Tottenham Hotspur: Ranking Best and Worst Players for February
Tottenham Hotspur's February began with an impressive victory which fanned the flames of expectation around Mauricio Pochettino's improving team. It ended with their Europa League hopes dashed and Champions League qualification requiring a near flawless finish to the season.
Sunday's Capital One Cup final defeat to Chelsea (on March 1, so not used as a reference point for this article) confirmed a potentially season-making month had not gone to plan. Tottenham will now seek to regroup and ensure as strong a possible finish to their Premier League campaign.
As part of Bleacher Report's look at various clubs' best and worst players of the last month—Arsenal and Liverpool are among those to already receive the treatment—we now turn our attention to Spurs.
Four will be ranked for each category, with the criteria that those featured had to play in more than one of the North London club's five February fixtures.
Each ranking is based on consideration of the player's performances and the circumstances surrounding them. Selections ultimately come down to this writer's opinion.
We begin with the best of February.
Best No. 4: Eric Dier
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In a stronger all-round month from Tottenham, Eric Dier might not have made the "best of" category.
Momentary lapses of concentration saw the 21-year-old caught out for goals against Liverpool and West Ham United (though he was not entirely culpable)—moments which ultimately cost Spurs points.
The flip side to there being few stand-out performers in February is that Dier's general progress earns greater recognition.
Predominantly used at right-back earlier in the season, an injury to Federico Fazio handed the summer 2014 signing his chance at centre-back.
While there have been hiccups, Dier's work has indicated why he might become a long-term part of Spurs' defence. He is a committed tackler and aerial combatant, showing no hesitation at competing with attackers of all skill sets and sizes. The next step is working on the awareness of his surroundings at all times, and not just when the play's momentum is with him.
Pochettino appears to be happy with him, too. As far as domestic games have been concerned, Dier has continued to be picked ahead of the more experienced Fazio (more on him later).
Best No. 3: Danny Rose
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Like Dier, Danny Rose was not perfect in February.
He had a hard time dealing with Liverpool's Jordan Ibe at Anfield, and he should have done better with West Ham's second goal in that 2-2 draw.
Where Rose earns his place is in the upgrading of his work ethic compared to late last year. Since January, the left-back's efforts have carried more urgency than previously seen.
He was unlucky for Mesut Ozil's opener against Arsenal. Danny Welbeck got the jump on him, but he should not have been put on the back foot by Spurs losing possession where they did after he had just done well getting them out of danger.
Rose otherwise got the better of the Gunners wide-man and turned this advantage into an unceasing patrolling of his left flank. The confidence he demonstrated getting forward was seen again versus West Ham, and it led to him initiating Spurs' comeback with his goal.
With Ben Davies behind him, Rose cannot afford to let his levels drop. How much more he can improve as a full-back is unclear. Grafting far harder than before is a good start.
Best No. 2: Nabil Bentaleb
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It is a testament to Pochettino's growing faith in Nabil Bentaleb that the head coach restored him to his side immediately following the Algerian's return from the Africa Cup of Nations—for the north London derby, no less.
The 20-year-old responded with one of his best performances in a Tottenham shirt. Alongside Ryan Mason, his quick, persistent passing and hounding of his Arsenal midfield counterparts played a key role in the gradual dominance which informed Spurs' comeback 2-1 victory.
Bentaleb's lax marking of Laurent Koscielny did almost go punished at 1-1. Indeed, since then there have been moments where focus on the ball has been at the expense of his awareness of the situation around him (he and Mason lost their shape at times in the Liverpool loss).
Overall, though, February has seen the maturation process of Bentaleb continue apace.
As Spurs attempted to come from behind against West Ham, he was one of their more clearly vocal presences on the pitch. Just over a year into his first-team career, Bentaleb is showing he belongs there.
Best No. 1: Harry Kane
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Harry Kane scored both of Tottenham's goals in their 2-1 win against Arsenal. Three days later, he equalised against Liverpool and showed no signs of being intimidated by the prospect of playing at the famous Anfield ground.
The 21-year-old then won and scored from the rebounded penalty to earn a stoppage-time draw with West Ham at home.
When Kane did not start, against Fiorentina in the Europa League, Spurs were worse off for his absence. There was a reason why Pochettino called him off the bench when things were not going their way versus the Italians.
