Daily Mail - 12.08.2019

12

THE VERDICT: PREMIER LEAGUE

SPURS MUST KEEP

THIS GENIUS

Eriksen exit would leave a huge hole

C

HRISTIAN ERIKSEN

probably put it best as

he made his way home

on Saturday. ‘New sea-

son, same me,’ he said.

Yes, it was. Very much so.

The same Eriksen. The same

genius who can turn games that are

immovable to most and the same

man who politely declines the

invitations to discuss it, as he did

at the weekend. That was the

context of what he said, that he

wouldn’t be stopping for interviews,

but it also applies to what we see in

him, season in and season out.

The years tick by, six of them now

since he arrived, and so often in

that period it has been easy to con-

clude he is the most important

player of the bunch. The same

Eriksen, over and again, until he is

gone, which could be very soon if he

gets the big move that he wants.

Tottenham have taken steps for

growth this summer by finally

spending some money on recruit-

ment, but still the feeling persists

that the most impactful transac-

tion will be the one that sees Erik-

sen leave if Real Madrid, Juventus

or Atletico Madrid start acting on

their interest. That is not a

foregone conclusion, but the

uncertainty around Tottenham

over the situation is palpable.

His importance to the club was

illustrated in the opener against

Aston Villa. Before his arrival for

Harry Winks on 64 minutes, they

trailed 1-0. It is not an exaggeration

to say it was Eriksen’s involvement

as much as Harry Kane’s goals that

changed the match.

True, a disappointing first half

was largely down to errors Mauricio

Pochettino admitted, with regard

to the team’s shape, as well as Vil-

la’s fine performance. Tottenham’s

manager had started with a 4-3-1-2,

using Moussa Sissoko, Harry Winks

and Tanguy Ndombele at the base

and Erik Lamela as the tip of the

diamond. A workable theory, but

the reality was a lack of width and a

lack of incisive movement and

imagination. Only by bringing on

Eriksen in a forward-stationed brief

for Winks did Tottenham start to

find the spaces in Villa’s backline.

It is Eriksen’s gift — the vision to

spot passes through traffic, to have

the control and presence of mind to

keep possession when surrounded

by Villa shirts. His inclusion

improved Spurs’ tempo, which is

why this game changed and why it

is so important to keep him.

It is not as simple as elevated

wages — their most recent attempt

to renew his contract, which is up

next year, is understood to have

been worth £200,000 a week. But

only Daniel Levy knows if all options

have been exhausted, and if they

haven’t, that really would be silly. If

Eriksen’s heart is set on a new chal-

lenge, as it appears, they face the

prospect of filling a massive hole.

A replacement has been brought

in on loan — Giovani Lo Celso —

but it will be awfully hard for him to

do what Eriksen does so regularly.

For Kane, who scored two late

goals — his first strikes at the new

stadium after Ndombele had

cancelled out John McGinn’s

opener — the main requirement of

Eriksen is that he continues to apply

himself. ‘I have been playing with

him for five or six years and we

know the qualities he has in terms

of passes, assists and goals,’ Kane

said. ‘So whether he starts or not

the most important thing is that he

gives everything for the team. There

has been speculation about his

future. But as long as he is training

and playing as hard as he can when

he is here that is all we can ask for.’

Yet Spurs are up and running.

Given the starts made by Liverpool

and Manchester City, that was vital

and it will help further that record

signing Ndombele, who occasion-

ally struggled to judge the pace of

the game, scored a good goal.

Kane added: ‘We kept with City

and Liverpool for a while last

season. We have to make sure that

we get off to a good start — it is

important we stay in touch as long

as we can. We have full belief that

we can go all the way.’

Villa, for their part, look a decent

team. Dean Smith started four new

signings, but they were solid,

particularly Tyrone Mings, who

controlled a leaner-looking Kane

for much of the match.

TOTTENHAM (4-3-1-2): Lloris 6; Walker-Peters 7,

Alderweireld 6.5, Sanchez 7, Rose 6; Sissoko 6,

Winks 6.5 (Eriksen 64, 7.5), Ndombele 6.5

(Skipp 90); Lamela 6 (Nkoudou 88); Lucas 6.5,

KANE 8. Subs not used: Wanyama, Dier,

Gazzaniga, Aurier.

Scorers: Ndombele 73, Kane 86, 90.

Booked: Lamela.

Manager: Mauricio Pochettino 6.5.

ASTON VILLA (4-1-4-1): Heaton 7;

Elmohamady 6, Engels 7, Mings 7.5,

Taylor 6; Hourihane 6 (Luiz 82);

Trezeguet 6.5 (Jota 59, 6),

McGinn 7, Grealish 6.5, El

Ghazi 5.5; Wesley 6 (Kodjia

74, 6). Subs not used:

Lansbury, Steer,

Konsa, Targett.

