With the injuries to Heung-Min Son and Steven Bergwijn, Saturday should be Bryan Gil’s coming-out party for Tottenham Hotspur against Crystal Palace.
The news coming out of N17 during Nuno Espirito Santo’s press conference about Heung-Min Son was not good. Anytime a coach is talking bout waiting for the medical staff to make an announcement or clarify it is not a positive situation.
While the status of Steven Bergwijn is not as clear, what we do know is that Bryan Gil was signed for exactly this situation to step in and fill the void on the left-wing. Here are three reasons, we expect a big day from the young Spaniard Saturday at Selhurst Park.
Bryan Gil will create shots and chances for Tottenham
Statistically speaking, Bryan Gil actually creates more shots in 90 minutes than does Heung-Min Son. Please understand I am not saying Bryan is anywhere near the level of Son. However, there are some areas of the young man’s game that are flat-out outstanding, and creating shots is one of them that he does on a level comparable to the Spurs superstar.
According to FBref.com on a per 90-minute basis last season, Bryan made 3.87 shot-creating actions, whereas Son made 3.38. Ultimately, the actions from Son led to a lot more goals, as the South Korean had 10 assists compared to Bryan’s 3 in league play. The greater success in leading to goals for Son translated into .43 goal-creating actions per 90 compared to .32 per 90 for Bryan.
With the quality of the targets vastly improved for Bryan with Harry Kane in the middle, we should expect this volume of shot-creating actions to lead to more goal-creating actions for Tottenham than it did for either Eibar or Sevilla last season. Assuming Bryan can even create three attempts for Kane on Saturday against Palace, we can expect an assist in return, as we saw in the Conference League.
Bryan is a willing defender with a real motor
One thing should be obvious to anyone who watches Bryan play for even five minutes; the young attacker has a real engine that pushes him up and down the pitch. A very willing defender, Bryan averaged nearly 1.5 tackles per 90 minutes last season and recovers the ball well.
With more than 2 tackles plus interceptions per 90 minutes, Bryan will get the ball back. What’s more, Gil often wins the ball back in the attacking third, with the majority of his 4.5 pressures per 90 minutes coming in the attacking 1/3 of the pitch, according to fbref.com. This is one trait that Bryan really shares with Christian Eriksen who was very good at timing tackles in the attacking third, which can often lead to goal-scoring opportunities.
Maybe more important than his motor driving Bryan as a willing defender is how his motor drives his willingness to attack players on the dribble. A willingness to take players head-on and more importantly beat them on occasion is something the Spurs definitely need and that is one area of his game where Bryan really works, attacking with the dribble.
Bryan’s ability to attack defenders should also mean he is going to get fouled, and likely a lot.
Expect Bryan to be fouled a lot on Saturday
Maybe one of the biggest questions facing Bryan Gil coming in the Premier League is going to be his ability to handle the physicality of the English game. At just 20-years-old and less than 70kg (150 lbs), Bryan is not exactly a big man. Further, his desire to dribble on the ball and his craftiness with the ball leads to him being fouled a lot.
Last season, Bryan was fouled 1.86 times per 90 minutes, which was again more than Son who was fouled 1.56 times per 90. Add in who Tottenham is playing, Crystal Palace, who are averaging 13 fouls per match so far this season – Tottenham is below 9 for comparison – and we should expect to see several dead ball opportunities created by Bryan on the left or even in the box.
Bryan is likely to be facing Joel Ward, who averages nearly 2 fouls per match, and Joachim Anderson who fouls at least once per match himself. Neither Ward nor Anderson is known for being fleet of foot and Bryan should be able to leverage that to Tottenham’s advantage.
While we are not saying Bryan is going to be the man of the match on Saturday, Kane will with his goals, we do expect Bryan to make a big impact on both ends of the pitch in his first big opportunity with the club.