View: Postecoglou gets it wrong as 90% Tottenham pass master axed v Newcastle. Tottenham midfielder Lo Celso axed vs Newcastle despite 90% display in West Ham defeat
Tottenham midfielder Giovani Lo Celso has been dropped to the bench for the clash with Newcastle United on Sunday 10 December, despite his improving form.
Spurs will look to bounce back from a midweek defeat against West Ham with a much-needed three points against Eddie Howe’s Newcastle, who similarly to the hosts, are struggling with injuries of their own.
A defeat would mark the fourth consecutive loss for Postecolgou and his Spurs players at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and they will be keen to avoid this fate on Sunday afternoon.
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However, it is fair to say that their task has become slightly harder after a strange decision made by Postecoglou regarding the starting lineup he has named for the match.
Argentina international midfielder Lo Celso has been named on the bench by the Australian despite scoring twice in his last three matches. The 27-year-old has arguably been one of the club’s more consistent performers over the last few weeks and the decision to axe him from the starting lineup is certainly a strange one, to say the least.
Although the midfielder is not one of Postecoglou’s preferred first-choice starters, which is evident by the fact that he didn’t start a Premier League game for the 58-year-old until this injury crisis in north London, he has certainly taken his opportunity well in the absence of James Maddison.
As per Sofascore, during the 2-1 defeat against West Ham on Thursday 7 December, Lo Celso completed 90 per cent of his passes, with three of those being key. In addition to this, he was one of the few in white who gave Lukasz Fabianski anything to think about, registering one shot on target, seeing one shot blocked and hitting the woodwork on another occasion.
He was also a nuisance for West Ham off the ball as he won five of his six ground duels and made one tackle. These numbers highlight just how strange of a decision this is from Postecoglou, especially considering the fact he has named Dejan Kulusevski in the side, someone who had a particularly poor showing against the Hammers.
The Swede was very wasteful with the ball, completing just two of the nine dribbles he attempted and failing to register any successful crosses from the four that he attempted. Furthermore, the winger won just six of the 22 ground duels he contested, in what was an all-action display which featured very little end product.
It will be interesting to see how Postecoglou’s decision plays out and if he perhaps has seen something no one else has, because if the stats are anything to go by, this is the wrong choice.
In other Tottenham news, one midfield goal machine could soon be on the radar of Postecoglou at Hotspur Way.
