Spurs Loanee DeAndre Yedlin Impresses at Sunderland

Since the 3-1 loss to Arsenal on December 5th, Spurs loaned right-back had not received a single start for Sunderland in the Premier League.

Regular substitute appearances weren’t enough for the young American to prove his worth to Sam Allardyce and the Black Cat fanbase. No player – particularly a full-back – is going to thrive in 10 or 15 minute increments.

On Saturday, though, Allardyce relented and gave Yedlin a start in a fixture against Manchester United that Sunderland had not won since 1997.

In truth, it wasn’t necessarily Yedlin’s form on the training ground that decided his inclusion here. Typical starter Billy Jones was injured for the match, so it was only natural that Yedlin would start.

Yedlin had been given eight starts in the Premier League prior to this since his loan move from Spurs on the last day of the summer transfer window. While Spurs might have hoped for a repeat of their experience loaning Danny Rose to the northeastern club, the 22-year-old didn’t make a convincing enough case early enough to unseat Jones.

Part of that could have been the fact that these matches were Yedlin’s first taste of football outside of Major League Soccer in the United States. While he made one substitute appearance for Spurs last season, it wasn’t exactly the full experience. He will take time to adapt to the English game.

More from Hotspur HQ

More importantly, Sunderland is not a good football team. They’ve struggled to stay in the league for the past two seasons running. After a disappointing early run of results this season, Sam Allardyce took over for Dick Advocaat in October.

The English manager is often reviled for tactics his critics call primitive, but that’s mostly been unfair. Among many other modern aspects of his game is a sincere embrace of the virtues of attacking full-backs. Just look at what he did with Aaron Cresswell and Carl Jenkinson at West Ham.

So while Yedlin had reason to be optimistic, this was still a steep learning curve. Jones, a veteran, could grind out good enough results, while Yedlin was still trying to find balance between defense and attack.

Prior to losing his start spot in December, Yedlin was performing reasonably well in roles up and down the right side of Sunderland’s team. Allardyce’s tactics couldn’t be so fluid forever, though, and eventually it was Jones who held out the longest.

So Yedlin’s start on Saturday was a perfect chance for him to reclaim some of the momentum he was building up prior to being benched. And he took it with aplomb.

Anthony Martial gave the American plenty of trouble in the first half, but as the game wore on and United were increasingly inclined to leave their flanks unguarded, Yedlin found more and more opportunities.

It was in that space that Yedlin has always found joy for Seattle Sounders or the United States national team, and he did well to prove his worth in the time given.

As Sunderland attempted to lean more on defense than attack – especially after they took the lead in the 81st minute – Yedlin was among the players who strung together both sides of the pitch.

Next: Who Will Start for Tottenham Against City?

He didn’t manage any shots. He didn’t manage any assists. What he did manage was to show what a danger he was getting forward, while also notching five tackles and an interception. A first half yellow card soured things a bit, but this was a good case for Yedlin retaining his spot in Allardyce’s starting XI.

What does it mean for his chances at Spurs, though? It’s too soon to say, really. With both Kyle Walker and Kieran Trippier proving to be valuable for the club, Yedlin has much more to do before he can hope to break into Spurs’ first team upon his return.

Home/Tottenham News