PLAYER RATINGS: Spurs 5:3 Chelsea

Spurs produced the performance of a lifetime to humble league leaders Chelsea on a night to remember at White Hart Lane.

It was business as usual to start with Jose Mourinho’s side as Danny Rose switched off to see Oscar’s strike find the net off Diego Costa’s boot, but as usual Harry Kane had other ideas – beating two Blues players to find the bottom corner from outside the box.

The Lane then erupted as Nacer Chadli’s shot came off the post and landed at the feet of left-back Rose who made up for his earlier error by finding the bottom corner. Kane was again the pain in Chelsea’s side as he was felled inside to box to allow Andros Townsend the chance to hand us a 3-1 lead at the break – which he duly obliged.

The second half began where the first had left off – with Harry Kane turning and shooting to send Spurs into a 4-1 dreamland. Eden Hazard pinned it back to 4-2 before Nacer Chadli sealed the deal with a fantastic right-footed finish.

John Terry’s late tap in was enough to leave us holding our breath but Pochettino’s side held on to clinch a famous victory.

Player Ratings

Hugo Lloris - 7 – Hugo couldn’t do anything for any of the Chelsea goals but on this occasion we can forgive him. His save to keep us in it with the score at 4-2 was as good as a goal itself and the captain can be proud of him and his side’s victory.

Danny Rose - 7 – Started very shaky and was guilty of switching off in front of Eden Hazard for the first. But he grew into the game brilliantly and even finished a brilliant goal to hand us the lead for the first time.

Jan Vertonghen - 8 – Worked tirelessly at the back especially as the pressure was piled on. Unified the back 4 as Diego Costa ran the channels and Fabregas picked his passes.

Federico Fazio - 7 – Valuable aerially and tussled with Costa well as expected. Attacked every ball and hit every challenge with real desire.

Kyle Walker - 7 – The best out-ball in the league surely, even after his massive injury. in the first half – even when we were behind – he was our most exciting prospect when we had the ball on halfway. Carries the ball forward brilliantly.

Ryan Mason - N/a – A shame he left injured.

Nabil Bentaleb - 8 – Crazy to think that the 19 year old looked right at home in between Nemanja Matic and Cesc Fabregas today. Brilliantly mature performance and was called upon for more defensive duties than ever – but was awesome on the counter.

Nacer Chadli - 9 – What a game from the Belgian. Goals and assists galore on the field and he came close to scoring more than his eventual one goal throughout the game. Beat Ivanovic countless times and showed his strength at the end of the game.

Christian Eriksen - 8 – Pulled the strings in the middle and was unlucky not to get in on the scoring action. Had options left and right and used them efficiently, escaping Matic effortlessly.

Andros Townsend - 7 – Fantastically energetic game and a superbly clinical finish from the spot. Useful on the counter attack with ridiculous pace and some amusing Cryff-turns too.

Harry Kane - 9 – I’m running out of positive adjectives to describe the players today and they are NEEDED now! Kane grabbed two stunning goals and chipped in with assists too as he ran Cahill and Terry ragged. His unbelievable season continues.

SUBS

Mousa Dembele - 8 – Replaced Mason earlier than expected but lived up to his teammate’s role. Showed wicked technical skill and strength and produced some creativity that we haven’t seen this season.

Paulinho - 6 – Provided some energy but was really only on the pitch for the fresh legs.

Ben Davies - N/a

What a game. Chelsea have only been beaten by one other Premier League side this season and we’ve put FIVE past them.

Credit HAS to go to Harry Kane and Nacer Chadli who played out of their skins, in a young side which included the likes of Nabil Bentaleb – in their first full season of League football.

Nobody can take this amazing performance away from us and my only hope is that we can produce the same levels of intensity for the rest of the campaign.

Happy 2015, Spurs.

 

Fazio deserves at most a 5. That giveaway for Hazard's goal was outrageous. Vertonghen is carrying him right now.

 

Fantastic display today. No one had a bad game. Only concern is Fazio's slip ups but Poch can iron them out with a few words. Poch has rotated well over the Xmas period and 7from 9 is an excellent return. Kane, well what can you say that hasn't been said! His closing down is infectious and the second goal was a finish of a veteran. Chadli showed why the faith has been kept with him and that'll boost his confidence. Get rid of Soldado, Lamela,Paulinho and Chiriches and see what Poch can do to make us even stronger. The futures bright the futures white! COYS

 

What do you have to do to get a 10?!

