Tottenham: Ange Postecoglou tips Djed Spence to become regular starter for Spurs | OneFootball

The defender was deemed surplus to requirements 18 months ago

Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou has talked up Djed Spence's potential to become a regular starter for the club after the defender "knuckled down" and changed his attitude.

He was suspended for last weekend's draw with Wolves after being sent off in stoppage-time of the 1-0 defeat at former club Nottingham Forest but is poised to return to the XI at left-back for Saturday's visit of Newcastle - with Destiny Udogie set for around six weeks on the sidelines with a hamstring strain.

"A lot of it is just down to him," Postecoglou said. "He’s really knuckled down. He’s had to be patient. I think he’s been really good for us.

"Even in tough times you get these spurts of opportunities for others that maybe wouldn’t have happened. The reality is with everyone healthy maybe he wouldn’t have got the opportunity and in January we’d be looking at a different scenario for him.

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"But right now, he’s performing really well. I was disappointed he got sent off against Forest because he could have helped us last week.

"He is very important for us. With Destiny going down, especially. Not because he's available but he’s played well, made an impact.

"Maybe he senses the opportunity to become not just part of Tottenham on a permanent basis in his own mind, where he feels settled, but now pushing to be a starting player and I think he has the capacity to do that."

Spence was told he was not in Postecoglou's plans in summer 2023 and spent last season on loan at Championship club Leeds and in the Serie A with Genoa.

But he was included in the squad for this season after returning from Italy, with Postecoglou revealing he had impressed with his improved attitude.

The head coach continued: "I don’t think there was something missing [before]. There was possibly a reason he wasn’t settled but at the start of pre-season I mentioned there was an opportunity for him here. We were going to give him that opportunity and not necessarily get him out on loan.

"The rest was up to him and a lot of that is how he dealt with the fact he had to train hard everyday without a lot of prospect of playing.

"He impressed everyone with his attitude towards that. Maybe in the past he was a little bit impatient.

Maybe his attitude wasn’t great in terms of the fact he wasn’t playing and wasn’t feeling like a regular

Ange Postecoglou on Djed Spence

"Maybe his attitude wasn’t great in terms of the fact he wasn’t playing and wasn’t feeling like a regular. This year, he’s had to bide his time and he’s done that in the best possible way and waited for his opportunity. And now when he’s got it, he’s grown.

"Some of it is maturity as well. He’s not a young boy any more and probably feels like if he’s going to have a Tottenham career now is the time to grab that. And I think he has done that."

Udogie will be among nine absent players for the visit of Newcastle, also including centre-backs Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero and Ben Davies, and goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario.

Postecoglou, though, rejected the suggestion that Spurs left themselves light in key areas, notably at centre-back and goalkeeper, at the start of the season.

Asked if some of the selection problems he is facing were foreseeable, the Australian said: "How many centre-backs do we need to have? Seven?

"That’s [not] the real world, unless you’re saying those players [we do have] aren’t good enough and they needed to move on to bring in a fifth centre back who if everyone was healthy wouldn’t play at all.

"We had enough cover but we didn’t expect to lose all those centre-backs in one go. You name me a club that if they lose their two starting centre-backs plus their backup centre-back, would be flying right now or would have another centre-back who could walk in and do the exact same job.

"Goalkeeper is always a tricky one because you want to bring in the right kind of goalkeeper, it’s not just about numbers. In hindsight everything looks clear, everyone wants someone to blame and sometimes it’s just the way things happen and you deal with what you have in front of you.

"The perfect plan does not exist. I understand the need for people to think that’s the way it should be, that this football club should have every base covered so every possibility that happens you have a solution for. But that’s not the reality."