Ratings v Twente

[StockSpur]

i think hudds performances are very erratic

 

[Lanh]

What were your ratings and thoughts on the players damian99, they seem to be missing from the thread. :up:

 

[WexfordTownSpur]

I gave MoM to Bale, but would have been VDV had he played for the last half hour of the game - he was brilliant when he was on the field, dare I say captain material

Nobody else really stood out on the team - nobody was awful (maybe Hudd first half)

Non of the subs really made an impact, although I did feel better with JJ in the middle with only 10 men!

have to say, it was still a game we could have lost - pens were a joke if I am honest, and they had their chances, and passed better than us at times.

But we did win, but nearly as comfortable as scoreline suggested.

 

[Damian99]

Gomes 7
BAE 7
KING 7.5
BASSONG 7
HUTTON 7

VDV 7 (atleast an 8.5 had he not been so silly)
Modric 7
Huddlestone 7.5 (Even including him getting mugged and Gomes bailing him out)

Bale 7.5

Crouch 6.5

PAV 7 (put two penalties away and you can't ask for anymore than that)


Jenas 6.5 i know you won't agree Lanh but Huddlestone still provided far more offensively and defensively when we were down to 10 men then Jenas did. In the 2nd half imo he was the best player on the pitch.

Lennon and keane not on long enough.

 

[Lanh]

i know you won't agree Lanh

Whether I agree or not is immaterial, we're all expressing opinions based on our perspective of the game. I was just curious as to why you were calling others on their ratings without submitting yours, but you've done it so it's all good. :up:

 

[DarT]

Gomes 7 - One great save, with a few minor moments otherwise good. glad to have him back more confident with him between the sticks, and i suspect so is the defence.

Hutton 6 - Reasonably good game, supported the attack well, and maybe but for a hesitation could have trouble their keeper. However, lost his man and allowed a number of runs which left us exposed, and could have been critical against a better team.

King 7 - Good composed performance, brought a bit of stability.

bassong 7 - Good game, worked well with King.

Ekotto 6 - Same comment as Hutton, some good and some bad bits to the performance.

VDV 7 - Excellent work with and without the ball, fantastic goal, and a tad unlucky with the first pen, but rating tempered due to moments of indiscipline, could have actually gone a few minutes earlier and never learnt from the let off.

Modric 6 - Tidy performance, and fairly efficient in possession and worked off the ball, but he could do more for us in terms of controlling the game.

Huddlestone 6 - Poor first half where his mobility was under the spotlight, and was sloppy with a couple of passes, improved during the latter part of the game, and stood tall when we ent down to 10 men, bit lucky to get away with elbow/arm incident.

Bale 8 - Was once again our primary attacking outlet at the start of the game, driving forward causing real problems to the opponents, not as bright at the start of the second half, but again found a second wind to pushback the opponents and scored a good goal.

Crouch 5 - Tried to put himself about, but offered very little in terms of hold-up play and actually look a little lethargic.

Pavlyuchenko 6 - Very similar to crouch in the first half, and for periods of the second, however the positives were he took the penalties very well, and when we were down at 10 men and on his own, actually started to cause problems and hold up the ball.

Jenas 6 - Came on, nothing spectacular, but closed down opponents and secured the midfield.

Keane 4 - Offered very little in the short time he was on the field.

 

[brett.spurs]

Gomes 7

Hutton 6.5
King 7
Bassong 7
Ekotto 7

VDV 8.5
Hudd 6.5
Modric 6.5
Bale 8

Crouch 6.5
Pav 6.5

---------------

Jenas 6.5
Lennon 6.5
Keane 6

 

[Raxscallion]

I'm a big fan of Hudd, but I really can't fathom his 18 MoM votes. He had a real off-day last night. He improved over the course of the game, but he put in an unusually shit performance.

 

[talkshowhost86]

I'm a big fan of Hudd, but I really can't fathom his 18 MoM votes. He had a real off-day last night. He improved over the course of the game, but he put in an unusually shit performance.

I think he put in a very responsible defensive performance in our midfield which was exactly what he had to do.

With Modric, VdV and Bale in the midfield he had to sit quite deep and I thought he defended very well.

 

[Raxscallion]

I think he put in a very responsible defensive performance in our midfield which was exactly what he had to do.

With Modric, VdV and Bale in the midfield he had to sit quite deep and I thought he defended very well.

