LEE DIXON SAYS ‘MAVERICK’ TOTTENHAM PLAYER CAN WIN GAMES ON HIS OWN
Lee Dixon has said that at his very best, Tottenham Hotspur forward Richarlison can be almost unplayable.
Dixon was speaking on The 2 Robbies Podcast after the return of the Premier League.
Ange Postecoglou’s side left it very late to earn three points against Sheffield United on Saturday.
Unlike under previous managers, the home crowd never lost faith in their side.
When the board went up with 12 minutes of injury time, there was a sense that the match was always going to end one way despite Sheffield United’s dogged defending.
Postecoglou turned to the bench to change the game late on with new signing Brennan Johnson and Richarlison introduced.
The Brazilian made the difference, nodding in an Ivan Perisic corner before assisting Dejan Kulusevski for a late winner.
Lee Dixon admits that Richarlison can be a match-winner for Tottenham but he needs to reach those levels more often.
The 26-year-old has been too inconsistent since signing from Everton but matches like yesterday are exactly why they signed him.
Dixon impressed with Tottenham forward Richarlison
Asked about the Brazilian centre-forward, Dixon said: “He’s come back into the team, at his best he’s almost unplayable.
“He plays up front for Brazil, you know he’s their number nine so he can’t be that bad. But you don’t see enough of him at his best and that will be down to his emotion.
“You’ve played in teams where you’ve got a bit of a maverick and you go, ‘This lad, he can win us any game we play in’.
“But then you’re kind of looking at him for 75% of the games he plays in and thinking, he’s a liability or he’s not quite doing enough.
“So, I think he’s one of them, I’m not saying you only get 25% out of him.
“In order for him to be positioned in the place where he is right now as Tottenham’s number nine replacing Harry Kane, you’ve got to be churning goals out week in, week out.”
Plenty of Tottenham fans will agree with Dixon that they’ve only seen the best from Richarlison very sparingly.
He’s got the full support of his teammates in a difficult moment in his career, with Son Heung-min making sure he got the full adulation from the crowd at full-time.
Dejan Kulusevski admitted he loved playing alongside Richarlison and it will now be interesting to see if he has earned a start next weekend against Arsenal.
