PLAYER RATINGS: Spurs 1-1 Besiktas

Vlad Chiriches’ late moment of madness cost Spurs a hard fought 3 points at White Hart Lane as a game of few chances went down to the smallest of margins.

Harry Kane had capitalised upon Spurs’ only real chance of the first half, firing home from outside the area after an impressive turn and drive.

But Hugo Lloris soon became the busier of the two keepers as he sensationally kept out Olcay Sahan and Demba Ba who swarmed upon the Frenchman’s goal.

The Turkish side began to dominate possession and their fans followed suit, lighting flares and leading the atmosphere inside the Lane.

And with 2 minutes left of normal time their pressure finally paid off, with Chiriches calamitously air-kicking the ball before seemingly punching the ball behind for a Besiktas corner. It was spotted by the referee and Ba was on hand to convert the spot kick to Lloris’ left.

The result left Spurs without a win in the Europa League, having drawn with Partizan Belgrade last week, and back-to-back fixtures with Asteras Tripolis on the way.

Player Ratings

Hugo Lloris - 8 – Yet another Man of the Match performance from Hugo who made some astounding saves to keep the visitors at bay. His 32nd minute save from Sahan was the pick of the bunch as he ended the game with the armband on.

Eric Dier - 7 – A strong performance from the youngster who emulated Jan Vertonghen when bringing the ball out of defence. Won 100% of his tackles playing at right-back.

Federico Fazio - 6 – Not the worst game from Fazio, who commanded the air at set-pieces. Didn’t look as composed next to the unpredictable Chiriches as he did next to Jan, but distributed well with the ball on the floor.

Vlad Chiriches - 4 – Ultimately cost the side 2 points with his ridiculous late handball, which stemmed from his Sunday-League-esque swipe from a long punt. Unpredictable is the only word that describes Vlad perfectly and tonight showed that.

Ben Davies - 5 – Not really showing the form that earned him the move from Swansea in the summer, but whether that is down to a lack of game time or a lack of talent remains to be seen. Spurs are used to seeing a bit of pace from full-back so Davies looks to be a bit of a shock to the system. Although, he did nearly pick out Harry Kane for a brace in the first half.

Benjamin Stambouli - 7 – Filled in for Capoue nicely in front of the back 4, making 4 tackles directly in front of our centre-halves. Showed quick feet to work his way out of a few tight corners, and created 2 chances ahead of him. Promising.

Nabil Bentaleb - 6 – Much the same as against Nottingham Forest, Bentaleb got ahead of himself a few times tonight. He overran the ball on occasion and didn’t win a tackle or a header, but Stambouli allowed him to venture forward more – creating 2 chances from midfield.

Paulinho - 5 – The Brazilian is the epitome of mediocrity currently. He’s doing absolutely nothing on the pitch other than being another “body”. Nearly latched onto Townsend’s first half cross but other than that showed no promise playing on the right wing.

Andros Townsend - 6 – Started brightly but faded throughtout, successfully beating 10 Besiktas players but only sliding Kane through on goal once. All of his crosses failed to find targets, although Paulinho maybe should have converted the England wide man's in-swinger.

Harry Kane - 7 – The youngster is now our top goalscorer after his terrific finish in the first half. Turned, ran and finished out of absolutely nothing and maybe should have done better from Ben Davies’ cross shortly afterwards. Really promising from Kane who would have been Man of the Match were it not for Hugo’s heroics.

Roberto Soldado - 5 – Yet another invisible game for Bobby, who’s trudged off the pitch was probably the furthest he moved all game. Lacked ideas and movement up top, and was visibly disappointed as he was removed from the action on 79 minutes.

Subs

Aaron Lennon - 6 – only completed 3 passes in half an hour of football but still looked more likely to score than Paulinho. Closed down the fullbacks well but never really delivered anything.

Mousa Dembele - 6 – Like-for-like when brought on for Benjamin Stambouli with 25 minutes remaining. He only misplaced one pass when he came on and took the ball forward more effectively than recent weeks.

