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Alasdair Gold

Clinical Kane, super Bentancur, Dier drop - Tottenham players and Conte rated for season so far

Tottenham Hotspur's season has had its trials and tribulations and now with a pause to take it all in it's worth reflecting on the performances of the players and the head coach.

Despite a mess of a season in which Antonio Conte's future is now hanging in the balance and he admits his Spurs team have gone backwards, Tottenham are still somehow sitting in fourth place, albeit with teams behind having games in hand. They are however out of the Champions League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup to make it another season without silverware for the club.

Now it's time to dish out our ratings for the players and for Conte. It's worth taking into account that our ratings are based on the individual player's expectations for the season due to the previous standards they have set for themselves, rather than being a tool to compare them against their various team-mates.

READ MORE: The inside story as Daniel Levy faces major decision to call time on Antonio Conte Tottenham era

We've looked at every single player who has played at least a minute for Tottenham's first team this season. For those who have managed less than 100 minutes on the pitch, we've not rated them but instead spoken about their performances and prospects. Let's start with the goalkeeper and captain.

Hugo Lloris

Lloris had a really good first quarter of the season including some top drawer saves in the matches against Sporting and Leicester. However, following a thigh injury and September's international break, the Frenchman became more inconsistent amid the frantic fixture schedule. It did not improve after the World Cup, having admitted he may have returned to action too quickly after the final, and then came that knee injury from which he is now ready to return. 6

Fraser Forster

The 35-year-old has proved himself to be the best of last summer's transfer dealings, which is a damning indictment of the window when your free back-up goalkeeper has been the best signing. That's no reflection on Forster though as he has pulled off some wonderful saves and got sharper and sharper with each display in Lloris' absence. 7

Emerson Royal

The Brazilian turned his season around after that reckless red card at Arsenal and the crowd cheering when he was taken off against Leeds. He earned plenty of praise for his performances after the World Cup and while his attacking limitations remains, there's little doubting his solid defending or his desire to succeed. In terms of his expectations after most had written him off, it's been a successful season with 32 appearances and a couple of goals. 7.5

Matt Doherty

The Irishman's exit was farcical and it came after a little period when he started to show some signs of the form of the second half of last season after months of struggling to regain his rhythm after his knee injury. However, Emerson took over, Porro was coming in and when Spurs realised they couldn't loan Doherty they had to release him. A mess of a season all round for the wing-back who is now at Atletico Madrid. 4.5

Djed Spence

Conte made it clear that Spence was a club signing but one he believes can become an important player one day, yet he never really gave him much of a chance. Now out on Rennes at loan and getting minutes aplenty and impressed at the weekend in keeping Messi and Mbappe out. N/A

Pedro Porro

A tough first game at Leicester soon gave way to an constantly improving run of performances and he now has both an assist and a rocket of a goal to his name. Has got the shirt now despite Emerson's upturn in form. Early days but a promising start. 7

Eric Dier

Dier's season started so well. He was in fine form, scored twice and earned himself a return to the England team. We had given him an 8.5 in our ratings before the first international break earlier in the season and he had Conte calling him one of the Premier League's best defenders. However, his form since has taken a big dip and he has become the fans' figurehead of a stuttering and stumbling season. He's had some good games but he's also had some very rocky ones. He's been the central figure in a back three that has conceded 40 Premier League goals in 28 games, with only six teams in the table having conceded more. 5.5

Davinson Sanchez

The Colombian also had a strong start to the campaign and continued his run of clean sheets from last season with good performances against Wolves and Nottingham Forest. However, he has struggled to maintain that when he's come into the side since. 5

Cristian Romero

Romero started the season brightly against Southampton but after picking up an injury against Chelsea, he missed three weeks and then returned looking a little bit rusty. He then suffered a hamstring injury before heading off to win the World Cup with Argentina. He's looked brighter in recent weeks around those two red cards, but overall he's not reached his own standards set last season and he's been unavailable for around a third of Spurs' Premier League games. 6.5

Japhet Tanganga

A move to AC Milan looked close last summer but Spurs never ended up agreeing to the move. Tanganga needed a move and regular football. He's appeared just twice in the Premier League this season and he understandably hasn't looked sharp. 4

Ben Davies

The Welshman is another who gets turned on by the supporters when things go against Spurs but the reality is that he's been one of the side's most consistent performers. He played on the left of the back three and has looked a better option than Ivan Perisic at left wing-back when called upon in recent weeks after Sessegnon's injury. He now has a hamstring injury that will keep him out for between four to six weeks and you do wonder whether Spurs would have collapsed as they did at Southampton had he remained on the pitch. Some might disagree but, unlike others, Davies has often done the job required of him, while contributing two goals and two assists. 7

Clement Lenglet

A promising start to life in N17 has given way to more mixed performances and he's found himself out of position on a few occasions. Sometimes he looks very composed, with a great left foot, and at others he looks all at sea. 5.5

Ryan Sessegnon

Conte had high hopes for Sessegnon and the 22-year-old started the campaign well, with two goals and an assist, before beginning to struggle in some games. Unfortunately once again a hamstring injury has taken a chunk out of his season and when he returns he needs to find more productivity down the left, if he can trust his body to perform. 5

