Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou appears to have already transformed defender Pedro Porro after his performance against Manchester United.
That’s according to pundit Chris Waddle, who was covering yesterday’s match for BBC Sport. Ange Postecoglou couldn’t have asked for a better start to his career at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Manchester United came into the match on three points, although they were fortunate to beat Wolves on Monday.
They started the match better and may feel aggrieved that they weren’t awarded a penalty after the ball struck Cristian Romero’s hand in the area.
However, a first Spurs goal for Pape Matar Sarr and an own goal from Lisandro Martinez earned Tottenham a brilliant 2-0 win. There were impressive performances across the pitch against Man United, but Postecoglou would have been delighted with Pedro Porro.
The Spanish defender was given the nod ahead of Emerson Royal despite his goal against Brentford last weekend.
He repaid that faith with a very good performance down the right-hand side.
Postecoglou has already transformed Porro after United performance
During the second half, the £39m defender dispossessed Marcus Rashford before Dejan Kulusevski earned Spurs a throw-in.
Speaking about the full-back, Waddle said: “Well you know last season when you’re watching games and for me [Pedro] Porro and there was four or five of them for me that I always thought looked well out of their depth.
“You know, they couldn’t handle it but this manager, new season, he’s obviously put a lot of confidence into them, a lot of belief.”
There were question marks over whether Pedro Porro would suit Ange Postecoglou’s system but he dispelled those concerns against Man United yesterday.
Gary Neville still wasn’t convinced by the 23-year-old, believing he was a weak link in the Spurs side.
However, he came away from the game with a clean sheet to his name and has done his chances of playing next weekend no harm at all. Porro is a very attacking full-back but needs to work on his defensive output, although this is criticism that could be levelled at many of his teammates too.
Postecoglou wants his side to play fast-moving, attacking football and the likes of Porro will facilitate those tactics.
United were poor yesterday though, especially in the second half and Tottenham will face more organised opposition in the future.
When they do, that will be the real test of whether Postecoglou has already improved Porro.
