Power Ranking Every Tottenham Player from the 2014/15 Premier League Season
Tottenham Hotspur's Premier League season has come to a close with the club once again finishing as the best of the rest.
Finishing behind the Champions League clubs but ahead of Liverpool and Southampton is a solid conclusion to a season of real ups and downs.
Spurs nabbed a pleasantly surprising fifth-place finish on the final day, and it's time to reflect upon and rank the players who got them there.
A total of 24 players represented the club in the league in 2014/15, from Christian Eriksen, who appeared in every match, to DeAndre Yedlin, who made a single brief cameo appearance.
Each of the players who made at least one appearance in the league this season without later leaving on loan finds a place on this list.
24: DeAndre Yedlin
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DeAndre Yedlin could not justifiably feature any higher on this list, given that he only played 12 minutes for the club on his sole appearance to date.
That brief glimpse was promising enough, although Yedlin did show a worrying lack of positional sense. Spurs fans will have to wait until next season before they can really see what he can do.
He agreed to join Spurs after several bright substitute appearances during the World Cup, but he remains a very rough diamond. Mauricio Pochettino now has a full summer to get Yedlin up to speed.
With luck, the American will rocket up these rankings next season.
23: Younes Kaboul
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That Younes Kaboul began the season being named club captain and ended it at second bottom of this list speaks very clearly to just how poorly he fared.
Kaboul endured a dreadful campaign.
His game is based heavily on his supreme athleticism and physicality. It appears that age and injury have eaten away at him, as he no longer looked capable of playing the aggressive, swashbuckling defending that made him a star.
Embarrassing lapses became his trademark, and he was quickly displaced in the lineup. In his 11 appearances, he clearly demonstrated he is a shadow of the player he once was.
While Pochettino gave him chances early in the season, Kaboul has not been in a matchday squad since January. It is unlikely that he will survive the summer's squad clear-out, and the Sun (via Here Is the City) reports that Watford will try to acquire him.
From his brilliant reaction after scoring the equaliser in the 4-4 against Aston Villa to his header in the famous 3-2 win away to Arsenal, he has produced some endearing moments in Spurs colours.
He was a late substitute when Spurs won the League Cup against Chelsea in 2008. He was the man who sent in the cross for Peter Crouch's winner in the de facto Champions League playoff against Manchester City in 2010.
Though he's not a club legend, he has been a great player over the years. It's a great shame that Kaboul's Spurs career has ended in this way.
22: Etienne Capoue
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Etienne Capoue seemed like the obvious solution to Spurs' defensive problems this season, but he was little more than a bit-part player.
Seemingly failing to grasp his role in Pochettino's system, Capoue often looked to be out of sync with his team-mates.
He is an unsophisticated player, one who can be broadly compared to Victor Wanyama.
That Pochettino used Wanyama as a destroyer type during his time at Southampton demonstrates that he is not averse to such a tactic.
It is clear Capoue's absence from the first team was down to an unwillingness or inability to adapt to Pochettino's system.
Two years after joining from Toulouse, Capoue has made little progress. In fact, it is arguable that his best display in a Spurs shirt remains his debut against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park in 2013.
Capoue is certainly good enough to play in the Premier League, but he did not show that this season.
21: Emmanuel Adebayor
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Emmanuel Adebayor has not been a negative on the pitch for Spurs this season.
He played in the 4-0 obliteration of Queens Park Rangers at the start of the campaign, even scoring a goal, but his personal life intruded upon his playing career.
Various issues prevented him from playing regularly this season, while the emergence of Harry Kane also kept him out of the team at times.
Thirteen appearances and two goals is simply not enough of a return from a player of his talent.
It seems likely that he will depart the club over the summer without ever recapturing the brilliant form of his loan spell.
The Mirror reports that Aston Villa are willing to offer £5 million for Adebayor in the upcoming transfer window. If those reports are true, Spurs would do well to complete the deal.
20: Vlad Chiriches
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Vlad Chiriches is, at best, a polarising figure.
He only started eight games this season and played two more as a substitute.
His appearances routinely coincide with some of Spurs' worst performances. From the 3-0 mauling at Stamford Bridge to the calamity against Stoke City, a game in which he was sent off, trouble seems to follow Chiriches.
His unnerving defending has the potential to make him a David Luiz-esque cult hero, but much like his Brazilian counterpart, Chiriches has been routinely exposed.
