Match Ratings Ratings vs Villa

O.K. Haven't looked at who voted for whom, nor read throuh this thread at all.

Whilst it would be easy to give MoM to Son (goal + assists). However, I'm going for Udogie. I thought he was immense and - most importantly - determined. A great performance.

VDV until he went off

Sarr and his twin brother should share it, they were everywhere.

Sarr was excellent..

bomberH said:

I’m genuinely surprised some are saying Son. Yes he scored and assisted 2 but anyone who watched the game surely would’ve seen that those stats aside, he had a really poor game. Several misplaced passes and several opportunities to shoot instead of taking a touch that led to a tackle. He put in the effort as always but this was last season’s Sonny, nothing he did came off for the first 90 minutes (aside from the assist to Johnson).

With that said, the goal shows why he should never really be subbed cos no one else can score a great goal like that after a shite game like he can.

Johnson, Udoghie, Sarr and vdv all excellent today. Happy for Dragusin to get a proper amount of time too.

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A lot of unsuccessful moments maybe, but having three key moments that directly lead to a goal equate to a successful game imo. In the end most possessions/attacks are ultimately unsuccessful.

Yes a lot didnt come off for him but credit his endevour as you say. There's a reason teams dont average 4/5 goals a game, because its not easy to get it right that many times a game, and Sons made a significant contribution today.

Thought Sarr and Udogie were excellent and Johnson was very effective especially early on with some great dribbles.

Hopefully we're just getting into form at the right time. A shame for Micky but if he is out for any extended period then it's a great chance for Radu to show what he can do.

McFlash said:

I've seen some criticism of them but I personally thought that both Romero and Kulusevski were very good.
Cuti was incredibly calm and collected, while Deki just doesn't stop and is a smart player.

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Just to add to this, I thought Romero was excellent. He’s such a classy player.

Think there was one loose pass, which let Watkins in, but that was more on Biss than Cuti for me.

C1w8 said:

A lot of unsuccessful moments maybe, but having three key moments that directly lead to a goal equate to a successful game imo. In the end most possessions/attacks are ultimately unsuccessful.

Yes a lot didnt come off for him but credit his endevour as you say. There's a reason teams dont average 4/5 goals a game, because its not easy to get it right that many times a game, and Sons made a significant contribution today.

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That's just Sonny really.
Can dither, be too lightweight on the ball and mess up simple control and passes but he'll still score or assist.

I wouldn't personally say that he had a good game today but his stats will argue that he did and at the end of the day, he did what he's paid to do.

Oh Teddy Teddy said:

Just to add to this, I thought Romero was excellent. He’s such a classy player.

Think there was one loose pass, which let Watkins in, but that was more on Biss than Cuti for me.

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Yeah, both me and my son came away from watching today saying that he's still underrated by so many people.
He had one loose pass and of course, the match thread faithful jumped on it but apart from that one moment, he was immense.

For someone who's seen as a hot-head, he's incredibly calm for much of the time.
There were a couple of frantic defensive moments where he just got hold of the ball and played it calmly, kept possession and moved us up the pitch.

Excellent overall performance. I think Johnson had his best game for us today. He worked hard pressing and defensively and got a goal as well he was my motm, but all of the back 5 were excellent.

Bissouma made a couple of mistakes but his role and the risk that Ange expects there is always going to be a mistake or 2. Not sure why he is getting so much grief, he keeps the ball ticking over and looks generally forward.

Aggressive Johnson mom.

I found myself screaming at Kulu a lot but like Son he made a decisive contribution.

I see some of our resident experts are suggesting Son was poor, and his place would be in question if he doesn’t get his numbers. Dear me. He must have made a million runs in behind, constantly unsettling their rehashed back line. An invaluable, world class asset.

Lastly, good to see Lolo easing himself back in fluently, and especially the whack he gave Cash at the end. Well done to the fans for giving Cash plenty.

McFlash said:

That's just Sonny really.
Can dither, be too lightweight on the ball and mess up simple control and passes but he'll still score or assist.

I wouldn't personally say that he had a good game today but his stats will argue that he did and at the end of the day, he did what he's paid to do.

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I wouldnt (and didnt!) say he had a good game either, but a "successful" game yes noting his contributions.

Its not just Sonny, and I find it a bit harsh when generally its a criticism that peppers any attacking players thread that they keep messing up - invariably the vast majority of possessions are messed up, otherwise we'd be scoring 10 goals a game.

Obviously theres a difference between a really difficult pass that doesnt quite come off (although that could at times be deemed bad decision making), and a bread and butter control of the ball that goes awry, of course there are levels to it, but at a time when we are scoring a lot of goals and havent drawn a blank for a full seasons worth of games I think it is now, I'm really happy with how the attacking unit is functioning and the contributions that every player is making.

DId what he's paid to do as you said!

Too many top performances all over the pitch, Mickey, Romero, Udogie, Sarr , Brennan etc. so have gone team effort . I see Biss made a total of 93 passes in the match and apart from a couple of stray ones thought he probably had his best game for a long time.

Ron Burgundy said:

Agree with all this, but that’s kind of the player I think Son is becoming - which I’m fine with, as long as:
1) he gets his numbers and
2) we have players around him that make up for his short comings in general play

It’s why I prefer him as a striker

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Agree - as long as he's putting in a shift throughout the game and converting chances on a regular (1 in 2) basis then he's doing an excellent job as as striker.

cliff jones said:

Aggressive Johnson mom.

I found myself screaming at Kulu a lot but like Son he made a decisive contribution.

I see some of our resident experts are suggesting Son was poor, and his place would be in question if he doesn’t get his numbers. Dear me. He must have made a million runs in behind, constantly unsettling their rehashed back line. An invaluable, world class asset.

