Tottenham were the better team for most of their FA Cup semi-final at Wembley. But in the end they went down to a free-kick, a penalty and two cracking Chelsea goals. So how did Mauricio Pochettino’s men perform individually?
Hugo Lloris, 6
Received some flack for stepping across his goal for Willian’s free-kick, but it was a good strike. Could do little about Chelsea’s other goals.
Eric Dier, 6
Given fewer opportunities to influence the game at centre-back but Spurs needed Wanyama in midfield. Dier was symptomatic of the sloppy start but generally looked comfortable.
Toby Alderweireld, 6
Took Pedro out with an uncharacteristic, poorly timed tackle inside five minutes — Chelsea scored from the resulting free-kick. Improved afterwards and made some key interceptions.
Jan Vertonghen, 6
Found himself isolated on the left because of Son’s positional indiscipline. Struggled initially but grew into the game and brought the ball out from the back effectively.
Kieran Trippier, 6
Was the victim of multiple fouls by Marcos Alonso which prevented him from getting many deliveries in. Played Harry Kane in with a clever through-ball on one occasion but was otherwise quiet.
Victor Wanyama, 7
Played a crucial part in Spurs’ ability to keep the ball well throughout. Did his best in shielding those behind him; the goals were almost unpreventable from his standpoint.
Mousa Dembele, 8
Beastly, particularly in the second half. The only Chelsea player who got near him was N’Golo Kante and even he found it difficult. Deserved to be on the winning side.
Heung-Min Son, 5
Gave the penalty away by going to ground far too easily. In fairness Son isn’t a left-back, but he didn’t quite do enough going forward to justify his place in the side.
Christian Eriksen, 8
Created both goals with two moments of pure craftsmanship. His pass for the second was particularly stunning. The second Tottenham man who deserved to be a winner on the day.
Dele Alli, 7
Produced some clever touches and passes in general play but was only given one real chance to put his stamp on the game. He took it brilliantly.
Harry Kane, 7
His headed equaliser was excellent — I still don’t how he managed to be so accurate from such a low position. Unfortunately, man of the match David Luiz did a great job keeping Kane quiet for the remainder of the game.
Substitutes
Kyle Walker, 6
Brought on with 25 minutes to go. Played his part in pinning Chelsea back at 2-2 but couldn’t make a tangible impact.
Georges-Kevin Kkoudou, N/A
Played just ten minutes plus stoppage time. Did his best to run at Chelsea but failed to get the ball into the box.
We were RUBBISH poor team selection the Argentina is to blame and we must be strong and hungry.
We must believe that Wembley is not a jinx it is our home on a bidder stage . SEVEN STRAIGHT SEMIFINAL DEFEATS THIS CRAP MUST STOP NOW! We have to show we are strong and finish hard Chelski will slip we can win and must win all games we must fold as we did last season !! Now is the time to prove ourselves the fans deserve it.
Chelsea defended better than us. Its that simple. The Wembley jinx made Lloris move the wrong way for the free kick, the jinx made Son ( who shouldn’t have been wing back in my opinion ) give a needless penalty and the jinx made confusion at Chelsea first corner after we had already had ten!
To say we were rubbish is nonsense. With 20 minutes left Chelsea were being outplayed but their defending was too good…thats footy.
Yes, we definitely need to win games, but any ideas how??!!! In reality we played pretty well. Son, Alderviereld and Lloris were culpable, and gave Chelsea the chances to sit back and soak it up. However, we are playing at our limits against a club overloaded with cash (38 players out on loan) and ourselves with a stadium to build. We get a yellow card early on, and Alonso and Kante foul at will for a long time before getting theirs. We move on !! COYS!!
So Poch got it wrong , if he had got it right and Son had scored a couple off goals he would off been a genius. So stop slagging the boys we definitely were not rubbish. We are on the up getting better by the minute and Poch and Levy are the reason.
We played well, wasn’t our day, the serbs shot hits the back row seats 90% of the time. Kanes free kick does not spin back to the keeper when its gone past him COYS
FED UP OF ” oh we could have should have would’ve! We were crap forget bad days the argentine has never won a trophy his post match commentary was RUBBISH he did not know what to say he could not make sense of what had happened and spoke a load of RUBBISH. He will have to get his players motivated for the rest of EPL can he do it not sure.
We need players with an iron mentally and ruthless spirit all this RUBBISH about building a team and success too much talk and no action.
We have got to take control of Wembley. Play to the size of the stadium and design a style of play that suits the venue . Forget all talk of jinx just get on do the job.
So, to summarise, “we should play better” …………? Thank you for this blinding insight. Grow up!
The only RUBBISH on display with regards to the match is the tripe that you are writing Travman! Support your team and move on!
The selection of Son at left wing back was a mistake and I actually feel sorry for Son. He shouldn’t have been in a position were he was 1 on 1 with Moses inside the box. Really didn’t want to see us chasing the game; had we scored first, I feel we would have forced Conte’s hand early. Instead he looks like a tactical genius. At this level the margins are so fine: Hugo steps to his right then can’t save Willian’s strike, Dier leaves Hazards strike when it looked easier to block it, and Moses plays for the penalty and gets it. We played really well and against most teams that would have been enough, but at this level??? Anyway the league is still on
Yes, bad selection on son, don’t really trust Dier. We had too many corners and did nothing with them. That was the difference.
