Ratings vs Man City

[only1waddle]

Good post. Agreed with every bit of your assessment except when it came to Chadli. I thought he was one of our pluses.

I would go along with that, Chadli won't open up city time and again but he didn't hide today and gave it a go, seemed like he was on the ball constantly even when we went down to 10 men, for me he showed the right mentality today.

 

[only1waddle]

Probably thought he was watching a NLF game

Is that the one where Murica are World Champions with only one nation involved..........

 

[Marty]

Weird game. We showed a lot of good things, but were let down at both ends and by the ref, as so often happens in the big games. City did deserve to win, Aguero was out of this world and Hart was also very, very good today. But a one goal margin would have sufficed.

We had chances that we failed to put away. Soldado's penalty was never a penalty; the trip, if there even was one, was outside the box. I haven't seen many replays so I don't know how much contact there was, but it was definitely outside. Still, absolutely gutting that a supposed sure thing on penalties misses.

City's goals were down to a little bit of individual brilliance, both Aguero's non-penalties are superb strikes. But the first one should undoubtedly have been disallowed, I can't understand how Lampard doesn't affect play from that position and if he isn't offside then I honestly don't have a clue what the offside rule is any more. The sneaky fucker also buys a penalty off an albeit clumsy Lamela who presented him with the opportunity to con the ref. But even so, never a penalty.

Their missed penalty was a clear foul from Kaboul, no doubt there, that was hopeless. 3-1 was also a clear penalty but I would never give a red card to Fazio in that situation, even though Aguero would probably have got to the ball and scored the ref can only give a red if he's 100% sure, which I don't believe he could've been.

Aside from the goals I will admit that City edged it, but for the most part we were every bit as good as at Arsenal, if not better because our pressing was more cohesive than v Arsenal, we caused them a lot of problems and forced Hart to play up there at his best ability today. The scoreline was a tonking, but the performance had a lot of plusses. And we're only GD behind Arsenal, which is a plus.

I won't do individual musings, I'm struggling to decide on a MOTM but Mason was standout in the first half, no doubt. Lloris probably edged it over the 90.

 

[danielneeds]

Lloris - 8 - Couldn't do much about the goals, some great saves.
Dier - 6 - Left 2-1 one alot but did OK.
Kaboul - 4 - Horrible performance, just doesn't read the game at all
Fazio - 5 - Actually thought he was doing alright early on, Aguero sent him into a little panic, must be hard playing with a partner so all over the place as Kaboul.
Rose - 5 - Poor for the 2nd pen, when he lost it near the halfway line weakly.
Capoue - 5 - Couldn't get a grip on the midfield battle. Had no idea where Silva ever was. Worrying.
Mason - 7- Positive in everything he does, maybe should be playing further, movement good, and looks like he could score goals.
Eriksen - 7 - Up for it, nice movement some lovely touches.
Chadli - 6 - Bit quiet, maybe his knock for Belgium hampering him.
Lamela - 4 - Insipid performance, losing it weakly, poor passing.
Soldado - 6 - Nice touches here and there, crucial pen miss.
Dembele - 5 - A couple of trademark bursts.
Townsend - 5 - No impact.
Verts - 5 - Looked shit scared of Aguero.

Poch - 6 - Maybe should have played Stambouli or Dembele, and left out Lamela. Need to be more solid in the middle for games like this.

 

[Lenny Leonard]

Not sure on the hate for Chadli, thought he was decent.

Hugo was a clear MOM. Eriksen and Mason next. Chadli, Soldado and Dier were decent, the rest were meh. Lamela and Capoue had poor games but it can happen.

Ref was a total ****

 

[0-Tibsy-0]

Going to start with the Mid/Attack:

I still think Lamela has been one of our best players this season and still isn't up to speed completely-he will continue growing and become a very good and exciting player for us. His assists have already showed his worth. Admittedly today wasn't his day though, was quite poor. Lets not call for AT ahead of him though, for me he is still one of the first names down and can really split defences and will continue to grow-especially if Soldado gets more regular game time in front of our 'first choice' CAMs.

Soldado, well he should have score the penalty obviously, I'll never hold that against someone for too long though (unless the target is missed-I hate that). He won the pen and his all round play was excellent in patches. He fits into that attacking mould with Eriksen, Chadli and Lamela really well and his use of the ball is much more effective on the counter. I thought he was pretty good today and deserves a run in the prem with Lamela and Eriksen. Got an assist, could have had another. Decent day for him in regard performance-fans will only remember the pen though....................

