Rate The Players - Spurs V Twente

[Monkey Bastard Hands]

Gomes 6.5 - Pulled off some good saves today though did look a bit dodgy at times.

Ekotto 6 - Can't blame him for the penalty, otherwise a typical Ekotto performance
Gallas 6
Bassong 6
Corluka 7 - Did well today, looks like the Corluka of old. That rest obviously has done him a world of good.

Bale 7 - Quiet day for his standards but still looked threatening at times
Jenas 6 - Shame he got injured as I thought he was getting nicely involved.
Palacios 6 - Odd game today, made some interesting tackles but did well for Defoes goal.
Kranjcar 6.5 - Out of position on the right, looked better when he went into the middle. Hopefully has improved his chances of getting more games.

Defoe 7 - Took the goals well, looks sharp
Pav 6 - Typical Pav performance

Lennon 7 - Did well, I don't believe Harry when he said Lennon was injured. I think he was just saving him for Sunday.
Keane 5 - Didn't really do much from what I saw
Crouch n/a.

 

[3Dnata]

palacios MOTM for me as he had to deal with constantly changing formations and partners he played well unlucky not to score.
My brain is to befuddled to do ratings at the moment because of the baffling refereeing, I think I'm going to have to work out some sort of handicap system.
I thought JD,Lennon and Niko were very good too.

 

[MilkyBarYid]

Gomes 6 - No chance for any of the goals but he didnt instill me with confidence

Ekotto 6 - Not to blame for the penalty but scares me when he has the ball, long range passing was wayward.
Gallas 6 - Good performance again, hardly put a foot wrong
Bassong 6 - Good alongside Gallas, need to keep him, not as assured as Kaboul
Corluka 7 - Quality today, his lack of pace is evident but makes up for it with positioning.

Bale 6 - Lost the ball a few times when trying to take their fall back on, still worked hard.
Jenas 5.5 - Not the foil for Palacios in the middle, Kranjcar was better there.
Palacios 6 - Not bad, but shouldnt have squared to Defoe, was lucky.
Kranjcar 6.5 - Can't play out on the right, look great in the middle, such a stylish footballer, must keep him.

Defoe 6.5 - Did well with the opportunities presented, frustrating first half.
Pav 5 - First touch was poor and was too weak in possession.

Lennon 7 - Very good, not attacking his fullback like he should though.
Keane 5 - Played out of position for the small amount of time he had.

 

[scat1620]

Can't believe Palacios has got two 6's already from people, I thought he was very nearly back to his brilliant best for us. Not quite debut-vs-Arsenal standard, but - one dodgy air tackle that saw him booked aside - he played very, very well IMO.

 

[BringBack_leGin]

Gomes made a couple of great saves but he should've really saved the retake.

Corluka stood a mile away from the crosser for their second, but made one great tackle.

Gallas was fine, nothing wrong I can remember.

Bassong was nowhere near his man for their second goal.

Ekotto gave away the penalty, but it was harsh. His passing was poor today.

Kranjcar did nothing from the right but looked impressive in the middle.

Jenas did little in his time on the pitch, and now he's injured yet again.

Palacios wasn't great, not bad either, and even via their goalie made our third goal. Not as involved as I expect him to be though.

Bale wasn't at his best, had two men on him at all times, and should have crossed better, but he still got past his markers loads of times.

Defoe scored two, can't ask for any more from him than that.

Pavlyuchenko was great in the first half, really held the ball up well and some lovely touches, but he faded too much in the second half.

Lennon was our man of the match and really sizzled at times. Great assist for Defoe.

Keane and Crouch, neither really had any impact on what was an insane game.

 

[diegooners]

Charlie's back on form!

 

[steve]

Can't believe Palacios has got two 6's already from people, I thought he was very nearly back to his brilliant best for us. Not quite debut-vs-Arsenal standard, but - one dodgy air tackle that saw him booked aside - he played very, very well IMO.

Totally agree - he was the one who earned us the right to play our game more than any other.

 

[Monkey Bastard Hands]

Can't believe Palacios has got two 6's already from people, I thought he was very nearly back to his brilliant best for us. Not quite debut-vs-Arsenal standard, but - one dodgy air tackle that saw him booked aside - he played very, very well IMO.

He wasn't far off, but he still was a bit sloppy in places and his tackling had to be questioned tonight. That said, as I stated in my post I thought he did very well for Defoe's second goal. That's the Palacios we're used to and I hope he's on his way to getting back to it.

