Lucas Moura: In Focus

As part of our brand new matchday feature ‘In Focus’ we take a more detailed look at Lucas Moura’s gameplay today in the Wembley win against Fulham.

After Lucas Moura’s £25m transfer from PSG in January, Spurs fans have only seen fleeting glimpses of what he could bring to the team. It seemed that Pochettino wanted to use the tail end of last season to bed the Brazilian into the team, ready to properly utilise his services this campaign. Now, with Son away at the Asia Games, Moura has the opportunity to take that forward position behind Kane by the scruff of its neck. Despite going missing for large parts of the opening game against Newcastle, Moura stepped up today at Wembley in a big way.

6th minute: Ben Davies finds space in behind in the left channel and flashes a vicious cross towards the centre of the penalty area. Lucas Moura is jogging on the spot, but the sheer pace on the delivery seemed to be too much for him to control, as the ball rebounds off his head and drifts well wide.

The pacey winger picked up some amazing early positions going forward but didn’t seem to have the touch in front of goal when the opportunities came begging. Perhaps the Premier League nerves affected his early performance.

7th minute: The Brazilian picks up on a loose defensive pass, sending him motoring through on goal. A heavy touch took the ball a little too close to the approaching keeper, who managed to get a touch on the ball before Lucas extended his boot. The ball falls to Kane who taps it into the empty net, but a foul is given against Moura for his late boot.

This was perhaps Moura’s easiest chance all game, as he was sent one on one with the goal keeper. Someone with his natural skill, you would have expected him to effortlessly lift it over the falling keeper, or even drop a shoulder and take it around him, but Moura’s touch let him down. Probably a case of a lack of matches under his belt, and an absence of sharpness in front of goal, but hopefully that will come with time.

For the next half an hour, Lucas drifts in an out of the game, impressing with his runs, hold up play and general skill, but without directly affecting the match all that much.

43rd minute: Then he did this. A well worked move breaks down and the ball falls perfectly on the edge of the box for the charging Lucas Moura. The Brazilian beautifully wraps his left foot around the ball, setting it off outside the post and bringing it back delightfully in off the post. The keeper stood no chance, and finally Spurs had lift off, thanks to their new talisman.

The quality on this finish was out of this world, and the passion on Lucas’ face as soon as it hit the net was a picture. Moura is a man who desperately wants to succeed at Tottenham and help the team win trophies, and that showed in his jubilant celebrations.

Moura spent the remainder of the game chasing down every Fulham defender in site, sticking a toe in to win the ball whenever possible. His tireless running and carrying of the football went a long way to Spurs eventually closing out the game, and he seemed to strike up a decent understanding with the likes of Kane, Eriksen and Lamela.

Moura currently leads the Tottenham Hotspur twitter account’s MOTM poll, and with good reason.

What a performance from Spurs’ newest recruit.

What did you think of Moura’s game today?

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