Brighton 2-2 Tottenham- My Tottenham Talking Points

Introduction

Tottenham returned to Premier League action after a mid-week win in the Champions League with a 2-2 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion. Brighton started well and took a 2-0 lead in the first half with goals from Yankuba Minteh and Yasin Ayari before Richarlison halved the deficit before half-time and a late own goal by Jan Paul van Hecke made sure the points were shared at the Amex

The game highlighted a number of talking points which will be discussed during this article.

Spurs' sluggish starts after Europe continue

Following their 2-2 draw with Brighton yesterday, this was again a showing of how Tottenham continue to struggle to get results after playing in European competition. In their last seven games played after playing in Europe, whether that is Europa or Champions League, Tottenham have won one of those seven games and this was a 3-1 win at home to Southampton, a side which helped prop up the rest of the league last season.

Thomas Frank and his staff are likely to be aware of Tottenham's struggles after Europe as they look through everything in fine detail and will want to address this as soon as possible. Although a positive from this game was despite going 2-0 down, they fought back to claim a point. However with more games in the Champions League in the new format and increasingly stronger Premier League in general, Tottenham will need to shake this sooner rather than later.

Xavi showing his increasing importance

Xavi Simons is seen by many spurs fans as the crown in Tottenham's transfer window crown. He was a much needed signing for creativity following the long-term injuries to James Maddison & Dejan Kulusevski and his showing so far would have excited fans and the coaching staff alike.

Unlike his previous two appearances, Xavi was a substitute and also he came on and was deployed in his favoured number ten position. It has been clear that Xavi offers that creative spark that the likes of Sarr and Bergvall do not, this being while playing on the left of the attacking three. He was subbed on in the 61st minute and by the 63rd minute he had tested the Brighton keeper with a shot on target. A few minutes later, he got another opportunity after good work by Mohammed Kudus. It was a “cut-back” from Kudus that Simons tried to finish, but he dragged it wide. This was seen as one he should really have put away. He also played a key pass prior to the equaliser and later had a claim for a penalty after a challenge from Coppola. This was the first appearance by Xavi in a central position and just from the stats (this author also loves the eye test) he has much more to offer from the number 10 position and it is now up to Frank to ensure he plays there more regularly.

The curious case of Archie Gray

While watching the game on Saturday I did have a penny for Archie Gray's thoughts, watching on (bar a handful of minutes) for the last couple of games he has seen Lucas Bergvall put in two man of the match performances while playing in his position. Cast your eye back to last season where Archie Gray was deployed as an emergency centre-back during the clubs' injury crisis and Gray really stepped in when the club needed him most in a position he had never played at the top level.

Thomas Frank is a known admirer of Gray from his days at Brentford and has praised him for this commitment in training already this season. The question now arises when will Gray get his chance to play in his preferred position as a midfielder to show what he can do. Gray has excellent qualities including composure, game intelligence and also his technical ability and all of these can assist Tottenham while they attempt to compete in four competitions this season. Hopefully this weeks' game against Doncaster can be a game where Gray is given time in midfield to really show what he can do.

An overreliance on Kudus?

Mohammed Kudus continued to show what a fantastic signing he has and will be for Tottenham. For years, Tottenham have missed the qualities that Kudus provides down their right hand side. His dribbling and ball carrying ability where he looks to take on defenders 1v1 combined with his strength and balance have caused nightmares for defenders from Nuno Mendes to Ferdi Kadıoğlu.

Kudus delivered the cross that ended up becoming the equaliser on Saturday and his relationship with Xavi on Saturday is a positive sign. However are Spurs already becoming over reliant on Kudus? We have already seen how Bournemouth marked him out of the game during their 1-0 win a few weeks ago and although this was without Xavi Simons providing opposition with something else to worry about, we could see teams in future double up on Kudus to nullify Spurs or Kudus is overplayed and joins Solanke, Maddison and others in the treatment room. Spurs need to avoid both of these scenarios while also providing more attacking threat.