Tottenham: Kieran Trippier and Harry Kane Reflect on their Performance

Tottenham picked up their fourth straight Premier League win thanks to Harry Kane and Dele Alli scoring a brace each. But Kieran Trippier’s contributions played a big part in Spurs’ victory.

Last season, Kieran Trippier would make his first-ever Premier League start with Tottenham against Watford on December 28th, 2015. During that match, Trippier played very well and came away with the game-winning assist on a cross to Son Heung-Min giving Spurs a late win in the 89th minute.

The 26-year-old Trippier would follow that performance up by scoring the game’s lone goal when the two sides squared off again a month-and-a-half later on February 6th, 2016 at White Hart Lane.

With two good displays against the Hornets, Mauricio Pochettino would look to his backup right-back once again after Kyle Walker was suspended following his fifth yellow card of the season against Southampton.

In three games when Kieran Trippier has faced Watford, he has tallied three assists and one goal. Not bad for a player who is the clear second choice right-back on Spurs’ squad and gets limited opportunities in the Premier League — except when Spurs play Watford.

Being able to get the start (his first in the Premiership this season), Trippier is happy to contribute and help Tottenham start the new year off with a bang.

“I’ve not played for a few weeks so to play and win means I’m a happy man going home to see my family,” Kieran Trippier told Spurs’ official website after providing two crosses for Harry Kane’s brace.

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“Harry always says to me to get those early crosses in and he’s so positive. Every ball that goes in the box, you see him go flying in and it’s no surprise to see him score twice.”

“I try to put in as many crosses as I can at the right times and hopefully Harry can get on the end of them. Thankfully he did that today and we’re happy that we got the three points.”

Ryan Wrenn briefly covered Trippier’s impact in yesterday’s game in his match report saying that the right-back provides Mauricio Pochettino with a perfect plan B when Kyle Walker is unavailable. Whether that’s due to injury, or in this case, being suspended.

Between the two full-backs, Walker is a more complete player, offering Pochettino an offensive threat and one who can track back and defend very well (sans some mistakes).

Trippier on the other hand, what he lacks in the traits that makes Kyle Walker better overall, he more than makes up for it by getting into dangerous areas on the right flank when he pushes further up the pitch and delivers a cross that finds teammates in the box.

Sending in crosses is something that Walker struggles with mightily.

To further expound on Trippier’s ability to deliver dangerous crosses, Harry Kane was quick to praise the defender for helping set him up with a brace in just six minutes.

“Big thanks to Kieran – they were a couple of great balls in, the second one was a great delivery from him and I was happy to be in the right place at the right time and finish them off, but it was down to Trips,” Kane said.

“The delivery he put in [for 2-0] was perfect. Every player wants to be playing but sometimes you have to be patient and wait for your chance and Kieran has taken it today.”

“He’s shown the manager what he can do, we’ve got great competition in the full-back places – right and left-back – so it’ll give Trips the world of confidence and hopefully we can push on now and keep winning games.”

Next: Dele Alli and Kevin Wimmer React to Tottenham's Win

And just like Dele Alli before him, Harry Kane stated that scoring goals is a nice feeling, but picking up a win is more important.

“It’s obviously great to provide goals as well for the team, but the most important thing is winning games. It’s a fantastic way to start the New Year. Two goals, a 4-1 win away from home – it doesn’t get much better.”