Jose Mourinho has worked in the same way for 15 years and been a success everywhere he has been, although less so of late. There was a worry that Spurs were getting an old-fashioned manager with old-fashioned tactics.
To his credit though the Portuguese has brought with him new ideas, most notably his defend with a back four, attack with a back three concept, designed in part to accentuate the strengths and hide the weaknesses of full-backs Serge Aurier and Ben Davies.
Except, the strengths of Aurier and Davies…aren’t that strong; certainly not strong enough to make them the basis of your entire setup, and it hasn’t stopped Aurier from making regular defensive boo-boos as it should have.
We can’t afford to address every problem we have in the transfer market so Mourinho is going to have to find solutions from within the squad. Luckily he already has the personnel who seem to be a perfect for this system.
Ryan Sessegnon is a full-back with five times the attacking ceiling of Aurier; a good crosser and a genuine goalscoring threat from outside the frontline.
MORE: Spurs Staff Still High On Sessegnon, And So They Should Be
He might not be quite as strong a one-on-one defender, but I’d bet he’d still cost us fewer goals than the Ivorian because he won’t make daft decisions.
Japhet Tanganga is a defender with the mobility of a full-back and is very capabale of playing on the flank. His skill-set is ideal for a third centre-half.
He’s had such a promising breakthrough season and Jose needs to find him a regular spot in the team going forward . I’m worried he could get lost.
Tanganga on the right, Sess on the left. Switch the flanks; solve the problem.
It’s so obvious; I’m not sure why Jose hasn’t done it already.
FB is a key position , the problem lies with coaches wanting players to defend and attack in equal measure, it demands a lot, but the modern day logic is to favour the player with extra pace who may be better attacking but is defensively weak. The best ones who can operate successfully are few and far between, not ignoring the support from teammates to recover for them when required , however coaches insist on this method just as they do with playing out from the back, even with players incapable of doing so.
I suggested Japhet and Sessegnon as full backs in a previous post.If he insists on using Davies then have him as LCB in a three with Toby and Sanchez/Dier.He plays there for Wales and Mourinho is more likely to defend than attack.
Apart from your centre forward for a lot of teams the two full backs are the most important players in the team, and we have two puddings. Just compare our two to Robertson and Alexander – Arnold, they’re not just defenders but playmakers, how much ball goes through them, how much room do they make for their midfielders by drawing players out of position, how many goals do they create? I wouldn’t mind so much if our two could do their primary job of defending, but one is bang average and the other can’t really be bothered.
The full back positions have been an utter mess this season. Trippier sold and not replaced, Foyth injured early on. KWP finally given up on, Rose burnt all his bridges. Ben Davies has been injured most of the season. Basically we’ve been left with Aurier
Sessengon stopped playing LB for Fulham midway through their promotion season. Maybe Jose could repurpose him as a LB again though.
Aurier is simply the worst player near the first 11 – the fact we don’t have another decent option to keep him out of the team says a lot.
Tanganga looks a prospect but looks a CB. Foyth looked a bit of a better fit at RB but not sure Jose fancies him.
Really come the summer Spurs need to sign at least 2 full backs (on of each) though ideally 3 with two to replace Aurier and KWP.
Personally I think (and I hope Jose recognises it too) that fullbacks is where our focus needs to be this transfer window.
He hasn’t done it yet because he is a tactical dinosaur. He arrived at Spurs 5 years past his best!