Tottenham fans do not rate Richarlison highly despite an interesting statistic emerging of late.
The pressure is mounting on Tottenham Hotspur boss Thomas Frank. The north Londoners fell to a 10th home league defeat of 2025 against Fulham on Saturday night, leading to fan frustrations after the game.
The supporters have every right to be annoyed. Tottenham have not been exciting and adventurous going forward, and injuries to key attackers Dominic Solanke, Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison hasn’t helped the boss. A lot of talk has revolved around the team’s lack of creativity and guile to unlock well-drilled defences, while the Lilywhites have not really been helped without a quality striker in the box.
Solanke is yet to make a start this season due to persistent ankle issues. He underwent ankle surgery at the start of October and hasn’t returned yet, while deadline day loan signing Randal Kolo Muani is still settling down at N17. This has left Frank with no option but to rely on Richarlison.
Tottenham fans are refusing to rate Richarlison highly despite impressive stats
Richarlison is having a funny old season at Spurs. He started the season brightly with a brace against newly-promoted Burnley on the opening weekend, and then took a month to find the back of the net again in the 2-2 away draw with Brighton. What followed was a period of lull before the Brazilian thought he had won the game with his header against Manchester United, only for Matthijs de Ligt to equalise deep into injury time.
The 28-year-old has now scored in three of his last four games for Tottenham, with goals against Man United, Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain. Amid frustration over his lack of consistency, quality and injury issues, an interesting stat has emerged of late.
As shared by a Spurs fan on X, Richarlison has netted 16 goals in his last 22 league starts. Quoting that tweet, WeAreTottenhamTV came up with a pie chart of his stats this season. In 725 minutes played in the Premier League vs other forwards, the Brazilian ranks 98 percentile in goal-creating actions, 93 percentile in assists and 88 percentile in non-penalty goals. He also contributes a lot defensively to the team, as evidenced by 83 percentile ball recoveries, 68 percentile tackles won and 83 percentile dribbles challenged.
Regardless of that, Tottenham fans are not having it. The replies to the question asked by WeAreTottenhamTV- “Is he disrespected”? after sharing his stats in the league this season very much show what the fans think of Richarlison.
“This is a great example of stats aren’t everything. You need the eye test to see in games he’s mostly a hindrance to the team,” one fan wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Another one wrote: “No. We all have eyes.”
A third posted: “He has missed so many sitters this season too. Goal chances that would have changed some games for us.”
A fourth tweeted: “He looks rubbish when 95% of those goals are consolation and when you truly need him to show up he can’t even connect a pass.”
A fifth added: “I see the ball bounce off his feet at least 10 times per game and spent 95% of his game on the ground.”
And a sixth wrote: “Another day, another terrible tweet!”
Time for Tottenham to move on from Richarlison?
While 16 goals in 22 league starts is impressive, it is worth noting that this stat stretches back from 2023/24 campaign. This makes it very much evident how inconsistent and injury prone Richarlison has been at Tottenham. He came close to leaving the club in the summer but a move did not happen. Owing to Solanke’s unavailability, Frank has been forced to be content with Richarlison up top.
The South American is in decent form of late, but certainly not the long-term solution at No.9 at the Hotspur Way. What Tottenham needs is an upgrade on Richarlison, an up-and-coming, talented and lethal striker to spearhead the attack for many years. That said, the club bosses must do everything possible to offload Richarlison next year.