da mrbet： This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…
da jogodeouro： Tottenham Hotspur have a problem on their hands.
Well, they have several when one considers their league form, but one that has gone unnoticed is the puzzle handed to manager Mauricio Pochettino by Ryan Sessegnon.
Signed for £25m in the summer from Fulham, he simply hasn’t had a chance to show his worth.
That has mostly been down to a hamstring injury that unfortunately ruled him out of the first 10 games of the Premier League season and he has since played twice – coming on as a substitute in injury time versus Everton and then playing 15 minutes against Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League.
That latter appearance is instructive too. He replaced Son Heung-Min in that game, meaning he was deployed as a left winger, and he subsequently registered an assist, laying on the pass from which Christian Eriksen scored his side’s fourth goal.
But is he likely to get much playing time on the left wing?
Son is the starter in that position, playing there eight times already this season and 18 times last season. When he was shifted into a centre-forward role, Spurs adapted their formation to regularly utilise a narrow 4-4-2 diamond, as seen against Barcelona and Ajax in the Champions League.
There is an obvious problem with that: Sessegnon can’t play central midfield or centre-forward.
Now, the argument could be made that he could play at left-back and that is certainly true, but it is one area of the squad where Spurs actually have decent depth.
Not only is Danny Rose still trusted by his manager, but Ben Davies is also an international calibre full-back, too, having won 48 caps for Wales.
It is difficult, thus, to see where Sessegnon’s opportunity is going to come from.
Spurs are currently in poor form and haven’t won in the Premier League since September. They last won on the road against Fulham, in January, in a game in which Sessegnon came on as a substitute for the hosts.
Mauricio Pochettino, then, has to continue to pick his best team as he looks to arrest this slump.
At this point, that means Son plays on the left wing and one of Rose or Davies plays at full-back.
Sessegnon, it must be said, is young and he has time on his side but at this point, he may well be left waiting for the FA Cup to roll around – or for a player to pick up an injury – before he actually gets 90 minutes under his belt.
That cannot be good for his development, nor for his chances of staking a claim to start on a regular basis.