“He has proven himself and I will need to give him his chamce”: Despite the defeat at Brighton Ange Postecoglou was overwhelmed with one Spurs star’s performance and has promised to give him enough game time [Full Details]
Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou might be tempted to hand Alejo Veliz his first start for the club against Bournemouth after the striker’s cameo performance in the defeat at Brighton.
Spurs’ title race aspirations took another hit as they were beaten 4-2 by the Seagulls at the Amex Stadium on Thursday 28 December, bringing an end to the north London side’s three-match win streak.
Postecoglou was forced to name a makeshift backline made up of four full-backs, which proved costly for the visitors as the hosts raced into a 4-0 lead.
Tottenham scored twice late on and created a host of opportunities as they threatened an unlikely comeback, but in the end, it was too little too late as Roberto De Zerbi’s men held on to claim all three points.
On what was a rather disappointing night for Tottenham, one player did offer the club some positives to take back from the south coast.
That player was Veliz, who scored his first senior goal for Tottenham following his £13million summer switch from Argentinian outfit Rosario Central (BBC Sport, 8 August).
The 20-year-old striker has featured for a total of just 34 minutes in England’s top flight across his seven substitute appearances this season but could be in line for some more playing time after his efforts against Brighton.
Having replaced Brennan Johnson with 20 minutes to go, Veliz offered Spurs a glimmer of hope when he got himself on the scoresheet in the 81st minute.
As Son Heung-min picked up the ball on the right-hand side of the penalty area, Veliz showed great awareness to find space and make a run toward the back post.
Son picked out the young striker, who took the ball down well with his first touch.
He then turned and shaped his body to shoot, rifling the ball into the bottom left-hand corner with his second touch to get off the mark for Spurs.
While it seems a simple goal to score when first looking at it, the positioning, touch and finish from the striker were all very impressive for such a young player.
In addition to his goal, he offered his team plenty off the ball as well, as he won 100 per cent of his duels, one in the ground and one in the air (Sofascore).
He was also successful with his one dribble attempt and saw another shot blocked late on.
Veliz is no stranger to finding the back of the net, with his record in Argentina proving that. As per fbref, Veliz was in the top six per cent of his positional peers in the Primera Division last year in terms of goals scored (0.56 per 90), and the 97th percentile for the number of shots he had on target (1.36 per 90).
The striker is a handful, and as a target man standing at over six feet tall, he offers Postecoglou a different way of playing. With Dejan Kulusevski suspended for the visit of high-flying Bournemouth on Sunday 31 December, the Australian might be tempted to throw Veliz in at the deep end as he looks to once again reshape a depleted team.
