Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Tottenham Hotspur vs Everton: The Player Ratings


Robinson
Some good saves. But let in three.
(Always Pulitzer Prize stuff here on HH)

5.5


Stalteri
Pretty awful
4

Kaboul
Our last best hope?

7


Gardner
Responsible for two goals
5


Rocha
Not awful.
5

Chimbonda
Respect due.
6.5

Jenas
Realtively awful, but good corner at last.
4

Zokora
Mopped up well enough, created little.
5.5

Malbranque
Industrious, created little.
6

Routledge
Should have started as the makeshift winger
5.5


Keane
Horribly out of position.
5.5


Bent
Didn't do it.
5.5

Berbatov
Worked his socks off, but no magic.
5.5


Defoe
Little impact.
(To use his Native American Indian name)
5.5

41 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pathetic Spurs...
Come on lads, we've spent to many years with this!

COYS

Anonymous said...

where did you get a 6.5 for chimbonda, couldn't cross. Zakora really is garbage at the moment doesnt seem to be able to find a pass to anyone in a spurs shirt and has a shot like an elephant. Not impressed by the last 2 lackluster performances, also not seeing much of this team spirit martin jol keeps banging on about zero determination from the whole team

Anonymous said...

neil i agree

how could u give chimbonda 6.5? he couldnt put a pass together all game.

no shape/width or heart...need to do better if we are to even notch a win. i thought we'd have more ticker at home...

Anonymous said...

Are our crosses supposed to come from a full back anyway? Absolute shite all round.. Berbs was making more of an effort.

Anonymous said...

Poor ratings... jenas no better than 2, and Robbie Keane looked superb first half, so to give him 5.5 is fairly harsh. We could have easily won last night, we were just very unlucky to come in 3-1 down at 1/2 time. It was just a combination of our lack of clynical finishing, reluctamcy to shoot from 25 yards out and our nagging habit of giving away free kicks in dangerous position to a team who hvae some who can actually cross the ball well on a consistant basis. I still think Jol has forgotten to teach the defender how to defend set pieces! I also believe if we swapped Arteta for Jenas at the start of the game, we would have won it at ease.

Harry Hotspur said...

81% accuracy...

Anonymous said...

Very disappointing. Looks like our optimism has been misguided yet again.

Anonymous said...

quite frankly i am totaly desgusted at the performance we need to seriously perform on saterday if not and we some how manage to loose to Derby then i fear the worst as we have united and the scum to play all to soon

Anonymous said...

By far the worst player on pitch (apart from Stalteri) was Jenas. He is garbage. For the life of me i don't know why he's still on freekicks and corners. I only remember him scoring 1 freekick (allbeit against Man Utd). His corners are never getting past the 1st defender. His 1st touch was terrible it was like a spring was attached to the side of his boot. I'm not saying we should get rid of him but we should reconsider his position as spurs player if he continues to play as badly as he has. I expect 10 times better from him every time i watch him play but now i expect him to play badly. What the hell.

Anonymous said...

We will never be anything more than mid-table with a midfield like that. MJ must have be blind if he thinks that mob can create anything. The defence is just as bad.

Unknown said...

Robinson should have been a 3. I am getting sick and bloody tired of watching him stand rooted to the spot while players like Stubbs and Campo blast them in from miles out. Even with the deflection last night he should have at least dived for it. Time to bring in someone who is actually going to make the fat git play for his place.

The whole of Midfield were utter crap, how many Corners and Free Kicks are we going to waste this season? Well if last night was anything to go by, a shed load! Hopeful crosses and nothing balls chipped in to the forwards all night!

Berbatov looked absolutely gutted, if I was him I'd be on to my agent to see if a move to a club with a chance of winning something could be sorted before August 31st.

Anonymous said...

wayne, my sentiments entirely regarding Berbie. Why would he want to play for a manager with the tactical nouse of a Christian Gross when top clubs are in for him.

MJ has gone the summer watching us play against crap teams and thought that our defence and midfield are good enough??

If he has he must be blind or stupid, or both

Unknown said...

what shame your best player (your ratings) was only there for 20mins. You hope for 4th, start hoping for 4th from bottom to avoid relegation.
COME ON YOU RAMS

Anonymous said...

