Dan Bardell looks at Zion Suzuki's excellent performance in Aston Villa's victory at Tottenham, with the summer signing producing a series of important first-half saves and showing the commanding penalty-area presence he can bring to Unai Emery's side.
By the time Aston Villa were 3-0 ahead at Tottenham, the story of the afternoon had understandably moved towards Johan Manzambi, Nicolas Jackson and the attacking football Villa were producing, but none of that happens in quite the same way without Zion Suzuki getting them through an opening period in which Spurs were probably the better team and Villa looked vulnerable on more than one occasion.
There were problems in the full-back areas, Villa weren't completely controlling what was happening in front of their own penalty area and Tottenham had enough opportunities to make you feel that the opening goal was coming, but every time they did find a route through they found Suzuki in the way. The double save in the opening stages was particularly important because Villa were all over the place for a few seconds and needed somebody to bring the situation to an end, while there was another really good stop later in the half from an effort which travelled through a crowd of players and was probably more difficult than Suzuki made it appear.
That's becoming one of the striking things about watching him because he has such enormous physical presence that relatively difficult pieces of goalkeeping can occasionally look routine. His wingspan is ridiculous and when he decides to come for a cross, opposition players are already starting from a considerable disadvantage because he's huge before you even factor in the fact that he's allowed to use his hands. There were occasions at Tottenham when he didn't gather the ball perfectly at the first attempt, but even then his size and strength allowed him to dominate the situation, grapple with the ball and make sure he eventually came away with it.
That authority matters because Villa have undergone a major change in goal and replacing Emi Martínez was never simply going to be about finding somebody capable of making saves. Martínez had an enormous personality, commanded his penalty area and gave the defenders in front of him the confidence that somebody was behind them capable of rescuing a situation when required, so whoever followed him was always going to be scrutinised beyond the basic mechanics of goalkeeping.
Suzuki is obviously a very different goalkeeper and needs to be allowed to establish his own identity rather than constantly being judged against what came before him, but we're already beginning to see the characteristics that could make him such an important player for Villa. Tottenham was probably the clearest example yet because this wasn't a game where Villa defended brilliantly for 90 minutes and asked their goalkeeper to make one save; there were sustained periods, particularly before half-time, where Spurs were able to put him under pressure and Suzuki repeatedly dealt with it.
I don't think we should rewrite that first half simply because Villa eventually won the game. Spurs had the impetus for stretches of it and there were moments when they got through too easily, but that's exactly why having a goalkeeper capable of influencing matches matters. People can describe that as Villa getting away with things if they want, but making saves is Suzuki's job and he did it extremely well. Tottenham created openings and couldn't take advantage of them because the goalkeeper was there, whereas when Villa's opportunities arrived at the other end they were clinical.
The frustrating thing for Suzuki will be that he eventually conceded twice because his performance deserved a much cleaner ending than it received. At 3-0 Villa should have seen the game out comfortably and instead allowed Tottenham to turn the final few minutes into something needlessly tense, which means there will rightly be another conversation about game management and how Emery's side control those situations.
That shouldn't obscure Suzuki's contribution to everything that happened before it, though, because Villa's attacking players were able to win the game in the second half partly because their goalkeeper had made sure they reached that point in a position to do so. For a player still establishing himself following one of the most significant changes Villa made during the summer, that felt like an important afternoon and another indication that the presence he brings could become a major feature of this team.
