Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou has praised midfielder Giovani Lo Celso after his performance against Aston Villa.
Giovani Lo Celso was ‘always threatening’ for Tottenham Hotspur against Aston Villa on Sunday afternoon.
That is the verdict of Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou, who has been speaking to Football London this evening.
Lo Celso was handed a start in Tottenham’s midfield with James Maddison, Pape Matar Sarr and Yves Bissouma all out.
The Argentinian justified his inclusion by firing Tottenham ahead with a powerful strike from the edge of the box.
Tottenham couldn’t add to the lead though with Pau Torres and Ollie Watkins giving Villa a 2-1 victory in North London.
Ange Postecoglou praises Tottenham midfielder Giovani Lo Celso
Lo Celso came back to Tottenham over the summer after 18 months on loan a Villarreal.
Many thought his Spurs career was over some four years since an expensive move from Real Betis.
Spurs struck a structured deal worth £42million for Lo Celso – £15million for a loan deal and another £27million for a permanent move – after seeing him shine in Spain.
The Argentinian has been unable to replicate that success but Postecoglou liked what he saw in pre-season and wanted to keep him in North London.
Lo Celso has still been forced to accept a squad role but made his impact felt with that opener against Villa.
Boss Postecoglou has now suggested that Lo Celso played ‘really well’ against Villa and showed off his creativity in the final third.
Postecoglou feels that Lo Celso was ‘always threatening’ against Villa and will now need to play a big part amid so many injuries at Tottenham.
“Yeah I thought Gio did really well today in the role we had him,” said Postecoglou. “He was creative and scored a good goal. He was always threatening and he worked hard. He hasn’t played a lot of football. The reality of it is that we’re not going to get too many back. We’ll get Biss back for next week but we might have lost Bentancur. We only had six or seven on the bench so everyone who is here at the moment is going to have to play a part,” he added.
Unai Emery knew what to expect from Lo Celso
If any manager in the Premier League knows about Lo Celso’s ability and quality, it’s probably Villa boss Unai Emery.
The Villa boss was probably cursing his luck when he saw Lo Celso open the scoring for Tottenham.
The Spaniard worked with Lo Celso at Paris Saint-Germain and then reunited with him at Villarreal in 2022.
There were even rumours back in April suggesting that Emery wanted to sign Lo Celso again, this time taking him to Aston Villa.
That didn’t materialise and Emery may have had one eye on Lo Celso’s lack of playing time at Spurs this season.
Now with Maddison out, Lo Celso should have a bigger role to play at Tottenham and he will be looking to build on today’s goal.
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