Like I said, I'm not out to slate Thud. He's an immense presence in our team and has a huge amount of quality. He can be a Spurs legend if he wants to.

Yesterday though he was caught out in possession too many times, he was clumsy and mistimed in too many tackles, his passing was nowhere near what we've come to expect of him, and there was a back pass to Gomes late on that he underhit which could have been disastrous if King (I think) hadn't rescued him.

I'm not out to unduly criticise him, I think he's great. But that performance surprised me. It was the worst I've seen from him for some time.

Everyone has an off day and I have no doubt it was just a blip. It just stuck out like a sore thumb last night IMO.

 

[C0YS]

These ratings are based from 30 mins in, as I missed the first half an hour.

Gomes 6- solid
Hutton 5.5 not great defending, kept running into blind alleys
King 7 Very good. Different Class.
Bassong 5.5 shaky
BAE 6 Generally good, a little clumsy at times however
Hudd 6.5 many people don't get Hudd, he is no longer there only for his passing, but to play the Holding role. Commentators should take note. played well
Modric 6 Always made himself available, did well
Bale 6.5 Great game. Still his decision making can improve. And if it does, then my god, he would be unplayable
VDV 6.5 played well, but got himself sent off, missed a penalty prevents a higher rating
Pav 6 Had a good second half
Crouch 5.5 won a penalty, but today he was not as effective as he has been in the past.

Keane 6 good movement
Jenas 6 solid
Lennon 5.5 still looks shot of confidence

 

[fortworthspur]

Pav looked much better once he was the lone striker. He held up the ball well - something he couldnt do at all in the first half. And he still has the sweetest strike or our players - there's got to be some way to use him effectively.

 

[double0]

Gomes-7 Brilliant save in first half concerned with his lack of kicking-if he ain't fully fit we shouldn't play him.

Hutton-4 That was one of the worst full back displace I've seen in a Spurs shirt... we need to cut our loses and get rid-not good enough.

Bassong-6 Solid, made noticeable forages forward wasn't helped by lack of movement from the fowards.

King-7 Calming influence dealt with the twenty threat on one knee.

Assou-Ekotto-6 Solid perfer him to Bale at left back

Van De Vaart-8 A joy to watch class, but was stupid to make needless tackle will miss San Siro

Huddlestone-7 Passed the ball around well and defended manfully.

Modric-6 Poor performance going forward- should have trusted the left foot when throw on goal, saying that thought he played with discipline.

Bale-8 The arguments over Bale's a winger.

Crouch-5 Lovely lay off the set up VDV other than that IMO poor.

Pavlyuchenko- 6 For the pens other than that I thought he too was poor control and strength is a let down for this level.

 

[Mr Pink]

Like I said, I'm not out to slate Thud. He's an immense presence in our team and has a huge amount of quality. He can be a Spurs legend if he wants to.

Yesterday though he was caught out in possession too many times, he was clumsy and mistimed in too many tackles, his passing was nowhere near what we've come to expect of him, and there was a back pass to Gomes late on that he underhit which could have been disastrous if King (I think) hadn't rescued him.

I'm not out to unduly criticise him, I think he's great. But that performance surprised me. It was the worst I've seen from him for some time.

Everyone has an off day and I have no doubt it was just a blip. It just stuck out like a sore thumb last night IMO.

I am massive fan of Hudd but last night was a mixed bag for him. I agree with you to an extent, and in the first half in particular he was pretty sloppy on a number of occasions. But the second half was a fantastic performance and totally outweighed the below par first.

His passing in the second was sublime, the ball down the inside for Hutton was perfection for example. When we went to down 10 he played very well and kept it simple with Modric in retaining possession for us. Defended very well too.

All in all the second half performace made it a pretty decent performance over all. Had he not been so casual in the first it would of been a very good performance.

But not sure about your commenst on his passing last night, if your refering to the first half - ok, but in the second half his passing was sheer quality.

Unbelievable technique and vision when he's playing well.

 

[steve]

An interesting evening, helped by a mediocre team (think Young Boys but marginally better) who were determined to come and play football rather than shut up shop. A lot of Premiership teams of the midtable or lower variety would've given us a harder game last night, certainly in a defensive manner, as is often the way of things these days.