 

[Lanh]

Gomes 5

Ekotto 5
Gallas 6.5
Bassong 6.5
Corluka 6

Bale 5
Jenas 6
Palacios 6.5
Kranjcar 6

Defoe 7 MoM
Pavlyuchenko 6

Lennon 6.5
Keane 5
Crouch NET

 

[brett.spurs]

Gomes 5.5 - Started off dodgy, should really have done better with the penalty(is that harsh) also the freekick, just inviting the guy to put it in, thought it was poor positioning

Corluka 7.5 - Didn't let a lot get by him, very calm on the ball and naturally linked well with Azza, bring him back
Gallas 7 - Did alright
Bassong 7 - Did alright
Ekotto 5.5 - Don't blame him for the pen, but he just kept on giving the ball away, he'll be excellent on Sunday though

Lennon 7 - Four productive games on the spin, excellent play for Defoe's goal, shame he just lacks the bit of belief as he went on that great run and should've went for goal rather than looking for a pass which wasn't really there. Very much the real Lennon we know though
Palacios 7.5 - Best game for yonks, passed wellomg tackled well, and broke forward well, more of this Wilson please
Kranjcar 7 - Ineffective on the right(predictable) but actually did well in central midfield I thought, couple of feisty tackles and distributed the ball well
Bale 5.5 - Poorest game he's had for ages, got nothing out of the right back

Defoe 6.5 - Was fairly invisible in general play, two nice finishes though. Should give him the confidence to go on a run now
Pav 6.5 - Thought his general play was actually pretty good, which is strange for him

--------

Keane 6 - Tidy

 

[garyhopkins]

Gomes 6.5
BAE 6
Corluka 6.5
Bassong 6
Gallas 6
Bale 6.5
Lennon 7
Palacios 6.5
Kranjcar 7
Defoe 7
Pav 6

 

[steve]

He wasn't far off, but he still was a bit sloppy in places and his tackling had to be questioned tonight. That said, as I stated in my post I thought he did very well for Defoe's second goal. That's the Palacios we're used to and I hope he's on his way to getting back to it.

No more sloppy than anyone else. And apart from a couple of fouls given away his tackling was mostly fantastic and broke up their play on 5 or 6 occasions at least. Of course he sometimes fouls but he did nothing terrible tonight - the worst was a high foot but even then he won the ball cleanly...

You've picked out his negatives but they were far outweighed by his positives...

 

[Dr Know]

Not too much to say really as the ref took the spotlight.
What I would like to highlight is even though Defoe bagged 2 tonight I hope we don't lose sight of the fact we need a striker!!

 

[haxman]

Motm is tough today cause there were no stand out performances, Defoe scored twice, but did nothing in the first half. Wilson was decent too. Lennon's delivery is and always has been his weak point.

 

[chrissivad]

Charlie's back on form!

really?

thought he was ok, but nothing more

Gomes 6
BAE 6
Corluka 6
Bassong 6
Gallas 6
Bale 6
JJ 6
Lennon 7
Palacios 7
Kranjcar 7
Defoe 7
Keane 6
Crouch -
Pav 6

 

[Mr Pink]

I give all of them 6s apart from Pav, Niko, and Defoe - 7. Lennon - 8.

Jenas was on his way to a 7 as well. Palacios was better in the second half and so were we as a team, in the first half though I thought he lost the ball quite a bit. Infact he had made a great tackle at one point and then lost the ball immediatedly but he had a good second half.

Pav was impressive I thought. Better hold up play and touch, produced a lovely flick for somebody in the first half - Niko or Defoe and his general movement was good.

When Kranjcar came into the centre he was excellent, some nice tackles too and knitted our play together nicely.

Defoe had two great finishes which is good news for us. If there was one person I wanted to score tonigh it was him. He scores in batches normally and this will do his confidence the world of good going into the Chelsea game.

Bale had an off night tonight by his standards but produced a fabulous cross which nearly resulted in an own goal if not for a great reactivon save.

Lennon was clearly the MOM though, great disguised ball for Defoe's first and was a constant threat charging down the right flank. He also tracked back well and defended competently with Corluka.

 

[Monkey Bastard Hands]

No more sloppy than anyone else. And apart from a couple of fouls given away his tackling was mostly fantastic and broke up their play on 5 or 6 occasions at least. Of course he sometimes fouls but he did nothing terrible tonight - the worst was a high foot but even then he won the ball cleanly...

You've picked out his negatives but they were far outweighed by his positives...

Maybe i'm judging him more harshly because his form has been crap recently, I should probably watch the game again.

 

[Bus-Conductor]

First off, I have to say that this game was largely irrelevant for me. I wouldn't have minded too much if we'd gone out of europe entirely - with dignity - at the group stage, and been able to concentrate on the league from here on in. The fact that we've qualified, and topped the group is, for me, a massive, but possibly counterproductive bonus. But at least we can forget it now for a couple of months and hopefully focus on the league.

