PLAYER RATINGS - Spurs 5:1 Asteras Tripolis

Mauricio Pochettino’s side cruised past plucky opposition in Greek side Asteras Tripolis on what has to go down as one of the most entertaining nights at White Hart Lane in a very long time.

Man-of-the-hour Harry Kane opened his night of scoring with a superb 25-yard drive which found the net off the inside of the post, before Erik Lamela shocked the footballing world with one of the most skillful goals you’ll ever see.

After the break he added another excellent goal to his tally, volleying home with ridiculous power after his initial shot had been spurned into the air off an Asteras defender.

Kane then regained centre-stage as he tapped home Mousa Dembele’s rebound before heading home Federico Fazio’s cross to grab himself his first Spurs hat-trick and 6th goal in 5 Europa League games.

The drama was far from over though, as Hugo Lloris – who had earlier kept Spurs in the game with a string of acrobatic saves – saw red for bringing down Anastasios Tsokanis outside the area. With all 3 subs used up, Kane pulled on Lloris’ purple strip before calamitously letting the resulting free-kick squeeze through his body.

We may not have been perfect defensively, but going forward we were irresistible and you wont find a more entertaining game for a very long time.

Player Ratings

Hugo Lloris - 7 – Despite seeing red for eagerly rushing off his line to bring down Tsokanis, Lloris put in a brilliant display which saw him keep out the Greeks when he had no right to. Particularly his second half save from a point blank volley sees Hugo applauded once more, and will take a deserved rest for Michel Vorm to take his place.

Eric Dier - 6 – Spent most of his time in the Asteras half and was rarely troubled when the opposition came forward. Unstoppably strong and more of a physical presence than any other Spurs player, a real asset to the side.

Federico Fazio - 6 – Very quiet defensively, in fact the Argentinian centre-half did very little until his superb cross found the head of Harry Kane for the youngster’s 3rd. Worked well with Vertonghen for the majority but pace at the back could be an issue.

Jan Vertonghen - 7 – Did most of the defensive work, with the fullbacks bombing on and little need for any midfield shielding. His usual calm and collected self on the ball, and should hopefully return to the starting XI this weekend.

Ben Davies - 6 – Took a few risks with the diagonal balls that were pumped over his head whenever Asteras got the ball, but showed much more promise going forward than in previous European ties. Much like Dier, spent most of his time befitting from our inverted wingers system.

Etienne Capoue - 7 – Capoue was often our furthest man back, with Dier, Vertonghen and Fazio all fancying their chances from set-pieces while Davies was delegated provider. The monotone of the side, fast becoming irreplaceable, and allowing the play to move on from the back.

Mousa Dembele - 6 – Allowed much more freedom next to his French teammate, but didn’t capitalise on his shooting chances enough. We know from his goals against Lyon and Stoke in previous seasons that he has the ability to take a player on and unleash a wicked shot – something we only saw once tonight when Kane snatched up the rebound. Hit it.

Erik Lamela - 8 –I’m still recovering from his goal. If we can call it “goal”. It was more like “biblical event”. Tonight was the confidence boost that Erik needed, to take on shots when the odds are stacked against him, and his second goal will almost do him as much good as the first. Mr Lamela has learned that you need to shoot to score. If tonight isn’t confidence then I don’t know what is.

Harry Kane - 9 – This guy wont sleep tonight. The match ball, a ‘keeper’s jersey and a monumental blooper clip means that the England U21 man wont forget tonight in a hurry, and could be his key into the Premier League starting eleven. His first goal showed the skill, while his second and third screamed striker’s instinct. Plus he ended the game as captain. What a night.

Andros Townsend - 6 – Not the most inspiring display from the wide man, who was all too predictable even for lower-league opposition. Very, very one-footed it seems, almost Arjen Robben-esque in the one-trick-pony stakes. If he can learn to mix it up, he could be within a shout of our first team.

Emmanuel Adebayor - 5 – Missing once more, and it must have pained him to see a striking rival bang in a hat-trick after he had trudged to the bench. Ran the channels well, but hasn’t necessarily stuck to his game plan. The competition could be healthy.

SUBS

Christian Eriksen - N/a – Was unable to influence the game but only misplaced 2 passes.

Nacer Chadli - N/a – Looked bright when he came on, but he too never had a sight of goal.

Aaron Lennon - N/a

It may be “knee-jerk” to call for Kane to be instated into the first eleven, especially as it looks like the midfield 3 of Eriksen, Lamela and Chadli is unlikely to be changed. Whether or not Kane has the ability to go ahead and take on that number 9 role remains to be seen, but he certainly did well in the 10.

Maybe not so great in the number 1 spot, but that’s another story.

Brilliant night to be a Spurs fan. Bill Nick would have loved it.

COYS

 

Seriously need to review the ratings of the centre halves. Cut open at will today by long balls and diagonal ones also. Lloris was outstanding again for me bar the sending off. The last save was truly world class. Adebayor I thought came good second half but agree Kane now must start on Sunday!!