Most of their good chances came about mainly through mistakes or defensive lapses on our part, most notably the Huddlestone mistake in the first half (although he was slow to react, he was dropped in it slightly) and even for their goal, if you watch it closely we were slow to organise ourselves for the free kick (summink that occurs too often for my liking). The goalscorer was initially marked by Huddlestone who then tracked the ball rather than the man in the ensuing melee and when the ball broke to the goalscorer he was in space. Players should man mark until the danger is gone, not stop once the initial cross has been delivered. A bit harsh maybe but the very best do it.

Huddlestone played well though in both halves and got better as the game went on I thought.

Bales contribution was his usual lung busting pace, energy, hard work and generally good attitude but there is (amazingly) still a lot of room for improvement. Two examples, in the first half breaking down the left VDV was screaming for the ball in space on the edge of the box. Either Bale didn't get his head up, or he ignored him but the cross he eventually put in was poor and didn't get past the first man. VDV was quite rightly fecked off.
Second half late on (at 3-1 I think) the Twente RB stole forward to the far post and got on the end of a diagonal cross, luckily he fecked it up, but Bale was 5 yards away because he didn't track him and after getting the evils from BAE (who was effectively marking 2 men) he acknowledged his error. If he can consistently cut these mistakes out of his game then he'll be a truly world class player. He's young still and will learn hopefully.

VDV is class. He has all the prerequisites of a top class player. Great technical ability, intelligence, hard work, a great attitude, leadership skills, is vocal and is quicker than I thought. In fact he stamped his personality and authority on this game to such an extent that it actually detracted from Modric, who found VDV often demanding the ball in areas that he would usually occupy. It was only when VDV went off that Modric came into the game more and was able to impose himself upon proceedings. Modric is obviously class but at times needs to impose himself more demonstrably, summink that could be levelled at many of our players. VDV's only problem was he allowed himself to let his passion get the better of him and the sending off was needless and a bit daft.

Crouch was more than decent I thought and is a lot of trouble for European defences. I can see him causing Inter all sorts of problems with the right far-post service. He was also guilty of ignoring VDV when in a good position.
Pav was initially just awful but then seemed to realise half way through the first half that he had a body that he could use to shield the ball from his marker before laying it off. Once this clicked with him he did a whole lot better, but why he can't do it all the time is hard to work out.

The back four were sound, Hutton's return to form is welcome as he adds a tenacity and dynmamism that Corluka doesn't. His defensive failings are massively overexagerrated and are more of a result of his attacking forays rather than a lack of concentration or positioning. The only time he looked uncomfortable was after the sending off when we took our time to reorganise (Pav should've gone RM immediately until the sub was made) and he was exposed often 2 against 1 in that 5 minute spell. Apart from a stumble I don't remember him overly troubled.
The rest of our back 5 were notable for their consistency and it was nice to see our favourite wife shagger back in goal - one day he may even learn to kick the ball properly...

Overall a good performance. I hope people don't get too carried away with this as Twente weren't a great team and they did allow us to play our game, summink which West Ham didn't last week and Villa won't Saturday. Both better sides than Twente. I think 3 points is a must this week though...

 

[Mr Pink]

An interesting evening, helped by a mediocre team (think Young Boys but marginally better) who were determined to come and play football rather than shut up shop. A lot of Premiership teams of the midtable or lower variety would've given us a harder game last night, certainly in a defensive manner, as is often the way of things these days.

Most of their good chances came about mainly through mistakes or defensive lapses on our part, most notably the Huddlestone mistake in the first half (although he was slow to react, he was dropped in it slightly) and even for their goal, if you watch it closely we were slow to organise ourselves for the free kick (summink that occurs too often for my liking). The goalscorer was initially marked by Huddlestone who then tracked the ball rather than the man in the ensuing melee and when the ball broke to the goalscorer he was in space. Players should man mark until the danger is gone, not stop once the initial cross has been delivered. A bit harsh maybe but the very best do it.

Huddlestone played well though in both halves and got better as the game went on I thought.

Bales contribution was his usual lung busting pace, energy, hard work and generally good attitude but there is (amazingly) still a lot of room for improvement. Two examples, in the first half breaking down the left VDV was screaming for the ball in space on the edge of the box. Either Bale didn't get his head up, or he ignored him but the cross he eventually put in was poor and didn't get past the first man. VDV was quite rightly fecked off.
Second half late on (at 3-1 I think) the Twente RB stole forward to the far post and got on the end of a diagonal cross, luckily he fecked it up, but Bale was 5 yards away because he didn't track him and after getting the evils from BAE (who was effectively marking 2 men) he acknowledged his error. If he can consistently cut these mistakes out of his game then he'll be a truly world class player. He's young still and will learn hopefully.

