Ratings v Stoke

[ackie]

Here starts probably the most unpopular post you'll likely read in Spurs Chat tonight.


Lloris - 8 - Outstanding. Two magnificent saves (Butland had 2 just as good, which ultimately were the difference in the two teams. We expect Hugo to make these now. Butland had little right to save v Mason or Kane), several other good ones. Great to have him back. But could argue a minus point deserved for the fact we went quiet when it went to 2-2. That's when you need your captain.

Walker - 7 - The battle of the game was Walker vs Arnautovic. I say battle as we dicked every other contest. Walker got a booking after 20 minutes and I was petrified after that. But Kyle wasn't. He continued to compete and despite Arno getting goalside a few times, Walker did really, really well.

Toby - 8 - Loses half a point for conceding a silly penalty. Crazy soft decision but ref was giving those all day. Otherwise outstanding, especially in the air and with two passes of 50+ feet that could have created chances. Top signing.

Jan - 8 - Brilliant partnership with Toby. We caught them offside a lot. He is leading the line very well. Never beaten as far as I could see.

Davies - 6.5 - Couple of poor bits of attacking play. Couple of times he wasn't as far forward as he should have been as we tried to shift the ball quickly. But he's young and his assist for Chadli's goal was outstanding.

Dier - 8 - Most Tottenham fans don't understand why he's playing here. They're the same ones who won't understand why he was Man of the Match. It's not even a new role ffs. Busquets has been doing this for 6 years. The fact this kid has taken to it so well shows what a brilliant pre-season we must have had and how hard they've all worked.

Mason - 7.5 - Massive performance. Was everywhere. Poch's biggest mistake was taking Mason off. The team missed him greatly when he left. Had several shots but it was his tempo setting that impressed me. Deservedly replaced Nabsy.

Dembele - 7 - Used the ball well, if predictably slowly. One of his better home games for us. Frustratingly shot when we were 4 v 4 and he could have slid in any other player to score the winning goal for us.

Eriksen - 7.5 - MotM in the first half. Used the ball so well and at the heart of all our best work. Linked well with all around him. Went quieter in the second half as Stoke came into it. But a good display.

Chadli - 7 - Could have had a hat trick. Got one. Made some lung-busting runs that put the fear of God into the Stoke defence. But didn't feel like much more than this was given. We really needed him to offer something when Kane went off but it proved too much for him.

Kane - 7 - Ran his bloody arse off. Huge bag of ice on his feet after being subbed as I presume he ran so much his toes caught fire. Every chance we got either went to him, was assisted by him, or was because his smart run created space. Deserved the goal that Butland, somehow, kept out.

Subs:

Nabsy and Lamela - 4 - Same comments apply to both: Neither should really have come on. Team was so in system and settled that any change was going to a) confuse, and b) make them look bad. And they both did look bad. But as much about those around them not performing as their individual contributions.


And to answer your questions, no this isn't naive or generous. For 75 minutes we produced a Champions League level performance. In five minutes we were sucker-punched twice, very unfortunately. Otherwise, you can't expect too much more of the group. Our system and strategy and every individual performance was very good-to-excellent. Really. I'm sorry that this isn't the considered view of the masses.

I agree and gave you a winner...but you are being too kind to Eriksen.
The sub were very poor but perhaps we lacked the players needed.
At last though a positive and indeed IMO a very fair judgment of the game.

 

[JimmyG2]

Lost a game we could have won: Drew a game we should have won.
Game of two halves today: They didn't turn up first half: we didn't turn up second.
Especially Eriksen; what an enigma. And that's being polite.
But we are moving steadily up the league. Five points off top and only three off CL places.

Lloris.............6+........One brain fart (-1) and 3/4 good saves.
Walker...........6+........Needed help with Arnautovic. Looking more like his old self. Silly spat with Peters
Alderweireld..6+.......Gilt knocked off the gingerbread. He'll do though.
Vertonghen...6......... If he could be arsed he could be really good.
Davies..........6..........Fine assist but prefer Danny overall.
Dier...............7..........(+1for the goal) Negatively effective. Positively struggling.
Eriksen.........5..........That's 7 for the first half and 3 for the second. Stay off the booze at half time man.
Dembele.......6..........Good now and again. But we must be able to find better.
Mason..........7+.........Like the boy, puts in a good shift and looks ahead.MOM
Chadli...........6.......... (+1for the goal)Has the goal knack but offers not much else.
Kane.............6+........Developing his all round game. But needs to start scoring or he'll soldadoate

Poch out-thought by Hughes there's a thing. Early days but mixed signs so far.
Do we have the centre halves with most letters in their combined names?

 

[lukespurs7]

Lloris - 7
Davies - 5
Alderweireld - 6
Vertonghen - 6
Walker- 6
Dier - 6
Mason - 8
Eriksen - 6
Kane - 8
Dembele - 5
Chadli - 6
Lamela - 0
Bentaleb - 4

Agreed LOL.

 

[Cavehillspur]

I do wonder what game some people watch when i see dembeles ratings

He had a good game today, Made the most passes, most touches, most tackles, most interceptions On our team ffs.

