Richarlison has become a stain blighting the Tottenham Hotspur attack, which hasn't been particularly impressive even without him on the pitch. On more than one occasion this season, Richy has been the difference between victory and defeat in a negative way, and even when the rest of his teammates seem to stand out, the former Everton star has a knack for being the one big thing worth criticizing.
Such was the case again on Tuesday night in the Champions League. Tottenham romped to a 4-0 victory, and yet Richarlison flubbed his opportunity to regain some stature in the squad, coming in off the bench to help man the front line. All Richy did was proceed to miss golden opportunity after golden opportunity, which has merely become par for the course for him this season.
But what really irked Spurs supporters was how he almost seemed to actively hold promising young striker prospect Dane Scarlett back. Scarlett already gets so few opportunities, but he came right in and shined brightly. What Richarlison did, though, was steal that shine by running into his lanes, effectively sabotaging his ability to impact the game. And then, instead of letting Scarlett take the penalty, Richarlison took over and missed it poorly.
Richarlison was too selfish
Juxtapose Richarlison's selfish, single-minded display as a forward with Randal Kolo Muani's all-around quality and you can see why, even though RKM himself isn't doing much to score goals, the choice between the two No. 9's is obvious for Thomas Frank.
When Dominic Solanke finally returns from his pesky foot injury, there will be truly no place left for Richarlison. Kolo Muani and Solanke are obviously better, and after watching the two play against Copenhagen, it's honestly hard to justify giving Richarlison minutes over Scarlett when the latter has more long-term viability to Spurs.
What serves as a last straw on the Richarlison case for Tottenham fans is how selfish he was on Tuesday. Instead of helping Scarlett out and fostering the young striker's development, Richy took away from him and held back the team in doing so. When Tottenham were playing as well as they were against a subpar team in Copenhagen, Richarlison can't have any excuses at that point for not performing as a scorer, dribbler, or passer. He was a 0/10 in so many phases of the game, and at this point, the Brazilian international has made it official that he is untenable as a key member of the squad.