Tottenham are realizing they can't keep taking Savio for granted

There is not an unluckier player on Tottenham Hotspur and maybe not even in all of European football right now than Savio. While we tend to think about xG as being the barometer for unlucky and players getting into great positions but not finishing, it's hard to ignore, for example in the case of the Tottenham strikers like Dominic Solanke and Omar Marmoush, the element of personal responsibility when it comes to bad finishing.

So the biggest element of bad luck for an attacker actually comes on the creative end. When you have a player who is consistently getting penetration on the ball into the box, delivering teasing passes into the corridors of uncertainty, and still coming up empty handed on the stat sheet, you truly have a world class footballer who is becoming undeserving of the lack of statistical merit headed his way.

Savio had a spellbinding debut off the bench for Tottenham Hotspur in the Second Round of the League Cup against Charlton Athletic, but, since then, he has produced nothing decisive despite rivaling Lamine Yamal in the combined key pass and dribbles completed realm as a former La Liga Player of the Season candidate in his own right approximately three seasons ago.

Savio is better than the basic numbers indicate

The young Brazilian international had another great performance on the analytical stat sheet against Manchester United, crafting two chances created and five dribbles completed with a foul dawn. The Manchester United defenders could not touch Savio in one on ones, and even his key passes understate the quality of chances he was producing for the other forwards, especially Dominic Solanke, who should have scored at least two goals with some of the insane pinpoint crosses Savio was delivering low.

Tottenham Hotspur forwards are deservedly drawing a lot of flack for the lack of goals, but Robereto De Zerbi and Spurs have to understand that Savio is not a part of that calculus. In fact, he is perhaps the ultimate victim of it, and with James Maddison still not fully healthy enough to start and Conor Gallagher and the other No. 10 options disappointing, Savio has really been the only consistent source of chance creation at all for Spurs.

Yes, Sandro Tonali finally came up big with a wonderful assist off a cross for a lucky Solanke in the dying minutes to rescue a point for Spurs, but he only had that one key pass all game and is far from a consistent source of creation. Meanwhile, Savio is the best dribbler and key passer on Spurs, and the Man United game only highlighted how high above his teammates he is playing right now.

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