Capoue was poor and didnt control the game at all in regard to defensive work or passing imo, but he has been excellent this season and hopefully it was just a blip. Plus it was Man City.

Ryan Mason. Not going to go into detail. But love his movement off the ball going forward. Love the way he looks for a forward pass and pretty much alway uses the ball well and often dangerously. He has a deceptive gliding pace and a bit of grit to him as well. He's now kicked Wilshere and injured Lampard. Fair play. Cracking lil player.

Eriksen, a big fuck you to the Danish manager-I hope he now continues to do that for us and saves himself playing for Denmark. Fantastic in patches. Really really good.

Chadli-in and out of the game a bit but gener

 

[TEESSIDE1]

Lloris, Mason, Eriksen, Soldado - had very good games overall.

Chadli - looks good on the ball but poor without it.

Capoue and Lamela - poor and rightly subbed. Both lacked energy and made too many mistakes.

Rose - started all right and then for the 1st time this season reverted to the Rose of old... sloppy with the ball and worst of all, jogging back and letting Navas have a free run at our hapless centrebacks.

Dier was also pretty naff and tormented by Milner.

In a partial defence of both Rose and Dier, they got little to no support off either Chadli or Lamela.

Kaboul - 2 great performances recently, asking for a 3rd proved fatal... Run raggered by Aguero, Silva and co.

Fazio - what a waste of money. 1) why play him against a lethal, tricky and pacey attack is beyond me. 2) the pull back for the pen was a stupid decision, even if he scored, at least we still would have been in the game.

Townsend - anonymous.

Dembele - erm, I have 2 recollections of his performance - 1) looking at Rose, only to hoof the ball over his head into the stands. 2) running at City, losing the ball and giving up.

Poch - not his best game - 1) picking Fazio and leaving out our best defender who's showed glimpses of his best form recently. 2) like for like subs, a problem because we needed more support in the middle and replacing like for like didn't change anything. 3) Decision to play a high line when down to 10 men was suicidal and proved fatal. 4) Allowing Rose and Dier to play so high upfield, allowed Milner and Navas to run wild.

 

[whatsappnin]

The ref absolutely ruined the game and it is therefore totally inappropriate for me to criticise any single one of our players. The scoreline does not reflect the game, but the decisions of some biased two bob old mancity asslicking bald **** of a ref. YiDS

 

[mpickard2087]

Interesting game to watch, especially for the neutrals. Both teams went for it and created plenty of chances and really slugged it out as it went from one end to the other. Great entertainment for sure, but from a Spurs perspective I do feel that, however brave and admirable the approach was, it wasn't exactly the cleverest and did play into City's hands.

I'm also not going to get too excited about the fact that we created a few good chances today, purely because of the 'uniqueness' of the game. We were playing against a big team, at home, who were going to come out and play and back their ability to beat us. Even if, and city do this a lot with their usual 4-4-2 of recent years, they leave a lot of space to break if they cough up possession of the ball. As I said in another thread, we aren't a team of complete spastics. We are arguably 'best of the rest' outside the top 4-5 teams and so should be a team that can cause a pretty cavalier City problems with the time and space we may get.

Therefore I'm not entirely surprised that we had chances, we were able to get the ball in time/space and in good areas, and with the opportunity for runners to get on the end of things. As I have also said across other threads, I almost think that to create the sorts of chances that we did see against the two-bit teams in the league who pack and clog the middle and out up the brick wall is more impressive and the real test, with the ball in front of 8/9/10 players who are in the defensive shape lets see if we can have as much joy. This is where we tend to fall down.

I just don't think it was wise to try and out football them, we keep trying to do this and it ends in tears. It's a small sample size, but I'd much rather a disciplined defensive display like the Arsenal game that gets a point, rather than the brave/foolish (depending on your outlook) approach to go out all guns blazing in glorious failure. I think City were delighted with our approach, they accepted the trade off of coughing up some chances with the belief they could outgun us, and that's what happened. Sure we can be optimistic in some ways and point to the fact we did create some chances, but City had even more. As I have said, how often we will be able to play this way is also debatable, so we may have learned little.

The acid test is us trying to break down the brick walls in the coming days and months.

