Carlos Vinicius had one moment to forget early in the match, but thereafter made almost every touch he had on the ball count, as the Brazilian laid on two assists in his Tottenham debut.
Carlos Vinicius was brought in to provide cover and ideally some competition at times for Harry Kane. Given Kane’s incredible start assisting goals for Tottenham, Vinicius decided to do the same. Carlos picked up where Spurs talisman left off, as Vinicius laid on assists to both Lucas Moura and of course Heung-Min Son in the 3-0 victory over LASK in London.
Okay, Vinicius had a very good debut, he is not ready to challenge Harry Kane right now – who sat out as one of the unused substitutes on the night – but he did show he can provide real cover in matches where Jose Mourinho wants to rest the England captain. As the striker in the Mourinho set up, you need to be able to fight for the ball in the air, provide some hold up play, try to split some defensive lines, and most of all play intelligent football.
Vinicius did a little of all of it for Tottenham and it paid off in the end as the Brazilian put in a good 86 minutes in his Spurs debut. Further Carlos proved that if he is nothing else, he is an extremely intelligent footballer, but we kind of thought that coming in. So, what was good and what was not for Vinicius on the evening?
Vinicius Benefiting Tottenham
The two assists clearly stand out on the scoresheet as they were the passes leading directly to the goals. What was interesting about the two assists was just how different they both were. On the first assist to Lucas Moura, Vinicius made a long diagonal run from the middle of the pitch out toward the left channel. This run came on the back of a run that had been made by Moura diagonally, but much closer to the ball.
In truth Moura was offside, but Vinicius timed his run perfect and was not offside on this occasion as he sprinted between Lucas and the defender to control the ball. Almost like he had been playing with his countryman his entire life and seemingly without even looking; after an exquisite first touch, Carlos passed the ball back into the box past the defender to the on running Moura.
Lucas did what he does in these situations and buried the ball in the net past Alexander Schlager for a 1-0 Spurs lead just under 20 minutes into the match. The second assist for Vinicius came much later in the game as Tottenham were looking to put the finishing touches on what was a hard-fought victory.
Ben Davies – who quietly had a good game himself – dribbled out of the back and played the ball forward to Matt Doherty. Doherty – who was even more effective than Davies – took a touch or two and looked up crossing the ball toward the two target men at the edge of the box Vinicius and Heung-Min Son.
Vinicius got position between the defender and the ball easily winning the header. Again, in an instinctive effortless way Carlos headed the ball down almost laying it by the penalty spot for Son. The South Korean has been in excellent form and they do not get much easier than this one, which Son calmly slotted home for the 3-0 final tally.
Both passes demonstrated an incredible field awareness, vision, and frankly ability to play the perfect ball setting up his teammates. Vinicius did not have many passes, but he completed most of them, going 11 for 12. What is more incredible, is that in those 11 passes he set up five shots with for of them being big chances for Tottenham.
Not Top Moments for Vinicius
Only one moment really stood out as not great and it was unfortunately what might have been his first touch on the ball. Only eight minutes into the match, Matt Doherty had worked the ball with Gareth Bale finding some space on the right. Doherty floated a peach of a cross in and all Vinicius had to do was head it down and it would have opened his Tottenham account.
Instead of heading the ball down, Vinicius turned his head and the ball and it bounced wide of the far post. You could see the disappointment on the Brazilian’s face as he saw the ball went wide, he knew he missed a golden opportunity. While the assists made up for the miss in the end, having that ball go in the back of the net would have been a real boost.
Besides the one miss, Vinicius did fight for the ball some in the air but did not win a lot of the ball. His only two headers on the night were the missed shot at eight minutes and his late assist to Son at 84 minutes. Likewise, Vinicius’ overall hold-up play was not great. While it is obvious as you get closer to the goal the ball sticks to Carlos’ feet a bit more, his overall work with his back to the goal from distance was limited.
Fortunately, Tottenham really did not need more hold-up play or aerial dueling anyway, but they are areas he will need to work on. While the effort was solid, to have an impact in the Premier League these are areas Vinicius is going to need to work on.
Spurs Star in the Making?
Ultimately, it was a successful debut for Carlos Vinicius, as the ball never lies, and he twice set up his teammates to perfection. Just as importantly, Vinicius demonstrated he can lead the line and provide a target for other to play off and around, which takes a big load off Harry Kane. Finally, Carlos showed incredible footballing awareness and intelligence, with an eye for the pass, particularly as he gets closer to the goal.
What is great about the skillset Carlos Vinicius has and is developing as they work as both a lead striker and as a second striker. The idea of him laying off passes to Kane or making that second run behind Bale or Son for Kane to target if Jose wants to play Harry behind the striker sure sounds good.
Jose Mourinho talks about Carlos about a minute into the post-game interview and does his best to control expectations in typical Mourinho fashion. Mourinho notes that Carlos is “more than this” noting his need to learn the system and difficulty communicating speaking “almost not a word of English” according to Mourinho.
Luckily for Spurs and Vinicius, Jose Mourinho speaks great Portuguese, so there is at least no communication problem between player and coach. We need to remember, it is only one game and it was in Europa League, so we need not retire his number 45, but Vinicius certainly showed something. He showed that he may have brought to Tottenham what has been missing for so long, some cover and a little competition for Harry Kane. Give the young man more time to settle into both the club and country and Tottenham will be rewarded with the striking alternative to Harry Kane the team has long sought.