Collapse at the Bridge again - PLAYER RATINGS: Chelsea 2-1 Spurs

The team was always going to be unbalanced today with no fit left backs and Lamela and Toby still out. I fully expected 3 at the back but playing Wimmer at left back rather than Vertonghen was a very strange decision.
That said, Spurs played as we know they can at times in the first half and when Eriksen decided he was going to actually show what he can do and put Spurs deservedly in front, there was a chance we could take all 3 points.

Spurs played at pace and the high intensity game seemed to be there again but the problem was that we didn't create enough in the final third. Shots were all from outside the box and although we were the better team, we didn't do enough to score enough goals.

Chelsea didn't trouble Spurs but scored an equaliser right on half time when Pedro was allowed too much time and Dier turned his back to allow him to score a curler that gave Lloris no chance at all.

In the second half it was roles reversed and sadly the Spurs of Tuesday appeared. The defence became shambolic and the winner from Moses was so, so poor. Five players all rushed to the ball like school football and Moses was unchallenged to slot home. From there Spurs huffed and puffed but they were second best and ultimately fell short.

Lloris - 6: Had no chance with the first goal but should have done better with the second and his distribution is getting worse.

Dier - 6: Had a shocker again sadly. He is so low on confidence and was all over the place in the second half. Needs to be dropped and rested.

Wimmer- 5: Really poor. Why he was played on the left instead of Jan is anyone's guess. Chelsea obviously saw this and at half time targeted him. I blame the manger more than the player.

Vertonghen - 6: Failed to organise the back line for either goal and signs of the poor attitude we have seen before.

Walker- 6: Right midfield today. Looked confused at times. Did okay.

Son - 5: For effort alone. He runs a lot but doesn't get very far. A player who shows signs of quality and then signs of being clueless. The latter today.

Eriksen- 7: Fabulous goal and in the first half his best show of the season. Disappeared in the second half.

Dembele- 5 : What a stinker! Gave the ball away and as last week got knocked off the ball far too often. Looks like the player of 2 years ago.

Dele - 6: Nowhere near the player of last season. Looked better in the first half but anonymous in the second and rightly taken off.

Wanyama- 6: Forward thinking in the first half. Lacklustre in the second half.

Kane - 7: Strong in the first half, tried to give Spurs impetus in the second half but was stunted on his own. Desperately needs support.

Winks- N/a - not really enough time to do anything.

N'Koudou - n/a Showed signs of what he could do and should be given a chance. He offers width and pace which we need.

Pochettino - 6: Attacking set up worked in the first half but questions over Wimmer and Vertonghen's positions. Firepower lacking. Under pressure.

Certainly not our worst performance of the season but the deficiencies in the squad are very clear. N'Koudou could do with a chance and showed how quick he is when he came on. Sadly some players are simply not pulling their weight. Son gets 10 for effort but for skill virtually nothing. He is a headless chicken. Dier needs a break. He is lacking in confidence and had another mare this evening. Eriksen was better and it was a great goal but there is a clear lack of firepower and Spurs have to go shopping in January.

 

Gonna have to disagree today mate. Nothing between the two sides today and they are the in form top of the league side who haven't conceded in however long. Think the knives are out for the sake of it now. The boys have put a good performance in today if unspectacular given that 3 key players out and dier played out of his key position to fill in. Bear in mind that Chelsea were at home,in form and 100% full strength 11. Winner was shocking midweek but today a shift put in. Was he battered for 90mins to warrant a low score. Same as dembele. A six a piece maybe but come on ffs.
Lamela maybe not everyone's cup of tea but the more intellectual fans on here will now realise how important he is to our system/style of play. Probably the most important....

 

Toby and Lamela are both being sorely missed.

 

feel as if some so called fans are doing the usual we have played 3derbies in a row let's beat the mank scum and move on

 

I think the transfer window business is coming to haunt us.We have a good defence and the trouble starts when we go behind.We just needed a top class winger and a top class striker but we throw away 30m,17m,11m etc.Young players who might be good in a few years are not what we want now,it's class players,game changers.We played quite well today but when we went 2-1 down,I knew we would struggle to get even.The media says we are looking at full backs,centre halves etc but we don't need back up players.We spent nearly 60m in the window and I am sure we could have signed a class striker and winger for that.

