Pedro Porro reveal epitomises his Tottenham frustration – here’s why
Tottenham Hotspur need their key players such as Pedro Porro to start stepping up for them.
Igor Tudor is under massive pressure to stop the rot in N17, as his side are freefalling towards Championship football at the moment.
Five-straight Premier League defeats was followed up by an embarrassing 5-2 thumping at the hands of Atletico Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday, as their dreams of lifting that trophy now look dead and buried.
Porro was actually one of the few Spurs players who could hold their heads high in Tottenham’s defeat to Atletico, but there is one aspect of his game he must address if he’s going to help drag his team to safety.
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Pedro Porro is Premier League’s worst in key statistic
Porro is facing an uncertain Tottenham future, with the versatile defender reportedly ready to quit Spurs this summer.
That will almost certainly be the case if Tottenham go down to the Championship, as the 26-year-old is in the prime of his career and is a Spanish international too.
However, Porro must put any potential transfer desire to one side for now, as his current employers need him to continue showing his best in a Lilywhites shirt, as he’s undoubtedly got the star quality to get Spurs out of this mess.
But, that is going to require him to start sharpening up in one key area of his game: ball retention.
As detailed by Sofascore, Porro is leading the Premier League for the highest average number of possession lost per game this season, with him conceding the ball to the opposition 19.4 times per match.
His closest rivals for this unwanted accolade are Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah and Nottingham Forest’s Elliot Anderson, both of whom give possession away an average of 18.0 times per 90 this term.
Now, Porro’s number in this department is partly so high because of how attacking-minded he is, getting forward at any opportunity and trying to unlock the door to the opposing defence.
However, with points at a premium now for Tottenham, Tudor’s side have to be taking better care of the ball to give themselves the best chance to control games, and get the results required to stay in the league.
Porro sent Tudor clear message vs Atletico
As aforementioned, Porro was arguably Tottenham’s best player against Atletico in midweek, grabbing a goal and an assist in the Metropolitano.
However, that came from him being deployed as a right wing-back, whereas Tudor had previously played him at right-back against Fulham and as a right-sided centre-back against Crystal Palace respectively.
In particular in the game against Palace, Porro looked firmly out of his comfort zone as a centre-back, and was replaced after 74 minutes by Xavi Simons.
Therefore, his showing in Spain should send an obvious message to Tudor that if he wants to get the best out of him between now and the end of the season, he must continue to play him at right wing-back.