Tottenham must ask more of Lo Celso despite 100 per cent first-half stat vs Man City
It was a difficult first half for those unlucky players in the Tottenham Hotspur midfield at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday (3 December).
Tasked with the battle of going up against some of the Premier League’s best midfielders in the form of Bernardo Silva, Rodri and Phil Foden, it was never going to be an easy afternoon for Tottenham’s midfielders.
Ange Postecoglou’s side found themselves 2-1 down against the reigning champions at the break, and the Australian would have been demanding more from one of his creative players during the half-time team talk.
Giovani Lo Celso was the club’s main source of creativity against Aston Villa last time out in the 2-1 defeat last Sunday (26 November). He opened the scoring at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and, as per SofaScore, the Argentine completed 92 per cent of his passes, playing three key passes, and completed one of his two dribbles.
However, during the first half against Pep Guardiola’s side, he struggled to have the same impact, despite completing an impressive 100 per cent of his passes.
While he did complete all of his passes, he was only able to play one successful long ball forward and none of the passes were key. The 27-year-old also struggled to create any chances and was resigned to doing most of his work defensively, making one interception and winning two of his three ground duels.
If Postecoglou has any chance of getting Tottenham back into the game, he must instruct Lo Celso to move further forward in the second half, and while it might hurt them at the back, it is a risk the Australian might have to take.
Moving Lo Celso into a more advanced position by sacrificing Bryan Gil and moving Dejan Kulusevski out wide could be of benefit to the north London side in the second half.
In other Tottenham news, one Spurs expert has made a top-four prediction amid the club’s ‘small blip.’