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Ratings v WBA

Thought we were very good in the first half, just needed someone to be a bit clinical or make some moves in the box for one of Bale's excellent crosses.

Game was a lot more open in the 2nd half, Lukaku changed things for sure, but going 4-4-2 also made us struggle more in midfield.

Several things can be blamed for the goal, for me the important thing is that when one goal up with 10 minutes to go we should try to keep the ball more. However, with Livermore and Jenas in midfield, Friedel, Walker and a seemingly slightly injured Gallas at the back that was always going to be difficult. We still rather desperately need that creative player with real ball playing qualities in the centre.
 
southstand1882 said:
I was at the game

Vertonghen was a fudging liability today

Yes, he looks great on the ball

Yes, he can pass a ball

But defensively, he is not premier league yet
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I know exactly what you mean. A real player in the making, but needs a little time to bed in fully.

I think we saw the potential in him today, and it would be fair to say he didnt make any real clangers - but he never looked far away from one did he?

I suspect he might have a few rocky games, but once he has got up to speed I think he will be awesome
 
nayimfromthehalfwayline said:
I know exactly what you mean. A real player in the making, but needs a little time to bed in fully.

I think we saw the potential in him today, and it would be fair to say he didnt make any real clangers - but he never looked far away from one did he?

I suspect he might have a few rocky games, but once he has got up to speed I think he will be awesome
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Not surprising, most centre backs need time to adjust to the Premiership and although I don't watch the Eresdivisie ever I imagine it being a lot less physical than the PL.
 
Im not surprised in the slightest, I quite expected it. I figured he would be a bit shaky and probably off the pace, which is why I was pleased he didnt play at Saudi Sportswashing Machine but was saved for yesterday.

I think he showed enough to say though that when he finds his feet fully he will be one hell of a player.

Which pretty well echoes my thoughts on the new set up. I expect things to be rocky for a while, a change to a new way of playing always is, and yet there were plenty of positives to show that if we get it right we will really have something to shout about
 
Friedel 6

Walker 5
Gallas 5
Vertonghen 5
Ekotto 5.5

Lennon 5
Sandro 6
Livermore 6.5
Bale 6

VDV 6
Defoe 6

Ade 5
Sig 5
Jenas 4
 
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I just don't get the Verhogen slating. What do people expect? I thought he made a lot of bat tackles, even when he got turned he always made up for it, plus he comes out with the ball brilliantly. He's clearly going to be a fantastic player for us. But of course, we didn't win, so all the spurs fans with knives come out and attack anyone who gets in their way.
 
I know that heaping praise on the new signing is the cool thing to do but he wasn't convincing at all for me, his first touch of the ball practically let West Brom through in on goal, he was turned a fair few times and Lukaku bullied him(and Gallas). That's not to say he won't be a good signing but yesterday was hardly encouraging. He did bring the ball out of defence nicely a couple of times, especially first half when him and Bale linked up.
 
Friedel : 8 - Don't subscribe that he was at blame for the goal and he made some excellent saves. His distribution was poor though and we hit it long far too often, which was a complete waste of time when it was to Defoe.

Walker : 6 - OK

Gallas : 6 - Got given a rough ride by Lukaku, but handled Long OK.

Verts : 6 - Comfortable on the ball, but struggled with the physical presence of Long and then Lukaku. Got caught wrong side of his man a couple of times, and clearly is going to need to get used to the Premiership and the high line. I'm a bit worried about his pace too if we play a high line.

Ekotto : 6 - Your standard Ekotto match. Some moments of brilliance and some moments of utter stupidity.

Lennon : 5 - Very disappointing, especially with his attitude in the second half. If he doesn't work harder then he is in real danger of losing his place if we continue to attempt a pressing game.

Sandro : 5 - Struggled in the centre and I felt tried to over do it too often.

Livermore : 6 - Did OK, but I genuinely don't believe he is the answer. I can't work out what he is, he certainly isn't a defensive midfielder. But he also isn't box to box or creative.

VDV : 6 - We lost our possession game the moment he went off, but it's obvious that he just isn't suited to a 4-5-1 in the centre of midfield. If persist with this formation and pressing system, I see no future at the lane for him.

Bale : 7 - Tried hard and showed glimpses of quality.

Defoe : 6 - Worked his arse off but was woefully isolated up top at times. It didn't help that we punted it long to him a few times leaving him to feed off scraps.

Subs

Ade : 4 - Absolutely awful. Almost everything bounced off of him. He hasn't had a pre-season and it showed!

Sigurdsson : 6 - Tried to get involved, I am unsure of his quality from the last two outings. I don't want to be too harsh too soon but I get the feeling he will be a 2 year player at this club......

