What Ryan Sessegnon needs to take the next step for Tottenham Hostpur

Three areas for Sessegnon to improve for Tottenham

Sometimes confidence is all a player needs, and one has to hope Sessegnon got that confidence from Spurs’ big win at City. If Sessegnon builds on that success and takes his next steps as a player, we need to see these three things from him in his next outing.

Sessegnon needs to show his speed

While not an Olympic sprinter, one of Ryan’s greatest strengths as a young player was his speed. Despite numerous nagging injuries, Sessegnon has not suffered a significant injury and is still fast and needs to show it.

As much as anything, Sessegnon needs to let the ball do the work and run behind it. Against City, there was a play where everything had been set up perfectly, and Sessegnon got the ball on the edge one-on-one with a step on Kyle Walker. Instead of pushing the ball and testing Walker, Sessegnon took a touch toward midfield and lost his space, and the play broke down.

Sure, Walker is as fast as they come, but sometimes you have to push the ball and run, and we need to see it from Sessegnon against Burnley.

Wing-backs must make tackles

Maybe there are weaknesses in his offensive game, but Emerson Royal is usually strong defensively and has been a tackling machine since coming to Spurs. Sometimes his tackles are a bit out of control, but he is always going in with the confidence that he will win the ball. The same spirit Royal has in the tackle is not shown by Sessegnon.

There was one play against City where it was a 50/50 ball and Sessegnon went in half-hearted. While he won the ball, he was unable to do anything with it having gone in so unconvincingly.

While Tottenham has plenty of sure tacklers, Sessegnon needs to go into 50/50 situations tackling with enthusiasm and confidence. Players lacking either often lose the tackles and get hurt, both things Sessegnon wants to avoid.

Create some crosses and service

Sessegnon did a job defensively against City, first on Raheem Sterling and then on Phil Foden. However, Sessegnon did little to contribute to the offensive end outside of his short pass to Heung-Min Son in the build-up to Spurs’ second goal.

Tottenham only attempted four crosses against City, and none came from Sessegnon. And while Royal was available and pushed up on the right on a few different occasions, the same was not true for Sessegnon.

Fortunately, the next time Sessegnon plays, it will not be against the team controlling the lion’s share of possession, and he should have a chance to push forward and create something. Under Conte creativity must come from the wings, which does not necessarily mean beating people, but is predicated on getting balls into the box.

Tottenham needs depth at the wing-back position and, with Reguilon out, Sessegnon has a chance to show he is part of the present and future. Sessegnon needs to do more with the ball on both sides of the pitch to show a necessary progression, which is long overdue.