Former Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Brad Friedel says the club have made a tremendous start to life under Ange Postecoglou, but must add more goalscoring firepower to support captain Son Heung-min.
Spurs emerged victorious over Liverpool at the weekend thanks to a dramatic injury-time own goal from Joel Matip - a result which maintained their unbeaten start to the Premier League season.
The north Londoners have taken 17 points from a possible 21 - winning five of their seven games and drawing the other two - and are no longer the downbeat, sluggish and defensively-minded side that limped along under Antonio Conte during 2022/23.
The fast start actually mirrors Conte's record after seven Premier League games last season, but the wheels quickly fell off for Spurs - they ended up missing out on European qualification entirely despite the heroics of Harry Kane up front - and there's now a completely different aura around N17.
Kane opted to move on this summer to join Bayern Munich, but Spurs haven't missed a beat without their former talisman. Postecoglou, appointed in the summer, has given Son the responsibility of leading the line, and the South Korean has responded superbly by already scoring six Premier League goals.
But Spurs' impressive form won't be sustainable without additional goal sources, in the mind of former goalkeeper Friedel. The American, who continued playing until the age of 44, believes others must step up and help support in the goals column, with activity in the January transfer window required if Richarlison and others are unable to step up to the plate.
"I think they still need a couple more goals from someone else up front," Friedel told BetWay. "If they can start getting that out of Richarlison then they already have it in the squad. But when you get to the Christmas period and the FA Cup starts, and you have a lot of tricky games with regards to recovery, sometimes you won’t be at your very best and you just need a goalscorer.
"When you look back at the great teams of the past, they all had a player like that to drag them through those tough matches. Son is scoring, which is great for them, but I think they need someone else up front.
"Then, if you’re thinking about squad depth and rotation, possibly another centre-back. Van de Ven and Romero are performing really well, but if an injury happens, you’re going to need someone who is almost as good."
Friedel went on to acknowledge Postecoglou's immediate impact at Spurs - which follows a superb spell in charge of Celtic - and also credited James Maddison's impressive showings following his summer move from Leicester City.
"He’s [Postecoglou] made a tremendous impact," Friedel said. "Daniel Levy gave an interview recently at the fan forum, saying that he got the Mourinho and Conte hires wrong. Mourinho and Conte have been two of the best managers in world football, but they didn’t fit Tottenham. Postecoglou fits Tottenham. He fits the way they want to see football being played. So, I thought that was very honest.
"They way they’re playing, to go from where they were last year, losing Harry Kane - Liverpool and Man City are the two best teams in in the Premier League right now, but Tottenham are already not far behind that.
"I think we all know that he’s [Maddison] a good player. What I’ve liked the most from him is that he already looks like a leader of the team. That’s not something that’s easy to do when you walk into a new changing room, but he already looks like one of the leaders in that team.
"When you’re bringing in a player in such an influential position, that’s exactly what you want."
READ THE LATEST TOTTENHAM NEWS, TRANSFER RUMOURS & GOSSIP
This article was originally published on 90min as Former Tottenham favourite hints at missing piece of Ange Postecoglou puzzle.