When Heung-min Son was ruled for the rest of the season last month, it seemed like Tottenham’s injury problems couldn’t get any worse from here.
Oh, how wrong we all were.
Jose Mourinho confirmed earlier this week that January signing Steven Bergwijn could miss the remainder of the campaign after picking up an ankle injury in training, further complicating Spurs’ situation in the attack given how many attacking players are already out injured for the foreseeable future.
Tottenham’s injury luck has never been worse, and it causes major selection problems for the Portuguese manager who now only has two senior attackers available for selection in Lucas Moura and Erik Lamela, and for Mourinho, it could finally be high time for him to bite the bullet and entrust Troy Parrott with a chance in the first-team.
Will we see Parrott step up to the plate?
Yes
No
The 18-year-old striker has been floating in-and-around the Spurs first-team for the majority of the season, with Mourinho awarding the Republic of Ireland international with his debut in the Premier League as well as allowing Parrott to take a spot-kick in last week’s FA Cup penalty shootout against Norwich City, to which the teenager missed.
Mourinho has spoken publicly already about his unwillingness to use Parrott in the first-team as the former Manchester United manager revealed that he doesn’t believe the teenager is ready yet for senior football, but with the Irishman dominating at youth level and showing the confidence to take a penalty in a must-win game, the Spurs head coach is seemingly out of excuses as to why the Tottenham prodigy can’t feature.
With no recognised striker currently available in the first-team, Mourinho should bite the bullet in the remaining Premier League games this season and give Parrott a chance to show to his manager why he deserves to be part of the first-team, and why he should have been with the senior squad from the get-go.
It is shocking how he didn’t give Parrott any game time last night. The game was over after they went 2-0 up, so surely it would have made sense to bring Parrott on to build up his experience.
Mourinho has a history of neglecting and ruining players. I remember him ruining Joe Cole by only ever playing him on the left wing, even though he could have been a top player in the number 10 position.
In his brief Tottenham reign Mourinho has already neglected Parrott, Vertonghen and Foyth. He also waited seven months before giving Skipp a game.
Mourinho’s negative tactics have destroyed the team’s morale and confidence.
If Levy had backed Pochettino with the players that he needed to go to the next level, then Spurs wouldn’t be in this mess. The same thing happened with Harry Redknapp. Spurs were just a couple of players short from being a top team. Levy didn’t back Redknapp and it seems unlikely that he will back any future managers.
Surely Levy should have realised how Mourinho’s career has been on the decline for a number of years.