Spurs are two points adrift of safety after their 2-2 draw with Roberto De Zerbi’s former club Brighton, and one Tottenham player caught the eye of Jamie Carragher for what he did on Saturday
Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher has singled out Djed Spence’s role in Brighton’s equaliser against Tottenham Hotspur at the weekend. Roberto De Zerbi’s side were 2-1 up heading into injury time in what appeared to be a huge three points in the fight against relegation.
However, Georginio Rutter scored in the 95th minute to break Tottenham hearts, leaving them in the relegation zone with six games to play. Pedro Porro and Xavi Simons had put Spurs in a great position to pick up their first win since the 28th of December.
Despite an improved performance, Spurs missed out on a golden opportunity to move out of the bottom three ahead of West Ham United’s clash with Crystal Palace on Monday night.
When analysing the performance from Saturday, Carragher said: “We’re talking about time, we’re talking about the 94th minute. Djed Spence who has come on in the 76th minute, now, he’s done well he’s closed down [his man].
“He can’t pull out [of the press] he’s got to keep going and he’s unlucky. But Djed Spence, I don’t like this. You’ve got to sprint back.
“He’s walking. He was a sub. He’s only been on 15 minutes. Then you’ve got you two young midfield players, we highlighted them in the Sunderland game, they didn’t start this game.
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“But they understand football, they’re clever those two young lads [Bergvall and Gray]. They know somebody has got to fill in at left-back.
“The left-back is now here [Spence is up the pitch]. They look to fill in. Now, the situation here, Porro leaves his man, but Paulinha now ends up at right-back.
“We’re going to keep an eye on Djed Spence here, it comes into Danso and everyone is talking about his mistake, but he [Spence] starts walking, then walks again because he thinks Danso has got the ball.
“Your two midfield players are filling in for him at left-back, leaving their slot in midfield and that’s where Rutter scores the goal. Brilliant finish on that left foot, but it’s an absolute body blow for them.
“You can see the reaction from them, but listen there was a lot of positives to take from it for Tottenham in terms of how they went about it and how they played. [De Zerbi] won’t feel that right now.”
Spurs are back in action this weekend when they take on Wolves, whose relegation has now been confirmed. It’s a huge game for De Zerbi’s side, with their opponents having very little to play for beyond pride.
However, Carragher was still not overly confident. He said: “We’re talking the last time they won? What month was it? December?
“They haven’t won a Premier League game since December. It’s unbelievable. So, to think you will go to an away game and just win… I can’t see them losing the (Wolves) game and they could nick it, of course they could, but I’ve seen other teams go there and find it difficult at Wolves with the way they set up.”
