After a fantastic first half of the Premier League season, Tottenham Hotspur have fallen a bit behind, and after defeat to Liverpool on Sunday, there is a real possibility the club could lose five games if Burnley get the upper hand today
Ange Postecoglou has done an admirable job, given that this is his first year in charge of England, but he will need to change something today if the Lilywhites are to have any chance of qualifying for the tournament
attend the Champions League at the end of the season
One of the changes he is expected to make is for Dejan Kulusevski to become one of the club’s most dangerous strikers this season
Dejan Kulusevski’s performance against Liverpool Now, there were a number of players who performed poorly against the Red Devils last weekend and as a result, more changes could be made ahead of today’s match, but Kulusevski was arguably Spurs’ most disappointing striker on Sunday
, as Heung-min Son scored and Brennan Johnson provided an assist
The Sweden international’s performance was also not well received by the press, with Football
london’s Rob Guest rating him 4/10 that day, writing that he “did very little in the final third “, which is a generous way to describe his performance
In 61 minutes of play, the 24-year-old did not attempt a single shot, produced an expected assist rating of just 0
01, failed 2 of 3 dribbles, maintained Passing accuracy rate was only 85%, lost 50% of duels, lost the ball 10 times and failed to make a single cross or make a single long ball
In essence, the former Juventus star is virtually unknown, so he cannot start against the Clarets, especially as the team look a lot more dangerous when he is on the pitch
Players who should replace Kulusevski The player who should replace Kulusevski today is Richarlison, because the Brazilian can play as a central striker, while Son moves back to the left wing and Johnson moves to the right wing
This may not be the ideal formation for Spurs in the long term, but it is the one when the team finally starts to look threatening against Liverpool on Sunday, and the former Everton ace is at the heart of it all all of those things
In his short time on the field, he managed two shots on target and scored a goal
While he hasn’t had an incredible season, he has been quite effective when given the opportunity
In total, the “relentless” striker, as journalist Joe Strange described it, scored 12 goals and provided 4 assists in just 31 games, or 1737 minutes
This is the second-best goals-per-minute ratio among the club’s main strikers this season, behind Son
Finally, although Kulusevksi is a talented player and has shown that during his time at the club, he performed poorly against Liverpool last week, so he cannot start This time around, the best alternative is to see Richarlison get another start at center
striker
