zin
Anthony Gardner
We know the feeling, we've all been there many times - there's no keeping it simple with our beloved Tottenham and all emotions must be visited. The joy of beating the old enemy and pushing them 7 points adrift, the joy of beating one of the power houses of European football and seemingly booking our passage to the next round of a European cup competition, a minor 'blip' after a decent enough performance away from home against an in-form 'historically massive' side still kept our optimism fairly high and then...
Let's be honest, many of us had that little inkling at the back of our mind, this is Tottenham, a 3-0 home 1st leg win does not mean we're through, we're sure to make hard work of it, at least lose 2-0 and increase our heart rate to unhealthy levels for at least the whole of the second half. As it was we threw in extra-time for good measure however remarkably we didn't go out, not very sexy (tm) of us it must be said.
So in order to punish this indiscretion a flat performance against Fulham at home was required and a defeat in a game we were expected to win, our old friend Berbatov scoring the winning goal to boot, haven't had a former player come back to haunt us since Taarabt last season I believe so it was about time. We were so despondent about this result that GG didn't even bother starting a ratings thread for it, what with Arsenal now 4 points adrift and with a game in hand? They themselves just off the back of a 2-0 away win against Swansea, one of those teams we sort of expected they'd drop points against and who we were to play next, we know how this usually ends for us...
We go to Swansea and win. Huh? Unexpected, one of those away games we would have been happy with a draw normally, but not after a home defeat by Fulham with Arsenal breathing down our necks, but just so we don't get too excited we were reminded of how an increased heart rate felt for the last 20 minutes of the match, followed by sheer elation at how Chelsea went on to lose away to Southampton and we're 3rd!
So with March's 6.24 our season average is now at 6.27 meaning half of our six games in March were above average, with the Swansea game just above that with 6.28.
Inter Milan (H) was our best rated game of the season so far with 7.41, beating the 7.35 we got for the 3-1 win against West Ham (H). Followed by Inter Milan (A) with 5.00 being our second worst performance of the season, with Leeds (A) in the FA Cup just slightly worse with 4.98. Bloody hell Tottenham, talk about one extreme to the other!
Good news is Vertonghen is right back on form, being our top scorer and player of the month with 4 goals, this includes his highest rating of the season of 8.61 against Arsenal (H) which is also the 3rd highest score of the season by a different player (behind Bale's 9.07, 9.07 & 9.43 and Defoe's 8.70). His 7.59 for the month is also the second highest monthly score, beating his own 7.54 set in September and only bettered by Bale's 8.25 in February. His now average rating for the season of 6.78 means he's right back in the mix for player of the season, having fallen away in the last few months.
Although having a couple of bad games this month, Parker also got his highest rating of the season with an excellent 8.42 against Inter Milan (H), just about beating Dembele's 8.39 and Sigurdsson's 8.24 vs Inter Milan (H), both of which were also season highs for each player. Dawson's 7.79 vs Arsenal (H) is also a season best for him as is Walker's 7.43 vs Inter Milan (H). Keeping with the positives, Defoe's 6.70 and 6.42 are his second and third highest ratings of the season when he hasn't scored, behind the 7.16 he got vs Man Utd (A).
Unfortunately with Defoe inconsistency is the key and he followed those 2 ratings with 4 performances in which he got worst player on the pitch a total of 3 times resulting in being the worst player of the month with 5.13, only Dempsey with 5.11 (6 games) and Sigurdsson with 5.03 (3 games) in November have performed worse. His 3.50 vs Inter Milan (A) also being his lowest rating of the season (previously 4.25 vs Norwich (H) back at the beginning of September) as well as the second lowest rating of the season with Adebayor's 3.30 vs Arsenal (A) in which he was sent off early on only being worse. No goals in 2013 for Defoe yet either, with his last goal vs Aston Villa (A) on Boxing Day.
Speaking of Adebayor, his 4 performances were all sub 5.50 bringing his total to 13 in 26 games now, matched by Defoe with 13 in 36. Holtby's form hasn't picked up yet either, getting his lowest mark of the season with 4.54 vs Inter Milan (A) although he has been limited to substitute appearances this month. Naughton has also had a poor month with especially poor peformances vs Inter Milan (H) and Swansea (A) whilst Livermore and Walker averaged around their season averages with 5.35 and 5.79 respectively.
The only other player to get below the month's average of 6.24 is Assou-Ekotto with 6.09, which is higher than his season average of 6.01. Lloris also received his lowest rating of the season with 5.38 vs Liverpool (A), previously 5.54 vs Maribor (H) but maintained an above average 6.44 for the month.
