Player Ratings: Tottenham 2-2 Manchester United

Spurs finally proved to an extent that they can play exciting and dynamic football as they twice surrendered the lead at home to the reigning champions. Kyle Walker opened the scoring early with a free-kick drilled under the wall before Rooney equalised after a mistake from Walker, whilst in the second half Sandro scored a wonder goal from 30 yards out before that man again, Wayne Rooney, equalised from the penalty spot after Lloris brought Welbeck down. Whilst it wasn’t the 3 points we wanted and needed, there were a lot of positives and it was a determined and passionate response to the thrashing at City.

Hugo Lloris – 5 – Not his best day in a Tottenham shirt by any stretch of the imagination, giving away the penalty and on one occasion failing to make contact with an attempted punch from a United corner.

Kyle Walker – 7 – A mixed day at the office. A well-taken free-kick and an all-round excellent offensive performance, although a moment of defensive mediocrity allowed Rooney to equalise when we seemingly had the game under control.

Michael Dawson – 6 – A solid performance, including 2 excellent clearances from low balls into the area.

Vlad Chiriches – 8 – The standout defensive performance, drawing comparisons with Ledley King for a super tackle on Rooney. Occasionally meandered forward with the ball and really does look like another Jan Vertonghen. To be compared to those two defenders in the same match shows that he is a top player!

Jan Vertonghen – 6 – An improvement on the City display, still not perfect, but he looked more bothered and committed to the cause.

Sandro – 8 – An absolute worldie of a strike after easily beasting past Cleverley and played well in his defensive midfield role too. I think that our best XI may well end up including Sandro, Paulinho AND Dembele.

Mousa Dembele – 7 – A very secure performance from the Belgian, ensuring that most of United’s play had to happen down the flanks. There is a reason that he was our 2^nd best player last season.

Paulinho – 7 – Had much more of an impact on the game in his advanced midfield role, as he looked like forming a partnership with Soldado and linking up with the wingers. An impressive display to answer his critics.

Aaron Lennon – 7 – Impressive in the first half and unfortunately faded away in the second half before he was substituted. Whilst I love the idea of playing wingers who will actually cross the ball, I’m not sure if he is the right winger for the job.

Nacer Chadli – 6 – A somewhat surprising selection but I feel it was justified, as he looked to get balls into the box and create chances. Perhaps he was a little quiet but he is a good player and it is important to remember that he has only played about 4 Premier League matches.

Roberto Soldado – 6 – Quiet again. Most of his interplay with Paulinho and the wingers was unfortunately too far away from goal to have much of an impact.

Substitutes

Andros Townsend – 6 – Looked lively without ever producing much.

Jermain Defoe – 6 – Hardly saw the ball.

Gylfi Sigurdsson – 6 – Also lacked possession.

On the whole, there were definitely more positives than negatives as we move into the month that will define our season. First up are two must-win games against Fulham and Sunderland, both away from home.