Tottenham: Pape Matar Sarr can improve despite his ‘Brilliant’ moment v Aston Villa
Ange Postecoglou will want to see more from midfielder Pape Matar Sarr despite his “brilliant” moment against Aston Villa.
Spurs took a big step toward qualifying for the UEFA Champions League with one of their most important wins of the season as they claimed a 4-0 victory at Villa Park on Sunday (10 March).
After a first-half low on quality, James Maddison gave the visitors the lead in the 50th minute as he got on the end of Sarr’s wicked cross into the box.
It was an important moment in the match, and Football London’s Tottenham correspondent Alasdair Gold was full of praise for the ball played in by Sarr, describing it as “brilliant” via his official X account (10 March).
Brennan Johnson doubled the lead for Spurs moments later and after John McGinn saw red for a reckless challenge on Destiny Udogie, it left the home side with too much to do, with Son Heung-min and Timo Werner rubbing salt in the wounds late on.
Tottenham remain fifth but move within two points of Villa and the top four with a game in hand over their rivals from the West Midlands.
Overall Postecoglou will be delighted with his side, although he will expect more of Sarr who struggled ever so slightly on Sunday despite his assist for Maddison.
Pape Matar Sarr wasn’t at his best for Tottenham against Aston Villa
Other than his assist, Sarr had a relatively difficult afternoon before he was withdrawn in the 70th minute.
The Senegal international was booked early on in the match which made things difficult going forward.
As per Sofascore, he only managed to complete 82 per cent of his passes, and other than the one key pass he played which led to his assist, he had very little else to shout about.
Defensively he really struggled, winning just one of his three ground duels and losing the only aerial duel that he contested. He did manage one interception but also gave possession away seven times before he was replaced by Rodrigo Bentancur.
It has been a big breakthrough season for Spurs’ 21-year-old midfielder, but he definitely wasn’t at his best against Villa, and Postecoglou will hope to see the youngster return to his best in the coming weeks.
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 star.
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