Tottenham veteran defender Ivan Perisic (36) again suffered a disappointing performance. In the set piece situation, he only made a threatening scene, but most of the time, he only showed regret on both sides of the offense and defense. In particular, in the scene of conceding the equalizer, where the atmosphere was greatly overturned, the appearance of turning the body first instead of active defense eventually raised the voice of criticism even on the spot.
Perisic started in the 2022-2023 English Premier League (EPL) round 23 away match against Leicester City held at King Power Stadium in Leicester, England on the 12th (Korean time), but failed to prevent the team’s 1-4 defeat and played in the second half of the 30th minute Replaced.
The possibility of being excluded from the selection was even raised in this game because the performance was not good in the previous match against Manchester City, but coach Antonio Conte gave Perisic another chance instead of Ryan Sessegnon. Director Conte’s choice eventually became a ‘handshake’.
On this day, it was typical that he was involved in his conceding scene one after another. The scene where the equalizer was conceded was particularly painful. Rodrigo Bentancur took the lead in the 23rd minute when Tottenham led 1-0. Bentancur kicked the opponent’s corner kick from the goal with a header, and the ball flowed near the right side of the penalty box and rolled toward Nampalis Mendy.
As non-stop shooting was expected without any hindrance, a defense was needed to prepare for this. Perisic, who was closest, tried to close the angle. However, he ran all the way and did not interfere with the opponent’s shot, stopped in the middle, waited for the moment to shoot, and turned his back. Unfortunately, Mendy’s shot passed behind Perisic’s back and was sucked into the Tottenham goal. It was like dodging an opponent’s shot.
Criticism came out even locally about this scene. British Football London pointed out that “Perisic turned his back when Mendy shot, and he had no choice but to watch as the ball was sucked into the upper right corner of the goal.” We should have defended more aggressively.” It was also a decisive moment that greatly changed the atmosphere of both teams that day.
In addition, Perisic became the starting point in the third goal conceded in the first half of extra time. Handing a one-touch pass to Son Heung-min from the side with his right foot was incorrectly hit and flowed to the opposing defender, and the long pass the defender kicked was connected to Kelechi Iheanacho. Iheanacho calmly shook the Tottenham goal. 토토사이트
Although he showed off his sharp kicking power in set-piece situations such as corner kicks and free kicks, his performance was disappointing, such as shooting out of the goal or breaking the attack flow with a pass miss even after receiving Kane’s decisive pass. The pass success rate of only 56.5% (13 out of 23 successes) and the record that all 2 dribble attempts were canceled represented Perisic’s performance that day.
Eventually, he was substituted in the 30th minute of the second half and left the field. The Evening Standard criticized him for being “unimpressive in the attacking area and lacking a presence in the second half”. Local ratings were mostly at the bottom of the team. Coach Conte, who insisted on selecting Perisic despite the sluggish performance, could not be free from responsibility. The concerns about the future left wingback also deepened.
Meanwhile, Tottenham lost 1-4 to Leicester, conceding four goals after Bentancur’s opening goal. The momentum of the recent three-game winning streak has been broken, and on the 15th, he will go on an expedition to AC Milan. Son Heung-min, who previously scored a hat-trick against Leicester in September of last year, started full-time but remained silent with only one shot.