V Reading MOTM ratings/poll thingy

[3Dnata]

I might do some ratings later.
MOTM for me was Lennon he terrorized their defence so much the US ggovernment has declared his fan club a prescribed organisation and they want extradition. He could do with a better final delivery though.
I thought that big bald lad Reading had was superb, you know, the one in the red top.
This is a public poll so we know who you are.

 

[3Dnata]

Blinking flip I missed off Dawson what a dumby I am.

 

[Qualsonic]

Lennon, no doubt about it today, but I thought everyone was good today, even though Lloris looked a bit dodgier than normal.

 

[Spurger King]

This is the best I've seen Lennon play for a long time. Reminds me of when he played for Jol and was a threat everytime he got the ball.

 

[hughy]

Lennon. He was amazing. I don't know what we've been feeding him, but he's been exceptional recently. If only he could knock in a few more a season he'd be truly World Class. Even without a playmaker I believe we have one of the best midfields in the league.

 

[Spurs_Bear]

Lennon's best game for 3 seasons. He was outstanding.

 

[bomberH]

Lennon 9
Sandro 10.

Sandro must've tackled/intercepted about a thousand times. He didn't score but that's not what a DM's role is about. He performed as good a DM role today as I've seen before. Everyone around me just kept saying 'Sandro again!' every other minute. It may've been only Reading but he was just immense.

Dembele was very good and Walker saved a certain equaliser. Naughton looks more comfortable with every game.

 

[Skye Sauces]

Lennon - Immense Dimension. Give us more of that Aaron.

 

[Shadydan]

Last time I saw Lennon play this well was against Inter Milan away where he was outstanding but got over shadowed for obvious reasons.

 

[DogsOfWar]

This is the best I've seen Lennon play for a long time. Reminds me of when he played for Jol and was a threat everytime he got the ball.

I think AVB, as with Jol, encourages him to play in a more free role. I've noticed he's coming inside more, taking up more central and forward positions (as does Bale), and starting to look like a goal threat again.
Under Harry he seemed to be under orders to hug the touchline and try to get around the outside of the fullback with Walker spending more time in the forward position than Lennon.

But it may also be down to us being stronger centrally with Demble/Sandro/Parker rather than Modric so shape isn't as important.
I also seem to remember with Jol we had Malbs/Davids playing more centrally on the left with Carrick/Jenas/Zokora in the middle which allowed Lennon a free role too.

 

[guate]

MOTM......without a shadow of a doubt, Aaron Lennon.
However, what an enormous asset Sandro is turning out to be. Today and in the majority of games this season the guy has been exceptional. Maybe it's down to the fact that he and AVB speak the same language and so the communication between them is very clear. IMHO, over the first half of this season, Sandro has been, by far, our most consistent player with G.B. a close second.

 

[HotspurFC1950]

Lennon. He was amazing. I don't know what we've been feeding him, but he's been exceptional recently. If only he could knock in a few more a season he'd be truly World Class. Even without a playmaker I believe we have one of the best midfields in the league.

AVB has told him he's a great player.

 

[Bobbins]

I might do ratings later, but suffice to say this picture makes me really happy, with a lovely warm glow inside.

(I'm assuming there is no copyright issue with this pic as it's from the Spurs Facebook page and as such is in the public domain and not owned by Spurs?)

 

[elDiablo]

Lennon was unplayable today. He really is getting good at the clipped cross to the back stick. I dont think he is ever going to wrap his foot around the ball and whip the ball in, but hope im proved wrong.

I loved the moment when Reading tried to break down our left side, and he was their to sweep up - followed by a shot of him huffing and puffing. Really gives his all.

Thought Naughton played very well again. Starting to add some consistency to his game, and should play on the right when BAE is back to give Walker some time to reflect.

Sandro and Dembele were just awesome. Loved watching both holding off that Russian giant. Sandro really got about as well, but that was mainly due to Reading just camping in their half.

