Football Today
·22 December 2024
Football Today
·22 December 2024
Clinton Morrison has given his verdict on Tottenham Hotspur full-back Djed Spence’s performance against Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah.
Tottenham suffered a 6-3 defeat at the hands of Liverpool at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the Premier League on Sunday evening.
Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah was among the best players for Liverpool. He scored two goals.
Salah started on the right wing for Arne Slot’s side in a 4-2-3-1 formation. The former Chelsea attacker came up against Spence, who was deployed at left-back by Tottenham.
Former Crystal Palace forward Clinton Morrison was on co-commentary duty for the match on BBC Radio 5 Live, and he noted how good Spence was against Salah.
Morrison said about Spence on BBC Radio 5 Live in the 53rd minute when Tottenham were 3-1 down: “Spence has done well against Salah. I know Tottenham haven’t defended well but he’s done well one on one against Salah.”
It was a very disappointing performance from Tottenham defensively, but Spence came away from the game with some credit.
The £12.5 million (Sky Sports) left-back stood up against Salah and did not allow him to run with the ball all the time.
Of course, there were times when Salah got the better of him. He was bound to. After all, the Liverpool forward is a Premier League legend and is a world-class player.
But Spence gave a good account of himself against Salah and did not let him have a field day. He pushed himself up the pitch as well.
According to WhoScored, the 24-year-old Englishman had a pass accuracy of 93.1% and took 86 touches. Spence attempted two dribbles. The left-back made five tackles, one interception and three clearances.
Of course, Spence was not perfect. He was beaten to a header by Dominik Szoboszlai in the lead-up to Alexis Mac Allister’s goal.
As Liverpool ran riot in the second half, the left-back struggled to contain Salah. But Spence has to take the positives from the game and the 24-year-old should be encouraged by his performance.