Ratings v Swansea

[Richie]

Really don't think it was that bad. a bit like Kompany's tackle, it was a dangerous tackle but he was precise enough to get the ball and not hurt the Swansea player so fair play to him. And if thats the only thing that was wrong with his game today, why a 6? 8 for me, at least... he was brilliant in defence today and some very good attacking play too.

It's not about how dangerous it is, its the fact that by the letter of the law he should have been sent off which could easily have cost us the game against a good footballing side like Swansea

 

[Jurgen the German]

Honestly think BAE is STILL underrated in this board. Can't believe people giving him 6's...

Really can't see how he's underated as many on this board rate him as the best left back in the league, which he isn't. He's in the discussion, but not the best.

 

[Yid (Israel)]

It's not about how dangerous it is, its the fact that by the letter of the law he should have been sent off which could easily have cost us the game against a good footballing side like Swansea

Show me the rule that says that. This has been discussed here a lot, a 2 footed tackle/challenge does not equal a red card. And he got the ball and none of the man. So yes, I think it would have been very very harsh for the ref to send him off. I agree that it was a bit reckless though. Just not as bad as you're making it sound.
A lot of things "could have cost us the game". Friedel could have not saved that shot, VDV corner could have gone wide etc... If you want to talk about small margins- BAE was right on the ball, thus he did not get a red card and we were not forced to play 10 men and did not lose.

 

[mudshark]

Benny's not underrated on here; he's highly regarded in the main, and rightly so, but he didn't have his best game for us today. The tackle was only one issue. He got done by Routledge more than once, and repeatedly conceded possession too cheaply, lumping the ball along the sideline when there were safer options available, bringing us under pressure. He's not often subbed, and I don't think it's any coincidence he was today, albeit he may have taken a knock.

Edit: a 6 isn't a poor rating, anyway. AFAIC, it's a neutral one, indicating a par performance, or one in which negatives are balanced by positives.

 

[Yid (Israel)]

I think he was subbed as a precaution because of his (shoulder?) injury earlier in the game. Really disagree with pretty much anything else you said, particularly about his defence today. Routledge got almost nothing from him IMO. He's had better wingers than Routledge in his pocket in the past but I think it was impressive how he almost always took the ball away from him today.

 

[charlietheyid]

Friedel- 6 Fine
Walker 7 Solid at the back, didnt go forward as much as he likes to
Gallas 7 should have conceded a penalty but experience adds a lot to our team
Kaboul 8 A beast today
Assou ekotto 8 Had a very good game
Parker 8 Much better, was everywhere in the first half
Modric 6 Not his best game, a couple of bad passes, and should have had a hat trick
Sandro 6 Slowly getting back to his best, but not there yet
Van der Vaart 8 Key to our good form, well taken goal and corner
Bale 8 At his best, splendid runs and good crossing.
Adebayor 8 Poor first half, didnt seem to be his day until two good headers

 

[Rorschach]

Friedel 8 - Game changing moment for Swansea if that shot had gone it. Gomesque like save.
Walker 7 - Did very well again. Has a lot of nearly moments in an attacking sense which will become game changing moments next year.
Gallas 8 - No fuss about anything he did (except for the peno that wasn't).
Kaboul 8 - I actually don't mind him bursting up field when Sandro and Parker are on the pitch, but it rarely ends up being dangerous. A number of superb blocks that we're truly top drawer.
Assou-Ekotto 8 - Some wayward passing but overall bullied Routledge out of the game. Retained possession excellently for the most part.
Sandro 7 - You can see he is still a little bit leggy but has improved game on game. This boy will be big. I can feel it in my water.
Parker 8 - That's the Parker I like to see. I not too sure why he attacks as he's crap at it, but some great tackling and 3 good games back to back after 5 poor ones in my opinion.
Modrić 7 - Mixed bag from Modders. I though he was rather poor in the first 20 mins and a little lazy defensively through the whole game. Shooting wasn't great either. Sounds like he had a crap game but some of his ball retention was good and one sublime pass inside the full back for Bale.
Bale 9 - The scary thing is I think he's only going to get better. I think we are witnessing the birth of a genuine world class player.
Van Der Vaart 9 - MOM for me. He gets stick for dropping deep but I think that works for us and the team. We retain possession so much better when he's on the pitch and that goal was a moment of true beauty.
Adebayor 8 - The man can head. Who knew? Great shift by the big man. Gotta sign him.

Lennon 7 - Nice cameo but I'd still have him on the bench for the next few matches. Don't fix what is not broken.
Livermore 7 - I love this guy. One bad pass which he chased down and won possession back sums him up.