Jenas : 5 - Feel like we've gone back in time.

AVB : 5 - Surprised that for the first home game of the season we played so negatively. I am not expecting the same sort of gung ho football we displayed at times last year, but at least try and entertain the home fans! I appreciate (more than most of those around me) patient football but we patiently seemed to stroke it around, trying to get it wide without any real idea of what we going to do next. Was surprised to see us briefly switch to 4-4-2 (and we went 1-0 up) and during that brief formation change we looked a bit more balanced and threatening, but as soon as we scored he settled for the 1-0 win and made a defensive substitution that handed things to WBA. Really not sure whether we were meant to be pressing yesterday (and the players failing to do so) or not but as we didn't surely it would have made sense to partner Huddlestone with Sandro? We desperately needed more tempo from our midfield and for VDV to play further forward.

All that aside, I said before the match it would most likely be a draw so I am not too disappointed. I do expect us to beat Norwich though. I just hope we at least try and get men forward and show a bit more attacking desire for our next home match.
 
Friedel : 8 (man of match) - saved a few...can't blame him if our CB's and CMs havent' understood they need to make themselves avaialble so he doesn't have to hoof em up
Gallas: 6 Good for one half only, afterwich it was Verts all the way
Verts: 7 Survived baptism of fire admirably, especially when Lukaku came on and Gallas wasn't able to help
BAE: 7 only one with shooting boots on. great strikes for free kick and for deflected goal
Walker: 6 Needs to link up better with Lennon/Bale...not getting the most out of his game
sandro: 5 not his day today...still looks good but lost possession too much in the centre of the park
livermore: 6 his best performance for me in a spurs shirt. tidy and effective. but no world beater
VDV: 8 class act. he threatened with his vision and passing and kept WBA on the back foot. midfield collapsed when he went.
Bale: 7 typical good not great performance, a few great passes but everyone missed!
Defoe: still not smart enough to time his runs, lazy for the offside goal. tried hard but looked more desperate than effective.
Lennon: 5 always promising but seldom delivering, same story, not as effective as bale though he gets to the byline quite a lot.

no comments for subs...it was messy

coaching:
- Attack: are we overtraining our passing so much that we've forgotten how to shoot? incredible number of misses (mostly off target too) in the first half where we could have finished 4-0 up!
- Midfield: substitution transitions were a mess, midfield collapsed after VDV departed; message not getting through perhaps
- Defence: (1) general play: brings back Gallas vs Dawson debate. Even though Dawson is a less technical player Gallas is only good but good for one half, and leaves a lot of work for the other CB. (2) set pieces: defending too square for set pieces, a lot of guys on the goal line and 6-yard box but not enough going for the ball.

Overall: WE ARE PROGRESSING AND SHAPING UP WELL but we've got some way to go. Ade's late transfer was evident - he was still missing. I blame levy not avb for our slow start.
 
Friedel- 6- Good saves but all over the place at the end.
Walker 5 Can offer much more going forward
Gallas 5 Sloppy at times
Vertonghen 6 Got better as the game went on. Bullied by Lukaku a bit, but he'll be fine.
Assou ekotto 5 Scored but not too sure about the rest.
Sandro 4 A bit invisible
Livermore 6 Better than Sandro , a couple of good moments but i dont think he is the solution long term
Van der Vaart 5 When he arrived two years ago, he was so much fitter, a couple of good passes but not enough for me, too far from the goal
Lennon 4 Always a thread with his pace, but not good enough in terms of passing and finishing
Bale 6 A class above the rest, 4 crosses in the first 15 minutes that deserved a goal, just no one at the end of it, not so active second half
Defoe 5 Had worst games on his own up front, but should have done better in front of goal
 
Friedel - 6
Walker - 4
Vertonghen -6 This guy will be massive trust me!
Gallas 4
Ekotto - 2 to careless and lacklusture

Lennon - 4
Sandro - 6
Livermore - 4 Simply not the calibere we need. No creativity
Bale - 6 I give him 6 but if we had a striker up front to finish Bales work I would give him an 8.

VDV - 6 He needs to get a run in the team. Quality player.
Defoe - 3 Imho I think only those who are born in the UK think he is any good. He is past his prime and at best should warm the bench.
Ade - - not fair to rate him as he´s not match fit.
Siggi- 4
If we had a real striker up front we would have won bouth the games as we created a lot of chances.
 
