Match Ratings v Stoke

[DJS]

Hudd 8 - Brilliant this man has blossomed from a boy into a man brilliant retaining of possesion and his passing is class and so strong and big for a centre midfielder.

Huddlestone 5 I'm a fan but he was poor today. Not involved and lost the ball too easily a couple of times.

:think:

 

[JerryGarcia]

The whole team played well against an opponent that quickly realised that they couldn't beat us with football. I'm just glad we don't have to play them again and I hope they go down where they belong. It's one thing being a physical side but Stoke take it to another level, they're cheats and they don't belong in this league.

 

[CosmicHotspur]

Bale 10/10.

End of.

 

[Petmaister]

Gomes - 5
Corluka - 6
Dawson - 7
Kaboul - 7
Ekotto - 7
Lennon - 8
Hudd - 7
Jenas - 6
Palacios - 6
Bale - 9
Crouch - 6

 

[dynamoSpurs]

can someone add a poll to this as per the norm???

 

[jrio]

can someone add a poll to this as per the norm???

It's on a separate thread because the site wouldn't load the thread, leading me to reload and lose the poll. Once it's appeared, a thread can't be added.

 

[dynamoSpurs]

oh.. mod merge?

 

[Legacy]

First half, I thought the 4-5-1 worked pretty well. After hearing the lineup, my first thought was, "where are the goals coming from?" and I feared the worst.

But I thought everyone looked good, worked hard and played well. Although, while he had a good game, I thought Kranjcar would've been a much, much better goal throat in the middle than Jenas. Everytime Crouch pulled out wide, we were left with nobody attacking through the centre because Jenas was sitting too deep.

Bale's second goal looked sublime, it's a crying shame that it was at the far side of the pitch from the Spurs fans though.

Huddlestone once again stomped his authority on the game. He's turning into a true leader on the pitch too, which is very pleasing to see.

Crouch worked his arse into the ground today, and ended looking positively fucked after 70 minutes. I felt for him because he clearly needed to come off but there was nobody to replace him with, and he knew it. And all the more credit to him, he kept going until the final whistle.

 

[Raxscallion]

I was really surprised by Kaboom today.

I've always liked him, and I think he's been fantastic at RB.

But he's always seemed a bit temperamental, an explosive talent that isn't best suited to the responsibility of the CB position. A good player, but a bit too liable to dive in - and you don't want that in the box.

I take it all back. He was great in the middle today. Outstanding.

The lad has grown.

 

[Bingy]

Are we going down the 'Gomes is bad' road, again? I hope not. Not having seen the game, yet, I can't offer any comment on today's performance, but please consider the 'thuggery' that is commonplace in Stoke home games and realize that Gomes did not appear to be given adequate protection in defense? Maybe an excuse....but let's look to the future in a positive frame of mind? COYS!

 

[danielneeds]

Are we going down the 'Gomes is bad' road, again? I hope not. Not having seen the game, yet, I can't offer any comment on today's performance, but please consider the 'thuggery' that is commonplace in Stoke home games and realize that Gomes did not appear to be given adequate protection in defense? Maybe an excuse....but let's look to the future in a positive frame of mind? COYS!

Basically Stoke looked to target him - the referee chose to offer him no protection from their challenges - then he looked nervous and jumpy. I don't think it will be a problem for the rest of the season, but it could have cost us the game today.

 

[Marty]

Gomes - 5 - Was clearly targeted by the Stoke lot and suffered for it. Didn't look comfortable, but confident it was just a poor game due to the nature of the opposition.

Corluka - 6
Dawson - 7
Kaboul - 8
Assou-Ekotto - 7

Lennon - 7.5
Huddlestone - 7
Palacios - 6
Jenas - 8
Bale - 8

Crouch - 7

Solid all-round performance.

 

[neptunes]

Gomez was all the time being fouled and impeded by the Stoke players even in their goal. He was furious to say the least.

