Stephen Warnock has now claimed that former Tottenham Hotspur player Kieran Trippier could be the perfect captain for Ange Postecoglou.
Warnock was discussing Tottenham’s lack of leaders against Wolverhampton Wanderers on ‘The 2 Robbies Podcast’.
Speaking with Robbie Earle, Warnock wasn’t convinced that Son Heung-Min had the right leadership style for such games given he prefers to lead by example.
Warnock thought that Postecoglou would be better off with a character like Newcastle United’s Trippier leading the way vocally.
Warnock said: “Is there enough leadership on the pitch for someone to do that [slow the game down]?
“Son is not that type, Son is a leader of showing what he can do on the pitch, he’s not a shouter and an organiser.
“And do they need that figure in midfield? To be able to do that, because I think when you go back to Newcastle there and you make a great example of it.
“Kieran Trippier is the one straight away you’d be thinking, he’s played for [Diego] Simeone.”
Warnock thinks Postecoglou would benefit from a character like Trippier at Tottenham
Of course, Trippier left Tottenham back in 2019 for £20m, back when Ange Postecoglou was still managing in Japan.
And whilst some Spurs fans may agree that their side lacked leadership against Wolves, it probably shouldn’t fall on Son’s doorstep.
Son has been praised for his excellent role on and off the pitch this season, and Saturday’s game was amid strange circumstances.
All of Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven and James Maddison have proved to be leaders in their own right this campaign.
And to have all three missing in the spine of the side, it’s incredibly tough for Son to then shoulder all of that responsibility.
In regards to Kieran Trippier, you would expect that almost every Premier League side would like to have a player of his calibre and experience in their starting eleven.
The 33-year-old has aged brilliantly and still has so many excellent facets to his game.
So whilst Tottenham may need to carefully manage their way through the next month or so, there certainly shouldn’t be doubts about Son as a captain.
And Ange Postecoglou will still be confident that he picked the right man.
A tougher decision for the manager will now be how he replaces the likes of Maddison as a playmaker.
Although, he may already have the solution in his academy.