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Jose Mourinho discusses Spurs defender Japhet Tanganga
Tottenham Hotspur manager Jose Mourinho spoke in detail about Japhet Tanganga ahead of Spurs’ return to Premier League action.
The 22-year-old defender was one of Tottenham’s success stories during a difficult 2019-20 campaign, making his first-team breakthrough and looking like a future regular.
Tanganga made his debut in the League Cup defeat to Colchester before making his Premier League bow against Liverpool on 11 January, where he excelled against the fierce Reds front line.
Injuries hampered his progress earlier this season and though he’s had to bide his time for first-team minutes, he was handed a start in Tottenham’s win over Aston Villa last time out.
Tanganga’s primary position is at centre-back but he played at right-back in that game, and likewise for England Under-21s, he played one game in the middle and one on the right.
Ahead of Sunday’s trip to Newcastle, Mourinho was asked by about what he made of Tanganga’s increased game time at right-back.
“Japhet for us is being like the emergency guy,” he replied.
“When we need he is there and when we need sometimes he is a right-back, as a left-back, other times in a centre-back in a defence of three and you can look at the recent matches with the national team, against Portugal he played right-back, two days later against Croatia he played centre-back.
“I don’t think it is a bad thing, especially for a young player, because what a young player needs is minutes and as a player I had many years ago, from right-back to left wing, ‘I am ready for you’ and as an emergency as a goalkeeper, so Japhet is a little bit like this.
“In spite of him being good in the air and he has a good positional education as a centre-back, I think probably his best position in the future is right-back.
“As you know he is not a giant, he needs to improve, his crossing needs to improve, the timings to arrive in attacking positions, but he is comfortable with the ball, he doesn’t make many mistakes, he is solid, reads the game well and is a player we can trust.
“You can see his debut was against Liverpool and then the matches he played are normally matches of responsibility and quality of the opponent. He is a player we trust. He is developing quite well, good kid. Humble kid, so all good.”