PLAYER RATINGS: Spurs 5-2 Saints

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A stunning milestone game for H, suitable sprinkled with lots of Christmas Magic Dust. His performance today and on Saturday and throughout 2017 has been nothing short of remarkable. A consummate professional of the highest order, we have been privileged to watch the best goal scorer at the club since Jimmy Greaves - that is the mark of the man.

His overall quality in front of goal is supplemented by an all around game that is second to none. Two footed, good in the air, touch, great passer, high work rate, dedicated to a fault. Listening to Thierry Henry extolling his virtues today on Sky was a delight to behold, as was his 6th Pl hat trick in 2017. He's now scored more hat tricks this year than Wet Spam as a team have since the inception of the Premier League.

But today wasn't only about Harry. I though this was one of our best Wembley PL performances in terms of overall team contribution. Hugo apart, there were some outstanding individual contributions today, player by player:-

Hugo - Mmmm. Beaten at the near post, flapped at a corner for the second, his usual dodgy clearances. 6 at best, despite one fine save.

Aurier - I'm warming to him. I think his Mad Dog streak has been subdued by Poch, he's a good footballer, pacy, intelligent, defends well. An 8 from me.

Sanchez and Verts - I thought they both had great games at the heart of the defence. Sanchez, strong, intelligent player, he belies his 21 years. Verts was exceptional. Both 8's, Verts might even have been worth a 9.

Rose - I was a little surprised, given all the transfer chatter, to see him start, but perhaps Poch is trying to check out his attitude. Something in me tells me he wants to stay. I'd like not to give him away to a rival, so let's look to hang on please. An 8 for Danny.

Holding midfielders....The Moose hasn't quite been up to his high standards, didn't do much wrong, but fitness has held him back this season to date. A 7 to him. I thought Dier was back to his best, always involved, strong, some fine touches and controlled the defensive sector. At least an 8, like Verts possibly a 9.

Midfield 3 had an interesting afternoon. I listened to Jamie Rednapp say how he thought Eriksen was the stand out player in the first half - ran the show. Really? Views please! The free kick for the goal was quality, but I didn't see him as that influential. He did okay, but only a 7 from me. Dele and Sonny were on form today. I'm a Son fan, he combines well, affords us pace and scores goals. An 8 for him. Dele has returned to the fold these last two games, delivering assists and a quality goal. Welcome back lad, an 8 to you.

HK, One of Our Own. The more you look at his stats, his amazing goal record, his overall contribution, what can you say. A fine right foot volley to make it a perfect hat trick missed by a whisker, so he simply put another chance away in an impeccable way. I've got to give him 10, on a day when he broke so many records. We know he is vital to us, but we'll take that all day.....and he's a lovely lad as well.

So apart from remaining nervous about some of Hugo's contributions of late, this recent run makes me feel far happier about our 2018 prospects.....'oh and please keep fit H.

COYS

 

'Youre a wizard Harry'

Harry Kane is phenomenal, the 1st proper season he played with us I remember thinking great this young lad is scoring so many goals he couldn't seem to miss even when he scuffed a shot or it was originally going wide it wud somehow hit someones heel/backside and ping in a far corner somewhere, I thought great for this season but at some point this purple patch and a bit of lady luck will abandon him and then we will see what level he really is.

Well since then the deflections and scuffs etc have become ruthless killer instinct instead, clinical finishing but has it all poaching/screamers/clever/volleys/headers/both feet/pens i think the only thing hes left to master is Free Kicks (and corners haha).

What a Ridiculously good Talent he is and Generally good guy , who better than to be our MR Tottenham. Harry is our real life Roy of the Rovers.

I've seen footage and my old man always tells of how good Greavsie was (whos records are ridiculous also) but I feel privileged to watch Harry as I last did with Bale/Ginola/Gazza although for consistency he has been even better.

Where would we be without him???
It doesn't bare thinking about.

The next stage now is what's ahead, HK cannot keep scoring at this level without some serious interest from the mega rich, the small media grumblings of (but is he world class though) despite the pure Statistical and physical evidence its almost like they cant bring themselves to say it because he's not at one of their faves and all of his achievements wont ever be recognised until he is.

But at the rate hes scoring they cannot ignore the fact he is anymore and so the Media campaign will start now to 'get harry out'.

HK has stated many times that he's 'happy' and 'wants to see his career out at Spurs' and we all desperately want that to be the case but there are some testing times ahead of us and the club needs to do everything to keep him here and happy.

They need to give him a salary worthy of his performance and they also need to start improving the squad to actually achieve something more than nearly men.

We need IMO to get rid of Lamela/Sissoko/GNK and sign Mahrez/Saha/Barkley in January/Summer.

On another Note - Hugo is becoming a complete liability the only thing he's caught in a while is a touch of the GOMES's. Big looping balls into the box he either stays rooted or flaps/punches it unchallenged? He's suspect at that near post, his distribution is getting worse.

The game yesterday 5-2 was a good spectacle for attack but the goals were poor and self inflicted the type that would see us lose or drop points in a tighter game.
Some silly/sloppy decisions that have been far too familiar for my liking recently.

If HK wasn't so record breakingly hatrick scoringly good the Jan would've been my MOTM he's also for me (critic in the past but only because his attitude imo wasnt right) a huge contender for player of the season he's been immense.

