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Journalist told Tottenham’s Ashley Phillips was playing in really ‘odd’ position during first friendly
Journalist Alasdair Gold has shared what he heard from one source about where Ashley Phillips played at one stage during Tottenham Hotspur’s friendly with Cambridge United at the weekend.
Ashley Phillips is one of the younger players looking to catch Ange Postecoglou’s eye in pre-season🎃 after a successful loan spell at Plymouth Argyle in the Championship last year.
Of course, Phillips has an extremely tough task trying to break into the Tottenham side, with Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero forming an outstanding partnership in North London. Meanwhile, Radu Dragusin whet the appetite for what may🥃 be to co꧂me with such an impressive showing at Euro 2024.
Perhaps therefore, the youngster’s best route into the side may come in a slightly d🅠ifferent position – in the near future at least.
Ashley Phillips may have played in different role in Tottenham win
Tottenham beat Cambridge 7-2 in a friendly at the weekend, with Brennan Johnson scoring a hat-tri𒀰ck for the Premier League side. Unsurprising❀ly, Postecoglou used a large number of his squad in the victory.
With Romero, van de Ven and Dragusin away on international duty, some may hౠave expected Phillips to play in the middle, but perhaps that may not have always been the case – judging by𒆙 Gold’s comments on .
“It’s an interesting one and I didn’t get a second source on this so I can’t go with any real confidence, but I hear༺d a suggestion that at one point, Ashley Phillips was playing at right-back, which seems odd as the only natural centre-back of any senior nature, so whether that was just filling in for a time when someone else came off, I don’t know. It may well be that he played centre-back for a longer period,” he said.
Ange Postecoglou faces potential dilemma over centre-back this summer
It will be fascinating to see how Postecoglou han🐎dles Phillips’ development🌼 this summer, as he looks to have such a bright future ahead of him. He has proven himself in the Championship with the likes of Blackburn and Plymouth, and it may not be a shock to see him return to the second tier this summer.
Keeping him at Hotspur Way may make sense, but Postecoglou will be wary of blocking his path to securinඣg regular game-time at this stage of his career.
P♐erhaps having that versatility may tempt the Tottenham boss to keep him around for a little longer.