Tottenham Player Review: Danny Rose

In perhaps the biggest testament yet to his considerable ability, Danny Rose played less than half of Tottenham’s Premier League matches and can still rightly be considered as one of the best players in the squad.

That is evidently a popular opinion, as the England international joined three of his Tottenham teammates in the PFA Team of the Season.

It’s not enough to say that Rose was important, or often key. His game was much more than that — it was transformative to the entire way Spurs played this season.

There were a lot of factors that led to Mauricio Pochettino’s decision to switch to a 3-4-2-1 formation, and many more that led to the switch being one of the season’s biggest turning points. Central to that decision, though, was Pochettino’s confidence that Rose and Kyle Walker could man the entirety of their respective flanks.

In essence, as wing-backs Rose and Walker essentially occupied two roles over the course of a single match, sometimes over the length of a single moment.

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They were to play their typical full-back role, dropping deep in response to the opposition’s threats on the wings and cutting in to supplement the efforts of the centre-backs. When Spurs were in possession, the pair were also asked to provide virtually all of Spurs’ width in attack, essentially acting as classic wingers.

This was hardly a big ask for either player, as both were always the more adventurous breed of full-back anyhow. If anything, the wing-back roles better suited their skillsets.

While Walker enjoyed his own fine season — he, too, was included in that aforementioned PFA team of the season — Rose embodied the role full-heartedly. He broke up attacks, pushed opposing full-backs into their own half and surged into the penalty area all within the same breath.

Prior to going down injured in the 0-0 draw against Sunderland in January, Rose was operating at the peak of his game. Pochettino, understandably, struggled to patch over his absence in the squad, with Ben Davies struggling to live up to Rose’s example.

Next: Tottenham Player Review: Hugo Lloris

Tottenham found a way forward, as they did with so many other injuries this season, but the impression Rose left in the first half of the term remains as strong today as it did in January. When healthy, Rose is Spurs’ first choice left wing-back and one of the most consistently dangerous members of an already lethal squad.

At just 26 and with a new contract signed in September, Rose will continue to be Spurs’ marauder-in-chief for some time.