Player Ratings & Thoughts On AVB Following Tottenham’s 6-0 Loss To City

Following Tottenham’s painful 6-0 defeat to Manchester City on Sunday afternoon, the ‘Spurs Blogger‘ gives his thoughts and player ratings from the game.

Well, I guess I’d have to review the game eventually, so let’s get this started. 6-0, not matter who it’s against, whether it be Real Madrid vs. a third division Spanish side or Manchester City against Tottenham Hotspur, they’re both as demoralising and embarrassing for the fans, players and everybody involved with the club.

Manchester City took the lead after merely 14 seconds, with Jesus Navas chipping over Hugo Lloris, Sandro then put the ball into our net, whilst Aguero got one for himself before the half. The second half began no different, with Aguero getting his second of the match, whilst Alvaro Negredo continued his impressive goal scoring prowess in the 55th minute. We then at least went nearly half an hour without conceding, before Navas scored his second and Manchester City’s last of the game during extra time.

Here are my ratings:

Hugo Lloris 3/10

Hugo had a less than impressive match on his return to the side. His poor clearance led to the opening goal, whilst he repeated this feat for the second. Hugo looked nervous throughout the game and will clearly wasn’t his normal confident self when rushing from his line.

Kyle Walker 5/10

Kyle had a difficult game, but for me probably did the best of any of our defenders. He was always going to have a difficult afternoon, facing a rotation of Samir Nasri, Clichy and Sergio Aguero, but City didn’t have much joy down the left hand side, and Walker cannot be individually blamed for any of the goals. However his offensive play was poor and wasted the little time on the ball that he had.

Younes Kaboul 4/10

Had a poor game on his return from injury, but to start him in such a difficult and intense match was poor management. He looked sluggish on the ball and didn’t help Hugo Lloris much with a poor back pass, leading to a goal. One to forget.

Michael Dawson 3/10

Once again, as I have previously stated, Michael Dawson cannot play the highline, Hugo Lloris was exposed way too often during this match and no matter how good a goalkeeper is, if the opposition has so many chances, they will score, unless it’s Tim Krul. The City attacks found it too easy to find space behind our defense and Michael’s head dropped after the third goal, not too inspirational and very off character for him.

Jan Vertonghen 4/10

Played out of position against a very impressive Jesus Navas, Jan was dominated the whole match. He needs to return to the middle, I’d rather see Kyle Naughton at left back, with Jan back in the middle.

Erik Lamela 6/10

Many called for him to start in this match, but why? Because he impressed against Sheriff? Yes. I also did, but he hasn’t shown anything in the premier league, so why start him in such an important match? That said, he was potentially our best player on the park, attempting to take on players, but still looked awfully off the pace.

Sandro 4/10

Was unfortunate to get the own goal, but also had a poor game in spite of that. The so called ‘beast’ was ‘tamed’. Yaya Toure ran City’s midfield; Sandro sat back and perform very few clean tackles. He looked slow to react and will be hoping to forget about that performance.

Paulinho 3/10

Completely waste of a man in midfield, gave away the ball and didn’t work for it when City had it. Paulinho needs to learn in this league that players have to work for the ball; possession can’t be taken for granted, as it is in the Brazilian league. Needs dropping from the side, as even the much criticised Moussa Dembele offers more offensively and defensively.

Aaron Lennon 4/10

He was played on his wrong foot, Aaron isn’t known for his end product, but was forced to play wide left, where he struggled to do anything when reaching the by-line. Didn’t make the effort to swap to the other flank, but looked the most up for the fight, if he’d have been on the right, we may’ve been dangerous.

Lewis Holtby 5/10

This match proves how Lewis Holtby isn’t a like for like replacement for Christian Eriksen, he doesn’t want to sit behind a striker, he enjoys working for the side, dropped deeper at times in this match and performed positively pushing the ball forward. Good signs however as he seeks to find his true position and that could be, next to an anchor-man in a 2 or in a midfield of 3.

Robert Soldado 3/10

Had very little to do all game, but when on the ball was poor and lost it. He didn’t drop back; even merely to add more numbers to the midfield, signs of the prolific striker that can score from any angle is yet to be shown.

AVB

Take a seat; this is going to be a long one. To see a full review of AVB, I posted yesterday about him; I’d recommend reading it, although it’s slightly controversial. All season the ‘inverted wingers’ have caused congestion in the midfield which have meant we’ve struggled to create clear-cut chances, resulting in a lack of goals. AVB had the two week international break to come up with a solution, so what does the tactical mastermind do? Play right footed Lennon on the left and the left footed Lamela on the right. Sure, Lamela is an inverted winger, but we could’ve played Townsend wide left, where he’d be able to take players wide, keep the full back wide, allowing the midfield space to work, therefore creating chances.

AVB took too many risks in this game, starting Kaboul and Lamela in such a high pressured game was a mistake. He was once again tactically inept, just throwing Adebayor on at half time doesn’t make you clever! Holtby impressed me in the first half, working like a dog, whilst Paulinho wandered around whinging when not in possession. Why not drop Holtby deeper, where he was playing, and bring off Paulinho?

We struggled on the left in this match, against Jesus Navas, why? Because we didn’t play a left back, sure Jan Vertonghen is an incredible defender, but full back’s are faster than centre halves for a reason, why in the world have we got a vastly experienced left back at QPR, whilst we’re struggling in this position?!

Gooners, Manchester City and the majority of other football fans may think that they’re abuse is what we’re worried about, but it’s far deeper than that. Our performances for the last two seasons have been so sub-par its painful, it’s just last season we had a certain Chimp-faced Welshman to dig us out. While deciding to sell him and buy 7 new top players was a great decision, when these players have no clear instructions and are being forced to play in a way which isn’t natural to them, they’re going to struggle.

We basically looked like 11 lost souls on the pitch, unaware on the ball and uninterested when not. It’s not a fun time to be a Spurs fan, and it’s going to sort a lot more than a change of manager and the January window to sort this mess out. I’ve already stated in my previous post that AVB has one week, anything but a win Manchester United, and I’m afraid AVB’s time should be up and the sharp axe of Levy may well come down.

I know it’s difficult to feel good right now, but we’re only two points off fourth, and next week Newcastle face a difficult West Brom, Everton face Stoke, Liverpool are away to a confident Hull, Southampton and Chelsea play each other and Man City have Swansea, a win for us, and points dropped for any of these will see us rise up the table. Chin up.

COYS!

What did you make of the Man City defeat? Share your thoughts below.

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