Player Ratings: Tottenham Hotspur 0-1 Aston Villa

Tottenham continued their disappointing end to the season with a loss to Aston Villa, with former manager Tim Sherwood taking all three points on his return to White Hart Lane. Here are my player ratings for the game.

Michel Vorm – 6.5; Vorm had a good game despite having little to do. Despite a nervous punch in the first 30 seconds of the game, the Dutchman’s catching and distribution was good all day. Made a vital save from Fabian Delph’s pitiful effort late on in the game. There was nothing he could of done to stop Benteke scoring his 8^th goal in 6games.

Vlad Chiriches – 4.5; A pretty poor display from the Romanian whose close control is hilariously bad at times. On a positive note he over-lapped Townsend and Lamela well and was always available, but sadly could do nothing when given the ball. Chiriches’ decision making was erratic and was lucky that Agbonlahor was flagged offside incorrectly after Vlad’s poor decision to step up.

Federico Fazio – 4; Yet another bad display from Fazio, who I am yet to see have a good game for the club. Christian Benteke beat the big Argentinian, who is supposedly fantastic in the air, time and time again on crosses despite being two inches shorter than the Spurs centre-half and took advantage to score Villa’s goal. Fazio’s passing was poor and was skinned by Gabby Agbonlahor in the first half who was denied by the wood work straight afterwards.

Eric Dier – 5; Dier didn’t have an obviously bad game but failed to deal with the threat of Benteke and Agbonlahor. His lack of pace was noticeable today. The young defender is still learning the game and stands no chance of excelling whilst playing alongside a defender as inept as Fazio.

Danny Rose – 7; Like so often in the second half of the season, Rose looked our best player today. Rose has improved a lot as the season has gone on and looks like a genuinely solid left full-back at the moment. His tenacious running caused Villa some problems and this was shown perfectly in the final minutes of the game when Rose’s lung-bursting run drew a foul and Carlos Sanchez saw red. Another good game from Rose.

Ryan Mason – 6; An acceptable, albeit unspectacular performance from Ryan Mason today. Mason, who has previously struggled with injury and natural fitness has looked tired in recent weeks and needs a rest for a week or two. Mason’s passing was good today, pressing was tireless as ever and he broke up play well, yet struggled to make an impact on the match like he has done at times this season. A tired performance.

Nabil Bentaleb – 6; Like Mason, Bentaleb looked fatigued today and the pair stuggled to work as effectively as they have done at times in the season previously. From mid-November to the end of January, Mason and Bentaleb were the hottest midfield pairing in the division, but have slowed down as the year has gone on. Bentaleb was wasteful today and passed the ball straight out of play on two occasions. He made too many fouls, including a clumsy late challenge when he was on a booking. A bad game by Bentaleb’s standards.

Andros Townsend – 4.5; Another disappointing game from young Townsend, on a day when academy product Alex Pritchard had a fantastic game for Brentford by all accounts and scored his 10^th goal of the season from the right wing. Many Spurs fans thought Andros’ goal for England would kickstart a resurgence of form for Spurs – there was no sign of that today. Townsend had a typical day of poor crosses, tame shots and disappointing shots on goal. I really think it is time our manager at least tries Townsend on the left wing, where he can utilise his best attribute (beating full-backs and direct dribbling) more often. Townsend has been too bad for too long on the right of the midfield three.

Christian Eriksen – 4; I wrote on Twitter during the game that Christian Eriksenis the most inconsistent player I have ever seen. Although it was sent in the heat of the moment, it shows my frustrations with Eriksen perfectly. He has a lot of talent and is capable of moments of magic, but virtually never has a good 90 minutes for Tottenham, and you really wonder how much the player has improved since moving from Ajax. I know I will probably get a barrage of abusive comments about this, but I don’t care. Eriksen needs to improve his all-round game to warrant a move to a Champions League club. Today was one of Eriksen’s worst; his shooting was abysmal, his passing was abysmal, he constantly made heavy touches and he had little to no impact on the game on the whole. Like a lot of the players, Eriksen looked tired and lethargic, but Eriksen has brought little to the side for a while now, so needs to improve his fitness levels if this is the case.

Nacer Chadli – 5; Nacer’s form has suffered since the death of his father, and he had another quiet game today. I would imagine Nacer is struggling to motivate himself after such a tragic loss and I hardly remember him having a touch today in all honesty. I think Lamela or Rose should start on the left next week against Newcastle as Chadli’s season is ending with a whimper.

Harry Kane – 6; Kane was starved of service today and was contained exceptionally well by Ron Vlaar. Kane had two good efforts; one from 35 yard that was hit very well and one on his left that just went over the bar. A feature of Kane’s season has been creating chances out of nothing, and this was shown today. Hard to criticise his performance due to the lack of service.