Ange Postecoglou may decide to make a change to his Tottenham team for next Monday’s Premier League home match against Chelsea, with a significant change to a key area of the squad.
After playing two Premier League games in the space of five days last week, Ange Postecoglou and his Tottenham players will have to wait for their next match. Spurs are not involved in midweek action due to their Carabao Cup exit at the end of August, so they have plenty of time to prepare for Chelsea‘s visit next Monday.
Not only will Mauricio Pochettino return to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for the first time since his dismissal as head coach four years ago, but the game will also provide the Lilywhites with the opportunity to maintain their top-of-the-table position in the Premier League. Summer signing Brennan Johnson played a pivotal role at Selhurst Park after making an immediate impact from the bench in their previous match, a hard-fought 2-1 win away at Crystal Palace.
After taking over for Richarlison in the 66th minute, the 22-year-old set up Son Heung-min for a simple finish two minutes later. After initially heading Pape Matar Sarr’s long ball into the path of James Maddison, Johnson received the ball from the England international before squaring to Son to score.
The Spurs captain clearly appreciated the winger’s contribution, as he could be seen pointing to him immediately after scoring, before the pair linked arms and ran towards the ecstatic away end. Having seen very little of the Wales international due to a hamstring injury suffered on his full debut against Arsenal, the ex-Nottingham Forest man gave everyone in south London a taste of what he can offer Postecoglou’s team in a very bright 26-minute cameo appearance.
Postecoglou praised Johnson and his fellow substitutes for their contributions off the bench in the win at Selhurst Park, speaking to football.london after the game.
“Yeah, Brennan was fantastic. He’s had to be patient because he’s had a couple of setbacks, so we haven’t really seen him in any consistent game or training time, but he’s worked hard at training the last couple of weeks,” he said.
“I assumed that all the subs who came on… I thought Pierre helped us gain control of the midfield, and I thought Emerson was outstanding at left back. Those kinds of things, the guys coming on and helping us see out games, are helping us right now.”
Johnson‘s next goal after playing such an important role in the Eagles victory will be to force his way into Postecoglou‘s starting XI for the Chelsea match. After giving the Australian something to think about in his game time against Palace, a strong week on the training pitch could work in his favour, leaving one of Richarlison or Dejan Kulusevski out of the team to face the Blues.
Tottenham have made people sit up and take notice this season as a result of Postecoglou‘s football philosophy, but there is so much more to come from them. Despite scoring 22 goals in ten league games, things haven’t quite clicked in the final third, with the head coach revealing in his press conference ahead of the Crystal Palace match that the “biggest growth” for them will be in the attacking side of their game.
“It’s all of it. “We still need to improve in every area,” he said when asked what Tottenham needs to work on. “There are areas of the game where we are already very good, particularly on defence.” I believe we’ve been excellent – really consistent.
“That’s what won us the game,” I said after the game on Monday night. To work extremely hard, to press the opposition, and to be extremely disciplined and committed to forcing the opposition to make mistakes. That has been extremely beneficial and satisfying to me.
“I continue to believe that our main growth will come from the attacking side of the game.” I still believe that many of our movements, particularly in the front third, are not as natural and fluent as we would like. However, the fact that we have great quality up there is helping us achieve our goals. But I believe our greatest growth will be in our attacking side of the game.”
Johnson, who has speed, skill, and great movement and can score and assist, appears to be the ideal player for Postecoglou’s front three. When he is at his best, he can truly help elevate Tottenham’s attack to the next level.
The key to that will be providing him with the necessary game time, as he has only played 108 minutes in four Tottenham appearances due to injury. The ideal opportunity for the player to really kickstart his Spurs career comes next Monday, when Chelsea travel across the capital to N17.
Johnson could be unleashed in the London derby by Postecoglou after a strong week of training following his heroics against Crystal Palace. It could be the start of the head coach’s front three really clicking into gear, propelling Tottenham up another level or two.
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