This is a Threads reupload so I could flesh it out a bit more and have a better place to have it archived. Before I get too far underway it should be obvious that one game isn’t really enough to judge a player’s ability on, (I have watched most of his games from this season) but this was a particularly good performance that highlighted his best qualities and showed him at his best.
Fulham actually lost this game 0–1, but Tosin really stood out to me. He was a rock defensively, had over 100 touches of the ball and he progressed play out of defence with some progressive carries and some incisive passes . He looked incredibly confident on and off the ball, and also played in a high line when in possession in the opposition half.
Tosin is a very tall player at 6’5 and as such was pretty good in the air in this game (as he is in general) but he was also willing to take the ball down on his chest instead of aimlessly heading the ball into a congested area. As we know now, Ange Postecoglou likes his defenders to be good on the ball, athletic and tall (see the signing of Micky Van de Ven) and while he wouldn’t currently start for Spurs, he’d be an absolutely fantastic 2nd option. Seemingly Tosin will be available for even less than the €15m valuation (Fabrizio Romano) that AS Monaco were willing to pay this summer, although there is a chance he agrees a pre-contract with Monaco or a different European club in January as he enters the final few months of his contract.
His medium and long range passing in this game was also very good which was shown by his line-breaking passes from out of defence and his long diagonal balls which got the ball near West Ham’s box. While long passing isn’t something that is crucial in Postecoglou’s system, having the ability to pick out a teammate who is in behind or to switch the play out to the flanks is a very useful attribute.
His defensive anticipation and aggression in this game allowed him to cut out West Ham counter attacks and disrupt passes into their target man, Michail Antonio. These examples show how he was able to cut out play in the middle 3rd regaining possession for Fulham and disrupting any sort of rhythm that West Ham were trying to build.
Overall this was a very very impressive performance and I think a move to Spurs would make sense for everyone. He’s so confident on the ball, a capable defender and he’s homegrown which has been a real problem for Spurs in recent seasons. He also fits the sort of age profile that would suit this team as he’s currently 25 meaning he’s probably not even in his prime yet as a defender.
Thanks for reading and this is the last of my reuploads from Threads. I plan on posting some more bits of analysis as the season goes on. I’ll mostly be looking at teams (players from these teams) I watch the most, such as Spurs, AC Milan, RB Leipzig and Bayer Leverkusen.
