Spurs fans on Twitter have been reacting to the news that Carlos Vinicius was left out of Spurs’ squad to face Brighton on Sunday night due to tactical reasons, rather than an injury.
Journalist Alasdair Gold confirmed in his piece for Football.london (via The Spurs Express) that the Brazilian was dropped from Jose Mourinho’s squad, rather than him missing out through injury.
The striker was brought in on loan from Benfica during the recent transfer window to add to Spurs’ attacking options but he is yet to make an appearance in the Premier League, with just two Europa League appearances to his name thus far (per WhoScored).
Whilst he impressed in his Spurs debut, contributing two assists in the 3-0 win against LASK, which saw him earn an 8.07 rating (per WhoScored), he struggled to impress in the defeat against Royal Antwerp.
The 25-year-old picked up a disappointing 6.15 rating (per WhoScored) and he was one of four players to be substituted at half-time in the defeat in Belgium, which may suggest that Mourinho was not happy with his display, and that could be one reason why he wasn’t in the squad to face Graham Potter’s side on Sunday night.
Will Vinicius start on Thursday?
Yes
No
So, what did these Spurs fans make of Alasdair Gold’s news on Carlos Vinicius?
He was poor in Antwerp, so I’m not surprised he wasn’t in the squad. Give him a chance on Thursday and take it from there. He played well in the first game and poor in the second, lets judge him after at least 6 matches, he’s trying to find his feet in a new team and system.
— Michael Hodge (@MichaelGrahamH2) November 2, 2020
He better start on Thursday then
— mitchell (@thfcmitchell) November 2, 2020
this guy looks like he could be a beast for us.
Jose don’t disappoint us you said we needed a back up striker , imagine if Kane got injured vs Brighton and we had no striker in the squad at that moment… would you have put Son up top and Gareth out wide or something??— Emanuela Oppong (@Manu23588) November 2, 2020
Wrong decision
— Jim-C (@jmconnor6) November 2, 2020
Very harsh to leave him out. Players who haven’t performed when they’ve been there a while, yes. But this was his 2nd game and to be honest, he was decent I thought. Won everything but those around him were awful. Harsh decision.
— Dellamana (@DellamanaDJ) November 2, 2020
Strange that one
— Chris Briggs (@briggsycoys1) November 2, 2020
new gedson
— feky (@coys00) November 2, 2020
This news seems to have split the opinion of these Spurs fans so far, with some seeming to think that it was the right decision to rest him ahead of the Europa League game against Ludogorets on Thursday evening, whereas others feel that he should have been in the squad.
One fan even compared the striker to Gedson Fernandes, who joined Spurs on loan from Benfica in January but has struggled to make much of an impact, with just 13 Spurs appearances to his name (per Transfermarkt).