Three risks Conte is taking with his Tottenham squad
By Aaron Coe
Given that the club could not address all their needs in a single window, Tottenham Hotspur is short in some areas, creating risks for the team.
Over the first month of 2022, we saw an effort to begin shaping Spurs’ squad in Antonio Conte‘s image. However, followers of Tottenham Hotspur knew that it would take more than a single transfer window with Conte to rebuild the team. Thus, there are some places where the squad may be a bit short, and Conte is taking some risks. Here are the three biggest gambles with the Tottenham squad for the remainder of the 2021/22 season.
Conte’s Gamble 1: Ben Davies and Harry Kane will stay healthy
We know Conte’s goal is a team with at least two players deep at every position. Having looked at the depth a bit, we see that Spurs do have two players in many places. However, there are two glaring exceptions to this coverage with Ben Davies and Harry Kane.
Davies is the only natural left-sided centre-half in the squad, just as Kane is the only natural centre-forward in the team. Sure some players can cover for either a match or two, but if either were to suffer a significant injury, it would be catastrophic to Spurs plans.
We saw Tottenham struggle to cover for an injury to Heung-min Son, and Spurs have some players with similar skillsets; no one on the roster has the same cross-section of ability that Kane has. Likewise, the defence covered for a while without Romero and then without Dier, but everyone that plays on the defence is right-footed; that lack of a player comfortable at left-back like Davies could be problematic if the Welsh international were to pick up a knock.
There is some measure of cover everywhere else on the team, but for Kane and Davies, we should all knock on some wood for luck.