Two Tottenham stars named in Garth Crooks’ team of the week

Tottenham Hotspur defeated Wolves away and move up to fifth in the Premier League at the weekend with a 2-1 victory.

While it was a superb team victory, with some nice breakaways and some expert defending, there were two stand-out heroes for Tottenham, at least as far as Garth Crooks was concerned.

Little Lucas Moura gave the Lilywhites the lead inside ten minutes when he danced past two Wolves defenders, before lashing the ball into the top corner past the keeper.

The Brazilian was a pain in Wolves’ side all day, while Jan Vertonghen was also impressive at the back up against Traore, one of the fastest players in the league.

Not able to match him for pace, Vertonghen had to be clever with his defending in order to limit Traore’s chances, although the Wolves man did draw his side level still.

Matter not though, as Jan had the last laugh when he nodded home the winner in the 91st minute.

Crooks had this to say on Lucas (BBC): ‘You can’t score a goal like that and not get in my team of the week. We all know Lucas Moura can strike the ball but this really was a beauty. What I adore about Moura is his ability to dance past players. He left two Wolves defenders for dead before he created the opening for himself and fired an unstoppable drive past Rui Patricio.

‘Watching Moura, Harry Kane, Son Heung-min and Dele Alli all in the same line-up and away from home is audacious and brilliant and the difference between Jose Mourinho and Mauricio Pochettino.’

And this on Vertonghen: ‘How inspiring of Jose Mourinho to use three central defenders and a natural full-back in a back four, allowing Serge Aurier to do what he does best and bomb forward when Spurs have possession. This occurs without putting your team at risk. The Europeans, especially the Italians, have been doing this for years but to see it used so effectively in a Tottenham side away at Wolves was as interesting as it gets.

‘Jan Vertonghen was the key to this formation and the man who also got the winning goal. The Belgium international produced an outstanding all-round performance. This is not a coincidence by the way – Mourinho is working this stuff out with the players at his disposal.’

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