There weren’t many Tottenham players that came away with any credit following Saturday’s defeat at Manchester City, but Japhet Tanganga certainly did.
The youngster has been restricted to Carabao Cup, FA Cup and Europa League outings this season, but with Serge Aurier out injured, Tanganga was preferred to Matt Doherty at the Etihad Stadium, making his first league appearance since the draw with Burnley last March.
And the 21-year-old repaid Jose Mourinho’s faith in him by producing a composed display up against one of the most dangerous players in the Premier League in Raheem Sterling.
The Spurs boss previously stated that he sees Tanganga as more of a full-back than a centre-back, and with Sergio Regulion and Aurier both out injured, perhaps this won’t be the last we see of the youngster in a wide area.
The Tottenham faithful were certainly pleased with his performance. And here, we’ve been looking at how they reacted on Twitter to his showing against the league leaders:
The absolute ONLY positive from yesterday is that Tanganga has to start right back every game that Aurier can’t play… looked a HUGE improvement on Doherty and Sissoko in that position
— George (@georgeachillea) February 14, 2021
Thought Tanganga did ok today:
Dribbled past 0
Dribbles 3 (most of anyone)
Duels won 7 (2nd most)
84% pass completionShowed he’s a serious RB option Vs the best in league ?? pic.twitter.com/NnNV2lIlp6
— TAS⚽️ (@coys100) February 13, 2021
Definitely more impressed with him at RB than what I saw of him at CB. Can definitely compete against Aurier for that position
— Jacob Knight #ENICOUT (@jacob_knight112) February 13, 2021
Tanganga deserves to start every game to be honest
— Harry Brooks (@HB_HeadCoach) February 13, 2021
Tanganga the only positive from this game
— ☔️ (@thfcrueben) February 13, 2021
Tanganga and Rodon for the next game please
— ארי ?? (@THFCAri) February 13, 2021
Tanganga and Rodon for the next game please
— ארי ?? (@THFCAri) February 13, 2021
Can we all agree that Tanganga was our best player?
— matt (@sliwoski_) February 13, 2021
Doherty is disgraceful.
He must pack it up.
Spurs needs to find a replacement
Whose fault is that…. We are the eighth richest club in the world, man City who we are competing with needed defender’s they spent 300 million we do our shopping bargain basement and than slag the player, cause he isn’t a superstar, but wait on, if we did buy the best full back in the world, mourino would find a reason to full out with him not play him, destroy his confidence and slag him of to the press,