Match ratings v Arsenal

[Timberwolf]

I only managed to see from 60 minutes onwards because of work, so I can't comment on how good/bad we were in the first half, but from our starting line-up I think Harry wanted to give as many of our youth/unfit/fringe players a run out as he could, while still giving us some chance of victory. As a result of this I think our system took a back seat (3 defensive midfielders at home, no real pace in the side, bentley on the left etc) and to be honest, while it really fucking sucks that we lost like that to the gooners, I don't blame harry for it.

We have a big squad, and games like this are the only times we can really afford to start the likes of bentley, gio, naughton etc and as a result, the shape and dynamic of the team has to suffer. That said, from what I saw we really werent that far away from snatching a win (if keano had scored rather than hitting the post in the 85th minute many people on here would be singing our praises) and the scoreline doesn't really give an accurate portrayal of the game.

 

[Bobishism]

I hate how Lennon drops off for the ball instead of pressing that fullbacks shoulder. We have a few decent passers of the ball, it makes more sense to attack the fullback.

 

[JJetset]

I would like to vote goat in this poll...........too hard ,how did the mascot play ? :shrug:

 

[Bobbins]

Pletikosa 6 - Reasonably solid I thought. No chance with the goals, some decent stops, only one real error on a cross and that happens to all keepers in every game. Certainly happy with him over Alnwick as third choice.

Naughton 3 - At fault for both of their goals in open play, and let people drift by him again and again. Incapable of watching across the defence to maintain an offside line. Was actually pretty obscene in the first half, though better in the second. Was not the game to blood him in at all - he was targetted repeatedly by Arsenal and they exploited the fact that, well, he's just not very good. Yet.

Caulker 7 - Thought he did well. Spent a few seconds too long on the ball in the box a few times for my liking, and the penalty was clumsy (though Chamakh predictably threw himself to the ground at the slightest touch), but otherwise for such a young player he was quite solid.

Bassong 7.5 - Worked really hard and to captain the side and marshall that awful defence at the age of 23 was really impressive. Incredibly unlucky with the penalty at it was a complete accident, and was one of the few players who looked like he was making a real effort.

BAE 6 - Yeah not bad. Showed that despite his mental moments he was light years above anything else we've got available.

Palacios 5 - Cack, again. Getting bored of despairing at his niggly fouls and poor passing. Fortunately Sandro looks like a more than capable replacement.

Sandro 6 - Game passed him by a bit in the first half but that's to be expected. Looked great in the second until he was brought off. There's a capable player in there.

Livermore 5 - Out of his depth against this opposition. Strong and quick and plenty of energy, but with terrible awareness and passing, he'd do better against less skilful sides who don't retain the ball so well. Still needs time to develop but could be a decent player.

Bentley 5 - Out of position and not very good. He doesn't like playing on the left and has never performed well when he's been put there - stupid decision to play him there. Personally I think he was unlucky with his header glancing off the post (he should've scored but some people want to hang him for it). Stunning free-kick for Keane's chance which hit the post - undefendable ball. Perfectly entitled to have a shot when he made his run - everyone's missing the fact that it was a good run in the first place, beating his man and bringing the ball forward quickly into space, and to be honest I doubt I would've passed from there either, he should've just got a bit closer to the goal (he had time and space) and gone for the opposite corner. Not nearly as bad as some reactionary morons are screaming about but the boy needs to be played where he plays! Why play a brilliant crosser of the ball and a decent header of the ball, and then put the crosser in a place where he can't cross?

Gio - 2 Did he play? Oh yeah, he was that little mop of hair charging blindly around, achieving nothing. Absolute rubbish tonight, not helped by the overall team selection.

Pav 7 - Put in more effort than usual, held the ball up a few times for once, and created/had a couple of chances. Probably did as well up front as Bassong did at the back and so gets a 7.

Keane 7 - Very lucky with the goal (hesitated, shot too early, placed it poorly. Scored purely because Fabianski is one of the worst keepers in the league). However, he scored it, and that's all you can ask. Played well off the ball, working hard, defending well, offering Pav an option (not that Pav used it). Unlucky not to get a second from Bentley's brilliant free-kick. Still think he's rubbish but was ok tonight.

Lennon 3 - Gets 3 points for his defending and covering of the hapless Naughton. Did absolutely zilch going forward.

Kranjcar 1 - Did absolutely nothing but give the ball away when he came on, but gets 1 point for being introduced to an already hopeless situation.