Ivan Perisic

He took a little while to warm up but the experienced Croatian started to rack up the assists, with nine in 36 appearances - a number from set pieces - and his first goal for the club came at Southampton. The problem has been his defending and the speed of the Premier League has left him exposed in some matches, particularly away from home this season. The 34-year-old has adapted to every league he's played in but his age might just count against him as a wing-back in England. 6

Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg

The Dane, who was nominated for the Premier League's Player of the Month for September, has made some strides forward this season. He's really pushed on with his offensive contribution, with five goals and five assists including the goal that sent Tottenham into the Champions League last 16 as group winners. As Spurs have wobbled in recent months so has Hojbjerg at times and he hasn't been able to drive the team on, needing to take on more attacking responsibility in the absence of Bentancur. 7

Oliver Skipp

After a slow start to the season, Skipp has returned with a bang, taking full advantage of the injuries in Spurs' midfield. He's made five starts in a row in the Premier League and two in the Champions League and he's been one of the better players in the team. 6.5

Harvey White

Made his Premier League debut and got four minutes before heading off to Derby on loan. N/A

Yves Bissouma

Other than his 20 minute cameo from the bench against Leicester and his display against Liverpool, Bissouma has been nowhere near the player yet that he was at Brighton. Conte had said he was struggling to adapt to the tactical aspect of his instructions and needed to improve his defending. Now he's set to miss perhaps all the remainder of the season through injury. By his own standards it's been a really poor season. 4.5

Rodrigo Bentancur

The Uruguayan reached new heights with his performances and that only made his cruciate ligament injury all the more cruel. Bentancur was a calming presence in the midfield and his team-mates always trust him with the ball in tight situations. With six goals and two assists now, the three-time Serie A winner became a game changer with big goals in big moments Just 26 appearances, with four games missed through a World Cup injury, but he had been having a great season overall. 8.5

Lucas Moura

Just 404 minutes of action for the Brazilian thanks to a calf injury which meant he struggled for availability for much of the season. No goals or assists to his name and he's expected to depart in the summer after the club chose not to take up the option to extend his contract. 4

Dejan Kulusevski

A season of two halves for the Swede. He has two goals and seven assists to his name, but after missing a month with injury before the World Cup, he has never really got going again consistently after the season returned. It's easy to forget he's just 22-years-old though and he isn't the only one who has struggled at times. 6.5

Bryan Gil

Just over 300 minutes across 11 appearances for the Spaniard before he left for Sevilla on loan so it's too difficult to judge him on game time, but he looked bright in some of his displays, most notably against Frankfurt and Crystal Palace. 5.5

Richarlison

The Brazilian has not had the impact he wanted and he and Conte have both had their says on his season since arriving for £60m from Everton. He's only scored in one game with nothing in the Premier League, although he has provided four assists in the competition. He's just missed too much time through injuries and has now picked up another problem. He's got the desire and battling qualities but the quality hasn't been there yet. By his own standards, it's been nowhere near what he hoped for hence why he and Conte used that certain word for his season. 4.5

Arnaut Danjuma

Just 47 minutes to his name and another that Conte claimed was a club signing and doesn't particularly fit his formation. We're yet to see what he can do in a Spurs shirt. N/A

Son Heung-min

After last season's brilliant campaign, sharing the Golden Boot with 23 goals with Mohamed Salah, Son admits he's had a tough time of it this season. That he's only scored in four Premier League games this season will disappoint him, although his numbers are still better than most attackers with 10 goals and four assists from 37 matches. However, Son admitted during the season that his finishing has been "poor" and that he felt he had "disappointed his team-mates and the fans". Although he's been well below his normal levels and his confidence has been low, Son should have more than enough credit in the bank with everyone and he gets a slight bump for the goals and assists he's still contributed. 6

Harry Kane

It says a lot about Kane that although he hasn't been at his very best at times this season, he still has a remarkable 21 goals from 28 Premier League games. The 29-year-old became the club's all-time leading goalscorer, as he also did for England this week. He would have wanted to score more in the Champions League but he's been run into the ground during this campaign, playing far more minutes than anyone else in the squad (3,402 minutes). 8.5

And the manager

Antonio Conte

Conte might point to the fact that Spurs are fourth in the table, exactly where he took them to last season, albeit others have games in hand. Others might say the teams around have also been inconsistent.

The Italian also openly admits the team has gone backwards this season under him and they are out of every cup competition, departing all three of them in the meekest of ways.

Spurs have scored plenty of goals - the third highest amount in the Premier League - but they have somehow still been dull to watch for much of the campaign. They have also conceded far too many goals at the other end, more than the majority of teams in the league.

There's been a lot of predictability to the campaign in terms of Conte's team selections, his tactics, his substitutions and his decisions over certain players, notably some of the new signings.

Conte has had a lot to deal with personally during the season, including his own health problems, and that needs to be taken into account and the campaign itself was difficult with the World Cup and fixture pile-ups although everyone had to deal with that.

However, he just hasn't been able to continue to improve Tottenham and he's struggled to motivate his players. Then came that explosive press conference last weekend where he called out all of his players and it's left his future hanging in the balance. 5.5

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