Tottenham’s defence is so bad that Pep Guardiola and Sir Alex Ferguson would struggle to work with them.
That’s the view of former Aston Villa striker Gabby Agbonlahor who was discussing Spurs’ Carabao Cup exit to rivals Chelsea on Thursday.
Spurs’ defenders were far from solid in their two legs against Chelsea as they miss out on another opportunity to end their trophy droughtTottenham Hotspur
Antonio Conte’s side succumbed to a 1-0 defeat to their fierce rivals, losing 3-0 on aggregate, with defeat in the semi-final meaning Spurs only have one realistic chance of ending their 14-year trophy drought via the FA Cup, having also been forced to be eliminated from the Europa Conference League.
Agbonlahor, though, believes the Spurs players are playing at their maximum level.
“You look at their defence, five at the back, [Matt] Doherty, [Japhet] Tanganga, [Davinson] Sanchez, [Ben] Davies, Emerson Royal, they’re not good enough,” he said on talkSPORT breakfast.
Another set-piece goal proved to be Spurs’ undoingAFP
“They’re not good enough defenders to play the likes of [Romelu] Lukaku, [Timo] Werner, [Callum] Hudson-Odoi, just not good enough, plain and simple.
“It doesn’t matter if you get Pep, Sir Alex, anyone could go in there and would not get anymore out of these players, they’re not good enough.
“If you’ve got your level you can’t get any better.”
Tanganga found it tough against the Chelsea players for much of the eveningChelsea FC
Agbonlahor also eluded to problems in the midfield, stating that the trio of Pierre-Emile Hojberg, Oliver Skipp and Harry Winks were incomparable compared to Chelsea’s options in the middle of the park.
“Look at Winks and Hojberg and Skipp compared to Chelsea’s midfield, it’s a non-contest.”
As many expect, Conte will be making changes to the Spurs squad via the transfer market, and two who have been linked in recent weeks are Wolves’ Adama Traore and Inter Milan centre-back Stefan de Vrij.
talkSPORT understands that a bid for the former is imminent, and an offer of £20million is expected to be enough to land the 25-year-old.
Traore has been strongly linked with a move to Tottenham for some time now and could finally make the switch to north LondonGetty
Interestingly, Traore is set to be used as a right wing-back with football correspondent Alex Crook claiming that Conte plans to play him there as he did with Victor Moses at Chelsea.
However, de Vrij will almost certainly be used in the heart of the defence, and could be linking up with his former Inter boss.
