Tottenham have a few talented young midfielders coming through at the moment.
Alfie Devine and Jamie Donley look like stars of the future, while we can’t forget that Pape Sarr and Oliver Skipp are still only very young.
Strangely, it seems as though there isn’t lots of room for more talented young midfielders at Spurs right now, and now, one youngster seems to be trialling a new position.
Speaking on the Gold and Guest Talk Tottenham Podcast, Alasdair Gold has been discussing Spurs’ young midfielders, and he noted that Nile John has had a slight positional change as of late, claiming that when he recently watched the youngster he was playing as a false nine rather than a midfielder.
Nile John has played as a false nine
Gold shared what he noticed when watching John recently.
“It feels like there’s a reluctance from Postecoglou to blood these U21 players in. I’m trying to think who else is in that midfield now. It’s Donley, Craig, at times Lyons-Foster, sometimes Nile John, but I watched Nile John playing as a false nine, I’ve never seen him do that before,” Gold said.
Why is Nile John playing as a false nine?
As exciting as it is to hear that John is playing in a new position, we can’t help but wonder why he’s being used as a false nine at the moment.
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Ange Postecoglou’s system does not employ a false nine, it’s as simple as that.
Heung-Min Son plays as a true number nine, he tries to get in behind and stretch defences, he’s not one to drop deep and dictate play – that’s James Maddison’s job.
Nile John may well flourish in that newfound false nine position, but it probably won’t do his chances of getting a first-team shot under Postecoglou any good.