 

Pup, I think Kane needed to take a few more boots in the back, under pochs nose, to get Cahill sent off?!!!!! Then a 10 would have been deserved. Great performance, surely hes knocking on the England door, purely on workrate and class finishing. COYS!!

 

Personally bit rose tinted the marks for some but who cares with a win like that!

Id rather HK played just for Spurs and not England, let Rooney and Welbeck chase a totally lost cause.

 

Mad game . Some of you do get carried away don't you .. At times offensively we were excellent but defensively it was the usual mixture of decent & embarrassing . Jeez them full backs would give you heart failure watching them .. Walker is truely shocking defensively . Chelsea were queing up over there time and again in the 2nd half . Got away with murder he did .. Not only today but the defense has gotten away with it big time over the 3 games over the Christmas . Could easily been double figures we conceded .. Can do and have to do a hell of a lot better individualy and collectively when defending . Showing a lot of character lately and deff improving a lot offensively so deserve plenty of credit for that part . Overall it seems to be coming together slowly for Poch , lets hope it continues . lots done , plenty more to do .. All the best for the new year my fellow ( tortured most of the time , but not today ) spurs fans ..

 

Not sure I'd give Towsend anything that high. Second half he was frightening me every time he got the ball and gave it away dangerously. I was seriously relieved when he was subbed

 

Hell of a statement! Although most of our games in December were nail bitters, winning nontheless gives you a lot of confidence, which was superbly on display this game. Loving the partnership of Fazio and Vert, Walker's looking like his old self, Rose still makes a couple of errors but what a response with his goal. I think we're about 2 players away from being a really good side, Schneiderlin and Bony or Benteke will lift us in top and maybe challenging for the league next year.

Believe the ratings fit the players' performance!

 

Awesome display at the lane. Kane just gets better. Great to see chadli have a cracking game too. Defensively we have a long way to go. Fazio settling in slowly. Jan solid as a rock. We must take this positive performance forward and apply it to the upcoming games.

kane you awesome to think he has so many years ahead. Interesting times ahead for pochettino. Who goes and who comes in during transfer window.

 

Absolutely!

 

A great result and a great attacking display also. Defensively a bit of a horror show. Fazio while definitely improving is still weak link for me. Dembele coming on so early was key I feel and hopefully he can stay and reclaim his place. He provided extra strength v a powerful Chelsea mid. Although the 3 points were most important the win can also serve as a mental issue solved v a top four side and one in which we struggle year in and out. Also though could this spare levy on to invest a few quid and give us an advantage when persuading some new players into the club ie bony kramaric etc.

 

Still cant believe the scoreline 5-3 ! ! ! Fantastic game, fantastic result. They couldn't handle Harry Kane and he just keeps on surprising ! Think i'll just watch the highlights a couple more times. Terrific. Coys

 

Some of those ratings a tad generous but who cares, that was one of the great games of the premiership era. As usual I got up at a ridiculous time in the morning over here to watch the game before going to work, and as usual these days I was seriously asking myself why do I do it ? why am I going to put myself through this game when we cant put away teams like Palace and West Brom ?Today has been a dream, nothing can spoil it, I had to come home and watch it again, just brilliant. While I would probably have to agree that this game wasn't all about Harry Kane but in many ways it was. This was Harry's coming of age as a young emerging superstar, Chadli was superb but Kane was better, for me he is the one that drives this team forward, he's the one that fights for every ball. Some of us have been saying for a while that this kid is special and has football intelligence and maturity beyond his years and this was his night, both goals class. He and Chadli terrorised them, and glad to see Chadli get a deserved goal. Even Townsend who a few days ago I questioned about his lack of goals actually nets one and a well taken penalty at that, c'mon who wasn't nervous when Andros stepped up? I still don't like him on the right. Something that hasn't been mentioned that much is how much better and organised we are with Hugo as captain.

