Tottenham forward Lucas Moura celebrates after scoring. (Getty Images)
The clock read 83 minutes at Old Trafford and Tottenham Hotspur were 2-0 up against Manchester United. The visitors won the ball near the halfway line and Harry Kane played the ball for Lucas Moura, who was still more than 25 yards away from the goal. He beat Chris Smalling with his stepovers and then, in a blink of an eye, scored past the best goalkeeper in the world. 3-0. Done and dusted.
It was Tottenham’s 3rd win at the iconic ground in 26 years of the Premier League and probably one of their most impressive away wins in recent seasons. And at the heart of it was Lucas Moura, who joined the club for a fee of £23million in January. But this was not a mere flash of brilliance from the Brazilian.
Moura was hardly involved in his first few months at Tottenham. He made only 2 starts in the Premier League and 3 in the FA Cup, as Mauricio Pochettino preferred to not tinker with his starting XI. In a 4-2-3-1 formation, Dele Alli and Heung-min Son often played behind Harry Kane last season. But this term, Son had to travel for the Asian Games and Moura received the chance to prove himself. He was impressive in pre-season as well, especially against AS Roma and Barcelona in the ICC Cup in the USA.
He scored his first goal of the season against Fulham at Wembley and then added two more to his name against the Red Devils. He was also impressive at Vicarage Road, even though Spurs suffered a humiliating 2-1 loss to Watford.
Moura has given Pochettino a tactical advantage which he was not blessed with earlier. More often than not, Moura has been utilized as a second striker with Kane in a 4-4-2 diamond formation this season. His blistering pace is an asset for Tottenham, particularly when it comes to killing teams on the counter-attack. But now that the Asian Games have concluded and Son will be back soon, it will be interesting to see who Pochettino hands regular starts to.
Son himself had an astounding campaign last season, where he scored 12 times and assisted 6 more in the Premier League. This selection dilemma is going to be the biggest headache for the Argentine manager. Moura is in red-hot form at the moment and deserves to start. In the four matches so far, apart from his 3 goals and 1 assist, Moura has completed 6 dribbles and supplied 7 shots on goal.
With the Champions League and League cup kicking off soon, the Argentine manager must rotate the squad adequately. That would be a perfect time for both of these talented attackers to get the time they deserve on the pitch.
