Alasdair Gold admits that he was left rather confused by Ange Postecoglou this weekend, as he decided against using one Spurs defender.
Given the number of injuries that Tottenham are dealing with at the moment, Postecoglou has had to use academy players to fulfil the squad quota over recent games.
The Australian does not have too many options to call on from the bench and is having to use largely the same group of players at the moment, even though fixtures are coming thick and fast.
However, Gold has now questioned why the 59-year-old did not use the game against Fulham to give Djed Spence some minutes.
Gold pointed out that Pedro Porro looked extremely tired and was struggling to get back to defend towards the end of the game.
He questioned why Spence was not brought on as a substitute, given that Tottenham have a tough trip to Bournemouth coming up on Thursday.
The journalist wrote in his Football.London column: “Pedro Porro looked tired from the second half onwards and as the period wore on he was clearly running on empty, unable to track back when he did make runs up the pitch.
“On one occasion James Maddison could be seen trying to wave him up the pitch but the Spaniard had little left in the tank. Porro had struggled with Alex Iwobi and wasn’t helped by an awkward slip in the first half in the Fulham box which seemed to jar his hip.
“Yet Djed Spence never came on. He was finally set to do so when Lucas Bergvall and Archie Gray were sent on 84 minutes in, but the red card changed that decision.
“Spence is only a year younger than Porro and had been earning praise from Postecoglou as well as a new contract from the club. Yet his first start for Tottenham has not arrived. Porro is presumably going to be tired again on Thursday night at Bournemouth after putting in another 97-minute stint.
“Surely giving Spence an hour or so in a home game was more logical than doing so at the Vitality Stadium in midweek. That’s presumably why Dejan Kulusevski was rested from the Fulham game rather than against the Cherries as it was a less difficult game to cover him in.
“Spence’s pace and direct play would have forced Fulham back and he could have raced back to help counter their breaks.”
Given the way Postecoglou spoke about Spence earlier this season, one would have expected the Englishman to get more minutes.
Perhaps, the Australian and his coaching staff have spotted a technical or a tactical flaw in training that makes them reluctant to use the 24-year-old.
It could also simply be the case that Postecoglou sees Spence as being better suited to the left-back role in his system than the right-back role, with the former Middlesbrough man having played almost exclusively as a left-back this season.
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