Tottenham Hotspur manager Roberto De Zerbi has made quite a few changes to the team since taking over, and while some of them are - and will be - out of necessity due to endlessly mounting injuries to key players, there have been some other tactical changes that do seem to fit an overall ethos.
De Zerbi is going for more veteran players in the middle of the park, perhaps to get Tottenham to play with more of an edge in this Premier League relegation battle, defending better and leaning on experience to get them out of the hole.
The main midfielder to be hurt by these changes is young Lucas Bergvall, who, in truth, has been pretty disappointing this season despite his prodigious talent. Bergvall has not hit the ground running since returning from an injury, and the Swedish prospect has thus been phased out by manager De Zerbi in favor of the experienced box to box players.
Conor Gallagher is back on the radar
One of those players is Conor Gallagher, whom De Zerbi has always been a fan of. While Gallagher makes too much money and has been a deeply disappointing winter signing, lately, the England international has offered signs of hope and quality.
The Xavi Simons injury may change things, but with Simons starting on the left wing in the last two games, Gallagher was actually in that 10 role as more of a defensive 10. And he was pretty good, too, winning possession and even showing significantly more creativity than he did under the previous Tottenham Hotspur managers. So his stock is squarely up under De Zerbi.
But the main midfielder of some pedigree to get a boost from De Zerb iis Rodrigo Bentancur, who has returned from his torn hamstring in opposite fashion to Lucas Bergvall. He has become more impressive and more important to Tottenham's success this season than he was before he went down with the ailment, even replacing the highly promising Archie Gray in the lineup.