Ange Postecoglou gets it wrong as Dejan Kulusevski starts for Tottenham v Aston Villa
Ange Postecolgou could regret his decision to start Dejan Kulusevski for Tottenham against Aston Villa after the Swede’s performance against Crystal Palace last time out.
Spurs have travelled to the West Midlands for a crunch clash with Unai Emery’s side at Villa Park (10 March).
Villa are currently five points ahead of Tottenham in fourth having played a game more, and the outcome of Sunday’s showdown will go a long way in determining which team qualifies for next season’s UEFA Champions League.
Both sides are coming into the match off the back of league wins with Postecoglou’s men having come from behind to beat Crystal Palace 3-1 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last Saturday (2 March).
Meanwhile, Emery’s side scored a late winner to record a 3-2 victory against Luton Town at Kenilworth Road (2 March) before travelling to Amsterdam for a 0-0 draw with Ajax in the first leg of their UEFA Europa Conference League Round of 16 tie.
Tottenham and Villa will both feel confident of claiming three points, although Emery will have perhaps been handed a further boost of confidence after seeing Postecogolou’s team selection, which was posted to Spurs’ Official X account (10 March).
Dejan Kulusevski must put in an improved performance for Tottenham at Villa Park
Kulusevski has had a positive season overall for Tottenham.
However, his performance last time out against Palace left a lot to be desired, and Postecoglou has taken a risk by choosing to start the 23-year-old again in such an important match off the back of that poor performance.
As per Sofascore, although Kulusevski did play two key passes against the Eagles, he only managed to complete 77 per cent of his overall passes and completed just one accurate cross into the box from four attempts, a total of just 25 per cent.
Despite playing in an attacking area of the pitch, he didn’t manage to register a single shot at goal and failed with his one dribble attempt.
Where he struggled going forward, he did very little to make up for it going the other way as he struggled just as much defensively.
Besides his three tackles, he managed very little else as he won just one of his three aerial duels and three of his five ground duels, while he also put his team under pressure by giving the ball away 21 times, with only James Maddison losing the ball more than him for Spurs (24).
It was an afternoon to forget for the Sweden international who must show much more against Villa.
In other Tottenham news, a lawyer has urged Daniel Levy to learn from his past mistakes and accept a cut-price deal for one Spurs man this summer.
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