 

[DaveT316]

Friedel - 8 great save, came for the ball. Did well
Walker - 7 not his biggest fan but did ok today
Kaboul - 7 some great blocks, but caught out of position a bit too often
Gallas - 7 got away with a stonewall penalty but a commanding presence and a real leader
BAE - 8 great game. Really stopped them playing by pushing up to halfway line and pressing
Parker - 9 nearly mom, great, great performance. Set the tone. Back to his best
Sandro - 7 not bad, did what he needed too. Broke up play and was progressive in play
Modrich - 6 will the real luka please stand up. Been poor since Xmas. Needs to rediscover his pre-Xmas form or if we don't qualify for cl, he will conveniently forget his role in this. At fault for goal by not picking up sigurdsson
Bale - 8 very good. Stay on the left and we get this performance
VdV - 8 another very good performance. Working like a Trojan at the moment
Ade - 9 mom for me and not just for goals. Worked so hard up front. Ran his absolute gonads off. Meant that Swansea couldn't build from back. Brilliant
Lennon - 7 great assist and great to have him back
Livermore - n/a
Rose - n/a
Harry - 10 credit where credit is due, got everything spot on. Didn't panic and put two up top at 1-1 and this helped us to win us the game. I can't stress enough how important it is to us to have rafa linking play. We must play him and Ade up top for rest of season. We know our best team Harry, now pick it for the rest of the season!!! 4-5-fudging-1

 

[SteveAWOL]

Friedel -7.5- Great fingertip save from Sigurdsson.
Walker -6.5- Not at his best.
Kaboul -7- Some good blocks.
Gallas -7- Got rounded by Taylor once early on but otherwise composed.
Ekotto -7- Decent shift defensively aside from the reckless 2 footed lunge.
Parker -8- Shielded the back line superbly.
Modric -7.5- Good passing and forward runs but just wish heÔÇÖd show more composure in front of goal.
Sandro -6.5- Worked hard but not quite match sharp yet.
VdV -8- Great all round performance, well taken goal and glad to see that his corner delivery was good again.
Bale -8- Devastating left wing display.
Adebayor -8- Worked hard plus scored 2 good headed goals.

Lennon -7- Quality cross for AdeÔÇÖs 2nd goal.
Livermore -6.5- A wayward pass which he made amends for by helping to win the ball back.

 

[ArcspacE]

Brad - 7 - one very good save in particular
Walker - 6 - ok
Kaboul - 7 - strong in the air
Gallas - 7 - composed
BAE - 7 - did well

Parker - 8 - great display
Modric 7 - kept things moving
Sandro - 6 - ok
Bale - 8 - MotM

VdV - 7 - creative spark throughout
Ade - 8 - grabbed a brace

Lennon - 7 -lively
Livermore - 6 - little time

 

[DanishWhite]

Benny's not underrated on here; he's highly regarded in the main, and rightly so, but he didn't have his best game for us today. The tackle was only one issue. He got done by Routledge more than once, and repeatedly conceded possession too cheaply, lumping the ball along the sideline when there were safer options available, bringing us under pressure. He's not often subbed, and I don't think it's any coincidence he was today, albeit he may have taken a knock.

Edit: a 6 isn't a poor rating, anyway. AFAIC, it's a neutral one, indicating a par performance, or one in which negatives are balanced by positives.

I'll just bring you up on this one.

I'll disagree fiercely. He's under tremendous pressure on the ball, because very, very often Modric is playing inside left and always man marked (thus unavailable) AND very very often neither from Ade nor Bale (in particular) are where they are supposed to be, helping out the fullback by competing for the clearance along the line.

That's a nailed on wingers duty and if not then a strikers duty.

Lennon and Rafa are almost always there for Walker and Corluka, but Benny is left on his own most of the time and left with a risky whipped ball into space for Ade or an even more risky pass for a midfield in or around the centre circle through enemy marking zones.

 

[zin]

I'll just bring you up on this one.

I'll disagree fiercely. He's under tremendous pressure on the ball, because very, very often Modric is playing inside left and always man marked (thus unavailable) AND very very often neither from Ade nor Bale (in particular) are where they are supposed to be, helping out the fullback by competing for the clearance along the line.

That's a nailed on wingers duty and if not then a strikers duty.

Lennon and Rafa are almost always there for Walker and Corluka, but Benny is left on his own most of the time and left with a risky whipped ball into space for Ade or an even more risky pass for a midfield in or around the centre circle through enemy marking zones.

Rafa roams as well so can't agree with that.

