Tottenham’s clinical finishing crisis
Tottenham Hotspur were blessed with a jack-of-all-trades striker in Harry Kane, who not only scored consistently for the club but also ensured that Spurs maintained a strong attacking presence throughout his tenure upfront. Everyone knew that the North Londoners would struggle once the England international bids adieu to White Hart Lane, which has been the case to a certain extent.
Lilywhites boss Ange Postecoglou has done extremely well to ensure that the club fought for the UEFA Champions League places right until the business end of the season. Having lost Harry Kane, who pursued a move to join Bayern Munich last summer, the Australian had to make do without a marquee striker in the recently concluded season.
Overperforming xG masked a problem
Tottenham scored 69 goals in the Premier League in the 2023–24 season, compared to their tally of 68 in the 2022–23 season. This shows an improvement of one goal scored over the season despite losing their star striker. However, if you go a bit deeper into the goal-scoring charts, you’ll notice a more distributed contribution across the team rather than relying heavily on one player, alongside the fact that the club has suffered greatly in front of goal.
The North Londoners boasted an xG of 57 in the English top tier in the 2022–23 season, which means they overperformed with eleven goals as compared to their xG of 68.2 last season. This brings out the clinical problem that the club faced owing to Harry Kane’s absence. The new Bayern Munich striker was the top scorer at Spurs with 30 goals in the Premier League in his last season at N17, while Heung-min Son, Tottenham’s highest goal scorer in the 2023–24 season, only scored 17 goals for the Lilywhites.
This brings out a goal-scoring problem that Ange is dealing with as of now, and he would want to go into the upcoming season with this resolved. Daniel Levy & Co. have prioritized signing a marquee striker this summer to ensure that the club has a presence in front of goal. Spurs need to sign someone who can not only replicate the physical presence and goal-scoring threat of Harry Kane but also integrate well into Ange’s style of play.
Tottenham have had brilliant offensive sequences where the wingers have made late runs at the far post to meet the crosses, which has worked brilliantly for Ange in the recently concluded season. The Australian gaffer would need to replicate similar goal-scoring tactics on the other side this summer, which can have major benefits in front of goal where wingers contribute effectively and capitalize on their scoring opportunities.
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Hopefully, we will see a more clinical Tottenham side going into next season who can not only meet their xG performances but also ensure that they convert their attacking prowess into consistent goal-scoring results.
