Some Tottenham fans on social media admitted that they were pleased with what they saw from Carlos Vinicius when he came on at half-time against Brighton and stated that the striker’s display was one of the very few positives from Sunday’s game.
With Harry Kane unavailable, Jose Mourinho decided to start with a front three of Son Heung-min, Gareth Bale and Steven Begwijn.
The Tottenham boss admitted after the game that he started with those three as he wanted to allow Son to make his trademark runs in-behind and believed that Bale and Bergwijn could pick out the South Korean’s bursts.
However, Spurs were non-existent as an attacking force in the first half as Brighton had no problems dealing with some of the away side’s aimless longballs.
With his side 1-0 down at the interval, Mourinho decided to bring Vinicius on and the Brazilian provided a physical presence up front that pinned some of the Seagulls defenders back and allowed the likes of Bergwijn and Son a bit more space in the final third.
While some Tottenham fans praised Vinicius’ display on Sunday, others were left scratching their heads as to why the 25-year-old did not start.
https://twitter.com/lovespursh8poch/status/1356172250240720897
https://twitter.com/jme_900/status/1356011070826151945
Vinicius has looked bright tbf. 100% should've started
— DC ⚽️🏴 (@davYidc89) January 31, 2021
Vinicius the only player that looked like scoring but didn’t start, what a shocking decision to not start him.
— Zidan (@zidanthfc) January 31, 2021
Positives? Vinicius looked OK (should have started, should start the next one). Toby was generally good and is clearly still our best CB (how/why has he been sitting the bench). Literally that’s it though.
— PK (@onlyonepk) January 31, 2021
Vinicius looked somewhat positive after he came on, but we didn’t start him. Y’know, our only fit natural ST. Madness.
— Matt (@iMDN94) January 31, 2021
What’s the point of having Vinicius if he isn’t starting when Kane is injured? Is bale finished as a top level footballer? He looked well off the pace! Did team lack belief because Kane wasn’t playing?
— Stuart Old (@stustar1984) January 31, 2021
https://twitter.com/_JoeGTHFC/status/1355925064357736449
Vinicius came on and improved us. He gave us a focal point and he gave Brighton something to think about in the box. Looked relatively bright yes not amazing BUT
100% has to start against Chelsea. https://t.co/G2mu7OB7ix
— Llorismo (@MouraThis) February 1, 2021
@SpursOfficial start Dele and Vinicius against Chelsea
— oh (@itsthabobruh) February 1, 2021
https://twitter.com/Big_RobzTHFC/status/1355998395341664257
Spurs Web Opinion
Given our inability to build play from the back, not having a player up front who can hold the ball up takes a lot away from our game. However, I am sure that Mourinho will start Vinicius against Chelsea and we will likely have very little of the ball and look to play more direct on Thursday.