Why Dejan Kulusevski is thriving at Tottenham this season

Tottenham Hotspur's number 21 Dejan Kulusevski has had a fantastic start to the 24/25 season, with some Spurs fans saying he has been the club's best player so far this campaign. His cameo off the bench

There has been little doubt over Kulusevski's quality previously, but his consistency and just general quality has seemed to go up another level this season. Let's dissect why.

Why Dejan Kulusevski is thriving at Tottenham this season

In the most part so far this season, Ange has played Kulusevski as part of a "double 8" duo with James Maddison, with the two playing either side of a holding midfielder, usually Rodrigo Bentancur so far.

Several Spurs fans have said in the past that the Swedish international is better centrally than on the wing. Kulusevski has the technical ability and creativity, but not the athleticism and pace that wingers often have.

He did play as a number ten in the absence of Maddison during his injury last season, scoring and assisting in the same game against Manchester City and Nottingham Forest. The issue is with that, is that Maddison is fit - and playing very well.

So the only way for Ange to play Kulusevski centrally, and not drop Maddison at the same time is to play them both as number eights. So far, it has generally worked very well for Spurs. Maddison played in this system for Leicester City, with Youri Tielemans as the other number eight, and had lots of success there. As for Kulusevski, it seems to be a fairly new thing for him.

The first time Ange tried this was in the home game against Everton, where Spurs won 4-0. He has since played it against Arsenal, Brentford, and Manchester United, so Spurs have won three out of the four games since this idea was introduced by Ange.

Kulusevski's work in the half spaces has been noted this season, showing excellent ball-carrying ability to get Spurs up the pitch and into dangerous areas. He had his best performance to date against United - creating nine chances, three big chances, and scoring a very well-taken goal. His link-up with Brennan Johnson for his goal would simply not have happened if he was playing on the wing.

What has also been noted is how deep Maddison has dropped in the build-up, meaning that whilst Kulusevski can and will do so too, there isn't an unfair creative burden on him, and he can take up space that Maddison creates by drawing opponents to him when he gets on the ball from deep.

Of course, the questions will be asked about how it will work defensively. However, in the four Premier League games where Spurs have started with this setup, Spurs have conceded; 0, 1, 1, and 0 goals which is pretty good. 0's and 1's are something Spurs have needed to have more of since Ange took over.

Also, whilst some have commented that Spurs having Maddisona and Kulusevski as number eights, as well as two attack-minded full-backs, makes them incredibly uber-attacking, it can also work the other way too.

Pep Guardiola would often play Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva as number eights for Manchester City, but he would use inverted full-backs, or one into a back three, meaning that they had two full-backs to cover for rest defence. That is very similar to what Spurs have with Destiny Udogie and Pedro Porro inverting.

Plus, with the amount of chances Spurs will create and goals they will score, even if it does leave them somewhat vulnerable defensively, you can make the case for the setup being a net positive anyway. The North London derby is the only game that Spurs did not score at least three goals in with those two as number eights.

Ange is happy with what he has seen, too, telling football.london: "[It works] Because I think they’re both really good intelligent footballers. The way we play suits their characteristics because Madders does so much damage with the ball and Deki does so much damage with his running, that it’s a good balance for us in that attacking third and they also had to show good discipline today.

Because we knew that the main threat Manchester United have is in the transition. You know, they’re pretty lethal with the front guys they’ve got so we really wanted to make sure we locked them in today and that was the full-backs and for Madders and Deki to be really disciplined in their football. They’re both going really well and working really hard and improving.”