When Jose Mourinho’s time at Tottenham started, the first game that we saw him take charge of had Ben Davies starting as a very defensive left-back when defending, yet when the Lilywhites had the ball and went forward Davies would tuck in and become the left-sided centre-back in a three-man defence.
However, that game against West Ham was just Davies first under Mourinho, and it remains the only game in which the Welshman has featured, seeing as he picked up a knock in that very same game and has been out ever since, although Mourinho has not played down how highly he values the left-back
Back in mid-Jan Football.London published an article containing some quotes for Mourinho where he outlined just how important he thinks Ben Davies is to this Tottenham side and given the tactical flexibility that Davies gives to the Lilywhites, it’s hard to disagree.
The reliance on Davies is going to be obvious when he returns. Danny Rose was the club’s only other obvious left-back and he’s now left on-loan for Newcastle (BBC), and in the last few games, we’ve seen both Jan Vertonghen and, more recently, Japhet Tanganga used on the left of the defence.
However, the added rotation that the Lilywhites will have with Davies back, plus the fact that he’s clearly the manager’s first-choice option for the left-back spot, having him back on the weekend when Tottenham take on Aston Villa (Football.London), will be huge.
Not only will it allow Mourinho to use his preferred tactical approach in games, but it will also free up Tanganga to go back to playing in his favoured role as a central defender, and that can only mean good things for the Lilywhites moving forward.