‘Sell Richarlison in January’- Ex-Spurs Scout: Three things I learned from Tottenham win against Crystal Palace
Tottenham News is delighted to welcome aboard our brilliant new columnist Bryan King, the former goalkeeper who spent six years as a senior scout at Spurs and 28 years in total in first-team scouting roles. Bryan also spent eight years on Everton’s recruitment team and 11 years scouting at Aston Villa across two different spells.
Tottenham battled to a hard-fought 2-1 win away at Crystal Palace on Friday 27 October to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League.
At half-time it seemed as if it might not be Spurs’ night, however, they were able to find the breakthrough in the 53rd minute when Joel Ward turned James Maddison’s cross into his own net.
Son Heung-min added a second for the visitors in the 66th minute after a lovely tea move, and although the hosts did get a stoppage-time consolation strike through Jordan Ayew, Ange Postecoglou’s side were able to manage the game and see out the win.
Ex-Spurs scout Bryan King was watching on for Tottenham News and detailed three things he learned from the result.
Why can’t Tottenham challenge for the league?
Sometimes you have got to play ugly to win, and these are the places where you have got to go and win if you are going to challenge for the Premier League. Tottenham have now done it at Luton, against Fulham and at Crystal Palace. How many times have Manchester City won ugly, or Manchester United? Experts on TV are dismissing Tottenham as league challengers, but looking at the league, I think it is more open than it has ever been. We’re almost a third of the way through the season and Tottenham are top of the league, they can’t do anything more than that.
Teams such as Arsenal, Liverpool and City having a better squad is something that needs to be taken into account, and I think Spurs will need a few additions in January, especially if they are still near the top of the league.
It is brilliant that they came through another test, but it is no surprise when you look at the manager they have. He is a straight talker and what you see is what you get, and what he wants from his team is a team that works hard which is what he has at the moment.
Tottenham look considerably weaker without Destiny Udoige
Spurs are a much weaker side without Udogie, without a shadow of a doubt. After the first ten minutes, you could tell they missed his presence. He makes great forward runs, he is tough in the tackle and he uses the ball well, which means he is a good outlet for Guglielmo Vicario.
Tottenham certainly lost a bit without him playing because he is a bundle of energy, he gets forward, he gets back, and his passing is crisp. Ben Davies and Emerson Royal don’t do what he does pushing forward, Udogie’s quality in the final third is unmatched, and I just can’t believe he is only 20 years old. After the way he has started this season, his absence was very noticeable.
It is time to drop Richarlison
I think Richarlison has been fortunate to keep his place. I didn’t like him when he was at Everton, and he still hasn’t won me over at Tottenham. They paid a lot of money and will be expecting a lot more, so now might be the time to bring Brennan Johnson in, he showed great enthusiasm when he came on against Palace, and I think he will start against Chelsea. I just feel that his confidence is sky-high.
Personally, I would sell Richarlison in January. From what I have heard he didn’t mix well at Everton, and whether that is what is going on at Tottenham I don’t know, but he doesn’t look happy playing football at the moment.
In other Tottenham news, King has provided his player ratings for the Spurs team from the match.