Serge Aurier Shows What He’s Got Against Mane for Tottenham

Tottenham Hotspur were defending a lot as a team on Wednesday against Liverpool and no one on the pitch did it better than Serge Aurier at right back.

Serge Aurier has had a hate/love relationship with many Tottenham Hotspur fans over the last few seasons. Under Mauricio Pochettino, the Ivorian International was an accident waiting to happen. He could bomb forward but was often out of position and rash in his efforts to recover, hence the hate. Since José Mourinho has taken over, Serge Aurier has become a new player, enter the love. Never was this new player more evident than on Wednesday facing Saido Mane and Liverpool.

Battling Throughout

Serge Aurier was excellent against Saido Mane and Liverpool on Wednesday as he was able to stay in front of Mane most of the evening. Mane did have one good spin using the balls momentum to turn Aurier but blasted over. Outside of one real chance I cannot recall Aurier being beaten on the evening and according to whoscored.com he was only dribbled past once.

Serge did commit two fouls and was the one who cleared the ball out for the corner that won the match, but it is difficult to fault a player for something most defenders would be applauded for doing in the 90th minutes against Mane.

What really stood out about Aurier’s performance were his tackles. Serge Aurier attempted 11 tackles on the evening and was successful with an incredible 10 of the 11. Considering the opposition and the circumstances of constant pressure, to win 91% of his tackles and only be beaten once and commit two fouls is rather incredible.

Aurier was one of the better performers on the evening, leading the team in touches to go with those tackles. Additionally, he drew two fouls – the same as he committed – and had five clearances. A resourceful night from a player many fans wanted gone this past summer.

A New Player

While not a completely different player, Aurier’s role has changed some this season and it has suited him well. While he is still contributing to the attack, no longer is Aurier lobbing crosses into the box as a mainstay in Spurs offense. Rather Serge is playing more defensively, and it shows in his numbers.

Aurier’s average number of clearances and tackles are both up by more than 1 over last year in the Premier League. At 4.1 tackles per match in League, Aurier is well above anything he has previously done with Spurs never even averaging three tackles per match.

What is important with the increase in defensive duties is that the increase in fouls has not been as great. Aurier is currently at 1.7 fouls per match versus 1.2 last season, but the increased tackles and clearances are a good trade off and he is not down in any other defensive category. More important than the fouls, Aurier has managed to stay out of the book thus far this season.

With 59 cards across his professional career in 291 matches, that is card in just under every five matches. Aurier has played 10 for Tottenham in all competitions this season and has just 1 card in the EFL Carabao Cup. In other words, the increased defensive aggression has not led to more cards and penalties that one may have feared going into the season.

While Aurier is never going to be Roberto Carlos on the ball, he makes a solid offensive contribution and has been steadily improving defensively. Having Matt Doherty around to give him the occasional rest makes him even more effective and pushes Doherty to be better too. With more good attackers coming both defenders need to be at their best and Serge was close to it Wednesday.