 

I'm a fan who was truly hurt when we let Greavsie go and who thought him an all time great. But I concur with your view that we are being privileged to watch the greatest striker since Jimmy. Yesterday I felt that Harry Kane looked like he is going to overtake him. Because of his bigger physique HK has a presence that Greavsie lacked. This all subjective, but I have finally seen Jimmy's peer. Now all we need is a latter day Dave Mackay - that steel and 100% attitude to put fear into everyone!

 

Being a left footer myself, Dave Mackay was my all time favourite at the time and he sits alongside Greavsie and Glenn as my all time Spurs legends.

 

Bazza - I've made my view on Redknapp widely known among my mates, not sure if I've posted any on here as I'm only a Newbie, but if I haven't, here it is: He's a Pr**k. Interrupts whoever else is speaking at the time to push his "knowledge" which as far as I'm concerned is very limited, as he was as a player. Hated him when he played for us, all gelled hair and pose. NEVER liked him and never will. Best ignored when he opens his mouth, or better still, best ignored at all times.

 

Harry has scored more hat tricks in the PL, than Wet Spam have in their entire PL history. He's also scored half of the total PL hat tricks scored in this calendar year.....not too shabby.

 

The goals are starting to flow again thank god , all in all a solid performance , not as good as the Burnley one ( was put into perspective again yesterday with their performance at sh1t h-old Trafford ) but that happens at this time of year with the games coming thick and fast ... Nice to see us not at our best and still score 5 , we do seem to like this time of the year for some reason , hopefully the pattern from last few years continues now and we motor on into the new year ... Hugo's performance's are a worry that's for sure , he's reliably unreliable at the moment I'm afraid ... As for Harry , well what else can I say that the lads above haven't said already , he's something really special that kid ... We hear the saying , he's a natural finisher banded about , we used to hear it about Defoe quite often but if Jermaine was a natural finisher then what is Harry .. He is the ultimate natural finisher , not a trash it and hope merchant , jeez when he's through on goal now you just take it for granted he's going to score and that's what he does , it's priceless .. A good couple of days and for all our faults this year we're still well and truly in the mix .. Hopefully now we keep it going and we might be able to close the gap to the 2nd and 3rd teams because at our best we're as good as any of the rest bar City i.m.o , prob a more balanced team then any of them bar the run away leaders ... C.O.Y.S ....

 

Pr**k is so on the money Gordon, and as for the interrupting...ffs. Second class!!

 

The problem with Jaimie R isn't that he interrupts his co - pundits but that he is always sucking up to them. Haven't you noticed how he always seeks their approval, regardless of what banal comment he has made? "Don't you agree Graham?!" or "Isn't that so Thierry?!!!". Souness and Henry look at him like he is 6 years old and should really be in bed with his Beckham Barbie doll!

 

And...here's another. Only 5 PL players EVER have scored more hat tricks in their ENTIRE PL careers that H has scored this last year.....

 

just a thought.....with the news that the Scousers will pay £75m for Van Dijk, it shows the value of a top flight centre back, so please Daniel can we secure the services of Toby for another 5 years at the right salary, that befits his skills......please Daniel.

 

Hey Bazza - Just shows the madness of the market once again, but with you 100% on Toby.

Also on Van Dijk - what utter hypocrisy from all things Liverpool (including their gobby fans) and their whining over Barcelona's chasing of Coutinho, when they employed exactly the same tactics to unsettle their new (hugely overpriced and over-rated) defender.

 

Just shows how much money it would take to replace some of our top players. Hopefully levy will realise keeping them will be cheaper than replacing them.

 

Amen to that Fran - BUT Levy has worked before on the principle of selling for top dollar and replacing with lesser value. Remember "selling Elvis and replacing him with the Beatles" ? A big January awaits I think. Fingers crossed for a SIGNING OR TWO, not a signing or two.

 

Yep GMc. This transfer window and the summer one is going to be critical. How simple can the message be to Levy? We can all see it. Levy MUST invest. Pay players what they're worth and invest in top quality. We are carrying too many at the moment and I'm afraid I count Eriksen among the other obvious candidates. Dead ball specialist my arse. Seriously! All the commentators say it. He's not. Can you imagine replacing our dead wood with quality? Time to cull. Time to invest.

 

I'm not holding my breath on January additions GMc..

 

Did anybody see Mata caress the ball into the net with his free kick recently....that's a dead ball specialist. Evidence suggests Eriksen, sadly, has lost his mojo.... the best I've seen from him recently was the ball to H for the opener on Tuesday....

 

So Poch is quoted as saying those dreaded words "I'm happy with my squad".... so if that's really the Chairman talking then we're not going to see many new arrivals in January..... and if Poch really believes that, I think I'd be more concerned..... Mmmm

 

Well if Poch is happy with the squad hes happy with being at best second best which in itself is a defeatest loser mentality.
And he shouldnt have any excuses come end of this season or next for not bringing any silverware home after promising 'big trophies' after 2 years and recently poo pooing domestic cups.
Honestly if hes happy and oblivious to the fact we lack pace and a sprinkle of quality going fofward then he will never lead us to anything more than nearly men !

 

Altough with 2 games in hand Liverpool have opened up a 7 point gap between us and 4th.
Course 2 wins will have us within 1 but points in the bag are what count.

Swansea then 1 days rest before Spams Cup Final.

On paper Max points are well obtainable but i feel it will need some good squad management to achieve it.

I really feel we must stick as close to Liverpool as we can, a lot has been said about their 'Fab 4' but as Back ups they still have Lallana Chamberlain & Sturridge which are all decent options which is exactly what we lack.
Yes their defence is a bit ropey but with van dijk on his way and the attack they have we MUST keep up.