The Vertonghen love-in continues!
There has been no let-up in the Jan Vertonghen love-in by Spurs Odyssey voters over the last week.
In a moderate team performance
in the Athens Olympic Stadium, Vertonghen stood out in the eyes of those who took part in the match-by-match Spurs Odyssey survey.
Our Belgian star defender was voted man of the match yet again for his performance against Aston Villa, but he did at least have to share the accolade with Aaron Lennon who capped a fine wing performance with Spurs' second and best goal. It was Aaron's first goal since scoring in another 2-0 win (over Everton) in January this year.
Vertonghen has now been voted man of the match in 7 of the 9 games in which has played this season. That is an unprecedented run in my experience, and it is already almost as many as Gareth Bale managed all last season (10). I wrote more about Vertonghen in my September form guide, and I suspect I shall be writing more and more as the season progresses.
Brad Friedel can count himself unlucky to be dropped in favour of Hugo Lloris, as the veteran keeper is one of just four Spurs players averaging over 7/10 so far this season. In addition to Vertonghen, the others to be at this level are Mousa Dembele and Steven Caulker. Caulker has now played a part in our last 6 games, and a Guardian article today made a good point in linking Spurs improved league form with Caulker's second half appearance as substitute against QPR, when Villas-Boas experimented with Bale at left back, but realised the error of his ways, moving Vertonghen to cover on the left.
Mousa Dembele is also making a big impact, and in my view, he and Sandro excelled in Sunday's game - more so than Vertonghen. Still, over 200 voters can't be wrong, can they?
Finally this week, a word about referee Neil Swarbrick, who was appointed to the Premier League panel in 2011, and officiated in a Spurs game for the first time. He has started well, with a 7/10, and drew a couple of favourable comments, which, let's face it, is unusual from football fans abut any referee!
"Decent officiating, unfussy, no noticable mistakes. Actually didn't notice the guy, which is very rare, so must have been a decent performance."
"It's not often I award a referee marks this high, thought his handling of the game was excellent, and communication with assistants was excellent on two or three occasions... He let his lino (who was in a better position) make the decision on a foul, communicated with him and played on accordingly. Unfussy, hardly noticed him, you can't really ask for more."
P.S. - It's our second best ever Premier League seven-game start, and at this moment, AVB is statistically Spurs best ever manager in terms of his overall success percentage, which stands at 70% at this time. That will of course change. Wouldn't it be great if he improved that figure against his old team on October 20th!
· See this week's spursometer in full
Results 06-07.10.12
Man City 3-0 S'derland
Chelsea 4-1 Norwich
Swansea 2-2 Reading
West Brom 3-2 QPR
Wigan 2-2 Everton
West Ham 1-3 Arsenal
S'hampton 2-2 Fulham
Liverpool 0-0 Stoke
Spurs 2-0 A. Villa
Newcastle 0-3 Man Utd
Barclays Premier League
P W D L F-A GD PTS
1. Chelsea 7 6 1 0 15-4 11 19
2. Man Utd 7 5 0 2 17-9 8 15
3. Man City 7 4 3 0 15-8 7 15
4. Everton 7 4 2 1 14-8 6 14
5. Spurs 7 4 2 1 13-8 5 14
6. West Brom 7 4 2 1 11-7 4 14
7. Arsenal 7 3 3 1 13-5 8 12
8. West Ham 7 3 2 2 8-8 0 11
9. Fulham 7 3 1 3 15-11 4 10
10. Newcastle 7 2 3 2 8-11 -3 9
11. Swansea 7 2 2 3 12-11 1 8
12. Stoke 7 1 5 1 6-5 1 8
13. S'derland 6 1 4 1 5-7 -2 7
14. Liverpool 7 1 3 3 9-12 -3 6
15. Wigan 7 1 2 4 7-13 -6 5
16. A. Villa 7 1 2 4 6-12 -6 5
17. S'hampton 7 1 1 5 12-20 -8 4
18. Reading 6 0 3 3 8-13 -5 3
19. Norwich 7 0 3 4 5-17 -12 3
20. QPR 7 0 2 5 6-16 -10 2