He did enjoy a brief revival as an emergency right-back, but he was certainly not among Spurs' better players this season.
19: Roberto Soldado
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Roberto Soldado remarkably made 39 appearances for Spurs in all competitions this season.
In the Premier League, he played over 800 minutes in 24 appearances but scored just one goal.
His attitude and his social media presence have helped him retain the support of the majority of fans, but there is a justifiable frustration at his lack of output.
Soldado's time at Valencia showed he is an excellent goalscorer, but it simply hasn't worked out for him in England.
There is every chance that, were he to be sold back to a Spanish club, he could return to his former free-scoring ways, but that seems unlikely to happen with Spurs.
Last season, Soldado developed a knack of making goals when it became clear that he wasn't scoring them. That ability also appeared to have deserted him this season, and the enduring image of his Tottenham career seems likely to be the wry smile he produces every time he contrives to squander a chance.
18: Benjamin Stambouli
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Mauricio Pochettino wanted to bring Morgan Schneiderlin with him from Southampton.
When that deal proved to be impossible, Spurs found a player with similar characteristics for relative pittance.
Benjamin Stambouli has the attributes to be an effective defensive midfielder in the Premier League, but he has had few chances to prove himself in his first season.
Starting just four league games during his first season at Spurs, Stambouli remains something of a mystery. He has played enough that most fans have made a judgement on him, but realistically, it's too early to tell whether he is good enough.
He certainly hasn't proved to be a failure and will remain a useful member of the squad next season.
17: Paulinho
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In Paulinho's first season, he showed glimpses of the talent that convinced Spurs to break their transfer record to sign him.
This season, he started in terrible form, clearly exhausted after a long World Cup campaign and probably troubled by Brazil's embarrassment in that tournament.
Largely exiled to the secondary squad, Paulinho's Tottenham career appeared to be over, but he clawed his way back into the first-team picture in the final few months of the campaign.
He remains a conundrum, but his ability to contribute in both defensive and attacking phases makes him useful, and he does obviously possess talent.
It remains to be seen whether Spurs will retain his services, but Paulinho eventually played his part in the most recent campaign.
16: Michel Vorm
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Michel Vorm was an unheralded signing last summer. Brought in from Swansea City to take the role of substitute goalkeeper, Vorm has only rarely been involved in the first team.
Three starts and one substitute appearance make it difficult to justify his being any higher on this list, but Vorm has performed adequately when called upon and gives the fans some confidence if Hugo Lloris suffers an injury.
15: Federico Fazio
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Federico Fazio was signed to replace Michael Dawson. Whether he has been an improvement on the former Spurs captain is up for debate.
After a rocky start, Fazio found his feet in England and was arguably first choice before a series of errors undermined his position.
Fazio has played some strong games since joining from Sevilla. He and Jan Vertonghen were forming a handy partnership before Eric Dier moved ahead of Fazio in the pecking order.
The big Argentinian has not defended with the same aggression and venom that marked him out in Spain, and he has too often lost the physical battles he is there to fight.
His total lack of pace also means that he needs to play alongside a right-back who can protect him. Many of Fazio's worst games came with Dier or Vlad Chiriches deputising at full-back.
Fazio is a solid enough player but will probably remain a substitute next term.
14: Andros Townsend
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Andros Townsend should have been able to nail down his place in Spurs' strongest lineup this season.
With Erik Lamela and Nacer Chadli unimpressive during their first seasons at the club, Townsend was in the perfect position to become the first-choice winger.
Unfortunately, he appeared in less than half of their Premier League fixtures, as Chadli and Lamela progressed.
Townsend had some good moments. His steely determination to convert his penalty in the 5-3 against Chelsea was laudable. However, he has not been able to improve on his decision-making. Blessed with the acceleration and skill to always be a threat, he is too often anonymous in games.
Townsend is still only 23, and 2014/15 was his best season in terms of games and goals, but he has the ability to routinely play at a higher level.
There is huge room for improvement.
13: Ben Davies
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Ben Davies was largely expected to take the starting left-back role after arriving from Swansea but injury and a crisis of confidence, as well as the excellent form of Danny Rose, saw him decisively lose out.
Very much a player for the future, Davies will probably be disappointed with his first season at Spurs, but there is little doubt that he has the talent to take on Rose again over the coming years.
