This season has gone from bad to worse for Tottenham Hotspur, and we are only four games in.
On Sunday afternoon, Ange Postecoglou’s side fell to a 1-0 defeat to bitter rivals Arsenal and, as things stand, have picked up just four points from a possible 12 in the Premier League.
Unfortunately for the Australian, there were several stand-out performers on the day for all the wrong reasons, including Brennan Johnson.
The Welshman has struggled this season, and while he could still come good, he should be dropped for the League Cup clash with Coventry City and replaced with a dynamic young talent who has a bright future ahead of him.
Johnson’s recent form
Spurs paid around £47.5m to Nottingham Forest for Johnson’s services last summer, and while he started slowly, he did end his debut campaign in North London with a reasonably respectable haul of five goals and ten assists in 34 games, equating to a goal involvement once every 2.26 games.
However, in the four games he has played this season, the Welshman has failed to score or assist a single goal and hasn’t looked particularly dangerous at any point.
For example, across those four matches, he has only amassed an expected goals figure of 0.79, an expected assists figure of 0.24, and just 0.80 shots on target per game, which would go some way toward explaining why he’s not produced a goal involvement just yet.
Moreover, in his player ratings after yesterday’s match, football.london’s Spurs correspondent Alasdair Gold awarded the 23-year-old just a 5/10 because while he was ‘swinging in low crosses,’ none of them were especially dangerous, and when presented with chances himself, he wasted them.
In all, Johnson just hasn’t impressed yet this season, and he should, therefore, be dropped for the game against Coventry, and in his place, Ange should start a youngster who could be a future superstar.
The surprise player who could replace Johnson
Yes, the youngster in question is 17-year-old Mikey Moore, who looks like he could be one of the most exciting youngsters in English football at the moment, at least based on his form at the youth level and how he’s been spoken about.
However, before we get to that, yes, the Southwark-born gem has primarily played off the left wing in his short career so far. Still, he has shown a level of flexibility by starting in attacking midfield, centre midfield and even at centre-forward in the past.
Moreover, considering he is right-footed, it seems unlikely he’d turn down the chance of first-team minutes just because he’d be playing off the right.
In fact, his youth record is so outstanding that we have no doubt he’d thrive anywhere across the frontline in Postecoglou’s attacking system.
Moore’s youth record | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Team | U18s | U21s | Youth League |
Appearances | 24 | 4 | 5 |
Goals | 19 | 1 | 0 |
Assists | 13 | 2 | 0 |
Goal Involvements per Match | 1.33 | 0.75 | 0.00 |
For example, in 33 appearances across various junior sides, the “outstanding” prospect, as dubbed by Spurs writer John Wenham, has scored 20 goals and provided 15 assists, meaning he’s averaging a goal involvement every 0.94 games, which is outrageously impressive.
Moreover, he was given two short cameo appearances towards the end of last season when he was still just 16, which signals just how highly the club currently rate him, and with his tally of goals and assists at youth level, they are right to.
Ultimately, Johnson has failed to impress so far this season, and while Moore has less experience playing off the right, he should be given his first start against Coventry tomorrow night; if he’s as good as people believe him to be, then he’s old enough as well.
