Opinion: This is Bryan Gil’s time to shine at Spurs, but can he take it?

The extent of Son’s hamstring injury which he sustained in our recent Carabao Cup loss against London rivals Chelsea has been revealed to sideline the Korean between 2-5 weeks. Bryan Gil will be eager to make his first real impression under Spurs boss Antonio Conte, with Son’s injury potentially giving the young Spaniard an opportunity to […]

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The extent of Son’s hamstring injury which he sustained in our recent Carabao Cup loss against London rivals Chelsea has been revealed to sideline the Korean between 2-5 weeks.

Bryan Gil will be eager to make his first real impression under Spurs boss Antonio Conte, with Son’s injury potentially giving the young Spaniard an opportunity to feature in the starting 11 in an extended run of games.

So far this season, Gil has been limited to substitute appearances in the league, only managing 85 minutes of Premier League out of 18 games.

On the other hand, in the Conference League, he was named in the starting 11 four out of a possible five times, missing one game through injury.

The main reason for his limited game time is down to Son occupying the left-wing spot, a player who is deemed as undroppable by many Spurs fans.

However, over the last month or two Son’s performances have taken a considerable hit. Whilst still managing to tally 3 goals and 3 assists in his last 5 Premier League appearances, it’s Son’s all-round game that has seen a considerable drop in quality of late.

Although I would never wish injury upon any of our players I think Son’s injury is going to give him a much-needed rest over the next month.

A break from match days may be just what he needs to rediscover some form and remind the Spurs faithful why he is so essential to this team’s future successes.

Over the next month, Tottenham have 5 games to play, 3 of which are against Chelsea (2) and Arsenal (1). This next month could be make or break for this group of players, if Gil can capitalise on his chance it could be a defining moment in his Spurs career.

What has impressed me about Gil in his limited game time, is his determination to pick the ball up and drive directly at his man and look to get either crosses or cutbacks into the penalty area.

A wonderful example of this was in our previous fixture against Chelsea where late into the second half Gil received the ball wide, immediately targeted Pulisic where he then produced a lovely bit of footwork to beat the young American.

His subsequent cutback into the box produced arguably our best goalscoring opportunity of the match, with Lo Celso forcing a smart save out of Kepa.

Tottenham have missed a creative spark for a while now, someone who is willing to attack their man at every opportunity and deliver balls into the box.

Son is an excellent winger but has favoured cutting in on his right food and delivering in swinging balls into the box rather than getting to the byline and delivering a cross.

Gil can bring another dimension to our attacking game, something that we haven’t seen at the club since Bale left for Real Madrid.

As long as Gil sticks to what he knows and does it effectively I’m sure soon enough the luck is going to come his way and we are going to see exactly why he was brought into the club.

There are obviously still parts to his that need improving upon. The most obvious is the quality of his final ball. The 20-year-old will be looking to start backing up his undeniable talent with some goals and assists.

He has a tendency to make the wrong decision in the final third, personally, I believe he needs to be looking to create a few more shooting opportunities for himself, rather than always looking to offload the ball.

A run of games in the side and a show of confidence from the new boss will most certainly help this development. As he picks up more minutes over the season, his confidence will surely grow leading hopefully to Gil taking more shots and in turn getting some goals under his belt.

Another area that will need developing is his currently very small frame. Although his low centre of gravity comes in great handy when twisting and turning past his man, it can also be detrimental when it comes to other areas.

I do not expect him to turn into Adama Traore however I think adding some more muscle on will help him hold off his man when in tight areas or when penned in against the touchline.

I really want Conte to give Gil the nod firstly against Morecambe, then from there I do hope we see him feature against the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea in the coming weeks.

I think this January period could be essential for Gil’s development and if it goes well could be a brilliant option that Conte could turn to in the future.

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