Tottenham Hotspur correspondent Alasdair Gold has been speaking on the latest edition of his Gold & Guest talk Tottenham podcast to discuss all things relating to the north London club.
The Spurs journalist discussed a damning stat to emerge following the club’s latest game on the weekend against Arsenal, showing the Lilywhites to cover the least ground per game of any side in the league.
Should Spurs give Nuno time to prove himself?
Yes
No
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side made a perfect start to the Premier League campaign with three straight wins and no goals conceded, however, their last three games have been nothing short of disastrous.
Emphatic defeats to Crystal Palace, Chelsea and Arsenal have left the Lilywhites slumped down in the bottom half of the table and the stats emerging after Sunday’s defeat only added the concerns at Spurs.
Discussing the stats to emerge following their defeat on Sunday, Gold discussed his concerns surrounding the Spurs side following their recent run of games.
“It’s disgusting – it’s disgusting, there’s no other word for it, it really is. And for someone like new Nuno, who is another like [Mauricio Pochettino] who really prides himself on the fitness of his team, the work rate, the distance they cover, I think that will probably sting more than anything else.”
“Those stats that talk about distance covered – that is attitude. That’s what that’s about. Nowhere does that formation say that the players should be static and not running. That has nothing to do with anything other than the players not running themselves.”
TIF Thoughts on Spurs under Nuno…
One of our biggest concerns about Spurs under Espirito Santo is his choices in midfield, which would indicate he is still not sure what his best side is yet.
Over the last few weeks, we have seen Harry Winks, Oliver Skipp, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Dele Alli and Giovani Lo Celso all rotate in the starting XI.
However, the defeat on the weekend to Arsenal would suggest playing with a three-man midfield may not be the way forward for Spurs.
Spurs have clearly struggled recently with conceding goals, and we think reverting to a 4-2-3-1 formation with Skipp and Hojbjerg as the sitting midfielders could provide their midfield with more solidity.
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