OPINION
Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino effectively hung defender Juan Foyth out to dry in the 2-1 loss to Burnley as he didn’t act quick enough to offer him some protection.
The 21-year-old was given a rare Premier League start on Saturday against the Clarets and it wasn’t long before that looked like a poor decision.
Foyth appeared to get more and more uncomfortable as the game went on and it was clear that he was the player that Burnley were trying to expose as Spurs liability.
In fact Burnley forward Jonathan Walters, who was on Sky Sports duty for the game, provided an insight on the tactic his teammates were likely using and revealed how they were no doubt getting in Foyth’s ear in order to rattle him.
“Vertonghen, Alderweireld, Foyth, you gonna let him have the ball, you going to let him bring it out, you’re gonna be in his ear and saying you’re having a bit of a nightmare today,” said Walters on Sky Sports Main Event (14:39pm, Saturday February 23rd).
“And you’re going to keep going, going and going and they did, and that’s how he made mistakes when on the ball.”
It was clear to see that the defender was getting worse as the game went on, probably because of the Burnley’s attacker having his number, but Pochettino kept him on the pitch for way too long.
The Spurs boss didn’t opt to sub Foyth until the 76th and given how demoralised he looked living the field after being exposed by Burnley time and time again, it’s clear the experience manager should have benched him earlier for his own sake.
Foyth is still relatively young at the age of 21-year-old and his confidence is no doubt fragile.
The display he submitted against Burnley is one that will no doubt haunt for a while and may have a negative effect on his form the coming weeks.
With this in mind, it just seems like Pochettino hung the player out to dry by not acting to spare his blushes sooner as it wasn’t like his side were trying to lock up shop and needed as many defenders on the pitch as they had.