Player Ratings: Tottenham 0-2 Leicester City

Tottenham 0-2 Leicester City

Well that certainly looked like a Spurs side that was challenging for a title. Toothless, a lack of creativity, and a silent Harry Kane when they needed him the most. He had 3 easy headers and couldn’t score on arguably the worst team at marking set pieces. Youri Tielemans bested him zonally, and he’s a good 5 inches shorter than the spurs #9.

Kasper Schmeichel 9/10

The Dane was on his game today and saved spurs best chance of the day and what would’ve been a game changing goal. His distribution seemed much better than the 42% pass accuracy he was recorded having, but he cleared the ball when he needed to, and passed well when he had to. I’m possibly his third harshest critic, so he stepped it up today and earned an impressive clean sheet.

James Justin 10/10

I’m not really sure what to say about his performance today. He was incredible at left and right back and always did the right thing. He attacked and defended exactly when he should. If it weren’t for a certain GOAT on the field, he’d be my MOTM.

Wesley Fofana 9/10

A defensive beast today in shutting down the spurs offense. He had five clearances to go with two tackles and one interception. I guess it was a mix of a back 4-5 at times, but neither he nor Jonny Evans had to stray too far out from CB and them staying so centrally was key to disrupting Tottenham’s attacks.

Jonny Evans 9/10

My only complaint is the two times he got stretched out to LB with Castagne and it almost released an attack, but thankfully I think part of Brendan’s plan with Timmy was to keep him wrangled LB so we wouldn’t be completely caught out from a speed perspective. Otherwise, Evans had a pretty consistent game and thankfully didn’t get another yellow card.

Timothy Castagne 9/10

He almost managed 60 minutes on his return to first team action and had a great shift at his possible new position of LB. I think that might have been his first start for us out there and it went well for him. He had four tackles, one interception and one clearance and did a mighty job disrupting the attack from that flank. He wasn’t very offensive today, but I don’t think he needed to be nor did Brendan want him to be. We should get a nice picture of what he can do offensively some time soon.

Youri Tielemans 9/10

His stats don’t show an outstanding performance, but he was all over the field today. He also should’ve scored, but I won’t hold that against him. I heart Youri.

Wilfred Ndidi 10/10

He made 11 defensive contributions today and would’ve had more if three of the five fouls he “committed” weren’t on Harry Kane. Only James Maddison bested his 93.9% passing rating and he even made a key pass. Mendy did a fine job in his absence, but the impact Wilf has in every game is just uncanny.

Marc Albrighton 11/10

Cast out from an Aston Villa side and joined Leicester on a free transfer, now considered the GOAT even by Messi himself. There isn’t a team out there that wouldn’t take Albrighton on if they could. He’s fully embraced his role in the team now that he used last season to get his bearings and must have worked incredibly hard in training to get the this point for Brendan Rodgers. It’s not like Cengo has been poor by any standards, so to drop him and have Albrighton go out and put in a performance like he did is a testament to just how deep this team will be when everyone is healthy.

James Maddison 9/10

I think this was his best game for us this season. Yeah he owned Brighton with a brace, but he was just so good today. He pressed high with Vardy to disrupt the counter, won the ball and calmy moved it to attack so many times I lost count. We’ve seen Youri do that since he joined, but I think some of it has rubbed off on young James. His goal was wrongly overturned by VAR, in my opinion, and that came off a beautiful pass from JJ.

Harvey Barnes 9/10

Early on Lo Celso had Harvey’s number when he held onto the ball for too long, but it was a much better offensive performance from Harvey today with his two shots, two key passes, and two dribbles. Where he really worked hard today was on the defensive side, coming back and getting involved early, closing down the space so Spurs couldn’t move the ball with any rhythm. He had three tackles, which might be the most ever for him in a game, but I am speculating with zero research outside the eye test.

Jamie Vardy 10/10

Vardy for Ballon d’Or. Is he French? He ages like a cab sav, but hits like a vodka redbull. Toby Alderweireld should be ashamed for ruining what should’ve been a goal of the season contender. That pass from the GOAT was straight from his direct to DVD training vid that Messi watches each night before bed. You’ll never convince me Vardy wasn’t going to score had Toby not interfered. Way to be Toby from The Office, you Toby.

Honorable Mentions

Daniel Amartey

I didn’t read the sub sheet before the match, so was literally surprised when I saw him step on the field. He’s a great depth guy who we’ll need in this shortened but longer season.

Gareth Bale

He’s a secret Leicester City agent and did exactly what he’s paid to do when he took that free kick: miss, but make it look like he tried.