Carlos Vinicius: Perfect for Spurs?

Playing the understudy to Harry Kane is a bitter-sweet situation for any young striker. On the one hand, the prospect of learning from one of the Premier League’s all-time prolific forwards. On the other, a distinct lack of Premier League minutes. Furthermore, the Spurs talisman does not look like slowing down this season. With 18 goals and 14 assists in 26 games, the England captain has been in scintillating form for Jose Mourinho’s side. 

The understudy in question has certainly given Mourinho another viable striking option. Carlos Vinicius has hit the ground running since his loan switch from Portuguese giants Benfica. He has netted six times whilst laying on a further three assists for teammates in as little as nine games for the Lilywhites. Remarkably, the Brazilian has only started five games for Spurs in all competitions, a testament to his knack for scoring goals. 

The 6”3 target-man hasn’t always been primarily focused on scoring. During his youth career, he was largely employed as a central defender due to his height and athleticism. He made his senior debut in 2017 as a defensive midfielder for fourth-tier Brazilian side Caldense. A move to Gremio Anapolis saw Vinicius play as an attacking midfielder before completing his rapid positional journey to become a forward. A switch to Europe saw the striker join Portuguese side Real SC. A £4 million switch to Napoli resulted in impressive loan moves to both Rio Ave and Monaco. Vinicius eventually signed for Portuguese champions Benfica in the summer of 2019. Notching 18 goals and 5 assists in 32 league matches for The Eagles was enough to convince Spurs chairman Daniel Levy into a year-long loan with a £45 million option to buy this summer.

Spurs fans have grown familiar with seeing Vinicius bring down long-balls and link play. These characteristics make him a useful weapon for when Mourinho’s side cannot play a counter-attacking game. As well as his strength and aerial threat, Vinicius has a respectable burst of pace and is technically adept to dribble at speed. This dimension to his game provides a more than valid attacking alternative for days in which Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son are struggling to convert.  

During his stint at Benfica, Vinicius was primarily utilised as a striker in a 4-4-2 formation. Mourinho has employed the same formation at points in his successful spell at Inter Milan, as well as currently in North London. The prospect of having both Kane and Vinicius to deal with is a headache for any centre-back partnership. Due to his pace and impressive agility, Vinicius also occasionally occupied a wide attacking birth during his time in Portugal. This gives the Special One a more combative wide option compared to the trickery of Steven Bergwijn, the raw pace of Lucas Moura, and the intelligence of Gareth Bale.

The current situation is beneficial for both the club and the player. At 25-years-old, Vinicius is entering the golden years of his career. Having been given a chance in the Premier League, he will feel he has to seize every playing opportunity that comes his way. Furthermore, having a hungry striker seeking to prove he belongs at the top level will only benefit Spurs. Time will tell if Vinicius has impressed enough to warrant a permanent switch.

5 Talking Points From Spurs’ Draw With Crystal Palace

Fans make a huge difference

Prior to the opening goal, Spurs were extremely dominant on the game in the first twenty minutes creating a few good opportunities all of which was halted by Vincente Guaita. However once Kane scored, in typical Mourinho style Spurs sat back and tried to protect a one goal lead, which was a huge mistake, whilst the Lilywhites were in control of the match, they should’ve killed the game off instead of sitting back as soon as taking the lead. The fact that the game was away at Selhurst Park and Palace’s first home game with fans back certainly had a part to play in the Palace’s effort as a team, with Palace dominating the end of the first half and the majority of the second. 

You could sense in the stadium that the fans could feel a goal coming and were willing the team to go and get that goal whereas before it would’ve almost definitely been easier to defend against a Palace team who were getting frustrated that nothing was coming off for them. The fans tipped them over the line so to speak, with the pressure that ensued before the goal.

Hopefully Spurs and Mourinho take this into account and don’t sit back once scoring the first goal especially after being on the front foot since the start of the game, obviously against ‘Top 6’ teams Mourinho will stick to his counter-attacking football but Spurs need a Plan B when coming up against teams such as Palace who will happily play Mourinho at his own game and sit back deep, typically where Spurs seem to struggle.

Dier on freekicks

So far this season, Spurs have had a magnitude of different free-kick takers in Kane, Son, Bale, Højbjerg, Dier, Lo Celso to name but a few. Dier’s free-kick in stoppage time was an unbelievable strike only denied by a brilliant save for Guaita who, his error in the first half aside, stole the show.

Previously Dier has shown his quality over free-kicks with a strike against Russia at the Euros in 2016 the first one that comes to mind, over a dead ball Spurs don’t have an out and out specialist and Dier definitely has a strong claim to be over free-kicks as opposed to others who have previously been sometimes wasteful in good positions. But with Dier’s strike only being stopped by an extraordinary save from the Palace goalkeeper after looking certain to head for the top corner and give Spurs a dramatic winner, he has put down a great argument to be on free-kicks, in my opinion Bale or Dier should be on free-kicks around the penalty area.

The return of Dele Alli

Dele Alli made his first Spurs Premier League matchday squad since the demolition of Manchester United at the start of October where he came on as a sub. However, with the absence of Carlos Vinicius and Gareth Bale, Alli found himself making the bench and was also preferred to Lucas when Mourinho made his substitutions after Palace’s equaliser which is very interesting after rumours midweek of a move in January away from Spurs with the Englishman strongly linked with French giants PSG with a loan move.

As soon as Alli was introduced to the action he was thrown in at the deep-end and was left with a two on two defensively where he perfectly timed his tackle and quickly moved the ball forward once, he won possession. What surprises me the most is the fact Alli was trusted by Mourinho of trying to find the winner for Spurs but wasn’t involved at all in the Europa League game against Antwerp on Thursday in a game which arguably he could’ve started, showing his relationship with Mourinho is an extremely complicated one. 

It will be very interesting to see what happens in the coming weeks with Alli prior to the January window especially with the absence of Europa League football until after close of the transfer window. Is Mourinho working him back into his plans? Is he helping to get him match fit in order for him to be sold or go on loan? Only time will tell.

Absence of Carlos Vinicius

In contrast to the return of Dele Alli to the matchday squad, Vinicius found himself missing out. With no reports of any sort of injury it seems that Mourinho just didn’t include him in the 18 who travelled to Palace. The Brazilian was also brought off midweek during the victory of Antwerp not even a minute after his goal, albeit it was a tap-in, a decision which was questioned by many fans.

Against Palace, Mourinho instead opted to have three defenders on the bench as opposed to Vinicius so who knows what’s going on with the Benfica loanee who I would argue has been very impressive in his appearances since joining Spurs. Again, much like with Alli only time will show what Mourinho’s plans are for Vinicius and whether he trusts him or not.

He has yet to start in the Premier League and has only made one appearance from the bench against West Brom where I personally would argue he helped to change the dynamic of the game, leading to Kane being able to score a late winner after Vinicius occupied a centre-back giving Kane more space. Who knows whether Vinicius would’ve made a difference against Palace today but it would’ve certainly offered a different dynamic.

Title race talk too early?

As Jose Mourinho said himself Spurs are only a “Little Pony” in the title race and the disappointing draw against Palace may reflect this. Spurs have now dropped six points against Newcastle, West Ham and now Crystal Palace, games that they should be winning if Spurs want to win the league.

With Chelsea losing, Fulham holding Liverpool to a draw and both City and United dropping points on Saturday, Spurs will be kicking themselves that they were unable to further open the gap between the sides. With the midweek fixture against Liverpool in the back of everyone’s minds and now especially important after todays result. The game is a must-win in order for Spurs to be taken seriously and mount a serious title challenge this season.