Emmanuel Adebayor - N/a

It was disappointing to see the lads’ hard graft let down in the final moments of the game, especially as there were a few players out there who really fought hard. Harry Kane and Eric Dier showed promise going forward and Andros Townsend showed glimpses of a return to form.

However a few players’ laziness could see them dropped even from this second team side, with Chiriches and Soldado particular targets for criticism after their below-par showings.

Besiktas came to play and took the game to us rather than the other way round, a feature which was reflected in the crowds at the Lane. With nearly 10,000 empty seats at the Lane the Turkish fans ruled the Lane for one night only.

After that performance there is only one thing that is absolutely clear.

All Hail Prince Hugo.

 

Yep, soldado, paulinho and chiriches were terrible, yet again. None has added anything but mediocrity to this squad. And that wouldn't be so bad but for the combined £40 price tag. I can totally see why Franco Baldini's job is under threat, as the man who signed all three.

Also wanted to say, you're the only ratings page I've seen so far that gave Stamouli more than Bentaleb. Bentaleb played well, had a decent game, but wasn't on a par with stambouli, who was excellent. Won all his tackles, rarely gave the ball away and even drove the team forwards at times, from his DM position. I've got high hopes for Stambouli, I think he's a really complete CM and one of the few from the Europa league starting 11 that can genuinely force his way into the premier league 11. For now though, I'm a big fan of Capoue and he's nothing wrong to lose his place in the team.

 

Lloris, world class and the best player at the club by a mile but even he could not save us from the worst player at the club, the natural disaster that is Chiriches, watching him play is almost comical if it wasn't for the fact that he's wearing a Tottenham shirt. Always been a bit confused when it comes to Vlad, is he really a CB ?
Again no real creativity or movement from the MF, why did we let Holtby go out on loan? absolutely perfect for these games, for me the answer is to allow Paulinho into the team so as to give him some game time and hopefully get a decent return when we sell him at the first opportunity, I think we sent the wrong player out on loan, along with Vlad, Pauli is one of our most consistent players. consistently shite that is. No ticker and doesn't want to be a Spurs player. Now he's being pushed out wide. Harry is our best striker at this moment and is putting away goals that Ade and Roberto don't look close to scoring, im amazed at times how often I read fans writing him off as a championship player at best, he's scoring goals , good clean goals, he may never be world class but not many are, deserves a chance. The biggest negative about Kane is he's a HG Englishman named Harry, if his name was Harrisio Fabikane and he scored the same goals he's been netting we'd all be salivating over him.

 

if we had a team of any quality that could create chances Soldado would score goals. I could get into tottenhams 3 attacking midfield tonight they're all shite! If Soldado was in Chelsea, arsenal, or man c he'd bang goals in. If a players **** fair enough but to slate a player for playing in a **** side that doesn't play to his strengths is ludicrous.

 

Poor showing overall. Dembele should have started, was better than rated, while Townsend was terribly weak, must be taken out, but MP wanted to keep Lamela for Sunday, I guess. Lamella was missing tonight. Paulinho should be out and out; not just useless - detrimental. Kane should get more than 7, he was the only bright spot, regardless of scoring. Harry should be tried as center MF further.

 

Why the **** is this Vlad **** getting game time? Can't we just ****ing give him away for ****ing free?

Because of this Vlad ****, I'll be the butt of all the banter at work today. Why in God's name did we waste money on this ****? Can't we terminate his contract & just, ****ing, give him away for free?

 

We were over run in the first half but that's because playing with Paulinho is like playing with ten men, as fans we have been patient stating they will settle and be back this season but in this case enough is enough. Get rid January along with Saldado, yes his link up play is nice at times but for 20+ million I want more that an occasional flick. Finally Vlad must go, he would do well in Italy where it is slower but for us he is a liability!!
Lloris is world class, Kane played well and should start Sunday, Stamboli was good, Fazio was OK, Dier should play CB in the cup. Still think we will qualify but MPO needs to get rid of any players that do not want to commit or are simply poor

 

Harrys Goal, and Hugos Heroics flattered us in the end. I cannot believe when watching us play how disjointed and utterly clueless we seem to be all over the pitch.
Wheres the high pressing attacking football? We give the ball away far too easily, the majority of the squad have absolutely no creativity whatsoever, there is a severe lack of footballing intelligence on the pitch individually and even worse as a team.
The recruitment of this expensively assembled bunch of dross is criminal, Poch is on a hiding to nothing.

