Serge Aurier was singled out by many supporters as the worst-performing player on the pitch in Tuesday’s 7-2 defeat against Bayern Munich.
The 26-year-old was frequently caught out at right-back, made a multitude of errors in the game and could have been sent off for sinking his studs into David Alaba, who now has bruised ribs from the incident.
But such a performance from Aurier is nothing new, it’s exactly why he spent 2018/19 on the periphery – just 583 minutes of Premier League football last season. He was linked with a move to AS Monaco and Paris Saint-Germain over the summer, so why has Mauricio Pochettino brought him back?
Any player in the Tottenham first-team is capable of delivering one or two good performances, but it was Aurier’s lapses in concentration, poor judgement and rash challenges that were an issue when he played.
The Ivorian international has picked up two red cards in 28 league games for Tottenham, has given away 44 fouls and has been dribbled past on 31 occassions. Aurier was second-choice to Kieran Trippier last season and was behind Davinson Sanchez, Kyle Walker-Peters & Juan Foyth this campaign.
Pochettino made a U-turn on the defender, however, and is now paying the consequences. Aurier was poor on Tuesday and may benefit from being taken out of the spotlight.