 

Well that was highly predictable.

We played well for 35 minutes and then just slipped into stroll mode for the remaining 55.

Credit- the early purpose in our play out the blocks, dominating possession, quick passing, eriksens goal. Thats about it.

Negatives- where do i begin
The shrinking violet syndrome?
The total capitulation?
The total inability of Poch to tactically change or influence a game?
The bench?
The pathetic whimper to a loss?
The unbelievable sight of Poch cuddling n having a chin wag with Contè at 84minutes while we're supposed to be chasing a game?
The end of this 'amazing' unbeaten run?

Said it a couple of weeks ago but something is not right inside the camp the minute alls not going to plan we are not pulling together, regrouping or coming back with another plan.

I believe this is down to 2 things-

The lack of natural Leadership on the Pitch.
Poch's inability to change or impose a differing plan during games.

Now that the fall back go to saviour of being unbeaten is now done, and our pathetic European campaign is over coupled with our League Cup exit all is looking rosey for this squad packed full of top talent and a young progressive manager its clearly obvious how far weve come.

At least we dont have all them 'distractions' now so we can fully concentrate on bottling whatever scraps are left for the season.

Fact is weve bought poorly (again), the squad is unbalanced, last season was not the wonder season it was dressed up to be, the teams around us have improved, Poch is too 1 dimensional.

We have very few Winners in the side, and by that i mean players that influence games and that want to actually make an impact and win things, Kane has it, Hugo, Toby maybe Rose but the rest are all too happy to be passengers. How long are they gonna be content with low wages and zero ambition of winning anything?

Pochs promise of a major trophy in 2 years is more of a joke than his marquee signing Sissoko.

Bored, fed up, losing interest in this never ending predictable cycle of sh;te.

 

Gotta agree with Big Fran.

We completely bossed the first half, the only team that managed to compete with Chelsea since they changed system

Wimmer did well- I think leaving verts in the middle made much more sense and Moses didn't give him too much trouble

Dembele is so frustrating, he is one of the most gifted players but sometimes tries to take on the whole team. Son is a bit of a headless chicken and his first ball control is a bit poor- I prefer him as an impact sub

Notwithstanding the injuries we have, I think we played well. We certainly deserved at least a point.

 

Why all the doom and gloom?? After 44 minutes we were excellent, by far the better the side and it took a wonder goal to beat Lloris to get it to 1-1! They played well for 20 minutes and won the game. With Toby and Lamela back (hopefully soon) we will be back to full strength and push on. Why are we being so harsh on our players when this is the best squad we've had for years!!

 

Agree with a lot u have said felon82 but today I honestly think with a class striker to partner Kane and a top winger we could have beat them,or at least got a draw ,with all the players we have out and playing the premier leagues inform side , that's how good we could really be.With the players we had today I think a 2-1 loss is not a disaster.

 

Poch has to adapt his 'philosophy' and know that there are phases in a game where you change your style of play. Just before half time we should have had 10 men behind the ball. Go on, break us down! Leicester did it last year. Mourinho use to be the master of it. Athletico Madrid have done it for years. To be hit on the break again after only 50 minutes was just naive.

 

Thoughts....

- Felon, you're right, predictable.

- Dier needs a break. His head is troubled.

- I sat there, watched us play well.....yet I knew we'd **** up, and we did....again predictable.

- I'm no fan of a keeper as skipper. Must be Toby.

- Once we get in the final 20....we just fall apart.

- Why play NKD as an inverted winger. It ALWAYS slows the move. If he's a winger, play him right side ffs.

- Injuries happen. All teams have them. The lack of depth and quality kills us, and will continue to do so. Look at Chelski's bench today. All would be in our starting 11, pretty much.

Depressed of Essex.....

COYS

 

And it continues, the seasonal points dropping at the Bridge.

Personally, I think it is hard to even note the few positives today. Not enough quality, no cutting edge, and ultimately no points. A win today is the sort of result that could kick start our season.