This is worse than last season! no shape, no heart, no organisation.

While i like Bent and think he will be a good signing, as i said before, we are going to regret not going for Petrov.

To me he was the natural solution to the left problem. A good left winger who already has an understanding with our best forward.

If this is not sorted out soon BMJ is going to loose the dressing room.
You could see the players turning on each other last night.

Again, why oh why cant he play players in their correct position? keane is no left winger, Zakora is no left back (but no worse than Stalteri), Steed is no left winger and Zakora and JJ are too weak as a pair, neither is able to break the game line on a regular basis.

BMJ needs some balls....

Pick your two forwards and stick with them (my pref would be Keane/Berb with Bent to come on).

Play Zakora/Hudd or JJ/Hudd in the middle. Or perhaps give KPB a run.

Either go after a left winger or play one of the reserves.

Play one of JJ, Steed or routelege on the right until Lennon gets back. none of these are left wingers.

Gardiner should have been at left back with Rocha and Kabul in the centre from the start. gardiner is our only natural left footed defender and at left back the occasional lapse of concentration is a little more forgivable.

Finally, when we were chasing a 3-1 def. Why take Stalteri off and put Zokora at the back? Whay not move to 3-4-3 with berba/bent just in front of Defoe? At that stage Everton were onlly playing one up front. More signs of BMJ CH's negativity.

Maddog said...

Jenas for me has to be dropped.
He offered absolutely nothing last night.
I am also worried about Robbo not being able to command his six yard box. He should be coming out and claiming these crosses that they scored from last night. He is far too hesitant.
Let's hope we can pick up our season on Saturday against Derby.

COYS

Anonymous said...

Nice to see the supporters getting behind the boys last night though. It was at least 45 minutes into the new home season before the boos rang out and there were only 20,000 or so empty seats with 5 minutes left to play. If we continue like this we'll soon lose our fickle tag.

Anonymous said...

I can't belive what I'm seeing. Is this the team whom finished fifth last two seasons. And spent £40 during the summer. Against Everton they reminded me of little league players. The four in the back were awful!! Why the hell do they never learn!! I want to see them bleed for the jersey! This is a disaster!!

Gardner was lousy. Stalteri is a biohazard! Get that man out of the Lane! Ship him to Canada!

I'm not pleased with Keane's position. Play Routledge on right for Christ's sake. And please buy a leftie!!

Guti and Davies for Spurs.

Anonymous said...

Whats going on here? Have you all begun to lose your faith?

What about the 'law of Ferguson' I heard so much of last year? you know the one. 'You cant sack a manager just because they are doing shit, afterall Utd kept Ferguson and look what happened to them'

Surely we should stick with Jol?, it is only a matter of time before he turns it around and we start dominating British football according to the law of Fergie..

I can see a treble coming on. Cant wait!

Paxton said...

Why the fluck are we not using Taarabt & Routledge from the start, When the fluck is Jol gonna kick the shit out of Jenas & stick Boatang in, can't Jol see that everytime he uses Jenas to beat the drum, It's like playing with 10 men on the park, the kids a gutless waste of space.

Anonymous said...

I'm not saying the performance was in anyway good enough but we did play some good stuff midway through the first half and it was the defences errors that cost us because after that we were chasing the game and having to try and break down a very solid and organised team. I think once we get Dawson back playing alongside King\Kaboul and get one of the 3 left backs that are out back in the team then we should look more solid which is going to make the whole team play with more confidence. Its no wonder we're not creating anything when you know that when you go forward your relying on Gardner and Stalteri to do thier jobs which they just dont seem to be able to do. I think we all need to get behind the team rather than boo'ing them off. Those who were boo'ing will be the same people who will be saying we have got chance of the top 4 after we have our next good run. COYS!!!!

Anonymous said...

We have supposedly the best striking combination in the Premiership according to Jol and our ONE goal from 2 very winnable games comes from a crap defender. It just gets better and better.

Anonymous said...

