Alasdair Gold was left unimpressed by the performance of Tottenham winger Dejan Kulusevski against AS Roma.
The former Juventus player’s performance came as a surprise, given the impressive way in which he started his Spurs career in the second-half of last season – scoring five and assisting a further eight in the Premier League.
It was an evening to forget for the majority of the Spurs squad, in truth, with former manager Jose Mourinho and his Roma side proving too much for the North London club, who will now time their attention to the start of the Premier League campaign.
Failing to defeat Roma is far from ideal so close to the beginning of the season, but Antonio Conte will be hopefully that any remaining rust was shaken away in the outing.
Gold had his say on the performance, criticising Kulusevski in his player ratings for Football London, saying: “A quiet second half from the Swede in the Haifa heat. 5 – probs best.”
TIF Thoughts on Kulusevski…
Kulusevski should play an important part for Spurs next season, as they look to take advantage of a positive summer of arrivals and cause a few upsets at the top of the table next season.
They proved just how capable they are last season when they took points away from both Manchester City and Liverpool in the second half of the campaign under Conte. If they can perform as they did against the top two every week, then this Spurs side could prove to be a tough nut to crack.
On an individual basis, Kulusevski will be aiming to better his goal involvement tally of half of last season, and prove that it was no fluke.