Ps. The ref was shit, a generous penalty for each team. I don't have many complaints about the Fazio red card though, high probability that Aguero was tapping that into an empty net. I don't think he had a massive bearing on the result.

PPs. I also didn't mention that it could well have been 2-2 if we had converted the penalty. That's true, a lot of the game left though at that point and on the balance of play you would imagine we would have been riding our luck more than they rode theirs. We wont know though either way. I still don't feel it was a smart approach for games like these.

Individuals:

Lloris - There is only so much he can do. He must be nearing the end of his tether, and I wouldn't feel anything but sympathy for him if this is the case.

Dier - We were overloaded down both flanks at times as we struggled to chase back. I thought he coped reasonably well, certainly others more at fault over the course of the game.

Kaboul - At times mopped up well, then others all over the place. Daft penalty to give away.

Fazio - Didn't inspire confidence either. I'll add though that the centre backs were very exposed. It wasn't just Aguero, there were countless runners from midfield who were overloading them.

Rose - At times did some decent work, others he seemed to slip back into old ways. Was ok but has had better games this season. A couple of decent crosses in attack. Not sure what he was doing with the header that led to Fazio's red card.

Capoue - Very disappointing with and without the ball.

Mason - Yes he missed a great chance, but I'm not sure what else we could have asked of him. Worked very, very hard, put himself about, used the ball quickly and efficiently and made some surging runs up in support. The goal we did score was pretty much down to him pressing and then winning the ball for us to strike. Tired a bit but when you have got through that much work its understandable. Probably our best outfield player.

Eriksen - With the ball, especially first half, that was much better. Looked sharper in everything he did. Will build on that hopefully.

Lamela - Poor game. Today was a performance where he didn't do enough good things to make up for the amount of times he gets dispossessed dawdling on the ball etc. He does have to learn to play it quicker (and simpler) at times. Rightly subbed at that point in the match. I think it was his mis-control again that led to us conceding, wasn't it? Pen was harsh though.

Chadli - Bit hit and miss, kept showing for the ball though and carried it well at times. I would like to have seen our wide players offering more when we didn't have the ball, but I wont blame individuals because I think it was a tactical instruction.

Soldado - First half was good. A couple of very neat passes and slowly played his way into it and at the end of the half was involved a lot. Second half didn't really hit those heights, and after a pretty weak Pen and the chance he missed it did seem to affect him and he withdrew into his shell a bit. There's something to build on, as I have said though... In some ways will it be easier to play against packed defences? There might not be the time/space he had today. Whole team has to answer that one though.

Subs:
None really made any great impact.

 

[Gilzeanking]

Yep , Agree with mpickard . We are happy here with the way we contributed to the game and made some great attacking moves
Good signs here and there .

But end of the day we were clobbered . Yes the score was a tad harsh against us , but 4-1 will go down on the record .

As mpickard says , it seems inappropriate to try and outfootball the best players in the world . The Arse match template looked the sensible route to me . Instead there were several instances where there were 3 City players advancing on 2 Spurs defenders or similar outnumbering situations . Vs City this is almost suicidal and we paid in full with a heavy defeat .

For me Poch (5) simply didn't set us up to realistically challenge City and we were smashed 4-1 .

 

[Bus-Conductor]

Welcome to the Aguero Dome.

I'm not going to blame it on the ref (or moonlight or boogie), what beat us today was a wonderful performance by by possibly the best striker in the world. You subtract Aguero from that game (and lets be honest, with his injury record you can count yourself unlucky if you can't) you have a damn interesting game.

Aguero's like a little ballet dancing, rodeo bull. He has everything. Strength, pace, power, finesse, wit and explosive ruthlessness. Even on a ho hum day he's fucking mustard, It's just our very bad luck that he had one of his best days today. It wasn't just his ability to ghost in between lines, or shimmy, shift and send exocet's in alternate corners with alternate feet, it's the way he bullies a lump like Dier in a physical tussle or has Fazio's and Kaboul's legs in reef knots.


We'd already carved them open with possibly one of the sweetest moves we've put together in the last 12 months. Lamela, Eriksen, Chadli, Mason and Soldado were all combining to cause City - one of the best defences around Europe - real problems, making them look as frail as our motley crew at times. Such a shame Mason couldnt finish the move. It was such a bright start, we were pressing in unison and the game had a really lively feel to it. It was such a shame that after such a good start we suffered the body blow of the first piece of Aguero magic. Yes Lamela was a bit careless in midfield and yes you could point a nit picking finger at Dier and Kaboul's defending or even Lloris but fundamentally this was just a great bit of forward play.

