This has been a topsy-turvy start to the new campaign for Tottenham who have won just twice to open up the Premier League season.
An opening weekend draw to Leicester was followed up with a comfortable win over Everton but since then it has not been plain sailing.
Ange Postecoglou has faced criticism and understandably so following two straight defeats to Newcastle and Arsenal. The display against Coventry City in the League Cup was far from ideal either, leaving it late against Championship opposition to secure their path to the next round.
So, when Bryan Mbeumo scored within the first minute on Saturday, frustrations began to boil over.
It would have been easy for this Spurs side to crumble but they showed great mental fortitude to fight back and see off Brentford 3-1 courtesy of goals from James Maddison, comeback man Brennan Johnson and a first strike for Dominic Solanke.
Spurs’ attacking performance
This has been quite the week for Johnson. The Welshman hasn’t been at his best this term but the waves of criticism the winger received for his display against Arsenal a week ago wasn’t acceptable.
How he has fought back. Johnson scored the winner a few days ago against Coventry and found the net once more against Thomas Frank’s side on Saturday. A chorus of chants rung around the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in support of him. Quite right.
It was also pleasing for Solanke to get off the mark. Since his £65m move from Bournemouth, the striker has struggled with injury but is fit and firing now in Spurs colours. This will likely be the first of many goals during his time in north London.
It was Maddison who truly stole the show though, with his performance duly handed a 10/10 match rating by Football.London’s Alasdair Gold who suggested it was ‘his best performance in a Spurs shirt’.
Not only did the attacking midfielder score but he also supplied three key passes and won a whopping ten duels. It’s not a bad afternoon’s work at all, is it?
So where was star man Son Heung-min in all of this? Well, the skipper failed to score but he did provide two assists as he flew under the radar.
He will continue to be their focal point this season but there’s a man down at N17 who’s now becoming just as important; Dejan Kulusevski.
Kulusevski’s performance in numbers this season
The Swede has played in a multitude of positions this season and after a struggle from several Tottenham wide players in the opening weeks of the season it was rather baffling that he continued to operate more centrally.
Well, such a decision has clearly been proven right as far as Postecoglou is concerned. Johnson is thriving now down Kulusevski’s favoured right-hand side and the former Juventus man is now shining in a deeper role.
It was from central midfield that the Sweden international looked so at ease on Saturday, supplying three key passes and producing three shots at the Brentford goal.
Minutes played
90
Touches
50
Accurate passes
20/26 (77%)
Key passes
3
Crosses
1/6
Long balls
1/1
Shots
3
Dribbles
1/2
Duels won
1/8
Possession lost
18x
Interceptions
1
Tackles
0
It wasn’t the most jaw-dropping of displays but he is without a doubt the best creator in this Tottenham side this season, producing 2.76 key passes per 90 according to FBRef. For context, that’s a higher rate than Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka (2.63) and higher than Maddison (2.57).
For shot-creating actions per 90 (6.98) he ranks fourth in this season’s Premier League and for goal-creating actions, he is the division’s tenth-best player.
Shot-creating actions are pieces of play that lead to a shot. These include moments such as a pass, take-on or foul being drawn.
If we’re comparing the £110k-per-week star further afield, then Kulusevski is performing better than some global superstars for shot-creating actions, performing more than Barcelona wonderkid Lamine Yamal (6.11) and Vinicius Jr (5.99). To summarise, the wide man is pretty damn good.
Those numbers are all the more intriguing when you consider that the 24-year-old has still only recorded one goal involvement this term in league action, assisting a strike in the rout over Everton.
It is surely only a matter of time before those base numbers improve. He was excellent against the Bees and with a player like Solanke ahead of him, those key passes are only more likely to turn into goals.
It is usually so often about Son down at Tottenham but Maddison and Kulusevski have now shown it doesn’t necessarily need to be. Perhaps brighter days do in fact lie ahead under Ange.
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