Spurs need a Rodri-style enforcer if they are to close gap to top three
MANCHESTER CITY achieved a surprising milestone in their 5-1 drubbing of Luton on Saturday: the champions managed to win a league game without midfielder Rodri.
City had lost their four previous fixtures when the Spaniard was missing and were also dumped out of the Carabao Cup by Newcastle without him.
If Pep Guardiola’s side win another title — or even a double-treble — Rodri will again have a case to have been their most indispensable player.
Similarly, Arsenal’s development into a steelier team this season has been driven in large by the addition of Declan Rice, who should be a contender for Premier League player of the year, regardless of whether he ends up a title-winner.
In short, a top defensive midfielder can be the difference between a good team and a great one, which brings us in a roundabout way to Tottenham.
In the first seven games of the season, Spurs appeared to have a world-class No6 of their own in Yves Bissouma, who was magnificent in their flying start under Ange Postecoglou, finally looking like the combative, press-resistant, tempo-setting midfielder they signed from Brighton in 2022.
But Bissouma has not been the same since he was sent off at Luton in October, the first in a series of frustrating (and often self-inflicted) disruptions to his campaign, and it is increasingly doubtful if the Malian is capable of anchoring the midfield in Postecoglou’s high-wire team.
Saturday’s 4-0 defeat to Newcastle was surely Spurs’ worst performance under the Australian and exposed their glaring need for a defensive-minded midfielder to screen the defence.
It was striking how easy it was for Newcastle to transition from defending to attacking Spurs’ goal, often with just one pass.
Much of the focus afterwards was on centre-half Micky van de Ven, who was bamboozled for three of the Magpies’ goals, but Spurs’ back-five was left high and dry by the rest of the team’s inability to hold up the ball or offer any meaningful cover.
It was a similar story in the 3-0 loss at Fulham last month and in the first half of the home game against Nottingham Forest.
In that match, Postecoglou pointedly replaced Bissouma and Pape Sarr with
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Rodrigo Bentancur with the scores level at the interval, and Spurs dramatically improved on the way to a 3-1 win.
Postecoglou (left) has so far stuck with Bissouma, perhaps in an attempt to play him back into his early-season form, but maybe due to a lack of compelling alternatives.
Bentancur has previously played as the deepest midfielder but, like Sarr, is better-suited to a more advanced role.
Hojbjerg provided a solution against Forest, but Spurs tend to be more disjointed in possession when he starts and, anyhow, the Dane appears almost certain to leave in the summer.
Oliver Skipp has vanished from view. His last start was on January 14 and he has not made the match-day squad for the last four games.
Bissouma is far from Spurs’ only problem right now but, concerningly for Postecoglou, opponents seem to have twigged how easy it is to play through his side, and next up is a visit from Arsenal on Sunday week, while they also face free-scoring Chelsea, Liverpool and City in the run-in.
Bissouma remains a talented player, but it seems increasingly apparent that if Spurs are to close the gap to the top three next season, they need to sign their own Rodri or Rice in the summer.