VDV is class. He has all the prerequisites of a top class player. Great technical ability, intelligence, hard work, a great attitude, leadership skills, is vocal and is quicker than I thought. In fact he stamped his personality and authority on this game to such an extent that it actually detracted from Modric, who found VDV often demanding the ball in areas that he would usually occupy. It was only when VDV went off that Modric came into the game more and was able to impose himself upon proceedings. Modric is obviously class but at times needs to impose himself more demonstrably, summink that could be levelled at many of our players. VDV's only problem was he allowed himself to let his passion get the better of him and the sending off was needless and a bit daft.

Crouch was more than decent I thought and is a lot of trouble for European defences. I can see him causing Inter all sorts of problems with the right far-post service. He was also guilty of ignoring VDV when in a good position.
Pav was initially just awful but then seemed to realise half way through the first half that he had a body that he could use to shield the ball from his marker before laying it off. Once this clicked with him he did a whole lot better, but why he can't do it all the time is hard to work out.

The back four were sound, Hutton's return to form is welcome as he adds a tenacity and dynmamism that Corluka doesn't. His defensive failings are massively overexagerrated and are more of a result of his attacking forays rather than a lack of concentration or positioning. The only time he looked uncomfortable was after the sending off when we took our time to reorganise (Pav should've gone RM immediately until the sub was made) and he was exposed often 2 against 1 in that 5 minute spell. Apart from a stumble I don't remember him overly troubled.
The rest of our back 5 were notable for their consistency and it was nice to see our favourite wife shagger back in goal - one day he may even learn to kick the ball properly...

Overall a good performance. I hope people don't get too carried away with this as Twente weren't a great team and they did allow us to play our game, summink which West Ham didn't last week and Villa won't Saturday. Both better sides than Twente. I think 3 points is a must this week though...

Agree with a lot of this but I seriously dont think Twente are as bad as you are making out. One thing is for sure, I wouldn't see the Pikey's holding Inter Milan mg:

Re Hutton, I am still unconvinced with his defending, particularly one on ones. But yes, its refreshing to see our RB move with some real pace and energy for a change.

Its not so much the difference in opposition for me, its the difference in our attitude. Obviously the players are far more up for the CL games, thats quite apparent to me - and understandable to an extent, but not acceptable really.

If we took that energy, determination and commitment into the Villa game on Saturday we would win convincingly.

The mental aspect is huge.

 

[Bus-Conductor]

An interesting evening, helped by a mediocre team (think Young Boys but marginally better) who were determined to come and play football rather than shut up shop. A lot of Premiership teams of the midtable or lower variety would've given us a harder game last night, certainly in a defensive manner, as is often the way of things these days.

Most of their good chances came about mainly through mistakes or defensive lapses on our part, most notably the Huddlestone mistake in the first half (although he was slow to react, he was dropped in it slightly) and even for their goal, if you watch it closely we were slow to organise ourselves for the free kick (summink that occurs too often for my liking). The goalscorer was initially marked by Huddlestone who then tracked the ball rather than the man in the ensuing melee and when the ball broke to the goalscorer he was in space. Players should man mark until the danger is gone, not stop once the initial cross has been delivered. A bit harsh maybe but the very best do it.

Huddlestone played well though in both halves and got better as the game went on I thought.

Bales contribution was his usual lung busting pace, energy, hard work and generally good attitude but there is (amazingly) still a lot of room for improvement. Two examples, in the first half breaking down the left VDV was screaming for the ball in space on the edge of the box. Either Bale didn't get his head up, or he ignored him but the cross he eventually put in was poor and didn't get past the first man. VDV was quite rightly fecked off.
Second half late on (at 3-1 I think) the Twente RB stole forward to the far post and got on the end of a diagonal cross, luckily he fecked it up, but Bale was 5 yards away because he didn't track him and after getting the evils from BAE (who was effectively marking 2 men) he acknowledged his error. If he can consistently cut these mistakes out of his game then he'll be a truly world class player. He's young still and will learn hopefully.