The second goal was really harsh. Lamela was tracking back and did well to win the ball only for the ref to buy Lampard's dying swan. I can forgive the decision, but it was very wrong.

The equaliser came through the methods that were causing City problems from the get go. A brilliant bit of pressing - and let's dwell on this for a minute because, for me, a great press that wins the ball from an ill-prepared opponent in his own third is as good as a key pass or great save. It's a beautiful fucking thing and I'm sure Pochettino would have had a little bit of that pre jizz juice dribbling from his jape's eye at that moment. Quintessential Poch I believe. We then made all the right moves, culminating in a crashing finish by Eriksen.

Eriksen was very good for us today. Maybe stung by the criticism's in the week, but I think also benefitting from playing with a more predictable striker maybe. His movement was good, he saw more ball than anyone in our midfield/attack, created chances, made situations, worked hard off the ball and was a constant thorn in City's side. Small criticism would be he probably should have pulled the trigger a couple more times when in great situations, but that is being hyper critical. Easily our MOTM.

Offensively there was plenty to take from this game. I know Lamela will be getting some stick, but I think plenty of that will be because he cost 30m Euro. You have to forget that, it's meaningless when assessing bis performances, and not his fault. He's a 22yo, having effectively his first proper season in a very different league and country. Lets try and remember how erratic Bale was for 4 or 5 years. His talent was constantly diluted with lazy work off the ball, inconstant performances containing poor final choices. There were very, very few Inter Milan games amongst his first 50. Lamela's had 8. He needs to learn to do a simple thing sometimes, like Bale did, but he clearly has ability (it was his driving run that led to the Mason clean through chance), he continually makes quality chances in games, and he works off the ball for the team. He has to be given plenty of time to learn his trade. I don't think he will ever be Ronaldo or Bale, but if we can ignore his over inflated price tag (which was nothing to do with him) I think we already have a player worth more to a team on and off the ball than the likes of Lennon or Townsend (and many other attacking players we've tried). That price tag aside, he is the perfect fit for a team like us, with a manager like Pochettino, playing the system he does. Young, talented, with potential to improve. Your attacking players will always take risks, that's what you want, as long as those risks show signs of paying off, you must show patience. Who could we realistically get would be an improvement on the package Lamela promises ?

The most promising thing to take from today was how well our front 4 played at times today. Good interchanges, supported well by Mason at times.

There was so much more in this performance than at the Emirates, IMO. It got a bit too open at times, but that was influenced by the order of scoring I think. Once we were down in the game, we had to show a little bit more ambition, but also I think Mason is more inclined to get himself into forward positions. This did cause Capoue some defensive problems at times, leaving him and the defence very exposed on a few occasions. But I do think that on any other day against anyone but a vibrant Aguero on top form, and with a little better finishing, we would have got more reward for our ambition.

I think if we'd got ahead, as we should have done, we could/should have been able to be more guarded, whilst still playing some of the great counter attacking stuff we'd started playing, stripping them of the ball higher up and capitalising.

Soldado put on a very commendable performance, right up until the last 15 minutes or so, when he looked mentally and physically shot. I feel for the guy. Fate seems to have decided that he isn't going to make it here, no matter what he does. It's wasn't even a terrible penalty, and a few minutes later he hit another sweet first time shot, but again, it was not to be. He played more key passes than anyone and got the assist and won the penalty. He showed for the ball and his movement was very good. If we didn't have Adebayor here he might get a run of games, and if he played like that every game (especially against inferior opposition to City) he'd surely start getting goals, but I'm not sure he'll get that luxury, fate has intervened.

Their 3rd penalty and the ludicrous sending off - twice this season we've suffered bizarre send offs - killed us. But this did even up the fact that we shouldn't have had a penalty too. We had a couple of decent break moments after that but the players looked beat from there on in. It was a cruel end to what had been a valiant effort at times.

Individual stuff:

Lloris - Very good game, but I'm not sure he saved anything I wouldn't expect him to ?

Dier - I think he's a liability as a RB. I would happily give him Kaboul's place at CB though and see how he gets on.

Kaboul - He did some good things but the second pen was a crazy stupid challenge to make and he isn't filling me with confidence right now.

