Manchester City versus Tottenham Hotspur – Player ratings for Tottenham: Premier League (Part 3)
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Luka-Modric-c22857
Modric started the match as Tottenham Hotspur’s left sided midfielder. However his tendencies to dictate the tempo of the match along with his playmaking skills soon meant that he was drifting inside towards the central midfield
area. This worked well for Tottenham as Modric’s in-drift allowed http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Danny-Rose-c10222 to exploit the space left by his team-mate on the left wing.
With Rose providing width down the left wing and Modric adding more creativity in the center of the park, Tottenham controlled the match early on in the first half. However when http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Wilson-Palacios-c36948 was substituted Modric was shifted
inside into a much more central position. This effectively meant that the Croatian had less time and space on the ball which stifled his innovative approach to the encounter as a whole. In the second half, Modric was uncharacteristically subdued perhaps because
of a combination of helplessness and fatigue. Rating: 6/10
Sandro
The Brazilian defensive midfielder was entrusted by Tottenham to keep track of Yaya Toure’s movements. However this was not the case. Sandro did disrupt Manchester City’s offensive traffic from the center of the park but his man-marking
job on Toure was basically non-existent. In the first half, Toure escaped http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Sandro-c32460’s attention time and again and contributed effectively in the build up play for Manchester City.
In the second half when http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Patrick-Vieira-c29316 entered the fray, Sandro was unable to match the Frenchman’s experience and physical presence as Tottenham slowly faded away from the encounter. In the dying stages of the match when Tottenham
needed more men forward, Sandro sat back in his defensive role which was also counterproductive to some extent. Rating: 5/10
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Rafael-c30339 Van der Vaart
Tottenham’s dip in form and in the English Premier League rankings has coincided with Rafael Van der Vaart’s dip in form as well. In the second half of the Premier League season, Van der Vaart has found it hard to influence the
proceedings for Tottenham. Harry Redknapp keeps on starting with the Dutchman in his starting eleven but it is more a case of fitting one’s best players into a formation rather than working around with the best available formation as per the availability of
the players at hand.
Against Manchester City, Van der Vaart pulled off another anonymous performance. The former Real Madrid playmaker was absent during the first half as City took the lead through http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Peter-Crouch-c29741’s own goal and in the second half when
Tottenham required a heroic performance from their forward-men, Van der Vaart was nowhere to be seen once again. All in all it was a disappointing display from the Dutch midfielder. Rating: 4/10
Peter Crouch
Tottenham’s only striker on the night was profligate with his movement and wayward with his aerial ability. The Englishman was also at fault for Manchester City’s first goal of the night which was an own goal attributed to the
former http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Liverpool-c39809 man.
Crouch’s main problem against Manchester City was his failure to adapt his game as City often double up on the English striker. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Micah-Richards-c25259 were usually tasked his putting Crouch under pressure on every given
opportunity. However, Tottenham and Crouch persisted with their long ball strategy which was easily dealt with by City at the Eastlands stadium. Rating: 3/10
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