 

The credit should go to Mauricio Pochetino. Those critics of him should bite their tongues. He completely surprised and confused Jose who expected Spurs to play the way they did against Gooners. Instead Poch played the way he tried and failed a month or so ago.
Can you believe ben-Taleb and Dembele outplayed Fabergas and Matic? No? Neither did Chelsea. Poch did believe it! Chadli simply disintegrated Ivanovich. Cahill looked amateur and Terry looked old against Kane. For the record, we beat the best tem in EPL and we did it with inverse wingers. Without a single cross to the box.
Mourinho should blame schedule for his squad tiredness. But that excuse has already been taken by his beloved Van Gaal after Spurs draw with MU. So he blamed Mr. Dowd crew for this loss. How come no one says Chelsea's first goal should not be allowed? Anyway, Jose was visibly hurt by that loss which suggest a complete authenticity of Spurs win! COYS!!!

 

So fed up with jose and his blame game. Why can't he just say that spurs were well set up and quite frankly the better team on the night. I cant think of any reason why he hasn't mentioned Gary cahills shocker

 

What pleases me about this is Chelski weren't bad. We were just better.
We could easily have win this game 5-0 - but on the other hand we could have lost by the same scoreline. Keep in mind that if Azpilicunta scored at 4-2, it would have been game on - but Lloris produced a fantastic save. Mourinho irritated me - Vertonghens handball wasn't, and I thought Phil Dowd had a wonderful game - only one booking, and that was fully deserved by that old **** Fabregas. Hand on heart, we deserved it, Pochettino has won me over, we looked fantastic yesterday, and I loved every second after that superb Kane equalizer - he did a similar thing against Beskiktas, so no fluke.

Some good signings in the transfer window and top 4 is a reachable goal.

 

I have criticised MPs tactics and style as have many and the criticism has been mostly fair by very concerned fans, up until very recently we've played the AVB blueprint with Kaboul as our chosen leader and we've been easily shut down by lesser teams. However, credit given where credit due and Poch has got the lads working for the team and fighting for every ball, and yes he did do one on Jose who expected a predictable game with a nice bread and butter win. I don't like the inverted wingers and I don't think that Townsend had a significant impact on this game from the right other than a nicely taken penalty, Chadli tho does look very comfortable in his role and gives us a real goal threat as a second striker when he comes inside. I still think we need some width and pace and cant rely on the FBs to put in all the crosses. None of our goals came from crosses against Chelsea which just shows how that every goal was superbly set up and finished, the first goal by Kane was a wonder goal and when he scored it I new we could win the game but we cant expect him to always do it all himself. Credit should go to MP and also players like Hugo who has been immense as a player and now as a captain as well as Kane and Eriksen. I will also give Poch credit for finally playing form players.

 

I am Andros's biggest fan. I firmly believe he's a quality winger with all the attributes required at this level. However, he was below par the other day. (Strange cos below par in golf is a good thing? Anyway i digress).

The reason i think is that we only had one target in the box Kane. And i think he's trying to get more crosses in ect. However, there was not much of an outlet in the middle for him. Your out wide you glance up see one attacker and 3/4 defenders thus the cross is not always delivered.

What you must do therefore is the simple things well. Trap the ball dead first time. Pass the ball accurately, defend and always make yourself available. He did these things quite well.

It was interesting that he was first choice penalty taker and he took that very well. I wonder if he should take the corners / or free kicks also. He has a great left peg demo don't sell in Jan a useful player.

Re the top comment re Fazio. What nonsense the guy against the best attacking force Chelsea and the small matter of Rooney, Van Purse and Falco totally bossed it. He's been outstanding.

Now Burnley Monday night. There are free coaches from the Lane and i'm seriously thinking about taking a half day if i can sort it. (ps all the away games are either free or a tenner due to that grant given to the clubs from the FA see ThomasCook away travel for details). But Burnley, i hope for an almost new team with Ady playing, rest some of the lads cos that was one hell of a festive run for us. I hope we win, there are 4k plus going with a further k on the door on the night.

Lets see

13 GK Michel Vorm
2 DF Kyle Walker
32 DF Benoit Assou-Ekotto
4 DF Younes Kaboul (captain)
6 DF Vlad Chiriche?
7 MF Aaron Lennon
8 MF Paulinho
9 FW Roberto Soldado
10 FW Emmanuel Adebayor (vice-captain)
15 DF Eric Dier
16 DF Kyle Naughton
19 MF Mousa Dembele
25 MF Benjamin Stambouli
29 MF Etienne Capoue
33 DF Ben Davies
42 MF Nabil Bentaleb
– DF DeAndre Yedlin

All having a run out. COYS!