Didn't see game but listened to the 1st half in the car and Stuart Pearce was raving about him, said he was great.

 

[ackie]

I agree with a lot of that, but it's not a champions league level performance because Champions league level teams put the nail in the coffin at 2-0 up, they don't let the other team back into it.

As has been the case for quite a lot of the past decade, our football can often match that of top 4 teams but our mentality does not - blatantly so.

I've seen top teams in CL winning at HT but then losing or getting a draw at FT.
I totally agree about our mentality.
We need a winning mentality and an experience player(s) in their too.

 

[elDiablo]

I can see us getting joey Barton on a free

 

[Blake Griffin]

Jan - 8 - Brilliant partnership with Toby. We caught them offside a lot. He is leading the line very well. Never beaten as far as I could see.

did you see their 2nd goal? he has diouf the whole time and then just leaves him to score.

 

[lukespurs7]

Lloris - 7 - His usual self and kept us in the game on numerous occasions, he shouldn't have to be saving us so often. Kicking was shocking though as usual

Walker -7 Seems extremely determined this season, fair play.
Toby - 6 Solid enough and seemed a soft pen
Jan - 6 Again solid enough
Davies -6 Nice assist and did ok

Mason - 7 Love this lad and deserved a goal, we were shit when he went off
Dier - 6 Still not convinced he's a CM but on Bentalbs form he's probably the best we have got

Dembele -7.5 MOTM - Worked very hard and was fairly creative
Eriksen 6.5 good first half, shit 2nd.
Chadli -6 Nice goal but fluffed a few decent chances also

Kane - 6 Did ok

Subs:
Bentaleb - 4 Didn;t look interested, and stormed off down the tunnel, what is up with him he was class last year.
Lamela - 0 - Dreadful, 4 fouls and 4 missplaced passes.

Potch - 6 Good 1st half and seemed organised, team gave up in the 2nd + questionable subs and still think the balance is off with this 4-2-3-1 hoping new faces will help as starting to get a little concerned, football at times is also pretty dire

 

[Adam456]

It made sense to go 4-3-3 today, get Rose on for Davies to provide a pacey outlet for the counter and shore up the middle by sitting three midfielders there.

He just doesn't seem to read the game like a supposed tactician should... He was tactically outsmarted by an often ridiculed manager....

We needed a pacey outlet and Lamela wasn't that, Rose even at LWF would have been infinitely more use.

I haven't seen the game for once but you make a good point that I am always saying. It's one thing to bring on an extra DM to close out the game but having a player with searing pace as an outlet running the half-way line really hamstrings your opponent. Makes their defenders constantly look over their shoulders when joining the attack. I have lost count of the times that this has been ignored at Spurs and we swap a pacey forward for another midfielder.

 

[Cooperfield]

Lloris - 7
Davies - 6
Alderweireld - 5
Vertonghen - 6
Walker- 6
Dier - 7
Mason - 8
Eriksen - 6
Kane - 7
Dembele - 6
Chadli - 6
Lamela - 4
Bentaleb - 4
------------------------
Pochettino - 4

 

[ItsBoris]

I've seen top teams in CL winning at HT but then losing or getting a draw at FT.
I totally agree about our mentality.
We need a winning mentality and an experience player(s) in their too.

Against teams like Stoke at home? Dominating for 70 minutes and then throwing it away in 10 minutes? I don't see that too often from them. I see it often enough from us.

 

[NickHSpurs]

Mason was excellent, the challenge he made in the first half after we almost shot ourselves in the foot (again) was as good as a goal. Walker was also very good, Stoke played a lot of the game down his side and he looked solid, never shirked a challenge despite a harsh first half booking.

Lamela and Bentaleb were the only disappointments.

 

[Bulletspur]

Excellent: Mason

Very Good: Dier Kane Dembele Lloris

Good: Chadli, Walker Verts, Toby Davis

Fair: Eriksen

Poor: Lamela Bentaleb Poch

 

[THOWIG]

Here starts probably the most unpopular post you'll likely read in Spurs Chat tonight.


Lloris - 8 - Outstanding. Two magnificent saves (Butland had 2 just as good, which ultimately were the difference in the two teams. We expect Hugo to make these now. Butland had little right to save v Mason or Kane), several other good ones. Great to have him back. But could argue a minus point deserved for the fact we went quiet when it went to 2-2. That's when you need your captain.

Walker - 7 - The battle of the game was Walker vs Arnautovic. I say battle as we dicked every other contest. Walker got a booking after 20 minutes and I was petrified after that. But Kyle wasn't. He continued to compete and despite Arno getting goalside a few times, Walker did really, really well.

Toby - 8 - Loses half a point for conceding a silly penalty. Crazy soft decision but ref was giving those all day. Otherwise outstanding, especially in the air and with two passes of 50+ feet that could have created chances. Top signing.

Jan - 8 - Brilliant partnership with Toby. We caught them offside a lot. He is leading the line very well. Never beaten as far as I could see.