Hopefully AVB will rest Lennon, Sandro, Defoe, Walker and Dembele at the weekend, for a well earned break.

 

[DotNetCoder]

I voted Dembele, MOTM.

When he went off, we suffered.

Lennon and Sandro close runners up.

 

[Bus-Conductor]

OK. I am moving us officially to DEFCON 2 (5 is the end of the world). After Everton we were at DEFCON 4.

Taking a general overview, there are plenty of reasons for optimism. In general we are collectively working much harder, and more importantly, working much more coherently as a group, even when parts of that group change. This is a good sign. We are fortunate that Arsenal are as bad as they have been for two decades, but none the less, I feel AVB is achieving what ever we are achieving thanks to a coached ethic that is starting to show real green shoots. We can no longer say we are achieving things thanks to individual brilliance. That gives me the beginnings of a warm feeling in my testies. I'm not sucking myself off just yet, but a few sperms have started packing their sperm suitcases.

I have never seen Defoe and Lennon consistently work as hard as they have in the last few matches. Ever. AVB referenced Lennon today post match. Can't remember exactly what he said, or even if it was audible to anyone other Rod Stewart's sound recordist, but I got the impression that time had been spent with Lennon. Either way, there is no way it is by chance. It is not possible, because for six years these two have been pissing me off with their lack of involvement and work ethic. AVB has clearly worked on these two and managed the impossible. I don't think I've ever known Lennon make 45 passes in a game or see the ball 71 times. I doff my cap to AVB.

OK, that's the good overall stuff.

The same shit haunts us. For starters, for all his work and fizz today, and there was plenty of it,for which he deserves much credit, and he did set up Adebayor's header, the actual quality in the final delivery, the cheque Lennon's effort writes, is rarely cashed at the bank of clear quality chance.

Defoe is a fuckwit. He's still shifting, but his shooting seems to have lost it's way somewhat. But most annoying is his continual inability to get his head out of his arse and just play a simple, properly weighted pass to someone in a much better position, and instead choosing to shoot through seventeen players. People wonder why Adebayor isn't smiling as much, I'm sure part of the answer lies with Defoe. He wipes the smile off my face often enough. There are so many times when his movement is static and our players have the ball and are desperately looking for an outlet and he's impossible to find because he's just not thinking that way - i.e. how can I make myself available here.

I'm really not sure we will see the very best of Adebayor playing with Defoe, it's such a one way street, and Defoe doesn't score enough to make that one way always viable.

Adebayor worked hard enough again, and was good to see him get a goal, and a vital one at that, can't hurt his delicate psyche.

But lets be honest here. Once we got a goal up and Reading opened up, if we had some wit and craft about us we should have mullered them. They were a really shit team who become open as fuck and it took a huge slice of luck to put this game to bed. Our pressing actually wasn't quite as good today, but there was a nasty little spell late on when it dropped right off, our defence dropped about 20 yards, and they eked out a couple of chances, one largely thanks to a completely fuckwitted moment Dawson (contrast this to an identical moment in the last Game Gallas played) who was stood with his arm in the air whilst their fella walked straight past him and in on goal. Walker, who up till then was having another pretty awful game, saved Dawson's arse.

Personally today I would have "rested" Defoe, put Sig in the hole, Falque or Dempsey wide left and put Adebayor up top on his own. Decongested the "d" area of Defoe's presence and put another creative body to try and break down the obdurate opponent, sucking them out a little in the hope Sig could play one of his good through balls. You could have always brought Defoe on if needed as an impact.

Top of my January wish list, anything with a brain please Mr Levy. AVB deserves at least one.

Ratings:

Lloris 7 - OK

Walker 6 - The usual mixed bag. Did some stupid things, like deciding to take a nap when Naughton passed to him and they were the last two. Giving silly fouls away. Wasting chances when in attack. Does fucking try though and saved Dawson's arse with a great tackle.