 

Piss poor performance again it's all very well calling out players that are shite like vlad,paulinho,but look at the team until demble come on no one carried the ball. our strikers were poor Kane got a good goal I grant you that but his not a top striker soldado will never flurish in our team because we create no chances ade is a joke unless redknapp comes back then forget him . We have bought in more and more mediocre players than I've ever seen at spurs for many years and got rid of one's that loved the club ie Dawson ,Defoe, Huddlestone I would kill for a defoe about now may miss a lot but guaranteed 15 goals if those players didn't play great squad players . Now we have the players that are not good enough for top teams that's why we get them it's got worse and worse you can't build a team making 10 changes every week you need a settled core so poch stop pissing about and pick one .

 

It seems everything has been pretty much covered ( from comments above). Now all that remains is that we find a sewage works somewhere and piss out any remaining hope of playing to any standard that resembles a competent brand of football. Players with zero technical ability ( Ade). Zero pace in the team (Ade) ( Lennon brings a box to the party with no cake in it, these days). The club is less about progressive football and resembles the back of a butchers shop; full of headless chickens. No fight or cohesion either as a group or individually. This mob made us look like the bunch of hopefuls that we are. Played us off the park. Bentaleb and his other mates fannying around in the middle of the park seem lost at even this level. Besiktas were smooth, beguiling, direct and ultimately a slick little outfit. We are error prone, sporadic and at best, chirpy. I guess its always better to look on the bright side of life. Negativity begets more ... Lloris is a match winner ( sad fact that really ) , a returning sprinter as a right back and an emerging force in Stambouli is where that ray of light starts and ends for me.
Never a dull moment being Spurs. Cheers dad!
COYFS

 

I actually think the comments on Soldado are a bit harsh. He dropped deep and held the ball up well and worked hard. He is still struggling for confidence but he needs game time. It can't be easy seeing Adebayor picked in front of you all the time and Soldado put in more effort last night than Adebayor had all season.
Chiriches looked like he was going to be a decent player last season, but this season he looks more like a Sunday league player. The handball was madness and he was lucky not to get sent off in all honesty. The miss kick that led to it was laughable.
Fazio looks solid and is a good ball player, so one to watch. Stambouli looked very comfortable on the ball and had more attacking ideas than Capoue has got in his game. He got in some good challenges and I really like the look of this fella.
Paulinho. What can I say. Total garbage. He gave the ball away time and time again and is simply not trying, or even bothered. Goodbye in January.
Townsend actually did some tracking back last night which made a nice change, and he started brightly but he runs into too many blind alleys. He must become a more intelligent player if he is to get back into the team.
Kane is a player I really like. He is getting stronger on the ball and his goal was quality showing good feet, strength and a great finish. He isn't afraid to use both feet too, which for me is a bonus with any player. He is still a raw talent, but with more games he will continue to grow in confidence.
Davies looks like a rabbit in the headlights at times. He seems nervy, but as the game went on he did improve and in the second half, he got forward well, playing some nice passes and a lovely cut back to Kane nearly saw us further our lead in the game.
Lloris is simply world class. His saves against arsenal and last night were sensational, showing brilliant positional sense and no fear. If it wasn't for lloris, the last two games would have ended very differently indeed.

We fought hard last night, but my word were we boring....again. Considering the new manager was supposed to be bringing us quality, fast paced football, and instead we are watching slow, counter attacking stuff, it really is awful to watch.
Against arsenal, the tactic was not to lose and try and get a goal if we could. It was the same again last night and without lloris, we would be looking at two pretty heavy defeats.
When we did attack, we lacked ingenuity and too often the ball came straight back at us.
Results are important, MP said on his arrival to the lane, but the style of play needs to excite the fans.
QPR game aside, I am far from excited watching this Spurs team. Boring.

