Ange Postecoglou details qualities that make Tottenham youngster Archie Gray a special prospect
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Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou heaped more praise on Archie Gray after the makeshift centre-back passed his latest test in a 4-1 win at Ipswich.
The 18-year-old endured a torrid opening few minutes against Liam Delap at Portman Road but recovered admirably to ultimately win his battle against one of the form Premier League forwards.
Gray has quickly emerged as a key member of Spurs’ squad during a difficult winter with the summer recruit handed 17 consecutive starts, following the absence of several defenders, and he is up to fourth in the list of minutes played for the club this season.
When the England Under-21 international joined in July from Leeds in a deal which could rise to £40million, he was expected to split his minutes between right-back and midfield – like during his breakthrough 2023-24 campaign – but he has failed to start in the latter position.
Nevertheless, Gray, who was given a rare breather against Manchester United last weekend, continues to relish every opportunity and with Ben Davies absent at Ipswich, the next battle for the versatile teenager could be against Manchester City’s Erling Haaland on Wednesday.
“That’s the beauty of Arch. Like I said during the week, we know he’s playing out of position, we know we’re throwing him challenges and Delap’s a handful for anybody in this league. First few minutes, he caused him some problems, but I love that Arch takes on that challenge,” Postecoglou reflected.
“He doesn’t shy away from it, he doesn’t hide. He just keeps going. We’ll get enormous growth out of him during this period, but right now he’s contributing to us, he’s helping us.
“I thought we had to do some defensive work, not a lot, but the defensive work we had to do was important. Against, like I said, a real top striker, I thought he handled it well.”
Davies was conspicuous by his absence in Suffolk, which made it four centre-backs unavailable, with Radu Dragusin sidelined long-term and first-choice duo Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero still deemed not ready.
Postecoglou did hand Destiny Udogie and Brennan Johnson starts after recent muscle issues, while Pedro Porro and James Maddison were rotated.
It provided further freshness for a “re-energised” group which has won three consecutive league fixtures ahead of a match against Manchester City in midweek.
“Just managing his minutes,” Postecoglou said of Davies.
“We’ve got to try to navigate these next 10 days to two weeks until the international break to make sure we’ve got as many players available as possible squad-wise for what’s ahead.
“That’s why I left Pedro and Madders out. I was able to give them a bit of a rest.
“We didn’t want Brennan and Destiny to play more than 60 minutes. All of these kind of decisions at the moment are about trying to get us into a position where we have as many players healthy as possible.”
Relegation-threatened Ipswich were once again applauded off despite a 15th league loss of the campaign.
Town manager Kieran McKenna said: “I think the supporters are taking pride in some of the things we’re seeing. Of course they’re frustrated, like we’re frustrated, but we can’t work any harder.
“We have just got to keep working as hard as we can and work as smart as we can to get better. The support we have behind us is fantastic and it’s always appreciated.”
PA