Fazio - Jury's out right now. Hard to judge a player on one away game against Aguero and co.

Rose - Decent game IMO, brilliant tackle towards the end of the game.

Capoue - Not his best game but he was very exposed at times as Mason was bombing on sometimes.

Mason - Great first half, superb piece of pressing to strip the ball for Eriksen's goal. You want a Cm who is dynamic enough to join in attacks, but against Aguero and co, it was sometimes a tactic that on the day left us very under manned defensively on the counter. Plenty to like today, I'm not sure his overall performance was as good as some think, he gave the ball away more than most I think, but will be nice to seem get some games against more ordinary opposition and see if his attacking streak can pay more dividends.

Lamela - See above. He has qualities we have to indulge for the immediately future. Started brightly and purposefully, got a bit rattled by his costly mistakes but still didn't hide. Not a great day for him, but hopefully it's part of the learning curve.

Eriksen - Great game. Saw more ball than anyone, worked hard, made moves and scored. Shame he was overshadowed by Aguero.

Chadli - Put in a shift, but there were times when Rose was a bit exposed.

Soldado - See above. Good game IMO but fate is definitely not smiling on Bobby Soldier's Spurs career.

 

[Wellspurs]

The ref absolutely ruined the game and it is therefore totally inappropriate for me to criticise any single one of our players. The scoreline does not reflect the game, but the decisions of some biased two bob old mancity asslicking bald **** of a ref. YiDS

A bit of a re-run of last years game at The Lane!

 

[SEANSPURS1975]

Lloris 8
Dier 6
Kaboul 5
Fazio 5
Rose 6
Capoue 5
Mason 6
Lamela 3
Eriksen 7
Chadli 6
Soldado 4
Not great is it...

 

[Bus-Conductor]

Yep , Agree with mpickard . We are happy here with the way we contributed to the game and made some great attacking moves
Good signs here and there .

But end of the day we were clobbered . Yes the score was a tad harsh against us , but 4-1 will go down on the record .

As mpickard says , it seems inappropriate to try and outfootball the best players in the world . The Arse match template looked the sensible route to me . Instead there were several instances where there were 3 City players advancing on 2 Spurs defenders or similar outnumbering situations . Vs City this is almost suicidal and we paid in full with a heavy defeat .

For me Poch (5) simply didn't set us up to realistically challenge City and we were smashed 4-1 .

And @mpickard2087 too.


I really don't think it was our game plan for the game to be quite as open as it got at times. I think the scoring pattern had a direct influence on how the two teams tactics evolved into what we saw. I think if we'd have scored that great first chance we'd have not been as ambitious personnel wise, but would have tried to be more compact and pick and choose our moments more. I think if we'd got it back to 2-2, the same.

I also think it's hard to legislate for a player like Aguero on top form.

What was pleasing for me were the phases where we weren't going hung ho, but were pressing them more cohesively and causing them problems this way, and how well our front 5 knitted things together for a change, turning situations into real opportunities instead of continually making shit choices and executing them badly.

I agree it got tactically messy at times, and I would have preferred a little more discipline, we were only a goal down, but I liked that we didn't do the complete insipid sit on 18 yard line thing with the front 4 taking no part in the game and looking too shocked to do anything when they get a rare glimpse of the ball like at Arsenal.

 

[jezz]

Lloris 8
Dier 6
Kaboul 5
Fazio 5
Rose 6
Capoue 5
Mason 6
Lamela 3
Eriksen 7
Chadli 6
Soldado 4
Not great is it...

What you opinion?

 

[SEANSPURS1975]

What you opinion?

Yeah. And?

 

[theShiznit]

What your opinion?

I know right. I don't give wtf's but I certainly hovered over that one...

 

[Blake Griffin]

Welcome to the Aguero Dome.

I'm not going to blame it on the ref (or moonlight or boogie), what beat us today was a wonderful performances by by possibly the best striker in the world. You subtract Aguero from that game (and lets be honest, with his injury record you can count yourself unlucky if you can't) you have a damn interesting game.

Aguero's like a little ballet dancing, rodeo bull. He has everything. Strength, pace, power, finesse, wit and explosive ruthlessness. Even on a ho hum day he's fucking mustard, It's just our very bad luck that he had one of his best days today. It wasn't just his ability to ghost in between lines, or shimmy, shift and send exocet's in alternate corners with alternate feet, it's the way he bullies a lump like Dier in a physical tussle or has Fazio's and Kaboul's legs in reef knots.


