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Ratings - Stoke

Lloris 7
Walker 5
Toby 6
Verts 6
Davies 5
Dier 7
Mason 7
Eriksen 6
Dembele 6
Chadli 6
Kane 6

Bentaleb 5
Lamela 4
 
Hugo was good except for his first half wobble.
Walker was good too, and although he gets himself into the odd confrontation etc, he looks totally committed.
Davies was poor. Great cross for the Chadli goal, but otherwise not impressed. Danny Rose will be back for the next game.
Verts and Toby - mixed bag - good first half (save for the one mix up) but at times in the second they looked all at sea. That can be explained to some extent by the fact it is a new(ish) partnership which will take a bit of time to bed-in and also due to the midfield pairing in front of them - see below.
Mason and Dier - i rate these two lads - solid and impressive young players who will go from strength to strength, but neither in my view is of sufficient quality and experience to play that position week-in, week-out if we are going to challenge for the top 4. Given Poch likes to play 4 attacking players in front of two more defensive midfielders, those two both have to be able to win the ball and move it on with accuracy and speed. Dier isn't a midfielder and doesn't look like one. Mason is (for me) and back-up in that position or, at best, to be played alongside an experienced ball-winning midfielder. i am v v concerned if Poch is thinking of this as our central pairing for this season. Mason had a good game and Dier scored, but long-term this isn't the pairing for me.
Eriksen - glimpses of brilliance but a quiet game.
Chadli - frustrating - scores but much of his play was distinctly average and once he was shifted into the centre when Kane went off, that was the end of his game.
Dembele - I've been a big critic of his but he was good yesterday - he had more urgency than most, won a lot of balls and looked like he was playing for his place.
Kane - as soon as his number was held up, i could tell what was going to happen. Not his best game by any stretch but still worked tirelessly and if anything was going to happen it was going to involve him - I don't think buying Clinton N'Jie is the answer - he is going to play in the Chadli, Lamela type positions wide and off the striker, and therefore what yesterday showed is that if this system is going to work we are in dire need of another striker.

Lamela - oh dear. I've been one of the biggest supporters of Lamela, but i sat there yesterday thinking how much worse off would we be if we sold him for £15m to someone like Juve and used the money to buy Berahino. Defensively he's a liability and he needs too much time on the ball. Unquestionably a talent, but it's not working. Time to go.

Poch - not his finest hour i'm afraid. We played well for the first 35 mins and to go in 2-0 up at half time was great. To come away with one point against a team like Stoke is disappointing. Sure, they are no mugs, but we should be able to close-out a 2-0 lead at home against them. I'm afraid he was out-foxed by Hughes and Co yesterday. Two games, one point. Chequebook out Levy or this is going to be a long, long season.
 
Cotswold said:
Hugo was good except for his first half wobble.
Walker was good too, and although he gets himself into the odd confrontation etc, he looks totally committed.
Davies was poor. Great cross for the Chadli goal, but otherwise not impressed. Danny Rose will be back for the next game.
Verts and Toby - mixed bag - good first half (save for the one mix up) but at times in the second they looked all at sea. That can be explained to some extent by the fact it is a new(ish) partnership which will take a bit of time to bed-in and also due to the midfield pairing in front of them - see below.
Mason and Dier - i rate these two lads - solid and impressive young players who will go from strength to strength, but neither in my view is of sufficient quality and experience to play that position week-in, week-out if we are going to challenge for the top 4. Given Poch likes to play 4 attacking players in front of two more defensive midfielders, those two both have to be able to win the ball and move it on with accuracy and speed. Dier isn't a midfielder and doesn't look like one. Mason is (for me) and back-up in that position or, at best, to be played alongside an experienced ball-winning midfielder. i am v v concerned if Poch is thinking of this as our central pairing for this season. Mason had a good game and Dier scored, but long-term this isn't the pairing for me.
Eriksen - glimpses of brilliance but a quiet game.
Chadli - frustrating - scores but much of his play was distinctly average and once he was shifted into the centre when Kane went off, that was the end of his game.
Dembele - I've been a big critic of his but he was good yesterday - he had more urgency than most, won a lot of balls and looked like he was playing for his place.
Kane - as soon as his number was held up, i could tell what was going to happen. Not his best game by any stretch but still worked tirelessly and if anything was going to happen it was going to involve him - I don't think buying Clinton N'Jie is the answer - he is going to play in the Chadli, Lamela type positions wide and off the striker, and therefore what yesterday showed is that if this system is going to work we are in dire need of another striker.

Lamela - oh dear. I've been one of the biggest supporters of Lamela, but i sat there yesterday thinking how much worse off would we be if we sold him for £15m to someone like Juve and used the money to buy Berahino. Defensively he's a liability and he needs too much time on the ball. Unquestionably a talent, but it's not working. Time to go.

Poch - not his finest hour i'm afraid. We played well for the first 35 mins and to go in 2-0 up at half time was great. To come away with one point against a team like Stoke is disappointing. Sure, they are no mugs, but we should be able to close-out a 2-0 lead at home against them. I'm afraid he was out-foxed by Hughes and Co yesterday. Two games, one point. Chequebook out Levy or this is going to be a long, long season.
Click to expand...
Almost exactly how I saw it.
 
Lloris - 6

Walker - 7
Toby - 7
Vert - 6
Davies - 6

Dier - 7
Mason - 7

Eriksen - 5
Dembele - 7
Chadli - 6

Kane - 6

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

Bentaleb 4
Lamela 2
 
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