Harry 2 - Got all the big calls wrong IMO. Wrong team, wrong players, wrong set-up, wrong subs, and wrong attitude to playing Arsenal at home.

 

[C0YS]

I thought had a decent game but people are giving Sandro, we like you, Debut motm, rather then actually giving it to who was actually the best player on the pitch probably Keane today. (but no we must continue our personal vendetta against him).
Italian ratings style...

Pletikosa - 5.5 - looked shaky at times

Naughton - 5 - good going forward, nothing short of horrid at the back
Caulker - 5.5 - Penalty spoilt a rather solid debut
Bassong - 6 - solid, flew in with a couple of silly tackles, silly Pen
BAE - 5.5 - not his best day in the office

Palacios - 5.5 - better then people think
Sandro - 6 - some good, some bad, lots of energy
Livermore - 5.5 - failed to impose himself within the game
Bentley - 5.5 - offered a threat on sparse occasions, overdid it at others, missed when he should of scored

Gio - 4 -poor
Pav - 5.5 - linked up surprisingly well, largely ineffective however

Keane - 6.5 -made an impact. great movement
Lennon - 5 - he run a bit, and worked hard off the ball, ineffective on it
Kranjcar- couldn't possibly give him a rating

 

[ShelfSide18]

Hard game to give ratings, we played exactly like what we were, a mish mash of strangers flung together - it showed. Arsenal on the other hand, whilst a fringe team, played exactly like Arsenal - slick, dynamic, fluent - It's ingrained in their club from top to bottom, and it's what we should be aspiring to. You can take out any player in their team and they'll still continue to play the same way. I know it's them lot, but it is mighty impressive.

Pletikosa 6 - Nothing he could do.
Naughton 5 - Didn't look confident or assured, but a nice assist and a few decent defensive moments. A long way off on this evidence though, but he's young.
Caulker 6.5 - Reasonable, moments of inexperience but he looked quite confident. There's promise there.
Bassong 7 - Good game, not sure about the peno.
BAE 6 - A mixed bag.
Livermore 5 - First 10 minutes he looked quite confident and assured, but one bad pass and his game went downhill. He's got promise, so not one to give up on, and he should forget about tonight quickly.
Palacios 5 - Worst game for Spurs, I'm his biggest fan too.
Sandro 7 - Rusty, but grew into the game and showed enough promising moments for me to be excited. He's a tank, too.
GDS 4 - He can't keep wasting chances like these, he's got bundles of talent but he has got to produce sometime.
Bentley 4 - Out of position on the left, but it was a painful watch tonight. Greedy when he could have laid Gio in too.
Pavs 5 - He was isolated, and the ball was sailing over his head for most the game but he didn't look at the races today.

Keane 7.5 - Lucky with the finish, but smart movement, ball of the night to Lennon, worked his nuts off to the bitter end and for a player supposedly scared of physical contact he sure didn't seem like that tonight. I hope that tonight at least marked the return of the real Robbie. MOTM.
Lennon 5 - Just really out of form, he'll find it soon enough.
Kranjcar 4 - Lost the ball every time he got it I think.

O well, onwards and upwards, and we have a fit and refreshed squad for a huge game at Upton Park, hopefully with Robbie Keane circa 06 with them.

 

[kcmei]

Sandro will play alot better with better player around him, that's for sure. I almost feel abit sorry for him last night when he had to play with the reserves against a strong arsenal team.

 

[Legend10]

he worked hard to retain the ball but how many times lost possession just because trying to show skills and attacking runs .. despite the fact he is DM .. so why Redknapp took him off if he played that good ? :roll:

Christ, where does this site go to find its members?

Ah yes, Kuwait, explains everything!

 

[BorisTM]

I think Lennon has been coached poorly...

when he was the nuts he used to come inside or go outside, ok occasionally cutting in, he would go down blind alleys but it gave the defender something to think about.
but i have heard several coaches (Spurs, England and England U21) all saying "go outside him" every time he isolated a full back.

Now it seems sort of ingrained and all he really tries, a full back could actually lay down outside him and i'm sure he would still try and take it round his outside...

and any fullback with half decent pace now seems to find it easy against Lennon knowing his limitations, and ones with pace... forget about it.

I agree. The way our players are asked to play totally wastes their talents.

