Spurs flop must be dropped

With a draw and two wins in their previous three games, there was a sense that Tottenham Hotspur had turned a corner in recent weeks.

Unfortunately, their dire display away to Nottingham Forest in the Premier League made short work of any such optimistic ideas.

From practically the first minute until the last, Thomas Franks’ side were outplayed and on another night could have lost by more than three.

There were terrible performances across the pitch for the North Londoners, including from one starter who ended up taking fewer touches, Guglielmo Vicario.

Spurs’ poor performers against Forest

Starting in defence, it was a poor showing from the usually brilliant Micky Van de Ven against Forest.

The Dutchman looked panicked in possession, playing more than a few loose passes, and was really quite passive in defence, making just one tackle and losing two of his four ground duels.

Likewise, the immensely talented but often frustrating Pedro Porro was another issue for the Lilywhites.

For example, while he took 81 touches and tried to make things happen, he lost the ball 23 times and failed to play a key pass or create a single big chance.

It was more of the same further up the pitch, as while Mohammed Kudus was busy, he was entirely ineffective, coming off in the 80th minute after misplacing eight of nine crosses and losing the ball 23 times.

Last but not least, it’s impossible not to mention Vicario.

Yes, the first goal feels more like an Archie Gray mistake, but much of the blame for the second goal has to fall at his feet.

After all, he appeared to be positioned all wrong to deal with it, and had the hosts not scored at that point, Spurs might’ve found a way back in.

With all that said, there was a starter who was even worse than the Italian, someone Frank should not start again.

The Spurs flop Frank must drop

Now, the unfortunate reality is that you could probably make the case for a number of Spurs players being axed from the team after that performance.

However, when it comes to the starter who offered the least of anyone on that pitch, it’s impossible to ignore Richarlison.

The Brazilian forward was, at times, utterly anonymous and at others a genuine hindrance to his team.

When he wasn’t offering any attacking threat whatsoever, he was losing the ball.

For example, in his 96 minutes of inaction, the former Everton ace registered an expected goals figure of just 0.11, failed to take a shot on target or play a key pass, didn’t even attempt a dribble, took 16 touches – 23 fewer than Vicario -, and completed just two passes all game.

It was genuinely one of the worst centre-forward displays all season across all teams.

That might sound hyperbolic, but it’s an opinion shared by the Standard’s Matt Veri, who gave the Brazilian a 2/10 match rating, writing that he was ‘abysmal’ and ‘spent far too much time complaining.’

Ultimately, while the entire team were poor, Richarlison was truly terrible for Spurs against Forest, and as a result, Frank should drop him from the team.

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