OPINION
Tottenham Hotspur beat Fulham 3-1 at Wembley on Saturday to start their Premier League season with two successive victories, and there were promising performances all over the pitch for the Lilywhites.
One player who did however disappoint is left-back Ben Davies, who failed to make the most of his switch to wing-back and the attacking advantages that brings.
The Wales international did not necessarily have a bad game, but he was caught out by the pace of Ryan Sessegnon on occasion, and his play going forward let him down.
Davies has never been the most natural attacking player, with his talents quite clearly lying within the defensive side of the game, but his final ball against the Cottagers was particularly poor.
The 25-year-old always manages to get in good positions on the left side of the box, but his delivery rarely finds a teammate, and that is becoming a problem for Spurs.
Compare that to counterpart Kieran Trippier on the right, whose delivery is consistently fantastic, and there is a total mismatch on the flanks for Tottenham.
Mauricio Pochettino’s other options at left-back are youngster Kyle Walker-Peters and Danny Rose, who, according to the Mirror, Tottenham are willing to let go this month with many European windows still open.
Despite Walker-Peters’ obvious talent and quick development, Rose is clearly the club’s best alternative, and they would be mad to allow him to leave.
The England international offers far more dynamism down the left, with his extra pace making him a far greater threat to opposition defences than Davies.
While Rose’s final ball is not the best either, it is still better than Davies’ and Pochettino must hand the 28-year-old a chance to play his way back into the team.
Playing Rose will give Tottenham better balance on the wings and provide a real outlet for attacks on the left, something which lacked against Fulham.
Whatever the player’s issues are with the club, or vice versa, they must now be put aside and Rose must start on the left flank soon for Tottenham as the season begins to take shape.