Player Ratings: Saints 2-3 Spurs

[Saint-Armstrong]

Hi folks, just back from the game and wanted to share my thoughts on this. I read through the entire match thread and agree with a lot of the points raised, but there was no match rating as such, so here's my view...

 

 

 

Gazzaniga - 3 - Does not command his area. His positioning is off too. He just doesn't back himself, always nervous and lacks that natural 'arrogance' that good keepers have. Kicking was a lot better today, but he really is not good enough for us.

 

Chambers - 7 - Thought Calum had a solid game. Won the ball back a few times, and caused Rose problems down their left flank. Won several headers and looked calm and comfortable throughout. Would never think he's an 18 year old lad.

 

Lovren - 7 - Lost count of the amount of times he put in a last-ditch tackle or block and re-started an attacking move for Saints today. Was hindered by the defence he found around him, but still stood out compared to the other two.

 

Hooiveld - 3 - Really poor. Won some aerial duels but Adebayor had him on toast all afternoon. Couldn't deal with the movement and does not inspire any confidence whatsoever. I like Jos. He appears to be a great bloke with all the time in the world for the fans, but he is not good enough.

 

Fox - 4 - Poor again, but it was to be expected. Never felt confident seeing him named alongside Jos and Gazza, and you could've predicted the calamitous mistakes. Nice assist though, and he's had worse days. Also not good enough for us.

 

Cork - 7 - Moved the ball very nicely. Manoeuvred himself out of tight spaces several times and dug his team-mates out of trouble. Had no huge impact on the attacking game, but that's not really Cork's bag. Respectable performance and contributed to the team effort throughout his time on pitch.

 

Schneiderlin - 7 - Switched the ball well, set Saints going. As ever from Morgan, decent range of passing and several good tackles to end or stutter opposition breaks. Not his best game offensively, but tidy.

 

S. Davis - 6 - Put himself about, played some nice passes. Decent range of passes, but failed to properly assert himself on the game, and was probably fair that he came off before the end.

 

Lallana - 9 - The one real positive for me. He was sublime. Twisting and turning all over the place, splitting the defence, making the third man runs and his crossing was positive too. Took his goal very well and looks on form right now. Spurs fans I travelled to the game with were massively impressed by Adam and rightly so!

 

Rodriguez - 5 - Didn't really get into the game either. Tried to break through with some runs, but Walker was wise to it for most of the game. Should have done better with his curled attempt, which could've put Saints 2-0 up shortly before Spurs scored. He's been great of late though, so can be excused.

 

Lambert - 5 - Despite the goal, which was absolutely on a plate for him, he looks lost. Lots of aimless flicks and punts, and Dawson handled him reasonably well. Calm finish for the goal, but had little impact aside from that. Thought he had scored an equaliser late on, but it skipped up too early. This isn't the Rickie Lambert we are used to seeing. Starting to worry.

 

 

 

SUBSTITUTES

 

 

Ward-Prowse - 6 - Didn't really have a huge impact, but demonstrated his adaptability and commitment to the cause. Worked hard defensively and whipped in a couple of nice crosses.

 

Ramirez - 6 - Better than he has been. A couple of nice defence-splitting balls, thought he'd put Lallana in to score but Lloris thwarted it. Didn't quite understand his chipped attempt, but he tried to make things happen.

 

Gallagher - 6 - Never looked fazed. Chipped in with defensive work-rate too. A couple of nice flick ons for his team-mates and had a good strike at goal, which Lloris held on to. He looks very promising though and threw himself into the game.

 

 

For me, that was an old-school Saints performance. We could easily have won that game, but continued to shoot ourselves right in our feet. Daft and really embarrassingly basic errors. Watching Fox, Hooiveld and Gazzaniga try to communicate and organise was painful.

 

Adebayor was on his game and we just couldn't cope. He monstered us with pace and strength. He clearly has a point to prove to Sherwood and Levy, and he's doing just that. But we shouldn't have allowed him the attempts he had in the first instance. Adebayor aside, I thought Spurs looked far from blistering, and were there for the taking. But our defensive woes just subdued our attacking commitments and made the forward jobs harder.

 

For me, today marks the day where I have finally come to accept that Gazzaniga, Fox and Hooiveld just do not, and will not, cut the mustard. A shame because they all seem like great lads, but they just lack the required ability to be dependable or a valid asset to a Premier League club, especially an ambitious one like ourselves.

 

Top ten starting eleven when all fit, but with a few injuries we become a relegation battler once again. Needs to be addressed in these next two transfer windows.

 

Onwards and upwards, we could really do with banking three points at Cardiff.