IMO MP mad a bad move putting Son at LWB . Should have stuck with the team that beat Bournemouth and Victor stayed on the bench . Rumours Davies had a slight knock – then play Verts at LB and move Dier to CB . Hugo has not been worked by the opposition lately and maybe that caused his slight error for the free kick goal . That was just as crucial as the penalty . Shame we played so well with the ball and the defensive errors cost us . If we had every got our noses in front I think we would have won the match hence for me the 2 first half goals a crucial factor for the defeat .
I think although he has hardly played, Wimmer deserved a chance. He plays LWB for Austria and does a pretty good job. Against a team of Chelsea’s caliber we should probably have gone for someone more defensive like Wimmer, which would leave Trips on the right and Vertonghen could provide something of an outlet with those driving runs into midfield he loves. Can’t figure out why Wimmer hasn’t been given a chance in Rose’s absence.
DITTO WHY CHANGE A WINNING TEAM ? DAVIES SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN AT THE START NOT SONS FAULT HE PLAYED WERE HE WAS TOLD TO THE REF DID NOT GIVE ANY PROTECTION TO OUR PLAYERS A FEW YELLOW CARDS EARLY ON WOULD HAVE MADE A BIG DIFFERENCE AFTER ALL THAT WE WERE THE BETTER SIDE P/S DID LORIS MAKE ANY SAVES ?
No, Lloris didn’t make any saves, but they did score four ……….
YER TOMMY I COULD NOT REMEMBER LORIS SAVING ANY STILL THE 4 GOALS WERE REALLY NOT HES FAULT STILL ONWARDS AND UPWARDS C.O.Y.S
This is by FAR the BEST SPURS TEAM IVE SEEN since hoddle,waddle,gazza etc.ENJOY THEM WHILE WE HAVE THEM,BE PATIENT AND STOP FUCKING WHINGING ABOUT THIS N THAT!!!! OUR TIME IS COMING AND IF U CANT BACK US INSTEAD OF BITCHING LIKE LITTLE SPOILT MAN UTD FANS THEN FUCK OFF COS YOU AINT WORTHY FOR THE HOTSPUR!!!?????COYSSSSSS TO THE END ??
Come on guys M.P. got it wrong for probably the first time this season, it’s happened and it’s gone. We are a work in progress, this season we have improved from last and next season the improvement, only if we keep the current manager and strengthen the squad, will continue. Not even Ferguson rebuilt United quickly.
But D.L. I don’t think Wembley is the place for our home games, for once be a team player rather than a money guru.
I agree it is a very good side but we do need silverware . We have not won away from home against any of the top 8 sides in PL and that could well cost us the title . If by the end of next season we have not won a trophy then Dele , Eriksen , Toby despite any contacts they have could be of to one of the European giants . The rest of the sides in the top 6 , have money and will strengthen again in the Summer thus winning a trophy is hard . We do need to break the mental barrier of winning an away game v a top 6 club in PL and a one off Cup match against a top 6 side .
MP – possession means NOTHING – Scoring counts. 11 corners and we never frighten our opponents. 1 corner and we panic they score. From last year I said and will say again – Lloris is RUBBISH – he does not instill that safety mentality in the defense thus we always falter- the 1st and 3rd should not have gone in. In short, we may entertain more but for what??? Scoring matters – it is the same old story and the same old spurs -soon the main players will be gone and we will be scratching our heads again! How main years since we last won anything?
We won’t finish 2nd either! Ah well.. another year of dreams gone!
We have to remember that not so long ago we had the likes of Adebayor and Zeki Fryers in the team, both of whom have since gone to CRYSTAL PALACE and failed to make the cut. Pochettino has brought this club so far in the past couple of years to the point where, now that we’re on course to finish ahead of Arsenal for the first time in over 20 years, people are saying “the title race is more important, outplacing Arsenal is just a little bonus on the side.” Given how much he has done for our club, I think we can forgive him for taking a risk and picking Son, and it backfiring.
I have been a Spurs supporter since 1953 – yes I know I am bloody old! This team is without doubt the best I have seen since 61-62. I even think they will be better. I was very proud of the performance and to have dominated a team like Chelsea for long periods of the match and really only lose due to the firepower from the Chelsea bench – which at this time we cannot match – was a great achievement. I can think of many occasions when I have been proud of Spurs – European cup semi against Benfica readily springs to mind – but this team has both the talent and the guts to go all the way.
Don’t listen to the ranters and doubters just keep going and improving I for one still believe.
I have been a Spurs supporter since 1946, so I am EVEN OLDER! Yes it is as good as the ’61 side, and it’s getting better, though comparisons are really impossible. They played on a ploughed field; now we play on a carpet. They were sort of fit; now we are super fit. We are making our way forward and we must enjoy the now but be patient about the future, I believe it will come and that’s what we all have to do: think positively. You can’t be a Spurs supporter if you just want us to be Chelsea with loadsa money and 38 loanees. We are a team not a collection of rich spoilt brats. COYS!
Are you THE Tommy Harmer? The guy who told Bill Nick after his first game as manager against Everton that we did not always win 10-4!!