Everything Danny Murphy said about Tottenham loss vs Arsenal on Match of the Day
Danny Murphy criticised Tottenham’s non-existent creative output in their defeat to Arsenal in the Premier League on Sunday.
Tottenham suffered a humiliating 4-1 defeat at the Emirates Stadium on 23 November, marking their worst league performance of the season.
The game saw former Tottenham target Eberechi Eze net a North London derby hat-trick for the first time since 1978.
While Tottenham were not the favourites to win against Arsenal, the players’ mentality left Spurs supporters reeling after the match.
Tottenham ‘struggling’ to create under Thomas Frank
Thomas Frank has been criticised for Tottenham’s poor creative output, and it was no different against the Gunners.
The Lilywhites recorded 0.07 expected goals, which is the lowest expected goals in the Premier League this season.
This beats their previous record of 0.1 expected goals in Spurs’ 1-0 defeat to Chelsea earlier this month.
While the absences of Dejan Kulusevski, James Maddison, and Dominic Solanke are noticeable, Murphy believes that Spurs’ creativity is just not good enough.
“It’s the lack of fight, but it’s also the lack of creativity,” he told the BBC’s Match of the Day on 23 November.
“In the last couple of games, Arsenal and Chelsea at home, you can see here, the top two lowest in the last two games, and obviously they’re one of the bottom three of the worst eight this season.
“Yes, you can hide behind Kulusevski, Solanke and Maddison not being there, but the players they’ve got in that squad are struggling. Really struggling to be brave enough, get on the ball, to make things happen.”
Tottenham fans had already begun losing faith in Frank, and this recent defeat against Arsenal hasn’t done him any favours.
Mohammed Kudus only redeeming factor for Tottenham
Mohammed Kudus has been Tottenham‘s best creator this season despite arriving in North London over the summer.
- Kudus has created two big chances in the Premier League
- He averages 1.5 key passes per game
- He has notched four assists thus far
Furthermore, 69 per cent of his long balls and 67 per cent of his chip passes have been accurate, according to Sofascore.
“You can argue only Kudus out of all their front players can hold his head up a little bit and say he’s created stuff, that he’s had a go. There’s a lot of fear in that side, probably too much pragmatism,” Murphy continued.
“Frank is obviously new to it. He’s working out who he can trust and who he can rely on. The reality is that they need to pick up soon because the level of performance in the past couple of games is causing discontent amongst the fans.”
The feat has made Kudus one of Frank’s most-used players in games, with him averaging 50 touches per match.
However, his impressive start to the season has made both him and Tottenham predictable. Frank couldn’t exactly rely on his pass to Kudus and pray tactics against the Gunners, who limited him to 30 touches.
As a result, the Dane will need to have a long think about how to get the best out of all his players, not just Kudus this season.
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