Liverpool 2-1 Tottenham: Player ratings to the theme of Pantone Fall/Winter 2020 color swatches

Each year, color specialists Pantone releases a list of color swatches that are meant to both evoke the seasons and also inspire designers that create the high fashion clothing pieces in places like New York, London, and Milan. Colors are neat, and every couple of years I like to return to this well for player ratings themes. I did one of these in 2016 and again in 2018. After a 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur loss to Liverpool on a 90th minute goal that felt like a kick in the teeth, sometimes it’s nice to forget about that feeling and just look at some pretty colors.

For today’s theme, I’m using color swatches from Pantone’s Fashion Color Trend Report for London Fashion Week, Autumn/Winter 2020-21. Sharp-eyed Londoners may have noticed the ultra-posh wearing these, or perhaps combinations of these, colors. Or maybe not, because it often takes a while for these colors to filter down past the runways into the general milieu. But again, whatever — colors are neat. Let’s look at some.

5 star: Jet Stream

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According to Pantone’s London Fashion Report website, Jet Stream is described as “an off-white suggestive of our affinity for raw and recycled.” I don’t know about “raw and recycled” but one thing we do know is that North London is definitely white. Looking at the table, I’d say that also goes for the rest of London as well, Liverpool loss notwithstanding.

No Tottenham Hotspur players were this good, unfortunately. Not quite, anyway.

4.5 stars: True Blue

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The perfect shade of blue and well named, IMO. Here’s what Pantone says about this color: “A definitive and reliable blue hue, True Blue is constant and ever faithful.” **cockerel crows in the background**

Hugo Lloris (Community — 4.0): The only thing keeping Hugo from a full five stars is that we lost the game 2-1. But there wasn’t much he could do about either goal, and he came up absolutely huge in this match with some incredible stops, none better than Sadio Mane’s chance that he tipped onto the bar.

4 stars: Exuberance

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I love a good, bright orange color, especially in winter. None of your muted Wolverhampton orange Old Gold here, Exuberance leaps out and punches you in the jaw. Much like Liverpool did to Spurs and now I’m thinking about the game again instead of looking at the pretty colors oh god that sucked

Son Heung-Min (Community — 4.0): Left everything on the pitch against Liverpool to the point where he looked absolutely wrung out when subbed off. His goal was exceptionally well taken, the kind of goal that he would have missed earlier in his Spurs career.

Pierre Højbjerg (Community — 3.5): More of the same, really. Had a bit of an off match against Palace but regained his solid, defensive, stable self against Liverpool in what was an exceptionally difficult outing.

Toby Alderweireld (Community — 3.5): Have seen him criticized for deflecting Liverpool’s first goal into the net, but I thought he was quite good and had some important blocks and clearances throughout.

3.5 stars: Ultramarine Green

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Greens are underrated colors. They’re earthy, so in general they tend to work to highlight other colors rather than stand out on their own. This one, by contrast and according to Pantone, “exudes self-assurance and poise.” I don’t know if I’d go that far but it’s a pretty emerald-ish shade that would absolutely pop against a slate-gray London winter sky. I dig it.

Giovani Lo Celso (Community — 3.5): Had a good assist for Sonny’s goal (which none of us saw live because they were doing a replay at the start of Spurs’ counterattack). Did his best to generate offense going forward with only a few real opportunities. Worked his tail off.

Eric Dier (Community — 3.5): Five clearances, four of them with his head. Did well against Firmino until, y’know, the end. Hard to blame him for that when he got successfully picked by Henderson.

Serge Aurier (Community — 4.0): Serge defended at times for his life against the dual threat of Sadio Mane and Andy Robertson. Gave the ball up a few too many times for my liking, but things could’ve gone a lot worse considering how much of the ball Spurs gave them.

Ben Davies (Community — 3.0): Not gonna lie, I was terrified what Sadio Mane might do against Davies, but there wasn’t much space to work with on the flank, which meant Davies sat deeper to defend. And he did pretty well, combining well with Bergwijn to keep Salah more or less in check.

Jose Mourinho (Community — 3.0): I have no issues with the way Mourinho set up Spurs to play in this match, and in fact the second half Spurs were set up to take the game straight to them. Three good chances created and Spurs were unfortunate to not escape with at least a point at Anfield.

3 stars: Military Olive

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Olive green gets a bad rap sometimes, but it definitely has a place in anyone’s wardrobe. It’s not and probably shouldn’t be the centerpiece of your ensemble without something brighter to contrast with it, but this is a solid choice for any number of outfits. I wouldn’t necessarily reach for pants this color first, but they would definitely find their way onto my legs for casual work-wear on the regular.

Steven Bergwijn (Community — 3.0): Fine, be mad at him for missing two chances. But also be happy that he GOT those two chances, which has been something we’ve criticized him for a while now. Stevie isn’t Son, and his finishing isn’t phenomenal, but he worked hard again defensively and on another day he scores one of those chances and ends up at 4 stars in these ratings.

Harry Kane (Community — 3.0): Oh Harry, that headed chance looks worse and worse the more times I watch it. Wasn’t given many opportunities to score and couldn’t convert on the one big chance he had. Four shots but none on target — that’s an off day, but he again did a ton of work from deeper positions.

2.5 stars: Celery

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I don’t necessarily hate this color. Yellows are bright and fun. This one is a little more muted, looks like it has a touch of green to ramp down the electric brightness a touch. No, my issue is that swatch looks nothing like a stalk of celery, and it bugs me. If you saw celery in the supermarket that is that shade of yellow you would absolutely NOT buy it. Color descriptions are important, especially one that according to Pantone is supposed to “reflect the natural freshness of nature.”

Moussa Sissoko (Community — 3.0): I’m getting frustrated. Yes, he works hard and defends and does all that gritty yeoman’s work and stuff, but watching this match I wonder how long we can carry a player who doesn’t have the technical ability to actually progress the ball in midfield, either centrally or wide.

2 stars: Tawny Birch

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Neutral tones have their place but this has a “cheap expired pancake foundation in the discount bin at the pharmacy” look to it to my eyes. This might work as an accent color, used tastefully (and very much in the background) along with some of the other colors, but I would not call it “evocative of rustic nature.” Hard pass.

Lucas Moura (Community — 2.5): Lucas was supposed to come in and be the spark that reignited Tottenham’s offense at a time when they were pushing for a go-ahead goal. Instead he didn’t look for opportunities on offense and looked lost on defense. It would’ve been better to sub on Tanguy Ndombele, who is at least an outlet for the ball.

1 star: Samba

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Look, I like reds, especially crimsons and darker reds that have a bit of black in it like this one. But that match stings and this shade is almost exactly the shade of Liverpool’s home kit this season and seeing it makes me flash back to that Jordan Henderson pick on Eric Dier and Firmino’s header and dang it now I’m mad again. Screw this color.

No Tottenham Hotspur players were as bad as this particular shade of red.

Tom Carroll Memorial Non-Rating

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Sergio Reguilon, Dele