Ange Postecoglou’s assessment after Tottenham’s third defeat on the bounce was hard to disagree with.
“Any other day we probably win comfortably”, he said after his side delivered an “outstanding” performance but still fell to a 2-1 home defeat to Aston Villa.
Tottenham saw 63 per cent of the ball and rained 18 shots in on Emi Martinez’s goal over the course of a pulsating 90 minutes. The return of one man, Giovani Lo Celso, made both stats possible. While the points were lost to Villa, the performance of Lo Celso was a win for his manager.
With James Maddison — in the eyes of many, the £40million bargain of the season — out until the new year, Yves Bissouma serving a suspension and Pape Matar Sarr nursing a knock, Lo Celso's incisive passing and vitalic display proved Postecoglou's depleted midfield has far more creative spark than first feared.
It was a first league start for Lo Celso in over two years and a first league goal for the club in over three
It was Lo Celso's first League start for Spurs in over two years and he marked it with his first League goal for the club in over three, cutting across a half-volley after a corner, which flicked off Diego Carlos and past Martinez to give the hosts the lead.
Lo Celso joined Tottenham initially on loan in the 2019/20 season, before signing permanently for a not-insignificant fee of £55m. Just glimpses of his talent has been seen in north London before a succession of loan spells, where he has shown his real talent.
Whereas Tanguy Ndombele, another highly rated midfielder who joined in the same summer, looks set to leave Spurs as a failed project following his own string of loan spells away, Lo Celso looks ready to make it second time lucky for himself at Spurs.
Despite being a natural like-for-like replacement for Maddison, the 27-year-old was on Sunday deployed alongside Rodrigo Bentancur as a midfield pivot against Unai Emery's side, the man who managed Lo Celso at both Paris Saint-Germain and then briefly last season at Villarreal.
Bissouma returns from suspension on Sunday when Spurs visit Manchester City, but Maddison will not be involved and both Bentancur and Sarr are doubts, so Lo Celso could be in line for another chance in a deeper role. Postecoglou needs the Argentine's versatility with no natural defensive midfielder currently available.
“I thought he did really well today in the role we had him”, Postecoglou said. “He was creative, he scored a good goal, was always threatening and worked hard. He hasn’t played a lot of football.”
He will play more football now, though. Cliché it may be to mention the need for squad players to come to the fore during the busy Christmas period, but injuries to 10 first-team players make it all the more true in Tottenham’s case. Lo Celso could be the biggest beneficiary of them all.
