A report in football.london about Tottenham’s defensive issues has revealed that Spurs are performing poorly in defensive duels.
This should come as no surprise as, so far, this season the usually reliable Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld have looked a shadow of their former selves, and in fact, Tottenham have only kept one clean sheet all season.
One issue is the fact Mauricio Pochettino has not found a suitable right-back yet – which has left his team exposed down that side.
However, Spurs rank 18th in the league for defensive duels won.
This is pathetic for a side that wants to be in the top six, and only Norwich, who are second bottom, and Arsenal have won fewer defensive duels than Tottenham.
Spurs have been involved in 579 defensive duels this season, but they have only won 58.7% of these.
Of course, there is more to defending than winning individual duels, but it is a sign that the once-great Belgian partnership may well be on the decline.
Both Vertonghen and Alderweireld are out of contract at the end of this season, and their futures remain uncertain.
It is unclear whether it is this ongoing uncertainty that has caused their regression, but what is certain is that both Vertonghen and Alderweireld are struggling this season.