Tottenham Hotspur at least stopped the away rot in the Premier League this afternoon against West Ham United, although Ange Postecoglou would have expected even a much-changed XI to brush aside 17th-placed Hammers.
Let’s take a look at the five things we learned from West Ham United 1-1 Tottenham:
Ange Postecoglou makes eight Tottenham changes
As many Tottenham fans expected and demanded in equal measure, Ange Postecoglou made significant changes to his Spurs XI away to West Ham this afternoon. Micky Van de Ven, Cristian Romero, Pedro Porro, and Destiny Udogie were all given a rest, while the injured Dominic Solanke and James Maddison were also absent. Unfortunately, few Spurs fringe players actually stepped up in a way that will catch Postecoglou’s eye ahead of Thursday night’s trip to Bodo/Glimt.
Guglielmo Vicario, Yves Bissouma, and Dejan Kulusevski were all likely to start no matter what, while the left-wing position is up for grabs between Richarlison and Mathys Tel. One would expect Ange will opt for the latter on Thursday rather than risking the most injury-prone player in the squad on an artificial pitch – although Richarlison may be required to fill on for Solanke if he is missing anyway.
We know the starting XI to face Bodo/Glimt
Judging by who was rested and who was taken off early today, it looks like we already know our starting XI to face Bodo/Glimt in Norway on Thursday.
Guglielmo Vicario; Pedro Porro, Cristian Romero, Micky Van de Ven, Destiny Udogie; Yves Bissouma, Rodrigo Bentancur, Dejan Kulusevski; Brennan Johnson, Richarlison, Mathys Tel.
Of course, if Dominic Solanke is passed fit, then he will start up front, while Richarlison would likely move out wide left, seeing as Tel played the full 90 today.
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Worrying lack of progress from Dejan Kulusevski
James Maddison was just starting to hit his stride in the Tottenham number ten role, particularly in Europe. It will be a huge miss for the Lilywhites if he is to miss a significant portion of the rest of the season. A few months ago, some Spurs fans would have been more than happy to see Kulusevski replace the England international in midfield, but that could not be further from the truth at the moment.
The Sweden star has been back from injury for weeks now, but shows no sign of getting back to his fit, sharp, and creative best. You do worry that Tottenham could be left with a complete creative vacuum amidst the absence of Maddison and Bergvall, together with Kulusevski’s lack of form.
Another mistake from Guglielmo Vicario
It seems every single week brings another mistake from Guglielmo Vicario in the Premier League for Tottenham. While he looks a little more confident dealing with aerial balls than he once was, he has forgone all composure with the ball at his feet and fundamental goalkeeping errors have started to creep into his game.
Today, the Italian shotstopper allowed Jarrod Bowen to score from a frankly ridiculous angle, leaving his legs wider than the Thames to give the West Ham forward a clear route to goal. 99 times out of 100, Bowen would have absolutely no chance of scoring from there, as keepers are always taught to make themselves big and use their knee to cut off the direct shot at goal.
In the grand scheme of things, it isn’t the most pivotal mistake in the world, but the regularity with which Vicario is making them at the moment is more than a little concerning. At least he made a superb stop to keep the score at 1-1 in the final minutes, ironically preventing Bowen from finding the winner.
Mikey Moore returns to Tottenham action
Despite looking so sharp in the first half of the season, Mikey Moore has been an absent figure over the last few months. Before today, he hadn’t appeared since February 2 in the Premier League for Tottenham. Over the past 10 matches, Moore was left on the bench four times and left out of the squad completely six times. It would be wrong to say he lit the game on fire when coming on for his cameo today, but he definitely looked sharper than a lot of the players who started.
Hopefully, the youngster can kick on next season and get some more consistent game time under his belt. A loan to the Championship or even a lower Premier League side could do him the world of good.