Pape Matar Sarr showed against Aston Villa why he should be starting more games for Tottenham
Tottenham Hotspur have been highly inconsistent in the Premier League this season, smashing West Ham United and then losing to Crystal Palace the following week.
Aston Villa were Spurs’ next Premier League opponents, and Ange Postecoglou’s boys dismissed them emphatically 4-1 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday. Before that, they also dumped Manchester City out of the Carabao Cup.
Due to the irregularity in form and fitness of some players, Ange Postecoglou has found it difficult to settle down on his midfield unit. His midfield options include the likes of Rodrigo Bentancur, Dejan Kulusevski, Pape Matar Sarr, Yves Bissouma and James Maddison. The Tottenham boss selected a midfield trio of Bentancur, Kulusevski and Sarr against Unai Emery’s Villa, with Maddison dropping to the bench.
Several players made a case for themselves to be in Big Ange’s starting XI for the upcoming fixtures, but none more than Pape Matar Sarr. Despite starting just thrice across the opening 10 Premier League fixtures, the Senegal international didn’t look out of place in the engine room and ran the show. He put in a tireless shift and barely looked out of gas in the entire 90 minutes on Sunday.
Football London correspondent Alasdair Gold was happy with Sarr’s performance against Emery’s side. He felt the 22-year-old got ‘better and better’ as the game went on and conceded that Postecoglou ‘loves him’.
“Looking at the midfield, I have to start with Pape Matar Sarr. I just thought he was brilliant, I just thought he got better and better as the game wore on. You kind of have to again like Dragusin, you have to remind yourself he’s only 22, it’s mad!” Alasdair Gold said on his YouTube channel.
“That he’s only 22, um, it’s because he played last season he played more than 2,000 minutes of Premier League football despite his age. Postecoglou loves him, believes he’s going to be something special. He saw that in preseason straight away last season um and his second season has been kind of a big developmental one because he’s had to deal with kind of having less game time.”
Sarr has staked his claim in the starting XI after his brilliant display in Tottenham’s 4-1 win against Villa. If Big Ange wants to play Kulusevski in the middle of the park, the Senegalese will be the right choice to provide more stability and balance in the engine room. Bissouma and Bentancur can fight for the No.6 role but Sarr has to start league games more often as a free No.8.
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At 22, the combative African has a long way to go in his career. He is developing well under Big Ange and there are chances Sarr could overtake Bissouma for the starting role if he builds on this fantastic performance during the fixture congestion after the upcoming international break.