 

not enough chances created in every game (apart from qpr who every team have turned over)
players playing out of position (last might paulinho as a winger and soldado as a deep lying number 10?)
poor substitutions
a centre back who`s only method of clearance is to dribble out of his own penalty area
boring to watch unattractive football

positives = we have a good goalkeeeper!

 

Lennon looked like scoring ha ha haha ha ha he couldnt score if his life depended on it. He had nine touches in 33 minutes on the pitch all coming to nothing how he gets picked just amazes me.

 

Can take many positives from last night. Hugo is undoubtedly world class. Harry is probably our no 1 striker at present . The rest still are nowhere near good enuf for a EPL squad yet barring dier. Fazio and chiri are bad players and the latter forcing his way into my all time spurs worst 11 alongside tramezanni Vega and dean austin edging out Goran bunjelevic. We have amassed a huge squad of average players and some less than average. Largely its not MPs squad so he needs time to reshape it. But on the whole we learnt a lot about those involved and y they are only in the Europa squad.

 

The squad is big but so far the tactics are very dull. Soak up pressure, counter attack, lose the ball, more pressure.....yawn

 

Good performance essentially against a strong gifted side, with our second squad. Lloris , stambouli and dier were all positives. Dier is a very good signing, attack minded but can defend also. Hes strong, physical and reads the game. Whatever we paid for him, it was money well spent. As for Kane I like the lad, but dont think he is the future. Adebayor should be sold, along with townsend, lennon and chiriches. Paulinho and Soldado should leave to get there careers back on track. They are being scape-goated for all our ineptness and attacking frailties. How can soldado score 80 odd goals for valencia and then OVERNIGHT become a total disaster area. He is too quick thinking for kane and adebayor, with some sublime touches. He scores all of his goals in the box!!!!but never gets a touch in the box. We are brilliant at turning talented potential into also rans. We do it time after time. If we could get in the top 4 from passing the backwards or sideways we would have the Champions league by now!!!!!!! I cannot see how we have moved on since 'arry and we never look like scoring. We probably need a top class striker and a playmaker so as to avoid another season of buiding and mediocrity. COYS.

 

I agree regarding Soldado. He is a goal scorer who has always scored his goals inside the box. We need to get balls into the box but we simply never do it unless the defenders have already got back into position. We Play with inverted wingers which is just a pointless tactic.

 

All we seem to have done since Arry went is set about dismantling a very good side and replacing it with a large group of players with very limited skill set and no balance or plan to how we want to play.
Not only have we sat by and watched it unfold a number of fans actually applaud it.
The football is dire and the 10,000 empty seats at WHL last night is sentiment to that.
We have not a single outfield player that will get you off your seat, the atmosphere has dwindled yes but you have to have something exciting to watch to get excited about.
The blame lies soley with the board, for their total ineptitude in the hiring and recruitment of Directors of football, managers, coaches and worst of all players. What a total waste of time and money these last few years have been and its not getting any better until we get a much better standard of players in.

 

Tactically Turks has surprised MP. Spurs looked unprepared for pressing game Beshiktas conducted for all 90 min.. The expectation the opponent will be sitting back behind the ball proved to be false.
Poch should have looked closer how Ba performed against Gooners. That might have prevented him from using Vlad against him. Does anyone know why Levy/ Baldidni never considered buying Ba from Mourinho? Or they just do not deal with Abramovich's side after Willian steal?

 

Woeful, we were ****lucky to get a point. No midfield except Strombuli who was pretty good. Fazio played very well against a good Bestikas attack that continually fouled him, Harry tried hard and scored a nice goal and Hugo was immense. Apart from that not much else to smile about. Townsend was useless as was "Lemon", Vlad the Spurs Impaler should have played his last game in a Spurs shirt unless we let him keep it and use him as a ball boy (great hands) and the first time I noticed that Soldado was on the pitch was when they took him off! Letting Holtby go was stupid (perfect for these games), as the rest of the midfield were devoid of ideas and energy! At this time we'll be lucky to get out of the group stage, will lose next round in the knock-out and be around 7-8th place in the EPL in January at best. Need to dump a bunch of useless baggage in January or the season will quickly be over!