This is the worst indictment of Jol to date. While none of us would take away the relative success of the past two seasons, the squad is now the envy of most other Prem teams - including Arsenal and to some extent Liverpool. On paper, who would have swapped Zokora for Carsely, or Berbatov for Johnson, or Robinson for Howard - or even Rocha for Stubbs. It is, to coin a phrase, an embarrassment of riches. But at the moment, the whole thing looks like an embarrassment. Jol is losing the dressing room already and he remains a tactically inept manager without any idea of formation or substitutions. We have a four star squad with a two star manager - and we are taking on four teams at the top who have four or five star squads and have five star managers. It is time for him to go.

Anonymous said...

I think that Boateng isn't match-fit, so is unlikely to play just yet. Makes me chuckle when you see a player linked with the club once, then all of a sudden that player is the club's saviour and we must have him (ie Guti - the papers link him a few days back and suddenly he's vital to the cause - prior to that, no-one had mentioned him!). Disappointed with the team - no heart, no passion. Midfield needs to be changed to provide more creativity. Routledge on the left? Perhaps his tricks can create a few more chances.

Anonymous said...

Forget us as a team. Just tell me why oh why do us spurs fans have to get on JJ's back? I go every game and yes I do get frustrated when JJ makes sloppy passes, I like it no more than when Defoe doesnt get a touch for 90 mins, or when one of strikers never work the flanks or when stalteri and gardener make deadly mistakes. the difference with JJ is that he doesnt hide. no matter how much abuse you lot gave him yesterday, he was infront of the defence and behind the forwards and near the ball for the whole 90 minutes working like a dog, unlike keane or malbranque who were in for small parts but no one says anything to them? As bad as our defence is, its only because of injury, but the problem on the left is unacceptable now, its been 3 years and he is just insisting on not spending on the left. we could have got petrov and M.G.P for the bent money and we would have been serious contenders!

Anonymous said...

WELL this is the season for MJ to show what he is made of, & so far he is making a right royal cock up. 3 up front, with a mediocre midfield, that will work NOT, Robinson(should've been brought to book last season for inept performances but no he is still doing playing every game doing badly DROP him 4 a month, defence is make shift but gardener over rocha?? & y not gardener or a reserve left back, midfield have to play 4 JJ is a good player but jol is too soft on him so is often useless, zakora needs time, im losing patience with him) steed at least tries. We have 2 left wingers in tarabaat, prince b, who apparently used to play there we also have routeledge on the right, we have hudd in the mid to spray the ball about accurately & hold onto it, with zakora together midfield should be stronger, as for up front how he thinks he will keep 4 strikers happy is beyond me, berbs & anyone should do.

Anonymous said...

"our squad is now the envy of most other prem teams, including Arsenal and Liverpool"?????????? Is it any wonder we are accused of being deluded with moronic comments like that?? I just hope no Goons or Scousers turn up and read that. We'll be ripped to shreds.

Anonymous said...

what are half of you talking about zokora doing his job he a defence midfield not a creative one, the problem with have is jenas marlbranque and the lack of playing width. Jol also doing the same as last year he done with daveport playing him at he just not good enough. Marlbranque gest involved a lot but does nothing with the ball. Aswel as jenas and malbranque give away possienion to cheap. I am a jol fan and think hes done a good job but he does keep make the same mistakes jol has to take the blame for the last two results wrong team selection in both games. We lack balance in the midfield Gardner and stateri just aren't top 5 players, jenas and malrbanque start to put in same boat as pervious two. before the everton game i called for a midfield change with Taarabat boateng and routlege coiming in for malrbranque jenas and keane, move keane upfront with berba straight away we have width

Anonymous said...

very genorous H, 5.5 for Berba'socks when he hardly touched the ball...
anyway I don't pity him
he's got his own stupid self to blame.
he knew the problems with the team and manager but he opt to stay.

yeah, wayne, he should be moving right now, but for that you need balls...

Anonymous said...

I didnt agree with team selection at all yesterday.

Stalteri at left back (one sided player horribly out of position). Rocha played most of pre-season at left back and seemed to do well, why was stalteri chosen ahead of him? MHSpurs is right about gardner being able to play at left back but i can c why he played central with so many defenders out. Either way Stalteri at left back is wrong wrong wrong.

