Journalist Alasdair Gold noticed what Ange Postecoglou did when Emerson Royal made a block in his own penalty area during Tottenham Hotspur’s loss to Aston Villa on Sunday.
Gold was speaking on his YouTube channel as he suggested that the Spurs boss almost celebrated the intervention from the Brazilian.
Emerson Royal, to some, would have been a surprise inclusion in the Tottenham lineup against Villa this past weekend. Of course, Spurs are currently dealing with Cristian Romero being suspended and Micky van de Ven being out with injury.
Ange Postecoglou pleased with Emerson Royal
Ominously for Eric Dier, Ange Postecoglou opted for Emerson and Ben Davies at centre-back. But he would have always known that it was a gamble to use the pair against an in-form Villa side.
Unfortunately for Tottenham, they were ultimately beaten. But Emerson and Davies did not disgrace themselves. In fact, it seems that Postecoglou was very happy with the pairing for some of the game, as Gold noticed how the Spurs boss responded to one bit of defending from Emerson.
“Emerson made a sliding kind of block in his box and Postecoglou did a kind of double-fisted roar at him to try and keep geeing him up to keep doing that as well,” he told his YouTube channel.
Tottenham need fringe players to really step up right now
Emerson may have an important role to play in the weeks ahead. Fortunately for Spurs, Romero will be back soon. However, that does not appear to be the case with van de Ven.
And given that Eric Dier does not appear to be in Postecoglou’s plans, the likes of Emerson and Davies are set to receive more chances in the weeks ahead.
In fairness, the defensive side of Emerson’s game has always been fairly sound. It was more his lack of impact in the final third which used to frustrate supporters.
So he is capable of stepping up. And Tottenham definitely need players to step up to weather this current storm.