Tonight is set to be the the biggest nigh in Tottenham Hotspur’s season, if not the biggest this decade.
Ange Postecoglou and his side have the chance to make amends for their horrendous Premier League campaign and write their names into the history books by winning the Europa League tonight.
However, to do that, the North Londoners have to get past Reuben Amorim’s equally desperate Manchester United.
Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou looks on
So, to ensure this team have the best chance of winning the club’s first piece of major silverware since 2008, Postecoglou must make some changes to the team who lost on Friday night, starting with Djed Spence.
Why Spence should be dropped
So the first thing to say is that throughout the season, Spence has probably been one of the few players who has increased his reputation.
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His impressive blend of attacking and defensive abilities made him one of the team’s most effective players in the months after Christmas.
However, while the former Middlesbrough gem has started the last ten league games for the club, the team have been seriously poor in those matches.
For example, they’ve won only one, drawn two and lost the other seven, with the games away to Wolverhampton Wanderers, Liverpool and Aston Villa being particularly underwhelming.
Moreover, while he wasn’t the worst offender at Villa Park, the 24-year-old was underwhelming at best, with the Standard’s Dan Kilpatrick writing that it was another display demonstrating he’s ‘lost his mojo in the past month.’
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So, with Postecoglou needing everyone to be at their very best tonight, he should take the Englishman out of the team and bring in Pedro Porro, who has shown his value in the last few European games.
For example, the “titanic” right-back, as dubbed by The Athletic’s former Spurs correspondent Charlie Eccleshare, scored a goal in the first leg of the quarter-final, picked up an assist in the first leg of the semi-final and then scored another goal in the second leg as well.
In all, while Spence is a talented player, he should be dropped for tonight’s game, as should several other players.
The other Spurs star who should be axed
Now, while there are several players you could make a case for dropping from Friday’s lineup for tonight, the most obvious one is Sergio Reguilon.
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The 28-year-old left-back made just his second start and sixth appearance of the season against Aston Villa, and while he wasn’t utterly terrible, he didn’t do anything to suggest he should remain in the team.
For example, in 74 minutes of actions, the “ridiculous” full-back, as dubbed by Gary Neville, amassed a combined expected goal and assists figure of just 0.05, was dribbled past twice, lost 75% of his ground duels, lost the ball 13 times, completed just 17 passes, misplaced all seven of his long balls, and failed in 100% of his dribbles.
In short, it wasn’t a great showing from the former Real Madrid ace, and with tonight’s game being so important, he simply has to be dropped from the team.
Moreover, much like Porro on the right, the manager has made Destiny Udogie his go-to left-back in the Europa League in recent games, and it’s been a decision that’s paid off.
The team conceded just one goal in their last four games, and Alasdair Gold awarded the Italian with a 9/10 match rating following their incredible 1-0 win away to Eintracht Frankfurt.
Ultimately, while Spence and Reguilon were not the worst players in the team on Friday night, neither one did anywhere near enough to break into Postecoglou’s European starting XI, and therefore, both must be dropped.