Bring on April and please, let's smash Chelsea and Emirates Marketing Project on the way.
Let's be honest, many of us had that little inkling at the back of our mind, this is Tottenham, a 3-0 home 1st leg win does not mean we're through, we're sure to make hard work of it, at least lose 2-0 and increase our heart rate to unhealthy levels for at least the whole of the second half. As it was we threw in extra-time for good measure however remarkably we didn't go out, not very sexy (tm) of us it must be said.
So in order to punish this indiscretion a flat performance against Fulham at home was required and a defeat in a game we were expected to win, our old friend Berbatov scoring the winning goal to boot, haven't had a former player come back to haunt us since Taarabt last season I believe so it was about time. We were so despondent about this result that GG didn't even bother starting a ratings thread for it, what with Arsenal now 4 points adrift and with a game in hand? They themselves just off the back of a 2-0 away win against Swansea, one of those teams we sort of expected they'd drop points against and who we were to play next, we know how this usually ends for us...
We go to Swansea and win. Huh? Unexpected, one of those away games we would have been happy with a draw normally, but not after a home defeat by Fulham with Arsenal breathing down our necks, but just so we don't get too excited we were reminded of how an increased heart rate felt for the last 20 minutes of the match, followed by sheer elation at how Chelsea went on to lose away to Southampton and we're 3rd!
So with March's 6.24 our season average is now at 6.27 meaning half of our six games in March were above average, with the Swansea game just above that with 6.28.
Inter Milan (H) was our best rated game of the season so far with 7.41, beating the 7.35 we got for the 3-1 win against West Ham (H). Followed by Inter Milan (A) with 5.00 being our second worst performance of the season, with Leeds (A) in the FA Cup just slightly worse with 4.98. Bloody hell Tottenham, talk about one extreme to the other!
Good news is Vertonghen is right back on form, being our top scorer and player of the month with 4 goals, this includes his highest rating of the season of 8.61 against Arsenal (H) which is also the 3rd highest score of the season by a different player (behind Bale's 9.07, 9.07 & 9.43 and Defoe's 8.70). His 7.59 for the month is also the second highest monthly score, beating his own 7.54 set in September and only bettered by Bale's 8.25 in February. His now average rating for the season of 6.78 means he's right back in the mix for player of the season, having fallen away in the last few months.
Although having a couple of bad games this month, Parker also got his highest rating of the season with an excellent 8.42 against Inter Milan (H), just about beating Dembele's 8.39 and Sigurdsson's 8.24 vs Inter Milan (H), both of which were also season highs for each player. Dawson's 7.79 vs Arsenal (H) is also a season best for him as is Walker's 7.43 vs Inter Milan (H). Keeping with the positives, Defoe's 6.70 and 6.42 are his second and third highest ratings of the season when he hasn't scored, behind the 7.16 he got vs Man Utd (A).
Unfortunately with Defoe inconsistency is the key and he followed those 2 ratings with 4 performances in which he got worst player on the pitch a total of 3 times resulting in being the worst player of the month with 5.13, only Dempsey with 5.11 (6 games) and Sigurdsson with 5.03 (3 games) in November have performed worse. His 3.50 vs Inter Milan (A) also being his lowest rating of the season (previously 4.25 vs Norwich (H) back at the beginning of September) as well as the second lowest rating of the season with Adebayor's 3.30 vs Arsenal (A) in which he was sent off early on only being worse. No goals in 2013 for Defoe yet either, with his last goal vs Aston Villa (A) on Boxing Day.
Speaking of Adebayor, his 4 performances were all sub 5.50 bringing his total to 13 in 26 games now, matched by Defoe with 13 in 36. Holtby's form hasn't picked up yet either, getting his lowest mark of the season with 4.54 vs Inter Milan (A) although he has been limited to substitute appearances this month. Naughton has also had a poor month with especially poor peformances vs Inter Milan (H) and Swansea (A) whilst Livermore and Walker averaged around their season averages with 5.35 and 5.79 respectively.
The only other player to get below the month's average of 6.24 is Assou-Ekotto with 6.09, which is higher than his season average of 6.01. Lloris also received his lowest rating of the season with 5.38 vs Liverpool (A), previously 5.54 vs Maribor (H) but maintained an above average 6.44 for the month.
Bring on April and please, let's smash Chelsea and Emirates Marketing Project on the way.
