PLAYER RATINGS: Spurs 3-2 Swansea

After news had broken that Spurs legend Dave Mackay had passed away yesterday, many of us were hoping of a performance tonight that would do our former legend proud - and you could say, the players did just that.

Despite the one-goal win, the score does not truly reflect the dominance and control we had over our visitors this evening.

RATINGS

Hugo Lloris - 6 - Didn't stand much of a chance with either goals and only had to make two saves all game. That being said, his last save was a tremendous one, in the last minute of injury time, to make sure we held on for our win.

Kyle Walker - 6 - Finally seems to be hitting a run of consistency - which was exemplified tonight. Was superb in the first half, going forward to combine with Townsend. Troubled in the games final third though, with Monetro put on to exploit Walker's Wembley tiredness.

Eric Dier - 6 - Solid game from Eric again tonight, proving that he's not short of pace either! Gave two sloppy fouls away, but won four aerial duels and one tackle. Growing in confidence.

Jan Vertonghen - 6 - Forming a nice partnership with the man next to him, showing himself as the more experienced member of the two tonight. Won seven aeriel duels and made three successful tackles.

Danny Rose - 8 - One of the best performances I've ever seen from Rose in a Spurs shirt. Started the game brightly with an assist for our opener - via a perfectly-weighted cross. Always a threat going forward, and combined this with his defensive duties - winning four tackles.

Nabil Bentaleb - 8 - Provides not only a steely solidarity in our midfield, but also a high-level of calmness and composure. Not only put out the opposition attacks tonight, but was often the person who initiated our attacking moves forward.

Ryan Mason - 7 - Neat on the ball as always and his ability to play in tight areas was visible tonight - especially when Swansea were cranking up the pressure in the dying minutes. Was efficient in possession - moving the ball with pace and purpose. Took his goal brilliantly, after a superb first touch sent him through.

Andros Townsend - 7 - Another Spurs player who was on top form tonight. Combined to good effect with Walker in the first half and his decision making was clinical at times. Had three successful dribbles - one of which was a mazy run from the edge of our own penalty area, that ended with him rifling the ball past Fabianski into the top corner.

Nacer Chadli - 7 - Another game, another goal. This time; a perfectly placed volley into the far corner. His goal set the standard for the rest of his game - working hard when out of possession and producing some lovely touches in tight areas to combine with teammates.

Christian Eriksen - 7 - His performance only ended with one assist this evening, but he was the maestro behind our good play yet again. Seemed to appear everywhere to receive the ball to be an option in the final third. Also made two successful tackles to implement Pochettino's pressing game tonight.

Harry Kane - 5 - Not at the races today, whether it be one below-par game or tiredness from the accumulation of recent games, will be looking to put this one behind him. Had five shots this evening, none of which troubled the Swansea keeper.

SUBS

Mousa Dembele - 5 - Very rarely in possession when he came on and was often crowded out by the Swansea midfield.

Roberto Soldado - N/A - Excellent link-up play again when introduced and was unlucky not to find the net with a glancing header.

Ben Davies - N/A - Only had a short period on the field, but produced one brilliant ball across the box that was a tap-in, had anyone gambled on it.

After the defeat at Wembley, a win will do the team a world of good as we head into the final few months of the EPL. With tough away games against QPR and Manchester United on the horizon, a win tonight was the perfect way to propel us into these fixtures.

 

Wouldn't it be great to keep a clean sheet - we seem to be conceding at least two goals every game - and having to scre three to win. The manager has got to sort this out on the training field.

 

i agree. we almost threw away a solid victory in the closing minutes if it wasn't for lloris.

 

I am probably Danny Rose's harshest critic but thought he had a very good game tonight. Vertonghen was at fault for their first goal and also had a second fresh air kick with his right foot later in game. How a full time professional footballer on sky high wages cannot competently use both feet is beyond me. Harry was never in the game and I thought Bobby Soldado was very unlucky not to get 2 goals. Absolutely nothing is going for him.COYS

 

Our defending is shambolic, its like trying to bale a sinking ship out with a sieve.

 

Danny Rose was good going forward and delivered some wonderful crosses. Chadli's finish was class and it was great to see Mason getting his first premier league goal that his performances this season have deserved.
Townsends goal was superb but to say he had a good game is strange. The goal aside, he was awful. The goal gave us a glimpse of what he can do but prior to that he ran down blind alleys and was tackled far too easily. He is marginally better than Lamela.
Kane looks shattered. We need to be very careful with him and as much as we need him to be firing in goals, it may be prudent to rest him now before he burns out.

Yet again we were saved by Hugo Lloris. What a world class save that was. Without him our league position could be so different.

A good win but it again shows just how much work we need to do in the summer.
We must tie our best players to new contracts and it is essential that we bring in new players.
We need a striker to compliment kane, at least 2 defenders and another attacking midfielder.

 

This was a great game for Spurs, but it seems that our young squad needs to learn how to win games. They have showed that they have what it takes to come from behind and win, but every time we score first we let our opponent back in the game by conceding. We control possession yet our opponents score. I think that maybe Poch needs to change the tactics after we score. We don't need our last line of defense to push high up. We need to let our opponents come at us and open some space for fast counter attacks. We have players with great pace and passing skills so we might score more. Townsend's goal was just an example of that. Otherwise, we control the ball and try to find a hole in the oppositions defense which is fully formed and there is little space to play because there are 20 players on one side of the field. Then we lose the ball in midfield and our defenders are caught off position and we are hit with a fast break.

