In praise of Gazzaniga

It is inevitable after a month in which we lost our first three games (the first time this has happened with Pochettino in charge at Tottenham) that there would be a downturn in the performance figures of the team and individuals, and a fall from second place in the early Premier League standings.

Hugo Lloris hasn't played one game in September, but will hopefully be fit to play tomorrow night (3rd October) when we host the mighty Barcelona, and as a result Hugo still leads the pack with his fine August performance figures. This month however belongs to another goalkeeper.

Michel Vorm played in all three of our defeats against Watford, Liverpool and Inter, but then he got injured too, so in came third choice keeper Paulo Gazzaniga. This new "Gazza" did not let us down with a man of the match performance against Watford in the Carabao Cup match played at Milton Keynes, when he crucially saved two penalties. Paulo was highly rated for his performances at Brighton and at Huddersfield, where he also made several very good and important saves. Hence Paulo was our September player of the month by a big margin. Gazzaniga played in just one game last season at home to Crystal Palace, when he was also voted our man of the match. Technically he was our player of the season with that one grade of 7.9, but I prefer to assess that accolade on the basis of an average taken over a reasonable number of appearances. Jan Vertonghen clearly deserved last season's award!

Two of this month's three defeats came in games when we had the lead, but failed to properly manage the remainder of the game. At least by the end of the month I felt we were managing the game better, but we did still let in Watford for a late Carabao Cup equaliser.

World Cup weariness and a number of injuries have clearly taken their toll, but hopefully we will settle into a rythym after this next International break. Mauricio Pochettino has criticised the football governing authorites for the glut of more competitive International fixtures, such as the new UEFA Nations League. England have to play both Croatia and Spain away in October. Dele Alli may be taking an enforced rest with a re-occurence of the hamstring injury he sustained playing for England last month. That didn't stop him being my star of the show at his old stomping ground of Milton Keynes, where he scored one penalty during the game, and then secured the win with the final penalty of the shoot-out.

Erik Lamela has shown good form, with three goals this month, but surprisingly is not getting many starts to date. Harry Kane has also quietened the critics with three more Premier League goals, putting him second equal in the early season list of Premier League scorers, and more significantly making him our clear fifth highest all-time goalscorer.

The Barcelona game is going to be a tough start to the month, and with Manchester City and an away League Cup tie at The London Stadium at the end of October our squad will be sorely tested. We also have an away league game against West Ham following the International break.

As I write, grass is finally being laid on the pitch at our new stadium, but we still await any official announcement of even test events, which apparently will be a month in advance. At this stage, our home game against Chelsea on November 24th is the earliest we MIGHT play in our new home. We continue to live in hope.

· Review the 2018-19 Premier League season here

Don't forget to check out the players' current figures re. appearances, cards, goals scored and accumulated ratings to date at the bottom of this page.

...if you want to read reports of the matches played during this season, then links are on the Spurs Odyssey Fixtures/Reports page here. By working your way back through the previous month's figures, you can review the performances over the last 18 years!