Too many strikers on the pitch. is Jol trying to keep them all happy or was it tactical? for me that was not a tactical decison and if it was an extremely misguided one. WE HAD NO MIDFIELD

Nearly all of the players we had on the pitch are more than capable of playing in the premiership. but they all underperformed due to the poor tactics/lack of leadership. i agree with most of your player ratings, low scores all round.

plenty more complaints but i'll save them for later.

Anonymous said...

I'll say it again. Why play with4 at the back when we dont have a left back. Should be playing 3-5-2. Gardner would be a better Gardener than Footballer and Stalteri plays like a Canadian Footballer!! Injuries or not, we shouldnt be playing below average footballers in a team like Spurs. Where are our young players like Taarabt, Berchiche (a left back apparently), Dervitte (is he still injured). Routldge should be given a run. Jenas needs to be dropped, to give him a kick up the arse!!

Anonymous said...

I didnt agree with team selection at all yesterday.

Stalteri at left back (one sided player horribly out of position). Rocha played most of pre-season at left back and seemed to do well, why was stalteri chosen ahead of him? MHSpurs is right about gardner being able to play at left back but i can c why he played central with so many defenders out. Either way Stalteri at left back is wrong wrong wrong.

Too many strikers on the pitch. is Jol trying to keep them all happy or was it tactical? for me that was not a tactical decison and if it was an extremely misguided one. WE HAD NO MIDFIELD

Nearly all of the players we had on the pitch are more than capable of playing in the premiership. but they all underperformed due to the poor tactics/lack of leadership. i agree with most of your player ratings, low scores all round.

plenty more complaints but i'll save them for later.

Anonymous said...

Rating for MJ = -infinity
Who even suggest that he can be the next fergie must be blind. He will not become that given a million years. He ain't got balls to make the tough decisions. I don't know why we are even buying bright prospects. He never dare to play them. Lennon was because we all pushed for him. Where is Tarrabt, Pekhart, Bernard, and all the young players. Why keep Pekhart and Bernard when they could get precious first team experience on loan? We have 4 top class strikers to keep happy. He really has no clue at all. All he does is state what we all can see. I think I can be paid to do more than that. If we can get a better manager by losing to Derby, I don't mind that happening. I'm sure a good manager can get the results even with JJ and Zokora.

Anonymous said...

What have we spent on players in the close season? What have we got? A centre back who looks fantastic, but will he get in the team when King and Dawson are back from injury? I would play Kaboul in midfield in place of Jenas. Zokora can go anywhere for all I care, he has the ability, but always runs in to blind alleys and his final pass lacks the cutting edge. So play Huddlestone in place of Zokora. But the main question is why the hell did we spend so much on Bent when we could have bought 2 good quality left wingers and had some change? Now Arse.... are being linked with Pederson for £8 mill. Why not us? Offer them £12 mill. but get him. So why did our top targets, Petrov and Wilhelmsonn both go to lesser teams? Because they know Jol cannot manage a team and his tactics are suspect. Sorry, but time for a major shake up.

Anonymous said...

Our defensive injury woes are significant and should not be dismissed. It is not the case that 'Gardener and Rocha should be strong enough to withstand the likes of Everton'. Everton are a strong and consistent side under Moyes and if Gardener were first-choice calibre, he would be exactly that, first-choice. Rochas has little premiership experience, particularly alongside Gardener and Stalteri is not and has never claimed to be a left back.

Lennon is a big miss.

But should we compound our problems by playing players (unnecessarily in my opinion) out of position.

If Keane is too important to drop, he should play as a striker. He should not and nor should Tainio, displace Lennon's replacement, Routledge, who would provide the width and, hopefully, the service we so desparately need. If Routledge is not good enough, why is he still here. We suffered last season when Lennon was out and Routledge was on loan, I am at a loss to understand why have we re-created this problem for ourselves.

Furthermore, without a natural left midfield/winger, picking Keane or Tainio as the right midfield/winger, leaves Jenas as the sole creative outlet, the 'playmaker' which he is clearly not ready to be - Jol's faith in Jenas in this repect is yet to pay dividends and has cost us thus far.

