Tottenham must target error-prone West Ham defender Konstantinos Mavropanos after ‘horrendous’ mistake
Tottenham will have the chance to get back to winning ways when they welcome West Ham to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Thursday (7 December).
Spurs stopped a run of three consecutive defeats in unlikely circumstances as they earned an impressive point away at Manchester City, scoring a late equaliser through Dejan Kulusevski in a 3-3 draw on Sunday (3 December).
Ange Postecoglou’s attention will now switch to the clash with West Ham, a match where Spurs will be boosted by the return of defender Cristian Romero. However, it is an opposition defender who the club should be focussing their attention on.
David Moyes’ men have struggled in recent weeks, and despite claiming narrow victories against Nottingham Forest and Burnley, the performances have not been up to the level the Scot would expect.
This was the case once again during the club’s most recent outing, a 1-1 draw at home with Crystal Palace, a match that concluded no less than an hour before Tottenham’s classic with Manchester City kicked off.
Having taken the lead through Mohammed Kudus, the hosts gifted Roy Hodgson’s side an equaliser when Konstantinos Mavropanos played a poor pass back towards goal, with Odsonne Edouard intercepting the ball and driving toward the West Ham box before finishing well.
Moyes made his feelings clear after the match (The Times, 3 December), telling the media in his post-match press conference, “From our point of view it was terrible, it really was”, going on to describe the mistake as “horrendous”.
As per SofaScore, the Greece international did defend well overall, winning all seven of his aerial duels, and four of his five ground duels in addition to making six clearances and three tackles, but his ability on the ball leaves plenty to be desired.
He completed just 75 per cent of his passes and of course, had the one error that led to the goal. This was Mavropanos’ first Premier League start since the 3-2 defeat against Brentford on 4 November, during which he scored an own goal.
Most of his appearances tend to come in the UEFA Europa League, but with the quick turnaround to Thursday, there is no guarantee Kurt Zouma will be available to partner Nayef Aguerd in what would be considered West Ham’s regular back two, and Mavropanos might be required to start once again or at least play some part from the bench.
From a Spurs perspective, they will certainly be hoping Zouma is not back and that Mavropanos does start on Thursday. Postecoglou’s high-pressing style of play which is often led by the relentless Son Heung-min chasing defenders down could force the error-prone Greek defender into another high-profile mistake.
In other Tottenham news, a Spurs expert has suggested one player might never play for the club again.