Match ratings v Leicester

[dannythomas]

I have never posted a ratings thread before so hope I did it correctly !

I wasn't able to watch the match so curious to see what everyone thought.

 

[tippspur59]

Thought Verts was very good today,pity that header didn't go in.

 

[cozzo]

We have become spoilt these days, draws are now treated as defeats hence nobody is interested in ratings.

 

[thebenjamin]

Verts, Rose, very good.

Wanyama and Walker were good until they both screwed up for the goal.

Dier and Dembele both good.

Alli was ok, it was a classic Dele performance if the great arrive goes in off the bar. He looked like the only person who was actually capable of scoring for us.

Janssen was really poor first half I thought, but looked a lot better after he scored.

Eriksen was poor.

Son I thought was incredibly poor. He basically did nothing right the entire game.

 

[Shea]

Lloris - 6 - actually had very little to do today, not at fault for their goal really

Walker - 7 - had a good game in general. Got up and down the pitch well, one very nice bit of play which got him beyond their back line and produced an excellent pull back for Dele who crashed the ball off the bar. If we're being harsh perhaps he should have cleared the ball ahead of Musa's strike for the goal

Dier - 6 - He didn't play poorly today but I still feel we are less stable at the back with him instead of Toby. There were times when Leicester looked like they were one phase away from being clean through on goal and we just looked a little shaky, where I feel had Toby been there it would have been a much more dominant performance. That says more about Toby than it ever says about Dier though

Vertonghen - 7 - as solid as he has been every game since Toby was injured, played well again from an individual point of view. He's missing the rock that is Toby beside him though, he's a better player having Toby play the senior/dominate role and him being the classy wing man, was almost the match winner with a header Kane or Shearer would have been proud of that smashed off the bar.

Rose - 7 - needlessly booked, this affected his game a little. Played well in both attack and defence but wasted an opportunity or two in the attacking third

Wanyama - 6 - was on of the better players on the pitch and controlled the midfield for large periods of the game while also doing some nice work on the ball. I've somewhat harshly marked him down for that one sloppy incident that cost us the goal - it was such a key moment and cost us the win though so I feel justified in doing so

Dembele - 7 - such a classy player, helped retain possession very well when under extreme pressing pressure from Leicester. He does however contribute to blunting our attacking play by either holding on to the ball too long in non threatening areas (and extra touch of four before releasing) or plays the ball back wards and sideways instead of forward and allows the opponents to get bodies behind the ball. Needs to do the simple things a bit more and needs to have more attacking intent about his play (he's more than capable)

Erkisen - 6 - he's becoming increasingly frustrating. So much talent but at the moment he is doing so little with it. He should be running us and wrecking opponents like Leicester. Instead he's largely anonymous and a bit of a liability off the ball. The odd nice bit of play and a few half decent freekicks is not enough from him. Play a role in the build up to the penalty to be fair

Dele - 7 - his usual bag of tricks, not playing to his best right now but still a few moments which almost won the game. A long range shot easily saved and his effort off the bar were both unlucky . Like Erkisen though capable of doing so much more I feel

Son 6 - didn't really manage any impact on the game at all

Janssen - 7- I thought it was his best game for us. Won the physical battle against a tough centre back pairing, continue to hold the ball up and spin defenders well, showed good nerves for his penalty and was unluck with his free kick and low shot after great play to gain space in the box. Missed another chance from a low cross where he failed to make any real contact - again

Winks and Nkoudou both looked good in their brief cameos and both should have been given more time I feel


Overall another rope a dope type performance as a team sits deep and allows us to punch ourselves out with lots of possession and huff and puff but little quality in terms of dangerous endeavour
More than once we could have been caught on the break

Things need to improve fast - but worth remembering we were without Toby, Kane and Lamela

 

[yusrisafri]

Rose and Verts for me.

Cant be arsed about the others

 

[journeyman]

Lloris - 6 - agree with the above, had little to do

Walker - 7
Dier - 7 - his best this term at CB
Vert - 8 - MOTM for me
Rose - 8 - v good again

Wanyama - 7 - mistake for goal, good otherwise
Dembele - 7.5 - looks like he's coming back into form now
Eriksen - 5 - very frustrating; his corners, especially, were appalling
Dele - 7 - good, won lots of fouls in key areas too
Son - 6 - not his day

Janssen - 7 - good day at office, deserves credit for winning pen as well as scoring it and went close on a couple of occasions

Honorable mention for N'koudou too, who really added pace in closing stages.