Scorer: McGinn 9.

Manager:

Dean Smith 6.5.

Referee:

Chris Kavanagh 7.

Attendance: 60,407.

CRYSTAL PALACE 0

EVERTON 0

SAMI MOKBEL

at Selhurst Park

RIATH AL-

SAMARRAI

at the Tottenham

Hotspur Stadium

3

1

McGinn 9

ASTON VILLA

Ndombele 73

Kane 86, 90

TOTTENHAM

Key man:

Pochettino and

Eriksen talk

tactics during

their victory

over Aston Villa

on Saturday

REUTERS

PALACE HOPES FOR SEASON REST ON ZAHA

CRYSTAL PALACE are hoping

Wilfried Zaha can let bygones

be bygones. Because, in all

likelihood, their Premier

League status depends on it.

Despite all the agitation, the

manoeuvring to leave Selhurst

Park, Zaha (right) was still

afforded a hero’s reception by

the Eagles faithful when he

came on as a 65th-minute

substitute in this goalless draw.

They adore him, and it appears

nothing will ever change that.

They also realise, however, that

their club’s hopes for the

season rest on Zaha’s shoulders.

The attacker has rocked the

boat already and supporters do

not want to add to the

turbulence.

Any hostility towards Zaha

could have disastrous

consequences. Without Zaha,

who started on the bench

against Marco Silva’s side,

Palace lacked thrust and

creativity. His introduction blew

the roof off Selhurst Park,

though ultimately he could not

conjure a winner for his team.

Nevertheless Palace are

without doubt a far different

proposition with Zaha.

‘I think and hope he will draw a

line under it,’ said Roy Hodgson.

‘Certainly if you look at his

performance today and

training, if you judge those

three training sessions his

attitude and his application was

certainly spot on.

‘Certainly no worse than it has

ever been and, if anything,

better. And I think he went out

there today and gave a

performance as well.

‘The fans’ reaction was good. It

was wonderful, wasn’t it? It’s

very nice that they are that

forgiving.

‘I’m pretty sure, he’s not said it

to me, but I’m pretty sure he

must have been thinking, “I

wonder how they are going to

react to me”.

‘He knows they love him, he

knows they really appreciate

him, but when you make public

statements like, “I want to leave

the club, that there are bigger

and better clubs out there for

me”, you do run the risk of the

fans not being happy for you.

‘Lucky for him and for us, that

was not the case today and the

reception he got was fantastic.

‘That’s good for me and the

players as well because we

have made no bones about how

much we would like him to stay

with us and play with us.’

Of course, if Zaha had his way

he’d have been lining up for

Everton on Saturday.

Having failed to land the Ivory

Coast forward, Everton — who

had Morgan Schneiderlin sent

off for two bookings — tied up a

late £40million deal for

Arsenal’s attacking midfielder

Alex Iwobi instead.

Iwobi was left out of the

matchday squad against Palace

owing to a lack of fitness

following his involvement for

Nigeria at the Africa Cup of

Nations over the summer.

And Silva added: ‘He will start

working with us on Monday, he

has been on holiday after the

Africa Cup of Nations.

‘So let’s see how he reacts

because there will be a big

gap between him and his

team-mates in terms of physical

condition — but that’s normal.

‘So let’s see how he is training

and I will make my decision.’

CRYSTAL PALACE (4-4-2): Guaita 6.5;

Ward 6.5, Kelly 6.5, Dann 7, Van Aanholt 7;

Townsend 7, McArthur 6.5, Milivojevic 6.5,

Meyer 7; Ayew 6.5 (Zaha 65, 6.5), Benteke 6

(Wickham 83).

Subs not used: Hennessey, Kouyate,

McCarthy, Camarasa, Cahill.

Booked: Milivojevic, Meyer.

Manager: Roy Hodgson 6.

EVERTON (4-2-3-1): PICKFORD 7.5; Coleman 6.5,

Keane 7, Mina 6.5, Digne 7; Schneiderlin 6,

Gomes 6 (Gbamin 45, 5.5); Bernard 7,

Sigurdsson 7 (Davies 79),

Richarlison 6.5; Calvert-Lewin 6

(Kean 69, 6). Subs not used:

Lossl, Holgate, Walcott,

Tosun. Booked: Bernard,

Schneiderlin.

Sent off: Schneiderlin.

Manager: Marco Silva 6.

Referee: Jon Moss 6.

Attendance: 25,151.

INSTANT

IMPACT