Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou may have to rethink his playing squad from this weekend judging on a few individual performances for their respective countries. Spurs have impressed in the first month of the new campaign with three wins and a draw from their opening four league games.
Even more impressive though has been the attacking intent shown by Postecoglou’s side – a far cry from what Tottenham looked like under Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte respectively. Losing Harry Kane on the eve of the new season raised questions on where the goals were going to come from at Spurs.
But they’ve found the net 11 times in their opening four games, including five in the impressive win over Burnley before the international break. Son Heung-min grabbed a hat-trick in that match with Richarlison dropping to the bench.
James Maddison also continued his fine start to life in north London with a goal, anchored by Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr in midfield. Postecoglou’s philosophy is already clear to see and he’s stamped his authority on the Tottenham side by ringing the changes.
And he’ll have a decision to make this weekend with new signing Brennan Johnson available to make his debut. The 22-year-old impressed on international duty for Wales as he played a key role in their 2-0 Euro 2024 qualifier win over Latvia.
Ben Davies would have also undoubtedly put himself in Postecoglou’s thinking as he captained Wales in their 0-0 draw with South Korea. Manor Solomon will be hoping his performances for Israel as they picked up four crucial points against Belarus and Romania.
The 26-year-old has been the go-to starting striker for his country and was Postecoglou’s preferred No 9 to begin the campaign before was dropped to the bench for the Burnley match. And Richarlison failed to break his goalscoring duck in both games for Brazil with the striker scoring just twice since joining Tottenham last year.
With Johnson now in contention to play in Tottenham’s attack, Richarlison faces even more competition for a return to the starting line-up. Without European football, Postecoglou has less reason to chop and change his starting XI as well.