We'd already carved them open with possibly one of the sweetest moves we've put together in the last 12 months. Lamela, Eriksen, Chadli, Mason and Soldado were all combining to cause City - one of the best defences around Europe - real problems, making them look as frail as our motley crew at times. Such a shame Mason couldnt finish the move. It was such a bright start, we were pressing in unison and the game had a really lively feel to it. It was such a shame that after such a good start we suffered the body blow of the first piece of Aguero magic. Yes Lamela was a bit careless in midfield and yes you could point a nit picking finger at Dier and Kaboul's defending or even Lloris but fundamentally this was just a great bit of forward play.

The second goal was really harsh. Lamela was tracking back and did well to win the ball only for the ref to buy Lampard's dying swan. I can forgive the decision, but it was very wrong.

The equaliser came through the methods that were causing City problems from the get go. A brilliant bit of pressing - and let's dwell on this for a minute because, for me, a great press that wins the ball from an ill-prepared opponent in his own third is as good as a key pass or great save. It's a beautiful fucking thing and I'm sure Pochettino would have had a little bit of that pre jizz juice dribbling from his jape's eye at that moment. Quintessential Poch I believe. We then made all the right moves, culminating in a crashing finish by Eriksen.

Eriksen was very good for us today. Maybe stung by the criticism's in the week, but I think also benefitting from playing with a more predictable striker maybe. His movement was good, he saw more ball than anyone in our midfield/attack, created chances, made situations, worked hard off the ball and was a constant thorn in City's side. Small criticism would be he probably should have pulled the trigger a couple more times when in great situations, but that is being hyper critical. Easily our MOTM.

Offensively there was plenty to take from this game. I know Lamela will bit getting some stick, but I think plenty of that will be because he cost 30m Euro. You have to forget that, it's meaningless and not his fault. He's a 22yo, having effectively his first proper season in a very different league and country. Lets try and remember how erratic Bale was for 4 or 5 years. His talent was constantly diluted with lazy work off the ball, inconstant performances containing poor final choices. There were very, very few Inter Milan games amongst his first 50. Lamela's had 8. He needs to learn to do a simple thing sometimes, like Bale did, but he clearly has ability (it was his driving run that led to the Mason clean through chance), he continually makes quality chances in games, and he works off the ball for the team. He has to be given plenty of time to learn his trade. I don't think he will ever be Ronaldo or Bale, but if we can ignore his over inflated price tag (which was nothing to do with him) I think we already have a player worth more to a team on and off the ball than the likes of Lennon or Townsend (and many other attacking players we've tried). Price tag aside, he is the perfect fit for a team like us, with a manager like Pochettino, playing the system he does. Young, talented, with potential to improve. You're attacking players will always take risks, that's what you want, as long as those risks show signs of paying off, you must show patience. Who could we realistically get would be an improvement on the package Lamela promises ?

The most promising thing to take from today was how well our front 4 played at times today. Good interchanges, supported well by Mason at times.

There was so much more in this performance than at the Emirates, IMO. It got a bit too open at times, but that was influenced by the order of scoring I think. Once we were down in the game, we had to show a little bit more ambition, but also I think Mason is more inclined to get himself into forward positions. This did cause Capoue some defensive problems at times, leaving him and the defence very exposed on a few occasions. But I do think that on any other day against anyone but a vibrant Aguero on top form, and with a little better finishing, we would have got more reward for our ambition.

I think if we'd got ahead, as we should have done, we could/should have been able to be more guarded, whilst still playing some of the great counter attacking stuff we'd started playing, stripping them of the ball higher up and capitalising.

Soldado put on a very commendable performance, right up until the last 15 minutes or so, when he looked mentally and physically shot. I feel for the guy. Fate seems to have decided that he isn't going to make it here, no matter what he does. It's wasn't even a terrible penalty, and a few minuted later he hit another sweet first time shot, but again, it was not to be. He played more key passes than anyone and got the assist and won the penalty. He showed for the ball and his movement was very good. If we didn't have Adebayor here he might get a run of games, and if he played like that every game (especially against inferior opposition to City) he'd surely start getting goals, but I'm not sure he'll get that luxury, fate has intervened.