Spurs are now blessed with talent at left-back. What was once their weakest point is now a position of strength.
Davies only made 14 appearances, but his presence helped Rose to reach new heights. For that reason alone, he deserves recognition in this list.
12: Kyle Walker
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Kyle Walker's reputation has been enhanced by the steady stream of pretenders who have failed to adequately replace him during his extended injury layoffs.
Players such as Kyle Naughton, Eric Dier and Vlad Chiriches filled in at right-back this season and none were able to match Walker's output.
His return to the lineup late last year corresponded with vastly improved results, and his subsequent exit also matched the point when Spurs' league campaign lost its way.
Walker comes in for a great deal of criticism, but few players are capable of the astonishing workload he gets through in both attack and defence.
Fewer still are so perfectly suited to Mauricio Pochettino's system.
If Walker returns fully fit ahead of next season, Spurs will immediately be a more cohesive unit and a far better side.
11: Jan Vertonghen
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Jan Vertonghen did not return to his best form this season. Spurs fans yearn for the Vertonghen they saw in his first year in England, but this season was still a significant improvement on the last one.
Having played alongside each of Spurs' other centre-backs at times this season, Vertonghen can be forgiven for having failed to develop much of a rapport with any of them.
His ability to win back possession and rapidly turn defence into attack virtually disappeared last season, but it has been restored under Mauricio Pochettino, under whom Vertonghen has steadily improved.
He has been especially good alongside Eric Dier despite the similarity in their playing styles.
Vertonghen is one of the most senior players at the club, and it is vital that he leads an otherwise very young back line through the next season or so.
When Vertonghen plays well, the whole team lifts. He is a player of great talent, and he showed it often enough this season to reach number 11 in our rankings.
10: Mousa Dembele
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Mousa Dembele deserves significant acclaim for fighting his way back into the first team after virtually disappearing late in 2014.
At that point, as Spurs slipped to a diabolical 1-0 defeat to Besiktas in Istanbul, Dembele could have given up on finding a way back into Pochettino's good graces.
Instead, he performed admirably and ended up making 26 Premier League appearances this season.
Many of those came as a substitute, as Pochettino identified the most effective way to deploy his languid skill set. Dembele is now a reliable cool head to enter games and help to turn them Spurs' way or to close a game out.
Injuries have taken their toll on Dembele, but his versatility has been of great value.
He has been involved in many of Spurs' best moments this season and more than earned his first-team restoration.
9: Erik Lamela
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Erik Lamela continues to divide opinion, but there is no doubting the fact that his showing this season was a vast improvement on the previous one.
Ending the campaign as Spurs' top provider, he created seven goals this season, is enough to suggest that he is getting to grips with the Premier League.
To watch him play now is to see a talented young player fiercely determined to leave his mark in England.
Lamela is not the player that many thought he would be. He isn't a lightning-fast winger in the mould of Gareth Bale. Instead, he is aggressive, creative and phenomenally skilful. His magic moments, the Burnley screamer and the Europa League rabona, hint at just how good this 23-year-old might become.
Lamela is on the up, and Spurs will be glad to have him in the seasons to come.
8: Ryan Mason
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The emergence of Ryan Mason has been overshadowed by that of Harry Kane, but it has been comparably meteoric.
Mason began the season injured and far from the first-team picture. A Premier League debut in the north London derby and his England bow are just some of the highlights of his season.
Many fans remain unconvinced because of his tendency to lose possession, but his intelligent risk-taking is part of the reason he was a virtual ever present this season.
He moves the ball forward quickly, makes excellent runs and is always available for a pass. He plays exactly how he is required, and his ability to absorb instructions makes him a hugely useful tool for his manager.
Mason is probably the player most likely to drop out of Spurs' midfield next season, given Nabil Bentaleb and Christian Eriksen are unlikely to do so, but he remains a rising star.
7: Eric Dier
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Eric Dier's signing from Sporting Lisbon largely passed without celebration. Few knew much about the young Englishman playing in Portugal, but his impact was immediate.
Scoring the winner against West Ham United on his debut was the perfect way to begin his Tottenham career.
That he assisted the goal on the final day against Everton happily bookended his season with special moments.
Dier is a beast of a man, though in truth, he is still just a boy. His stature is imposing, and he is learning to make the most of it.