 

[yankspurs]

Lloris - 6
Walker - 6
Dier - 6
Vertoghen - 8
Rose - 7
Wanyama - 6
Dembele - 6
Eriksen - 2
Alli - 4
Son - 4
Janssen - 5

N'Koudou - NET but was decent in the cameo
Winks - NET

Poch - 0

Notice something there? Solid at the back. God awful in attack. Janssen scored a penalty but besides that, he was poor. Eriksen, well what else is there to say besides get the fuck on the bench for 3 games. About sick of him at this point. Poch, please learn to manage during a game. Im begging ffs.

Vertonghen has been MOTM for like 5 or 6 straight games.

 

[mpickard2087]

It's true that this game could have been very different, but for the finest of margins. But for a matter of inches either Alli's shot, or Vertonghen's header, or Janssen's freekick or shot on the turn hit the back of the net and we've won the game.

We had these moments, the 90 minutes as a whole though were not the best watch. Personally I thought we were laboured in our efforts and I was disappointed yet again with the intent, belief and bravery to our play, both on and off the ball. Leicester sat back, we had a lot of the ball, but the tempo and urgency to our play just wasn't there most of the time. I am one of the biggest advocates on here of possession football and passing your way through teams, but you have to zip the ball around at a decent pace and strive to do it with a minimum of touches. We didn't do that. Taking the 'safe' option, and going for the comfortable pass was far too evident today. Our movement wasn't good enough and must improve.

Pochettino talks about playing aggressively, being braver, energy etc etc. and it's good to hear him identifying problems, but he's said this a number of times in recent weeks and yet still we look a bit sluggish in games and seem to wait till the closing minutes of games before having a proper go at things. Yes things are hampered by form of certain players, and we're having to bed in new combinations up top, but in some aspects of our play there isn't much excuse.

All in all this was a game we could, probably should, have won, but personally I don't feel our lack of real intent and just giving it a couple of 10 min spells of a real go is a tactic that deserves to win a game of football. You're not going to boss every single second of a game, but you can play positively with energy, intensity and urgency.


Lloris - Very little to do, little chance with point blank range goal.

Walker - Put in one good cross for Alli's shot, apart from that very ponderous on the ball I thought. Defensively pretty solid, maybe could have been a tad more urgent for the goal if he'd known Musa was outside him but to be fair he was occupied by the man on the inside and he was overloaded.

Dier - A couple of times let Vardy have a little too much time/space to put a ball across the box, other than that good game and mopped up as and when required.

Vertonghen - Good game. Desperately unlucky with his header.

Rose - Little bit of a sloppy start, and his final ball wasn't great, but he was up and down the flank and defended well. For the second week running he was our main player in the final stages trying to drive us forward and make something happen. Others need to match him for energy and commitment.

Wanyama - Seemed to play a more mobile, box to box role at times today. Started off ok, lots of energy but hit and miss with the ball. Second half his woeful header led to the equaliser and I thought he was fairly ineffective.

Dembele - Played largely as the midfield holder, and to me still seems a bit immobile and off the pace. At times broke up the play well, but on the ball was pointless - held it, held it, held it... Then played an ultra safe pass.

Eriksen - Saw a fair amount of ball, did little with it and was yet again in flimsy mode for most of the game. We need more from him and to rediscover some form.

Alli - Unlucky with his shot against the ball, apart from that little influence on the game. Towards the end started faffing about and rightly got the hook.

Son - A few brief moments but contributed little.

Janssen - Battled away and held his own against Morgan and Huth. Won and converted the penalty, unlucky with the freekick and even more so with his spin and shot. Obviously his mobility is a continued work in progress, but get the ball into his feet, have players running off him and things will happen. Decent game.

Subs:
Nkoudou had a few good moments and looked lively. Winks needs more game time.

 

[Bus-Conductor]

Poch giveth and Poch taketh Away

A few weeks ago Pochettino stated we wouldn't be playing with two "holding" midfielders any more. I don't know why he said this, because there will obviously be times when two more "holding" types might be very viable, and why announce to the media your tactical intentions anyway ? Either way, I have no idea why he felt the need to revert to the 4231 today, against a team that lack desire to possess the ball and had lost it's first four away games.

