Kevin Wimmer Reflects on Tottenham’s Draw with Arsenal
Kevin Wimmer believes that Tottenham have turned the corner after Sunday’s draw with Arsenal.
Aside from an early booking and scoring an own goal, Kevin Wimmer did well in just his third start this season in all competitions.
Because Toby Alderweireld has been sidelined with a knee injury, Mauricio Pochettino needed to go into his bench to find a suitable replacement. The most obvious choice would have been Wimmer after the phenomenal job that he did filling in for Jan Vertonghen last season.
But when it came time to choose a temporary replacement for Alderweireld, it wasn’t Kevin Wimmer. Nor was it the 18-year-old starlet Cameron Carter-Vickers. Instead, the task was given to Eric Dier.
Dier looked shaky upon his return to central defense against Bayer Leverkusen in Spurs’ first meeting with the Bundesliga side. Since then, he has improved alongside Vertonghen but was better this past Sunday as Spurs’ right-back.
With Kevin Wimmer a part of a three-man backline that consisted of Jan Vertonghen at left-back and Eric Dier at right-back, they held their own in not allowing Arsenal to score a goal.
A fourth consecutive Premier League draw saw Tottenham remain unbeaten in 11 league games, but the final result wasn’t the main talking point following the match.
Wimmer, along with his teammates and Mauricio Pochettino, expressed how things have turned around. The passion than had gone missing in recent weeks was back in the squad.
“We’ve tried to turn things around after recent games and we did well,” the 23-year-old said (via Spurs’ official website). “For me, it’s always a good feeling to be in the starting 11, especially a game like this. I always try to give my best and we all wanted to win.”
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“We obviously got the draw, but we now have some time until the next game and I think we’ve turned the corner.”
“We’re moving in the right direction and everyone believes we can continue to improve. Now we have some time while the internationals are on, then we’ll do everything to get the three points against West Ham [United].”
It’s unknown whether Kevin Wimmer did enough to convince Pochettino that he can get the job done if he were to be called upon again, but the Austrian defender showed why he should be considered an option to rotate Jan Vertonghen or Toby Alderweireld out, despite his mental errors.
He was solid at center-back patrolling the middle of the pitch and the right side, while Dier pressed forward helping Walker on the right flank and Vertonghen covering the other half of the field.
Even after making a crucial mistake, Wimmer continued playing knowing that Spurs would get a chance to equalize. Which eventually came via a penalty that Harry Kane scored.
“Obviously to score an own goal is a bad feeling,” Wimmer explained. “At first, you are disappointed but once the game gets started again you just want to turn it around. That’s certainly my mentality.”
“We said at half-time that we could get back into it and we showed that from the start of the second half. We had some good chances and that shows the mentality in the team is very good, especially in a game like this.”
“It was a great team performance, we had some good chances after we scored the penalty and maybe with a bit of luck we could have won. It was a typical derby, lots of intensity and everyone tried their best. We tried to get the three points and we were unlucky.”
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There’s definitely a sense of change happening within this squad following their 1-1 draw with Arsenal this past Sunday.
Trying to maintain that consistency when they return from the international break will be hard, but it’s been a while since the players have expressed this much passion and excitement for what’s ahead.
Hopefully this is what helps fuel Spurs moving forward. That, and the return of their injured stars to finally see a healthy team take the pitch in quite some time.