 

[Michey]

Giovani: Like Pavlyuchenko, I'm a bit fed up of this kid. Talented? Yes. However, all the warning signs I saw before we signed him, when he played for a season as a semi-regular in a side that is made for skillful players to shine and failed to muster up a single inspiring performance until a meaningless end of season game against a relegated side, have come to fruition. The boy is scared to do anything, he's completely justified his lack of opportunity.

And why do you think this happens to players that get a few minutes in a game and then nothing for several weeks. Then they suddenly are supposed to shine together with an unexperienced team that most on here could see from the start wouldn'tt give much support to our attack. They know this will be their few minutes for a month or so.........not the best conditions to make a player dare to do anything.

This applies to any player btw.

I wasn't expecting you to write something like this since you usually post a lot of sense :up:

 

[DarT]

Pletikosa 6 - Reasonably solid and certainly physically looks more imposing than cudicini, understandably a bit unsure with backline, but the big flap was a worry.

Naughton 4 - Disappointing overall, had a lot of very good moments, but failed to stop the cross for the first goal, and was no concentrating for the final goal, will never make it unless he cuts out critical mistakes.

Caulker 6 - Fairly solid game and looks like he has great potential, but gave away a blatant penalty by getting wrong side.

Bassong 7 - Thought he had an impressive night, showed composure and commanded the defence, unlucky to have been caught out by Nasri's dive.

BAE 6 - Like bassong had a generally good night, but still has a number of odd moments, like the shove in the first half and the wayward last ditch clearnances which need more composure.

Palacios 4 - Poor, the good aspects were his energy and terrier like breakup play, but he was total cack with the ball virtually every time he got it, and very nearly put us in trouble by losing ball on the edge of box.

Sandro 6 - Generally would give him a 5 for the first half where he was off the pace, yes showed some touches, but the speed of the game was too much for him. Worthy of a 7 for the second half, appeared to really get to grips, biting into tackles, breaking up play, and efficient and composed on the ball. Has potential to be a star in the EPL if he can develop.

Livermore 7 - For me was our most effective player (outside of the defence) in the first half (not sure what some of you others were watching), energetic, put himself about (sometime a little too much), and showed endeavour with the ball. He was definately our best midfielder in the first half, just cant understand why he was taken off other than the yellow card.

Bentley 1 - One work - SHITE, not worth any further comments or justification.

Gio 3 - Gets a 3 for his efforts at running down the ball, did nothing when he actually had the ball, and his drifting out of position left us exposed, if a star like him cannot impose himself on this game then when will he, rightly replaced.

Pav 5 - Poor at holding the ball up, and in the formation we played this was critical to allow midfield to join up. Not much of a goal threat, and lokked buggrd for the majority of the night, came more into it a little when others tired.

Keane 7 - Gets a 7 for actually giving us some hope, but was lucky he wasnt given offside, and lucky that fabianski is crap. Lots of effort chasing the ball down, but not the quality he was.

Lennon 5 - Where is the player we had last season, the world cup appears to have killed him at the moment, was an improvement from GDS, and was an outlet, but delivered virtually nothing.

Kranjcar 4 - Little time to make a major impact, but was ineffective with the ball, and quite sloppy.

 

[WhiteHart4Ever]

First thing first: With out injury problems and fixture list we couldn't prioritise this game. Bentley, Caulker, Bassong, Naughton may all be called upon in the near future (and dos Santos had he only played better) and needed the game time. Huddlestone, Bale, VDV, Gallas, King in particular needed the rest and I guess Harry didnt want to risk Jenas/Hutton. Arsenal fielded a very strong side which took Harry by surprise.

Nonetheless, very dissappointed that we were so utterly disorganised and the performance by some of the players (see below).

Positives:

Caulker: he couldn't stay focused for the full 120 mins, but for most of the game he was rock solid. Looks strong, quick and very, very intelligent. I think this is one for the future.

Naughton: not as promising as Caulker (and older) but to me he still had a decent match with quite a few strong interceptions. Was completely exposed by lack of RM in front of him and terrible organising for the first goal, but didnt do much wrong (he's not the only one that should've picked up Arshavin (?) for the last goal..)

Sandro: suffered (and underperformed) from being part of an unorganised midfield led by the extremely dissappointing Palacios. Really upped his game in the second half and showed glimpses of real quality and character. Unlike most Brazilians he's built and has the mentality for the Premiership. If we're looking for a midfield enforcer in the mix (then most likely with Bale as fullback and Modric LM) I think he'll jump ahead of Palacios very soon. Looked like a great, great prospect to me.

