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da 888： For the majority of the season so far, Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino has been stuck as to who he should play at left-back. Out of his two options in Danny Rose and Ben Davies, the former has made 12 Premier League starts, whilst the latter has made 14 – if that almost even split tells you anything, it’s that Pochettino isn’t sure who should play consistently on the left side of defence.
On a few occasions this season, however, the former Southampton boss has deployed centre-back Jan Vertonghen at left-back or wing-back, an experiment which has yielded some eye-catching results.
The Belgian international took up the latter position yet again on Wednesday evening at Wembley against Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund, in the Champions League last 16 no less – it can be argued that Vertonghen was the best player on the pitch on the night.
At 31 years of age, the former Ajax man dominated the left flank in a wing-back role. It was his inch-perfect cross that set up Son Heung-min for the opening goal, whilst his thumping effort on the volley doubled Spurs’ lead as the north Londoners all but booked their place in the quarter-finals.
Aside from his monumental impact going forward, Vertonghen also stuck to his guns defensively to complete a well-rounded performance from a personal viewpoint.
Along with his involvement in two goals, Vertonghen made a huge four interceptions as well as three clearances as Spurs managed to keep a clean sheet against Lucian Favre’s German giants.
Additionally, Vertonghen successfully embarked on three dribbles as he proved to be a huge problem for the Bundesliga high-flyers.
If anything, the Belgian’s fantastic performance should have Pochettino debating whether or not to shake up his backline. Juan Foyth played alongside Davinson Sanchez and Toby Alderweireld on the night, which doesn’t happen often as the young Argentine has made just 10 starts this season.
He too was in impressive form, so perhaps the Argentine boss should think about deploying this heroic Champions League backline a bit more to finally end the constant chopping and changing at left-back.