Spurs vs Chelsea Match Ratings

[Rackybear]

Good point on JJ. People bang on about his consistency, saying he turns up every 1 in 10 games and what not. 'Him turning up' being those lampard and gerrard like performances.

Perhaps they just need to get it into their head that he isnt Lampard, nor is he Gerrard. He wont score 15 league goals in a season, he wont be the main man.

He will provide bags of energy, a never say die attidude, an intense workrate, stick his foot in and chip in with the odd assist and goal every now and again; whilst occasionally having a blinder of a game.

Id say JJ is pretty consistent actually, he might play the sideways pass more often then not, but sometimes its better to do that then wrecklessly give the ball away by trying something glamorous. You will only notice what your missing once you take him out the team, the midfield begins to look lacklusture, lathargic and lacking of movement, you need energetic players like him - stats will backup that we win more games when he plays too.

 

[ardiles]

I don't think that we should just look at the few misplaced passes to judge Palacios. There's a lot more to his contribution to the team than that.

Before Palacios joined the club, we were playing rather poorly, in general, without much fire and desire.

In his first game for us (against Arsenal), he was the MOTM not only because he played well but he showed the desire which was missing in most of the other lads' play and which also contributed to his performance appearing to be outstanding (as compared to the previous usually mediocre play of the team).

Ever since that match, the rest of the boys have been upping their game and chasing all lost causes. This overall team improvement has, in a way, overshadowed Palacios's continued great importance in the middle of the park. His style of harassing the opponent's midfield and disrupting their play and tactics has allowed the other Spurs players to have more time on the ball. Just look at the improvement of Bent, Jenas and the defence in the last few games. Everyone seems to want to play for the club and for each other now.

 

[Pinto]

Surprised by some of the ratings on here. We outplayed a top team and some people are giving 5's and 6's.

Gomes 9 great saves and no real errors against good pressure from Drogba and company.

Corluka 8 played well and really backs up Lennon nicely.

Woody 8 only one bad freekick given up against some high quality strikers in Drogba and Anelka

King 8 same as woody. I just feel comfortable when he plays, like I know he will make at least one great play to keep us in a game.

BAE 8 another fine performance. Quaresma was in his pocket and is starting to convince me he is a top 5 left back in the league.

Lennon 9 sets up a great goal and was very dangerous against Cole who is no slouch.

Palacious 7 too many stray passes for anything higher but he does protect the middle of the park better than anyone I have seen at Spurs in at least 10 years.

Jenas 7.5 thought he made Lampard look very ordinary and got forward when needed.

Modric 8.5 great goal and is so classy I will be shocked if some huge club doesn't have a go at him in the summer.

Keane 7 really does hold up things nicely and makes such a huge difference for the whole team's confidence.

Bent 7 thought he played well and had some nice headers to hold up play.


God is it nice to have a settled team. I just pray we don't get any major injuries and see if we can take this team into next season with no defections and maybe another striker to replace Campbell.

 

[VegasII]

We've also got JD & Hutton to come back from injury.

 

[chkthfc82]

is modric banned now? five yellows.

 

[Dr Know]

I've just watched the match again and what I noticed was we never closed up shop when we scored (parking the bus) we defended well from start to finish, we just looked so composed for the entire match

 

[Kendall]

Gomes - 9
King - 8
Woodgate - 8
Assou-Ekotto - 8
Corluka - 8
Lennon - 8 - Would've been 9 but for that awful cross when he should've squared to Bent for the tap in.
Modric - 9.5
Palacios - 8
Jenas - 8
Keane - 8
Bent - 8


That was easy

 

[The Original Yiddster]

Good point on JJ. People bang on about his consistency, saying he turns up every 1 in 10 games and what not. 'Him turning up' being those lampard and gerrard like performances.

Perhaps they just need to get it into their head that he isnt Lampard, nor is he Gerrard. He wont score 15 league goals in a season, he wont be the main man.

He will provide bags of energy, a never say die attidude, an intense workrate, stick his foot in and chip in with the odd assist and goal every now and again; whilst occasionally having a blinder of a game.

Id say JJ is pretty consistent actually, he might play the sideways pass more often then not, but sometimes its better to do that then wrecklessly give the ball away by trying something glamorous. You will only notice what your missing once you take him out the team, the midfield begins to look lacklusture, lathargic and lacking of movement, you need energetic players like him - stats will backup that we win more games when he plays too.

