Tottenham will heavily rotate the squad at Brighton
Mauricio Pochettino will look to carefully manage his squad this week with full attention on this weekend’s FA Cup semifinal against Manchester United. That will leave plenty of Tottenham regulars on the bench at Brighton, but it will present a massive opportunity to Lucas Moura.
Pochettino isn’t afraid to push his squad very hard, but he understands discretion is the better part of valor this week. Starting the same attacking midfield against City, Brighton and United in the span of six days would be a definite recipe for disaster. That means, of course, that Pochettino must utilize the whole of his Spurs squad this week.
Fortunately, Tottenham have quite a few options in the attacking midfield. The most interesting option for Pochettino will be to hand Lucas Moura his first Premier League start at Brighton. That’s precisely what you should expect from the Argentine gaffer.
Lucas enjoyed a brief cameo against City, which is a dead giveaway that Pochettino is starting to trust him. The Spurs boss quite simply doesn’t play anyone he doesn’t have confidence in. The fact that Lucas has managed to make his way into Pochettino’s squad is a very promising sign for his long-term future in North London.
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Tuesday’s match at Brighton will give Lucas a real opportunity to make a massive impression on his manager. The match happens to set up excellently for him. Brighton are positioned above the true depths of the relegation battle so they should be willing to try to actually play against Spurs. This isn’t a squad that will be determined to sit deep and scrape out a point for survival.
As such, Lucas should receive plenty of chances to run at Brighton with the ball at his feet. That’s what the Brazilian player does best. He may not be the best finisher in Europe, but he can wreak real havoc with his pace and trickery. His ability to take on defender one v one separates him from his Tottenham teammates.
The real question for Pochettino isn’t whether or not to start Lucas. Instead, it’s what teammates he should select to play alongside his relatively new purchase. In an ideal world, Lucas would feature alongside the likes of Christian Eriksen and Dele Alli to provide creative passes for him. That isn’t likely to be the case this week. Lucas may have to settle for the likes of Moussa Sissoko and Heung-Min Son in this match.
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In a strange way, that may give Lucas even more attacking license. He won’t feel the need to defer to more established Tottenham stars. Against Brighton, Lucas Moura will feel the freedom to show his full attacking talent. That’s a very exciting idea for Tottenham fans who want to find out what they truly have in the former PSG star.