PLAYER RATINGS - Spurs 2 - 2 West Ham United

It was Harry Kane’s turn to be the late hero as he smashed home a 95th minute rebound to rescue a point in our North London Derby with West Ham.

Kane was felled by Hammers captain Alex Song with just seconds of the 5 minutes added time remaining, before he saw his weak penalty saved by Adrian. However the sprawling ‘keeper could do nothing to deny the Englishman’s 24th goal of the season as he followed it up from 2 yards.

Spurs had put in a shocker overall, with Cheikhou Kouyate’s opener enhanced by Diafra Sakho’s second half finish thanks to some questionable defending.

However, Danny Rose’s scuffed volley found it’s way into the net with 10 minutes of normal time remaining to give Pochettino’s plucky side hope of yet another late show.

And the pressure paid off when John Moss pointed to the spot in the dying moments to break Hammers hearts.

Player Ratings

Hugo Lloris - 6 – Saw a lot more of the ball than he usually does, but made some crucial saves to keep the score down. Namely his reactions stop from Enner Valencia with the score at 2-0.

Kyle Walker - 6 – Made the odd break and as usual, relied on pace to amend his errors. Looked shy to get forward – as if still carrying a knock – and preferred to cut back rather than deliver on most occasions.

Jan Vertonghen - 6 – Caught out of position for Kouyate’s goal, and missed a great chance from Christian Eriksen’s corner. Really should have dealt with that first goal.

Eric Dier - 5 – Looked very uncomfortable, misplacing passes and getting the basics wrong. He’s certainly our long-term partner for Jan but today, like many, he was off the pace.

Danny Rose - 6 – Would have been my man of the match were it not for his Fabian Barthez-esque calling for offside as Diafra Sakho made it 2-0. Scored a fairly lucky goal but was a threat going forward all game, even when it was just him.

Nabil Bentaleb - 7 – Was my man of the match. Looked the best of all our midfielders despite his inexperience, and nearly cracked home a brilliant 25-yarder. Plays with such composure, even with Fat Sam’s 6 in midfield.

Ryan Mason - 6 – Whole-hearted display from Mason again, who isn’t shy of goal it seems. Came close a few times but the decision to shoot was the wrong one on occasion.

Erik Lamela - 5 – Another disappointing display from the one player we want to succeed more than any. Pushed off the ball so so easily, a gust of wind could have Lamela on the floor. Couldn’t get hold of it at all.

Mousa Dembele - 3 – As shockers go, this one was the worst. Absolute stinker from Mousa who made way for Eriksen at half time. Responsible for the shambolic first goal.

Andros Townsend - 5 – Pretty quiet as he goes, turning down the opportunities he had to go for goal. Predictably left-footed and failed to provide width despite some willing running.

Harry Kane - 6 – Largely anonymous for most of the game, but the facts don’t lie! Kane found the net for the 12th time in 11 games, a ridiculous record in what is pretty much his debut season.

SUBS

Christian Eriksen - 6 – Although he didn’t necessarily do much, the whole game changed with the introduction of Christian. Whether that was down to mentality or tactics, I don’t know, but he needs to be playing.

Roberto Soldado - 5 – A weird change considering we needed width, but Bobby did have a chance to win the game late on. He’ll fancy his chances over Kane from the spot next time…

Nacer Chadli - N/a

The fact that we didn’t deserve anything from this game makes it all the more sweeter.

West Ham spent their 90minute singing “Tottenham Hotspur – its happening again”… They were right.

Onto the next one. COYS!

 

I think that you are a little bit harsh with Rose. He was relatively good today And scored 1 lucky but How important goal... Today Dier had a poor game And Lamela did nothing well. He run a lot but what does Erik bring to Spurs ?? Probably nothing... Bentaleb was good again! The team has to be concentrate on the italian trip And for nest Sunday now! COYS!

 

Lamela is getting far too hard a rap for his performances. He was one of our better players by far today. He was always looking for the ball and taking on the West Ham back line - without him we didn;t have much of an option going forward in the first 45. Andros and Dembele were shocking today and make it hard to justify their inclusion. Poch was great though, making some superb tactical changes to help turn the tide. Let's just hope our boys have enough in the tank to get too big results for us next! COYS.

