Thomas Frank must seriously consider dropping Mohammed Kudus from his Tottenham Hotspur starting line-up after a far-from-convincing performance against Nottingham Forest.
The north London side were outclassed 3-0 at the City Ground on Sunday, with goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario gifting the opposition two goals in another game to forget for the Italian.
Spurs arguably produced their worst performance of the season as they attempted just one shot on target and barely threatened Forest’s defence, with the front four of Richarlison, Xabi Simons, Randal Kolo Muani and Kudus struggling to trouble John Victor in goal on his Premier League debut.
Kudus’ display was particularly concerning for Frank, who may have a decision on his hands after Sunday’s defeat.
Frank Should Drop Mohammed Kudus
Kudus was given a 3/10 rating for his performance against Forest by journalist Alasdair Gold, with no Spurs player – not even Vicario – receiving a lower score:
“A performance with no end product. Constantly running into players rather than passing and had very little quality in what he did.
“Even forgot to get in the half-time huddle the players have started doing. It was entirely fitting with the day.”
Kudus attempted just one shot and registered one accurate cross out of nine on Sunday, while making 59 touches of the ball and completing 21 out of 28 passes.
The Ghanaian winger was replaced by Brennan Johnson for the final 10 minutes of play, but the Welshman struggled to ignite any spark in Spurs’ attack as he made just three touches of the ball.
Johnson has largely struggled for regular minutes following Kudus’ arrival from West Ham in the summer and remains someone Frank could turn to if he decides to drop Kudus following Sunday’s heavy defeat.
After scoring in back-to-back games at the start of the campaign, Johnson has gone goalless in his next 12 league appearances, making only six starts in total.
Frank Under Pressure at Tottenham
After securing back-to-back wins over Brentford and Slavia Prague, Tottenham have failed to ease further pressure on Frank following the heavy 3-0 loss on Sunday.
The Danish tactician continues to face intense scrutiny over his difficult start to life in north London, having won just 10 of his 25 games since taking charge in July.
Spurs have won three times in their last 11 games across all competitions and sit 11th in the Premier League, four points off the top five.
They next host Liverpool on Saturday, 20 December, before a London derby at Crystal Palace on Sunday, 28 December.