Good post and explains exactly why Jenas should never be in the first 11 and needs replacing ......... if you want energy in the midfield then Zokora has more but PL is not just about the ability to run around alot his niche is limited to a good back up squad player.

 

[ravo]

It's quite funny how we almost have the set up that Big Martin Jol wanted: two solid central midfielders with the widemen and strikers creating/doing the damage. I love it !!!

Don't change a thing.

Gomes - 8 - just shy of Modric for MoM.

Corluka, King, Woody, BAE - 8 - all coped well with Chelsea's pressure, esp late on.

Lennon - 8 - another assist to add to his tally. Has learnt that he doesn't always have to beat the man to get a good ball across.

Jenas and Palacios - 8 - had perhaps the toughest role in the match, containing one of the best midfield threes in the world and did a great job. A lot of the unnoticed work. I implore anyone who did not rate either/both of them highly, to watch the game again and focus on them. Yes, there was a few sloppy passes, but both worked themselves into the ground.

Modric - 9 - if he had a first half like the second, it would have been a 10. Superbly taken goal as well. Huge heart.

Keane - 7 - was asked to drop back into the midfield by Harry to contain the prescence of Ballack, sitting in front of their back 4. Did a good job, but this took a bit away from his attacking capability.

Bent - 7.5 - great hold up play and the (now) usual excellent pressure on the ball.

 

[Chris12345]

is modric banned now? five yellows.

No, the 5 yellows rule only counts before a certain date (can't remember what it is, but it's passed), he'll just get a letter from the FA saying he needs to be less dirty :lol:

 

[Coyboy]

What do you Harry bashers think of the Harry effect now? We have something really odd...a team. There can be no doubt that he has done a fucking fantastic job and but for the spell where we lost late goals away, we have been trific. And you have to include his much maligned assistants as well.

 

[Delboy10]

What do you Harry bashers think of the Harry effect now? We have something really odd...a team. There can be no doubt that he has done a fucking fantastic job and but for the spell where we lost late goals away, we have been trific. And you have to include his much maligned assistants as well.

They've all gone very quiet all of a sudden. :shhh: :smile:

 

[Gilzeanking]

Few points .

Lennon has had such a run of form that you can see his effect on even a top 4 side when he doesn't have the ball . Someone here mentioned Corluka's run into the Chelski half followed by a pass to Keane who shot straight at their goalie . A large part of Corluka's success in this run was that their defence kept backing off thinking he was gonna pass to Aaron and their instructions were clearly 'Stop Lennon getting the ball'...so there was a sort of 'parting of the seas' in front of Corluka due to Lennon's reputation . Excellent !

Lennon also , when on the ball for the goal assist , freaked the defence who this time thought and expected he would try to make it to the byline .The extent of their freaking out was shown by the line of unmarked Spurs players on the edge of the Chelski area players as Aaron's brilliant early cross/path came through . Excellent again . To think that we'd have let him go for under 10 mill at the start of the season...his value must be over 20 now as he makes/scores almost all our goals these days and imo covers up the deficiencys in our attack .

The change in Bent is almost entirely down to workrate imo . Harry has forced him to chase around . Thank god he can do that now. His idleness added to his uselessness has been horrible to watch up until recently . We need a great forward still I'm afraid .

About the Palacios argument here . To me he looks like he has a Graham Roberts aura in midfield . ie he seems impervious to pain . One of those players who every time you have contact playing against him , you always come out of it hurting . I reckon part of the solidity of our midfield is that oppo players just don't want to get too near him . In short, a nasty bit of work . SO yes he may be sometimes wayward with passes etc but he has other effects on matches that we may not always appreciate .

 

[Wiener]

Good post and explains exactly why Jenas should never be in the first 11 and needs replacing ......... if you want energy in the midfield then Zokora has more but PL is not just about the ability to run around alot his niche is limited to a good back up squad player.

We have just fairly beaten Chelsea, one of the best teams in the league, have won 4 of our last 6, and generally played well, and you still try and justify your much too critical opinion of Jenas.

I think it is becoming patently clear that currently he should be in our starting 11 and that we will be hard pushed to replace him with someone better in the summer.

 

[Wiener]

What do you Harry bashers think of the Harry effect now? We have something really odd...a team. There can be no doubt that he has done a fucking fantastic job and but for the spell where we lost late goals away, we have been trific. And you have to include his much maligned assistants as well.

