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By Alessandro Schiavone at Groupama Stadium, Lyon

Player Ratings: How Conte wishes he had a prime Vertonghen. And Kane's the shadow of his former self



Spurs lost 2-0 at home to Wolves. Alessandro Schiavone rated the players.


6 HUGO LLORIS : Bailed Tottenham out on numerous occasions but was at fault for Wolverhampton’s opener. The French international did well to beat away Ruben Neves’ long-range effort but should have held onto Leander Dendoncker’s tame rebound which he inexplicably parried back into the danger zone and straight into the feet of Raul Jimenez with the Mexican clinically slamming his effort into the top corner with a cleanly struck volley. But Lloris redeemed himself minutes later when he palmed away the second Mexican’s effort before clawing away Daniel Podence’s low drilled shot. In the second half he came off his line to deny Jimenez.


4.5 MATT DOHERTY: Didn’t offer much going forward and had a hard tough time nullifying the threat coming his way.


5.5 CRISTIAN ROMERO: It’s hard to make your mark in a struggling team which has in the defence its Achilles Heel Romero had a bullet header deflected over by Sa 89’. The best of the backline.


DAVINSON SANCHEZ: How Tottenham manager Antonio Conte wished he had a Jan Vertonghen in his prime marshalling the backline. The Colombian never looked assured in possession and even last season's Serie A player of the year Cristian Romero doesn't look himself alongside his fellow South American.


6 HEUNG-MING SON: Brilliantly cut inside before firing an effort straight at Jose Sa after latching onto Bentancur’s through ball but his end product left something to be desired. The South Korean was denied again by the ex-Olympiacos goalkeeper who saved with his boot shortly after the hour-mark. The least passive of his side.


4.5 HARRY WINKS: The academy graduate was overrun at times in midfield and wasn’t good enough when switching defence into attack. His 64th-minute half-volley came off Romain Saiss and may have caused a problem or two to Jose Sa. But even if he had found the back of the net it would not have made up for his lacklustre performance. Didn’t add any guile or produce any standout moments. And a failure to carry out basic tasks such as tracking his runners and picking out an unmarked teammate shows the major task Conte has in his hands has on his hands to reignite his career.


4 HARRY KANE: Five league goals in 20 Premier League games clearly epitomise his lack of form and confidence. But the most worrying aspect of today’s game was his body language. To say that he should carry the load for the defeat would be wrong as not many strikers, maybe only prime Ronaldo and Marco Van Basten, won games on their own even if the rest of the squad was having a bad day at the office. But if Antonio Conte can’t help him rekindle his interest in playing for Tottenham then who can? In the first half he headed Lucas cross straight at Jose Sa, when in years gone by, when he was still a happy and fulfilled man in a Tottenham shirt, he would have steered that one into the bottom corner. Released into space by Heung-Min Son in the second half he made it again too easy for Sa, firing his shot straight at his boot although a chip would have done the job. With two minutes to go his diving header then cannoned off Maximilian Kilian.

The ecstatic travelling away supporters were singing “Harry Kane, he wants to f*** off” and probably they had a point. Especially after today’s lack of service and chastening defeat, Tottenham’s third in a row in the league, “one -of-their own” born and bred Kane may wish that he has a missed call from Pep Guardiola on his phone. The only news that would brighten up a gloomy day for him.


5 RYAN SESSEGNON: The ex-Fulham winger had to humiliatingly make way for Dejan Kulusevski after 29 minutes after being on the periphery of the game. A breath of fresh air would do him a world of good. Maybe at Fulham if the Cottagers seal promotion? He has never been the same since swapping West for North London.


4 LUCAS MOURA: Looked a bit off the pace and didn’t work the Wolves defence hard enough. Not his best day in a Tottenham shirt. Was replaced by ex-PSV star Steven Bergwijn on 70 minutes.


5 RODRIGO BENTANCUR: Showed glimpses of his talent but needs time to acclimatise to England and settle into English football, which is never easy for a South American. The Uruguay international can do much better, especially when it comes to dictating and spreading play, playing defence-splitting passes and in transition. And the question on Conte's mind now is: Can he and Pierre-Emile Hoijbierg coexist?


5 BEN DAVIES: His poor clearance led to Wolves’ opener. Fought hard and put a shift in but he can’t be Tottenham’s future.


4.5 KULUSEVSKI: Desperate times call for desperate measures. Came on for Sessegnon with Tottenham 2-0 down. But his passing was too sloppy and he failed to register a single shot on target until 77 minutes. Did well to bring down Davies’ cutback but it wasn’t matched by his finish as his angled effort went inches wide of the far bottom. Had that one gone in, it would have been game on.


5 STEWEN BERGWIJN: Wolves’ stubborn defence isn’t Leicester City’s. Bergwijn turned the game on its head at the King Power Stadium but he couldn’t do much to pick his struggling teammates up off the floor this time around.

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