Lloris - 8
Naughton - 5
Kaboul - 6
Dier - 9
Rose - 7
Capoue - 7
Bentaleb - 7
Eriksen - 8
Lennon - 6
Lamela - 7
Adebayor - 6
Subs:
Kane - 8
Holtby - 7
Townsend - 7
Eriksen 8??? No way! He had a poor game. 6 at best. Don't think Lamela deserves a 7 either. Not much involved. But I suspected this to be a though game for both of them. QPR at home will suit both a lot better.
Lloris - 7.5. Quick off his line and smothered a few dangerous looking attacks early, like always.
Naughton - N/A - Harsh to judge him based on less than 30 minutes, or to pick on him for what was an unlucky sending off and penalty conceded.
Dier - 8. Was composed and collected right from the start. In fact, if you'd showed a video of this game to a non-Spurs fan and asked them which of Kaboul and Dier was the more senior and experienced, I doubt they'd have picked Kaboul. Handled himself expertly at right-back as well, and scored at the end to cap off a great debut.
Kaboul - 6. Shaky, but ultimately just about acceptable. Still far, far from his best, though.
Rose - 5. Struggled time and again against Downing, didn't block many crosses into the box, and defended at a sub-par level despite having Lennon convering him on the left for a long period of the game. Needs to step up his game if he doesn't want Davies swanning into his spot.
Capoue - 6.5. Was decent alongside Bentaleb, and relatively pacy and assured in the air at the back. Good start in difficult circumstances.
Bentaleb - 6.5. Kept possession well, and played some neat forward passes: however, still got shrugged off the ball too often for my liking. Still, good performance from the lad.
Lamela - 6.75. A tyro at times, dribbling menacingly at Spam's back line and closing down furiously for the entirety of his time on the field. Still looked a bit unconnected from the other lads, though: few stray passes a slight cause for concern.
Eriksen - 6. Played some good passes, but save for a short spell in the second half was largely ineffective and easily bullied off the ball. With ten men, though, that isn't too surprising, so I wouldn't judge him too harshly based on today.
Lennon - 6. Admirable job trying to cover for Rose on the left, but was ineffective on his flank. Still, ten men, so shouldn't judge him too harshly.
Ade - 5. Didn't seem up for closing down at the start, and once we went down to ten, his isolation up top didn't help his ratings. Not a good day from the man, who being the most experienced player in the side should have led from the front a bit more.
Subs:
Holtby - 6. Lost possession a lot, but pressed well and was energetic, as usual.
Townsend - 7. His arrival galvanized the side, and his direct and purposeful dribbling and long shots added a momentum to our attack that ultimately paid off. Good show from him.
Kane - N/A.
Poch - N/A (Will not judge him until 2015-2016). Good (if lucky) start for him. Needs to get the team gelling more, but that's understandable and achievable in the days ahead.
Kaboul = spacegoat
Holtby came on and gave us the energy we were missing. A lot more interceptions in the middle of the park and break up of play when he came on.
...and wham kept it very tight at the back. With no space to play in. It will be interesting to see us go a goal up, and see how they fair with more space. Wham had their new signing - some difficult to spell African name! - who was a beast closing down in the middle, and then slotting into defence after the red. Wham have a fantastic defensive setup and smothered our attacks most of the game.
In a way you'd want to play the same team again on Thursday, before rotating for the league game on Sunday. Just to keep some consistency. Otherwise do you play the WC players and then this team again next week?
His clever run caused red for Collins, which was a turning point.Thought Adebayor was really poor yesterday - lots of running but seemed to be chasing shadows. Didn't hold the ball up and offered zero outlet for the team
His clever run caused red for Collins, which was a turning point.
I agree. I think that the issue is match sharpness.I think both Kaboul and Adebayor will be ok with a couple more competitive games under their belt. Physically, they looked ok, they ran just fine -- but mentally, they weren't sharp enough, often half a second too slow. I think a couple more games will change that.
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