A lacklustre London derby ended with White Hart Lane booing again on Saturday as Tottenham Hotspur could only manage 0-0 draw against Crystal Palace. Here’s how Mauricio Pochettino’s men rated:
SEE ALSO:
(Video) Samuel Eto’o Gets Photobombed By Twerking Kevin Mirallas!
(Image) Curvy Cracker Alice Goodwin Shares Epic Christmas Photo!
Top Five Error Prone Premier League Teams: Liverpool & Man United Among Doziest Sides.
GK: Hugo Lloris – 8/10
After a rare poor performance at Chelsea, Lloris was back to his best today, making top stops to deny Mile Jedinak, Scott Dann and Yannick Bolasie. His first league clean sheet since October 5 was aided by a large slice of luck, though, with Jason Puncheon hitting the crossbar and having a goal [correctly] disallowed for offside.
RB: Eric Dier – 5/10
Three different players have filled Tottenham’s right-back slot this season and none of them have made it their own in Kyle Walker’s absence. Dier was busy today, but his never looked fully in control of the situation.
LB: Ben Davies – 7/10
Looked good on the few occasions he got forward. He provided a lovely low cross for Roberto Soldado, who fluffed his lines.
CB: Jan Vertonghen – 7/10
Made a stunning last-ditch tackle to prevent Wilfried Zaha from firing Palace ahead before half time.
CB: Federico Fazio – 8/10
His positioning was excellent today. The big Argentinian made six interceptions and a whopping 15 clearances.
RM: Erik Lamela – 4/10
Made one good cross-field pass to find Davies, but that was all he did well. Was hooked at half time and replaced by Nacer Chadli.
LM: Christian Eriksen – 7/10
Tottenham’s brightest attacker by a long way. Eriksen came close in the first half, firing into the sidenetting after brilliantly nutmegging Martin Kelly. The Dane also forced a good save out of Julian Speroni with a well-hit free kick.
CM: Ryan Mason – 5/10
Mason’s passing was too slow in the final third. He was subbed for Paulinho for the final 25 minutes and the Brazilian did slightly better.
CM: Nabil Bentaleb – 6/10
As the deepest man in Tottenham’s midfield, Bentaleb was tied up with his defensive responsibilities for much of the game. He looked classy as ever in possession, although the lack of movement from his teammates clearly left him frustrated.
Harry Kane – 5/10
He has been brilliant recently, but today was not Kane’s day. He worked hard as ever, but nothing came off.
Roberto Soldado – 4/10
Having scored the winner against Everton last weekend, one would have thought that Soldado’s confidence would be higher than usual. That was not the case. His finishing was poor, as was his general play. The Spaniard was hauled off on 82 minutes to make way for Aaron Lennon.
Subs:
Nacer Chadli – 6/10
His passing was positive, but his teammates were not on the same wavelength.
Paulinho – 6/10
Hit a brilliant shot on the turn, forcing Joel Ward into a heroic block.
Aaron Lennon – 5/10
The fans were calling for Lennon’s introduction for most of the second half, but it only came with less than 10 minutes to go. Too late.
