Match Ratings Ratings vs Arsenal

[ravo]

Lloris 7

Trippier 5
Alderweireld 6
Sanchez 4
Vertonghen 7
Rose 5

Sissoko 7
Wanyama 4
Eriksen 5

Son 5
Kane 6

Woeful display, but by some miracle we got a point.

Agree, although perhaps +1 for Sissoko.

 

[BringBack_leGin]

For Arsenal’s penalty, does nobody feel that Vertonghen was dreadful in his dallying and poor awareness our left while our entire team were attacking, getting out foxed and giving arsenal a pretty clear run at goal? Sanchez defended naively (though it was never a penalty) but Vertonghen put the team in that situation with play that you’d not expect from such an experienced player.

 

[The Apprentice]

Our central midfield was a disaster. Both tried hard but ultimately lack any quality on the ball and it affected us hugely.

We just feel like a team sleep walking at the moment. Lacking the ability to create much of note with Eriksen on a calamitous form nosedive.

A draw that felt like a victory.

 

[dannythomas]

Yes, MP gets no credit for helping to create a situation, then getting away with a half arsed solution that was possibly the least worse option. Rose didn't know what he was doing there and could have got badly hurt more than once. It was undignified.

MP persisting with a player who was finished some time ago in Wanyama is the real mystery. He has no-doubt been a decent and loyal player and friend for MP over the years, and we know MP values the human interaction side of things. But the guy is a multimillionaire and a football career is short.
Wanyama is not going to starve. He can play at a level that he is more suited to for a few years.
He should have been replaced and MP has no excuse.

A draw suits us better than arsenal, but Lackofsex and 'the cat' could have and should have had a couple or 3 goals between them. We were very lucky.

PS as Tottenhamboy85 correctly points out, the ref was technically absolutely right in giving us the penalty. The only penalty shout he got wrong was down the other end.

Poch has every excuse. Start with not being given any money in 2 windows to refresh a depleted exhausted squad let alone improve it.

 

[Dannyspur]

Hugo 7 for the penalty save.
Trippier 5 a bit better than of late but still looking average at best.
Verts 7 fantastic block at the end
Toby 6 average game for him
Sanchez 5
Rose 6 tried to beat the fullback to many times when a pass would have been a better option. Midfielder? not really!
Wanyama 6 not as bad as others are saying
Sissoko 8 MOTM
Eriksen 3 pathetic effort
Son 5 is knackered and sad to say, plays better without Kane
Kane 6 an extra point for the super penalty. I know he isn't fully fit, but I don't like his style of play at the moment. He doesn't seem to challenge and win headers like he used to - every long ball up to him, he looked for the defender, gave him an obvious push and then jumped for the ball. In the past he would just concentrate on winning the header and 9 times out of 10 get to the ball.
Lamela 7 showed some urgency and got stuck in
Llorente 6 did ok when he came on

I though the ref was crap once again. So many times gave free kicks to them for nothing challenges but let fouls on us go un punished. I haven't seen the television replays but the bookings looked a joke at the time - Rose's was a 50/50 with the keeper, I thought Lamela got the ball and Llorente was being fouled but the ref booked him.

 

[Blake Griffin]

For Arsenal’s penalty, does nobody feel that Vertonghen was dreadful in his dallying and poor awareness our left while our entire team were attacking, getting out foxed and giving arsenal a pretty clear run at goal? Sanchez defended naively (though it was never a penalty) but Vertonghen put the team in that situation with play that you’d not expect from such an experienced player.

losing the ball can happen but he should've just taken a yellow card for the team in that situation.

 

[mpickard2087]

For Arsenal’s penalty, does nobody feel that Vertonghen was dreadful in his dallying and poor awareness our left while our entire team were attacking, getting out foxed and giving arsenal a pretty clear run at goal? Sanchez defended naively (though it was never a penalty) but Vertonghen put the team in that situation with play that you’d not expect from such an experienced player.

Correct, and it wasn't for the first time, he also did the same first half when Wanyama took a foul/booking(?) to stop the counter attack after he got his feet in a mess.

I don't think he had a good game, surprised to see all the positive ratings for him in all honesty. He was clumsy on the ball throughout and made some really bad defensive reads that he was lucky to get away with at times. I think obviously the great block at the end sticks in peoples minds, but does that wash away the rest of his game? I'd say not. Same principle with Kane and the penalty really.

 

[Pedro]

This game confirmed a few things that have been fairly obvious for a while now. We have problems in the CM and FB positions, these desperately need strengthening. Also, Eriksen is a shadow of his former self.

Sissoko was easily MOTM, but needing to rely on a very rusty Wanyama for such a big game shows our lack of depth here. I personally didn’t think he was as bad as some are making out, but certainly not great.

I don’t think Son should have started, the guy must be knackered, his form has completely nosedived, but he may have been a useful impact sub for 20mins or so.

IMO Trippier was awful, looked shakey in defence, wasteful in attack. Rose was a strange one, so many times he was free but the ball didn’t get to him. Then when he did get it he seemed to refuse to take on a slow CB playing RB. So this combined meant we were getting very little from the flanks.

