Tottenham Hotspur have had quite a few players who have stepped up this season.
The North Londoners, for the most part, had a good 2023/24 campaign, but they fell off late in the season and blew their chances of finishing in the top four of the Premier League.
Spurs fans have been hoping that things will be different this time around, and although the results have been mixed, they have produced a few impressive performances.
Some Tottenham players deserve a lot of praise for how they have fared so far.
Ange Postecoglou says Dejan Kulusevski has been Tottenham’s ‘best player’
Dejan Kulusevski didn’t have the greatest 2023/24 season.
The Swede wasn’t awful by any means, but he only managed 11 direct goal contributions in 39 games in all competitions for Spurs.
The 24-year-old mostly played out wide last season, but things have been very different under Ange Postecoglou this time around.
Almost every game Kulusevski has played this season has come in a central position, and that seems to have brought the best out of him.
He has directly contributed to nine goals already, and we won’t be surprised at all if he doubles that number before the season ends.
Postecoglou, who compared Kulusevski to Harry Kane and Cristiano Ronaldo, now thinks the Sweden international has been Spurs’ ‘best player’ this year.
Ahead of the game against Bournemouth, when Postecoglou was asked about his decision to rest Kulusevski on Sunday, he said, as per Football London: “You’ve always got to make decisions you think are right. I am never going to make decisions to alleviate or appease people’s opinions.
“Deki has been our best player this year and I want to protect him because there is no chance he can play all these games we’ve got. Like I say, even if they can play, performance will invariably drop because it is not sustainable.
“We have to pick and choose. I thought the weekend game, particularly with Pape and Madders and Biss in then, we’re missing Bentancur as well, whenever I was going to leave him out, it would leave a bit of a gap.”
One key Postecoglou change has made Kulusevski so much better
Kulusevski has always been an incredibly talented player.
The £110k-a-week (Spotrac) Swede had a great start to life at Spurs, but he had his struggles as well. Things just didn’t go his way at times and that made him a frustrating player to watch.
However, when he is in full flow, there are very few players who can have an impact on the game as well as Kulusevski. He can be brilliant.
The biggest change from last season to now is Postecoglou’s decision to move him centrally. That has made him incredibly dangerous and has also made the people around him better.
“The manager just put me there and I have played there before so it was no problem for me,” Kulusevski told BBC Sport in November.
“It feels very good. I score and assist so from this position I am always dangerous.”