DTLW

[Born In The 80s]

Gazzaniga - 5

 

Chambers - 7.5

Lovren - 6

Hoovield - 2

Fox - 5.5

 

Morgan - 6.5

Davis - 5.5

Cork - 6.5

 

Lallana - 8

Rodriguez - 5

Lambert - 3.5

 

 

JWP - 5

Ramirez - 7

Gallagher - 5

[Roger]

Gazzaniga - 5

 

Chambers - 7.5

Lovren - 6

Hoovield - 2

Fox - 5.5

 

Morgan - 6.5

Davis - 5.5

Cork - 6.5

 

Lallana - 8

Rodriguez - 5

Lambert - 3.5

 

 

JWP - 5

Ramirez - 7

Gallagher - 5

 

Lambert was poor but not worse than fox Jesus!

[pingwing]

Gazza had a 5 performance, we can rant and rave about how he isn't ready but he is the only fit keeper we can play, putting Cropper in would be suicide... In the real world Gazza caught the ball a bit, made a save, could have done more for the first (though so could the whole of the back line), was hampered by the fox/hoiveld mess for the second and the 3rd was left no chance considering the entire team stood and watched pretending it could have been hand ball.

 

Chambers was an easy 7, promising kid just lacking stamina for 90 mins of this level at the moment (being 18 and all)

 

Loveren 7, good, solid game, let everyone know what he expected of them (aka shouted at fox and jos a lot)

 

Hooiveld 3. Got Adebayor in the air, then got demolished on the floor and didn't like being shouted at by Loveren for doing it all wrong.

 

Fox 3. Nearly as bad as Arsenal away last season. 3 at the back would have been more sensible and it is painful to watch him fail spectacularly to close anyone down or play in the right sodding place.

 

Cork 7. Shouldn't have been subbed unless it was fitness.

 

Morg 7. Kept Adebayor out of a hat trick twice and made some good forward runs no one noticed.

 

Davis 7. Full of energy and what we needed to keep our heads up, everything dropped when he came off and Pottechino needs to think long and hard about why we seem to play a lot better with Davis on the pitch...

 

Lallana 9. Another great game.

 

Lambert 5. Not really at the races and his head dropped a lot when nothing came off for him.

 

Rodrigez 4. Bah one week looks the bees knees, next just can't get in the game, should have been the target to sub.

 

JWP 6. Ok fill in at RB, ok in the middle, though not really a great tackler yet.

 

Ramirez 5. Passing amazing, ability to keep the ball, non-existent. Useless in the middle where Davis was, should have been miles further forward.

 

Gallagher 6. Good run out, good positioning and looked a threat (if a little nervous). Clearly could play a role in a few years, though no idea why Lee wasn't in contention for the bench instead of some big 18 year old.

 

 

Potechino 2. Started Fox/Jos when everyone and their dog can see that combo is a liability as they just run and back off into the same space, at very least Jos should have been on the right and left Fox to be screamed at by Loveren. Subs (unless were fitness related) were also all wrong, Davis and Cork were essential to getting the play moving about the pitch, when they went we went route one far to much to Rodriguez who is suddenly unsubable, despite not having a good day. Didn't really like throwing a kid on at 3-2 down to try and get a goal as well, that seemed a lot of pressure for someone who won't be ready.

 

All in all, meh.

[Roger]

Gazza had a 5 performance, we can rant and rave about how he isn't ready but he is the only fit keeper we can play, putting Cropper in would be suicide... In the real world Gazza caught the ball a bit, made a save, could have done more for the first (though so could the whole of the back line), was hampered by the fox/hoiveld mess for the second and the 3rd was left no chance considering the entire team stood and watched pretending it could have been hand ball.

 

Chambers was an easy 7, promising kid just lacking stamina for 90 mins of this level at the moment (being 18 and all)

 

Loveren 7, good, solid game, let everyone know what he expected of them (aka shouted at fox and jos a lot)

 

Hooiveld 3. Got Adebayor in the air, then got demolished on the floor and didn't like being shouted at by Loveren for doing it all wrong.

 

Fox 3. Nearly as bad as Arsenal away last season. 3 at the back would have been more sensible and it is painful to watch him fail spectacularly to close anyone down or play in the right sodding place.

 

Cork 7. Shouldn't have been subbed unless it was fitness.

 

Morg 7. Kept Adebayor out of a hat trick twice and made some good forward runs no one noticed.

 

Davis 7. Full of energy and what we needed to keep our heads up, everything dropped when he came off and Pottechino needs to think long and hard about why we seem to play a lot better with Davis on the pitch...

