After another absence due to injury, Tottenham Hotspur star left back Destiny Udogie made his return to the starting lineup on Tuesday night in the Champions League against elite German side Borussia Dortmund with everything on the line for his manager Thomas Frank.
Well, Tottenham blanketed Dortmund 2-0 for a thoroughly professional victory, which has been a rare sight in the Frank era. And Udogie was one of the biggest stars in the match despite only just progressing enough to return from another multi week injury.
Udogie sat behind Djed Spence, who was formerly his biggest left back cover, and helped the England international shine with his take ons on the wings by providing some truly world class cover as a defender and a passer.
Destiny Udogie is pure class when healthy
It was almost a midfielder's performance by Udogie in terms of all around class, reading of the game, and positional stability. Udogie had four tackles to lead the team defensively with an added interception for good measure. And then on the ball, no player on Tottenham had more passes attempted than Udogie's 64 with a completion percentage of 90.6. He also had a key pass and two fouls drawn.
What Tottenham Hotspur learned from the Destiny Udogie monster class in his return is just how much better he is of a left back than the others like Djed Spence and the now injured Ben Davies. It was truly an eye opener to see how much more functional Tottenham were as a team with Udogie back in the starting lineup.
It was not even just the left flank itself. Spurs dominated both flanks with Udogie back and were more comfortable in and out of possession structurally. That is not all down to Udogie, of course, as Spence and Wilson Odobert had great displays on the wings, while the overall defensive performance from the star center backs was stalwart in shutting down Dortmund's attack.
But after Odobert, Udogie was arguably the second best player on Tottenham overall when eyeing just how much he assisted Spurs in the build up play and how composed he was at winning possession. There is a massive drop off in this team's ability to win games and control the play on and off the ball at a basic level, and it seems like Udogie's only glaring weakness is his inability to stay healthy, which hurts a lot given just how important the Italian international clearly is to Spurs.