 

[Pandy]

Friedel - 7.5

Walker - 6.5
Kaboul - 7.5
Gallas 7.5
Ekotto - 7

VDV - 8.5. We went 132 corners in a row until today without scoring a corner, he has finally realised to take corners from the right inswinging, they are so much more dangerous. Brilliant performance and workrate as well.
Sandro - 7.5
Parker - 8
Modric - 7.5
Bale - 8.5

Adebayor - 8. Headers... finally...

Lennon - 7. So glad he's back
Livermore - 7

Harry - 9

 

[Pandy]

Rafa roams as well so can't agree with that.

He has been putting in a shift defensively over the last few months when played on the right..

 

[mudshark]

I'll just bring you up on this one.

I'll disagree fiercely. He's under tremendous pressure on the ball, because very, very often Modric is playing inside left and always man marked (thus unavailable) AND very very often neither from Ade nor Bale (in particular) are where they are supposed to be, helping out the fullback by competing for the clearance along the line.

That's a nailed on wingers duty and if not then a strikers duty.

Lennon and Rafa are almost always there for Walker and Corluka, but Benny is left on his own most of the time and left with a risky whipped ball into space for Ade or an even more risky pass for a midfield in or around the centre circle through enemy marking zones.

I accept that he often has to cope on his own, but he nearly always elects to turn towards the outside, even when there are safer options available—presumably because he feels more comfortable going on his left. I watched him doing it, and yesterday, he gave the ball directly to a Swansea player who put us immediately on the back foot as a result on more than one occasion. I think he was also one of the three players who sat down for a cup of tea and a biscuit towards the end after they'd tackled Dyer, whose quick throw then took all three of them out of the game and we almost conceded a second goal.

 

[DanishWhite]

I accept that he often has to cope on his own, but he nearly always elects to turn towards the outside, even when there are safer options available—presumably because he feels more comfortable going on his left. I watched him doing it, and yesterday, he gave the ball directly to a Swansea player who put us immediately on the back foot as a result on more than one occasion. I think he was also one of the three players who sat down for a cup of tea and a biscuit towards the end after they'd tackled Dyer, whose quick throw then took all three of them out of the game and we almost conceded a second goal.

Rose had come on for that, I think, but don't recall for sure.

It was diabolical though.

 

[zin]

Kaboul was in the TOTW on ESPN Soccernet

Tottenham centre-back Younes Kaboul has been outstanding in recent months and continued in the same vein against Swansea. It had been a fairly quiet afternoon for the big defender, with his biggest contribution a fantastic header from a corner that required a top save from Michel Vorm, thanks to the harrying work of those in midfield. Yet, had it not been for the Frenchman's interventions on three occasions in the last ten minutes of the encounter, Swansea may have left White Hart Lane with at least a point to their name. A colossus at the back.

 

[southstand1882]

Benoit 10

Parker 4 (for getting in the way of Benoit's pass)

Kaboul 10 (this guy is a fudging man mountain)

 

[Joesh]

I accept that he often has to cope on his own, but he nearly always elects to turn towards the outside, even when there are safer options available—presumably because he feels more comfortable going on his left. I watched him doing it, and yesterday, he gave the ball directly to a Swansea player who put us immediately on the back foot as a result on more than one occasion. I think he was also one of the three players who sat down for a cup of tea and a biscuit towards the end after they'd tackled Dyer, whose quick throw then took all three of them out of the game and we almost conceded a second goal.

Rose had come on for that, I think, but don't recall for sure.

It was diabolical though.

Definately Rose was one of the 3. I dont think its a coincidence Benny was under such pressure as I think Rodgers realised that he is one of our main outlets from defense. It is surprising other teams havent really picked up on this. A few posters in another thread were describing Benny as a playmaker which is strange for a full back but you can see why as players will give him the ball even if they think he is marked because they trust him as an outlet.

 

[clevelandspur]

Friedel - 8 world class save
BAE - 7.5 very good
Kaboul - 8.5 beast
Gallas - 7.5 solid two good performances on the trot
Walker - 6.5 wasteful in final third but did ok
Sandro - 6.5 did decent I thought
Parker - 9 immense looked back to his best
Modric - 6.5 He played well but I can't rate him higher because of how poor his finishing was could have had a hat trick
Bale - 8 always looked a threat
VDV - 9 all around belting performance MOM
Adebayor - 8 not involved as much as last few matches but bagged a brace

I also thought Livermore was great when he came on. Deserves to be starting over Sandro atm

Player of the year is Parker for me as of now with Bale and Kaboul close second