Tottenham Hotspur travelled to the London Stadium tonight for their second fixture in the space of just 2 days, and Mauricio Pochettino rang the changes from the Monday night defeat against Manchester City.
Indeed, Pochettino introduced plenty of new faces to deal with the quick turnaround, and his team selection paid dividends as Spurs recorded their second win over West Ham in the space of just 11 days.
A brace from Son Heung-min had put Spurs in cruise control shortly after the break, but Lucas Perez briefly gave the Hammers a glimmer of hope when he nodded home an intelligent header from Robert Snodgrass’ brilliantly whipped corner.
However, dreams of a comeback were quickly laid to rest when Fernando Llorente out-muscled Angelo Ogbonna to turn home a killer 3rd goal with fifteen minutes left to play.
And Spurs eventually secured their safe passage to the quarter-final of the Carabao Cup with a 3-1 victory, but the supporters were far from impressed with every individual.
Pochettino opted to start Serge Aurier at left-back in place of Ben Davies and he struggled to impress in unfamiliar territory.
West Ham prodigy Grady Diangana got the better of the 50-cap Ivory Coast international on plenty of occasions and signs of rustiness were certainly noted by the supporters.
With only 284 minutes of first-team football under his belt so far this season, it was no surprise that Aurier struggled against a dynamic winger with genuine flair and pace to burn.
And although it must be noted that Aurier was playing out of position at left-back, he will need to improve on his next outing to convince Pochettino that he can trust him in place of Kieran Trippier.
Here’s what a handful of supporters had to say about Aurier’s performance against West Ham…
https://twitter.com/HazSpur92/status/1057733610692902920
Aurier at LB
— Eddies Football Blog (@eddiesfootyblog) October 31, 2018
Not sure why we keep trying to attack through our left cos Aurier cant play with his left foot at all, we need to utilize KWP more
— Hamid (@HamidTHFC) October 31, 2018
Aurier need to do some passing training#COYS #THFC
— David (@davidcro0) October 31, 2018
https://twitter.com/seancahill24/status/1057728912007069700
Don’t usually like to slate our own but flippin’ Ada, Aurier is bloody useless and a complete liability. #WHUTOT #COYS
— Paul Fenton (@THFCFenton) October 31, 2018
Aurier at LB isn’t working. #captainobvious
— Lee Turley (@Lee__Turley) October 31, 2018
https://twitter.com/mt219310/status/1057724568268431360
https://twitter.com/ShamimRahman/status/1057738481554915344
Aurier & KWP should swap. KWP has been ok on the left, but Aurier is clueless. Clearly in a wrong position. Foyth has big potential.
— Glenconte (@Glenlived) October 31, 2018
