On the latest episode of the Gold & Guest talk Tottenham podcast, Tottenham Hotspur correspondent Alasdair Gold has been discussing all things Spurs after their derby defeat.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s men tasted defeat on Sunday at the Emirates Stadium after a humiliating first-half which saw the Lilywhites trail 3-0 at the break.
Should Bryan Gil be starting?
Yes
No
Spurs were able to pull a consolation goal back in the second half, and Gold has raised the question of whether summer signing Bryan Gil should now be starting after another promising display off the bench.
The Spaniard joined the north London side from Sevilla during the summer, but is yet to make his first start in the Premier League with just three brief appearances from the bench (via Transfermarkt).
Discussing the impact Gil made off the bench on Sunday, Gold had the following to say on how he thinks Espirito Santo should be using the Spaniard.
“I thought, once again, I thought he actually said ‘I should be starting matches’. I’ll go as far as to say that. I felt in his early games for Spurs, especially in the Premier League, he looked a little bit lightweight, but yesterday [Sunday] – we saw it actually against Wolves, as well – we saw a guy that is really throwing himself into stuff.
“Spurs’ consolation goal was all about Gil’s tenacity and desire to keep the ball alive. He slid into kind of like a pass to get there first, give it to [Sergio] Reguilon, low cross, Son puts it away.
“And I just think if I’m Nuno Espirito Santo, which I’m clearly not because he keeps telling me off, but if I was, I would be very much saying look, which of these players wants to give me everything?
“You look at the [Oliver] Skipps, you look at the Gils and you just say yeah, get him in there, get him in the team, honestly. I don’t care now.
“We spoke about this with [Mauricio Pochettino] before, Poch got to this certain stage, it was after the Aston Villa game or kind of during it where he just decided, ‘I’m just not going to pander to people anymore. Otherwise, my job’s going to be on the line. I have to now start picking teams that are best for me and for the results’.
“And I think he needs to pick players that are going to give [their] all.”
TIF Thoughts on Gil’s early signs…
It is still very early days in the career of Gil at Spurs, however, as the north London club clearly lack any sense of creativity going forward, maybe it is time to put more trust in the Spaniard.
Harry Kane has struggled massively since returning to the Spurs squad, but he did score twice in the game against Pacos de Ferreira – a game in which Gil started and provided the talisman with an assist.
With Steven Bergwijn out through injury and Lucas Moura yet to provide a goal or assist, perhaps Espirito Santo should be looking at changing the frontline having scored just once in their last three league games.
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