Thomas Frank has to end Mohammed Kudus experiment after damning Tottenham stats vs Everton
Tottenham continued their unbeaten start to the league season away from home with a 3-0 win at Everton on Sunday.
The Lilywhites climbed to third in the Premier League table with the impressive victory, as they notched their fourth win from their opening five league outings on the road.
Micky van de Ven stole the show for Tottenham with a first-half brace, before Pape Sarr put the icing on the cake with a header in the final stages of the game.
The North Londoners became the first side to inflict defeat on Everton at their new Hill Dickinson Stadium home, and Thomas Frank will also have learned everything that he needed to know about one particular experiment.
Mohammed Kudus in a central role could cost Tottenham in future
Mohammed Kudus has been the standout performer for Tottenham so far this season, and he has looked like one of the signings of the summer throughout the league.
The Ghana international has terrorised opposition full-backs relentlessly so far this term, but Frank opted to tweak his role slightly for the visit to Merseyside, deploying him in a more central position, and it delivered mixed results for Spurs.
It was far from a poor performance from Kudus, as he showed flashes of the threat that he typically carries, as he played one key pass and still completed 50 per cent of his total dribbles.
However, there is one particular stat that will have concerned Frank, and that is the fact that his star man lost possession 22 times, more than anyone else on the pitch (Sofascore).
That isn’t necessarily a bad thing for a creative player, but if a significant number of those giveaways are happening in central areas, then there is potential for it to create real danger for Spurs.
In his usual wide position, Kudus is essentially free to take as many risks as he wants to with the ball at his feet, knowing that the impact will be limited if he is stripped of the ball.
However, while Everton were unable to capitalise on this occasion, those central turnovers could easily harm Spurs in the future, and for that reason, Frank should revert Kudus back to his usual position as quickly as possible.
- Read More: Tottenham star Mohammed Kudus puts Kylian Mbappe and Lamine Yamal to shame with staggering stat
Mohammed Kudus leads the Premier League for successful dribbles
Kudus’ impact at Tottenham has been staggering in the early stages of the season, and there is certainly an argument that Frank shouldn’t do anything to disrupt his excellent form on the right wing.
| Rank | Player | Successful Dribbles |
| 1 | Mohammed Kudus | 32 |
| 2 | Iliman Ndiaye | 24 |
| 3 | Yankuba Minteh | 23 |
| 4 | Jeremy Doku | 22 |
| 5 | Antoine Semenyo | 19 |
The former West Ham star currently leads the entire Premier League for successful dribbles, with his total of 32 already an incredible eight higher than his nearest challenger (Everton’s Iliman Ndiaye).
He thrives in one-on-one situations, and with that in mind, there is surely little benefit in playing him in a central area, where the game will be going on around him.
Kudus has provided Spurs with great rewards when he has got his head down and run at his marker, and there seems little point in trying to tweak something that has been so strikingly effective so far this season.
It is testament to his quality that he still carried a threat in the win at Everton, but Frank should have seen enough to know that it isn’t worth persisting with the experiment.
Enjoyed this article? Stay connected with all the latest Tottenham Hotspur news, updates, and behind-the-scenes content by following us on our new Instagram account – @tottenhamnews247