Watford 0-1 Tottenham: player ratings to the theme of mascots observing moments of silence

Good morning, Spurs fans! Today’s theme is a pre-made one, fast and easy, because this particular blogger is back at work today after a couple weeks away.

If you don’t know the twitter account @MascotSilence, it’s worth a follow — it’s nothing but photos and videos of football club mascots observing moments of silence before matches. There’s something kind of hilarious about these situations — the juxtaposition between what are supposed to be solemn moments of remembrance, or commemoration, or sorrow and then you’ve got this person in a silly suit whose job is to make children smile trying to look the part. Chirpy, mourning the dead of World War I. You get the idea.

Here are your Tottenham Hotspur player ratings for their win over Watford at Vicarage Road to the theme of mascots observing moments of silence. Hands over your hearts, folks.

5 stars:

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No Tottenham players were as good as the Premier League commemorating Remembrance Day with a person dressed up as a giant poppy.

4 stars:

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Hugo Lloris (Community — 4.0): Hugo had nothing to do for the vast, vast majority of this match, but the one time he was called into action he was ready for it, diving to make an incredible stop on Josh King. Extend his contract, please.

Davinson Sanchez (Community — 4.0): Another solid match from Davi. Watford didn’t generate much, but Sanchez pretty easily handled everything that came within his area. Also, y’know, he won the match with an injury time header off a set piece. That happened too.

3.5 stars:

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Eric Dier (Community — 3.5): Pretty good, but also didn’t really differentiate himself much compared to Sanchez. Should’ve earned a penalty after getting hauled down at the edge of the box.

Ben Davies (Community — 3.5): Watford was really keying in on Davies’ side trying to keep Reguilon quiet. That limited Ben’s ability to get forward, and the bunkered defense also kept his long passing to a minimum.

Harry Kane (Community — 3.0): Six shots for Kane, three on target. That usually means a goal or two, but Watford’s defense meant most of them came from the top of the box or otherwise lower xG chances. Uncharacteristically blew his best chance of the match after Skipp did well to win the ball and set him up but this wasn’t a bad performance at all.

Oliver Skipp (Community — 3.5): Pretty good, ran around a lot, set up Kane for his best chance. Decent athletic performance, but he’s still not necessarily the guy you want in there to break down a bunkered defense.

3 stars:

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Lucas Moura (Community — 3.0): Really struggled breaking Watford down, and is a player that needs a little more acreage to shine. Wasn’t awful, just not a great situation for his skillset.

Harry Winks (Community — 3.0): It’s a testament to both his improvement under Conte and the state of that match that I spent much of the first half muttering “Winksy could’ve made that pass.” Wild. In truth, Winks didn’t make THAT much of a difference when he came on, but he was trying things.

Antonio Conte (Community — 3.0): This was the first time I really questioned Conte’s tactical setup and approach. As soon as it became clear that this starting XI wasn’t going to work well against a Watford team set up to frustrate and defend, I expected him to make adjustments. He left it late, and even when he did his players didn’t have much chance to make an impact.

2.5 stars:

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Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (Community — 3.0): More of a bad fit than a bad performance. Did fine mopping up, but did little to actually progress the ball into decent positions, especially when paired with Skipp.

Sergio Reguilon (Community — 3.0): Watford clearly saw Reggie as the bigger wingback threat and spent more of their energy trying to keep him quiet. Unfortunately, they were successful. Reguilon had very little offensive output other than forcing Bachmann to make a save.

Son Heung-Min (Community — 3.0): A very frustrating performance overall. Never seemed to get going, made some curious decisions. Had one shot saved and did have the assist to Sanchez, but this wasn’t a performance to hang your hat on.

2 stars:

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Emerson Royal (Community — 2.5): I feel a little bad putting Emerson here — he had acres of space and plenty of time to work in, but really floundered with his final ball. We know he has the ability to capitalize from wide positions as he’s shown it on numerous occasions, he just fluffed his lines on Saturday.

1 star:

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No Tottenham players were as bad as... whatever this is

Tom Carroll Memorial Non-Rating

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Gio Lo Celso (but wasn’t it nice to see him?), Bryan Gil