In short, we cannot expect clean sheets with the volume of injuries we have in defence. However, we have an unbalanced and narrow midfield as a result of playing others out of position. Result, no goals.

Anonymous said...

8:42, you are talking out of your arse. Jenas DOES hide, he is always hiding from the ball as if he just doesn't want it. With Zokora there to protect the defence, Jenas needs to be filling the playmaker role, demanding the ball in the centre of midfield and moving forward with it, playing forward passes to the strikers. Last night he played one forward ball. And of the passes he does make, how many of them go to a man in a Tottenham shirt?

The fans are right to get on his back. I'm still behind Jol although I recognise he has his weaknesses, one of the biggest being his determination to stick by Jenas even though he has contributed almost nothing since he joined. The fact that our form improved when he returned to the team last season was DESPITE his presence, not because of it. This season he looks even worse, although I hadn't thought that was possible.

And your suggestion that we could have got Petrov and MGP for the Bent money is stupid. We tried for Petrov, but he went for the fat paycheque instead. And there is no way Sparky will let MGP go, no matter how much we would love to have him.

You seem to think it is as simple as a game of football manager, you simply do not have a clue.

We need our injured defenders back, no amount of tinkering with the midfield and attack can make up for the comedy defending we are seeing (although even Rocha, Gardner, Stalteri et al are still professionals who should know the basics of defending).

We need lennon back, although he still cannot play every game, and showed an alarming dip in form last season.

We need someone who is comfortable on the left of midfield, even if as suggested before it is someone from the reserves.

We need to stop putting quite so much emphasis on buying for the future. The squad needs improvement now.

We need to blood some of the youngsters, the likes of Taraabt have shown so much promise, and can only improve the creativity of our midfield.

WE NEED TO DROP JENAS!!!

Anonymous said...

How can anyone stick up for Jenas?

Anonymous said...

Alrite alrite, it wasn't a good performance. In fact it was pretty poor. Although I don't think its the end of the world, simply because last nite we lost to 2 lucky goals. If Rocha hadn't wiped out Robinson after his brilliant defensive header, Osmans effort would have gone straight at Robbo!! And then there was Stubbs deflected free-kick - which couldnt be helped. We'd have drawn 1-1 after playing poorly, which anyone should settle for.

What I will agree on is our 'Problems'!!

1)Lack of defence (Mainly through injuries). Short term, surely we need to bring Chimbonda into the centre with Rocha and play Slalteri in his rightful position and left-footed Gardner, left-back. Hopefully then, Dawson is fit enough soon to replace Rocha and Bale to replace Gardner!!

2)Lack of width, we really need to use the flanks more. Malbranque and Keane was never going to work. Obviously theres lennon, who'll hopefully be on his way back sooner rather than later. But besides that shouldn't we perhaps try Tarrabt out wide?! Seems very lively and a difficult player to mark!!

3)No creativity in the centre. For me Jenas has to go. Jol loves him and I can't see a Spurs team under Jol without Jenas, but he has to go. I'd rather see Malbranque as an advanced centre midfielder with Huddlestone behind personally, but something has to be done.We need a playmaker, at the expensive of Jenas. He continues to get himself into enviable positions, but always seems to take the wrong option.

4)Scoring goals. For me, this comes under the creativity from midfield. With tidy service i'm quite confident our strikeforce will pull out the stops!!

Anyone, we are in dire straits at the moment re: injuries, so all i'm saying is I dont think its the end of the world. If we can scrape a few draws and wins, and build up momentum of 'not-losing'...it'll all work out when each and everyone regains fitness throughout the season!!

Anonymous said...

For those who are criticising Jol for "not going for Petrov" need to wake up. We did go for him. However our beloved club has a strict(ish) wage policy, Petrov is 28 years old, and was offered a substantial salary from Man City (courtesy some allegedly corrupt "but passes the Premier League's character test" Thailander)which far exceeded anything Spurs were offering to him. Given his age, it should not be so surprising that money was likely his main motivation for joining Citeh. Not to mention whilst Sven was a cock of an England manager he has an excellent and proven club Management record. That being said, I for one am not leaping to Jol's defence (nor are most of the players by the looks of things). His tactics and team selection are poor. I don't understand why Jol insists on playing some of this lot, and insists on not playing others.

