBack_leGin]

We fully deserved this win, because we played good football, we fought till the death and we never let our heads drop even after conceding a horror of a goal. Play like this in the coming weeks and we finish top four comfortably, I do question why the manager felt we needed three centre backs in a match where we were always going to dominate the ball, and why it took so long to address this, but even with the 343 we were dominant and deserving of more than we were heading for. Thank fuck we won, I’m not home for about hour yet at the time of posting...

Lloris mistake for the goal was appalling. You come out and commit, or you stay on your line, not start coming out before changing your mind and pathetically retreating. I love Hugo but, given Watford’s tactic of camping in their own six yard box afterwards, he nearly cost us the match with a horrendous misjudgement that you’d expect from a rookie.

Alderweireld was ok, he hit some good long passing and was overall quite solid but he did struggle for pace a couple of timed.

Sanchez learnt from his Mitrovic battle and did far better with Deeney, who, big self proclaimed tough guy that he is, spent most of the match crying to the ref that Sanchez gave him a booboo.

Vertonghen got forward well and contributed to the attack but, like Alderweireld, didn’t seem thrilled at the prospect of some of Watford’s pace.

Aurier was unremarkable, nothing heinous defensively, nothing productive in attack. Was the obvious sacrifice to Lucas.

Sissoko broke well in the first half and had some nice interplay with Llorente and Son, but is a yard off the Sissoko from autumn. Good energy as right wing back second half but no end product.

Winks played well again, recycling possession nicely, playing clever balls into areas that would hurt watched and dragging play forward through Watford bodies on several occasions.

Rose had great endeavour and was a constant threat but his crossing was woeful, that is until he finally lifted the damn ball to assist our winner. Can’t help but feel with a better final ball he’d be so bloody dangerous.

Eriksen improved as the game wore on, playing all of our best passes and proving constantly. Some of his flighted cross field passes were divine.

Son was our biggest threat throughout, always showing for the ball, constantly making great runs and trying to find openings. Thoroughly deserved his goal.

Llorente played well but I was fearing him being made a scapegoat until his winner because of two horrible misses. Those misses aside, he showed for the ball every time, won multiple headers, helped the midfield, had some wonderful touches and linked play well. His lack of pace/ mobility did undo him a few times but he never gave up, resulting in the ball falling to Son for the equaliser and then him ultimately winning the game. Happiest I’ve been for a player in a long time and I hope he kicks on.

Lucas had a great half, caused the no end of problems with pace and dribbling and turned our possession into genuine penetration. Sharpest he has been in months.

Trippier came on, wasn’t as strong or fast as either of his predecessors, passed to the centre backs a few timed and I don’t remember a cross if note. Happy to be proven wrong, in fact I want to be as I don’t want to seem like I’m picking on a player, but I didn’t see what value he added.

Lamela’s introduction was long overdue because finally, in a game where we dominated possession and really didn’t need three centre backs, we had an extra body up front. Most of his play was best rather than inspired but his immediate energy and involvement freed up a bit of extra space for the rest of the attack. Next think you know, we equalise, then we win.

 

[ravo]

Lloris: 4 - Horrid mistake, no excuse for it. Why would he come for an out-swinging corner? Brainless

Aurier: 5 - Pants 45 mins and rightly taken off.
Alder: 7 - Best lofted passer of the ball all evening.
Sanchez: 7.5 - Dealt with Deeney well, a la Mitrovic.
Verts: 7 - Did nothing wrong.
Rose: 7 - Battled well, although crossing was gash until the goal.

Winks: 7.5 - Worked tirelessly and made up for Eriksen.
Sissoko: 7 - Didn't deserve to be shifted out wide where he is ineffective. Not his fault. Still worked his socks off.
Eriksen: 4 - Dreadful by his standards; didn't look interested; nowhere near his usual running; couldn't get the ball more than a metre off the ground. Dickish display.