Davies - 6.5 - Couple of poor bits of attacking play. Couple of times he wasn't as far forward as he should have been as we tried to shift the ball quickly. But he's young and his assist for Chadli's goal was outstanding.

Dier - 8 - Most Tottenham fans don't understand why he's playing here. They're the same ones who won't understand why he was Man of the Match. It's not even a new role ffs. Busquets has been doing this for 6 years. The fact this kid has taken to it so well shows what a brilliant pre-season we must have had and how hard they've all worked.

Mason - 7.5 - Massive performance. Was everywhere. Poch's biggest mistake was taking Mason off. The team missed him greatly when he left. Had several shots but it was his tempo setting that impressed me. Deservedly replaced Nabsy.

Dembele - 7 - Used the ball well, if predictably slowly. One of his better home games for us. Frustratingly shot when we were 4 v 4 and he could have slid in any other player to score the winning goal for us.

Eriksen - 7.5 - MotM in the first half. Used the ball so well and at the heart of all our best work. Linked well with all around him. Went quieter in the second half as Stoke came into it. But a good display.

Chadli - 7 - Could have had a hat trick. Got one. Made some lung-busting runs that put the fear of God into the Stoke defence. But didn't feel like much more than this was given. We really needed him to offer something when Kane went off but it proved too much for him.

Kane - 7 - Ran his bloody arse off. Huge bag of ice on his feet after being subbed as I presume he ran so much his toes caught fire. Every chance we got either went to him, was assisted by him, or was because his smart run created space. Deserved the goal that Butland, somehow, kept out.

Subs:

Nabsy and Lamela - 4 - Same comments apply to both: Neither should really have come on. Team was so in system and settled that any change was going to a) confuse, and b) make them look bad. And they both did look bad. But as much about those around them not performing as their individual contributions.


And to answer your questions, no this isn't naive or generous. For 75 minutes we produced a Champions League level performance. In five minutes we were sucker-punched twice, very unfortunately. Otherwise, you can't expect too much more of the group. Our system and strategy and every individual performance was very good-to-excellent. Really. I'm sorry that this isn't the considered view of the masses.

Thank you Bill

 

[DJS]

Lloris - 6 is it me or could he have read that second goal a little better... stupid pass early on to

Davies - 6 nice assist, dosent fill me with confidence, prefer rose

Alderweireld - 6 zero mistakes at southampton 2 already n his spurs career
Vertonghen - 6 No leadership no nothing. We miss a fully fit dawson and ledley
Walker- 6 brainless but didn't do to bad
Dier - 6 not bad
Mason - 8 very good
Eriksen - 6 moments of class but again drifts away
Kane - 6 something was up....
Dembele - 6 good in spells
Chadli - 6 passenger but did score
Lamela - 0 can't even do the simple things right. useless on the right and wears stupid boots
Bentaleb - 4 how did he get a flash new contract....

Da fuck?

 

[fortworthspur]

I swear I dont understand the love Mason gets. He was solid in the first half but he began to disappear from the game in the second, which is probably why Poch took him off. OTOH, Dembele was everywhere for 90 minutes. More accurate passing and better tackling, too.

The game changed with Stokes changes, not ours. Which is worrying.

As for ratings, only Lamela was truly poor to my eye.

 

[whitesocks]

motm mason - 7 - good blocks and a few shots
MP - 2 - He has had a few windows now to get rid of the players he doesn't like - this is his team now, and they look pretty poorly coached as a group and unmotivated.

 

[DOX]

I'm so, incredibly, disappointed by the perfomance. Not only by how passive we became in the second half, but also by our new tendency of hitting long balls for quick (worthless) breaks, rather than keeping the ball (high tempo) on the ground. It was like watching Stoke of the old (Pulis) times. ...only we were Stoke. I lost count on how many long balls Toby hit.

 

[npearl4spurs]

I agree with a lot of that, but it's not a champions league level performance because Champions league level teams put the nail in the coffin at 2-0 up, they don't let the other team back into it.

As has been the case for quite a lot of the past decade, our football can often match that of top 4 teams but our mentality does not - blatantly so.

He said CL level performance. He correctly did not say we were a Champions League team. We are learning how to be a Champions League team. We are learning how to have that mentality. We are getting the players that have that mentality in and shipping out the players that do not.

I've seen top teams in CL winning at HT but then losing or getting a draw at FT.
I totally agree about our mentality.
We need a winning mentality and an experience player(s) in their too.

See above.

 

[npearl4spurs]

I swear I dont understand the love Mason gets. He was solid in the first half but he began to disappear from the game in the second, which is probably why Poch took him off. OTOH, Dembele was everywhere for 90 minutes. More accurate passing and better tackling, too.

The game changed with Stokes changes, not ours. Which is worrying.

As for ratings, only Lamela was truly poor to my eye.

Ryan Mason deserves all the love in the world. MOM today. And he began to disappear from the game because he isn't 100% match fit and his lungs were about to explode out of his chest. Even someone like me who has only watched football for 4 years can see that.