John Wenham of Lilywhite Rose has labelled Jose Mourinho’s decision to continuously start Lucas Moura over Steven Bergwijn as ‘bonkers’.
The Brazilian has started in 64% of Tottenham Hotspur’s Premier League fixtures this season, making 30 appearances in total, scoring four goals and providing two assists. However, his last direct goal contribution came in February during Spurs’ 2-0 victory over Manchester City and prior to that, he hadn’t been directly involved in a goal since the middle of December, when he scored at Wolves (as per Transfermarkt.co.uk).
Bergwijn has only played a total of 86 minutes in Spurs’ last three Premier League fixtures but in his nine top-flight appearances so far, he has contributed three goals in fixtures versus Manchester City, Wolves and Manchester United (via Transfermarkt.co.uk).
Speaking on a recent episode of the Last Word On Spurs podcast, Wenham expressed his frustration with regards to the lack of game time the Dutchman is getting.
He said: “Continuously starting Lucas Moura, who has had no goal and one assist since December 2019 in the league, instead of Bergwijn – that is just bonkers to me. Steven Bergwijn has played three or four home games; every one he has started, he’s scored. He looks powerful, he looks quick, he’s got an eye for goal and to continuously pick favourites over the greater good for the team, I find that quite worrying.”
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TIF Thoughts…
Judging by the aforementioned statistics, the former PSV Eindhoven winger certainly appears to have been more clinical than the Brazilian in recent times, therefore, you can understand Wenham’s frustration.
The Spurs writer has suggested Jose Mourinho has allowed his favouritism to come through in his selection decisions and that he may not be putting the team first.