Merson says Tottenham look better with Kulusevski than Richarlison

Add as preferred source on Google

Paul Merson has told Sportskeeda that Tottenham Hotspur look much better with Dejan Kulusevski in the side than when Richarlison completes the front three.

Spurs have a point to prove heading into the weekend. Antonio Conte’s side have not won either of their games since returning to action following the international break.

They have struggled to excite the supporters with the style of play more recently. And of course, they failed to score during their Champions League clash with Eintracht Frankfurt on Tuesday.

Tottenham look much better with Kulusevski than Richarlison

Their only goal in their last two came after Richarlison won a penalty at the Emirates. And the Brazilian has already made some meaningful contributions in some of the other games he has played.

However, it does appear that losing Kulusevski to injury during the international break has really hurt Tottenham. And Merson believes that Spurs lose a lot when the Swede is not available.

“Dejan Kulusevski has been a big miss for Tottenham, they are a much better team when he plays,” he told Sportskeeda.

“Richarlison has had a decent start to life at his new club, but with all due respect to him, Spurs look much better with Kulusevski on the pitch and Richarlison coming on to run at tired legs.”

In fairness to Richarlison, he has five goal contributions in 10 appearances. And that record is impressive when you consider that Conte took his time to introduce him into the side. He has only completed 90 minutes once in the Premier League since his switch from Everton.

But that just highlights how impressive Kulusevski has been since he arrived in January. The 22-year-old has had 11 assists in 29 games, and six goals.

He has been compared with Kevin De Bruyne and labelled ‘exciting’. And it did appear that there was a lot less talk about the problems at right wing-back when Kulusevski was in the side ahead of the likes of Emerson Royal and Matt Doherty.

Richarlison may not be making the same impact as Kulusevski. But in truth, few would have been able to.