The 3 CBs generally did fine, distribution not so great, and one bad error from Sanchez, but he should never have been left so isolated at that point of the game. Never a pen so I’m not marking him down for that. Hugo had a good game, and excellent pen save.

Kane not quite there yet, didn’t get in the box enough. Eriksen was hopeless and can’t believe he missed that sitter. We are so dependant on him for creativity, when he plays bad we play bad. Getting Alli back may help, or play Lamela more.

All in all not a terrible point after the recent run.

 

[Klinsmannesque]

Went for Hugo just because it was such a massive moment in the 90th min. Otherwise would have been Sissoko

 

[JarBirl]

I will not give ratings to players for this game. Because I think our underwhelming performance yesterday is more down to our quality and Poch's tactics than individual players' performance.

1. We failed to exploit the fact that they had a defensive liability (Mustafi). Their first choice RB is out and we should've at least tried to take advantage of that but we moved more centrally with Kane and Son up top.

2. Rose as a CDM. I know it might have changed the momentum a bit, but it was quite obvious that Rose didn't know what he was doing there (quite understandably so), and I felt it was an unnecessary gamble given we could have switched things up in other ways as we didn't have much time on our hands and players had to waste their time getting readjusted to the change. We also lost our possession a lot. The ball was in our half more than the other way.

3. Sub choices: I can't fathom why Poch persists with Llorente as his first sub. I think the idea is to use him as the target man to give more space to Kane but doesn't moving Son and Lamela to the wings (and moving Llorente up top next to Kane) make more sense and taking Rose off instead of putting him in midfield? We had 3 options who could play wide: Lamela, Son, Moura and like I've said with point #1, their RB was their biggest defensive liability. Why couldn't he let the players cut in that side?

4. Why two strikers up top? When we don't have a creative midfield and quality wing backs to provide crosses in the box? We've seen this happening, again and again. I know it's worked before more or less, but the important thing is it's not working right now due to our quality issues.


More on the players: Kane is not fully fit. I personally believe he indirectly contributed to their first goal by not taking a shot in the box and losing possession. He would've buried it easily if he was fit. But at this point, I think asking more from him is not fair or realistic. Poch should know this, and shouldn't put too much burden on Kane (even though this is what he wants) to finish everything and shouldn't be afraid of subbing him on at HT, or taking him off if necessary (he looked really knackered in the second half).

On Son: I don't like the idea that Kane and Son don't play well together. I refuse to believe this. Because the idea is too devastating and doesn't reflect the fact that they've played together fantastically in the past. I think this is more down to our lack of a creative CDM and our overall quality in midfield.

Eriksen: Some speculate that he has one foot out the door and it's reflected on his recent performances but I don't think this is the main reason why he's underperforming. Similarly to Son's situation now (in that they should play in their preferred/different positions to shine), he plays much deeper with less freedom and it's hindering his play a bit plus, I genuinely think he's just out of form. He pulls out of challenges too much which quite frustrated me while watching the game but he's been always this way even before all the talks of him taking off and seems to be part of his style of play.

Rose: I know he can be good, but he has some areas that are quite lacking in my opinion. Crossing, passing, decision-making (he doesn't seem to know how to pick out a player in a good position to pass the ball to, too often.) He's fast and he should take more advantage of that but he hesitates too much or tries to dribble past players himself instead of passing it to other attacking players in time. He's often the furthest player in the final third, but by the time he makes the decision to give the ball to someone else, the opponent's defenders are already behind the ball and space has closed up.

 

[Flashspur]

Struggling performance. Physically and mentally drained squad trying to squeeze the last bit out of the tank. Thanks Poch. Hope you are berry berry happy not freshening up the squad. Hop A Long Cassidy would have done better then a clearly 75% fit version of Wanyama.

Dortmund are going to tear us another one I fear.

Looks like I upset a few peeps. Sorry @Bulletspur i’ll be more contrite next time...berry sorry champ

 

[double0]

Poch has every excuse. Start with not being given any money in 2 windows to refresh a depleted exhausted squad let alone improve it.

I reckon we have/had money to spend but the right players weren’t available within our budget. Really the last players we bid for was Grealish and Rabiot , Grealish being overpriced in the end the 25 M was rejected and Rabiot seemed to be waiting for Barcelona...for how I remember it.

 

[whitesocks]

...
Eriksen: Some speculate that his one foot is out the door and it's reflected on his recent performances but I don't think this is the main reason why he's underperforming. Similarly to Son's situation now (in that they should be played in their preferred/different positions to shine), he plays much deeper with less freedom and it's hindering his play a bit plus, I genuinely think he's just out of form. He pulls out of challenges too much which quite frustrated me while watching the game but he's been always this way even before all the talks of him taking off and seems to be part of his style of play.
...

Eriksen could well be playing in quite a bit of pain. But with MP down to putting unsuitable FBs in midfield (out of the Sherwood playbook), he has no chance of getting a break while he can still walk.