Llorente: 7 - Got there in the end. When the team started playing long balls to him, it really made a difference. Dreadful miss with his knee (WTF!), the headed miss was a toughie, then an assist and brilliant header for the winner.
Son: 8 - MOM. Did not stop running all day and looked the most likely to score.

Moura: 8 - Brilliant contribution from the bench and was fouled for a pen.
Tripper: 6 - Did nothing of note.
Lamela: 7 - Was busy, as to be expected when we were all over them.

 

[Bulletspur]

as I said in the match thread at the half, I thought we were playing well enough, though it was looking like one of those nights as the second half worse on.

Lloris - NR, was taking a piss when they scored.

Rose - 7.5 involved all night

Sanchez - 7 no complaints

Verts - 7.5 he and Toby were stout all game

Toby - 7.5 . see above

Aurier - 4 Im starting to wonder what he does for us

Sissoko - 7.5 ran the midfield with Winks in the first and then gladly moved to RB. Cant say enough about his commitment to the team

Winks - 8 . MOTM for me. Outplayed our possibly Madrid bound Eriksen by some distance

Eriksen - 6 worked well enough but didnt seem to have his heart in it at times

Son - 8 what a player. Without his attitude all game we'd never come back.

Llorente - 7 only for the goal. Was seething at his two misses.

Had we drawn, deduct 0.5 from each, deduct 1 for a loss.

If you are going to rate Aurier, you should also rate Moura. After all Moura played more minutes 45+4 time added

 

[werty]

Another game, another bad first half performance, another change of formation at the half that led to a far greater performance. The last five games we've being trailling at HT without scoring a goal, and a large part of that has been because of the shape and formation. I don't know what's going into the preparation for the games, but having to change formation in four of the games at half-time is a worry.

Poch has been obsessed with sticking a No.10 behind two strikers this season, and this was his latest failed attempt at getting it to work. I never really liked 352. I hated this oddly shapped 3412 even more. Having no one in front of their fullbacks just gives them easy outs all game. It's been a problem too often and it was just as bad today. Son wasn't really stretching them unless it was a rare counter and Eriksen can't play in such confined spaces. Both were coming too short for the ball leaving Llorente isolated and no threat in behind. Vertonghen run was probably the best bit of movement from anyone and only time we stretched them in the first half. The only way we looked like scoring was from an attempt outside the box.

Second half we played more of a 343 until Lamela came on and it was a we were much better. 343 nearly always works offensively against a back four if played correctly, and we did more the most part, unlike at the weekend against Crystal Palace. They were camped in their own half because they had no easy out balls, and we suddenly had good movement around Llorente and people regularly running behind.

I'm a big fan of 343 but we don't play it as much as I'd like, or as well as I'd like, so I really hope we go back to 4231 soon with the odd exception. And for the love of God can we get someone to make a run to the front post. It's been a season long problem.


As for ratings, it's a odd one. I don't think anyone played particularly great, but we were the much better team.

Lloris 5 - Bad for the goal, played Alderweireld into trouble for no reason in the first half. Decision making continues to be a worry.

Aurier 5 - Like everyone else, he couldn't cross the ball. In the first minute he left his man to close down a player, only to stop and do nothing, leaving his man free and the man on the ball all day to play the pass. In the third minute he was in centre midfield with Sissoko having to fill in at RWB. I stopped keeping track of his wandering after that to keep my sanity.
Alderweireld 7 - Think it was his man that scored from the corner? Lloris deserves most of the blame anyways.
Sanchez 7 - Was bullied by Deeney a bit but good enough. Maybe a bit weak for the goal? Again, Lloris deserves the majority of the blame.
Vertonghen 7 - Same as Sanchez.
Rose 7 - His crossing was terrible for the most part, but at least he was driving at them and could defend when he had to.

Winks 6 - Ok. Still plays it a bit safe and usually the way he's facing. Wish he had that drop of a shoulder to leave the ball move across his body so he can move the ball to the other side "trait". Maybe in time.
Sissoko 5 - He didn't really do anything today. He has his uses, but I'm not sure this iss a formation that will get best from him.

