Tottenham face tough choice at right-back

To the vast majority of pundits, fans and experts, absolutely nothing changed about Tottenham’s right-back situation after opening weekend.

The argument, however familiar, is worth repeating: with Kyle Walker sold and Kieran Trippier injured, Tottenham desperately need to buy a proper replacement before the market closes.

Mauricio Pochettino — or, perhaps more appropriately, Daniel Levy — resisted such calls however. The result was that, for lack of other options, Spurs youngster Kyle Walker-Peters got named into the starting XI against Newcastle on Sunday.

This was the 20-year-old’s first ever experience at the professional level, and it came as a full start on opening day of the season. On paper this is could be a recipe for a disaster, even if it came against a team only just promoted from the Championship.

In practice, things were far from dire.

Walker-Peters played well. He faced a stern test when confronted by Newcastle’s speedy winger Christian Atsu, and managed to get forward often when Spurs were in possession. This is the bare minimum demanded from a full-back in Pochettino’s system, but that Walker-Peters could pull it all off on his first start in as intimidating an atmosphere as St James’ Park is reassuring at the very least.

Whether it was deserving of a Man of the Match honor is another question. Perhaps the award should have gone to Christian Eriksen or Mousa Dembélé, both of whom were excellent and much larger factors in the 2-0 win. As it stands though, it is a proper reflection of just how much Walker-Peters exceeded expectations.

This situation is broadly similar to one that Spurs went through exactly two years ago.

After Nabil Bentaleb and Ryan Mason more or less disqualified themselves from central midfield roles after the 2014/15 season, it was widely thought that Spurs were in the market for a defensively-minded midfielder. Several names were rumored, but by opening day of 2015/16 no action had been taken in the transfer market.