I agree with what most are saying that we need to buy players in the summer, but I thing we only need one striker or two if sell Soldado, I like Austin BTW, and one more central defender. We also need to get Lennon back to be a squad player and ship Townsend out. Erikssen, Dembele, Chadli and Lamela are all good for rotation so are Bentaleb, Stambouli and Mason. Caupue, Paulinho, Adebayor and Soldado need to be sold.

COYS

 

Hopefully first of 7 wins including wins over man utd n soton and every chance of top four felon. All about results not performance this stage of season... What ya saying?

 

I dread to think where we would be in the league if it wasn't for Lloris. He'll be gone in the summer. I wouldn't blame him and i would wish him all the best. Great, great keeper.

 

I do like Danny Rose, i think he could one day be a significant player, but at the moment he does get caught ball watching when players drift in behind him on the back post. Seen it several times, most recently against West ham. Massive Lloris fan, but unfortunately, i see him leaving us in the summer for Champions league. He deserves it. He is easily one of the top 10 keepers in the world (and that's a lot of keepers!) Where would we be without him?!

 

Haha how does the song go?

If you dont have a dream....

I genuinely hope your right mate, but theres only 1 thing you can rely on with Spurs.

 

Keep the faith matey coys

 

A night of high emotions at the lane so maybe the players can be forgiven for losing concentration at the end and nearly letting the three points slip. There is all to play for now as we divert all our resources to the Premier League. QPR up next, and their fighting for their Premier lives so every game is a cup final to them ! Still loads to be intersted in this season. Coys.

 

I am not sure about Lloris rating. He saved us 2 points, no question, yet first goal he allowed was a poor effort. Even defender would have stopped Ki's weak push. 6 is fair, though, for Hugo...
I think Walker was very good, deserves 7, while Vert was very shaky. Poch should sit him next game as he mentally tired. 5 or even 4 for him. Harry did not score, but 5 is harsh for one of our best, nevertheless. 7 is what he gets, IMO. Eriksen was the reason we have won (as well as is the reason we win), he deserves 8 for top game. Davies is to blame for second goal against as he entirely lost his marker and allowed Siggy to demonstrate that Spurs were wrong in that swap with Swans last summer. I would rate him 5 instead of N/A. Soldadao was as best as he probably can be in lilywhite, while Dembele was very good - 7 to each.

 

Another game , another , by now 2 coustomry goals given away .. But hey we,re actually good at the back according to some .. Good attacking performance by the lads last night , way too open for my liking but hey , job done in the end .. Was a tricky little emcounter coming just a few days after the final ,and coming after a horrible run of 5 without a win .. Emotional scenes during the tribute to a legend and im sure everyone feared the worst when that lad hit the deck .. Great news to hear nothing seriously wrong with him .. All in all a fairly strange sort of night at the Lane , but a great 3 points collected at the end of what is now becoming a fairly typicall Spurs performance .. Its not just the defenders , the whole team is woeful without the ball .. We need to sort that before we can have any realistic aspirations of finishing higher ..

 

Well he had to start somewhere and trying to give us a gameplan and an identity going forward was the first thing he has installed. Ok not perfect as our personnel are not perfect, but i have to say a massive improvement over the course of the season.
Now onto the back 4 ! F**K me. Where is our leader of men ? Where is the communication ? where is the simple sense of positioning that all good defenders have ?
In isolation none of the players are poor defenders, except for Danny Rose who i am sorry is not up to scratch. But whoever he puts out is prone to massive lapses in concentration. I really feel a good strong leader could sort this out. I hate to say it but a John Terry type player who shouts and belows his way through the game. Constant cajoling, constant info, not shy to get hurt, this sort of man binds a back 4 together and who as a collective would rather die than let a goal in.
Unfortunately this is the only cure i can think of for our defence, as i cant see Vertonghen or Fazio being that sort of character, is it because there not English ? Not sure, maybe that doesnt help communication wise but I think its more about character.
It sounds a bit old school but i seriously think a strong back four leader could get these players working together, but without one i just think all the training in the world wont provide the intensity required to get these players together. And at the moment were not exactly prolific in front of goal, so all these freebies we give away are going to kill us eventually

 

The full backs are getting caught out big time , but a lot of that is because they are the only ones that provide any width to the team due to the managers preference to one up top with inverted wingers ..

L.Pool had the same problems and Rogers answer was to go 3 at the back so there wing backs are more wingers then wing backs .. I wasn't a fan of the idea and didn't think it would work but it has , so far anyway .. He put Can in as one of the 3 , who,s not a centre back really , but he does fairly well there and he can move up and become
an extra midfielder when they,re in possession .. Im not sure if its a long term solution or if its the answer to our problems there but its deff working well for them at the moment ..

 

Spurs v chelsea on itv 4 tonight! Youth cup game. Always worth a watch. Coys.

 

A few promising players on show there for sours tnite. Walker peters at rb josh onomah and the big centre half looked class

 

We definately need to be looking at a plan b or just the ability to switch it up. I dont believe in this 1 formation 1 tactic business as all teams/opponents present different threats/styles etc.