Dawson 6 - Was having an OK game until his senior moment. Real schoolboy stuff. Did well for the goal.

vertonghen 6.5 - Good on the ball, occasionally has less than good moments when defending.

Naughton 6.5 - OK, worked hard, saw plenty but sometimes looks like what he is. A RB playing LB.

Sandro 7.5 - Sandro.

Dembele 7.5 - Decent enough. Lots of ball.

Lennon 8 - Big mark for effort and for clearly taking on board what he's being asked to do, which is contribute more and work harder off the ball. I'm struggling to count too many clear cut chances he actually created. It's not all his fault, sometimes the movement of his targets isn't what it could be, but often his choices are just not what they should be.

Adebayor 7 - A decent enough shift. Did well to turn the cross into a goal. I really think he'd benefit from having someone around him with a brain.

Sigurdsson 5.5 - Only managed to out pass Defoe by 2 passes. That's not great. I really don't think ALM is his best position though.

Defoe 6 - Points for working harder of late, and seeing more ball again, but I won't mind if he's "rested" soon.

 

[fortworthspur]

Dembele was top class today - best game in a Spurs shirt.

 

[Spurs_Bear]

Ok here's some ratings, there's not much to explain about the game apart from we played pretty well and they weren't very good.

Lloris - 6 Didn't have that much to do but actually looked quite shaky with his distribution today. Still a class act.

Walker - 7.5 was calmer in attack than usual, couple of decent passes and an excellent saving tackle.
Dawson - 7 relatively untroubled, nice movement for the goal.
Vertonghen - 6.5 got done horribly in the second half but was decent apart from that without having much trouble.
Naughton - 7 indifferent first half where he constantly held onto the ball too long but much improved in the second and helped us camp higher up the pitch.

Sandro - 8 full beast mode today, best tackler in the league in my opinion.
Dembele - 7 good shift.

Lennon - 8.5 brilliant today. Both in an attacking sense and when tracking back.
Sigurdsson - 6.5 decent set piece delivery but wasted a lot of good positions, looks better in the centre than when on the left.

Adebayor - 7 wasn't great first half but better after the goal, hopefully the confidence boost he needs.
Defoe - 6 poor first half when he couldn't trap a dead rat in a phone box. Slightly improved second but overall quite disappointing, worked hard enough.

Subs did ok, Dempsey getting a bit of luck but love his passion in his celebration, Parker showed for the ball and played a couple of really nice incisive passes inside the full back for Walker, Livermore not on long enough to make a difference.

 

[stevenqoz]

Lloris 6.5
Walker 7
Vert 6
Dawson 6
Naughton 6.5
Lennon 8.5
Sandro 8
Dembele 6.5
Sig 6
Defoe 6
Ade 6.5
Parker 6
Livermore NET
Dempsey 6.5

 

[shaqTHFC]

OK. I am moving us officially to DEFCON 2 (5 is the end of the world). After Everton we were at DEFCON 4.

Taking a general overview, there are plenty of reasons for optimism. In general we are collectively working much harder, and more importantly, working much more coherently as a group, even when parts of that group change. This is a good sign. We are fortunate that Arsenal are as bad as they have been for two decades, but none the less, I feel AVB is achieving what ever we are achieving thanks to a coached ethic that is starting to show real green shoots. We can no longer say we are achieving things thanks to individual brilliance. That gives me the beginnings of a warm feeling in my testies. I'm not sucking myself off just yet, but a few sperms have started packing their sperm suitcases.

I have never seen Defoe and Lennon consistently work as hard as they have in the last few matches. Ever. AVB referenced Lennon today post match. Can't remember exactly what he said, or even if it was audible to anyone other Rod Stewart's sound recordist, but I got the impression that time had been spent with Lennon. Either way, there is no way it is by chance. It is not possible, because for six years these two have been pissing me off with their lack of involvement and work ethic. AVB has clearly worked on these two and managed the impossible. I don't think I've ever known Lennon make 45 passes in a game or see the ball 71 times. I doff my cap to AVB.

