Football London claim numerous senior players at Tottenham are ‘pushing’ Antonio Conte to start using Joe Rodon more. Spurs suffered a 2-0 defeat to Wolves on Sunday, their second defeat in the space of a few days.
It was a poor performance and Tottenham’s defence was to blame. It was a similar scenario against Southampton, leading twice only for the defence to fail to deal with simple crosses into the box. The Saints won 3-2 last week.
Tottenham’s lack of quality in defence is most notable in Davinson Sanchez according to pundits, with Jermaine Jenas and Robbie Keane critical of the Colombian after Sunday’s defeat. Jenas described his display as “shocking”.
Rodon, 24, has only played three times since Conte replaced Nuno Espirito Santo – facing NS Mura, Morecambe and as a sub against Brighton. But senior Spurs players think the Wales star should be given more of a go.
Alasdair Gold reports: “Some senior players have been pushing the claims of Rodon behind the scenes, with his ability to play in any of the three positions in a back three, having been a left-sided centre-back at Swansea.”
Should Rodon get a chance as Tottenham continue to struggle?
Gold goes on to say that the near-return of Eric Dier will likely prevent Rodon getting a chance in the near future. But Rodon should feel hard done by that he has not been given a go – with Sanchez struggling.
Conte has spoken in the past of only seeing Rodon as a central defender, but a “good guy” too. But he has the ball-playing ability that would surely see him perform well on either side of the defence.
Dier’s return, Conte’s preference for Romero and Davies being left-footed means that those are likely to be the standard three for the second half of the season. But if a replacement is needed, Rodon should be above Sanchez.
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