I'm assuming Lamela is injured, so why not just continue with the 41221/433/4141 whatever we want to call it, but push Dembele forward into Lamela's role, he's a strong dribbler, who's also tenacious without the ball, and will press from the front etc. Did we really need him and Wanyama trundling around the middle of the pitch against a bus Parker ? Emphatically fucking no IMO.

What we got first half was Pochettino at his tactical drop anchor worst, the ball was slow to move from midfield, and when it did it had Eriksen banished to his least effective ARM position, Alli fumbling around their D (I swear he earned at least two free kicks in this game by tripping himself up). Son was Son, all bright eyed like a samelar hound, but lacking that ultimate bit of composure when it mattered.

The second half largely followed the pattern of the first half, lots of ball domination, very little tempo, craft, imagination. We did see the AM's switch around but it was all very laborious and Poch just twiddled his thumbs as it predictably unfolded. Why he waited so long to make a change and that change wasn't one of the CM's - he needn't have even made a sub, he could have just pushed Dembele forward, instead Dembele seemed to spend even more time behind Wanyama in this game, but if not then one of the two CM's should have gone (Demeble IMO) around the 55 minute mark, get Winks or Onomah on there and start moving the fucking ball a bit quicker.

I can't say we didn't deserve to win this game, if we had it wouldn't have been an injustice by any stretch, Leicester scored with their only shot on target, largely thanks to a momentary lapse by Wanyama and a poor bit of defending by Walker, and we were the team trying to win it, but I can't say we really created anything of substance that was worthy of winning this game either.



Individual

Lloris - One save to make. Didn't make it, but not his fault it was point blank.

Walker - Put in a good cross for Alli, apart from that was pretty good defensively, though not overly tested, but gave us very little in an attacking sense and went a bit sleepy for their goal.

Dier - OK.

Vertonghen - Good game, unlucky not to score.

Rose - Lively, very involved but didn't really deliver much of quality in an attacking sense.

Dembele - Laborious.

Wanyama - OK, often the CM getting ahead, but I'd rather we use him as the lone launch pad.

Eriksen - meh

Alli - fumbly meh

Son - Bright eyed meh

Janssen - Huffed and puffed, won and stuck his pen away, but he's feeding on meagre scraps.

 

[The Apprentice]

Please Poch, let's ditch this Wanyama/Dembele axis at home against bus parkers. So pointless.

Wanyama culpable for the goal but watching the replay a number of times, Walker doesn't cover himself in glory. I swear he's letting it run and then changes his mind.

I'm starting to really feel for Vincent. He gets fuck all service and in his 15 games for us, you can count on one hand the decent chances he has laid on for him. Trust me,Kane returning won't change this, he's not Ronaldo.

We missed Lamela today. Whilst he is an erratic, careless bugger with the ball at times, he's also our most likely to "pick the lock". Eriksen is still struggling to find the composure in the final third. Talk of dropping him though is ludicrous.

Poch was again slow to react. Perhaps we just have to accept that this is his wont. Would love to see him make a couple of changes around 60 and commit to a response.

It's a real tricky one because there is no really obvious change that will turn us into a multiple goal scoring, marauding machine. I think this season will be a grind. And by Jove, this lot can grind.

 

[AnotherSpursFan]

I'm rating the player's footballing brain in the size of fruits

Lloris - Papaya
Walker - Peanut
Rose - Peanut
Dier - Apple
Verts - Papaya
Dembele - Peanut
Wanyama - Coconut
Eriksen - Large Coconut
Son - Papaya
Jansen - Undecided

Nkedou - Fuji Apple
Harry Winks- Durian

The papayas and coconuts are on different wave lengths with the peanuts. This is why the papayas never got themselves into the game (best example: Walker and Son on the right)

 

[cozzo]

I thought Wanyama played good, he made a mistake with the header but the goal could have still been prevented twice with the cross coming in and Walker letting the ball run across him

 

[glospur]

A fucking frustrating game. We hit the post/bar, what, 3 times? We should have had another clear penalty when Alli was fouled in the first half and they equalised from a horrific mistake that should never happen from one of our best and most consistent players this season.

I just read on twitter that over something like the last 3 or 4 games we've had 70+ shots yet only scored once from open play, or something like that. Our lack of ability to score is undoubtedly becoming a problem.

