For the record - it was a disgrace!
This was yet another match this season that we do not want to dwell upon, but for the record, I'll just mention the following:-
Hugo Lloris was voted the Spurs man of the match, and remains in contention with Emmanuel Adebayor for your player of the season vote. Hugo was the solitary player to manage an above average grade (6.1), and has now been voted our best player 14 times in his 29 games. He did make two excellent saves on Sunday.
The only other player to manage an average grade (5/10) was Christian Eriksen, who on the one hand was to be seen getting involved in most of our occasional attacking play. On the other hand, he was one of those caught cold at the start of the game for that Johnson overlap, and the Kaboul own goal.
Two players (Rose and Vertonghen) were awarded less than three out of ten. Seven of the 14 players used were given between three and four out of ten, including our club Captain. That, and the fact the team were considered worthy of only 24% for effort is an absolute disgrace.
Sunday's game was viewed as the worst managerial performance of the season, with Tim Sherwood voted only 29% overall. I'll write more about the manager's performance in my March review later in the week.
I did ask voters to "count to 10" before offering their grades and opinions. Over 200 responded, and it is only fair to include a sample of the comments received. Thanks to all for participating:-
"I've counted to 10, twice!! Pathetic, inept display, no direction
What sort of manager sits in the stand because he can't trust himself and leaves the other two coaches looking embarrassingly lost? Frankly bizarre behaviour from someone who is way out of his depth. The players can tell that. Meanwhile the arguments raged around me as to who is to blame -Sherwood or yet another master stroke from Daniel - he must look at himself. At least some class was on display with the Darren Alexander Banner."
"We capitulated before a ball was kicked, total affront to the shirt and to our premier league rivals."
"Think the rating for Dowd is a bit low, got a 7 from me, would have been 8 if he had acted on Suarez when he left a leg in on Hugo, didn't do much wrong today"
"For the first time in 40 years, even during the Sugar stupid years, this regime has completely knocked out my passion for Spurs, it's really quite sad. Until ENIC are gone, nothing will change in my opinion.
Harry went with no explanation, AVB was on a hiding to nothing without a class striker and being sacked by Chelsea... Sherwood is a passionate fish out of water and should never have been put in this embarrassing situation.
My only hope is that the fans vote with their feet, pressure Levy and Lewis to sell to a mega rich Russian oligarch... or nothing will change.
My biggest anger is that we made a transfer profit of 15 million this year (again)... and Lewis and Levy were being praised with splashing the cash! Did they f**k
Lastly... how the hell does Nabil Bentaleb even get into the squad, he makes Jason Dozzell look fast and skilful!"
"Paul,
Your excellent, as usual, match report made depressing reading, for what it's worth the Spurs chant near the games end of "lets pretend we scored a goal" has got some press here, picked up by USA Today. A classic, even if the reason for it was a sad one. Still, look forward to my next game at the Lane. If nothing else, I miss those fans!"
"This non-performance is a reflection of what is being trained into the players at the training ground. We have the best training facilities in Europe and the place is wasted."
"Pretty poor. My low marks are my only way of expressing just how low I feel after trekking up there and back."
"Un-fathomable starting selection"
Spurs' record against the top four teams has been well reported before and after Sunday's game. The record against the current top four reads Played 8 Won 0 Drawn 1 Lost 7, with 2 goals for and 27 against. That's a disgrace for any team.
I've looked back over the last 12 seasons, and found no team as highly placed as Spurs are at present with a negative goal difference. After 32 games in the 2001-02 season (that was with Glenn Hoddle in charge by the way), we were in eighth place with a -4 goal difference. Aston Villa were one place above us with a -2 goal difference. Very few teams have even been in the top half at this stage with a negative goal difference.
So, for the record, it really was a disgrace!
· The Spursometer in full
Results 29-31.03.14
Man Utd 4-1 A. Villa
C. Palace 1-0 Chelsea
S'hampton 4-0 Newcastle
Stoke 1-0 Hull
Swansea 3-0 Norwich
West Brom 3-3 Cardiff
Arsenal 1-1 Man City
Fulham 1-3 Everton
Liverpool 4-0 Spurs
S'derland 1-2 West Ham
Barclays Premier League
P W D L F-A GD Pts
1. Liverpool 32 22 5 5 88-39 49 71
2. Chelsea 32 21 6 5 62-24 38 69
3. Man City 30 21 4 5 80-28 52 67
4. Arsenal 32 19 7 6 56-37 19 64
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5. Everton 31 17 9 5 49-31 18 60
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6. Spurs 32 17 5 10 40-44 -4 56
7. Man Utd 32 16 6 10 52-38 14 54
8. S'hampton 32 13 9 10 49-40 9 48
9. Newcastle 32 14 4 14 38-47 -9 46
10. Stoke 32 10 10 12 37-45 -8 40
11. West Ham 32 10 7 15 36-42 -6 37
12. A. Villa 31 9 5 15 34-46 -12 34
13. Swansea 32 8 9 15 45-48 -3 33
14. Hull 32 9 6 17 33-40 -7 33
15. Norwich 32 8 8 16 26-51 -25 32
16. C. Palace 31 9 4 18 20-39 -19 31
17. West Brom 31 5 14 12 36-48 -12 29
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18. Cardiff 32 6 8 18 29-61 -32 26
19. S'derland 30 6 7 17 28-48 -20 25
20. Fulham 32 7 3 22 31-73 -42 24
