Tottenham player ratings: 3-2 triumph over Everton

The Back Three

Jan Vertonghen-6

What a strange match it was for the Belgian defender. In the first half, Vertonghen was absolutely brilliant. He kept Romelu Lukaku silent and even bombed forward to provide verve to the Spurs attack.

Unfortunately, he was largely responsible for letting Everton back into the match. He is clumsy slip allowed Lukaku to break free for the Toffees’ first goal. His silly dive into a (missed) challenge opened Spurs up again late. Simply put, Vertonghen can, and must play much better down the stretch.

Eric Dier-6.5

In truth, this was one of Dier’s better performances as of late. He wasn’t a star by any means, but he did a nice job walking the line between physicality and discretion.

More specifically, he showed really good positioning throughout the match. While Vertonghen bombed forward at every opportunity, Dier picked and chose his spots. His decision-making kept the squad in good defensive posture.

Dier can certainly play much better than he did today, but he put in a solid shift. Pochettino will be pleased with the 90 minutes he got from his English international.

Toby Alderweireld-8

It’s easy to get bored by how easy Alderweireld makes the game look. He put in another quietly excellent performance against Lukaku and company.

Really my only issue with Alderweireld is that he doesn’t assert himself enough on the offensive end of the pitch. I’d much rather see him getting forward on the ball than his Belgian teammate. Even if he isn’t running forward, I’d like to see him take more chances with long diagonals when the game is getting congested.

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Of course, his bread and butter continues to be his excellent defensive play. He barely put a foot wrong against one of the Premier League’s most dangerous strikers. He deserves high marks for keeping Lukaku relatively quiet for almost the entire match.