Spurs could axe Johnson by unleashing “outstanding” academy teen instead

This season has gone from unhealthy to worse for Tottenham Hotspur, and we’re solely 4 video games in.

On Sunday afternoon, Ange Postecoglou’s facet fell to a 1-0 defeat to bitter rivals Arsenal and, as issues stand, have picked up simply 4 factors from a attainable 12 within the Premier League.

Sadly for the Australian, there have been a number of stand-out performers on the day for all of the flawed causes, together with Brennan Johnson.

The Welshman has struggled this season, and whereas he may nonetheless come good, he must be dropped for the League Cup conflict with Coventry Metropolis and changed with a dynamic younger expertise who has a shiny future forward of him.

Johnson’s latest type

Spurs paid around £47.5m to Nottingham Forest for Johnson’s companies final summer time, and whereas he began slowly, he did finish his debut marketing campaign in North London with a fairly respectable haul of 5 targets and ten assists in 34 video games, equating to a aim involvement as soon as each 2.26 video games.

Nonetheless, within the 4 video games he has performed this season, the Welshman has didn’t score or assist a single goal and hasn’t appeared significantly harmful at any level.

For instance, throughout these 4 matches, he has solely amassed an expected goals figure of 0.79, an anticipated assists determine of 0.24, and simply 0.80 pictures on track per sport, which might go a way towards explaining why he isn’t produced a aim involvement simply but.

Furthermore, in his participant scores after yesterday’s match, soccer.london’s Spurs correspondent Alasdair Gold awarded the 23-year-old just a 5/10 as a result of whereas he was ‘swinging in low crosses,’ none of them had been particularly harmful, and when introduced with possibilities himself, he wasted them.

In all, Johnson simply hasn’t impressed but this season, and he ought to, subsequently, be dropped for the sport in opposition to Coventry, and in his place, Ange ought to begin a teenager who could possibly be a future famous person.

The shock participant who may exchange Johnson

Sure, the teenager in query is 17-year-old Mikey Moore, who appears to be like like he could possibly be one of the vital thrilling kids in English soccer for the time being, not less than based mostly on his type on the youth degree and the way he is been spoken about.

Nonetheless, earlier than we get to that, sure, the Southwark-born gem has primarily performed off the left wing in his quick profession to this point. Nonetheless, he has proven a degree of flexibility by beginning in attacking midfield, centre midfield and even at centre-forward up to now.

Furthermore, contemplating he is right-footed, it appears unlikely he’d flip down the possibility of first-team minutes simply because he’d be enjoying off the appropriate.

Actually, his youth report is so excellent that we now have little doubt he’d thrive wherever throughout the frontline in Postecoglou’s attacking system.

For instance, in 33 appearances throughout varied junior sides, the “excellent” prospect, as dubbed by Spurs writer John Wenham, has scored 20 goals and provided 15 assists, that means he is averaging a aim involvement each 0.94 video games, which is outrageously spectacular.

Furthermore, he was given two short cameo appearances in direction of the tip of final season when he was nonetheless simply 16, which indicators simply how extremely the membership at the moment charge him, and along with his tally of targets and assists at youth degree, they’re proper to.

Finally, Johnson has didn’t impress to this point this season, and whereas Moore has much less expertise enjoying off the appropriate, he must be given his first begin in opposition to Coventry tomorrow night time; if he is pretty much as good as folks consider him to be, then he is sufficiently old as nicely.