What is the point in Tottenham even naming substitutes?
A Spurs sub last scored a Premier League goal in August; the second game of the season against Manchester City when Lucas Moura equalised within moments of coming on – the type of impact our bench so rarely has.
Three of the top six teams have scored goals through substitutes in their first games back: Phil Foden for Manchester City, Pedro Neto for Wolves and Cristian Pulisic, who also registered an assist, for Chelsea.
And in this period of fixtures when managers have five subs at their disposal, more and more games are going to be won off the bench.
But not the way Tottenham do things.
Jose Mourinho was unfortunate to be without Dele Alli and Lucas Moura on Friday, but he needed to balance his selection to leave us something in reserve. We felt the force of Manchester United doing just that with Paul Pogba’s impact. Our own substitutions did not affect the game at all.
Mourinho’s options have been restricted by injuries throughout most of his reign, and this is not a new problem that he has brought with him. It dates back right through Mauricio Pochettino’s reign, ever since Son Heung-min’s ascension into the starting XI, and stems from a lack of a second striker.
But even when his options are more limited, Mourinho cannot leave himself in the same position again; hopefully Lucas and Dele’s return will help appease this issue, beginning against West Ham. But in this period, when teams will be rotated and stretched physically, he’d be better off starting with an extra midfielder and holding an attacker back.
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Hey Joe notice anything about the teams whose subs scored, City, Wolves and Chelsea. They all buy players during transfer windows and have benches that aren’t just for sitting on.