Eriksen 5 - Really bad. A while since he's played this poorly. He has the odd game like this, but usually he'll do something good leading to a chance like the Chelsea game. Today wasn't one of those games.

Son 6 - Lively with the ball, but took up poor positions. We were getting the ball wide a lot, but he was taking up nothing position at the edge of the box. Didn't make enough runs down the side of the centre backs when our wings-backs had it high up the pitch either. Even though our crosses were shite for the most part, another body in there would have helped.
Llorente 6 - A goal and assist. What more can you ask from him?

Lucas 7 - Good to see him being more direct with the ball and his movement was better than usual. Hopefully that's a sign that they're working on it.

 

[Japhet]

Lloris came, didn't see and got nowhere near the ball but Sanchez didn't exactly cover himself in glory either, his heading is still an issue for me often heading to opposition under little pressure (although not for their goal).
Jan was excellent and not sure the thinking in taking him off as he is a much better user of the ball high up the pitch than Toby and Sanchez.

Aurier, not great, hard to be in and out of the team but still needs to be better.

Eriksen's rest obviously did him the world of good... some good moments but anytime he had to put the ball into the box it was just woefully under hit

Same for Rose for all his great work committing his man/men his balls into the box were abysmal with one saving grace at the end.

Winks, not at his best first half, but grew into the game and drove us forward numerous times also had a great long range shot majestically saved

Son, showed what we've missed (luckily not for too long) received the ball on the half turn and was immediately at the defence, lovely goal too, that sent Wembley into raptures. And for all the talk of tiredness never stopped until the final whistle. MoTM

Llorente. his game is coming to him slowly, his link up tonight was much better, also those chances were not as easy as made out, striking the ball with the knee is going to take the ball up, and to add a delicate touch there with little time is not a simple matter. Also the header at the near post was a poor ball in from Toby that he had to come outside the near post to meet and try and impart power onto.

Moura had a li/o/vely cameo, caused them all sorts of problems and really helped to push Watford into full on retreat mode.


Lamela, endeavour but not much else of note.

Moussa; did ok in the first half but didn't really add much when he went to RB.

Bang on about Llorente.

 

[mpickard2087]

Just got back from Wembley. It was cold, very cold. Kudos to the fans who turned up, got behind the team second half. Attendance overall though was quite pathetic, and despite all the excuses doesn't bode well for the new stadium heaven forbid we ever run into a bit of bad form/results.....

I felt we fully deserved to win. I have seen snippets suggesting we didn't start well enough, live I thought we did zip it around fairly well and had some nice interchanges of play. We just didn't have the clear cut chances at the end of it. Watford did have some of the play themselves, but they didn't really overly threaten and the goal was ridiculously soft, again. We seem to keep making things hard for ourselves, it's always going to be a struggle with lapses like that.

Second half we pushed and pushed, and Watford (like Fulham last week) got overly negative in my opinion and so never got any respite and it came back to haunt them. Eventually, deservedly, we came up with the two crucial moments and turned the result around. Credit to the team, they kept plugging away and were eventually rewarded.

Lloris - It wasn't until I saw the replay at HT that you could fully appreciate what happened. Not his finest moment was it......

Alderweireld - Used the ball pretty well. Second half he had a lot of space and pushed up to fill it and take the game to Watford.

Sanchez - A better defensive display from him tonight. However he was beaten quite badly for the goal, never got off the ground (this happened right in front of me).

Vertonghen - Brought the ball out well a few times in the first half. Didn't seem to have quite so much space in the second to operate, certainly not as much as Toby did on the opposite side. Can understand why he was subbed, we didnt need three centre backs, as mentioned the space was on the other side, and Sanchez being a little quicker to cover any counter attacks.

Aurier - Bit sloppy with the ball, and seemingly cannot put a cross in to save his life at times.

