Djed Spence ended up coming into the game for Tottenham Hotspur against West Ham United over the weekend and played a large chunk of it, as Ben Davies, who was the starting left back for the matchup, had to be carted off early in the first half with a serious looking injury.
Well, Spence slotted back in to the left back position that used to be his and proceeded to deliver one of the many disastrous performances on the pitch for Spurs in a humiliating 2-1 loss to West Ham that should, if common sense were to prevail, spell the end of the nightmarish Thomas Frank reign as Tottenham manager.
Destiny Udogie has been sorely missed in the Spurs starting lineup with yet another injury, and while Spence used to be the weapon of choice for the club to play at left back whenever the Italian international got injured, that sentiment has clearly changed in recent weeks.
Ben Davies is the better option now
Davies has been getting increasingly more nods at left back, which is a quite indicting statement of how Spence has been playing this season. For some reason, Spence used to be lauded as an important player for Spurs, hailed for his one on one ability defensively that reached meme tastic levels due to his social media postings.
But Spurs fans have now seen through Spence, and by not starting him yet again vs. West Ham, Spurs have shown that they, too, no longer see Spence as a valid option at left back. Soon, he will not have to be an option at all, even with Davies and Udogie out, as new Brazilian signing Souza will be coming in as a true left back for the team.
Tottenham have tried to shoe horn Spence in there as a left back, but his inverted schtick simply does not work. He does not have the technical quality, instincts off the ball, positioning sense, or overall skill set to be an effective inverted left back, which is honestly a very difficult job to fulfill.
Once again, Spurs supporters will give Thomas Frank and the club no credit for coming to the realization that Djed Spence is not a good enough left back, because it took them too long to do so. But mercifully, Spurs realize that Spence is so bad that even the washed up Davies is a superior left back option, and while they probably would have lost with Davies still in the lineup, too, the injury did not help matters either by bringing Spence back on the pitch.