Ange Postecoglou believes his Tottenham side are still at “the infancy” of their attacking play and have enormous scope for improvement in front of goal.
Ahead of Thursday night's visit of West Ham, the Spurs head coach singled out Dejan Kulusevski as a player who can score more but has no concerns about Heung-min Son and backed the South Korean to go down as a Premier League great.
Kulusevski headed home a 90th-minute equaliser in Sunday’s 3-3 draw at Manchester City as Spurs demonstrated their attacking quality, but Postecoglou says his side, the lowest scorers in the top six, are only just getting started.
“That front third is still the area where I think we’re just really at the infancy of,” Postecoglou told Standard Sport.
“I see so much growth for us in that area. We’re seeing some of it at the moment. Brennan [Johnson] and Deki Kulusevski are starting to get a bit more familiar with their roles, and Gio [Lo Celso] getting a couple of goals. But it’s an area we can certainly improve.”
Kulusevski said he felt like “the real me” after starting at No10 in the games against Aston Villa and City, although he returned to the right wing for the second half at the Etihad.
“I like him out wide,” Postecoglou said of Kulusevski. “He can be a much bigger goal threat and we’re pushing him really hard in those areas.
“With his general energy and work-rate and his ability to break lines with his running, he’s probably more suited in my system to out wide, but watching him centrally in the last couple of games he’s very effective in there and certainly an option for us.”
Son opened the scoring against City with a fabulous breakaway goal but he also impressed Postecoglou with his build-up play.
“With every game he’s getting a better understanding of how to be involved in the link-up play and not just the final third stuff,” Postecoglou said.
“It helped us last week especially, helped us to get out of pressure. Having him drop deep and receive it is really useful and adds another bow to what we’re doing.”
The Australian added: “He’s elite in every aspect. I’d be very surprised if by the time he’s finished, he’s not up there as one of the outstanding strikers because [although] a lot of his career has been played out wide, he’s been a goal threat the whole time.
“Now I’m putting him inside and that’s why he’s got nine goals already for the year.
“Working with Sonny every day, the example he sets, as a person as much as a footballer is inspiring.”
"Working with him every day, the example he sets, as a person as much as a footballer is inspiring"
Goals in consecutive matches from Lo Celso have added to Spurs’s attacking threat and helped to compensate for the loss of James Maddison, out until the New Year with ankle ligament damage.
“Gio’s an experienced player, he knows what he wants out of his career,” Postecoglou said.
“He senses there’s an opportunity now for him here. That’s great for us because with Madders out, he was going to be difficult to replace.
“I don’t think Gio is like for like, but Madders was providing goals and assists and you kind of go, ‘we need that, whoever comes in’.”
