Archie Gray picked up a booking, scored and was taken off at half-time against Crystal Palace on Saturday, and he has still left Roberto De Zerbi with a real decision at right-back.
The 20-year-old headed the opener from Mohammed Kudus’s corner on 25 minutes in the 2-0 win over 10-man Palace, his side’s third straight league victory. Then Pedro Porro came on for him at the break, and a few fans feared the worst.
There was no injury. De Zerbi says Porro is ready, Gray has earned his place, and Tottenham go to Elland Road on Saturday 7 November with a real selection call to make.
Why did De Zerbi take Archie Gray off at half-time?
Because of the booking, and he said so plainly. Gray had been shown a yellow card early in the first half, before he scored. With Jean-Philippe Mateta already sent off and Spurs a goal up, De Zerbi saw only one way the game could get messy.
“No, the yellow card. I didn’t want to take a risk for another yellow card,” he said in his press conference. “I’m sorry, because he was playing very well. I explained why I took the decision, but I think it was the right decision in that moment.”
It’s easy to see why that mattered. Spurs know how much harder life gets with 10 men after the draw at Old Trafford earlier in October, and a second yellow would have handed Palace the one thing they had lost after 13 minutes. Instead, Spurs took no risk at all, kept a clean sheet and got 45 minutes into Porro’s legs.
Porro’s absence wasn’t the snub it looked
When the teams came out, plenty of people read it as Porro being overlooked again. We had him recalled at right-back in our predicted lineup, so we were among those surprised. De Zerbi has now explained that the decision was largely the player’s own.
“Pedro is ready,” he said. “We didn’t take risks, speaking with him, he decided before the game, he was very honest with me and I appreciate that a lot because the Premier League is 38 games, not one game.”
Porro hurt his hamstring against Aston Villa, missed about a month and sat on the bench at Stamford Bridge when he returned to the squad. His second half against Palace was a useful one, including a fierce long-range effort that nearly went in. So there’s no fitness reason left to keep him out at Leeds.
What has Gray done to keep the shirt?
Quite a lot, and more than he usually gets credit for. He’s in his third season in N17 and he has already been asked to play at right-back, centre-back, left-back and in central midfield, under different systems and with different jobs in each. His natural position is midfield. He hasn’t always had an easy ride from the stands either.
He has started all three wins in this run, and he was at right-back in the victories at Chelsea and against Palace. De Zerbi dates the improvement back to the trip to Old Trafford. “He’s improving a lot. I don’t know, after Manchester United, he’s playing very, very well, as a mature player,” he said.
The manager went further when he spoke to Sky Sports. “Archie Gray can play everywhere on the pitch. He’s very smart,” he said. Palace clearly know about him by now too. His first senior goal came against them at Selhurst Park last December, a header from a Porro corner.
The Barcelona talk makes this more awkward
Porro isn’t competing for a place in a vacuum. He’s 27, he signed a deal running to 2031 only in June, and Barcelona have asked about him for January or next summer. A big part of that story was his concern that a struggling Tottenham could hurt his place with Spain.
Spurs aren’t struggling in quite the same way now. They were bottom a fortnight ago and they’re now eighth on 12 points. But a World Cup winner who is watching a 20-year-old midfielder play his position in a winning side is not a situation any manager wants to drag on for long. De Zerbi’s answer so far is the one he gave about Marcos Senesi on Saturday: “If we want to build a top team competing at a high level, we need more than 11 players.”
Verdict: Archie Gray should start at Leeds, but Porro will not wait long
The trip to Gray’s old club Leeds kicks off at 12.30pm, and on current form we’d keep the same back four. Three wins and two clean sheets in a row is a good enough reason not to change the right-back, and Gray has done nothing to lose the place. Half-time at Palace was a decision about a yellow card, not about how well he was playing.
That said, Porro’s delivery is a real weapon, and De Zerbi has stressed the 38 games himself. If Gray starts at Elland Road, we’d expect Porro to get his chance soon enough. For a side that spent September and early October short of solutions, having two right-backs worth arguing about is a very nice problem to have.