 

Lallana 9. Another great game.

 

Lambert 5. Not really at the races and his head dropped a lot when nothing came off for him.

 

Rodrigez 4. Bah one week looks the bees knees, next just can't get in the game, should have been the target to sub.

 

JWP 6. Ok fill in at RB, ok in the middle, though not really a great tackler yet.

 

Ramirez 5. Passing amazing, ability to keep the ball, non-existent. Useless in the middle where Davis was, should have been miles further forward.

 

Gallagher 6. Good run out, good positioning and looked a threat (if a little nervous). Clearly could play a role in a few years, though no idea why Lee wasn't in contention for the bench instead of some big 18 year old.

 

 

Potechino 2. Started Fox/Jos when everyone and their dog can see that combo is a liability as they just run and back off into the same space, at very least Jos should have been on the right and left Fox to be screamed at by Loveren. Subs (unless were fitness related) were also all wrong, Davis and Cork were essential to getting the play moving about the pitch, when they went we went route one far to much to Rodriguez who is suddenly unsubable, despite not having a good day. Didn't really like throwing a kid on at 3-2 down to try and get a goal as well, that seemed a lot of pressure for someone who won't be ready.

 

All in all, meh.

 

Ramirez worse than jwp and Gallagher . No chance.

[Saintandy666]

Come on now! Fox was not that bad. It was by no means a below average performance, so at least a 5 if 5 is indeed average in these kind of things.

[teacher]

How ever you wrap it up both Jos and Fox were terrible yesterday and had a contributing factor in all 3 goals! They are not good enough at this level and should be no where near the team!

[del boy]

Fox, Jos and Gazza were three unwise men, who came bearing gifts

 

not their fault, I'm sure they'd all like to be better. Gazza will become much better in time, Jos is just too inconsistent and Fox was really never up to upper Championship level

 

it will all look a lot different when we get our defence and DM back - you have to build on a solid base

[Window Cleaner]

I still think Fox had a reasonable game until he got clobbered, didn't Spurs first two goals come from raids down our right hand side ?

[S-Clarke]

Fox, Jos and Gazza were three unwise men, who came bearing gifts

 

not their fault, I'm sure they'd all like to be better. Gazza will become much better in time, Jos is just too inconsistent and Fox was really never up to upper Championship level

 

it will all look a lot different when we get our defence and DM back - you have to build on a solid base

 

I don't get that, why? He needs to be showing so sort of ability, you can't really improve on being rubbish in all areas. He is showing no natural goal keeping ability or instincts, I will be utterly gobsmacked if he's anything more than a lower-league keeper in his career.

[Joneth]

People saying Fox wasn't that bad need to look at his positioning, he just seems to make the wrong decision every single time. Many of the mistakes that Hooiveld makes come as a result of being caught between covering his own area and the covering the space Fox has left.

Don't get me wrong, Jos had an appalling game yesterday but Fox's total lack of defensive common sense left him badly exposed.

 

Those two playing together are an utter calamity.

[del boy]

I don't get that, why? He needs to be showing so sort of ability, you can't really improve on being rubbish in all areas. He is showing no natural goal keeping ability or instincts, I will be utterly gobsmacked if he's anything more than a lower-league keeper in his career.

 

Well I think his shot stopping is probably there. His positioning can be improved with coaching and his confidence can come from successful playing time. That will help the other two aspects. An extended loan seems favourites but thats not easy right now.

[S-Clarke]

People saying Fox wasn't that bad need to look at his positioning, he just seems to make the wrong decision every single time. Many of the mistakes that Hooiveld makes come as a result of being caught between covering his own area and the covering the space Fox has left.

Don't get me wrong, Jos had an appalling game yesterday but Fox's total lack of defensive common sense left him badly exposed.

 

Those two playing together are an utter calamity.

 

Unfortunately it's true. It was the same last season when we were conceding goals left, right and centre. The reality is that Fox and Jos were totally out of their depth then and contributed to that horrendous goals against record, and that's true again now. It's not a coincidence, it's not because they're unlucky, and neither were 'decent' - otherwise we wouldn't have shipped 3 goals. Positioning wise they're all over the show,t hey have no pace and can be turned way too easily. Both struggled in the championship when up against decent strikers, so it's no surprise to see them sinking so badly at this level.

[S-Clarke]

Well I think his shot stopping is probably there. His positioning can be improved with coaching and his confidence can come from successful playing time. That will help the other two aspects. An extended loan seems favourites but thats not easy right now.

 

I've never, ever seen him save a shot.............they all go in!