Opinion: Deciding on Tottenham’s current best centre-back partnership
Despite their fantastic start to the 21/22 season, Davinson Sanchez and Eric Dier are not our strongest centre back partnership, in my opinion. The pair were incredible in the first three matches of the season but have shown their inconsistencies since then. Thankfully, Spurs have two other centre backs who they can call upon, Cristian […]
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Despite their fantastic start to the 21/22 season, Davinson Sanchez and Eric Dier are not our strongest centre back partnership, in my opinion.
The pair were incredible in the first three matches of the season but have shown their inconsistencies since then. Thankfully, Spurs have two other centre backs who they can call upon, Cristian Romero and Joe Rodon.
Rodon proved with his appearances in the Premier League last season that Nuno can rely on him, and Romero proved he is world-class last season in Serie A by winning the best defender in the league award.
Rodon and Romero featured together for the first time in Tottenham’s 5-1 win over Mura in the Europa Conference League. Although it is embarrassing to have conceded to a team from the Slovenian league, neither Romero nor Rodon were personally at fault for the goal.
The pair looked very comfortable overall on the day with Mura only creating one chance throughout the match.
Both Romero (94%) and Rodon (92%) had over a 90% pass completion rate and the pair also hit a combined 9 out of 11 accurate long balls. This is even more impressive when you consider Spurs’ last central defensive pairing, Eric Dier and Davinson Sanchez, hit a combined 15 out of 25 long balls in the 3-1 defeat to Arsenal.
Romero and Rodon being able to accurately play diagonal balls out of the defensive third could help the squad to solve part of the creativity issue we are lacking.
Rodon and Romero’s playstyles also complement each other very well. Rodon likes to drop off when Tottenham are defending whilst Romero likes to attack the ball carrier.
This is a perfect combination that has been seen in many world-class centre back pairings, such as Raphael Varane and Sergio Ramos where Varane would sit back and Ramos would push forward.
After conceding three goals in the last three league matches, it is time to give a new centre back pairing a chance to impress.
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