Alasdair Gold claims that Tottenham were missing a player they recently sold that could have helped avoid the collapse they suffered against Brighton.
Spurs were superb in the first-half at the Amex Stadium as goals from Brennan Johnson and James Maddison saw them lead at the break. However, the second 45 minutes followed a very different script as the team fell apart to lose 3-2.
As soon as Yankuba Minteh got one back for the hosts, Ange Postecoglou’s side looked rattled and just 18 minutes later they found themselves behind. Georginio Rutter and Danny Welbeck completed the comeback and saw the Lilywhites slip to a first defeat in five games.
The inquest into why Tottenham fell apart the way they did has led to there being a belief that the team are lacking leaders on the pitch and there is one player they sold over the summer who could have helped.
Tottenham are missing a player they sold over the summer
Alasdair Gold believes that Tottenham are missing a player like Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg who was very good at helping see out games.
Last season, Postecoglou would often bring on the Dane to help the team see results over the line and maintain their grip on matches. He was also a player who would step up and take responsibility when things weren’t going so well, unlike any of the current players against Brighton.
He was sold to Marseille over the summer in a deal worth around £17 million and that is an initial loan with an obligation to buy.
Gold told his YouTube channel: “People may not like to hear this because there is a thing against Hojbjerg, and look he was never suited to Postecoglou football, but he was someone on the football pitch who tried to change things about the mentality on it.
“It was no coincidence that there were a lot of games he was brought on late in and Spurs would see out those games. On the whole, I thought he brought the dark arts, I do feel like Spurs are missing that kind of presence.”
Tottenham need to address lack of leadership
Tottenham’s leadership group consists of Heung-min Son, Cristian Romero, James Maddison and Guglielmo Vicario, but at the moment, this quartet need to start showing more responsibility.
Romero was Spurs’ captain against Brighton with Sonny sidelined with an injury, but his poor showing will leave fans wondering why he was appointed as the vice-captain. Romero was spotted ball-watching for Brighton’s third goal and failed to take responsibility for the goal going in.
Just when the team needed a claiming presence and someone to take accountability their captain was seen looking around for others to blame. It’ll be a tricky fix from his players immediately available, but Postecoglou must fix this big issue of no leaders in his team.
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