Tottenham exorcise Newcastle demons: Spurs player ratings
Harry Kane-5.5
August is not Harry Kane’s favourite month. He was anonymous for long stretches of time against Newcastle and he failed to convert the handful of chances he did receive. If this match would have ended in a frustrating 0-0 draw, Kane would have drawn a fair bit of criticism.
In his defense, his service was pretty poor. He only managed to touch the ball 31 times. A striker of his skill and accomplishment simply must get more time on the ball. Expect that message to be hammered home by Pochettino this week.
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There’s no reason to sound alarm bells here, but Tottenham will need a much better performance from their prolific centre forward against Chelsea on Sunday. Perhaps Pochettino should tell him the match is in September.
Hugo Lloris-7
Stop me if you’ve heard this description before, but Lloris made the saves he needed to make while struggling with his distribution from the back. It’s almost as if I can write that evaluation of his match on a weekly basis.
Despite my frustrations with his poor long passing, he still is an excellent shot stopper. It’s a fine example of nitpicking one of the best keepers in Europe.
Son Heung-Min-6
It was a relatively quiet afternoon for the Korean attacker, but I thought his insertion into the match gave the Tottenham attack some much-needed life. In particular, his movement off the ball seemed to create space for his teammates. I’m sure he would have liked to see the ball more, but his mere presence on the pitch was a positive for Spurs.
Victor Wanyama-5.5
The Kenyan destroyer came on late in the match and did exactly what he was supposed to do. Pochettino charged him to shut down the middle of the pitch and he did just that. It wasn’t a flashy cameo, but he helped his club see out a comfortable victory.
Next: Kyle Walker-Peters puts in a solid shift for Spurs
Harry Winks-5
In fairness to the young Englishman, he wasn’t on the pitch long enough to make a real impact. His insertion into the match was largely designed to run some time off the clock. Still, he helped the club see out the win which is all you can ask of a player in his position.