Ange Postecoglou has been dealt his fair share of criticism this season with his Tottenham Hotspur side currently sitting ninth in the Premier League table, recording just as many losses as wins through their first seven outings.
Playing Postecoglou's brand of free-flowing attacking football, spearheaded by the midfield packed with the creative talent of James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski, and Rodrigo Bentancur, being that far down in the table wouldn't necessarily have been expected, especially considering how exciting they've been to watch at times.
But Brighton and Hove Albion's 3-2 comeback win over Spurs showed that the North London outfit needs more balance, and it may require sacrificing a creative spark such as Kulusevski in favour of a more defensive-minded midfielder like Yves Bissouma.
Kulusevski Has Impressed This Season
The Swede has been one of Spurs’ standout attackers
From an attacking standpoint, Kulusevski has enjoyed his start to the 2024-25 campaign, recording a goal and an assist off of 12 shots, and 21 key passes through the first seven games of the season.
Nine of those key passes came in Spurs' dominant 3-0 victory over Manchester United, which saw him hailed as 'outstanding' by former Aston Villa striker, Gabriel Agbonlahor, who praised him for his consistent play of late.
“I thought he was outstanding and just love the way he’s turned into a player who is showing consistency...Last season he was poor, but this season, he’s becoming a lot better. He was positive, looked quicker than normal and was making the right passes.”
The former Premier League striker further went on to state that he felt the Swede's game is more tailor-made for him to operate in the No. 10 role, a stance backed up by the statistics, with the 24-year-old registering a 7.94 rating from Whoscored in that position.
For comparison, Kulusevski - who earns £110k per week at Tottenham - has registered just a 6.7 rating when leading the line.
Defensively, though, is where some issues arise, with Kulusevski having recorded just five total tackles this season, failing to record even one in four outings.
Kulusevski isn't in the team to win the ball back - that much is clear. But Tottenham lack a ball-winning element in midfield who can help them regain possession quickly. The midfield three also failed to provide any defensive support to the full-backs, whose inability to handle Kaoru Mitoma and Yankuba Minteh was probably the biggest factor in the eventual loss at the Amex Stadium.
Bissouma Brings More Balance To Midfield
Spurs need some additional support defensively
After being internally suspended by Spurs for their season opener against Leicester City for posting a video on social media of him inhaling nitrous oxide, Bissouma marked his return to the lineup in style, scoring a goal in their 4-0 win over Everton the following weekend, showing his prowess on both sides of the ball.
Since then, he has gone on to record 192 minutes across four games in the Premier League, though he has come off the bench in his two most recent appearances, totaling just 38 minutes, as he begins to ramp up his fitness, having suffered an injury when away on international duty with Mali last month.
Nonetheless, Bissouma has recorded at least one tackle in every game in which he has featured, while in his two starts, he has recorded two interceptions and two clearances. The 27-year-old has also been dribbled past just three times, a significantly better number than Kulusevski, who has been dribbled past seven times in his previous four outings.
Bissouma is a safer passer than Kulusevski too, with him averaging 92.1 percent pass accuracy to the Swede's 82.6 percent in the Premier League. A similar trend followed in Spurs' two opening Europa League contests, with the Malian completing 87.3 percent of his passes to Kulusevski's 73.9 percent, despite playing an additional 91 minutes over his teammate.
Football is a results-based game, and it is the manager's job to make the hard decisions that will - hopefully - lead to the best results. In Postecoglou's case, this could mean sacrificing a player such as Kulusevski, despite his impressive start to the 2024-25 campaign, to find a greater sense of balance within the team.
Tottenham clearly know how to hurt teams going forward, but that only means so much when you can't stop goals going in at the other end.