Onto the positives though and I thought both the CB's. Dier in particular was in fine form, he barely gave Vardy a sniff all game and his positioning and speed was fantastic against a dangerous player on the counter. Those 3 were probably our best I thought.

Lloris - 7
Walker - 6
Dier - 8
Vertonghen - 8
Rose - 8
Wanyama - 5 (Simply for the mistake)
Dembele - 6
Son - 6
Eriksen - 5
Alli - 6
Janssen - 7

 

[EastLondonYid]

Poch giveth and Poch taketh Away

A few weeks ago Pochettino stated we wouldn't be playing with two "holding" midfielders any more. I don't know why he said this, because there will obviously be times when two more "holding" types might be very viable, and why announce to the media your tactical intentions anyway ? Either way, I have no idea why he felt the need to revert to the 4231 today, against a team that lack desire to possess the ball and had lost it's first four away games.

I'm assuming Lamela is injured, so why not just continue with the 41221/433/4141 whatever we want to call it, but push Dembele forward into Lamela's role, he's a strong dribbler, who's also tenacious without the ball, and will press from the front etc. Did we really need him and Wanyama trundling around the middle of the pitch against a bus Parker ? Emphatically fucking no IMO.

What we got first half was Pochettino at his tactical drop anchor worst, the ball was slow to move from midfield, and when it did it had Eriksen banished to his least effective ARM position, Alli fumbling around their D (I swear he earned at least two free kicks in this game by tripping himself up). Son was Son, all bright eyed like a samelar hound, but lacking that ultimate bit of composure when it mattered.

The second half largely followed the pattern of the first half, lots of ball domination, very little tempo, craft, imagination. We did see the AM's switch around but it was all very laborious and Poch just twiddled his thumbs as it predictably unfolded. Why he waited so long to make a change and that change wasn't one of the CM's - he needn't have even made a sub, he could have just pushed Dembele forward, instead Dembele seemed to spend even more time behind Wanyama in this game, but if not then one of the two CM's should have gone (Demeble IMO) around the 55 minute mark, get Winks or Onomah on there and start moving the fucking ball a bit quicker.





I can't say we didn't deserve to win this game, if we had it wouldn't have been an injustice by any stretch, Leicester scored with their only shot on target, largely thanks to a momentary lapse by Wanyama and a poor bit of defending by Walker, and we were the team trying to win it, but I can't say we really created anything of substance that was worthy of winning this game either.



Individual

Lloris - One save to make. Didn't make it, but not his fault it was point blank.

Walker - Put in a good cross for Alli, apart from that was pretty good defensively, though not overly tested, but gave us very little in an attacking sense and went a bit sleepy for their goal.

Dier - OK.

Vertonghen - Good game, unlucky not to score.

Rose - Lively, very involved but didn't really deliver much of quality in an attacking sense.

Dembele - Laborious.

Wanyama - OK, often the CM getting ahead, but I'd rather we use him as the lone launch pad.

Eriksen - meh

Alli - fumbly meh

Son - Bright eyed meh

Janssen - Huffed and puffed, won and stuck his pen away, but he's feeding on meagre scraps.

I seriously stopped reading when you wrote Onomah should have come on........

Agree we needed to revert to a 4-1-4-1.......

 

[EastLondonYid]

HUGO 7

WALKER 7

ROSE 7

DIER 6

VERTS 8 mom

WANYAMA 7

DEMBELE 5

ERIKSEN 3

SON 5

JANSSEN 7

DELLE 6


POCH 5....we needed 4-1-4-1....and should have taken off the ineffective Eriksen after 60 mins...

 

[JimmyG2]

Communication by 'Disappointed' Enfield.
Mauricio for goodness sake change it round earlier.
Has he lost hes nerve, his team sheet, his bearings or what.
Neither of the subs had long enough to pull their socks up and check their laces
let alone influence the game.

Loris ...........6........Nothing to do again.
Walker.........6........Dozed off for the goal. Otherwise OK.
Dier.............7.......OK. Where he needed to be mostly.
Verts............8.......Good. Pity about the header. Stepped up in our hour of Toby need.
Rose............8.......Doesn't subscribe to the pass it back and square manual. My MOM for constant positivity
.............................though didn't actually achieve much.
Wanyama....7.......Added carelessness to his repertoire otherwise good. Pity, he wasn't even under pressure.
Dembele......6.......Ponderous and unnecessary at home against teams that sit back. Not sure he's back to full fitness.
Eriksen........6.......The man most likely to, but didn't, again.
Dele.............6.......Irritating boy but always likely to do something special and nearly did.
Son..............5.......Lack of composure showed today. Needs to slow his feet down in tune with his brain.
Janssen.......7.......Honest and admirable but needs quicker help and support.

