Ange Postecoglou has reserved special praise for Archie Gray, singling out one aspect of the teenager’s game that impressed him the most at Portman Road Stadium as Tottenham ran out comfortable winners.
The pairing of Kevin Danso and Ben Davies impressed against Manchester United last week, keeping a clean sheet, but Ange Postecoglou decided to give the Welshman a rest and bring Gray back into the central defence for the trip to Ipswich.
The teenager did have a nervy start to the game but grew into the encounter as it went on, aided by his senior partner, who exuded calmness beside him.
The Tottenham backline was switched on all game and dug deep when the home side was putting them under pressure at the start of the second period, deservedly emerging with a comfortable 4-1 win.
Ange Postecoglou reveals what he likes about Tottenham’s Archie Gray
Postecoglou praised Gray for meeting every challenge that has been put in front of him so far, including the one on Saturday where he had a difficult start to the game.
The Australian praised the way the teenager stood up to Liam Delap after the Ipswich man seemed to have the better of him in the early exchanges.
When asked about the tough start Gray had against Delap before growing into the encounter, Postecoglou responded (via Football.London): “Yeah, 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. Delap’s a handful for anybody in this league. In the first few minutes, he caused him some problems.
“But I love that Arch takes on that challenge. He doesn’t shy away from it, he doesn’t hide. He just keeps going. As I said, 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 today, 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.”
Did Postecoglou let his feelings slip about rumoured Spurs target?
It is clear from the way that Postecoglou talks about Delap that he rates the 21-year-old very very highly.
The Man City academy graduate has been heavily linked with a move to Tottenham, with a number of outlets reporting over recent months that Postecoglou has urged Spurs to bring Liam Delap to N17.
Delap appears like a great fit for the Lilywhites, given his age, his work-rate off the ball and what he offers outside the box, and it would not be surprising if Spurs decided to replace Richarlison with the Ipswich man.