Young Tottenham Hotspur center midfielder Archie Gray has the future in his hands, as Roberto De Zerbi literally named him the team's fifth captain to start the 2026/27 Premier League season with the intent of grooming him into being the next great leader at the club after his strong preseason and even better 2025/26 campaign, shining even when all was lost for Spurs.
But so far, the new season has been a start to forget for the former Leeds United prospect. With Pedro Porro struggling to stay fit after a grueling World Cup in which he was the tournament's best right back for champions Spain, Gray has been utilized as the starting right back in most of Spurs games in lieu of any other options following the sale of Djed Spence to Serie A champions Inter Milan.
Gray predictably struggled badly at right back to start the season, but Tottenham still had to go back to the well last weekend against Everton with Porro out once more. Excep that time, Gray played surprisingly well, turning it around with a great all around performance at right back, improving vastly as a defender while actually getting the ball forward into good areas.
Archie Gray was back to being a terrible right back
All of that went crashing back down to earth in the League Cup on Tuesday night, though. Tottenham Hotspur lost 3-1 to Liverpool, and Archie Gray was back to being one of the worst players on the pitch against a better team from the Merseyside.
While Gray actually did decently well enough defensively against Tottenham's former dream left wing and center forward transfer target Cody Gakpo, the England youth international was atrocious on the attacking end.
He really hurt the team and the forward line, with Mohammed Kudus's bad day partially to pin on Gray, too. Gray just could not get the ball forward into good areas, passing up on several great opportunities to send the attacking players through into space on the counter, which was deeply frustrating to see for Spurs fans, especially since he did have that quality last season as a center midfielder - even under the cowardly coaching of Thomas Frank.
Tottenham Hotspur fans may have been impressed with Gray's work against Everton at right back, but he just showed against Liverpool that this display vs. the Toffees was a one off that cannot be trusted. Gray is no right back, and continuing to play him there is damaging to both his development and the club's chances of winning.
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