Peter Crouch has hailed Dejan Kulusevski after his cameo performance for Tottenham Hotspur against Sporting Clube de Portugal.
Tottenham jetted off to Lisbon on Tuesday night, taking on Sporting in their second Champions League game.
A 2-0 win over Marseille last week gave fans hope of another positive result but Tottenham fell flat in Portugal.
Paulinho and Arthur Gomes pounced to score in injury time, handing hosts Sporting a 2-0 victory.
Peter Crouch has hailed Dejan Kulusevski
Tottenham now have plenty of work to do in their group, especially after Eintracht Frankfurt beat Marseille on Tuesday.
Antonio Conte’s European record has been called into question many times over the years and he will be desperate to at least get Tottenham out of the group stage.
Conte faces some big decisions moving forward and his attacking setup is a real conundrum.
Richarlison came into the side and made a great impact against Fulham and Marseille, but then struggled against Sporting.
Harry Kane is Harry Kane; he isn’t going anywhere but Son Heung-min is in dismal form and keeps being picked in the starting XI.
This has meant Dejan Kulusevski dropping to the bench for the last three games despite his outstanding record since joining Tottenham.
The Swede provides guile, creativity, a calm head on the ball and a real unselfishness that knits Tottenham’s attack together brilliantly.
Many Tottenham fans can’t believe that Kulusevski is only on the bench at the moment and he immediately created a chance for Richarlison to score after coming off the bench for Son.
Kulusevski couldn’t give Tottenham the win but he will surely return to the starting lineup soon after Tuesday’s performance.
Pundit Peter Crouch has now hailed Kulusevski, telling BT Sport (13/09, 19:50) that he thinks the winger ‘looks the real deal’ whenever he comes onto the pitch.
Crouch was impressed with Kulusevski, suggesting that he ‘raises everybody’s tempo’ when he comes on and this is something Conte simply has to realise for his next team selection.
“Kulusevski, when he comes on, he looks the real deal doesn’t he? He looks like he raises everybody’s tempo,” said Crouch.
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