Lastly, good to see Lolo easing himself back in fluently, and especially the whack he gave Cash at the end. Well done to the fans for giving Cash plenty.

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No one is denying Son is world class or invaluable, but if you think he played ‘well’ yesterday then I have no idea what standards you judge by. Anyone can make runs inside, no one has questioned his effort. But the fact is, yesterday he was really poor with the ball and got a goal and assist in the 90th + minute against a shattered team down to ten men who were already beaten when he scored and assisted. It’s still great that he got those stats which is why I said I wouldn’t sub him, but if you can find a video of him against Villa you’ll see exactly what I’m getting at. Several easy passes misplaced in attacking moments and several chances to shoot wasted. He just didn’t play well, that’s all.

He’s obviously been brilliant for us since he joined (bar the dodgy Conte season) but he can have bad games. I’d never drop him but that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be constructively criticised when he’s poor. If all you care about is ‘running in behind a million times’ then fine, but I also like world class players to do other stuff during important moments of the game.

My main gripe though is that he got MOTM. This is typical of giving it to someone due to their stats rather than the way they played. 99.9% of Spurs fans will know that Johnson, vdv, Romero, Udoghie and Sarr were much better but Son got it because of the stats (and, no doubt, a little bit because of who he is).

You even mentioned screaming at Kulu several times but were ok with him in the end because of his decisive contribution. But this insinuates you thought he was poor until his contribution. We had to wait until the 90th minute for Son’s…. bar an easy pass to Johnson (made possible by Kulu’s intervention). So basically you were screaming at Kulu for 60 mins and we were screaming at Son for 90 minutes. Kulu’s contribution ended up being absolutely pivotal at an important stage of the game, whereas Son’s were when Villa were already down and out. Though I do agree I thought Kulu was poor up until the first goal and also to be fair to Son, his goal completely finished them off.

Anyway, fear not Clifford, we all love Son, he just didn’t do anywhere near enough to win MOTM yesterday. Actually I thought you’d be angry at him seeing as he’s level with you now in the goals chart…

C1w8 said:

I wouldnt (and didnt!) say he had a good game either, but a "successful" game yes noting his contributions.

Its not just Sonny, and I find it a bit harsh when generally its a criticism that peppers any attacking players thread that they keep messing up - invariably the vast majority of possessions are messed up, otherwise we'd be scoring 10 goals a game.

Obviously theres a difference between a really difficult pass that doesnt quite come off (although that could at times be deemed bad decision making), and a bread and butter control of the ball that goes awry, of course there are levels to it, but at a time when we are scoring a lot of goals and havent drawn a blank for a full seasons worth of games I think it is now, I'm really happy with how the attacking unit is functioning and the contributions that every player is making.

DId what he's paid to do as you said!

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I agree and if you got into a match thread, or any player thread there are dozens of posts criticising someone for the slightest thing, which gets a bit ridiculous.
I think that sometimes it's too easy to find fault where there really isn't anything to complain about.

That's why I voted for team effort for this game because I personally didn't think anyone had a bad game.
We were comfortable in the first half, away to direct rivals and totally controlled the second half with probably our best performance of the season.

Things haven't been this positive about our club for a long time and there's nothing to really complain about.

bomberH said:

I’m genuinely surprised some are saying Son. Yes he scored and assisted 2 but anyone who watched the game surely would’ve seen that those stats aside, he had a really poor game. Several misplaced passes and several opportunities to shoot instead of taking a touch that led to a tackle. He put in the effort as always but this was last season’s Sonny, nothing he did came off for the first 90 minutes (aside from the assist to Johnson).

With that said, the goal shows why he should never really be subbed cos no one else can score a great goal like that after a shite game like he can.

Johnson, Udoghie, Sarr and vdv all excellent today. Happy for Dragusin to get a proper amount of time too.

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To be honest, I didn't even think the assist for Johnson was that good. He delayed too long for me and potentially chose the wrong option because Johnson had a Villa player up his backside when he finished and he did very well to score it. Deki might have been a better option. Either way, he should have done it slightly quicker because he also risked an offside.

His goal showed what a lethal finisher he is but no way he was the best player on the park yesterday (for me, that was Johnson).

PaulM said:

To be honest, I didn't even think the assist for Johnson was that good. He delayed too long for me and potentially chose the wrong option because Johnson had a Villa player up his backside when he finished and he did very well to score it. Deki might have been a better option. Either way, he should have done it slightly quicker because he also risked an offside.

His goal showed what a lethal finisher he is but no way he was the best player on the park yesterday (for me, that was Johnson).

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I thought the same. Great finish by Johnson in the end but Deki was better placed and completely free. Maybe Son thought Johnson is a better finisher.

The best thing to come out of yesterday was that my 10 year old daughter admitted to her brother and I that she only supports West Ham because her mum said she has to.
She actually wants to support Spurs and West Ham.

We played it cool and told her that she can support whoever she wants to and doesn't have to choose a team just yet, especially one she's been told she has to support.

She'll be a Spurs fan soon!

PaulM said:

To be honest, I didn't even think the assist for Johnson was that good. He delayed too long for me and potentially chose the wrong option because Johnson had a Villa player up his backside when he finished and he did very well to score it. Deki might have been a better option. Either way, he should have done it slightly quicker because he also risked an offside.

His goal showed what a lethal finisher he is but no way he was the best player on the park yesterday (for me, that was Johnson).

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There's a fine line between taking too long, and leaving something to the last second to give your teammate the best chance of scoring. Play it earlier and maybe johnson takes a touch, shoots from further out, or the pass has to really lead him into the box opening the window for the keeper a bit, who knows. As it was on a plate for Johnson to take a clean first time strike at the ball, on his favoured foot, offside wasnt even a debate when they showed the replays, i'd say he timed it perfectly.

(I also voted johnsons MOTM though).