"I'm not convinced that he's the man to get goals" - Pundit blasts Tottenham forward after Sporting Lisbon defeat
Former Chelsea defender Jason Cundy has criticized Tottenham Hotspur star Richarlison for his unconvincing display against Sporting CP. Cundy claimed that the Brazilian striker, who joined Spurs for a €58 million fee from Everton earlier this summer, was not one to take the club forward.
Tottenham Hotspur took on Sporting in their second Champions League Group D match on Tuesday night (September 13). Sporting, who were playing at home, scored two goals right at the death (90th and 93rd minutes) to condemn Antonio Conte’s side to a 2-0 defeat.
Cundy, a former Spurs player, singled out Richarlison for his sub-par performance, claiming that the Brazil international was not a 15-20 goals-a-season striker. He said on talkSPORT (via TheBootRoom):
“Spurs had half chances. Richarlison is unconvincing. I’m not convinced that he’s the man to get goals. He might have performances, but I’m not convinced that he’ll get goals. He’s not 15-20 goals a season man, he’s not. Tonight, we saw that. We saw that he’s not the man who will dig you out of a situation.
“Harry Kane is the man. He’s still the man. If Kane doesn’t score in games that are tight, where are the goals?”
Richarlison, who has scored twice in seven games this season (all competitions), had four shots against Sporting. Only one of them was on target.
Jason Cundy lambasts Tottenham Hotspur’s unconvincing performances this season
Before falling to a 2-0 defeat to Sporting, Antonio Conte’s Tottenham had enjoyed an unbeaten seven-game run. Their exploits in the Premier League have helped them climb up to third place in the league standings (14 points). They are level on points with second-placed Manchester City (City ahead on goal difference) and a point behind local rivals and leaders Arsenal.
Instead of chalking off the defeat against Sporting as a bad day at the office, Cundy claimed that their unconvincing performance in Portugal wasn’t an isolated incident. He said:
“It wasn’t brilliant, but I don’t know how Spurs have lost that game. Trust me, I was delighted as soon as Spurs conceded because there was a little bit of Spursy-ness about that, there was.
“You’ve had a good start to the season result-wise, but performance-wise? Unconvincing. I’ve never come away from a Spurs game and gone ‘wow, they’re going to cause problems.”