Tottenham Hotspur need to start using Pedro Porro’s strengths to their advantage under Igor Tudor.
Porro has been poor at times for Tottenham as they continue to underperform this season, with his fiery attitude often criticised by pundits.
However, regardless of his form, the Spaniard provides a huge attacking threat down the right-hand side, and his creativity is hard to replace in the team.
What hasn’t helped Porro is the fact that Tudor has used him as a centre-back, a right-back, a right wing-back, and a right midfielder.
And in Tottenham’s 3-0 loss against Nottingham Forest on Sunday, he was completely ineffective as a right-midfielder, and Tudor needs to go back to basics and play him in his favoured position.
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Pedro Porro’s abilities are being wasted by Igor Tudor
Against Nottingham Forest, Porro was high on the right-hand side, with Djed Spence playing behind him.
However, both players are used to playing in different areas, and Tudor’s plan certainly didn’t have a desired effect.
According to Sofascore, Porro won 44 per cent of his ground duels and zero per cent of his aerial duels.
From an attacking standpoint, the 26-year-old only completed 27 per cent of his crosses and was dispossessed three times.
When looking at his stats throughout the season, Porro has only won 49.8 per cent of his ground duels, while his pass accuracy of 73.8 per cent is woeful.
Both of these figures indicate that he shouldn’t play as a centre-back, as he did against Crystal Palace earlier in March, and he definitely can’t be deployed at right-midfield, as we saw on Sunday.
Porro’s best form in N17 came under Ange Postecoglou as a right-back in a four-man defence, and it’s baffling to see him chucked in different positions every week.
Tottenham’s next game is an away trip to Sunderland, and given the vociferous nature of the home crowd, the Spain international could struggle if he isn’t playing in his natural role.
What did Jamie O’Hara say about Pedro Porro’s role at Tottenham?
Porro’s positioning has been a topic that has split the fanbase, but they can all agree that Tudor needs to stop overcomplicating his changes to the team.
Speaking on talkSPORT on 23 March, Jamie O’Hara couldn’t believe that Tudor asked the Spaniard to play that high up the pitch.
He said: “We’re playing Pedro Porro at right-midfield. Someone tell me how that is acceptable at Tottenham?
“To think that is going to get you results is unbelievable.”
With seven games left of the season, it’ll be interesting to see if Tudor has learnt from mistakes.
But it’s safe to say that Tottenham fans have lost all faith that their manager will do the right thing and play him as a right-back.