On the face of it, Tottenham have started the 2022-23 season pretty well. Antonio Conte’s side are currently third in the Premier League and one of only two teams in the division yet to suffer a defeat alongside reigning champions and title favourites Manchester City, while a return of three points from their opening two Champions League contests hardly constitutes a crisis.
But the manner in which Spurs slumped to a first loss of the campaign against Sporting Lisbon in the Portuguese capital on Tuesday night was concerning. In part because performances so far have suggested that it was overdue.
Spurs’ unbeaten Premier League start comes with the caveat that they have been fortunate to accumulate 14 points from a possible 18. Draws at Stamford Bridge and the London Stadium could quite easily have been defeats, while the home win against Wolves was thoroughly unconvincing. The argument that winning ugly is a positive trait only stands up if a team makes a habit of it; the flip side is how long can a team pick up points when not playing well?
Expected stats aren’t everybody’s cup of tea, but in this instance, they do back up the eye test: according to Understat, Tottenham have outperformed their expected points – a measure of how many points a team can expect to take from a game based on goalscoring chances created and conceded – by +2.43 points. Only Bournemouth, Manchester United and Chelsea are higher and Spurs should be two positions lower based on that metric.
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Conte is right to point out the club’s improvement during his 10 months in charge, but his reluctance to change his line-up is starting to be questioned.
Drop Son, start Kulusevski
Conte has so far been loyal to last season’s joint-Premier League Golden Boot winner Son Heung-min with the South Korean starting all eight of Tottenham’s games so far. However, his poor form is becoming a concern and a major talking point.
Along with Brighton’s Solly March, he is the Premier League’s most wasteful shooter, failing to score from any of his 17 attempts while his only assist came over a month ago during a 4-1 win against Southampton. With Richarlison settling in quickly and Dejan Kulusevski unfortunate to lose his starting spot, Son’s place is now under threat. A sentence that would have been unthinkable at any other point over the past few years.
Rio Ferdinand, though, is adamant that Son should not be dropped. “No chance! Blasphemy!” he said on BT Sport after being asked whether he should be left out. “Golden Boot winner last season, joint-top goalscorer with Mo Salah. We’re six Premier League games in and a couple of Champions League games and they’re asking for him to be dropped. Were they asking for Harry Kane to be dropped when he didn’t score in August all those times?”
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) September 14, 2022
Son Heung-Min has now had 19 shots without scoring for Tottenham in all competitions this season. He's only hit the target with seven of them. pic.twitter.com/TaL9o3lfCm
Michael Owen agreed: “Short memories. If you’re Manchester United, Liverpool, Man City and you say you can have one player I’d say the majority would take Son. You’ve got to be patient with great players. For the last two, three, four years everyone has said it is a two-man team with him and Harry Kane and all of a sudden he has a few average, quiet games and you drop him?”
While Ferdinand and Owen’s comments over Son’s previous exploits are valid, they skim over his current output and ineffective displays. Spurs have four top-quality attackers jostling for a trio positions and on current form, Son does not feature in their best front three.
Make a change at right wing-back
Six of Tottenham’s players have started every game so far this season. Five of them are predictable: Hugo Loris, Eric Dier, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Son and Kane. The other is Emerson Royal.
The Brazilian has certainly improved under Conte’s coaching and his increasing tendency to pop up in dangerous positions in the final third is evidence that he is taking his manager’s instructions on board. The problem is that he still lacks the killer instinct to create or score a goal when he is in advanced areas.
Against Sporting, Royal had three chances to score and didn’t ever look as though he would take one. And defensively, he was partly at fault for both goals after being beaten in the air by Paulinho for the opener and dribbled past far too easily by Arthur for the second.
Most Premier League minutes in Tottenham’s squad this season
=1. Hugo Lloris, Eric Dier and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (540 mins)
4. Emerson Royal (529)
5. Harry Kane (528)
Matt Doherty was in spectacular form prior to picking up a knee injury against Aston Villa in April and has been restricted to only 10 minutes of action this season, while summer signing Djed Spence has featured even less, coming on as a substitute in injury time against Nottingham Forest.
Conte has frequently rotated Ivan Perisic and Ryan Sessegnon at left wing-back and now seems as good a time as any to adopt a similar policy on the opposite flank.
Break up the Bentancur-Hojbjerg partnership
Of Tottenham’s summer signings, Yves Bissouma generated the most excitement among supporters, largely due to his performances against Spurs for his previous club Brighton.
Bissouma was the standout player on the pitch on both of Brighton’s visits to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last season – an FA Cup tie in January and Premier League match in April – and was seen as the perfect addition to the club’s midfield ranks.
However, he has barely featured so far with his only start coming against West Ham. Conte’s chosen two of Hojbjerg and Rodrigo Bentancur have often struggled to win the midfield battle in recent matches, regularly finding themselves outnumbered in the centre of the pitch.
Adding another body in that area could alleviate some of those issues and Bissouma’s industry, mobility and ball-winning capabilities could make Spurs more difficult to bypass.
And even if Conte does not deviate away from his tried-and-trusted 3-4-3 system, Bissouma warrants an opportunity to show what he can do, given neither Bentancur or Hojbjerg have made compelling arguments to retain their places.
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