There is no getting away from it: Tottenham Hotspur’s start to the Premier League season has been nothing short of a disaster.
In four games, Ange Postecoglou’s side have picked up just four points thanks to a draw away to newly promoted Leicester City and a win at home to bottom-of-the-table Everton.
Worse yet, the Australian oversaw his second home defeat in a row to fierce rivals Arsenal on Sunday, despite the Gunners missing two of their best players in Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice.
There were several poor performers on the day for the Lilywhites, and while Cristian Romero has received plenty of warranted flak for his part in the Gunners’ goal, ushered away from proceedings by Gabriel and leaving the Brazilian unmarked, there’s another key starter who looked anonymous for 95 minutes.
Son Heung-min’s game vs Arsenal
Yes, while Son Heung-min wasn’t directly at fault for the only goal in the game like the Argentine defender was, he was partly to blame for his side’s blunt attacking display.
Now, the club captain didn’t make any glaring errors in the game, but he didn’t produce any moments of magic or even many genuine chances for his teammates either, which resulted in a rather tepid performance in what should be one of the most exciting games of the season.
This is a sentiment shared by football.london’s Alasdair Gold, who gave the South Korean superstar – and Romero for that matter – a 5/10 on the day, writing that while he ‘teed up Kulusevski for an early chance’ he ultimately ‘struggled to make an impact.’
While potentially harsh, Gold’s assessment of the 32-year-old’s game is corroborated by his statistics, as in his 95 minutes on the pitch, he amassed an expected assists figure of 0.13 and an expected goals figure of 0.02, failed in 50% of his dribbles, played a single key pass, lost the ball ten times and was offside once.
So, while he wasn’t at fault for the goals, he offered practically nothing going forward, so for that reason, and because his minutes should be managed more this season, he should be dropped to the bench for Wednesday’s League Cup game against Coventry City.
Why Wilson Odobert should replace Son
So, Spurs have several wingers at their disposal who could come in for Son off the left, but Ange should look to give Wilson Odobert his third start of the season on Wednesday night.
Now, like most of his teammates, the young Frenchman has been somewhat underwhelming in attack this season and has failed to score or assist a goal, but he should be given time to adjust to the system, and even though he couldn’t make it count on Sunday, he injected some much-needed energy into his side.
Moreover, thanks to his time with Burnley last year, we know what he can do when given a run of games.
For example, despite still being just 18 years old at the start of the 23/24 campaign, the Meaux-born gem was able to score four goals and provide three assists in 33 appearances, which is undeniably impressive considering the Clarets’ form and suggests that in a top side, he might be capable of so much more.
Lastly, if the North Londoners are serious about going far in every competition this year, they will need to manage their first team stars and make use of their squad. So, even though Coventry are a talented team, the former Burnley ace and his fellow prospects like Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall should have it in them to get a result against a Championship side.
Ultimately, Romero and his fellow defenders might have been at fault for the goal on Sunday, but Son offered very little going forward, so he should be dropped to allow Odobert the chance to open his Spurs account on Wednesday.
