Lucas Moura has found it tough to earn starts for Tottenham Hotspur this season.
Danny Murphy is baffled as to why Mauricio Pochettino isn’t starting Lucas Moura as he bravely claimed that Manchester United flop Alexis Sanchez is a ‘better’ player than him.
Former Spurs midfielder Murphy claims that Moura’s confidence and form could be drained within him if he continues to be left out, just like Sanchez at Man Utd, with the forward now plying his trade at Inter.
On Tuesday night, Spurs secured a comfortable win against Red Star in the Champions League, but before that, they have endured a number of horror shows, yet Moura would be left on the bench.
Speaking to Drive on TalkSport (23/10/2019 at 5:15 pm), Murphy commented on the current situation Moura finds himself in as he thinks that he should be starting more.
“I can only go off what I see,” Murphy told TalkSport. “But every time I watch Lucas Moura, he very rarely has a bad game. And when I say bad game, he can have bad moments in a game, but always has an impact.
“He makes things happen. I like his tenacity. He runs with the ball. He’s brave. He gets on the ball. He can leap by the way for a small fella. He can play right or left, so you can mix him up in the same game. His fitness is good. He’s a goal threat. He can play down the middle, which he has done. And at a time when Tottenham have been struggling, he has been used sparingly.
“He scores a goal and then he gets left out. What does that do for any player? We saw what it did for Sanchez at United, who is arguably better than Moura. It doesn’t matter how good you are, you just need a manager to give you some belief. If Pochettino, who is a better manager than I’ll ever be, thinks that Lamela is better or Son is better, that’s fine.
“But Moura every time he goes in and does well gets left out again. And that’s not setting a good precedent for your players – I don’t get why he’s not using him more.”
Moura, who joined Spurs in 2018 for £23m [BBC Sport], may now find it even more difficult to get into Pochettino’s starting XI given the win and performance last night.
Over the course of the season, he has played 10 games in all competitions for the North London club, starting five of those matches, scoring two goals and supplying one assist [transfermarkt].
Moura has never expressed a desire to leave the club, he is as honest as anyone at the club, nor has he performed as badly as his teammates. Yet certain contract rebels, who have been bang out of form, continue to get starts, yet Moura doesn’t, which is a surprise.
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