Tottenham Hotspur boss Antonio Conte was desperate for a new right wing-back during the January transfer window and it’s easy to see why.
The north London outfit threw away a 2-1 lead with less than ten minutes to go as Southampton produced a late comeback to seal all three points and hand the Italian his second successive league defeat in charge.
Heung-min Son’s 70th-minute strike looked to have been enough until a pair of headers from Mo Elyounoussi and Che Adams sealed the victory for the visiting Saints.
It was something of a disasterclass for Emerson Royal, who many a fan was lambasting as a “liability” on social media, during and after the game.
The Brazilian, who is valued at £25m by CIES Football Observatory, was arguably at fault – or played a devastating role – for all three of Southampton’s goals. He failed to clear the ball for their opener and was nowhere to be found for either of the late headers, particularly losing his man for the equaliser.
‘Allowed the ball to run across his body instead of clearing in the lead up to the visitor’s leveller. Was nowhere near Elyounoussi or Adams for the second and third goals for the visitors. Southampton targeted his side and you could see why. Going forward he gave it away too many times,’ wrote football.london reporter Alasdair Gold after the match.
Indeed, the 23-year-old struggled at both ends of the pitch.
Emerson lost possession 17 times, the second-most of any Spurs player, meaning he lost the ball once every five minutes – or once every 4.2 touches, as per SofaScore.
It’s no wonder the visitors were able to assert their dominance as the game grew on, registering 52% possession overall across the 90 minutes.
Not only was the summer signing lacklustre, but he was also ineffective too, having failed to deliver a single accurate cross or long ball from two and five attempts respectively, whilst he made only 73% of his passing attempts and didn’t record a dribble either.
The Times reported in January that Conte wasn’t convinced by Emerson’s qualities at right wing-back and it’s clear he doesn’t favour Matt Doherty if he’s not getting game time over the struggling Brazil international.
Adama Traore was one player targeted to fulfil the role but he opted for Barcelona instead, leaving Spurs back at square one. By the time the window closed, Conte did not get the new man he really wanted.
That performance has just proven why the Italian was so keen to find a replacement. Perhaps it’s something that will be revisited in the summer.
AND in other news, Spurs struck dream deal with £31.5m-rated “Rolls-Royce” who’s like “a new signing”…