On Sunday against Wolverhampton Wanderers, it was one wily Portuguese manager who made the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium his stomping ground, although it wasn’t the experienced Jose Mourinho. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side were sublime as they got all three points, but they were helped by Spurs’ inefficiencies.
The Lilywhites are prepared to give Mourinho the time he needs this season and over the summer, though, and one of the main issues that they have at Tottenham this season is that the injuries have been all-encompassing as players have dropped like flies (Transfermarkt).
Missing the likes of Harry Kane, Heung-Min Son and Moussa Sissoko to long term injuries is bad enough, but on Sunday when the team news was announced, it soon became clear that the absence of another of the club’s current injury worries was severely missed.
At first, it appeared that Mourinho would be deploying Eric Dier in the holding midfield role against Wolves, although it soon became clear that he was using a back-three system with two wing-backs in Ben Davies and Serge Aurier either side of Dier, Japhet Tanganga and Davinson Sanchez.
This simply didn’t work, though, as Davies isn’t an attacking wing-back, with just four goals for Spurs in 181 appearances (Transfermarkt), and if that hybrid three/five at the back system is to work then having the more attacking Ryan Sessegnon would have been a much better option, although he was absent owing to a hip injury (FourFourTwo).
Should Ryan Sessegnon start for Spurs when fully fit?
Yes
No
Sessegnon has proven to have a real attacking prowess down the left-flank, for Fulham he bagged an incredible 25 goals and 18 assists featuring as both a left-back and a left-winger (Transfermarkt), and having him bombing down one wing with Aueier going down the other side the Lilywhites would likely be a much better-balanced side.