OK, that's the good overall stuff.

The same shit haunts us. For starters, for all his work and fizz today, and there was plenty of it,for which he deserves much credit, and he did set up Adebayor's header, the actual quality in the final delivery, the cheque Lennon's effort writes, is rarely cashed at the bank of clear quality chance.

Defoe is a fuckwit. He's still shifting, but his shooting seems to have lost it's way somewhat. But most annoying is his continual inability to get his head out of his arse and just play a simple, properly weighted pass to someone in a much better position, and instead choosing to shoot through seventeen players. People wonder why Adebayor isn't smiling as much, I'm sure part of the answer lies with Defoe. He wipes the smile off my face often enough. There are so many times when his movement is static and our players have the ball and are desperately looking for an outlet and he's impossible to find because he's just not thinking that way - i.e. how can I make myself available here.

I'm really not sure we will see the very best of Adebayor playing with Defoe, it's such a one way street, and Defoe doesn't score enough to make that one way always viable.

Adebayor worked hard enough again, and was good to see him get a goal, and a vital one at that, can't hurt his delicate psyche.

But lets be honest here. Once we got a goal up and Reading opened up, if we had some wit and craft about us we should have mullered them. They were a really shit team who become open as fuck and it took a huge slice of luck to put this game to bed. Our pressing actually wasn't quite as good today, but there was a nasty little spell late on when it dropped right off, our defence dropped about 20 yards, and they eked out a couple of chances, one largely thanks to a completely fuckwitted moment Dawson (contrast this to an identical moment in the last Game Gallas played) who was stood with his arm in the air whilst their fella walked straight past him and in on goal. Walker, who up till then was having another pretty awful game, saved Dawson's arse.

Personally today I would have "rested" Defoe, put Sig in the hole, Falque or Dempsey wide left and put Adebayor up top on his own. Decongested the "d" area of Defoe's presence and put another creative body to try and break down the obdurate opponent, sucking them out a little in the hope Sig could play one of his good through balls. You could have always brought Defoe on if needed as an impact.

Top of my January wish list, anything with a brain please Mr Levy. AVB deserves at least one.

Ratings:

Lloris 7 - OK

Walker 6 - The usual mixed bag. Did some stupid things, like deciding to take a nap when Naughton passed to him and they were the last two. Giving silly fouls away. Wasting chances when in attack. Does fucking try though and saved Dawson's arse with a great tackle.

Dawson 6 - Was having an OK game until his senior moment. Real schoolboy stuff. Did well for the goal.

vertonghen 6.5 - Good on the ball, occasionally has less than good moments when defending.

Naughton 6.5 - OK, worked hard, saw plenty but sometimes looks like what he is. A RB playing LB.

Sandro 7 - Sandro.

Dembele 7 - Decent enough. Lots of ball.

Lennon 8 - Big mark for effort and for clearly taking on board what he's being asked to do, which is contribute more and work harder off the ball. I'm struggling to count too many clear cut chances he actually created. It's not all his fault, sometimes the movement of his targets isn't what it could be, but often his choices are just not what they should be.

Adebayor 7 - A decent enough shift. Did well to turn the cross into a goal. I really think he'd benefit from having someone around him with a brain.

Sigurdsson 5.5 - Only managed to out pass Defoe by 2 passes. That's not great. I really don't think ALM is his best position though.

Defoe 6 - Points for working harder of late, and seeing more ball again, but I won't mind if he's "rested" soon.

Former Tottenham striker Garth Crooks on Final Score:
"Spurs winger Aaron Lennon is capable of great moments and he put in an exquisite chip to the back post and Adebayor did the rest. The power he got from his neck muscles was fantastic.
"Les Ferdinand told me the coaches at Spurs have worked and worked and worked on Lennon's final ball and all that time on the training ground seems to be paying off."

This was on the BBC live text this afternoon, so there has been individual coaching with Lennon.