Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou has heaped praise on Emerson Royal after his performance against Crystal Palace last night.
Spurs picked up yet another win and extended their lead at the top of the table to five points. Son Heung-min and James Maddison‘s performances are earning rave reviews as always, but Postecouglou hailed his substitutes, especially Emerson.
Ange Postecoglou says Tottenham’s Emerson Royal was ‘outstanding’ vs Crystal Palace
Tottenham were without Destiny Udogie last night because of an injury.
The Italian has been a revelation at Spurs since the start of the season, and it was a shame that he was not available for Ange Postecoglou last night.
The Tottenham boss went with Ben Davies at left-back from the start, but the Welsh international was replaced at half-time by Emerson Royal.
The Brazilian is naturally a right-back, but he had to play on the opposite side yesterday. Postecoglou has now claimed that Emerson was ‘outstanding’.
Speaking about his substitutes, Postecoglou said, as per Football London: “I thought all the subs who came on… I thought Pierre [Emile-Hojbjerg] helped us get control of midfield.
“I thought Emerson at left-back was outstanding. Those kind of things are helping us at the moment, the guys coming on and helping us see out games.”
Emerson looks like a different player at Spurs
Emerson Royal was one of the most criticised players at Tottenham over the last two years.
The Brazilian, 24, came in with a lot of hype from Barcelona in 2021, but he failed to deliver. He made a number of mistakes and was constantly at the end of criticism.
Since the start of this campaign, however, Emerson has been much better. Yes, he has only been a substitute in most games, but he hasn’t done much wrong whenever he has come on. He has apparently been ‘unbelievable‘ in training too.
Postecoglou deserves immense credit for helping Emerson become a much better player now than he was before the start of the season.