Ben Davies-9
Regular readers know I’m not exactly the President of the Welshman’s supporters society. However, he deserves a lot of credit for how he performed against Newcastle. His goal was icing on the cake, but he really controlled the opposing attack with his poised play at left back.
He still isn’t my idea of a star fullback, but he did an excellent job at Newcastle and deserves to be commended for his performance. Note, this doesn’t mean he should be starting over Danny Rose when the latter returns from injury.
Kyle Walker-Peters-8
The 20-year-old right back entered the match as the biggest question mark in the Tottenham starting XI. After all, Pochettino himself told everyone that his starlet “wasn’t ready” to start at Newcastle just last week. Of course, the cagey Argentine gaffer revealed that was a ruse designed to take pressure off his young star after the match.
All Walker-Peters did was play a flawless match for the full 90 minutes. He was solid in defense and avoided being caught out of position. It’s true that he got a lot of support from his defensive midfield, but that’s what being a team is all about. That support also allowed him to get forward for long stretches of time to really bother the Newcastle defense.
Without notching a goal or an assist it would have been pretty difficult to imagine a better debut for Walker-Peters. Spurs fans need to temper their expectations, but it seems that we have a real player for the future on our hands.
Toby Alderweireld-7
One half of Spurs’ Belgian defensive duo was pretty solid, but unspectacular on the afternoon. As usual, Alderweireld was solid in defense and played a big part in silencing any Newcastle attack.
On the other hand, he was unusually sloppy with the ball. He tried several of his trademark long diagonals but none came off for him on the afternoon. They did serve to back Newcastle’s back four up a bit, but you’d like to see him connect on at least one per match. Still, it was a solid performance from Alderweireld which contributed to the clean sheet.
Jan Vertonghen-7.5
As was frequently the case last season, Vertonghen was just a little bit better than his countryman. He offered the same defensive cover as Alderweireld, but wasn’t as wasteful with the ball at his feet.
Part of that was due to his conservative passing, but it doesn’t change the fact he didn’t give the ball away. Vertonghen continues to be one of the best central defenders in England on a weekly basis.