 

[shelfboy68]

Thought Sissoko was the only outfield player who played well.

Good save from Lloris and happy for him.

Aside from the amazing block and a great cross I thought Vertonghen looked injured and a little ropey, really poor pass that led to their penalty.

Sanchez looked shaky but then weirdly so did Toby at times.

Trippier got done pretty much every time he was faced up and offered no threat going forward, but better than Chelsea game.

Wanyama is officially broken and has to be replaced.

Kane tried hard but without much going right.

Son’s form has fallen off a cliff since Kane come back, sick of him playing up top alongside Kane.

Eriksen a shadow of former self and once again massively disappointed in him.

Lamela did his normal Lamela things and simply isn’t currently a good enough back up.

Minute Llorente is brought on it pretty much guarantees things will fizzle out, baffled by that constant sub.

Putting Rose CM when we still had a sub left is bizarre from Poch. Tactics today were just so negative and tepid, I don’t know why we stuck with 3 at back for so long. It’s been a pretty poor week for Poch but when you see what he had to work with just from losing Dier and Winks in CM is a symbol of the utterly disgraceful transfer policy.

No transfer policy would be a better way of putting it how anyone seeing us struggle like we have this year with rotation issues, creativity etc can defend that policy is baffling.

 

[EastLondonYid]

I reckon we have/had money to spend but the right players weren’t available within our budget. Really the last players we bid for was Grealish and Rabiot , Grealish being overpriced in the end the 25 M was rejected and Rabiot seemed to be waiting for Barcelona...for how I remember it.

There is no way I believe we couldn't have got a loan or 2 in that would have helped us out in the run in.
We are in the most watched and desired league in the world, in the best city in the world and in the CL,im not having that.

 

[double0]

There is no way I believe we couldn't have got a loan or 2 in that would have helped us out in the run in.
We are in the most watched and desired league in the world, in the best city in the world and in the CL,im not having that.

It's not about me or you having that, it's Poch. Look at the problems we have shifting deadwood players ie GKN Janssen

 

[BringBack_leGin]

For all the criticism of Kane, made the chance of the match with a wonderful ball to Eriksen, put it on a plate for Eriksen to Trippier to hit a cross with loads of time and space but fuck it up, and both won and scored the penalty. Also had another great headed goal rightfully chalked off for offside and led pretty much every half decent attack.

Considering the piss poor service he received, Harry did fine and a lesser player would’ve looked far worse.

 

[Pedro]

For all the criticism of Kane, made the chance of the match with a wonderful ball to Eriksen, put it on a plate for Eriksen to Trippier to hit a cross with loads of time and space but fuck it up, and both won and scored the penalty. Also had another great headed goal rightfully chalked off for offside and led pretty much every half decent attack.

Considering the piss poor service he received, Harry did fine and a lesser player would’ve looked far worse.

I do agree with this, but do you think he was in the box enough to put potential chances away? He dropped back frequently and did create opportunities for crosses but there was no one in the box to cross to. Should sonny be there or Kane? I wonder whether moura should get another run to be making those bursts into the box or should Kane be focussing less on dropping back as a playmaker? I’m not sure of the answer, but an in form Kane manages to mix it up and do both. Maybe Eriksen hitting form or Alli back in the team will allow Kane to stay up top more.

 

[mpickard2087]

For all the criticism of Kane, made the chance of the match with a wonderful ball to Eriksen, put it on a plate for Eriksen to Trippier to hit a cross with loads of time and space but fuck it up, and both won and scored the penalty. Also had another great headed goal rightfully chalked off for offside and led pretty much every half decent attack.

Considering the piss poor service he received, Harry did fine and a lesser player would’ve looked far worse.

You could also say that the Eriksen pass was aided by a deflection, and for both headed goal and penalty he'd dozily got himself offside and got away with it on one occasion.

What I'd say is that the fleeting involvements show what a great footballer and character he has, that he can have such impact in those few moments. But I don't think you can just rely on a player turning it on for those handful of moments in a game whilst he works his way up to fitness. If you watch the rest of the 90 minutes I see someone who isn't running channels, isn't making space, isn't showing for the ball, isn't holding it up, isn't pressing, is making poor choices, playing at a snails pace killing any tempo often, and (especially first half on Saturday) if you watch him and not the ball I saw countless occasions where someone is in a half decent position out wide and he is behind play/on his heels and not even moving into the box to make an option.

Worse is that, in my opinion, it's impacting negatively on others. All the games in the past week from what I have been watching Son has been dashing about across the front line trying to do the running and work of two men, the only result being is tying himself in knots and being useless when the ball lands at his feet. And I see others getting out of position trying to cover his lack of pressing. You cant get away with carrying someone these days, especially when they are meant to be the focal point and platform for our attack. Turning it on for a brief moment, even to score a goal, is we have seen not enough to win a football match even against the lower teams in the league.

 

[double0]

There’s some very harsh assessments made on Harry Kane. I personally feel are unjust but do appreciate other people’s views. The simple truth of the matter is others need to pull their thumbs out of mouth and perform...