VDV is class. He has all the prerequisites of a top class player. Great technical ability, intelligence, hard work, a great attitude, leadership skills, is vocal and is quicker than I thought. In fact he stamped his personality and authority on this game to such an extent that it actually detracted from Modric, who found VDV often demanding the ball in areas that he would usually occupy. It was only when VDV went off that Modric came into the game more and was able to impose himself upon proceedings. Modric is obviously class but at times needs to impose himself more demonstrably, summink that could be levelled at many of our players. VDV's only problem was he allowed himself to let his passion get the better of him and the sending off was needless and a bit daft.

Crouch was more than decent I thought and is a lot of trouble for European defences. I can see him causing Inter all sorts of problems with the right far-post service. He was also guilty of ignoring VDV when in a good position.
Pav was initially just awful but then seemed to realise half way through the first half that he had a body that he could use to shield the ball from his marker before laying it off. Once this clicked with him he did a whole lot better, but why he can't do it all the time is hard to work out.

The back four were sound, Hutton's return to form is welcome as he adds a tenacity and dynmamism that Corluka doesn't. His defensive failings are massively overexagerrated and are more of a result of his attacking forays rather than a lack of concentration or positioning. The only time he looked uncomfortable was after the sending off when we took our time to reorganise (Pav should've gone RM immediately until the sub was made) and he was exposed often 2 against 1 in that 5 minute spell. Apart from a stumble I don't remember him overly troubled.
The rest of our back 5 were notable for their consistency and it was nice to see our favourite wife shagger back in goal - one day he may even learn to kick the ball properly...

Overall a good performance. I hope people don't get too carried away with this as Twente weren't a great team and they did allow us to play our game, summink which West Ham didn't last week and Villa won't Saturday. Both better sides than Twente. I think 3 points is a must this week though...

An excellent assessment as usual and I concur with most, but do you not think playing Modric in a 442 with Huddlestone (who I thought played well yesterday too) will always mean Modric is harnessed by responsibility somewhat ? Modric as CM in any 442 (ie with palacios/Jenas) will be dampened slightly, as CM in a 442 will always have responsibility - especially against 3 man midfield opposition - but with the least mobile of the three (Hudd) it puts extra responsibility on him doesn't it.

 

[AW?]

Whoever put Hutton as MoM well i seriously question your sanity to be honest. Probably Scottish now i think of it.

 

[steve]

Agree with a lot of this but I seriously dont think Twente are as bad as you are making out. One thing is for sure, I wouldn't see the Pikey's holding Inter Milan mg:

Re Hutton, I am still unconvinced with his defending, particularly one on ones. But yes, its refreshing to see our RB move with some real pace and energy for a change.

Its not so much the difference in opposition for me, its the difference in our attitude. Obviously the players are far more up for the CL games, thats quite apparent to me - and understandable to an extent, but not acceptable really.

If we took that energy, determination and commitment into the Villa game on Saturday we would win convincingly.

The mental aspect is huge.

Yes it is but it's a psychological human condition that even the most highly trained can't quite keep out completely. We raise ourselves (or not) depending on the situation we're confronted with and even the Man Yoo's of this world are guilty of it. It's so ingrained in our psyche that we can't eliminate it - that's why it happens week in week out in football (and life) despite our insistence that it shouldn't.

An excellent assessment as usual and I concur with most, but do you not think playing Modric in a 442 with Huddlestone (who I thought played well yesterday too) will always mean Modric is harnessed by responsibility somewhat ? Modric as CM in any 442 (ie with palacios/Jenas) will be dampened slightly, as CM in a 442 will always have responsibility - especially against 3 man midfield opposition - but with the least mobile of the three (Hudd) it puts extra responsibility on him doesn't it.

Yes this is true to a small extent, but I watched Modric closely and he was visibly hesitant with VDV pulling the strings. Once VDV went off Modric noticabley got more involved in areas that often VDV was occupying whilst on the pitch.

 

[SpurSince57]

Pav looked much better once he was the lone striker. He held up the ball well - something he couldnt do at all in the first half. And he still has the sweetest strike or our players - there's got to be some way to use him effectively.

That largely depends on Pavlyuchenko, surely?

If he could play every game the way he played the second half yesterday, as a minimum, then, heigh-ho, he's the boy. Problem is, first half he was Stupor Pav rather than Super Pav, and this was nothing to do with Crouch.

Yesterday's second half was the best I've seen from him, and anyone criticising his penalties needs his (or her) head examining. In the end, though, we need more than a ZOMG! goal to redeem a totally anodyne performance.