Hard to weigh up this game as it lacked any kind of clear pattern or consistent quality. It was like every time a team scored, they took control of the game for a little spell. We did have a couple of periods where it looked like we were in total control, only for that to be punctured by the spanish refereeing equivalent of Basil Fawlty deciding to liven up a slightly dull game by making up his own rules.

Twente aren't a bad side to be fair, and they also had their share of the game, usually after each time they scored, then we'd score again and take control again until the ref decided they should have a goal and the flow of the game changed again.

There is a recurring theme running through our whole season, and that is our inability to press the ball with any genuine tenacity all over the pitch. We will never keep clean sheets when the opposition are allowed so much unchallenged time on the ball.

It has to start at the front, but unfortunately we possibly have the three worst exponents of this in world football in Pav, Defoe and Keane. Then you Bale and Lennon wide...no real pressing there either. Then, unless Palacios or Jenas (and even he's not as good at it as Palacios) plays you have poor/weak pressing in the centre. Most of our - now - regular back four are decent pressers - Gallas, Kaboul, Hutton, Ekotto - but often it's too late by the time it gets there.

It doesn't have to be about changing personnel necessarily, it's about coaching. I really don't think it's brain surgery either. It's about physical and mental conditioning. You can still play good attacking football, in fact it's conducive to it, and the best teams all master the duel discipline. And we must start to balance or we will never achieve any meaningful, sustainable success.

There were some really poor performances tonight, crowned by the largely inept offerings of Defoe and Pavlyuchenko. Defoe's two well poached goals will disguise his woeful inadequacies and almost complete inability to to retain possession of the football.
It's great being a decent poacher, but it is simply not enough for a side with serious ambitions at titles and regular CL football.

Pavlyuchenko is only marginally - very marginally - more able to retain possession. Both of these are blown off the ball by the slightest gust of wind.

Bale was poor tonight in all ways. Offensively he wasted some great positions with poor delivery, and - more importantly - defensively he was too lethargic too often. He gave the ball away several times unnecessarily and made the measily total of 14 passes the whole game. Lennon was on the pitch about 40 minutes less and made more passes (17), set up a goal.

Ekotto was pretty good, second (or was it third) goal aside. But I think almost by default I'd go with Palacios by a whisker over Kranjcar or Gomes. He was his usually busy self, just about held a bunch very graft averse pussies together and set up the goal that ultimately earned us the point that secured top spot.

When asked about spurs record goalscoring in the CL he laughed "yeah but we probably broke the record for conceding as well".

I took that as a "royal" "we". Ratings:

Gomes 8 - made a couple of outstanding saves.

Corluka 5.5 - An intelligent footballer but so slow, it scares me. Should have pressed Jansen much tighter as well for their goal. He should never get his place back. Sad, but true.

Gallas 6.5 - Decent enough game.

Bassong 6.5 - Decent enough game

Ekotto 7 - I'm undecided whether he could have done better for their second. I also think Bale has got to be tracking their RB.

Kranjcar 7 - A decent shift considering he was moved about and has not played much and certainly not CM.

Palacios 7.1 - It must be hard being the only **** north of the defence that actually has a tenacious instinct.

Jenas 6.5 - While he was on I thought he was looking like our liveliest player.

Bale 5.5 - I am one of his biggest fans, but I want him to be a complete player. He must improve his work off the ball and team awareness. He must help his LB and he must involve himself more in the simplicities of a game.

Lennon 7 - Put in a pretty decent shift and played a beautiful little ball for Defoe. One of the best passes I've seen him play.

Pavluchenko 4.5 - Weak.

Defoe 5 - Two goals put a very false gloss on what was by most standards an entirely insipid performance.

Keane 4 - According to the stats he pointed accurately 4 times out of 8 attempted points.

 

[Mr Pink]

BC I know what you mean about qualifying and it, possibly, being counter productive as we wont have our full attention on the League. The other side of the coin is if we had gone out and not had the impact on the competition that we have had would we really be better off? Think of the confidence and more importantly the belief that this gives the players and our manager. We have topped, arguably, the toughest group including the Champions and have done it in style.

If that doesn't give us real belief nothing will - and I believe that is truly invaluable.

The next two months will be key regarding the league, we really have to push on now and if we beat Chelsea on Sunday I can see us going on another winning run.

 

[stevenqoz]

Some of the posts here illustrate the peculier situation our supporters find themselves in. Worrying about qualifying for the CL next season when we are actually doing so well in it now! Yes I know we want to secure an income stream which will in itself help us attract sponsors and world class players but can't we just enjoy the moment?