Glenn Hoddle thinks Japhet Tanganga was ‘scared’ to tackle Callum Hudson-Odoi in the second half of Tottenham’s 2-0 defeat to Chelsea, as he told PL Productions (23/01/22 at 6:50 pm).
The Tottenham legend thinks Tanganga ‘couldn’t go near’ Hudson-Odoi in the build-up to Chelsea’s opening goal at Stamford Bridge.
In the first half, Tanganga was booked for a foul on the Chelsea winger, and when the home side opened the scoring after the break, the Spurs defender was hooked by Antonio Conte.
Whilst Hakim Ziyech’s wonderfully curling effort will make the headlines, Hudson-Odoi deserves credit for his run that led to the goal.
And when Hoddle was in discussion with Hudson-Odoi about Tanganga, he asked him whether he had it in his mind to go after him in the second half because he was on a booking.
“Tanganga pulled you back, he got the yellow card,” said Hoddle. “Second half, was that in your mind going out? Was somebody saying in the dressing room, ‘hey, let’s get the ball out to him?’.
“It looked to me as if he couldn’t go near you when you made the run on the outside. He was scared to make that tackle.”
Whilst Tottenham fans will be hurting that they suffered yet another defeat to Chelsea, it needs to be remembered that it’s the first time Conte has lost a league game since replacing Nuno Espirito Santo.
The Italian is showing signs that he is more than good enough to take Spurs forward and into the Champions League.
It’s just a case of whether or not he will be backed in the January transfer market because he is clearly calling for help.
If Conte is backed, then it will be interesting to see which players he parts ways with, but it seems someone like Dele Alli will be one of them after he was left out of yesterday’s squad.
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