Subs too late again but N'Koudou showed some good moves though he fluffed his lines on Tuesday.
Winks, or anyone needs more than 5 minutes to affect a game. Could have started alongside Wanya.
Could have, should have but didn't.quite. With Arsenal Liverpool and City finding their shooting boots we are in danger of losing touch.
Amazing that we are only three points off the top, but might be down to 5th later.

 

[whitesocks]

I'm rating the player's footballing brain in the size of fruits

Lloris - Papaya
Walker - Peanut
Rose - Peanut
Dier - Apple
Verts - Papaya
Dembele - Peanut
Wanyama - Coconut
Eriksen - Large Coconut
Son - Papaya
Jansen - Undecided

Nkedou - Fuji Apple
Harry Winks- Durian

The papayas and coconuts are on different wave lengths with the peanuts. This is why the papayas never got themselves into the game (best example: Walker and Son on the right)

Wiki says: "Botanically speaking, a coconut is a fibrous one-seeded drupe"
and "The peanut is classified as a grain legume"
otherwise your fruit ratings are spot on.

Rose was pretty good and showed intent unlike any of the others.
But Vertonghen's header was absolutely stunning, so he gets the Motm for me.

 

[Flashspur]

We aren't really clicking at the moment are we? On another day we would have edged this one. I agree with other comments here that you don't need both Dembele and Wanyama together at home. Wanyama is great defensively but offers little going forward. He has played really well so it was unfortunate his awful header to Vardy yesterday lost us all 3 points. I think Wanyama's lack of vision is exacerbated by Alderweireld's injury. Toby has this beautiful knack of pushing forward from defence and playing direct balls to the attacking quartet, accelerating the play and pushing back the opposition. Dier has a better passing game than Wanyama but doesn't seem adventurous enough when playing at centre back. Vertonghen resorted to the Toby role of trying to pass out of defence but he doesn't have the wide array of passes that Alderwiereld has no the eye for the run or potential run by an attacker.

While this is an issue I think the main problem is that service from the attackers to the front man is woeful. The stats indicate that Spurs have only played half a dozen successful through balls all season. This is the service that Kane and currently Janssen feed off. Its this slow painful transition between middle and final third that is killing us. The opposition have worked out that if they sit deeper they can cut these balls out. We rely on our FB's overlapping but there were so many instances of Rose and Walker getting into good crossing positions and playing a pass back infield to feet rather then lifting the ball into the penalty area. We also need our wide attackers to try and stretch play and pull the defence out of position but that is not happening. The movement is lacking.

We have seen N'Koudou stretch play when he has came on. Likewise Son, Lamela or N'Koudou should be instructed to keep wide when Rose and Walker are deep or tuck in when the FB's are advanced and pull defenders out of position allowing Alli or Eriksen to come through the middle. We should be crossing into the area as well as we have Kane, Son, Alli and Lamela all good headers of the ball.

One observation, Dele Alli needs to work on his shooting. He should be in double figures already with the missed chances or times he has hit the post. lastly, Eriksen as the creative playmaker is missing in action. He isn't switching play as he should be and plays the safe ball every time. We badly missed Lamela's pressing has well as his guile. He often pops up with that crucial killer pass that Eriksen seems unable to play these days.

On final assessment, things aren't too bad. We are 3 points off the top with our two best players about to return. Schmeichel made some remarkably good saves and the crossbar was rattled twice. It's not quite there at the moment but we are still unbeaten. We have to improve our creativity and aggression. Ten games and unbeaten is not to be sniffed at. The momentum will come again. We just need a bit of luck at the moment.

 

[Pat Rice Spurs fan]

The opposition have worked out that if they sit deeper they can cut these balls out.

And it's not just us that the lesser teams have worked out. Watching Leicester sit deep and play on the break, last year, has further helped the fit, organised teams learn how to play against the bigger boys.
Burnley have taken points from Liverpool & Man U already.
It's like a new version of the long ball game, 10 years ago.