 

what does townsend actually offer to the team besides his pace? if Poch is going to use him, he needs to work his decision making. A lot of aimless forays into west hams defensive line with nothing to show, walker included. I think its safe to assume townsend is never going to be a bale and score often by cutting in, so do the next best thing and cross the ball once you get past your man please lad!. Poch needs to instill some variation in play as well and the team as a whole needs to learn when to mix it up...thats how you break a resolute defensive line.
Loving our new never say die attitude though. with this mentality as a platform, we can look to a better future ahead.

 

Im sorry but Poch is getting out of jail time after time our 'defending' is sloppy unprofessional & mainly atrocious.
Performance was slack, the defence needs some serious work.
We stole a point in the end but this is exactly why we will not finish top 4 also why we have a slim chance of winning silverware, u simply cant keep leaking goals the way we do.

 

Defense was poor, midfield solid, attack one dimensional.
But we still got a point. So let's move on. Good teams win without playing well and in all fairness we could have done that considering their goals.
Onto Thursday and wholesale changes please. Freshen things up, leave 10/11 starters for Sunday out/on the bench. Let's see some younger players, and the fringe players.

 

Like everyone else I was jumping up when we got the equaliser in the dying seconds. But with a calm head on we have to analyse honestly.
4-2-3-1 creates space for teams that play with wingers - we found that against Liverpool last week and again with West Ham today. The problem is partly that our full-backs aren't great defenders, but mostly that the 2 of 4-2-3-1 doesn't stretch to the wings and our 3 don't seem to accept their defensive duties (the only one who did was Lennon).
The one good thing is that Chelsea play quite narrow and they won't have Matic for the final, which is a big gain. But bigger picture teams have found our weakness - use width ..

 

We are in trouble what do we do Thursday play a full team and hope we are ok Sunday for me rest a couple and pray for a shock result Thursday. I can honestly say I am worried for Sunday our defending is poor and Chelsea will be looking for revenge and I can't see us pulling of another 5-3 result how can we not know our best centre half pair this far into the season . Our season could be over come Monday morning . Fingers crossed it ain't

 

I take it Ramos wont be making an appearance this eve then , waxing lyrical about all and his predictions and foresight when he gets a performance or two to back it up .. Fickle i think someone called him .. Def a good idea to prioritise the day job then writing fiction for a blog i say ..
Poor performance today , characterised by more typically sloppy defending .. lots two games now , season could come to a shuddering halt fairly quickly if they don't go our way ..

 

Like our resilience today to somehow earn a draw, but in all honesty this was poor today. Too pedestrian, too many passes going backwards and sideways and too many mistakes that need eradicating fast. I can see a big difference in this team from prior to xmas, but sometimes we slip back to our lacklustre cant be bothered attitude. West Ham came with a good game plan, but we let them exploit it to the full. Against chelski, the arse and scousers we were well up for it, today our mindset was very different. Our defence was shocking today and lloris earned us a point. Wheres this Yedlin because im afraid walker has lost the plot. Chadli and Eriksen should be in from the start, townsend is a headless chicken with very little end product. Although lamela looks lightweight at times at least he was trying to drive us forward. Oh well its a point for a dire performance that could valuable in the greater scheme of things. I think we should go all out to beat Fiorentina as they look nothing special, it will also give us a lot of confidence into the cup final. This period could definately shape our season. COYS!!!!!

 

townsend should play wide on left and cross the bldy thing

lamella must go as he lacks a right foot and someone who has no idea what to do in the penalty box .there are not enough goal scoring options in the team apart from kane and erikson and not enough width on the wings

 

Spurs should have won. We were a better team. Lamela played one of his best games doing Eriksen job in first half. Poch should consider moving him away from the left where he became invisible again in the second half. Rose was very good, Kane was terrific again regardless of his scoring. Soldado had one A+ chance, which justified his appearance.
Spurs were only below in goaltending. Bentaleb's cannon shot is a goal in most games. Adrian made a tremendous save, while Lloris did not go out and didn't punch the ball away on first goal allowed by lilywhites.
Hammers second goal should not be counted due to offside.
Overall for the team that Levy/Poch decided to start we weren't as bad as we could. Best team came to the rescue and saved one point at the end. Should that team started we would've gotten all 3.