Spurs must ditch 5/10 star alongside Bentancur after Brighton

Spurs must ditch 5/10 star alongside Bentancur after Brighton

Next weekend, Tottenham Hotspur will face Wolverhampton Wanderers on home turf. It could be coined as a ‘winnable’ fixture for Ange Postecoglou’s side, who have won their past five home matches in the Premier League.

Of course, it’s rarely that easy in English football and Wolves’ last-gasp turnaround to sink Spurs out of nothing proves the dangers that lay embedded throughout the pathway to success come summer.

But Postecoglou will be emboldened by the return of many absentees since the new year, plus the turn in form that has put a poor patch throughout November and December in the past and has placed Tottenham back in top-four contention.

Indeed, Brennan Johnson’s late winner against Brighton & Hove Albion last weekend proved pivotal as Aston Villa lost their hold on fourth place one day later, losing 2-1 to Manchester United in a thrilling encounter at Villa Park.

Johnson, a £47.5m summer signing from Nottingham Forest, has now struck home across his past two substitute appearances in the top-flight, indicative of a fresh weight of depth that has unshackled Postecoglou’s free-flowing attacking ideology.

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The Lilywhites were reportedly eyeing up the Wolverhampton Wanderers whiz last month.

Now, the brooding clouds have scudded away and, suddenly, Tottenham have options. No longer is the squad constrained by injuries, suspensions and mid-season international tournaments.

For this reason, perhaps it’s time for certain stars such as Timo Werner to return to the bench…

Why Timo Werner must be dropped

Throughout the early phase of Postecoglou’s reign, it was clear that a talented squad had married into the Australian’s expressive tactical set-up, but the tenuous thread banding it all together always threatened to snap and so it did when the absences started mounting after a stunning start.

The defence was always going to be chairman Daniel Levy’s priority heading into the January transfer window and the £27m addition of Radu Dragusin from Genoa confirmed this notion not two weeks in.

Dragusin had been pursued for weeks and a deal always looked likely to reach completion, but the Romanian wasn’t the first to join the fold, with Werner arriving from RB Leipzig on a loan deal until the end of the term to bolster the frontline, with an option to buy for around £15m.

A Champions League winner with Chelsea, Werner, aged 27, always impressed with his fleet-footed gait and dynamic ability but has been marred by positional unawareness and a lack of potency in goalscoring moments, something on display for Tottenham thus far.

After five matches in all competitions, the Germany international has supplied two assists and is yet to score, sort of capturing the above-mentioned traits that many expected from him.

There’s no doubting that he’s a valuable option and has opened up a new dimension to the Spurs attack but is he worthy of a starting berth on the biggest occasions? Perhaps not.

As per Sofascore, the 5 foot 11 star has taken 2.5 shots, created 1.5 key passes and averaged 3.5 ball recoveries per Premier League game so far, crisp in possession with an 84% pass success rate.

These are not bad metrics by any stretch and Werner clearly makes an impact down the left flank, driving play forward, keeping it tidy and creating chances for his peers, but after four successive starts in the Premier League, it’s time for a place on the bench.

Last time out, against the Seagulls, he completed just over an hour before being replaced – alongside Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski – by Heung-min Son, Yves Bissouma and Johnson.

Kulusevski is the attack’s engine and is considered among the club’s most important assets but Bentancur has assumed quite the heavy load since returning from injury problems that had ravaged his progress throughout 2023, and with Pape Matar Sarr scoring and Bissouma making his return, it might be time for the Uruguayan to spend a bit of time on the bench.

Timo Werner: Key Characteristics

Strengths

Weaknesses

Passing

Offside awareness

Long shots

Finishing

Ball retention

Crossing

Dribbling

Aerial duels

Source: WhoScored

There’s a case that the starting players are worn out, with Son and Bissouma returning from international duty and significantly strengthening the squad in doing so, and for Werner, this was especially so, with football.london’s Alasdair Gold handing him a 5/10 match rating.

The journalist wrote: ‘A quiet first half with the odd little run and pass without really threatening. Started the second half well though with a strong run past a few challenges before a low deflected effort wide. His end product remains inconsistent.’

A quiet first half indeed, with Lilywhites shot-stopper Guglielmo Vicario even having more touches (44) than Werner managed (41) across his 61 minutes of action.

The best option to replace Werner

With Son producing the weighted, curling cross-field pass to provide Johnson with the space to rifle home in the dying embers, it’s pretty much a no-brainer that the South Korea international must be handed a starting berth going forward.

Not too long ago, a case could have been made to field Werner on the left and have Son occupy the focal role in the centre, but Richarlison has posted nine goals from nine matches in the Premier League so his place at centre-forward is pretty much locked in.

Son’s not exactly ineffectual on the wing either. The 31-year-old club captain has scored 12 goals and supplied six assists from 21 league games this season and left Postecoglou gushing over his “world-class” ability after his match-winning moment on Saturday.

Premier League 23/24: Big Chances Created

#

Player

Club

Stat

1.

Mohamed Salah

Liverpool

17

2.

Kieran Trippier

Newcastle United

13

2.

Trent Alexander-Arnold

Liverpool

13

4.

Bruno Fernandes

Manchester United

12

4.

Heung-min Son

Tottenham Hotspur

12

4.

Bukayo Saka

Arsenal

12

4.

Martin Odegaard

Arsenal

12

Source: Premier League

It was yet another creative decision to pay off handsomely for his side, and that’s without even touching on his deadliness as a first-rate goalscorer.

There’s a case to be made that Son is one of the game’s finest natural finishers, taking just 2.5 shots per game in the Premier League this year compared to Erling Haaland’s 5.8 and Mohamed Salah’s 3.3.

With James Maddison fully fit once again, Son can release the creative burden he has held for much of the campaign and focus on his most effective threat on the field: bypassing goalkeepers’ nets with alarming incisiveness.

Of course, he’s hardly averse to supplementing his teammates, is he? And there’s no question about the £190k-per-week machine’s technical ability and tactical intelligence.

Werner will start again and has proved himself a good option for Postecoglou to have, but the time has come for Son to reclaim his rightful place at the heart of Spurs’ exploits and after such a sublime assist on his first game back from a disappointing and likely dispiriting Asia Cup tournament, his unparalleled place in this Tottenham team is underpinned.