Mauricio Pochettino is without Harry Kane and Son Heung-min for the foreseeable future but there's no reason for Spurs fans to panic too much because they've got Dele Messi according to the manager.
Take the best two players out of pretty much any team and there's no doubt they would struggle. Manchester City might be the exception when it comes to the Premier League but even Pep Guardiola's side would surely find life more difficult.
That is the problem facing Mauricio Pochettino and Spurs right now. Harry Kane was injured during the recent Premier League loss against Manchester United and Son Heung-min is off at the Asia Cup.
You could make an argument that Son isn't one of Spurs best two players but he is their second top scorer this season with eight goals, behind only Kane's 14.
Advert
So with both men out for a couple of weeks at least Mauricio Pochettino has to work out exactly where his team's goals are going to come from.
Speaking ahead of Sunday's game against Fulham Pochettino suggested Fernando Llorente was an option or playing Dele Alli in the Lionel Messi 'false nine' role, saying:
"Yesterday I was watching Barcelona [against Levante] and the striker was Leo Messi.
"You can play Llorente, you can play Dele Alli, you can play Erik Lamela, you can play Kazaiah Sterling, Troy Parrott, I don't know. 'You can play many, many players. It's not that you have to play one specific striker.
Advert
"Look, Chelsea played against us with [Eden] Hazard like a striker, when [Olivier] Giroud was on the bench and [Alvaro] Morata was out of the squad.
"We are so crazy, the managers that sometimes we decide to do something different, no?"
It very much sounds like Alli is going to play upfront against Fulham then, which will come as a bit of a blow for Llorente.
Advert
It's not like Pochettino is saying that the former MK Dons player is suddenly going to be as good as Messi but even the suggestion he could play in a similar fashion is a bit far fetched.
Even the comparison with Hazard at Chelsea is a little off with the Belgian a very different player to Alli and the fact that Maurizio Sarri is desperate to sign a striker and move Hazard back to his proper position.
Poch even admitted yesterday his mistake in previously comparing a player to Messi. In 2016 the former Southampton manager compared Spurs youngster Marcus Edwards to La Liga's top scorer of all time.
Advert
Yesterday the Spurs boss said, "I think I am a person who I try to learn from my mistakes in trying to put some names in the spotlight and instead to help we put perhaps too much pressure. That is why I'm not going to make the same mistakes, I don't want to say names, talk about individual young players."
Apparently that doesn't go for Alli though...
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Spurs, Football News, Tottenham Hotspur, Lionel Messi, Mauricio Pochettino, Son Heung Min, Premier League, Dele Alli, Son Heung-Min, Harry Kane