Robinson - No commanding presence in the box. Not a leader. Good, but not good enough. Calamity James was better than Robbo last year. I think it's time for a change there for a start. Get Alnwick or Cerny in.

Chimbonda - Someone should tap him on the shoulder and remind him the game ends when the final whistle is blown. He falls asleep and makes errors after 87 minutes (after playing very well in general), it is like he's waiting for the final whistle. I'd swap him for SWP at the drop of a hat. Watch the Watford game from last season (at home Robbo goal match) and see what happens at the end. No repercussions because we were 3-0 up at the time but seriously, WTF? Sunderland...? No skin off my nose if we sold/swapped him. Mercenary.

Gardner - Seriously not good enough. Say no more.

Stalteri - Ditto.

Jenas - Come on... until he strings together two good games he should be dropped. Toothless. Gutless. Some say less is more, I say less is Jenas.

Malbranque - Good and bad in equal measure, but would certainly be better in the middle of the pitch, also right footed so should not play on the left.

Nor should Lennon, or Routledge for that matter. Cos all they'll ever do is cut inside to get on their right foot, or take it to the byline, to then come back onto their right foot. The early cross from the left (using the trusty left peg) is a non starter in the current Spurs side, which makes us easy to predict, easier to defend against. Where is our bloody Left Winger?!!! Can't we play Danny Rose yet? Is he too young? Adel Taarabt? Just play him. Whether on the left, the right, the middle, it does not matter. He will at least be inventive, will provide that spark, that flash of ingenuity and creativity Spurs have been lacking. I cannot believe he wasn't even on the bench for either game. Why did Jol not start Routledge in either game too for that matter? I read an article somewhere which referred to him being used "as a makeshift winger". No, moron, he is a winger! Lennon was supposed to be his backup when we signed him!

And before we totally slag off everyone, spare a thought for the so called "best strikeforce in the Premiership". Yes perhaps they could have tried a bit harder, but look at the shower of sh1te behind them, not giving them the ball, not in tune with their runs, not finding/creating more space, misfiring passes...

Next game is against Derby, so I say fcuk it and make some changes... be brave Martin Jol. Play some of the young guns.

Imagine if we fielded

Cerny

LB Berchiche
CB Chimbonda (still better than "Tony G"
CB Rocha
RB Ifil

LM Taarabt
CM Boateng *
CM Malbranque/Huddlestone
RM Routledge

F Keane
F Berbatov

Subs
Alnwick
Stalteri/Gardner
Rose
Bent
Defoe

*play him the Micky Hazard way, for an hour to 75 mins then sub him for Zokora (based on Boateng being short of match fitness)- Micky never could play a full 90 but for 75 mins it was like we had two Hoddle's in midfield...

Just a suggestion...

Anonymous said...

Where is Ginola? God, I miss that guy.

Anonymous said...

Spurs played the perfect game I thought lol

Anonymous said...

lets not live up to our so called name tag of being fickle.
We had a bad start last year and finished 5th so relax we do have a hell of alot of injuries.
My main worry is without ledders we look a shambles at the back and from what i've heard he's never gonna play a full season again cos of his knees which are apparently shot to s#*t. Anyone else heard this apparently its all very hush hush but if someone came in with £6 mill i think they'd take it for him.
Another worry is our serious lack of depth in the squad. Our problem last season was conceding goals so why have we invested so heavily in someone who frankly wont play if keane and berba are on form. We shoul have bought another centre back and please tell me why we still havent bought a left winger, we are not chelsea or arsenal we cant play any other way then 4 4 2.
My fear is that bent is a replacement for berba who will go if we dont get champions league this season and i think the management anticipate this hence investing 16 mill in him. I hope im wrong but just look at the frustration in his face playing with a few sub standard players who are just dire( stalteri,jenas 50% of the time zokora getting better but still waiting and gardener loyal as hell but hes not prem material.
MJ buy montolivo of fiorentina b4 his price rockets he is an unbelievable talent and have a look at pazzini while ur there.

Come on spurs lets spank the new boys on sat!!!!!