Tottenham were far from their best as they settled for a 0-0 draw with strugglers Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. The hosts were intent on keeping Spurs out, making it difficult for Mauricio Pochettino’s men to play their usual team game. But how did they perform individually?
Michel Vorm, 6
Didn’t have anything difficult to do. Mixed distribution.
Kyle Walker, 6
Got into some good positions in the first half but perhaps could have been more decisive with his final ball.
Eric Dier, 6
Hard to rate the Spurs centre backs, who had so little to do. Jermain Defoe gave them a bit of hassle early on but they generally dealt with Sunderland’s minimal threat.
Toby Alderweireld, 6
See above. Was unlucky to see one of his trademark long passes intercepted just before Heung-Min Son could get on the end of it beyond the hosts’ back four.
Danny Rose, 6
Looked up for it (when isn’t he?) until getting injured and being replaced before half time. Tottenham will hope it’s nothing serious.
Victor Wanyama, 5
Had little to do in terms of shielding the back four. Got forward quite effectively but his finishing was wayward; missed a big headed chance and blazed one over from a promising position.
Mousa Dembele, 6
The best player on the pitch in the first half — some of his dribbling was staggeringly good. Faded after a red card-worthy tackle that seemed to shake him. Subbed towards the end.
Christian Eriksen, 5
A display summed up by his hit-and-miss set pieces. Played most of them short despite Spurs having most luck in the air. Didn’t do enough creatively.
Dele Alli, 5
The quietest he’s been in weeks. Alli barely saw the ball, snatching at the chances that did come and failing to find gaps in between Sunderland flat back… seven? Eight?
Heung-Min Son, 5
More involved than most early on but his decision making was frustrating to say the least. Slowed things down at the wrong times and often took too many touches when a first time shot was required.
Harry Kane, 5
An underwhelming display from Tottenham’s talisman, who didn’t provide his customary imposing threat — possibly a result of Sunderland’s staunch set-up at the back.
Substitutes
Ben Davies, 4
Offers so little going forward compared to Rose. Will need to improve if he is set for a run in the side.
Moussa Sissoko, 4
In fairness to Sissoko, he has mostly played well through the middle since joining. Pochettino deployed him on the wing here, and he was desperately wasteful.
Vincent Janssen, N/A
Played just five forgetful minutes plus stoppage time. Should he have been introduced earlier?
lacked creativity & nous to unlock a 5 man defence.. speedy players & big physical defensive midfielders won’t do it.. shame we sold Tom Carroll.
Same old story… Eriksen has a shocker and we look ordinary. Why he wasn’t replaced at half time , only Poch will know.
My vote for worst performance of the season ,considering the opponent. Even losing in CL games , at least there were some efforts .
What did they go to Spain for? On top of that the players tweet big things when their performance is s..t all! You cannot – the bloody lot of them except Dembele and Vorm go to sleep and play school boy football against a team who is so poor they could not capitalize on open chances! As for Spurs they are clueless how to take corners and have no idea of power shots leave alone accurate shots? The only possession they keep is when they pass facing each other but otherwise is generally inaccurate and slow. We are going nowhere and it is shame that the players don’t care and only look at the bank accounts at the month end. Kane wants to be the best player in the world? Wake up young man, where were you yesterday ?
Down and out – Shameful rubbish! I blame MP as he should got off his backside in 10 mins and ordered discipline and aggression. Look at Conte at Chelsea at least he doesn’t stop win or lose and the team performs.
Now there speaks a passionate Spurs fan. They certainly did need a good shaking and if we can see it from where we sat, Poch must have seen it too. Slow build up again, sideways and backwards with no creativity again. Yes, Sunderland parked the bus but it was obvious they would do so. We should be able to break these teams down but it requires a bit of nous and quick movement of players and ball. Both Eriksen and Ali had a bad night and were missing for long periods. I’m no Arsenal lover but you will never see Sanchez saunter around or Hazard with Chelski or Mkhitaryan for Man U. They are constantly on the move and able to take a game by the scruff of the neck and make things happen. Even Dembele for all his silky dribbles rarely seems to provide the killer pass and certainly doesn’t shoot often enough. His goals and assists are virtually non-existent. This was like the Spurs of the past few seasons who, come Feb & March, take their foot off the gas and coast back to mediocrity. Middlesborough will play a similar game on Saturday so let’s hope this was a one-off and we can return to the all-action high pressing game of the last few weeks. Only consolation was none of the other sides around us did any better last night.
WELL SAID COULD NOT SAY BETTER MYSELF C.O.Y.S
Sissoko needs to turn into a striker and quick or not play at all he can’t play wide midfeild,I also think we should play wanyama/dier in reverse positions to give us a bit more creativity with dier in midfeild,