Tottenham Hotspur defender Emerson Royal has been praised by Ryan Mason after the win over Crystal Palace.
Mason was speaking to Football London after Spurs produced a 1-0 victory over the Eagles.
Harry Kane scored the only goal of the game, heading home Pedro Porro’s cross to score the winner.
This wasn’t vintage Spurs but a win is a win, which is just what Tottenham wanted after losing at Liverpool last week.
Emerson was brought back into the Tottenham side and earned praise having helped Spurs keep a clean sheet.
Mason suggested that Emerson was ‘outstanding’ against Palace and contributed to a fine team display.
Mason claims that he trusts Emerson completely and felt he did a ‘very good job’ against Palace.
“Yeah he was outstanding,” said Mason. “I thought the whole team without the ball worked hard, they worked together. And obviously Eme has had a period out. But I trust him. We trust him. And I thought today he did a very good job along with the rest of the players on the pitch.”
“When you keep a clean sheet it’s a collective, it’s everyone and everyone fought for the clean sheet. The players on the pitch but also the ones who didn’t because in the training week we’ve all worked hard together and they’re the results you want,” he added.
Emerson Royal given new role in Tottenham side
Mason is essentially auditioning for the Tottenham job here even if bigger-name candidates are being linked.
A young coach at just 31, Mason will be looking to show his tactical nous.
Mason made a big change against Palace by utilising Emerson in a back three.
We’re used to seeing Emerson as a wing back at Tottenham, a role he has never really looked at home in since his £26million move from Barcelona.
Mason decided to play Emerson in more of a defensive role, operating on the right of a back three with the freedom to move into a right back role.
That allowed Pedro Porro to go forward whilst knowing that Emerson would be right behind him to cover defensively.
That worked well as Porro had one of his most creative Tottenham performances yet, including bagging the assist for Kane.
Maybe this is something Mason has been thinking about for a while now, and it’s a tactical switch we could see in the final weeks of the season.
If Emerson can continue shining there, he could be a long-term solution for Tottenham – even under a new manager.
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