Tottenham Player Ratings – Son, Ndombele Lead Spurs v LASK
By Aaron Coe
Tottenham Substitutes and Coach Ratings
Moussa Sissoko – 6
Moussa Sissoko came on for Tanguy Ndombele, which ultimately pushed both Giovani Lo Celso and Pierre Højbjerg up the pitch. Lo Celso went into the #10 hole, while Højbjerg seemed to just drift a bit more forward. The point is, the two-man double pivot never really came together even after Sissoko came on. The Frenchman ultimately did little to impact the match.
Eric Dier – 6
The introduction of Eric Dier was probably the turning point in the match, as he replaced Giovani Lo Celso and left Tottenham without anyone to link the attack and defense. While Stephen Bergwijn kind of sat in the hole and Dele kind of played a target, neither provided anything near what Son and Ndombele were providing. But the problem was Bergwijn and Dele came on later for Bale and Son, the position was lost when Dier came on. Eric settled in the back to create a 5-man defensive line and try and hang on instead of going win.
Steven Bergwijn – 6
Came on at the same time as Sissoko replacing Lucas Moura and moving up the pitch to the left-wing position. After Lo Celso was removed, he went more central to try and play in behind Dele. Bergwijn’s biggest contribution was drawing the penalty that led to Spurs third goal, which they ended up needing.
Dele Alli – N/A
Dele converted a somewhat cheeky penalty and jogged a bit defensively but needed more time and maybe a bit more seriousness in his game.
Serge Aurier – N/A
Serge came on and played out at wing and ran hard in both directions. Aurier clearly heard his coach talking about Ben Davies playing like it was the last five minutes of his career and was going to give that same kind of effort, which is always appreciated.
José Mourinho – 6
Tottenham played not to lose against a team they should beat, home or away. Son needed more help and Mourinho failed to provide it. When Tottenham should have been seeing out the game, Spurs went into a try not to lose mode and were lucky not to lose. Sort of like the prevent defense in the NFL lets a team walk down the field playing 5 across the back concedes possession and a lot of shots. Occasionally one of those shots might go in and today that happened. Mourinho is not wrong often, but he seemed to miss this one today.