Tottenham Player Ratings from Shambolic Loss to Brighton

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BRIGHTON, ENGLAND – JANUARY 31: Hugo Lloris of Tottenham Hotspur looks on as Pascal Grob of Brighton & Hove Albion shoots and hits the post during the Premier League match between Brighton & Hove Albion and Tottenham Hotspur at American Express Community Stadium on January 31, 2021 in Brighton, England. (Photo by Andrew Boyers – Pool/Getty Images) /

Tottenham Defensive Ratings

While Tottenham was supposed to be in a 3-4-3 in the first half and then reverted back to the more traditional 4-2-3-1 in the second half, the reality is Spurs were in five man backline the first half. Moussa Sissoko and Ben Davies were more fullbacks than flankers in the set-up and probably both had way more of the ball than is good for the team. Overall the unit was okay, but some individual errors again cost the points.

Moussa Sissoko – 6.5

Moussa Sissoko was actually one of the better performers for Tottenham on the day, which is really not saying anything. One thing about Sissoko is he does not shy away from the ball and looks to get on it and then try and go forward. Never pretty but always active Moussa Sissoko actually looked good at times as an outside midfielder, where he can influence both sides of the pitch without shouldering the possession load. However, for whatever reason, Sissoko did shoulder much of the possession for Spurs and that is never a good thing.

Davinson Sanchez – 6

In some respects Sanchez deserves an incomplete as he only played the first half, being removed at the interval to bring on Carlos Vinicius. Whether or not Sanchez coming off was the right move could probably be debated but it is what it is. Sanchez had a couple big blocks in his 45 minutes and did not make any real mistakes, which is a step in the right direction.

Toby Alderweireld – 7

Toby Alderweireld played hard all afternoon and covered a ton of ground for Spurs. At one point Toby was all the way to the Brighton endline and was making a cross. No one got on the end of it, but such was the effort from the big Belgian. His block in the 84th minute showed real dedication to the team and a player who has certainly not quit on his coach or mates. Not sure everyone can say that, but Toby could.

Joe Rodon – 6

Joe Rodon did some things well on the afternoon. Overall he was efficient with his passing, although much of it was sideways. Rodon was okay in the air, but as a young defender seems to get drug out of position a bit by the opposition. With more experience will gain more ability positionally. Something to build on.

Ben Davies – 5

Ben Davies passed the ball okay for Spurs and occasionally looked to get in the Brighton half managing to get three crosses off. However, the only thing I will remember from Ben Davies in this match was him being beaten, badly, twice, on the only goal of the game. First failing to stick with his runner and then in an attempt to cut the pass he failed to beat Troussard to the ball. Davies is supposed to bring steadiness to the team, instead he is one dimensional offensively and a liability defensively and both showed in this match.