Sissoko - Ok. Put in a shift in midfield and then at wingback for a bit.

Winks - Solid game.

Rose - Final ball and decision making you always hope could be a bit better at crucial moments, but did put in a nice cross for the winning goal and it's very refreshing to have a left sided player who is willing to play extremely high up the pitch and take the game to the opposition.

Eriksen - Was ok, worked quite hard in his understated way. However he seems to have in the last few weeks deteriorated to having the kicking strength and ability of a toddler. Especially with his set pieces.

Son - Lively start, bit of a quiet middle, picked up again for the last part of the game. Was a good return game from him, looked sharp, and grabbed the equaliser.

Llorente - I gather he was getting dogs abuse throughout. I actually thought watching live for the most part he played alright. His touch was mostly sure as was his link up play. And it was he (?) who nearly put Vertonghen in with some lovely play on the touchline first half. Lets be honest, there are moments when you want him to show a bit more desire and have a burst towards the ball, and the knee over the bar was a horrible lack of composure (after being denied first off by a good save), but overall it wasn't a bad performance. Hopefully the winning goal does him the world of good, once again it was a good header - holding off his man whilst nodding it back where it came from.

Subs:
Moura - Was lively and picked the ball up in some good positions off either flank.

Trippier - Didn't have a whole load of involvement.

Lamela - Didn't notice him too much to be honest.

Edit: And I try not to moan about them, but the ref tonight was quite poor in my opinion. A lot of contentious calls against us.

 

[BringBack_leGin]

Just got back from Wembley. It was cold, very cold. Kudos to the fans who turned up, got behind the team second half. Attendance overall though was quite pathetic, and despite all the excuses doesn't bode well for the new stadium heaven forbid we ever run into a bit of bad form/results.....

I felt we fully deserved to win. I have seen snippets suggesting we didn't start well enough, live I thought we did zip it around fairly well and had some nice interchanges of play. We just didn't have the clear cut chances at the end of it. Watford did have some of the play themselves, but they didn't really overly threaten and the goal was ridiculously soft, again. We seem to keep making things hard for ourselves, it's always going to be a struggle with lapses like that.

Second half we pushed and pushed, and Watford (like Fulham last week) got overly negative in my opinion and so never got any respite and it came back to haunt them. Eventually, deservedly, we came up with the two crucial moments and turned the result around. Credit to the team, they kept plugging away and were eventually rewarded.

Lloris - It wasn't until I saw the replay at HT that you could fully appreciate what happened. Not his finest moment was it......

Alderweireld - Used the ball pretty well. Second half he had a lot of space and pushed up to fill it and take the game to Watford.

Sanchez - A better defensive display from him tonight. However he was beaten quite badly for the goal, never got off the ground (this happened right in front of me).

Vertonghen - Brought the ball out well a few times in the first half. Didn't seem to have quite so much space in the second to operate, certainly not as much as Toby did on the opposite side. Can understand why he was subbed, we didnt need three centre backs, as mentioned the space was on the other side, and Sanchez being a little quicker to cover any counter attacks.

Aurier - Bit sloppy with the ball, and seemingly cannot put a cross in to save his life at times.

Sissoko - Ok. Put in a shift in midfield and then at wingback for a bit.

Winks - Solid game.

Rose - Final ball and decision making you always hope could be a bit better at crucial moments, but did put in a nice cross for the winning goal and it's very refreshing to have a left sided player who is willing to play extremely high up the pitch and take the game to the opposition.

Eriksen - Was ok, worked quite hard in his understated way. However he seems to have in the last few weeks deteriorated to having the kicking strength and ability of a toddler. Especially with his set pieces.

Son - Lively start, bit of a quiet middle, picked up again for the last part of the game. Was a good return game from him, looked sharp, and grabbed the equaliser.