While I would never describe myself as a "Harry basher" I was certainly critical of his appointment and of certain aspects (mostly style) of his approach to managing a team. I also viewed him as a short-term solution thinking that Levy would get some heavyweight in the summer.

I am still not comfortable with his style, but as regards substance, there is little to be critical of. He has taken a common sense approach to team selection and tactics and seems to have a very good relationship with the players. He and Levy worked well together in the transfer window, and brought in 2 players (Palacios and Keane) who have been crucial to our recent form.

In short my criticisms and concerns were without basis and Levy seems to have gotten this one right.

Redknapp has done well for us and should be applauded for his work so far. He should also be given the chance to build a title challenging team over the next few years.

 

[Coyboy]

While I would never describe myself as a "Harry basher" I was certainly critical of his appointment and of certain aspects (mostly style) of his approach to managing a team. I also viewed him as a short-term solution thinking that Levy would get some heavyweight in the summer.

I am still not comfortable with his style, but as regards substance, there is little to be critical of. He has taken a common sense approach to team selection and tactics and seems to have a very good relationship with the players. He and Levy worked well together in the transfer window, and brought in 2 players (Palacios and Keane) who have been crucial to our recent form.

In short my criticisms and concerns were without basis and Levy seems to have gotten this one right.

Redknapp has done well for us and should be applauded for his work so for. He should also be given the chance to build a title challenging team over the next few years.

Good stuff, my post was provocative and a result of a slight hangover. I certainly didn't mean those sort of critics but the more abusive and prejudiced of this community. Those are fair points really but I don't see the need to replace Rednapp with a heavyweight, whatever that is. If you look at his record since the window, it is trific.

I really like him. I think he has got the defense sorted well, got us playing good football and I think he is liked but respected by the players. He is also pragmatic. I am sure he didn't want us to sack off Europe but by resting players and putting emphasis on the league, we have now a decent chance of getting into Europe next year when we will hopefully not be in a scrap. I was kind of in the camp of let's play as many first teamers as possible as winning games breeds confidence but I was wrong really because this season especially the league is our bread and butter.

As for the game, it was a great one to be at. I don't even mind the unavoidable nerves at the end as it makes winning so much better. For those who don't go to the Lane and think it's quiet, you should have been there yesterday. I don't think many grounds are better, even the North were singing and I think I saw one or two in the West standing.

Gomes was the man of the match for me. That save near the end was world class and other than that he made a couple of good saves and looked excellent at marshalling all of Lampard's crosses that the absurdly generous referee gave. He was closely followed by King who is just great and I am glad that we are not the only ones who recognise his class as Patrick Barclay said he is up there with Rio today. He did one move where he lifted the ball above one of their players and kept the ball. That was quite near me and also later on I saw Lennon laughing at A Cole falling over which was great.

I felt we sat back a bit too much but it was Chelsea and natural nerves set in. We defended very well but I prefer to see us defending further up the pitch and putting them under pressure. I thought it was a God send when Essien went off and that Anelka was playing as a deep de facto number ten which was strange from Hiddink.

The full backs were fantastic, they are as solid as Stalteri and Lee were but just very good footballers also. The centre mids were good but gave the ball away sloppily a little and I thought Jenas was again excellent at tracking back and working well with Lennon at times. That we do so well when he is in the team is not a coinicidence.

The laugh of the day I got was walking back to the station and hearing a Chelsea fan say we were lucky and later on, slightly intoxicated, singing in Wimbledon.

 

[chkthfc82]

No, the 5 yellows rule only counts before a certain date (can't remember what it is, but it's passed), he'll just get a letter from the FA saying he needs to be less dirty :lol:

thanks chris i didn't know that.:up:

 

[DarT]

Gomes - 9 - MOTM Excellent throughout, made numerous great saves, made good decisions on crosses and distribution was good. My one worry is how does H see the situation, does he see Cudicini being anything more than a great back-up that he will put in if Gomes form falters, something which should keep Gomes on his toes, am concerned that H may try to move him on in the summer, that would be one huge mistake, based on what we have seen for a good few weeks now.

Corluka - 8 - On the back of an excellent performance last week, another cracker from charlie.