Their 3rd penalty and the ludicrous sending off - twice this season we've suffered bizarre send offs - killed us. But this did even up the fact that we shouldn't have had a penalty too. We had a couple of decent break moments after that but the players looked beat from there on in. It was a cruel end to what had been a valiant effort at times.

Individual stuff:

Lloris - Very good game, but I'm not sure he saved anything I wouldn't expect him to ?

Dier - I think he's a liability as a RB. I would happily give him Kaboul's place at CB though and see how he gets on.

Kaboul - He did some good things but the second pen was a crazy stupid challenge to make and he isn't filling me with confidence right now.

Fazio - Jury's out right now. Hard to judge a player on one away game against Aguero and co.

Rose - Decent game IMO, brilliant tackle towards the end of the game.

Capoue - Not his best game but he was very exposed at times as Mason was bombing on sometimes.

Mason - Great first half, superb piece of pressing to strip the ball for Eriksen's goal. You want a Cm who is dynamic enough to join in attacks, but against Aguero and co, it was sometimes a tactic that on the day left us very under manned defensively on the counter. Plenty to like today, I'm not sure his overall performance was as good as some think, he gave the ball away more than most I think, but will be nice to seem get some games against more ordinary opposition and see if his attacking streak can pay more dividends.

Lamela - See above. He has qualities we have to indulge for the immediately future. Started brightly and purposefully, got a bit rattled by his costly mistakes but still didn't hide. Not a great day for him, but hopefully it's part of the learning curve.

Eriksen - Great game. Saw more ball than anyone, worked hard, made moves and scored. Shame he was overshadowed by Aguero.

Chadli - Put in a shift, but there were times when Rose was a bit exposed.

Soldado - See above. Good game IMO but fate is definitely not smiling on Bobby Soldier's Spurs career.

i knew you'd like this performance, in your own warped way. it's funny because i remember performances like these under redknapp being labelled as "lottery football" by you so why was today any different? it was more like watching the spurs of san antonio(minus the winning) than the spurs of north london.

 

[Spurs_Bear]

I'm not going to blame it on the ref (or moonlight or boogie)...

No interest in reading any other part of your post after that, I need to rate that like/winner/agree/funny/creative all in one.

 

[mpickard2087]

And @mpickard2087 too.


I really don't think it was our game plan for the game to be quite as open as it got at times. I think the scoring pattern had a direct influence on how the two teams tactics evolved into what we saw. I think if we'd have scored that great first chance we'd have not been as ambitious personnel wise, but would have tried to be more compact and pick and choose our moments more. I think if we'd got it back to 2-2, the same.

I also think it's hard to legislate for a player like Aguero on top form.

What was pleasing for me were the phases where we weren't going hung ho, but were pressing them more cohesively and causing them problems this way, and how well our front 5 knitted things together for a change, turning situations into real opportunities instead of continually making shit choices and executing them badly.

I agree it got tactically messy at times, and I would have preferred a little more discipline, we were only a goal down, but I liked that we didn't do the complete insipid sit on 18 yard line thing with the front 4 taking no part in the game and looking too shocked to do anything when they get a rare glimpse of the ball like at Arsenal.

Not convinced about that. At 0-0 I made a post in the match thread saying along the lines of 'good start, giving City far too much time and space with the ball though and we need to tighten up...' and then just as I post my thoughts Aguero bangs in his first. From the off I saw centre mids and fullbacks out of the game as they tore up the pitch with us at full stretch. I agree good players make the difference, which is largely what we saw, but the tactics from the off massively played into the better teams hands. End to end gave Aguero more space with us stretched, and it isolated some of our defenders so you see poor decisions and mistakes.

It was a brave approach, I'm not saying in the right circumstances its not correct. But where we are currently all I see is us trying to go toe to toe with the better teams (admittedly not having the chances we had today, though I think playing City and how open they play gives you opportunities you don't get against say a Chelsea for example) and ending up on the wrong end of bad scorelines. Yeah we could have scored 4 or 5, some seem to be ignoring that City could have scored 7 or 8. Where we are at currently I'd prefer disciplined defensive performances such as (and hopefully better than) we saw in the Arsenal match. It might have been gritty and with a smidgen of luck but we got something out of the game. We even had some chances in that game on the counter. I just don't think this way of playing is working in these 'big' games, whether the attacking play was slightly better today (and again, I think that's partly due to how City play) or not.