Lucas Moura: Consistency the Key if Tottenhams Brazilian Star Wants to Fully Establish Himself

​For Tottenham fans, the 2018/19 season was full of iconic moments.

But there is one moment that will go down in the annuls of time. 

One that will be remembered forever. 

One that was so unfathomable that not a single Spurs fan across the world could have predicted it.

That moment took place in Amsterdam, when Lucas Moura completed a remarkable hat-trick, scoring a stoppage time winner against Ajax to send the Lilywhites through to their first Champions League final.

Not only did he score a normal hat-trick, he scored all of them with his weaker foot. As a result, Moura was a shoo-in to start the showpiece event in Madrid. But instead, he was left on the bench.

That came as a surprise to most. But should they have been surprised? Over the course of the season, had Moura shown enough to truly warrant a place in the starting line-up?

When looking at the statistics from last season, Moura's look impressive. He scored 10 goals in the Premier League, including a brace against Manchester United in August, whilst he also netted five times in the Champions League, delivering the equaliser in Barcelona which saw Tottenham squeeze through the group stages.

5 – Lucas Moura has become just the fifth different player to score a hat-trick in a Champions League semi-final, after Alessandro Del Piero, Ivica Olic, Robert Lewandowski and Cristiano Ronaldo. Calibre. #AJATOT pic.twitter.com/uvamdcXnpo

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) May 8, 2019

Yet on closer inspection, Moura could have done more.

Harry Kane missed ten league games last season with two separate ankle ligament injuries, and in that time, Moura netted in just one game - albeit a hat-trick against bottom club Huddersfield.

Still, Tottenham needed their Brazilian forward to step up with Kane unavailable, and Moura was unable to consistently produce the goods. 

Instead it was fellow striker, Son Heung-min, who came to Tottenham's rescue time and again, scoring in four different games when Kane was out, all in winning performances.

Therefore, when Kane returned just in time for the Champions League final, Pochettino opted to go with the strike force that had scored a combined total of 44 goals in all competitions, leaving Moura to settle for his role as an impact substitute.

Afer a historic campaign, Tottenham will now be looking to kick on in the upcoming season and Moura will know that he must do the same himself.

Consistent performances, getting more involved in build-up play and performing in the absence of others are just a few things that he'll want to deliver next season. If he does, Spurs may be able to narrow the eye-watering 27 point gap that champions Manchester City had amassed over them by the season's end.

Moura has shown that he is capable of brilliance - it just needs to be demonstrated more often.

Source : 90min