The 'ifs' and 'buts' yawn, yawn... Bored of it to be fair. An awful week which has demonstrated that Poch was wrong to 'rotate' against Monaco. He focused on today's game and he/team didn't deliver. Spursy. Elementary errors cost us again today. Firstly, you shut a player of Pedro's quality down. Secondly, how much space was Moses allowed for the winning goal. Shocking. And thirdly, the timing of their goals - stroke of half time (concentration?) and the beginning of the second half (keep it tight lads?). In summary, we choked and threw it away. That's right, again.

I'm with Felon, something ain't right in the camp. I'm afraid we are p***ing in the wind at the moment and something has to change.

Not happy.

 

I don't think anyone is being harsh and to say this is the best squad we have had in years is pushing things a touch.
We have talent but the squad is very weak in terms of strength in depth.
Look at Liverpool, Chelsea, City's benches. Then look at ours. Our summer business was poor and that must change.
As much as our first half was good, we were equally bad in the second half. Poor passing, no guile in the final third and Kane left isolated up front.
Poch is showing signs of his previous jobs. He starts well, produces optimism but ultimately starts running out of ideas. January sales can't come me soon enough if he is to deliver that trophy.

 

Spot on Matt. Our bench today was a joke. The substitutions said it all... When you are playing the likes of Chelski etc, I would expect to see far more experience to call upon - not Onomah and Winks!

 

And World Class players!

 

No one is being harsh??

Dier - 6: Had a shocker again sadly. He is so low on confidence and was all over the place in the second half. Needs to be dropped and rested.

Wimmer- 5: Really poor. Why he was played on the left instead of Jan is anyone's guess. Chelsea obviously saw this and at half time targeted him. I blame the manger more than the player.

Vertonghen - 6: Failed to organise the back line for either goal and signs of the poor attitude we have seen before.

Dembele- 5 : What a stinker! Gave the ball away and as last week got knocked off the ball far too often. Looks like the player of 2 years ago.

We have the best defensive record in the league and 2 of the back 4 we're playing out of position due to injuries and suspension. We only conceded 2 goals not 6 or 7! Someone who read the above and not seen the game would think Chelsea ran riot over us!

Poch has done wonders since taking over, not just the high press, workrate etc, but also our mental attitude towards every game. I believe we will only get better and better, a bad week and a couple of bad results should not mean we are in the decline!

 

Wonders?

The high press and its plethora of goals it brings?
The workrate that sees us struggle to sustain any meaningful spells?
The mental attitude that still sees us Saunter about in Europe and bottle all meaningful matches when the pressures on etc?

On the evidence of play we're on the verge of taking off i spose?

 

Today, and only based on today's performance their is reason for optimism. IMHO if we had a full side out today we would have won. Come on FFS, they brought on Oscar and Willian as subs!!
Take it easy on Poch guys. He has worked wonders on keeping us unbeaten and still just off the top with most of the season to go, and some of our best players to return. And he's doing this with old Mr Tight Pockets skimping on wages and war chest. I can see like most of you that things aren't right at the moment, but I can also see that, based on tonight, once again we're not far off. The new stadium should give us more comparable buying and wages power like the 'big boys', but up until then, as we have done for years, we are unable to attract top talent...they simply wont come for the piss poor wages.
So....what we have is what we have and I believe our fortune will turn again soon..based on tonight.
COYS

 

I'm not sure that Poch has worked wonders. We had a good season last year and have done okay this season but we are hardly on the verge of winning trophies again. Poch deserves time but to say he has worked wonders is a tad over enthusiastic.
The player ratings are low. Spurs undoubtedly played well in the first half but didn't create enough chances. Shots were from far out. Dembele was poor. The back four was indeed out of position but I couldn't honestly give higher scores. Too many basic errors - watch the build up to the winner again. It was abolstely ridiculous. Players all running to the ball while Moses stood in acres of space.
Poch says we didn't deserve to lose but neither did we do enough to win.
Dier was dreadful. Verts was not good and Dembele was, again, very poor.
Too many players who have signed new contracts are now not playing well enough.
We can hardly complain about fixture pile up from now on.

 

The trouble with the new stadium is that it won't guarantee higher wages. Levy leaving, now there's something that might help,