I just amount managed to avoid posting my thoughts on this game til now, so as to not let my emotional state after 90 minutes get in the way of my analysis.
Right, the game.
To start with the players - a brief look:
Lloris - Didn't do much positive, pulled off one save of note I can remember. Needs to learn when to STAY ON HIS LINE. I recall 2, maybe 3 times he caused absolute mayhem at the back coming out and being too close to our defenders. And he done one of those 'kicks' again. Y'know, like the one against City but worse. The mix up between him and Vertonghen was fucking embarrassing.
Naughton - Is a backup right back, and that is it. Personally I feel he is Championship quality at best. I really don't see what he offers. Weak in possession, has no creative ideas, and his positioning and awareness is suspect. In my view at fault for the first goal. The video above posted by
CJJ
is conclusive for me. The through ball is played, and about halfway through its travels, Naughton looks over his shoulder, realises there is a player outside him (which he should have already been aware of) and then starts to chase back. Too late by then. No way Verts could have cut it out before-hand.
Kaboul - Didn't have a great game overall, but he was the most passionate player on the pitch. Bless him he tried, showed some desire and fight, even ended up in attack a few times making runs down the wing.
Verts - Probably our best defender on the night, though that isn't saying much. The chaos and lack of communication between him and Lloris was scary at times.
Walker - A bit sloppy in possession but again one of the few that was trying to get the game moving. Made a few bursts forward but didn't link up very well with Lennon all night.
Eriksen - Good on the ball but out of position, limiting his effectiveness. Didn't offer much creativity, and don't remember him putting in any crosses of note.
Sandro - Poor by his standards, but I don't think the 4-4-2 shape suits his game. Benfica done a job on him, closed him down quickly, and he didn't deal with it very well.
Paulinho - Fuckin useless. He really was dreadful all night. I don't remember him beating a player all night, and his movement was shocking. Never seemed to find any space, and was slow off the mark when he did get the ball.
Lennon - Terrible game. I saw someone say in another thread his defensive abilities make him a viable option on the wing. Well, that was the only good part of his game. He may as well have been right-back. I think he got 1 cross in? Apart from that, was unable to beat his man all night, didn't hold up play for Walker to overlap, and needs to learn to use his left foot.
Kane - Thrown in the deep end a bit, but I don't believe the kid is good enough for Spurs. He was poor in possession, tried dribbling out from defence, giving the ball away that lead to a corner and goal. I must have seen him ping a loose ball over the top 4 or 5 times. I don't believe one actually hit Ade.
Adebayor - Absolutely starved of service all night. Tried to hold up the ball but had to drop into midfield to do it, where space was very limited. With Kane dropping as well, left him with no option but to go backwards. He must have felt like Andy Carroll with the amount of long balls played in his
general direction.
Subs
Rose - Shit.
Soldado - n/a
Bentaleb - :gomes:
(my face when he came on)
The game:
It was amazing how similar our style was to when I watched us under AVB. The side-to-side passing, the lack of movement and creativity. It was hard to watch at times. The wingbacks seemed to refuse to overlap. The ball kept moving backwards and ending up with Lloris to hoof upfield and lose possession.
Naughton and Lennon need to learn how to use their left feet!!! Fuckin hell, they train 4 or 5 days a week, surely they can learn? So one-dimensional, they offered nothing all night. Our play was slow and lacked any kind of cutting edge or movement. It seemed the players (bar Kane) had been told not to stray from their positions, making us very predictable. Their formation caused us issues, defending with 5 in midfield and outnumbering us, but attacking with 3 or more.
How we managed to allow their tallest player to score two goals from set pieces is beyond me. I don't watch much Portuguese football but anyone could see he was going to be the aerial threat. Unmarked twice. We are literally unable to attack or defend set pieces aren't we?
The thing that grated me the most in this game, considering the recent "2-hour meeting" and Sandro's claims in the press, was the lack of leadership or responsibility. Let's take a few isolated incidents.
Vertonghen and Lloris make a complete mess of clearing the ball, both miss it and we get away with it, resulting in a corner. No one bollocks them, and those two clap hands, as if they done a good job!
Kane loses possession trying to run the ball out of trouble, Lloris tips over for a corner. No one bollocks him. Not one player.
All three goals. After conceding, I didn't see anyone shouting and screaming. They all just wandered up the pitch back into their positions and stood with their hands on their hips. They couldn't have looked less bothered.
There were some positives. The atmosphere (in the first half) was excellent. We stood the whole game with no hint of a telling off from the stewards. There were countless Yid chants, again nothing doing from the stewards. The Benfica fans were excellent, very loud, flairs, fireworks, flags. A real European atmosphere on their part. As much as I agree with cheering on your team through thick and thin, our players didn't give us much to shout about on the night. The place erupted when Eriksen scored and the energy in the ground for 5 or 10 minutes afterwards was electric. I wanted to get on the pitch myself! But it didn't seem to translate to the players, who still jogged around after the ball. Frustrating.
The booing at HT and FT was shit, but there is a clear hatred for Tim amongst the fans. I suspect he will struggle to win over the majority unless he pulls of something spectacular this season (Europa League win or 4th). I suspect we'll be fortunate to finish 5th without any silverware at this rate.
A win on Sunday will redeem the current situation somewhat, but I can't see it happening.