 

the centrebacks were awful. constantly exposed with balls over the top. if Asteris could have finished it could easily have been five each.

 

1st things first: I backed Dembele to score a goal tonight, so I'm officially chalking off Kane's 2nd and giving it to Dembele so I can go and collect. It was Dembele's goal in all but name, after all.
Now that it's settled, let's get back the football:
a) Nice to see Lamela have a good game, after an iffy start, get some goals and look confident as the game wore on. As for the Rabona, this is why I'm a Spurs fan. We are the club of Hoddle, Ardiles, Villa, Waddle, Gascoigne, Klinsman, Modric, Van Der Vaart, Bale and too many others to mention. You'll never see such an explosive and extraordinary goal at the tesco shed on Holloway Road. They may pretend to play a severely watered down version of 'tiki-taka' but we all know that real football magic is ONLY produced at the Lane. It may come to us rarely, but it's always worth the wait. I'm sure there's more to come. This is only the beginning of Poch's reign and what we saw today was just a hint of the glory to come! Btw, I liked the way Poch looked totally unimpressed with the rabona. I won't be surprised to hear that Lamela's been fined for 'unprofessional play' in scoring his 1st goal!
b) Harry Kane has to be given his head. Surely he's earned the chance of a first team start. Having said that, I also want Soladado to be given a run after last Saturday's performance. Anyway, that's Poch's headache.
c) What is happening to our defence? This is a repeat of what happened last season, when we started fairly well and then got progressively worse as the season went on. A simple ball over the top catching us out time and time again? And they didn't seem to know how to go about solving this simple problem. Just watch Newcastle try this tactic for all they're worth this Sunday.

 

I was there, and I think some of you are being harsh on the centre backs. I would suggest that Davies and Dier left them quite exposed sometimes, especially at the beginning of the second half when the Greeks changed their shape . Also, constantly changing the CB partnerships isn't going to promote consistency. I actually thought Fazio and Jan looked good, but the full backs thought they had licence to constantly roam forward. Adebayor was hopeless, Townsend isn't in the same page as our top players and Lamela was guilty of poor passes and choices sometimes, all made better by two fantastic goals. I think Kane must start on Sunday.

 

Poch understood the psychological need of a win and played a much stronger team with Lamela as the play maker. The positives included the attack starting to gel and the clinical finishing. Lamela still frustrating sometimes with his decision making, often delaying the killer pass. However, he scored a goal that will be remember for decades. Just like the Ricky Villa goal in the 1981 cup final. If he could just improve his vision and timing of his passes, he will become a Spurs legend.

Capoue was brilliant and its a shame he lost control of the ball when clean through and should have scored. Lloris again was awesome. What would Spurs do without him? Kane was brilliant, he is confident and scoring goals. So why not find a way to get him the league team that is struggling to score?

Spurs look better with 2 strikers. Kane looks great playing off a main striker. We don't have one striker who can play the lone striker to a high degree of quality. Ade was awful again today. His movement in the box is almost non existent. When we shoot where is his anticipation for a possible rebound. He tends to just stand there expecting the ball too come to him.

I don't understand this obsession with inverted wingers. We don't have any FB's who can play the attacking role successfully until Walker returns. A wide player must have license to go both ways otherwise he becomes too predictable. Townsend is like a one trick pony. What is he doing on the training pitch? Time he stopped coming inside so much and just shooting. Townsend should play on the left and learn to cross the ball like Fazio. What a cross Fazio played right onto Kane's head. When was the last time any of the so called wide players crossed a ball so accurately?

The defense is suffering from tactics that don't suit the players. A high defensive line can't work with defenders who lack pace and are not part of a settled unit. Poch must keep more stable CB pairings to improve understanding and play the back line at least 10 yards deeper if the team can't press the ball more effectively. Its too easy for opponents to pick a pass over our defense with so little pressure applied when we don't have the ball.

Hopefully, Poch will adjust the defensive tactics for Sunday's match. We can't rely on all opposing teams being so wasteful of the chances being provided so frequently.

Finally, its so sad to see the decline of Lennon. Can't Poch put him out of his misery and play one of the youngsters instead? Its like watching my once great boxing hero being beaten up by journey men.

 

Great game I cannot understand for the life of Jesus why Dembele is afraid do to shoot the ball when he gets the chance at the top of the 18 he has shown time and time again that he has a great shot on goal if only someone could get this kid to be a a little more aggresive he would be better than Yaya

 

An entertaining night at the lane in which Harry Kane once again pushed for a place in the premier league eleven. Some good performances from a stronger starting eleven. Agree that Poch didnt look happy with our defensive play and he is right to be demanding an improvement there. We will need to be a lot tighter against Newcastle to come away with the points. Our attacking play is progressing, as we saw at City, and Kane appears to be the man to add the finishing touch. Coys.

