Ex-Spurs Scout previews Tottenham v Wolves – devastating blow ‘leaves me worried’
Tottenham News is delighted to welcome aboard our brilliant new columnist Bryan King, the former goalkeeper who spent six years as a senior scout at Spurs and 28 years in total in first-team scouting roles. Bryan also spent eight years on Everton’s recruitment team and 11 years scouting at Aston Villa across two different spells.
Tottenham will be missing multiple key players when they travel to Wolves in the Premier League on Saturday 11 November, as they look to dust themselves off after defeat against Chelsea.
Spurs’ unbeaten start to the Premier League season ended dramatically as they were beaten 4-1 by Chelsea at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Monday night, in a clash full of talking points.
Ange Postecoglou will be without both Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie, who are suspended after being sent off against the Blues, and the injured Micky van de Ven, while James Maddison is also a doubt.
Responding to defeat will be a huge ask without four of their players who have all been so influential this season, and ex-Spurs scout Bryan King has been speaking to Tottenham News about what he expects from the match.
“This is a chance for the fringe players to start, and they will be up for the match. They have got to prove that they don’t deserve to be left out. However, I can’t think there are many teams who could lose four central players and not be in trouble.
“Nine of the Wolves players who played in the defeat to Sheffield United played in the draw against Newcastle United and the win over Manchester City. They line up in a 3-4-3 formation and they do get results, such as the ones mentioned.
“This is going to be a big test for Tottenham after what happened on Monday, and they can’t afford to lose the game if they want to keep their momentum going. Spurs will need to tighten up and will be looking for Son Heung-min to keep making those runs in the channel and in behind the two central defenders. However, it might be hard to pick him out because all of a sudden you have lost Maddison’s passing ability which has been so key throughout the season so far.
“The loss of van de Ven is big as he gives you so much cover with his pace, and it does leave me worried about the high line against Wolves. If Tottenham want to challenge Manchester City, Newcastle, Liverpool and Arsenal, they need to get a point from this game, this is an important game.
“Newcastle had a similar situation recently at Wolves, they had a few injuries and managed to get a draw, and at full-time Eddie Howe sounded grateful for the point.
“This is going to show the character of the squad, and it will show what kind of depth Spurs do have because up until this game, not many changes have needed to be made, it has been pretty settled. The manager and his staff need to get this right because Wolves are a team who can upset the best and be beaten by the worst.”
Ex-Spurs scout prediction: 1-1
In other Tottenham news, one Spurs midfielder has caught the eye of Itallian giants Juventus.