Kane was, by a healthy margin, Tottenham's best and most important player in February. He built on his team-mates' best work and covered for their worst.
That understanding seems unlikely to change much this season.
Now we move on to the north Londoners' worst performers of the month.
Worst No. 4: Nacer Chadli
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After his dynamic, eye-catching contributions to Tottenham's turn-of-the-year improvements, Nacer Chadli's momentum was cruelly stunted mid-January by a personal bereavement which caused him to miss a couple of weeks.
Finding form since then has proved difficult.
Throughout February, Pochettino rotated his squad to accommodate the demands of their two-match-per-week schedule.
In the Premier League, Chadli was consigned to late substitute appearances. He started both games with Fiorentina but struggled to find any real rhythm in starting line-ups also somewhat fractured by the changes which had been made.
The 25-year-old was replaced early in the second half both times. He had not played badly out at left wing, but he had not imposed himself in the physical, direct manner we have seen so often this season, either.
With Spurs' season now streamlined of non-Premier League distractions, as one of their best, no-nonsense performers, Chadli is likely to be one to benefit from the clearer all-round focus.
Worst No. 3: Christian Eriksen
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Christian Eriksen's placement on this list is not meant so much as a criticism of his performances. It's more a criticism of the circumstances that have restricted his playing as well as he might.
Heading into February, Pochettino stuck with Mousa Dembele in central attacking midfield after the Belgian's encouraging performances against Sheffield United and West Bromwich Albion.
The Belgian's subsequent understated performance against Arsenal was followed up by some tidy, typically skillful participation in Spurs' better attacking work at Liverpool. Dembele's effectiveness diminished at home to West Ham, though, and the rested Eriksen was called off the bench to help orchestrate his team's comeback.
The Dane played his part in an improved second-half showing. Earlier on, he had played decently against the Gunners and Reds without ever reaching the heights he is capable of (seen weeks earlier in wins over West Brom and Sheffield United).
What all of this made clear, however, was placing Eriksen on the periphery—be it on the left of midfield or not even in the line-up—is not conducive to Spurs being at their best.
Pochettino's reasoning was understandable. But moving forward, the priority in his midfield selections has to be making the most of Eriksen's creativity. More often than not, that is going to come by playing him in a central role which allows him greater involvement.
Worst No. 2: Roberto Soldado
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With a swing of his right foot, Roberto Soldado struck as sweet a volley as he could have hoped for. The perfect mix of direction and power guided it through the purple shirts and into the back of the net.
This goal in the Europa League last-32 first leg with Fiorentina looked to have set Spurs on the way to a dominant victory. The Serie A side were struggling to deal with sustained pressure applied on them by their Premier League opponents, and the Spaniard's strike looked to be the first of more to come.
At that moment, you would not have expected to see Soldado as part of the worst category on a ranking such as this.
But a week later, we saw the other side of Spurs' Soldado. The frustrating, inexplicable side which has becoming increasingly harder to defend.
Pochettino's team had eventually been pegged back at White Hart Lane. They needed to strike first at the Stadio Artemio Franchi to stand a realistic chance of winning.
Erik Lamela sent Soldado through in Florence with only the goalkeeper Neto to beat. The lone front man opted to pass to Chadli to his left rather than shoot himself. The pass was short, unarguably poor, and the Fiorentina man gratefully collected it.
The story of Soldado's overall failure to deliver at Tottenham is a complicated one incorporating issues around him as well those of his own.
But simplified within February, it just so hard to understand how a positive, relatively confident performer one week can then so lethargically waste a match-changing moment the next. Especially when we know he is capable of more than that.
Worst No. 1: Federico Fazio
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Federico Fazio's February contributions were limited to the two matches with Fiorentina.
A product of the January injury which saw him lose his league place to Dier, his intermittent appearances since then have reiterated that this is a player who requires consistency to thrive. It was seen in 2014 when he greatly improved with regular starts, and it has become clear since then.
Even so, Fazio himself will surely feel he could have done more to make the most of his starts.
At home to la Viola, he looked unprepared for the movement and directness of the formidable Mario Gomez. Not much changed in Italy. He looked shaky again, and he ended up giving the ball away near the halfway line to allow the German to open the scoring.
Fazio is unlucky to be ranked as Tottenham's worst of the month given he had less time than others to make amends. But as Spurs' Europa League campaign ended with a whimper, he did little to show why he deserved more minutes.
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