 

[Pringle]

Gomes - 7 - Flapped at a few but make 2 excellent saves
Corluka - 6 - So slow and rarely passes forward
BAE - 8 - Unbelievable composure on the ball. Never gave the ball away and got forward well
Dawson - 7 - Solid
Kaboul - 7 - Solid
Lennon - 7.5 - Much improved. Caused lots of problems but not an 8 as when he just had a defender to beat his control let him down
Hudd - 7 - Standard game for Hudd
Jenas - 7 - Some excellent passing but also some sloppy passes
Palacios - 7 - First 2 passes went out of play but after that was much better
Bale - 8 - Stunning second goal but got a little lazy with tracking back at the end
Crouch - 7 - Some good touches but my god is he weak!

 

[Garm]

Basically Stoke looked to target him - the referee chose to offer him no protection from their challenges - then he looked nervous and jumpy. I don't think it will be a problem for the rest of the season, but it could have cost us the game today.

Gomez was all the time being fouled and impeded by the Stoke players even in their goal. He was furious to say the least.

That was no foul on their goal imo. I think normally the keepers are given way too much protection, it's extremely frustrating when a good goal is disallowed because someone barely touched the keeper.

 

[kaz Hirai]

nothing wrong with gomes really just as has been mentioned stokes brutes targeted him and ruffed him up during every set piece and he couldn't quite deal with it. i wish he just just his giant frame and smashed some of those stoke dudes in the face while 'going for the ball' but he's too much of a nice guy for that

 

[The Apprentice]

Funny old game football.

We played reasonable with Jenas and Bale excelling, rode our luck and got 3 points. We will play much better ans lose this season.

 

[brett.spurs]

Gomes 5

Corluka 7
Dawson 7
Kaboul 8
Ekotto 7.5

Lennon 8
Jenas 8.5
Hudd 6.5
Palacios 6
Bale 8.5

Crouch 6

 

[Bus-Conductor]

I love winning at places like this. Again we couldn't quite manage two halves of coherent football and I was a bit disapointed that we didn't get the ball down and keep it away from Stoke more second half. Once again we have ended up getting out possessed, I know we won, I know we were winning away and that the home team will apply pressure, but they were a whisker away from turning that game into a draw because we didn't control enough of the ball to prevent them. We must learn to keep playing football even when we're winning - you don't have to over play or commit - just keep the ball and keep moving off the ball.

First off, having criticised tactics previously, I have to say that they were spot on today, and I reckon if we hadn't gone 451 then we probably wouldn't have won that today.

Stand out performance was by Jenas. 62 passes from 68 (Hudd 55/68, Palacios 36/42) is an amazing return anywhere, but away from home is exceptional. Involved all over the pitch, box to box and side to side. He played the ball of the game when putting Bale through in the second half and made a vital block from Etherington.

Special mention for Lennon, who I thought played two fantastic balls for Bale - beat men, dribbled, then actually got his head up and played inch perfect balls both times that resulted in our goals. Bale will get more plaudits I guess, but Lennon was the just the better of the two today for me.

Also Dawson, Kaboul & Gomes. I thought, under usual immense a Stoke ariel bombardment - and despite the ref completely ignoring the numerous fouls on the keeper and defenders - they all were pretty outstanding.

Ratings:

Gomes 8 - Made some great saves throughout despite being roughed up.

Corluka 7 - OK

Dawson 8 - Games like this are designed for Dawson.

Kaboul 8 - Played well when pressured.

Ekotto 7 - Did OK.

Lennon 8.5 - Two excellent contributions that ultimately won us the game. Also saw more of the ball than Bale. Not his fault we didn't continue to provide him with the ball second half

Jenas 9 - A really dynamic performance all over the pitch.

Palacios 7.75 - I thought he was good today. You have to understand his role - especially in today's tactics. he did his job, did the ugly stuff.

Huddlestone 7.5 - Was good first half, faded second half. But this formation/tactics suits him better. But has still yet to master this 90 min thing.

Bale 7.5 - A beautiful goal and great run for the first. Got to get a bit more involved in the game in general though.

Crouch 7 - Not his greatest game, but worked hard, and played a crucial role in the first and saw more ball than any of our other strikers usually manage at home.

Redknapp 9 - Available players considered spot on.

 

[rsmith]

That was no foul on their goal imo. I think normally the keepers are given way too much protection, it's extremely frustrating when a good goal is disallowed because someone barely touched the keeper.

At first, that's what I thought. However there was one replay angle in which you clearly see Huth elbow Gomes in the face. Having said that, Gomes fell over too easily for me.