The Tottenham player who will go under the radar despite huge performance at Old Trafford

Submitted by daniel on
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Archie Gray might not have grabbed the attention like goalscorer Dominic Solanke or man of the match Conor Gallagher but he put in a huge shift in Tottenham's 1-1 draw at Manchester United.

Gallagher won his award with his running and work in winning the ball back for Spurs at Old Trafford with 13 defensive contributions on the night, but Gray actually got more with 14. The 20-year-old racked up seven ball recoveries, three interceptions, three tackles and one headed clearance.

The only other Tottenham player to make three tackles in the game was, perhaps surprisingly for some, James Maddison during his 23 minutes or so on the pitch.

Young midfielder Gray is not a right-back and has no desire to be one but it spoke volumes that he could go to Old Trafford at his age, up against the often switching Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha and Amad, and come away mostly on top.

The England U21 international won more duels than any Spurs player on the pitch, with seven to his name, and was only dribbled past once. For context, Savio won six duels and Lucas Bergvall five.

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Gray also got his legs moving, as he sprinted 366m during the game, more than any of his Tottenham team-mates and bested only by United attacker Mbeumo's 373m with Savio's 354m the only other player over 300m. Gray made 17 sprints in total, with only Savio's 19 more in the Tottenham rankings.

In all Gray made 57 touches during his 98 minute appearance, with four in the opposition box. The makeshift full-back hit a top speed of 32.6kmh and had a 90 per cent pass success rate with six line-breaking balls among his 26 passes.

Gray may not provide the delivery of Pedro Porro but he brings the energy, technical and tactical ability that allows him to adapt to any role assigned to him and that's why he continues to be a key man in Roberto De Zerbi's squad.

Much was made of Spurs not replacing Djed Spence when the England right-back was granted his wish to move to Inter this summer but the decision has benefited Gray at least in terms of minutes, if not development in the position he wants to be a star in.

Back in May, De Zerbi tipped Gray to become a future captain of Spurs, something the youngster has already done this season.

"He is very young, [but] big potential as a player. I think he can become the future," said the Italian. "I am sure he can become the future of this club and the captain of this club.

"He has to understand better what will be his position on the pitch. He can play in a lot of positions, but maybe I would like him to be more specific in one position. We are working on that, in individual meetings with individual clips. For me and any way he is [still] an important player."

Since then Gray has played more as a right-back than as a midfielder and he will be hoping he gets the chance to switch back to the centre of the pitch when Porro returns from his hamstring injury.