Ange Postecoglou makes interesting claim about Archie Gray at Spurs
Archie Gray was thrown into a hostile environment against Galatasaray in the Europa League on Thursday night, but Ange Postecoglou believes the experience will help the youngster grow.
Archie Gray plays out of position again
Ange Postecoglou made some interesting decisions with his starting XI for the trip to Turkey this week, with a big reshuffle in defence due to the injuries to Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero.
The Spurs boss also opted to play Archie Gray at left-back again, a position he has played before but is far from natural for the youngster.
While Gray did struggle defensively at times when faced with an aggressive and intense Galatasaray attack, the teenager did play in a brilliant ball from deep to feed Brennan Johnson, who provided the assist for Will Lankshear in the first-half.
Gray certainly grew into the game as his nerves settled, and though the result wasn’t what anyone hoped, the 18-year-old can hold his head high.
Ange Postecoglou happy to experiment with Archie Gray
Postecoglou spoke to the press (via Football.London) about Gray’s performance and what he can take away from this game, and insisted that playing the youngster out of position is all part of the plan.
He said: “You can only allow them to learn that by exposing them to it. I thought Archie was great. It was a tough game for us defensively at different times but I think we’ll get so much growth out of him because he’s not playing in his position.”
This seems to imply that Postecoglou does intent to give Gray more minutes in central midfield moving forward.
Long term gains for Archie Gray
I do think Gray struggled a fair bit against Galatasaray in defensive areas, but he looked a lot stronger when he was carrying the ball forwards. And yes, Ange Postecoglou is right, these experiences, though tough, will definitely make Gray a better player in the long run.
The post Ange Postecoglou makes interesting claim about Archie Gray at Spurs appeared first on Spurs Web.