The Tottenham Hotspur winger made a big impression after coming off the bench in the Champions League.
Tottenham Hotspur winger Georges-Kevin Nkoudou had a hugely promising European debut for the North Londoners away to CSKA Moscow on Tuesday night, as Spurs won a vital 1-0 victory.
The 21-year-old only had a handful of minutes to make an impression after coming on midway through the second half, but he certainly wasted no time once he took to the field.
Crucially for Spurs, the former Marseille winger displayed the raw pace and quick feet that the CSKA back four hadn’t had to face in the match. Goalscorer Heung-Min Son is normally the player to supply that in this Spurs side, but the South Korean often failed to beat his fullback with the ball.
Tottenham’s Son Heung-min celebrates with Georges-Kevin Nkoudou after the match
Nkoudou repeatedly took on opponents after coming on, and more often than not, left them wanting. This gave the defence another thing to think about entirely, and it wasn’t a coincidence that Son scored minutes after the France Under-21 man came on.
Below are Nkoudou’s statistics from the game:
| Team | Total Scoring Attempts | Total Attempted Assist | Duel for Possession Won | Successful Take Ons | Touches | Accurate Pass | Mins Played | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Georges-Kévin Nkoudou | Tottenham | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 28 | 13 | 23 |
Despite Nkoudou being on the pitch for roughly a quarter of the match, he very much gave his best indication yet of the kind of player he is going to be at Spurs. And luckily for supporters, it seems to be a hugely exciting one.
His stats show that he dribbled past four CSKA players in his 23 minutes on the pitch – the only player to do so more in the game was Erik Lamela. This also meant, even more impressively, that he was joint second in successful dribbles out of all the Tuesday Champions League fixtures, despite his short game time.
Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino gestures as Georges-Kevin Nkoudou prepares to be substituted on
So it looks like Spurs are going to be getting a live wire winger who is eager to use his pace and dribbling to beat people, and who is more than capable of doing so.
Encouragingly, the fact Nkoudou won five duels for possession demonstrates that he is a combative winger that very much fits Pochettino’s style. The Frenchman made his Premier League debut last weekend against Middlesbrough, and now may be in with a shout of a start against Manchester City.
It was a long wait for Nkoudou’s signature, but the early signs are that it may have been very much worth it.
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