He still has plenty to learn about defending. Naivety and inexperience have the root of the handful of high-profile errors he made during his debut season.
Dier has the potential to be a truly great player, and his first season at Tottenham was an appetising taste of what is to come.
6: Nacer Chadli
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This season, Nacer Chadli has been everything the most optimistic fan hoped he might have been when he joined the club in 2013.
His subpar first campaign is now largely forgotten after a season in which he scored 11 Premier League goals and laid on five more for his team-mates.
That represents an excellent season for a player, and Chadli has made himself indispensable on the left wing.
Only once did he go more than five appearances without scoring, and that came during the period in which his father passed away—a more than fair explanation for a dip in form.
Chadli looked like a waste of money last season but now seems to be a steal. If he can contribute similar numbers next season, he will be tremendously valuable.
He still had a tendency of disappearing at crucial moments, which is why he only ranks sixth on our list.
5: Danny Rose
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Danny Rose has bloomed under Mauricio Pochettino.
Tortured metaphors aside, the young Englishman has been a revelation at left-back.
Three goals and four assists is an excellent return for a full-back. The fact that he also been sublime in defence simply adds to his impressive resume.
Competing with Ben Davies for the starting role seems to have agreed with Rose's personality. He responded in the best possible way, lifting several levels to indisputably win that battle.
He has improved in every facet this season and is now one of the best left-backs in the league. The role of full-backs in Pochettino's system is perfect for Rose's skill set, and he has blown his critics away with an excellent season.
Spurs fans will have been as delighted as the player himself when he earned that elusive England cap.
4: Nabil Bentaleb
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Nabil Bentaleb is 20 years old. It is astonishing just how mature he is at that tender age.
Bentaleb is already the heartbeat of Spurs' midfield and continues to grow as a player.
A perfect mix of aggression and inspiration, Bentaleb is seemingly a purpose-built Premier League midfielder.
His statistics do not bear out his performance levels, but one only needs to watch him running his team to understand the level he is already at.
Next season, he will hope to exceed two assists and to break his duck by getting on the scoresheet. It is only a matter of time before he starts troubling the statisticians, though, for Bentaleb is a phenomenon.
Bentaleb will this summer get some well-deserved rest. He has been playing virtually non-stop since making his Premier League debut against Pochettino's Southampton 18 months ago.
Burnout is a real risk for players so young, but Bentaleb has so far shown no signs of slowing down.
3: Christian Eriksen
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Christian Eriksen has come in for significant criticism in recent months despite the fact that he was a vital cog for the first half of the season.
The only Tottenham player to feature in every Premier League match this campaign, Eriksen scored 10 goals. His goals often corresponded with points, and Spurs would have finished far lower than fifth without him.
Eriksen has tired as the season has gone on, but that has only served to underscore his importance to the side. He is one of Spurs' most vital players, one they simply cannot do without.
His talent has never been in doubt, and he was excellent in his first campaign too, but this season has seen a far greater consistency as Eriksen has grown into a decisive player.
2: Hugo Lloris
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It does not bear thinking about where Spurs might be without Hugo Lloris. The Frenchman's super-human efforts in goal kept Tottenham's season from collapsing in the early months.
As his team-mates struggled to understand Mauricio Pochettino's new system and their roles therein, Lloris was a beacon at the back.
Consistently excellent, it is a shame that Lloris has been so busy, but it has allowed the fans to see just how good he is. Some less-than-stellar defensive lines were deployed ahead of him this season, but more often than not, he rose above that.
He does still have some difficulties with his distribution, but there can be no mistaking his heroics this season. In any other year, Lloris would have been a certainty for the club's Player of the Year award.
1: Harry Kane
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The boy king of White Hart Lane, Harry Kane, has enjoyed a season like no other.
In the words of the great Barry Davies, that was Schoolboys' Own stuff.
Kane battered his way into the first team with his exploits in the Europa League before taking the Premier League by storm.
While he couldn't finish the season as the division's top scorer, he collected 21 league goals in an astonishing campaign.
The goals against Chelsea and Arsenal are already legendary moments, and his debut strike for England carried the story into unbelievable territory.
Kane, the local boy cemented in the first team, has helped Spurs fans fall back in love with their team. He had to be the top man on our power rankings. His goals and story made sure of that.
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