Tottenham Hotspur emerged from their Premier League weekend fixture against West Ham United far from unscathed. Not only did they lose 2-1 to one of the worst teams in the English top flight, but they also lost Ben Davies (and potentially Xavi Simons) to injury.
The Hammers absolutely hammered Spurs in the second half, stealing away all three points and leaving the home side hobbled, reeling badly with fans jeering and booing the disgraced Thomas Frank.
There is no turning back for Spurs and their embattled manager, whom fans were literally crying out to be fired the morning after due to the sheer futility of the display they watched unfold before their very eyes.
Tottenham have big issues at LB
But Spurs have other big worries, too. Destiny Udogie is still out at left back with his latest injury, and if he cannot return for the next game, Tottenham may not be able to call upon the player they just made his top backup, veteran Ben Davies, for the foreseeable future.
Davies had to leave the matchup pretty early with a serious injury, and Spurs had to bring in the one player they really did not want to play in that position, Djed Spence. Remember, Spurs were so dissatisfied with Spence's performances at left back, which have been truly abhorrent this season, that they brought Davies back into the fold as a regular Udogie replacemnt out left because he was such an upgrade.
Tottenham are now short handed to an even bigger degree at left back with both Udogie and Davies injured, and as West Ham exposed to everyone, Spurs cannot keep going into games with Spence playing at left back; he is so bad that it is like playing with 10 men.
So it is huge, then, that Tottenham Hotspur are set to welcome 19 year old Brazilian sensation Souza from Santos. Spurs paid a decent fee of around 15 million euros for Souza even though he is a total unknown to European football, and, therefore, they are going to expect him to bea key part of the rotation at left back immediately.
They are going to be putting a lot on his plate initially - more than maybe they even expected. With Davies injured and Spence the only option until Udogie comes back, which is hopefully soon since he is making good progress from the injury in training, Souza might get a start sooner than expected. He honestly can't be much worse than Spence, and even if he is, Spurs would have probably lost that match anyway. So let's see what Souza can do.