Enzo Fernandez and Nicolas Jackson have got a lot of praise following last night’s 3-1 win over Aston Villa, but on TalkSport Jamie O’Hara picked out a different player.
He loved what he had seen from Noni Madueke, who had a great game on the right wing terrorising Alex Moreno:
“[Madueke] was gliding past players. It’s the best I’ve seen him play… I didn’t really know much about the guy and when I’ve watched him I’ve not been completely convinced that he’s anything special. But tonight he was quick, he took the ball past players, he drifted past players, he was direct in his play. I’ve just not seen that in him at all!”
There were still some frustrating moments from Noni, of course. But that’s pretty much the nature of being a winger in this sort of setup, where you’re asked to be the one in the team taking risks and making things happen.
When it came down to it, his decision making was correct – when he slid the ball to Malo Gusto to cross for Nicolas Jackson, that was the right call.
We would still like to see him take on his man more often when he’s got them isolated one on one – but this was an improved performance, and we expect him to remain in Pochettino’s plans.
