Ange Postecoglou onto a winner at Tottenham as Rio Ferdinand hails Pedro Porro
Pedro Porro has enjoyed a remarkable turnaround in fortunes at Tottenham, coinciding with the arrival of manager Ange Postecoglou.
Six direct goal involvements in his debut Premier League season were hardly a poor return, but those figures clouded his defensive deficiencies.
Porro looked lost at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last time out, which was the case for the vast majority of the squad.
However, thanks to an arm around the shoulder and a change of system since Postecoglou came on board, the Spaniard is now flying.
Last week’s stunning strike to earn a late FA Cup victory over Burnley was arguably the best moment of his Spurs career so far.
So much so that it earned him praise from ex-Manchester United ace Rio Ferdinand, who picked out Porro as one of the players of the season.
“Pedro Porro’s been top,” Ferdinand, a six-time Premier League title winner, added on his Vibe With Five podcast [8 January, 55m 23s].
Porro has been given a licence to come inside and have far more of a say on games in what is now a modern day role of most top full-backs.
The 24-year-old has assisted six Premier League goals this season, which is already the most of a Spurs defender in an entire campaign [Squawka].
Only four players in the division can better that return – Kieran Tripper, Pedro Neto (both seven), Ollie Watkins and Mohamed Salah (both eight).
In the win over Burnley, Porro also led the way among Spurs players for key passes (three), highlighting how much of a threat he is [WhoScored].
While his pass-completion average of 77 per cent is hardly much to shout about, the passes he plays are often riskier than others in the side.
With 121 touches of the ball versus Burnley – only Emerson Royal (127) had more – Porro is arguably now more of a playmaker than a defender.
That said, he is also now a lot stronger in the defensive metrics. The 2.16 tackles he wins per 90 minutes is the most of any Spurs defender.
As per Sofascore, he is also first for shots blocked per 90 (2.26), so he is more than capable of combining both aspects of the game.
Even taking into account the tail end of last season, Porro ranks in the top one per cent of all full-backs across Europe’s top five leagues in terms of shots taken over the past 12 months [FBref].
It is perhaps also unsurprising that he is in the top 96 percentile in terms of assists and the same again for shot-creating actions, which takes into account passes or take-ons leading to a shot.
That is not to say Porro is the perfect player, with one particular weakness his inability to win aerial duels – not a great surprise when you consider he is only 5′ 6″ – as he ranks in the bottom three percentile for that metric.
Give Postecoglou some time, though, and maybe even he will be able to rectify that shortcoming.
There have been many success stories at Tottenham under the Australian coach, but arguably none more so than a resurgent Pedro Porro.
In other Tottenham news, a player was likened to Cristiano Ronaldo for something he did in the win over Burnley.