Tottenham Hotspur head into Tuesday night’s essential Champions League assembly with Olympique de Marseille understanding {that a} level on the Orange Vélodrome will see them qualify for the knockout phases of the competitors.
However, regardless of a 3-2 comeback win over AFC Bournemouth final trip, Spurs have endured one thing of a dip in form of late, shedding 2-0 to Manchester United at Old Trafford, falling to a 2-1 defeat to Newcastle United on the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and drawing 1-1 with Sporting Lisbon of their final three fixtures previous to Saturday’s dramatic victory.
As is probably to be anticipated after such outcomes, quite a lot of Antonio Conte’s squad have additionally considerably underperformed in latest weeks, with Yves Bissouma, Davinson Sánchez and Emerson Royal all struggling to make a constructive influence throughout the Tottenham aspect over the aforementioned fixtures.
However, it’s undoubtedly the latter of this trio who has been essentially the most disappointing for the north London aspect, with it showing an absolute must for Conte to drop the Brazilian from his beginning XI ought to he want to give his group the absolute best likelihood of leaving Marseille with a end result this night.
Indeed, the right-back has been a continuous supply of frustration for Tottenham this season, with the £26m signing – a determine which Barcelona reportedly “cannot believe Spurs offered to pay” – being despatched off in opposition to Arsenal for a “stupid” problem on Gabriel Martinelli, being ridiculed after taking part in a no-look pass out for a goal-kick within the dying phases of the 1-1 draw with Sporting and volleying an effort at aim out of the stadium within the win over Bournemouth final weekend.
Furthermore, the £40k-per-week flop has additionally been extremely wasteful within the remaining third, shedding possession a mean of 11.7 occasions per sport within the Premier League and 10.8 occasions per fixture within the Champions League, in addition to finishing simply 0.4 crosses – at a hit charge of 13% – per league match and 0.6 crosses – at a hit charge of 33% – per continental sport this time period.
Rather unsurprisingly, these contributions have seen the £34.5m-rated defender draw a major quantity of criticism, with Carter Gaddis stating his perception that the six-cap worldwide “should never play another minute for Tottenham” after his show in opposition to the Cherries and reporter Ethan Budowsky claiming that Emerson “is the worst player on every pitch he plays on“.
As such, with Spurs understanding that they completely must take one thing from the Marseille fixture in an effort to qualify for the knockout phases of the Champions League, Conte merely must drop the “complete liability” – within the phrases of Jamie O’Hara – tonight, or else Emerson may very simply find yourself costing Tottenham development from their group.
