View: Tottenham new signing lost ball 4x as foreign media says he 'failed', he's got to do better

Lucas Bergvall “didn’t accomplish much” in Sweden’s 3-1 win over Azerbaijan, with the Tottenham midfielder slammed by the Swedish media for his performance on Thursday.

Bergvall was introduced in the 72nd minute of the match with Sweden already 2-0 up in Baku, but made very little impact on the game as two more goals – one at each end – followed before full-time.

The 18-year-old Spurs starlet replaced defender Alex Douglas to play out the final 18 minutes of the contest at the base of midfield, but the Swedish media was less than pleased with his performance.

Swedish outlet Fotboll Skanalen said in their player ratings (6 September): “(Bergvall) tried to deal with the ball and be fearless. Failed at everything. Didn’t accomplish much.”

Tottenham star Lucas Bergvall a passenger in Sweden cameo

Despite only coming on for the last 18 minutes against Azerbaijan, you’d have expected a central midfielder of Bergvall’s quality to be much more involved than he was in his country’s 3-1 win in Baku.

SofaScore recorded just 17 touches by the 18-year-old – a rate of less than one per minute – and attempted a mere 12 passes; nine of which he completed at a rate of just 75 per cent.

Furthermore, Bergvall’s forward progression of the ball was non-existent, failing to complete a single key pass or cross and seeing his only attempted long ball fail to find its target at a hit rate of zero per cent.

Bergvall did manage to win both of his attempted ground duels, including one successful dribble, but also lost possession on four occasions and his only defensive contribution was a solitary tackle.

His Tottenham team-mate Dejan Kulusevski, by contrast, played out the full 90 minutes for Sweden and achieved a 7.6 SofaScore rating, despite having lower pass completion (69 per cent) and ground duel success (37.5 per cent) than his team-mate.

Bergvall’s start to the season in North London has been promising and he’s expected to play a significant role, but he must improve his performances internationally if he’s to become a staple in the Sweden side.

In other Tottenham news, one of Spurs Women’s key players has been poached in a transfer swoop by Manchester United.

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