Nacer Chadli’s goal against Hull at the weekend was his 11th in 31 Premier League games this season and his 13th in all competitions.
After a disappointing debut season at Tottenham in which he was arguably the poorest of the seven signings made with the Gareth Bale money, Chadli has been one of the most improved players under Mauirico Pochettino.
While it’s true that he can still be somewhat anonymous out on the left, his goal tally cannot be argued with and he’s occasionally shown glimpses – the 5-3 win over Chelsea is the best example – of how he can impose himself on a game.
Pochettino managed to coax plenty of goals from Jay Rodriguez from a similar position and now Chadli is reaping the rewards. The Belgian almost averaged a goal every three games in Holland and he is now getting close to a similar ratio in the more challenging environment of the Premier League.
The following stat pretty much sums up the contribution that Chadli has made to Spurs this season.
Nacer Chadli would be the top league scorer for:
Burnley
Palace
Everton
Hull
Leicester
Liverpool
Newcastle
Stoke
Sunderland
Swansea
West Ham
— The Tottenham Way (@TheTottenhamWay) May 20, 2015
I don’t think Chadli was, arguably, the worst of the Summer of Seven” players last year. He did score a couple of cracking goals, so you could see he had it in him.
He’s settled more this season and playing more like he did in Holland, so it’s hood yo see his goal / game stats there being recognised – I think crediting Pochettino with improving him this year is jumping onto the easy bandwagon that Pochettino develops players, which is massively over emphasised by people who don’t look a bit deeper.