Tottenham: Dejan Kulusevski fails audition as Ange Postecoglou left needing swift turnaround for decisive tie | OneFootball

Spurs need Kulusevski to return to best form with doubts over James Maddison’s fitness ahead of season-defining clash

Kulusevski will need to take up Maddison’s position, with the Englishman having scored a fine goal in the first leg.

That task is made harder by the fact Kulusevski has yet to look back to his best since returning last month from a foot injury which had kept him out for seven matches.

In six appearances since his return — some of them cameos, granted — the Swede has looked short of the dynamic playmaker he was for much of the early months of the season and almost all of last term.

Against West Ham, it was no different for the 25-year-old. He had a tendency to dribble into traffic, running the ball into trouble when passing options or open lanes were available.

Ange Postecoglou is confident Dejan Kulusevski is improving with every match

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It meant that his more defensive-minded midfield team-mates, Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr, had to provide the link to the attacking trio of Mathys Tel, Richarlison and Wilson Odobert, rather than Kulusevski himself.

“He's getting better,” Postecoglou said afterwards. “There were moments in the game where you started seeing he's moving a lot freer. It takes time.

“You're missing a couple of months of football. For any player it takes a while. It's just about getting fitness and getting some match rhythm. I was pleased for him today. The thing with Deki is he just works his socks off all the time.

“I just felt you could see some of that ability to beat people and turn in tight areas and run with the ball; it was coming back. I was also pleased with his discipline. They had a really aggressive attacking line-up out there. He had to do a really important defensive job for us and I thought he did that well.”

The Spurs boss was effusive in his praise of a player still finding his feet again, and much of it served as encouragement rather than anything else, but Kulusevski will have known his involvement and efficiency could have been greater. It needs to be, in Norway on Thursday night.

The versatile midfielder has been one of Tottenham’s most reliable generals over the last two years. Especially if Maddison’s injury is a serious one, Spurs need Kulusevski firing on all cylinders to aid their quest for European silverware.