Llorente - I gather he was getting dogs abuse throughout. I actually thought watching live for the most part he played alright. His touch was mostly sure as was his link up play. And it was he (?) who nearly put Vertonghen in with some lovely play on the touchline first half. Lets be honest, there are moments when you want him to show a bit more desire and have a burst towards the ball, and the knee over the bar was a horrible lack of composure (after being denied first off by a good save), but overall it wasn't a bad performance. Hopefully the winning goal does him the world of good, once again it was a good header - holding off his man whilst nodding it back where it came from.

Subs:
Moura - Was lively and picked the ball up in some good positions off either flank.

Trippier - Didn't have a whole load of involvement.

Lamela - Didn't notice him too much to be honest.

Like you a come from a very long way away and will be more than a bit sleepy at work tomorrow, and only get home between 0015 and 0130 depending how the Wembley queues treat me, where do you travel from to watch Spurs out of interest?

It's funny, watching live at the match without the influence of whatever commentators are saying or replays, and with view of the entire pitch as opposed to what a camera is focussed on at any given time, I feel we have come to quite similar reports which go wildly against the grain of what is being said about a few of our players.

 

[mpickard2087]

Like you a come from a very long way away and will be more than a bit sleepy at work tomorrow, and only get home between 0015 and 0130 depending how the Wembley queues treat me, where do you travel from to watch Spurs out of interest?

I come from Bedfordshire, at the moment make between 6-8 (might make 10 this year) games a season. We usually drive down as a group - round the m25 a bit, then get an overground train in to Wembley. Train back maybe gets us to the car by 10.30ish latest and then circa hour's drive plus drop offs around the Beds/Herts area. It's not too bad tbh, though MK would have been a better option for me!

 

[LexingtonSpurs]

Verts: 7 - Did nothing wrong.

Not picking on you here - but this reminds me - I thought he did a lot more than "did nothing wrong"

Was a driving force in the first half trying to make things happen on the attacking side. Made some good strong runs, with and without the ball.

 

[Twizzle]

just wanna give Poch a 10/10 for identifying problems with the line up and reacting very quickly to make the changes that won us the game.

 

[Dillspur]

I think people are being a little unfair on Hugo regarding the goal. It was an excellent cross that seemed to bend away from Hugo at the vital moment leaving him in no man's land.

 

[EastLondonYid]

just wanna give Poch a 10/10 for identifying problems with the line and reacting very quickly to make the changes that won us the game.

Totally agree, changed the RWB position 3 times, wasn't happy and kept pushing us with his subs and didn't allow the game to die.

Hugo 5 We all know why

Aurier 4 Wasn't sure about this player the first few times i saw him, nothing has changed.

Rose 7 Energy,commitment all there,goal apart final ball abit off, but was probably one of the main reason we won.

Toby 6.5 Did nothing wrong, but tbh Watford didn't really offer much for him to be tested.

Verts See toby.

Sanchez 7 Did well against TD, quick and eager, but still learning and was poor for their goal.

Sissoko 6 Worked hard, but did't have any influence on the game.

Winks 7 Lots of energy, put in a shift and did ok, but with 3 ch's maybe could have influenced further forward abit more against a team that didn't really attack 2nd half.

Eriksen 5 By his high standards not good enough, work rate ok, passing and decision making really not him.

Llorente 6.5 Mixed bag, general play was decent, chances he missed shocking, winning goal top notch finish. Credit though, he did't go missing.

Son 8 Goal and penetration like he never was away, had a quiet spell in the middle , but was our main threat.

Lucas 7 I thought he gave Watford alot to think about with his runs and with Son and Rose the reason we won.

Lamela Can't recall much tbh

Tripps see Lamela

Credit to the team , they kept going and deserved the win.

 

[yusrisafri]

I think people are being a little unfair on Hugo regarding the goal. It was an excellent cross that seemed to bend away from Hugo at the vital moment leaving him in no man's land.

It was an outswinging corner kick. Of course it was supposed to bend away from him. As a world cup winning captain you would expect him to know the flight characteristics of the ball