Friedel - 5 - made some good saves, but poor distribution and decision making cost us in terms of our possession when under pressure in the last 15 minutes and ultimately contributed to us dropping points.
Walker - 5 - good runs forward, but still worries me defensively.
Vertonghen - 6 - loved his play going forward and can be an excellent weapon in overloading the opposition. He also could have had a couple of goals. Going to be a good player i feel despite some shaky moments at the back.
Gallas - 5 - not really been a great fan of his in the last two games. We need Kaboul there to be more decisive. Did fine when we were in control, but didn't stand up to the late WBA surge very well.
Ekotto - 5 - scored and did some decent work going forward, but also made plenty of strange mistakes especially under pressure.

Lennon - 6 - if he was more decisive in the final 3rd he'd be world class. But he's not.
Sandro - 6 - solid, did what he needed to do. Looked knackered towards the end.
Livermore - 6 - he's tidy. Doesn't give the ball away, but as others have said bit too limited creativity-wise with him and Sandro in midfield.
Bale - 7 - was very good first half, shame his good work wasn't converted.

VDV - 8 - best player on the pitch, but knackered after 70 mins and him going off did alter things for us unfortunately.
Defoe - 6 - I think he did some good work and did get involved a lot more than he has done in the past.
Ade - 6 - caused some problems when he came on..
Siggi-5 - didn't make much of an impact.
Jenas - 4 - typical JJ not the player you want to bring on to defend a lead and keep the ball. Panic written all over his face under pressure. Shame Parker isn't fit.
If we had a real striker up front we would have won bouth the games as we created a lot of chances.
 
Big John jr. said:
Friedel - 6
Walker - 4
Vertonghen -6 This guy will be massive trust me!
Gallas 4
Ekotto - 2 to careless and lacklusture

Lennon - 4
Sandro - 6
Livermore - 4 Simply not the calibere we need. No creativity
Bale - 6 I give him 6 but if we had a striker up front to finish Bales work I would give him an 8.

VDV - 6 He needs to get a run in the team. Quality player.
Defoe - 3 Imho I think only those who are born in the UK think he is any good. He is past his prime and at best should warm the bench.
Ade - - not fair to rate him as he´s not match fit.
Siggi- 4
If we had a real striker up front we would have won bouth the games as we created a lot of chances.
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Damn dude. Your average rating is 4.58 for everyone. I'd hate to see what you'd give if we'd lost or been outplayed for more than the last 20 minutes.
 
For me the match hinged on the VDV sub. He didn't look tired and was playing some good stuff, and actually wasn't dropping deep every two minutes either. We had a good shape and the lion's share of possession. When this change was made we lost the middle of the park and our defence was under the kosh for about 20mins. I thought the 2nd and 3rd subs were correct and tried to revert to our original shape, but it wasn't as effective.

Lukaku did bully our defenders a bit but if we had more possession then this threat would have been minimised. Gallas looked fooked for the last quarter of the match and I though Verts did well the hold things together for the most part.

Friedel 7 - some great saves but as others have said he doesn't come for enough. Distribution wasn't great either. I think this performance might just force our hand on the Lloris transfer.
Walker 7 - did very well as far as I can recall
Gallas 6 - started superbly but looked very leggy towards the end. It's obvious to me that there is not much gas left in the tank but a good backup player to have.
Vertoghen 7 - Some superb last ditch stuff mixed with a few mistakes. Looks the part for me and I love it when he steps out of defence. Gonna be a star.
Benny 5 - too lackadaisical in this match. Needs to up his game again
Bale 7 - superb first half but less effective the 2nd. I'm sure he's been told to switch wings but it hasn't really worked so far.
Sandro/Livermore 7 - both were great I thought and gave us a great platform to build off.
Lennon 6 - he's had much better games and was a bit lazy tracking back in the 2nd half a few times. I still think AVB is not convinced by Lennon.
VDV 7 - I thought he was out best creative outlet. Strange sub I thought.
Defoe 5 - Way too greedy to the detriment of the team.

Ade 5 - meh. Should have come on for Defoe about 60mins in.
Siggy 5 - meh coupled with poor set piece delivery.
Jenas 6 - did what he could but is never the answer for me.



I think this match has not told us anything new. The weak links are still the weak links and we've got a week to try and fix it.
Friedel - Lloris
Defoe - Leandro
Livermore - Dembele/Moutinho
Please.
 
Rorschach said:
For me the match hinged on the VDV sub. He didn't look tired and was playing some good stuff, and actually wasn't dropping deep every two minutes either. We had a good shape and the lion's share of possession. When this change was made we lost the middle of the park and our defence was under the kosh for about 20mins. I thought the 2nd and 3rd subs were correct and tried to revert to our original shape, but it wasn't as effective.
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Agree with that totally. I was gobsmacked when VDV went off and not Defoe
 
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