Tottenham Player Ratings from Victory over Fulham

Spurs Attacking Line

With Son on international duty and both Harry Kane & Lucas Moura out injured, we knew a makeshift front line was in order. A front three of Alli, Llorente, and Lamela did just enough for Spurs to come away victors.

Dele Alli – 8

Prior to his injury, Dele Alli was one of the more dangerous players on the pitch for Tottenham. Playing primarily from the left of the front three, Dele was harassing the Fulham defense and running through most of the afternoon. It was his tough grafting on defense that led to his hamstring injury late in the second half – an injury that seems to be recurring for most of the season.

At the 50 minutes, when Eriksen picked up the ball near the corner of the box, it was clear Dele was making a run. The Dane put the ball right on Alli’s head and he finished with aplomb, hammering the header home past Sergio Rico to tie the game. Given Spurs don’t lose when Dele scores, confidence was clearly growing. Still, the work wasn’t done.

Dele leaving the game in the 86th minute will surely be a worry for Spurs given everyone missing from the squad right now. Let’s hope it isn’t serious, with the games continuing to come fast and frequent.

Fernando Llorente – 6

Llorente got his first opportunity to start in the Premier League for Spurs on Sunday and he didn’t show that he deserves more opportunities. After the hat-trick versus Tranmere in the FA cup, hopes were growing that Fernando Llorente could do enough to help move the team forward, however, those hopes seemed quite misplaced.

It is one thing to ask Llorente to punish a League 2 side, just as it is one thing to ask the soon to be 34-year-old Spaniard to come on and win a few headers to create opportunities late in a match. However, it is something quite different to ask him to lead the line in a Premier League match, which he seems incapable of given yesterday’s game. Yes, he did score a goal– for Fulham. He did manage to take 5 shots, even if several of those didn’t go as planned, with shots bouncing off Llorente rather than being taken by the striker.

The lack of movement and inability to seemingly track a ball in the air made Llorente a passenger who is too heavy to carry. Either he needs to get some form back or Spurs need to cut their losses and move on, but Llorente doesn’t seem capable of keeping Spurs moving while Kane and Son are out.

Erik Lamela – 5.5

Likely the most disappointing of Spurs players yesterday was Erik Lamela. While we can excuse Llorente’s bad form on age, ability, and lack of opportunities, what is Lamela’s excuse? Eric was awful and it was frankly surprising that it took Pochettino so long to pull him off the field. In 50 touches, Lamela managed 0 shots, 0 assists, and completed only 30 of 35 passes. I’m not sure where those 30 came from to be honest, as it seemed like every time the ball came his way Lamela attempted some flick or knock-off that just didn’t work. Given the opportunity given to Erik Lamela to force his way further into the starting XI, his performance was just disappointing.

Spurs Substitutes

Despite the injuries and lack of any real attacking verve for much of the match, it wasn’t until the 79th minute that Pochettino finally axed Lamela and brought on Eric Dier. A move that seemed more like playing for a tie than the win it was good to see Eric on the pitch following his emergency appendectomy in December. Then after Dele Alli came up holding his hamstring, on came Georges-Kevin N’Koudou for his first Premier League appearance of the season.

Neither player really played quite enough to earn an official player rating, both played enough to impact the game. Together, they made a 9 on the day for Spurs. Dier’s effect was that of freeing Harry Winks to run forward. Just having his presence on the field did seem to help calm a team that was maybe pushing a bit too hard.

As for N’Koudou, maybe he was on the bench to remind people he exists during the January transfer window. However, he made a much bigger impact for the team. In less than 10 minutes the Frenchman was able to play in a couple of different crosses from the left. What made them particularly effective, as that he was cutting back on his right, creating a ball that was curling in, rather than out.

It was at about 92 minutes and 40 seconds when N’Koudou picked up the ball on the left, cut back to his right and looped in the curling cross. Harry Winks was screaming down the channel heading for the back post. The rest is history as Winks headed home the winner and Spurs survived.

Bonus Referee Rating

Okay, most of the time I’m not big on saying anything about the refereeing in a game, as it is VERY difficult job. However, Craig Pawson was just awful on Sunday. Neither Spur’s card was truly earned, and he frankly missed two red cards on Fulham.

Mitrovic’s move against Sanchez was totally uncalled for and clearly both violent conduct and excessive force. Equally excessive was the foul by Jean Michael Seri on Jan Vertonghen was equally violent and late. Add in the fact that Sanchez was carded for walking away from an incident and Rose was incorrectly judged to have taken a dive and that meant Pawson was 0-4 in cards on the day. Two undeserved cards and two missed reds makes for a bad day for an official. In truth Pawson had little control of the game from the beginning and did little to protect the players on the pitch. Let’s hope we don’t see him again anytime soon.

Tottenham travel across London to face Chelsea in Leg 2 of the Carabao Cup on Thursday and then on to Crystal Palace on Sunday in the Premier League. Fulham host Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday in League.