Tottenham are sticking with Antonin Kinsky as their starting goalkeeper, despite a wretched start to the Premier League season and fresh scrutiny of his shot-stopping after Aston Villa’s second goal last weekend. Spurs have scored just two goals and conceded eight in five league matches, and Kinsky’s role in that concession total has become a talking point rather than an afterthought.
What Football Insider is reporting
According to Football Insider, Tottenham have no intention of replacing Kinsky as their number one any time soon. Roberto De Zerbi is reportedly not prepared to drop him after just five Premier League appearances, which tracks with the club’s broader plan since Guglielmo Vicario’s exit – a transition explained here in more detail. Kinsky was handed a new contract in the summer on the strength of that succession plan, so abandoning it in late September would be a fairly swift U-turn even by this club’s standards.
The numbers don’t exactly help the case
Spurs have managed two clean sheets in consecutive fixtures, which is something. Set against that: three goals shipped against Brentford on the opening weekend, two against Newcastle, and three more against Villa – not exactly a pattern that screams defensive solidity.
Kinsky’s own figures are harder to spin. A 60 per cent save percentage puts him among the bottom five goalkeepers in the division, and his goals-prevented number sits at -1.73, meaning he’s statistically conceded more than an average keeper would have from the same shots faced. Five appearances, five goals conceded, 12 saves – the underlying picture of a goalkeeper still finding his feet in a demanding role, not one already convincing anybody.
The obvious alternative isn’t obviously better. Martin Dubravka conceded three in his first Spurs outing, a Carabao Cup tie against Liverpool, which is hardly the audition that forces De Zerbi’s hand.
What happens next
De Zerbi is expected to keep faith with Kinsky rather than turn to his understudy, treating this as a development period rather than a crisis point. The onus is squarely on Kinsky to sharpen his shot-stopping if he wants that patience to keep paying off – the next few league and cup fixtures will say more about this than anything reported this week.
