Greatest Of All Legends-Chapter 780: The Eagle Has Landed I

{There he is, the new face at this club}

{The eagle has landed in the land where cockerels abound}

{In what could be the biggest steal of this Premier League transfer window, maybe even the whole football world at large, Tottenham have somehow managed to convince this man to commit to a future at this club}

{The fans, the club, and his future teammates will be watching, scrutinizing this man in the coming days and I dare say he will be doing the same}

The camera turned away from Jason and the focus shifted back to the game at hand, but the people had taken notice.

As the game began, Jason slowly tuned out the discussions in the director’s box and put his full focus on the game.

The commentator had been right about one thing, Jason was indeed going to be scrutinizing the Tottenham players.

They were to be his teammates for the... actually, they were already his teammates.

Now he had to find what made them tick and tick along with them, helping them tick louder. That would take some doing, but he was already getting to work.

The game got off to a slow start as both sides just tested each other out with quick passes and darting runs as they tried to find space.

However even though this match was little more than a friendly game, Arsenal and Tottenham were both North London teams which meant this was a North London Derby. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

Soon enough, that emotion that flowed in competitive games soon began flowing through the players and the fans and the atmosphere heated up quickly.

In the stands, Jason watched attentively, noting down a few points.

Harry Kane, the team’s main striker, wasn’t playing and wasn’t even on the bench and he heard that it was because he wasn’t fit yet, which didn’t make much sense to Jason, but after a quick explanation from Adele who was more in the loop, he understood what had happened.

The absence of England’s best striker didn’t diminish the excitement of the game and flashes of brilliance could be seen all over the field.

Son Heung Min was taking the center forward position in the place of Harry Kane and Steven Bergwijn was in his natural position on the left flank.

Added up front was Dele Alli who played right behind Son as a shadow striker and Lucas Moura who played on the right flank but was inside the penalty box more often than not.

In all, it seemed to Jason like there were more forwards looking to receive the final ball rather than to create it, but then remembering that Harry Kane was a striker who played like a deep-lying forward and a false nine, but somehow was able to fulfill all his striking duties as well, he realized that this was a dynamic that fitted the Tottenham players... if Harry Kane was on the pitch.

Right now, he wasn’t there so the job fell on Bergwijn on the left as well as Oliver Skipp and Hojberg in the midfield, however, those guys were struggling to do all that as well as keep up with their defensive duties.

To the untrained eye, it seemed like things were going well, but to the trained eye, one of which was Jason’s eye, things seemed a bit laggy, especially in the center.

The Tottenham side was playing a 4-2-3-1 formation which consisted of 4 defenders, two holding midfielders who were supposed to function both up and down the field, three attacking midfielders, one in the center and two on the flanks who played as wingers when on the attack.

Finally, they had a center forward.

The formation clearly had variations and the shape could easily change to a 4-3-3 on the attack or a 4-5-1 on the defense.

However, the players on the field had roles that counteracted their own formation... or it was more apt to say their default play styles counteracted their own football.

First, Son Heung Min who was playing as a striker wasn’t really a striker and didn’t like staying in the center too much, hence he always drifted wide, especially to the left and this made it difficult for him to act when it was necessary because he was often out of position.

In Jason’s opinion, it could be excused as he wasn’t playing in his natural position.

Moving on to the wingers. Steven Bergwijn wasn’t a bad fit for the formation and he was doing his part, but his performance was a bit underwhelming. He looked like a player who had good games every now and then, but wasn’t really a fit for a starter in a giant club.

Once again, an excusable event in Jason’s opinion. The guy wasn’t actually a starter at the club.

Lucas Moura was playing on the right flank which as far as Jason knew was the man’s original position, but over the years he had transitioned into a striker of sorts and though he could still play on the flank, Jason noticed that he was usually in the penalty box more often than Son who was playing as the center forward.

Moving on to the midfielders, Dele Alli... Jason didn’t know what to say about the guy as his opinion was all over the place.

Jason had long heard of Dele Alli, a name that had been hot in the Premier League for the last few years.

The guy was a talented player who could bang in amazing goals despite being a midfielder and he was a technical player who could make the ball do amazing things you’d think were impossible, however, lately he seemed to have been fading into the background and after watching him live, Jason could see why.

In the modern football era when managers needed all players hands on deck when pressing or defending, Dele Alli’s habit of removing himself from all that and instead looking for space he could use when his team took possession was making it seem like he was a useless player.

Dele Alli clearly was good at what he did and it could be seen the few times he was on the ball, however, whenever he wasn’t on the ball, it felt like he was ghosting the entire game.

The one thing that had made him one of the best had now turned on him because the game had changed.

Jason didn’t understand why things had turned out this way for him, but if things kept on this way, the guy might not get much more time on the pitch.

The saving grace of Dele Alli thus far had been Harry Kane who would drop back and do all the midfielding duties Dele was supposed to do, allowing Dele Alli to play how he wanted and stay upfront, but now that Harry Kane wasn’t on the pitch, Dele’s flaws had become quite glaring.