King - 8 - Personally thought he played Drogba pretty well, we know what a handfull he can be, and also kept Anelka reasonably quiet.

Woodgate - 8 - Very good as per king. They really are an excellent partnership.

BAE - 8 - Have worried about left back for years, but have to say the progress that BAE has made in the last 12 months is exceptional. Always thought Bale would come through to take this position, not much chance of that at the moment, another great performance both in defence and supporting the attack.

Lennon - 9 - What a weapon he is at the moment, all our opponents are sh** scared of him. A constant threat. His final ball has improved dramatically over the last few weeks, but he still has the odd occasions when he lacks composure, such as when he ran clear, which cost him his chance of MOTM for me.

Palacios - 7 - Wilson got through so much work in the midfield, covered so much ground and helped maintain the teams shape whilst holding the team together. Unfortunately his rating was for his whole performance which was hidered by numerous sloppy passes. With all that said he does add so much to the team that i can forgive him this.

JJ - 7 - Much the same comments as Wilson, covered so much ground and added so much to the overall team performance, but rating gets reduced due to numerous sloppy passes. But as per Wilson can easily forgive him as he added so much to this win.

Modric - 9 - Thought he had his best game when played on the left, normally drifts central to get involved, but today was much more rigid in terms of keeping left, and didn't look lost like he normally does. Am still not convinced that we will ever see the best of Luka on the left, but what a great finish for the goal, just a shame he slightly mistimed the second identical chance.

Bent - 7 - Actually added very much to the teams win, was a willing worker, closed down virtually for the whole 90+ minutes, and did try and link with Keane. But he showed the normal poor touch, and some wayward passing whilst trying to hold the ball, but as i say his workrate today was key to our defensive resiliance.

Keane - 8 - Excellent performance from Keane, just without that goal that would have been the icing on the cake. Worked tirelessly, linked the play well between midfield and bent, was a driving force in pushing the team.

With the last 2 performances we have actually given ourselves a chance of finishing 7th, whilst i think that at the end of the day it will prove to be difficult to achieve unless we continue in the present form, a top half finish now looks very much on the cards, which all bodes very well for next season.

 

[Fervency]

For the record, just because I gave Jenas a low score doesn't mean I think he's crap. I gave king a low score too. I'm a Jenas fan, think he's underestimated on these boards. He works his socks off and cleans up a hell of a lot at the back.

I just happen to think he had 1 bad game, why is it that some fans think that if someone marks a player down they must hate him? Does it mean that YOU never rate them low even when you think they had a bad game?

If you look at my past posts you'd see I think Ekotto is crap, but I rated him highly in his last two games.

I'm giving my opinion of how they played not how much I like them.

Why can't we all just give our ratings based on how we think players performed rather than how much we like themm and ifa fan rates aplayer low, maybe it's because he thought they didn't play well?!

 

[Chinaspur]

Lennon has had such a run of form that you can see his effect on even a top 4 side when he doesn't have the ball . Someone here mentioned Corluka's run into the Chelski half followed by a pass to Keane who shot straight at their goalie . A large part of Corluka's success in this run was that their defence kept backing off thinking he was gonna pass to Aaron and their instructions were clearly 'Stop Lennon getting the ball'...so there was a sort of 'parting of the seas' in front of Corluka due to Lennon's reputation . Excellent !

Lennon also , when on the ball for the goal assist , freaked the defence who this time thought and expected he would try to make it to the byline .The extent of their freaking out was shown by the line of unmarked Spurs players on the edge of the Chelski area players as Aaron's brilliant early cross/path came through . Excellent again . To think that we'd have let him go for under 10 mill at the start of the season...his value must be over 20 now as he makes/scores almost all our goals these days and imo covers up the deficiencys in our attack .

Great post - however...

I don't think this is just a reputation thing - I'd always been surprised that opposition defences didn't look as stretched as they should. Even when they were clearly doubling up on Lennon, it didn't seem to create the space that it should have for the rest of our team. What was happening was, when closely marked, Lennon would be pushed back up the field.

Harry said this the other day about Lennon "I spoke to him about getting behind people. When he runs behind, even if the ball doesn't come, full-backs are aware and drop off."

Now he seems to be properly stretching defences and creating space for others. I know not all believe Harry is a 'great' manager, but that kind of insight is pure gold.:clap:

Also - Is there any evidence that we would have let him go for £10m? - I certainly wouldn't!