He brings the fans closer to the club

Player Assessment: Ryan Mason

The defensive midfielder with licence to join the attack is often referred to as the link midfielder, the three who perform the role for Tottenham are Ryan Mason, Mousa Dembele and Paulinho.

Ryan Mason

From Swindon Town to England in a season, it's been quite some season for breakthrough man Ryan Mason. Last season out on loan at League One Swindon and with most fans expecting to see him sold he took his chance on the USA and Canada tour, where he played all three games.

Mason has been a little unfortunate with injuries suffering a spate of them between 2010 and 2012 that delayed his progress as his boss at Swindon Town, Mark Cooper, pointed out.

“I think if he hadn't been injured he'd be playing in Tottenham's first team now. He's that good technically. He's still a young lad, he's got plenty of time and seasons and I'm sure that somewhere along the line he'll have an injury-free spell where he can really show his amazing talent."

Another injury kept him out at the start of the season before he really came to the attention of Spurs fans on 24th September against Nottingham Forest in the League Cup at White Hart Lane. We were 1-0 down in the second half and playing terribly until Mason was introduced. He immediately changed the game. When he received the ball he immediately passed it to the other side quickly, instead of the ponderous manner we had before. That one small element of play made us a threat again, the full-back could now overlap and to cap it off he scored to level it before we went on to win comfortably.

His speed of passing gets us moving which is the main reason he is preferred to Mousa Dembele and Paulinho. He admits to having sleepless nights when he was selected for England and came on as a substitute, that's quite a journey from League One the previous season.

Premier League Games Only

Ryan Mason
Played: 31
Minutes: 2.316
Total Passes: 1.575
Pass Completion: 83.58%
Forward Passes: 69.40%
Key Passes: 25
Key Pass Time: 1 every 92.64 minutes
Chances Created: 29
Chance Creation Time: 1 every 79.86 minutes
Shots: 41
Shot Accuracy: 42%
Goals: 1
Assists: 4
Positive Attacking Action: 1 every 23.16 minutes
(Total Minutes divided by Shots, Goals, Assists, Key passes, Chances Created combined)
Tackles: 138
Tackles Won: 44.93%
Blocks: 4
Interceptions: 51
Clearances: 48
One-on-One Success: 60.71%
Heading Success: 40%
Defensive Action: 1 every 22.49 minutes
(Total Minutes divided by Blocks, Clearances, Interceptions)

Mason will be 24 in July and now has a season of Premier League football under his belt, he'll be looking to improve next season as he and his teammates learn the system further, Naturally there have been mistakes this season, Mason is after all an attacking player who has steadily been pulled further back into midfield so it's not as if he has been playing this role his whole life. He, like the other youngsters, need to learn to defend better as a group and shut out games.

He is weak in the air as Manchester United showed when they successfully targeted him with Marouane Fellaini and despite scoring plenty of goals coming through the ranks he needs to work on putting the ball in the net when he has the chance. There were several one-on-one moments with a keeper thanks to midfield runs but he didn't take the chances.

Like Harry Kane, Mason has a feeling for the club, the type of player we have been missing and a club needs, they bring the fans closer to the club and they know what games against Arsenal mean, he was brilliant against them at White Hart Lane. A very encouraging first season, not the finished article so improvement is expected next season.