Jan van Halst finds it incomprehensible that Steven Bergwijn has not been given a base place against Crystal Palace (3-0). In the EFL Cup match with West Ham United, the Tottenham Hotspur attacker played a crucial role in the 2-1 win as a base customer with a goal and assist. Despite this, manager Antonio Conte preferred Lucas Moura to Bergwijn in the Boxing Day meeting with Palace and the Dutchman had to settle for a substitute. Van Halst late up Ziggo Sports know that he would have drafted Bergwijn ‘always’.
Bergwijn provided the opening goal against West Ham in the 29th minute. Short after the Hammers came alongside, the former PSV player was again important; this time with an assist. On the edge of the box he deflected Manuel Lanzini with a nice feint before rushing towards the five meter area and gave a decisive pass to Moura. “Last week he was a good man!” concludes Van Halst when viewing the images of Bergwijn. “But especially the action that comes after his goal, that assist… Few players can do that, eh.”
“There was something recalcitrant about that match. He thought: come here with that ball, I’m in and then I’m going to show something too. And that was fun, that bluff. He always does his job, but he’s kind of humble or something. He was suddenly changed after an hour. Then I was really like: damn it, leave it alone”, says Van Halst somewhat frustrated. “I thought for a while that the trainer would just put him up during the weekend, because he had seen enough. Whether Lucas Moura is tactically so much better? No man. I think Bergwijn is technically better, and he also has an individual action in very small spaces. As a footballer, when you have played a game like the one against West Ham, you have self-confidence. Then you should always set up Bergwijn. Those are laws. You should also be able to enforce it, right? How do you think he is sitting on the couch now?” said the analyst.
Bergwijn still came within the lines for Harry Kane with a 2-0 lead over Palace, but he could no longer contribute to increasing the goal production of the Spurs. Afterwards, Conte does have praise for Bergwijn’s performance. “I’m happy for our attackers because they scored. I’m also happy for Steven Bergwijn, because he played strong after his entrance. I’ll just repeat it one more time. I have to involve all my players. That is very important for this project. We have to use the entire selection,” said the coach, who saw Moura, Kane and Son Heung-min score.