Tottenham have struggled to create chances in the Premier League this season.
Spurs have recorded the fourth-worst xG (27.4) and have only averaged 3.8 shots on target per match in the top flight this season.
Igor Tudor arrived as Tottenham’s new head coach last week, and there are a lot of problems he must address in the squad.
However, the biggest issue he faces is that Tottenham’s attackers are relying on Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero to score the majority of the goals.
Tottenham have relied on their defenders scoring goals
Tottenham have scored more Premier League goals via defenders both overall (10) and as a percentage of their total goals (28 per cent) than any other side this season.
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While that shows that their backline is contributing positively to matches, it doesn’t reflect well on their attackers.
According to Sofascore, Randal Kolo Muani has underperformed his xG by 1.33 as he still searches for his first goal in the top flight.
Dominic Solanke has hardly been fit for the majority of the season, while Richarlison is currently injured for the foreseeable future.
In fact, Romero and Van de Ven are Spurs’ joint-second top scorers in the Premier League after the Brazilian striker’s total of seven goals.
It’s deeply concerning that Tottenham have spent hundreds of millions of pounds on attackers, yet it’s their centre-backs that continue to bail them out.
As seen in the Sofascore graphic below, they are head and shoulders above every other Spurs player, which creates a big problem for Tudor.
He can’t afford to let this slide, and he needs to find a way of getting his attackers to start scoring, as this pattern is clearly not sustainable.
A look at Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven’s Tottenham numbers in more depth
It’s safe to say that without the two centre-backs, Spurs would be in the relegation zone.
Romero has won 71.1 per cent of his aerial duels and 65.4 per cent of his ground duels, and although he earns a lot of criticism for his hot-headed nature, it’s an undeniable fact that he is a top-class player.
Both centre-backs have scored the most Premier League goals for a defender this season, but Van de Ven has actually found the back of the net seven times in all competitions.
The Dutchman has also had seven headed shots at goal in the top flight, which shows how much of a threat he is from set-piece situations.
Spurs fans definitely can’t take these two stars for granted, and when they eventually leave, it’ll be a tough task to try to replace them effectively.
As for the forwards in the team, they can’t afford to underperform for much longer, and the likes of Solanke, Kolo Muani and Xavi Simons need to step up.