In the latest episode of the Last Word On Spurs podcast, Ricky Sacks, Lee McQueen, Alasdair Gold and Darren Lewis have been reflecting on the north London club’s season and looking ahead to the 2020/21 campaign.
One topic of conversation on the recent episode, which was titled ‘Spurs Secure Europe‘, was Giovani Lo Celso. Gold suggests during the podcast that the Lilywhites are perhaps over-reliant on the Argentinian midfielder for creativity in midfield, suggesting that we need to perhaps stop thinking of the former Real Betis man as the replacement for Christian Eriksen.
Here’s what Gold had to say about the issue on the podcast:
“I think the biggest problem with Spurs at the moment is this reliance on Giovani Lo Celso – he’s not Christian Eriksen. He’s a different kind of player. He is a guy that is probably more used to playing in a slightly deeper midfield role. It’s almost as if [Jose] Mourinho knows that he’s the only guy that can thread a ball through at the moment.
“He’s almost forced him into a more advanced role, whereas maybe in a classic Mourinho formation, perhaps you’d have 4-3-3 and you’d have a defending midfielder sitting behind, allowing him and possibly someone like Tanguy Ndombele, if he ever emerges back into the light of day, perhaps that’s the formation that gives you the creativity, but right now it’s almost like a ‘let’s make do with what we’ve got, get to the end of the season and we’ll just grind out these results’.”
TIF Thoughts…
During Eriksen’s time with Spurs; he contributed a superb 69 goals and 89 assists in 305 appearances (per Transfermarkt), so he was perhaps always going to be a tough man for the Lilywhites to replace after he joined Inter in the January transfer window. In his first season with Spurs, Lo Celso failed to find the net in the Premier League and contributed just two assists, both of which came late in the season (per Whoscored).
Can Lo Celso be Eriksen's direct replacement?
Yes
No
Therefore you can see why Gold feels that the two are very different players, and suggests that it is a big issue for Spurs if they try and rely on the Argentinian to be the key creative influence in this Spurs side.