Micah Richards highlights Emerson Royal as Tottenham weak link in Manchester City thriller
Playing with four full-backs against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium might seem like a recipe for disaster, but it is something Tottenham got away with doing on Sunday (3 December).
Very few in the world of football gave Ange Postecoglou and his depleted Spurs squad a chance heading into their 3-3 draw with Manchester City on Sunday afternoon.
With Emerson Royal and Ben Davies as a back two, Erling Haaland would have been licking his lips at the prospect of adding a few more goals to his already impressive Premier League tally.
In the end, despite scoring three times, City couldn’t claim maximum points and a last-gasp equaliser from Dejan Kulusevski rounded off a six-goal thriller and saw the spoils shared.
Haaland himself struggled, missing a glorious opportunity in the first half that you would have backed the Norwegian giant to score with his eyes closed, and failing to register a shot on target across the 90 minutes.
It was an enthralling game that captured the attention of many and left Sky Sports pundit Micah Richards full of praise for Spurs while speaking on The Rest is Football podcast (4 December), claiming that the north London outfit “stuck at the task” and got their rewards.
Although, in addition to that praise, he also signalled out 24-year-old Emerson as a weak link in the Tottenham side on Sunday afternoon.
“It was always going to be difficult with Emerson playing as a centre half along with Davies,” he said.
“I thought Davies did really well on the ball but when you looked and saw the analysis, Man City was actually letting Emerson have the ball and then as soon as he got the ball they would pounce at it.”
Emerson certainly isn’t the strongest defender in the Spurs squad, and the stats from the Super Sunday showdown suggest that this criticism by Richards is perhaps fair.
As per SofaScore, although Emerson did complete 92 per cent of his passes, which is a very respectable total when considering the circumstances and the fact that he wasn’t playing in his natural position, it is his other stats that support Richards’ tough evaluation of the Brazilian.
He was dribbled past on three occasions and made one error that led to a shot, while he also gave the ball away 10 times. Although he did make two tackles, he was only able to win two of the six ground duels he contested and two of his four aerial duels.
With Cristian Romero available again following a three-match suspension, the Argentine will likely partner Davies in the heart of Tottenham’s defence against West Ham at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Thursday (7 December), which will see Emerson drop back to the bench.
The difference in quality between Romero and Emerson is clear and is demonstrated by the fact that Tottenham have not won any of their three games without the central defender.
In Romero’s last full 90 minutes for the club, a 2-1 win at Crystal Palace on 27 October, the 25-year-old made four clearances, one interception, one tackle and was not dribbled past once, while also winning 100 per cent of his ground and aerial duels.
He also completed an astonishing 93 per cent of the 151 passes he attempted at Selhurst Park, and his return will be a much-welcome boost for Postecoglou on Thursday.
In other Tottenham news, the club have learned their fate with a seven-figure cash injection on the cards after a recent announcement.