Keane: Came in and took charge of the game. Arguably shaky finish for the goal, but it still counts. Showed that he still has a role to play for us.

Negatives:

The biggest negative is that we can't shuffle things around and still be Spurs, hence, the first team mentality and play doesn't seem to be strong enough for all the players. This was only strenghtened by the fact that Harry changed the set-up and dynamics of the team completely and left us practically tactic-less. It didnt help that Arsenal fielded almost their strongest side but we still looked very unorganised.

Palacios/Lennon: Arguably the strongest names in the team yet also the worst performers. Both played prob their worst games in a Spurs shirt despite being two of the most important players last season. Shocking.

Bentley: Showed glimpses of the player he is (was?) but failed to make a real impact. Expected a lot more from him.

dos Santos: Does not have a Spurs future. Another chance he fails to take. Hardly touched the ball, didn't help out defensively, left Pav all alone up front.

Livermore: First couple of touches promising, then it all went downhill. Based on this game, the players in front of him and his development the last year or so I'd be very surprised if he makes it in a Spurs shirt.

Kranjcar: Came in when the game was already lost but looked uninterested and off pace.

Rest of the bunch: While none were particularly impressive BAE, Bassong, Pav, Pletikosa all performed more or less decently/as expected. Pav tried hard and made some decent run in the 1st half, but as he was left completely alone he couldn't keep it up and drifted out.

 

[kremlyn]

Christ, where does this site go to find its members?

Ah yes, Kuwait, explains everything!

Is that racist?

 

[kremlyn]

I'm a humbled man today. I thought keane was spent; treading water. Then he comes on and puts on a performance like that. My MOM.

BTW Gio, despite not having the best game in an attacking sense, worked his socks off to try and defend from the front.

 

[mattstev2000]

Christ, where does this site go to find its members?

Ah yes, Kuwait, explains everything!

What is that supposed to mean?

 

[mattstev2000]

Keane came on and made a real difference. Chased down, scored one, put Lennon through (who should have done better), could have had a couple more. MOTM.

 

[sloth]

Christ, where does this site go to find its members?

Ah yes, Kuwait, explains everything!

What point are you trying to make mate? Is someone from Kuwait not a proper football supporter? Where do proper football supporters come from? Could you give me boundary markers please, just so I know whether I have to bother taking them seriously or not, difficult to tell otherwise, ta :roll:

 

[Garm]

I voted Bassong for MOM, great in normal time, got a bit tired in extra time. Did'nt know he was THAT fast. He's gotta be one of the fastest on our team. Sandro lost the ball way too much to get my vote. But he became better and better throughout the game.

 

[sloth]

I don't think Harry thought this one through properly. I completely agree that he had to rest players, but at the same time the Carling Cup was important to us (not to try and win it especially; although that too) but as a nursery competition for our younger fringe players, Caulker, Sandro, Livermore et al. As such, against Arsenal, we needed a blend of youth and experience, not a line-up made up of second-stringers and novices. Wenger knows the CC is important for precisely this reason so he put out the right blend. Harry didn't think about it properly and now he's got a headache for the rest of the season.

I'm not saying we would have won with a better team, but we'd have had a better chance, especially with a better bench.

Harry - 3

Two games in a row now where he's been our biggest handicap, but a good chance for him to return to for at the weekend against WHam.

 

[sim0n]

Pletikosa 5.5
Naughton 5
Caulker 5
Bassong 5
Ekotto 7.5
Sandro 4.5 Potential but lost possession more than Palacios in Spurs Career within 1 game !
Palacios 5
Livermore 5.5 impressed me but formation & system might not help him
Bentley 4
Giovani 4
Pavlyuchenko 5.5

Keane 8 given +2 further for his determination until last mint.
Lennon 4 shocking
Kranjcar not enough time

Redknapp 4 did things which i wouldn't do if it's vs League two side in pre-season :grin: that slow Bentley on Left in 4-3-3 .. taking Giovani off instead why ? and Kranjcar as CM in 4-4-2 ? LOL

hope this result would help us to play better in Novo. vs the scum .. so still think it might work for us ..

Okay, bump all the scores of 5.5 or lower up a half point and knock .5 off of Keano's score and I'm right there with you. I think everyone out there WANTS to like Sandro, but he really did not look good out there. He looked more of a CD playing CM. I'm sure he'll be fine over time, but he's now where near it yet judging by last night's display...

Also, I think Pletikosa already looks better than Cudicini - covers more of the net. After the penalties it was done...