Postecoglou axes Sarr in four changes – Tottenham confirmed XI v Aston Villa
Ange Postecoglou has made the correct call after choosing to bench Pape Matar Sarr for the FA Cup clash between Tottenham and Aston Villa on Sunday.
Tottenham have taken the trip up north to face the Villans at Villa Park on 8 February with their starting XI announced via their official X account (9 February).
Spurs have chosen to make four changes to their squad with Ben Davies, Sarr, Yves Bissouma and Richarlison all getting dropped for Porro, Lucas Bergvall, Mikey Moore and Mathys Tel to all come in and take their places.
Postecoglou hasn’t named Sarr in his starting XI which feels like the best option for both parties after the performance he put in against Liverpool last time out.
Pape Matar Sarr can’t be used as a super-sub in the second half
Tottenham don’t have all that many players to choose from at the moment due to the sheer amount of injuries they’ve suffered this season, but it’s good to see Sarr dropped.
Their team has been chopped and changed since the campaign kicked off and it feels like there needs to be some stability at the club soon otherwise it could end up being the end of the road for Postecoglou.
And, last time out against Liverpool, it certainly wasn’t Sarr’s best performance for Tottenham which is why he shouldn’t have been chosen to start against Unai Emery’s men.
As per Sofascore, in the 57 minutes Sarr played, he may have maintained a pass accuracy of 82 per cent but the fact he only had 23 touches of the ball shows how little he was involved in the game.
None of the 14 passes he made in the clash were good enough to be deemed as a key pass with the one long ball he attempted surprisingly making its way to its intended target.
Sarr attempted two dribbles in the game and only successfully completed 50 per cent of them.
Defensively, he also had a shocker with Sarr winning just 40 per cent of the ground duels he attempted and zero per cent of the aerial duels he also took part in.
In addition to his poor defensive work, he lost possession of the ball five times and only made one tackle throughout his time on the pitch.
Ange Postecoglou could get sacked if he falls to defeat against Aston Villa
Tottenham have been one of the worst-performing teams in the Premier League this season with nothing seeming to go their way.
While Spurs may have finished in the top eight of the Europa League, the fact they were demolished 4-0 by Liverpool in the second leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final tie shows how poor they’ve been this term.
Granted, injuries have likely had a lot to do with their poor form this season but it still feels like Postecoglou’s men should be putting up a much better fight than what they have done this season.
Only time will tell what the future holds, but, if Tottenham are beaten by Villa on Sunday, it’s hard to see how Daniel Levy could justify keeping the Australian at the helm.