The first forty-five minutes of the turn of the season have come to an end, and it’s time for player ratings, as Spurs trail Newcastle United 1-2 at the halfway mark in the early kick off.
Spurs’ injury crisis has worsened tenfold since the conclusion of their last outing against Wolves, as left-back Destiny Udogie was sidelined for up to eight weeks with a hamstring problem. Ange Postecoglou also confirmed we wouldn’t see Romero or Van de Ven back in action until the end of the month.
Furthermore, news broke yesterday that illness has been spreading amongst the Spurs camp like wildfire, with Fraser Forster and Archie Gray just two of the many affected. In fact, only seven senior players were available for training on Friday.
Such absentees has led Postecoglou no choice but to hand Brandon Austin his first competitive appearance since joining the club nine years ago. The last time Austin started for Spurs was in a post-season friendly against today’s opposition, Newcastle.
Over the duration of the last forty-five minutes, we’ve analysed each player’s individual performance, rating them on a scale of 1-10. Let’s take a look at how they fared.
Brandon Austin: It’s a first competitive appearance for Brandon Austin after nine years at the club, and despite conceding two, the Englishman made some decent saves. With his distribution, he often went long and tended not to find a Spurs player but it wasn’t an awful display by Spurs’ third-choice keeper in the first-half. 6.
Pedro Porro: Despite his defensive woes in rcent weeks, Porro made an incredible attacking contribution as it was his sweet cross that fell kindly to Solanke to make it 1-0. On a few occassions, he left Gordon alone which hindered Tottenham when Newcastle countered but as the half wore on, his positioning improved, as did his defensive work. 6.
Radu Dragusin: Battling illness today, Radu found himself up against the in-form Newcastle attack and he was made to work, to say the least. For the second time this season, he practically assisted an opposition player, and the Romanian was clearly unsettled at the back, giving the ball away time and time again. 2.5.
Archie Gray: Also battling illness, Archie found himself at centre-half again for Spurs and his inexperience at centre-back was evident. He dealt with the Newcastle press well at times, though. 4.
Djed Spence: Spence deputised for the out-of-action Udogie on the left-flank and faced similar defensive issues to Porro, as Newcastle’s width exploited Spurs’ narrow full-backs. Djed was often unable to make an intervention when applying pressure, and was clearly uncomfortable for a lot of the half. 3.
Pape Sarr: Sarr was really energetic throughout the first-half, chasing down loose balls and applying the press really effectively. However, Spurs quite evidently lacked any sort of midfield presence throughout the half as Newcastle tore through it time and time again. 5.
Lucas Bergvall: Lucas was gifted his second Premier League start today but he found it difficult to create anything and was pressed heavily whenever he had the ball. 4.5.
Dejan Kulusevski: Deki was handed the captain’s armband today, which seems much deserved. Unfortunately for Spurs, their midfield maestro wasn’t allowed the time or space to create opportunities for the Spurs front three. 5.
Brennan Johnson: Brennan was non-existent in the first forty-five, having almost no chances or opportunities on the ball. 2.
Dominic Solanke: Solanke opened the scoring early on with a fine diving header, but other than attempting to hold-up play at times, the Englishman didn’t have much of the ball. 6.
Timo Werner: Timo was kept quiet by Livramento for much of the first-half. When he had the ball, he was useless. 2.
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