 

This is ludicrous, Townsend is the opposite of single footed, I know he always cuts in onto his left but that's just because he fancies himself to score, we've seen before that he can score goals with his weaker foot and put in a decent ball, like his goal against Montenegro for England, that was on his 'weaker' foot ouside the box.

Davies deserved far more than a 6, yes he was further up the pitch for most of the match and did sometimes leave the trio of Capoue Fazio and Verts open, he did track back well and not to forget the block he made on the line to prevent a goal. Excluding the Hurrikane and Lamela, he was our best player.

Finally, Kane must start in the league. He is our best striker and I've said that since the start of the season. Unlike our other two, he provides movement and workrates, as well as the vision and clinical finishing. He must start.

 

Harsh on the centre backs-are u for real. Meat and drink to centre half's are long balls. Not undone by any quick movement or guile and if fazio reacts quicker and gets on the cover seeing what's happening with lloris he maybe keeps his keeper on the pitch

 

Going to have to keep scoring 4s & 5s if we keep defending like that .. Woeful stuff at times .. How do we keep buying paceless defenders ( deceptivly quick is what Ramos called Fazio when i asked this before ) to play the high line .. Its suicide .. Even somebody whose deceptivly blind ( Mr Ramos ) should be able to see that .. Take John Terry for instance , look how exposed he was left playing that system under A.V.B , everyone taught he was finished .. Not now tho , one of the best around again for last few years .. Got to sort that nonsense out , 3 diff managers in space of few months ,god knows how many diff partnerships in the centre of defence but nothing changes .. I cant get my head around it at all..

 

I think the performance is being plastered over with the Lamela rabona goal. THAT is why Poch didn't jump up and down. IF that was a decent opposition we could have lost that game.

And even Lamela's ratings are dubious. Yes he scored two goals, great ones. But before that I lost count the amount of times he gave the ball away and that was against a village team! You do realise you could fit Asteris population into White Hart Lane!

Why is it Lamela only comes alive playing village teams? Where he can afford to give the ball away twenty times in a game? Where he can misplace twenty passes during a game? Have you not actually analyzed his performances in the premier league? - Was responsible for two goals against city, and others in the league.

Spurs did not spend £30m on a player to ONLY perform against village teams in the Fish N Chips Cup! - Get real people. You have to judge it against the opposition. Has he actually had a good game in the premier league? No. Has he affected games in the premier league? Yes... but in the negative way giving the ball away, wayward passes, out-muscled, responsible for goals.

Might sound like a Lamela bashing but I am just frustrated how a guy who cost 30m can only perform against these village teams and yet in the premier league has offered nothing.

AS for Kane. Ive said since last year!!!! he is our best striker. Even with one or two upfront he is better than AdeCantHitABarnDor and Soldado. At least Kane when he has a quieter game is harrying and chasing down. Sometimes I don't even see Ade actually walking!

And again Lloris... do we honestly think next year he will be at Spurs! Really! What mustttt he be thinking every week he goes out on the pitch!

Townsend and Lennon... Townsend can't even put a cross on a pools coupon let alone on a pitch. The most easiest player to mark in the premier league (and the guy is fast on his feet!!) - Lennon (start talking to Harry)

The BRUTAL truth is spurs have two players that would get into the Chelsea and Man City SQUAD (first XI debatable) and that is LLoris and Eriksen.

The rest just range from Good/Potential (Mason, Kane, Verts,) to Average (Dembele, Bentaleb, Stambouli, Lamela, Kaboul, Capoue, Chadli, Ade, Fazio, Dier, Davies, Rose, Walker) to Poor (Paulinho, Lennon, Townsend, Naughton, Chirches, Soldado)

Sorry for long rant lol.

 

I've seen milk turn faster than fazio tthat's for sure.. The problem with these NEW managers is they come in with a preconceived idea of the system and style of play without assessing the strengths n weaknesses of what he has and want to change it over night. The old school gaffers come in and find a system n style that fits the profile of the players rather than the other way around!

 

Okay an entertaining game, individually 5 goals, 1 a worldy and a world class save. But the team performance was keystone cops. I'm not suprised Poch was fuming because inbetween the 5 goals especially the 1st two was some absolute amatuerish team play and decision making. If we we play Newcastle like last night Cisse will have 2 goals before half time and they will shut up shop.

 

We won because of Dembele exceptional performance. Mousa deserves 8 at minimum. Adebayor was much better than his average producing quite a few remarkable setups. Lamela was not obtained for his defensive abilities, so the criticism is harsh here. I'd give him 8. He is not an all around perfect MF, but as soon as he becomes one he will be sold a la Bale. So I would rather have him imperfect, yet in lily white. Finally, I would not at all blame Kane for the goal against us. His poor catch was equal to Lloris poor tackle resulted in send off. Gotta stay with your trade. Good win in summary. COYS!!!