This has been a topsy-turvy begin to the brand new marketing campaign for Tottenham who’ve received simply twice to open up the Premier League season.
A gap weekend draw to Leicester was adopted up with a snug win over Everton however since then it has not been plain crusing.
Ange Postecoglou has confronted criticism and understandably so following two straight defeats to Newcastle and Arsenal. The show towards Coventry Metropolis within the League Cup was removed from supreme both, leaving it late towards Championship opposition to safe their path to the following spherical.
So, when Bryan Mbeumo scored inside the first minute on Saturday, frustrations started to boil over.
It might have been straightforward for this Spurs aspect to crumble however they confirmed nice psychological fortitude to battle again and see off Brentford 3-1 courtesy of objectives from James Maddison, comeback man Brennan Johnson and a primary strike for Dominic Solanke.
Spurs’ attacking efficiency
This has been fairly the week for Johnson. The Welshman hasn’t been at his finest this time period however the waves of criticism the winger obtained for his show towards Arsenal every week in the past wasn’t acceptable.
How he has fought again. Johnson scored the winner a number of days in the past towards Coventry and located the online as soon as extra towards Thomas Frank’s aspect on Saturday. A refrain of chants rung across the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in help of him. Fairly proper.
It was additionally pleasing for Solanke to get off the mark. Since his £65m transfer from Bournemouth, the striker has struggled with harm however is match and firing now in Spurs colors. It will probably be the primary of many objectives throughout his time in north London.
It was Maddison who really stole the present although, together with his efficiency duly handed a ten/10 match score by Soccer.London’s Alasdair Gold who recommended it was ‘his finest efficiency in a Spurs shirt’.
Not solely did the attacking midfielder rating however he additionally equipped three key passes and received a whopping ten duels. It’s not a nasty afternoon’s work in any respect, is it?
So the place was star man Son Heung-min in all of this? Effectively, the skipper failed to attain however he did present two assists as he flew beneath the radar.
He’ll proceed to be their focus this season however there’s a person down at N17 who’s now changing into simply as essential; Dejan Kulusevski.
Kulusevski’s efficiency in numbers this season
The Swede has performed in a large number of positions this season and after a wrestle from a number of Tottenham huge gamers within the opening weeks of the season it was quite baffling that he continued to function extra centrally.
Effectively, such a call has clearly been confirmed proper so far as Postecoglou is anxious. Johnson is flourishing now down Kulusevski’s favoured right-hand aspect and the previous Juventus man is now shining in a deeper function.
It was from central midfield that the Sweden worldwide appeared so comfortable on Saturday, supplying three key passes and producing three pictures on the Brentford objective.
Kulusevski vs Brentford | |
|---|---|
Minutes performed | 90 |
Touches | 50 |
Correct passes | 20/26 (77%) |
Key passes | 3 |
Crosses | 1/6 |
Lengthy balls | 1/1 |
Pictures | 3 |
Dribbles | 1/2 |
Duels received | 1/8 |
Possession misplaced | 18x |
Interceptions | 1 |
Tackles | 0 |
Stats through Sofascore. | |
It wasn’t essentially the most jaw-dropping of shows however he’s indisputably the perfect creator on this Tottenham aspect this season, producing 2.76 key passes per 90 in keeping with FBRef. For context, that’s a better price than Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka (2.63) and better than Maddison (2.57).
For shot-creating actions per 90 (6.98) he ranks fourth on this season’s Premier League and for goal-creating actions, he’s the division’s tenth-best participant.
Shot-creating actions are items of play that result in a shot. These embody moments equivalent to a cross, take-on or foul being drawn.
If we’re evaluating the £110k-per-week star additional afield, then Kulusevski is performing higher than some international superstars for shot-creating actions, performing greater than Barcelona wonderkid Lamine Yamal (6.11) and Vinicius Jr (5.99). To summarise, the huge man is fairly rattling good.
These numbers are all of the extra intriguing when you think about that the 24-year-old has nonetheless solely recorded one objective involvement this time period in league motion, helping a strike within the rout over Everton.
It’s certainly solely a matter of time earlier than these base numbers enhance. He was wonderful towards the Bees and with a participant like Solanke forward of him, these key passes are solely extra more likely to flip into objectives.
It’s normally so usually about Son down at Tottenham however Maddison and Kulusevski have now proven it doesn’t essentially have to be. Maybe brighter days do the truth is lie forward beneath Ange.
